Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 6, 2019

I’ve heard a lot of people question whether there is too much money in venture capital chasing too few great deals. “We’re in a new tech bubble!” some have pronounced. “Valuations are out of control” is the mantra of others. Others believe that new business models are emerging that could replace venture capital all together. Every year I try to answer the question of “what has changed in the Venture Capital industry” and this year my colleague Chang Xu and I took a deep dive through the data and

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socalTECH

FEBRUARY 5, 2019

Machinima , which had been the poster child for Southern California's multi-channel-network (MCN) boom, has laid off most of its employees and ceased its operations , according to reports. The shutdown comes after a reorganization of the digital properties of AT&T, as well as its Otter Media subsidiary. Machinima had been acquired by Warner Bros. in 2016, in a deal then reported as worth less than $100M.

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Report Southern California Media Content 127

Xconomy

FEBRUARY 4, 2019

Battery-technology business Maxwell Technologies has agreed to be acquired by Silicon Valley electric car company Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA ) in an all-stock deal valued at about $218 million, the San Diego-based company announced Monday. Maxwell (NASDAQ: MXWL ) said Palo Alto, CA-based Tesla would buy its shares at $4.75 apiece, a 55 percent premium over its stock price as of market close Feb. 1.

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Technology San Diego News Pricing 46

Tech.Co

FEBRUARY 5, 2019

Cryptocurrency is rarely out of the news, but the recent case involving Canadian currency exchange QuadrigaCX is a real show stopper. With the sudden death of its founder, Gerald Cotton, customers are owed an estimated $190 million due to a missing password only he knew. A huge amount of cryptocurrency is believed to be stored on a device that is now inaccessible, leaving customers in the dark as to what has happened to their funds.

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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

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 5, 2019

Stacey Abrams Interviewed by Lisa Borders, CEO of TimesUp This past week Stacey Abrams spoke at The Upfront Summit in a 25-minute talk followed by a breakout town hall discussion. You may know that later today she will deliver the response to The State of the Union speech by the president. She was interviewed by Lisa Borders, CEO of TimesUp (who spoke separately, video will be released soon).

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socalTECH

FEBRUARY 5, 2019

Santa Monica-based venture investor March Capital Partners (www.marchcp.com) announced last week that it has raised a second fund, worth $300M. To learn about the new fund, we sat down with Jamie Montgomery , one of the fund's co-founders, to hear about March Capital's strategy and the new fund. Tell us a little bit about the new fund? Jamie Montgomery: It's interesting, as you grow, you get bigger and more focused.

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Funding Capital Artificial Inteligence Startup 160

Tech.Co

FEBRUARY 8, 2019

After a deal that just closed this week, Spotify is stretching its streaming wings beyond music and into podcasts. It reportedly paid a hefty $230 million to acquire the podcast publisher and network startup Gimlet Media, and has also acquired the podcast monetization platform Anchor for an undisclosed price. It’s the biggest podcast industry acquisition ever, and Spotify isn’t done.

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Acquisition Media News Platform 124

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 8, 2019

As you may know we run an annual conference called The Upfront Summit in which we try to bring together the world of investors, entrepreneurs and interesting people from the world of sports, politics, music & film. We do this to showcase what is uniquely LA and to create a more cohesive network in our community. We have sought ways to make it more open while not turning it into a mega conference so while we have capped it at 1,000 attendees, starting a couple of years ago we opened up the ev

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socalTECH

FEBRUARY 7, 2019

Los Angeles-based footwear trading site Goat Group , founded by Eddy Lu and Daishin Sugano, has raised a big, $100M funding round from footwear retailer Foot Locker , the two announced on Thursday. According to the company, the move also will include exclusive shopping opportunities and joint efforts in Foot Locker's physical stores. New York-based Foot Locker said the strategic minority investment came through its subsidiary in 1661, Inc.

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Los Angeles Sites Invest Help 138

Berkonomics

FEBRUARY 7, 2019

Think you don’t use negotiation most every day of your life? From the time we learn to manipulate our parents from the crib to today, we learn to negotiate to obtain our wants and needs. As we grow, we negotiate constantly with our parents, then with our peers. As we enter the business world, we negotiate with our bosses and our subordinates. We negotiate with our suppliers, customers, investors, and even our auditors.

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Pricing Sales Tool Entrepreneur 120

SoCal Tech Calendar

FEBRUARY 8, 2019

Thursday, February 14, 2019 -- TCVN Legal Program #2: IP Protection Strategies For Start-Ups. TCVN now features four educational tracks in four specific areas. The four tracks are: Legal, Execution, Finance, and Marketing and will consist of a series of five, consecutive monthly programs designed to give the entrepreneur a comprehensive overview of each area.

