Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 20, 2014

'Yesterday MiTú Networks announced that Upfront Ventures led a $10 million financing in what is now the largest producer of Latino online videos – primarily driven through YouTube. As you may know we co-lead the first round of financing of Maker Studios, the largest overall producer for online video content, along with Greycroft Partners. I was an early and tireless advocate for the growth of the Internet video ecosystem and as virtually every article I wrote made clear I believe the 800-

Invest 291

Invest Content Media Networking 291

Berkonomics

JUNE 19, 2014

'If you seek funds from an organized investment group such as an angel fund, venture capital entity, or even an investment club, the first thing you want to do is to find one person to buy into your vision, become excited by your enthusiasm and be willing to become the internal champion for your fund-raising effort. In some groups, if you cannot find such a person, you cannot even find the way to apply for funding, as some groups make it imperative that any introductions come from the inside, fr

Technical Review 207

Technical Review Tech Coast Angels Summary Email 207

socalTECH

JUNE 19, 2014

'A new, Los Angeles startup, Yacha , said this week that it has launched a new, mobile app to send multimedia messages. The company said that, unlike other mobile messaging apps, users can send any combination of photos, text, audio, drawings, or video in a single message. Yacha is led by Asa De Alwis. The company''s app is currently only available on iOS, but the company says an Android version will be available soon.

Mobile 212

Mobile Los Angeles Startup Angel 212

InfoChachkie

JUNE 17, 2014

'A version of this article previously appeared on Forbes. It should be no surprise that this social media guru has earned over 113,000 authentic Twitter followers. His bonafides are impressive: named by Forbes as a Top 50 Social Media Influencer, cited by LinkedIn as a Top 25 Social Media Market Expert and proclaimed by AdWeek to be a Top 50 Person Re-Tweeted By Marketing Leaders.

Activity 174

Activity Social Media Startup Mentor 174

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

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 16, 2014

'Almost every startup is a virtual team these days, since most don’t start out with dedicated office space, and some or all members of the team work part-time or out of their own home. It’s a small world, so these team members may not even be in the same town, or the same country. Outsourcing is just another extension of the virtual team concept to people you don’t even know.

Startup 101

Startup Outsource Development Outsource Entrepreneur 101

Tech Zulu Event

JUNE 16, 2014

'We recently sat down with Luc Berlin, co-founder of Miigle, a SoCal startup that has an aggressive global mission to bring entrepreneurs together from around the world. We first interviewed Luc in 2012, just as he was launching the prototype for Miigle. Back then, it was just him following his dream. Fast forward a year and a half later, and a lot has changed for Luc and Miigle.

SoCal 104

SoCal Southern California Startup Platform 104

socalTECH

JUNE 20, 2014

'We spoke with Kevin Winston, the organizer of Silicon Beach Fest (www.siliconbeachfest.com), which is currently going on in Santa Monica and runs through Saturday, about the energy here in Southern California, as well as a little bit about what''s going on with the event this year. Kevin is also well known as the organizer of the Digital LA networking group (digitalla.net), which hosts dozens and dozens of events in Silicon Beach every year (Editor''s note: socalTECH.com is a media sponsor of t

Santa Monica 205

Santa Monica Conference Belkin Southern California 205

socalTECH

JUNE 20, 2014

'Paul Bricault of the AmplifyLA startup accelerator in Venice, has scored an exit with one of his companies. Twitter said Thursday that it has acquired SnappyTV , a San Francisco developer of software which helps people capture live event video, edit that video, and post it directly to Twitter. Financial details of the acquisition were not announced.

Venice 196

Venice Acquisition Software Help 196

socalTECH

JUNE 19, 2014

'Anyone who is into action sports know that GoPro has absolutely changed how the market since its debut, where it''s more odd to see action sports athletes not using a GoPro than using one. As part of that, a healthy market for accessories for the camera has developed, including for the photo filters from Newport Beach-based PolarPro (www.polarprofilters.com), which makes special photographic filters specifically to fit the GoPro.

