Sat.Jul 06, 2019 - Fri.Jul 12, 2019

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Nestlé Sells Gut-Health Test Maker Prometheus Labs, Layoffs Expected

Xconomy

Eight years after San Diego biotech Prometheus Laboratories was acquired by Nestlé Health Science , the diagnostic business has been sold again, this time to a little-known biotech called Precision IBD that plans to lay off approximately a quarter of Prometheus’s workforce. Precision IBD, which is also based in San Diego, is a drug and diagnostic developer that’s focused on inflammatory bowl disease, and has a direct tie to Prometheus: Precision’s chief medical officer, Steph Targan, is a

Layoffs 91
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Amazon Seeks To Challenge Starlink, Files With FCC For Satellite Network

socalTECH

Amazon is quickly moving forward on its plans to challenge Hawthorne-based SpaceX in the race to providing high speed Internet across the globe, saying in an FCC filing last week that it hopes to launch 3,236 satellites as part of its own satellite network. According to Amazon, its "Project Kuiper" project would connect tens of millions of people throughout the world.

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Doctours offers packaged medical tourism for U.S. customers

TechCrunch LA

Doctours , a Los Angeles-based online platform for booking trips and treatments for medical and dental care around the world, is expanding its services to 35 countries. Founded by serial travel entrepreneur Katelyn O’Shaughnessy, whose last company TripScope was acquired by Travefy, Doctours aims to connect patients with doctors to receive access to quality, affordable healthcare around the world.

Customer 225
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MomentFeed Chooses New Chief Executive

L.A. Business Journal

Santa Monica-based customer management software developer MomentFeed Inc. appointed Nick Hedges as its new chief executive July 9.

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Can You Ask for Office Rent Relief? How to Manage Your Lease During COVID-19

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.

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Are you a remote manager? A good one?

Berkonomics

Are you a virtual manager? Can you be effective if you are a “virtual” manager, commuting from home or a home office and being with your employees only part time? Measuring your performance. In a virtual environment, people measure you mostly by your actions, and remember only the most recent good work you’ve done for them and for the organization. The typical scenario for a virtual manager.

Email 120
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Bird Expands In Paris, Plans To Hire 1,000 Employees At New Office

socalTECH

Santa Monica-based on-demand scooter company Bird is in an expansion in Europe, and has opened up an office in Paris, with plans to hire up to 1,000 people in the city, according to the company. Bird said that the new office will be its largest European hub, with employees there hadling operations, government partnerships, legal, marketing and communications.

More Trending

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3L Capital Raises $217 Million Fund to Invest in Local Startups

L.A. Business Journal

Westwood-based growth equity investment firm 3L Capital announced July 8 it raised a $217 million equity fund to continue investing in local companies.

Invest 113
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So what's this app called TikTok?

SoCal Tech Calendar

Thursday, July 18, 2019 -- All about TikTok. Startup Coil. Do you know that the team behind its success works in your own backyard? Learn more about the TikTok team, our app, and how short-form vertical videos are changing the content ecosystem through a cross-functional panel of members of the TikTok team. See [link].

Content 100
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Centercode Finds $4M In Ongoing Funding

socalTECH

Laguna Hills-based Centercode , a developer of software used for managing product and customer testing efforts, has raised $4M as part of an ongoing, $6M funding round, according to a regulatory filing by the company this week. Details on the funding have not yet been announced. The funding appears to include Parallax Capital Partners, FTV Capital, and HGGC, among others, with Richard Campbell of Parallax, James Hale of FTV, and Richard White of HGGC sitting on the company's board of directors.

Funding 133
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Future of the Internet: What Scares Networking Pioneer Radia Perlman

Xconomy

[ Editor’s note: This is part of a series examining the internet’s first 50 years and predicting the next half century. Join Xconomy and World Frontiers Forum on July 16 for Net@50 , an event exploring the internet’s past and future. ] Bob Metcalfe co-invented Ethernet, the communications standard still used for most local on-site networking, but Radia Perlman made it work.

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Special Report: Supplier Diversity

L.A. Business Journal

Ensuring contractor diversity on a major infrastructure project used to be straightforward: SEt a goal for the percentage of work that goes to minority-owned or women-owned businesses then find those businesses to encourage them to bid. Now, though, achieving a diverse contract base is a much more roundabout process. Under state law passed in 1996, public agencies are prohibited from showing preferences based on ethnicity or gender in awarding contracts.

Report 100
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El Segundo Tech and Aerospace Networking

SoCal Tech Calendar

Wednesday, July 17, 2019 -- El Segundo Tech and Aerospace Networking @ Smoky Hollow Tasting and Taproom. Join us for South Bay Tech and Aerospace Happy Hour in Hermosa Beach! We are building Aerospace and Tech community in the South Bay. See [link].

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Chatmeter Finds Private Equity Funding

socalTECH

San Diego-based Chatmeter , a provider of local search marketing and reputation management services for multi-location businesses, has raised a round of investment from private equity investor Providence Strategic Growth (PSG). Financial details of the investment were not announced. Providence Strategic Growth is the growth equity fund of Providence Equity Partners.

Equity 133
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7 Wise Leadership Strategies When Smart is Not Enough

Startup Professionals Musings

Most of the entrepreneurs I have met are smart, but many are not always wise. That means they may show great insights into a new technology that has marginal business value, their passion may motivate team members more than customers, or they may allow themselves to be pulled over the ethical line in their success drive. Wise leaders are authentic, timeless, and enduring.