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IP Startup TCVN Education 100

InfoChachkie

FEBRUARY 4, 2019

A version of this article previously appeared Forbes. When I saw World Series Poker Champion Annie Duke speak in 2017, I was inspired to write an article describing some of her recruiting techniques. Impressed with her wit and insights during her talk, I was excited to read her latest book, Thinking In Bets. I was not disappointed. Business (And Life) Is Poker, Not Chess.

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Help Startup Santa Barbara Study 100

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 6, 2019

Costa Mesa-based Ice Energy , which develops energy storage technology based on storing energy for air conditioning in the form of ice, has completed the first phase of a big deployment for Southern California Edison (SCE), the company announced on Wednesday. According to Ice Energy, it has installed 100 of its "Ice Bear" units across SCE's service territory, the first stage of a 21.6 MW energy storage contract it has with SCE.

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Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 3, 2019

Innovation is the key to long-term business success, both in startups as well as established organizations. Yet every business and every entrepreneur I know struggles with this challenge, focused on hiring the right people and implementing the right process. Yet, in my experience the key seems to be more a discipline of innovative thinking from everyone, driven from the top.

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Startup Outsource Development Entrepreneur Ideas 105

SoCal Tech Calendar

FEBRUARY 6, 2019

Tuesday, February 12, 2019 -- Start-Up Options for Rapid Development, Funding, and Commercialization. LAVA Healthcare. Is VC funding the only way to develop and grow your company? Have you heard of accelerators, incubators, angles, and other resources for rapid development, funding, and growth of your start-up? Attend our LAVA event on February 19th as our distinguished panel will share their expertise and insight.

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Startup LAVA Develop Development 100

Xconomy

FEBRUARY 6, 2019

Alector, a company taking an immunotherapy approach to Alzheimer’s disease and other brain disorders, has raised approximately $176 million in an initial public offering. The South San Francisco, CA, biotech sold 9.25 million shares Wednesday evening priced at $19 apiece, which was the midpoint of its targeted $18 to $20 per share range. Those shares are expected to begin trading on the Nasdaq Thursday under the stock symbol “ALEC.

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Pricing Develop Development San Diego 100

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 6, 2019

San Diego-based Radicle Growth , a new, seed-stage investor focused on the agtech and food technology sector, said this morning that it has invested $250,000 in Leaf Agriculture , a pre-seed company developing application programming interfaces (APIs) between agtech products. Radicle Growth said Leaf Agriculture is developing an API product that facilitates fast, easy and secure data transfer between agtech platform partners through a single point of access.

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Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 2, 2019

The pervasive ability and need to communicate constantly and globally through the Internet and smartphones is incenting everyone to get more out of their own assets and time, and capitalize on the idle resources of others. This sharing economy is rapidly becoming the new business of sharing, with major winners already including Airbnb (rooms), Uber (rides), and Chegg (books).

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Commerce Social Media Platform Class 98

SoCal Tech Calendar

FEBRUARY 6, 2019

Tuesday, February 12, 2019 -- Reverse Mergers Into Public Shells. CONNECT. This program will educate private issuers about the process of going public by merging with an existing public shell.

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Education 100

Xconomy

FEBRUARY 7, 2019

Gossamer Bio, the San Diego-based biotech founded by former Receptos executives, has raised $276 million in its initial public offering, a total that puts it in a rare class among biotechs that have gone public in recent years. The amount raised surpassed expectations. During the partial federal government shutdown in January, Gossamer announced it would pursue a little-used path to the public markets that required it to fix a share price, which was locked in for 20 days.

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San Diego Class Pricing Marketing 99

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 4, 2019

Tesla Motors , the electric car-and-solar panel company led by Elon Musk, is acquiring San Diego-based technology developer Maxwell Technologies , in a deal worth approximately $218M, the companies announced on Monday. ACcording to the two, the merger agreement calls for Tesla to pay $4.75 per share for all of the outstanding stock of Maxwell Technologies.

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San Diego Technology Product Develop 133

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 8, 2019

A frequent concern I hear from aspiring entrepreneurs is “I have invented a great product, but I have no idea where to start in setting up a company, to avoid all the tax and legal problems I hear about on the news.” In fact, this is a complex question, with answers that are different all around the world, but I have some general rules of thumb that apply here in the USA to get you started: Create a business entity early to encapsulate your venture.

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Startup Outsource Development Entrepreneur News 84

SoCal Tech Calendar

FEBRUARY 5, 2019

Monday, February 11, 2019 -- An Evening With Dae Bogan, Dae Bogan Music, CLU Entrepreneur Speaker Series.