Startup 196

Startup Van Nuys Patents Santa Barbara 196

socalTECH

JUNE 18, 2014

'Los Angeles-based coworking space operator Cross Campus said Tuesday that it is planning an expansion, and will be opening up a new location in Pasadena. According to Cross Campus, it has selected a space in Old Pasadena, which will be around 16,000 square feet and encompass three floors. The new location is at 87 N. Raymond, and is expected to open in the fall.

Pasadena 185

Pasadena Yammer Santa Monica Los Angeles 185

socalTECH

JUNE 18, 2014

'Los Angeles- and San Francisco-based Black Lotus Communications , which offers up distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) mitigation services to SMB and enterprise clients, said this week that it has opened up two new centers in Ashburn, Virginia, and Amsterdan, Netherlands. The company helps companies mitigate DDoS attacks, which are becoming all too common an issue for companies to deal with, and recently have been used to extort companies to restore service to their web sites.

Resource 171

Resource Web Los Angeles Services 171

socalTECH

JUNE 20, 2014

'Santa Monica-based DogVacay , which operates an online marketplace which connects dog owners with dog sitters and other dog owners willing to watch their dogs, said Thursday that it has launched a brand new, mobile app. According to DogVacay, the new and improved version of the app now includes better looking host profiles, better message replies, easier booking requests, ability to save phone numbers, credit card input options, and much more.

Mobile 164

Mobile Santa Monica Capital Company 164

socalTECH

JUNE 17, 2014

'Santa Monica-based parking app developer ParkMe is looking to local, Los Angeles businesses to draw attention to its parking apps, saying that it is signing up those businesses as affiliates. According to ParkMe, its new program offers up a free parking map to help drivers find parking locations and options in an area, which can be featured on a company''s website.

Santa Monica 164

Santa Monica Los Angeles Custom Customer 164

socalTECH

JUNE 17, 2014

'Los Angeles-based Revee , a developer of content analytics software used to help publishers understand their page yield on advertising, has raised $1M in a seed funding round. Source of that seed funding was not announced. Revee was founded by Nic Paul and Cham Kim, who the company said have bene working in the publishing area for the past decade. Revee said its tools and analytics help departments across publishers--ranging from operations, sales, marketing, and editorial--beter predict curren

Tool 164

Tool Seed Funding Advertising Venture Capital 164

socalTECH

JUNE 16, 2014

'Irvine-based nuclear waste cleanup technology provider Kurion announced this morning that it has named a Department of Energy veteran to lead a new effort at Japan''s Fukushima reactor. According to Kurion--which recently announced a deal to clean up water at the plant--it has named Matthew McCormick as Project Director of that effort. McCormick previously had been involved in the nuclear waste cleanup effort at the Hanford, Savannah River, and Rocky Flats cleanup areas here in the U.S.,; he wa

Technology 164

Technology 164

socalTECH

JUNE 17, 2014

'Santa Monica-based HelloSociety , which provides analytics for brands about activity on Pinterest, said yetserday that it has named Dennis Chang as Chief Revenue Officer. Chang was most recently Vice President of Advertising Sales for Turner Digital''s sports and entertainment efforts. HelloSociety said Change was responsible for a team generating $60M in advertising sales revenue.

Santa Monica 164

Santa Monica Advertising Entertainment Sales 164

socalTECH

JUNE 19, 2014

'Fountain Valley-based networking equipment maker D-Link said today that it has shipped a new, Wi-Fi motion sensor, aimed at the home security market. According to D-Link, the new Wi-Fi Motion Sensor plugs into any open power outlet, and lets users know if there is any activity at home during the day. D-Link said its new product can send push or text notifications when it detects motion in the house, so that users can create their own, DIY home security setup at home.

Networking 157

Networking Examples Activity Mobile 157

socalTECH

JUNE 18, 2014

'Los Angeles-based viral video entertainment network Jukin Media is continuing to build out its executive team, saying today that it has named Jerry Boonstra as its new Chief Technology Officer, and Theresa Tran as its new Head of Product. The company--which was founded by Jonathan Skogmo--said that Boonstra was most recently at Frequency, and also served at CNET.

