socalTECH

AUGUST 30, 2016

Santa Monica-based Washio , the venture-backed, on-demand laundry startup, has shut down, according to the company. The company said that it will be shutting down its operations, as of Aug 29., and returning orders to customers. The company did not say why it decided to shut down. Washio had raised around $21.86M in funding, from such investors as A Grade Investments, AME Cloud Ventures, Canaan Partners, Pejman Mar Ventures, Sherpa Ventures, Three Six Zero Group, plus Ashton Kutcher and a large

Demand 189

Demand Santa Monica Services Invest 189

L.A. Business Journal

AUGUST 30, 2016

Washio folds operations following inability to find buyer, SpaceX to launch recycled rocket, Jessica Alba joins other celebrities on Apple’s new TV show, and more.

SpaceX 113

SpaceX Report 113

socalTECH

AUGUST 30, 2016

The Tech Coast Angels , Southern California's biggest angel investment group, says its performance record and returns on its investments are higher than the average angel, in nearly all categories, based on a new academic study. According to the TCA, it had a 3.3x return on its investments, based on an analysis prepared by Dr. Rob Wiltbank and Professor Wade Brooks for Willamette University and the Angel Resource Institute (ARI).

Tech Coast Angels 133

Tech Coast Angels Angel Truecar Southern California 133

Xconomy

AUGUST 30, 2016

No matter how hard we try to unplug on vacation, most of us simply don’t—or can’t—disconnect. The availability of free Wi-Fi is sometimes too hard to resist. While we’re in a carefree state of mind, it’s especially easy to bend the rules. Even when using Wi-Fi at a familiar business, you could be putting your information at risk. Open Wi-Fi provides hackers with numerous ways to access your device, and you could be exposing everything from usernames, passwords, personal data, medical

Journal 64

Journal Social Media Tips Writing 64

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

socalTECH

AUGUST 30, 2016

Santa Monica-based Bitium has raised $6M more in funding, for its software development efforts, the company disclosed this morning. The funding came from Polaris Partners as well as other prior investors. Bitium has also previously raised funding from Amplify LA, Double M Partners, Karlin Ventures, Lazerow Ventures, and Resolute.vc. Bitium, led by Scott Kriz, develops software used for managing access to software-as-a-service apps.

Santa Monica 124

Santa Monica Software Development Software Funding 124

LATechDigest

AUGUST 30, 2016

LA area developers and entrepreneurs — submissions are now open for the Apple-produced show PLANET OF THE APPS , featuring judges Will.i.am, Gary Vaynerchuk, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Jessica Alba. Lightspeed Venture Partners is partnering with Planet of the Apps by committing to invest a minimum of $10M into apps that are discovered on the show. Says Jeremy Liew of Lightspeed, “Planet of the Apps isn’t just a show, it’s a launch pad and accelerator for exceptional ideas.

Venture Capital 53

Venture Capital Course Ideas Invest 53

Xconomy

AUGUST 30, 2016

Petco, the privately held pet supplies company based in San Diego, said today it led a $10 million Series A financing in Los Angeles-based Petnet, a three-year-old startup developing technology-enabled pet feeders and pet food delivery service. The new funding will enable Petnet to expand its product line and sales and marketing capabilities. An existing investor, Los Angeles-based Aspiration Growth, joined in the round, along with unnamed investors.

San Diego 52

San Diego Los Angeles Mobile Equity 52

socalTECH

AUGUST 30, 2016

Los Angeles-based Petnet , the developer of automated, smartphone connected pet feeding bowls, has raised $10M in a Series A funding, the company Tuesday morning. The funding was led by Petco, and also includes a deal to make the compan's SmartFeeder and SmartBowl products available at that pet retailer. Petnet, led by Carlos Herrera, develops an automated, smartphone-enabled pet feeder which lets its users manage feeding times, feeding amounts, and allows users to monitor their pet's food intak

Los Angeles 113

Los Angeles Funding Product Services 113

Xconomy

AUGUST 30, 2016

UC San Diego has named Todd Hylton, a veteran tech industry manager and expert in neural-based processing technology, as executive director of its new Contextual Robotics Institute. Hylton was previously the executive vice president of strategy and research at Brain Corp., a Qualcomm-backed startup founded in 2009 to develop computer systems and software based on algorithms that emulate the “spiking neuron” processes of the human brain.

UCSD 49

UCSD San Diego Artificial Inteligence Research 49

socalTECH

AUGUST 30, 2016

Culver City-based CancerMoonShot 2020 , and NantHealth said this morning that the two are taking aim at Inflammatory Breast Cancer, with a new working group focused on the disease. According to Cancer MoonShot 2020, the team includes physicians, researchers and oncology professors from across the nation, to investigate personalized, immunotherapeutic treament options for the rare disease, which is the deadliest form of breast cancer.

Culver City 113

Culver City Research Technology 113

socalTECH

AUGUST 30, 2016

Skyworks Solutions , the developer of analog semiconductors, said on Monday that it has named Kris Sennesael as its Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, based in Irvine. Sennesael was most recently CFO of Enphase Energy. Sennesael also has served at Standard Microsystems, ON, AMI Semiconductor and Alcatel Microelectronics. Skyworks is based in Woburn, Mass., but has major operations in Southern California.

Southern California 113

Southern California Develop Development 113

socalTECH

AUGUST 30, 2016

Los Angeles-based accounting automation software developer BlackLine announced this morning that it has opened up a new office in Germany, as part of an expansion effort in Europe. According to BlackLine, the new office is based in Frankfurt, Germany. BlackLine said that new office specificially serves Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, and will be led by Petra Ellmerich.

Software Development 113

Software Development Los Angeles Software Customer 113

socalTECH

AUGUST 30, 2016

Yuneec , the Chinese flying drone developer which has its U.S. headquarters in Ontario, California, has rolled out a new drone today--the Breeze, which it calls a "flying camera". The new drone--which costs $499.99--is specifically designed to take aerial photos and videos of consumers, for sharing on social media. Yuneec said the new flying camera will fly both indoors and outdoors, and is controlled by an iOS or Android app, and can instantly post videos and photos to Twitter, YouTube, Instagr

Marketing 113

Marketing Social Media Pricing Design 113

socalTECH

AUGUST 30, 2016

Los Angeles-based venture investor March Capital Partners , in a deal led by Gregory Milken, has lead a seed funding round in New York-based startup Genvid Technologies. Genvid Technologies said it has raised $1.5M in a seed funding round, which was led by March Capital Partners, and also included OCA Ventures. Genvid is developing software specifically for use in live e-Sports broadcasts, adding interactive features to live streaming on Twitch and other services.

Capital 113

Capital Seed Funding Invest Startup 113

socalTECH

AUGUST 30, 2016

Hawthorne-based SpaceX , and Luxembourg-based SES have announced a new launch deal this morning, where SpaceX will launch the SES-10 satellite into orbit on a Falcon 9 rocket. According to the companies, the launch will be the very first to re-use the booster stage of the Falcon 9, using one of the rocket boosters successfully returned to earth by SpaceX.

SpaceX 113

SpaceX Hawthorne Company Companies 113