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Entrepreneur 100

Xconomy

FEBRUARY 4, 2019

Last week, it was reported by multiple media outlets (see here , and here , and here ) that a group of Israeli scientists had found “a cure for all cancer” and that it could be ready within a year. As a long-time life sciences industry executive my knee-jerk reaction was not “finally!” but “crap, not again!” As someone who knows from experience the challenges of treating cancer—man, it’s hard—the hairs on the back of my neck stood up with concern for the more than 15 million people l

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Report Media San Diego Venture Capital 87

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 4, 2019

Santa Monica-based MomentFeed , the developer of software that helps multi-location brands manage the mobile experience for their customers, has named Avik Dey as its new Senior Vice President of Engineering, the company said this morning. Dey was most recently Executive Vice President, Technology at Marin Software, and also served as Worldwide Director, Big Data Product/Apache Engineering at Intel Corporation, in addition to serving at Yahoo!

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Santa Monica Yahoo Mobile Software 133

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 4, 2019

If you are looking for funding and customers for your new business, you need to identify your “unique selling proposition” (USP) right up front, in 30 seconds or less, to differentiate yourself in today’s information overload. That may sound obvious, but as a new venture investor, I rarely see it happening. Investor and customer attention spans are short, and both will write you off quickly.

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.Net Examples Custom Customer 73

SoCal Tech Calendar

FEBRUARY 6, 2019

Tuesday, February 12, 2019 --.

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LAVA Mobile 100

Xconomy

FEBRUARY 8, 2019

If you’re into congressional spectacles, stay tuned later this month. A group of top biopharma executives—the full roster isn’t known yet— will testify at a Feb. 26 hearing before the Senate Committee on Finance to defend their drug pricing practices. No executives showed up for the previous hearing, but reports indicate industry has changed its stance under pressure: Both chambers of Congress have kicked up their efforts to battle drug pricing of late, and the Trump administration j

Pricing 85

Pricing Report San Diego Company 85

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 4, 2019

Los Angeles-based commercial real estate services giant CBRE Group announced this morning that it has acquired UK-based Romonet Limited , a provider of software, technology, and consulting services for the large global data center market. Financial details of the acquisition were not announced. According to CBRE Group, Romonet's team of professonals will join CBRE as part of the acquisition.

Technology 133

Technology Acquisition Los Angeles Services 133

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 6, 2019

Traditional business intelligence (and data mining) software does a very good job of showing you where you’ve been. By contrast, predictive analytics uses data patterns to make forward-looking predictions that guide you to where you should go next. This is a whole new world for small businesses seeking enterprise application opportunities, as well social media trend challenges.

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Study Social Media Guide Examples 70

SoCal Tech Calendar

FEBRUARY 5, 2019

Monday, February 11, 2019 --.

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Xconomy

FEBRUARY 3, 2019

George Mosher, a Milwaukee businessman and one of Wisconsin’s most prolific startup investors, died on Thursday after a battle with pancreatic cancer. He was 79. A Boston native , Mosher moved to Milwaukee in 1965 after graduating from Harvard University’s business school. He became president of Business and Institutional Furniture, a catalog furniture company that served churches and schools.

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Startup Company Companies San Diego 75

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 7, 2019

San Diego-based finance and treasury management software developer Kyriba announed today that it has surpassed $110M in revenues in 2018, and says it expects to grow 40 percent in the new year. The privately held company said the revenue and growth were driven by more than 229 new enterprise clients it signed in 2018. Kyriba has previously raised funding from American Express, BIH, Bpifrance, BRED Banque Populaire, Coface, Daher Capital, HSBC, Iris Capital, Mangrove Capital Partners, Mitsubishi

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San Diego Equity Software Development Software 124

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 6, 2019

Carlsbad-based EasyPay Finance , a provider of consumer financing for automotive service and repairs, has raised $50M in a credit facility, the company announced this morning. The funding came from Ares Management Corporation. According to the company, it will use the new funding for growth, developing new financial technology, and other efforts. EasyPay Finance said the credit facility is expandable to $100M, subject to lender consent.

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Services Funding Technology Develop 124

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 8, 2019

Los Angeles-based mobile game studio Jam City is continuing to enhance its popular game title, Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery , saying this morning that it is launching a new "side quest" within the game, called the Celestial Ball. The new adventure will focus on "The Celestial Ball", a social event focused on a virtual formal dance. Jam City said activities include inviting friends to the ball, choosing their own outfit, and quests to help others in preparation of the ball.

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Entertainment Mobile Los Angeles Activity 113

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 8, 2019

How do you take and create an entrepreneurial environment, within a big corporation? We sat down with Brian McCarthy , SVP of Dentistry.com (www.dentistry.com), a startup within a much larger company Futuredontics, which itself is a part of a big company called Sirona. McCarthy is a veteran of the local online marketing and startup space, having worked at such companies as Search123 (sold to ValueClick in 2003), Revver.com, CitySearch, IAC, and The Search Agency, We spoke to McCarthy about wha

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Startup CitySearch Outsource Development Organization 113