Media 157

Media Chief Technology Officer Hollywood Content 157

socalTECH

JUNE 18, 2014

'Pasadena-bsed Metacloud , which runs and operates OpenStack based clouds for companies, said it has hired on two well known OpenStack evangelists as executives. The startup--which is backed by AME Cloud Ventures, Canaan Partners, Pelion Venture Partners, Silicon Valley Bank, Storm Ventures, and UMC Capital--said it hired Scott Sanchez as Vice President of Strategy, and named Niki Acosta as Director of Evangelism.

Pasadena 153

Pasadena Capital Startup Company 153

socalTECH

JUNE 18, 2014

'TechShop , a nationwide operator of membership-driven "Maker" facilities, said today that it is planning an expansion into Los Angeles, to offer up fabrication, 3D printing, and other tools and training to the local community. TechShop announced the initiative as part of the "Maker Faire" being held at the White House today, which is being hosted by President Obama.

Los Angeles 153

Los Angeles Angel Training Tool 153

socalTECH

JUNE 17, 2014

'San Diego-based cloud-based communications provider Voxox said this morning that it has added technology services distributor Telecom Brokerage , to resell its services. Voxox said that Telecom Brokerage (TBI) will offer up its business services portfolio, with a focus on SIP trunking. Voxox said that TBI has a network of more than 2,000 independent partners offering up connectivity and other products to end-user, business customers.

San Diego 153

San Diego Services Networking Custom 153

socalTECH

JUNE 16, 2014

'Los Angeles-based Tapatalk announced Monday that it has raised $5.8M in a seed funding round, which came from Floodgate and Accel Partners. Tapatalk''s software is widely promoted in online community forums to help users better browse and read messages from various community forum software products on their mobile phone or tablet. The company was part of MuckerLab''s third accelerator class.

Web 153

Web Seed Funding Class Los Angeles 153

socalTECH

JUNE 17, 2014

'Carlsbad-based Isis Pharmaceuticals , which is developing antisense technology for a wide range of conditions, said it has earned $10M in a milestone payment from Biogen Idec today. Isis Pharmaceuticals said the payment is associated with the validation of an undisclosed target to treat a neurological disorder. The two have multiple programs together, where Biogen Idec is tapping Isis PHarmceuticals'' antisense technology.

Technology 149

Technology Develop Development 149

socalTECH

JUNE 20, 2014

'For today''s Insights and Opinions section, we are featuring a post from Jonathan Handel , a Los Angeles entertainment/technology attorney, who imagines one day when driver''s licenses will be obsolete (thanks to Google and Uber). I was stuck in traffic yesterday, which I didn''t really mind because I have a fun little yellow convertible, and I was thinking about Uber ($17 billion!

Southern California 147

Southern California Google High Tech Entertainment 147

socalTECH

JUNE 20, 2014

'Santa Barbara-based enterprise resource planning software maker QAD said late Thursday that its Chief Marketing Officer, Gordon Fleming , unexpectedly passed away. QAD said Fleming passed away on June 14th. Fleming had been at QAD for 19 years. The company said that Fleming passed away tragically and unexpectedly, but did not discuss any details. READ MORE>>.

Marketing 147

Marketing Santa Barbara Resource Software 147

socalTECH

JUNE 19, 2014

'Calabasas-based Spotlight Ticket Management has raised $6M in a growth financing round, the company said today, which came from Point Judith Capital, and also included Coyote Ridge Ventures. The company also said it received a bank facility from City National Bank. Spotlight Ticket Management develops a cloud-based platform which helps large companies manage, distribute, and market their tickets.

Calabasas 147

Calabasas Platform Capital Custom 147

socalTECH

JUNE 19, 2014

'The County of Los Angeles is in a big information technology deal, and will be moving about 100,000 of its employees to Microsoft Office 365, Microsoft said this week. Financial details of the deal were not disclosed. According to Microsoft, the county is consolidating fifteen department enterprise agreements into a single, countywide agreement, and also help reduce the number of agency systems being maintained by the county.

