Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 9, 2019

With the advent and popularity of crowdfunding platforms, including Kickstarter and IndieGoGo , as a winning alternative for funding your new venture, I find that many aspiring entrepreneurs are confused about the need to ever seek a professional angel investor. I think it’s great to have more options, but I still see each one having a place, so don’t be too quick to limit your alternatives.

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Funding Startup Platform Examples 119

socalTECH

DECEMBER 9, 2019

Los Angeles-based on-demand, dog walking service Wag has bought back its stake from Softbank, according to CNBC. The sale comes less than two years after SoftBank invested $300M in Wag , via the SoftBank Vision Fund. According to a memo leaked from Wag's new CEO, Garrett Smallwood, the company is also laying of a number of employees as it looks to have a capital base that is "right-sized to the needs of our business and strategy".

Demand 100

Demand Los Angeles Sales Invest 100

Xconomy

DECEMBER 9, 2019

Synthorx is working to design new cytokine therapies for cancer using an “extended” genetic alphabet that could help avoid the shortcomings associated with earlier versions. Now French biopharma Sanofi has struck a deal to add the startup to its oncology business in a transaction that values the company at about $2.5 billion. The move is the first acquisition the company has announced since CEO Paul Hudson joined the Paris-headquartered company Sept. 1.

Pricing 52

Pricing Design Acquisition Help 52

socalTECH

DECEMBER 9, 2019

Los Angeles-based on-demand, dog walking service Wag has bought back its stake from Softbank, and is now seeking a sale, according to CNBC. The sale comes less than two years after SoftBank invested $300M in Wag , via the SoftBank Vision Fund. According to a memo leaked from Wag's new CEO, Garrett Smallwood, the company is also laying of a number of employees as it loks to have a capital base that is "right-sized to the needs of our business and strategy".

Demand 100

Demand Sales Los Angeles Invest 100

Advertiser: Aggregage

Office leases are one of companies’ largest expenses, and if your whole team is working from home with no clear end in sight, you may be wondering what to do about your lease.

Company

Xconomy

DECEMBER 9, 2019

The San Francisco-based drug discovery startup, Insitro, has hired its first chief data officer. Serafim Batzoglou joins the company from Illumina (NASDAQ: ILMN ), out of San Diego, where he was the vice president of applied and computational biology. He also was a professor of computer science at Stanford University and co-founded the genomics analytics startup, DNAnexus.

San Diego 52

San Diego Startup Company Companies 52

socalTECH

DECEMBER 9, 2019

A new report-- published by Gizmodo on Monday--says that Ring cameras are giving a lot more information about users' location than users might suspect, with the locations of "tens of thousands" of cameras easily obtainable by researchers. Gizmodo said its ability to gather the potential locations of up to tens of thousands of Ring cameras "casts doubt" on Ring's privacy safeguards.

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Report Research Networking Help 100

socalTECH

DECEMBER 9, 2019

Pasadena-based Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals has raised $266.8M in a public offering of its stock, on the NASDAQ, where it trades as ARWR. According to Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals, it sold 4,600 shares of its common stock, at $58.00 per share. The offering was run by Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC, Jefferies LLC and Piper Jaffray & Co., along with Cantor Fitzgerald & Co., Robert W.

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Pasadena Develop Development Acquisition 100

socalTECH

DECEMBER 9, 2019

Irvine-based NextGen Healthcare says it has completed its acquisition of Medfusion , which had been announced in November. The deal was worth $43M in cash, according to earlier announcements on the details of the deal. NextGen Healthcare develops software for the medical, behavioral, and dental provider market. Medfusion's software is used to provide a patient portal, which runs on any kind of device, including manging patient intake, patient scheduling, payment, and other aspects of patient-pro

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Acquisition Software Marketing Develop 100

socalTECH

DECEMBER 9, 2019

Los Angeles-based Whistle , which develops a software platform for hotels to text message their guests, said this morning that it has added new artificial intelligence capabilities to its software. According to Whistle, its AI module provides conversational AI and machine learning capabilities, which can guest messages and, in some instances, automatically prompt the appropriate response back to the guest.

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Artificial Inteligence Web Software Los Angeles 100

socalTECH

DECEMBER 9, 2019

Online real estate site Zillow is expanding its home buying service, Zillow Offers , to the Los Angeles and Orange County markets, saying this morning that it will now let homeowners sell their homes directly to the company, to avoid the hassles of selling their home. According to Zillow, Zillow Offers also is available in the Inland Empire (Riverside) and San Diego.

Orange County 100

Orange County Services Riverside San Diego 100

socalTECH

DECEMBER 9, 2019

Elon Musk has been spotted driving Tesla's new Cybertruck around Los Angeles, including at what appears to be Nobu Malibu as well as on the 405 South. The new vehicle--which apparently is not yet street legal--was introduced by Tesla at an event in Los Angeles on November 22nd. According to reports, Tesla's new Cybertruck does not meet several requirements for legal driving on streets, including lack of rear view mirrors.

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Malibu Los Angeles Report Angel 100