Los Angeles 147

Los Angeles Angel Mobile Software 147

socalTECH

JUNE 19, 2014

'A new, $200M growth fund from Greycroft Partners may be a boon to the Los Angeles market--the source of a big chunk of the investment company''s venture capital investments. Greycroft Partners said today that it has closed on a $200M, first growth fund, to specifically invest in later stage investments in portfolio companies. The company said the new funds specifically are targeted at follow on investments in its portfolio companies, and also in companies it was familiar with but had not partic

Los Angeles 147

Los Angeles Angel Funding Venture Capital 147

socalTECH

JUNE 19, 2014

'San Diego-based Qualcomm Ventures , the venture capital arm of Qualcomm, is backing the developing of software to help home care agencies manage their workers and operations. ClearCare said Wednesday that it has raised $11M in a funding round, which came from Bessemer Venture Partners, and also included Cambria Health Solutions, Voyager Capital, Qualcomm Ventures, Harbor Pacific Capital, and City National Bank.

Software 147

Software SaaS Venture Capital San Diego 147

socalTECH

JUNE 18, 2014

'Vadio , the Amplify.LA startup which provides technology for online video players for media companies, said Wednesday that it has partnered with Vevo , to bring Vevo''s large catalog of music videos, concerts, and other programming to Vadio''s media partners. Financial details of the deal were not disclosed. Vadio--which has offices in Los Angeles but is headquartered in Portland--is backed by Amplify.LA, and is part of the startup accelerator''s Fund I investments.

Advertising 147

Advertising Media Los Angeles Content 147

socalTECH

JUNE 18, 2014

'Irvine-based storage products maker Zadara Storage said this morning that it has hired two storage industry veterans as VPs. According to Zadara, it has named Dani Naor as Vice President of International Sales, and appointed Craic Carl as Vice President of PRoduct Management. Naor was previously at XtremeIO, which had recently been acquired by EMC, and also has served at StoreAge.

Web 147

Web Services Sales Product 147

socalTECH

JUNE 17, 2014

'Los Angeles-based streaming music service Earbits , which had focused on music discovery and listening to independent artists and labels, has officially shut down, shutting down its service on Monday. According to a post from founder and CEO, Joey Flores, Earbits needed a "lot more capital" to pursue its mission, and that it "bit off more" than the company could chew.

Content 147

Content Los Angeles Services Capital 147

socalTECH

JUNE 17, 2014

'Santa Monica-based secure messaging services provider TigerText , which is led by Brad Brooks, announced a big win this morning with Boston Children''s Hospital. TigerText said that the pediatric center has selected TIgerText as its secure messaging provider. Financial impact of the win was not announced. TigerText develops secure messaging services, which enable hospitals and others to remain compliant with HIPAA privacy laws while still having the ability to share and send SMS-like messages.

Santa Monica 147

Santa Monica Services Develop Development 147

socalTECH

JUNE 16, 2014

'Carpinteria-based online learning and video education site lynda.com said Tuesday that the company has updated its iOS application, completely re-designing the mobile app for the latest features of the operating system. The company also said it has added Google Chromecast support on its Android version of its mobile app. lynda.com said the new iOS app includes resizing to different size screens, offline course and video viewing, and other features.

Course 147

Course Education Screening Mobile 147

socalTECH

JUNE 16, 2014

'Venice-based Snapchat said late last week that it has settled with the state of Maryland, over issues with how the company advertised its services. According to the state attorney general, Snapchat had misled consumers that its snaps were only temporary and would disappear after being viewed by recipients. The settlement is similar to one that Snapchat recently agreed to with the Federal Trade Commission.

Snapchat 147

Snapchat Venice Advertising Services 147

socalTECH

JUNE 16, 2014

'San Diego-based Novatel Wireless announced a major, executive shakeup late Friday, saying that it has named Alex Mashinsky Interim Chief Executive Officer, and has launched a search for a new CEO. According to the company, it''s current CEO, Peter Laparulo, will continue to serve on the board. In addition, the company said it has promoted Slim Soussi, CTO of the company, to President and Chief Operating Officer.

San Diego 147

San Diego Invest Help Company 147