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Silicon Beach Report July 12: Behind the Scenes at Backstage Capital

L.A. Business Journal

Atom Tickets, Goldstar expand local business; Hulu to distribute Tastemade content; Backstage Capital targets the "underestimated"

Capital 100
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Record Exit Value for VC-Backed Startups Could Fuel Investment

Xconomy

More than a third of the companies that went public in the first half of this year were backed by venture capital. That, plus robust merger and acquisition activity, set a record for venture-backed exit value—$165.2 billion in money returned to investors—that’s already topped all other full-year totals, according to the latest VentureMonitor, the quarterly report on venture capital investment complied by the National Venture Capital Association and PitchBook.

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Semtech Gets Design Win In China

socalTECH

Camarillo-based Semtech , which develops analog and mixed signal semiconductors, has scored another design win for its LoRa wireless technology. According to Semtech, Hangzhou Water Meter Co. (HWM), Ltd. has incorporated its LoRa technology into a "smart water metering" product. Shipment volumes and financial impacts of the win were not announced. Semtech's LoRa wireless products allow for the low power transmissions of wireless data, and have become popular with Internet-of-Things (IoT) and oth

Design 124
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6 Keys To Growing Your Career Through The Gig Economy

Startup Professionals Musings

While everyone agrees that the “ gig economy ” is really here, the practical realities, other than not counting on long-term employment, are not so obvious. In my role as a mentor to many business professionals, I still see some who have no idea how to adapt to the new realities. The simple answer is that we all have to start thinking like entrepreneurs, rather than entitled employees.

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NASA Awards SpaceX $50 Million Launch Contract

L.A. Business Journal

NASA awarded Hawthorne-based SpaceX a $50.3 million contract to launch three space telescopes in 2021.

SpaceX 113
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Bio Roundup: Michael Becker, Suzanne Eaton, Gene Therapy Moves & More

Xconomy

The life science and healthcare worlds are vast. We often talk about impact in terms of millions of patients and billions of dollars. But these worlds can be small, too. It seems at times we’re never far removed from any one person, through their published papers, social media connections, friends, colleagues, or people they’ve mentored.

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MomentFeed Names Tech Veteran Nick Hedges As CEO

socalTECH

Santa Monica-based MomentFeed , which develops software that helps national brands keep information on their stores up to date across mapping and mobile services, has named Nick Hedges as CEO of the company, MomentFeed said this morning. Hedges is a longtime Southern California technology veteran, who was most recently President and CEO of Velocify.

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8 Ways To Learn From Your Team And Succeed Together

Startup Professionals Musings

Starting and running a company is a team effort. Yes, it takes a leader (entrepreneur), but you can’t do it alone, without a team. Maybe only you and a co-founder comprise the team at first, to provide key skills, back you up, and test your ideas. As the startup grows, the team has to be able to really push you in making growth decisions, rather than you pulling them along.

Startup 95
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Silicon Beach Report July 10: Snap's Yellow Accelerator Welcomes New Startups

L.A. Business Journal

Yellow accelerator welcomes new startups; Tinder targets Asia expansion; LauncherOne schedules drop test

Startup 100
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Amgen, Novartis BACE Inhibitor Joins List of Failed Alzheimer’s Drugs

Xconomy

Amgen and Novartis are stopping work on an experimental Alzheimer’s disease drug after an early look at clinical data showed worsening cognitive function in patients. The interim results announced Thursday were part of a pre-planned review of data from two pivotal clinical trials testing the drug, umibecestat. Based on that review, Amgen (NASDAQ: AMGN ) and Novartis (NYSE: NVS ) said that they are discontinuing further development of the drug because its potential benefit does not outweigh the r

Develop 82
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3L Capital Raises $217M For New Investments

socalTECH

Los Angeles- and New York-based 3L Capital , a new venture capital investment fund co-founded by former Demand Media CEO Shawn Colo, has raised $217M in a new investment round, the firm said today. The startup investor has already been busy making investments in Los Angeles area startups, and already has investments ChowNow , TYT , SnackNation , along with TheRealReal, 101 Commerce, Wheels, and others.

Invest 124
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10 Challenging Insights From New Venture Innovators

Startup Professionals Musings

Most people agree that entrepreneurs have to think differently and take risks to have much chance of building a successful business. Yet I have found that serious entrepreneurs usually go way beyond these platitudes in their actions and thinking, and often won’t volunteer their real views, for fear of alienating “regular” people, and being branded a fanatic.

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Silicon Beach Report July 9: LA County Health Services Hacked

L.A. Business Journal

WarnerMedia launches HBO Max; Netflix offering more Chinese content; LADHS victim of data breach

Netflix 100
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Why Bob Metcalfe Is an Optimist About the Internet

Xconomy

[ Editor’s note: This is part of a series examining the internet’s first 50 years and predicting the next half century. Join Xconomy and World Frontiers Forum on July 16 for Net@50 , an event exploring the internet’s past and future. ] Right alongside Moore’s Law, which describes the exponential growth in computing power since the 1960s, there’s Metcalfe’s Law, which describes what we’ve done with all that power: namely, use it to connect the world.

.Net 82
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Bird's CEO Attacks Report On Losses, Profitability

socalTECH

The CEO of Santa Monica-based Bird has gone on the offensive, following a report that said the company was seeking $300M and making only around $15M in yearly revenues. In a series of tweets , VanderZanden called the report from The Information "(fake) news" and referred to the site as "DisInformation" and claimed Bird is making $1.75 on every ride on the new Bird Zero scooters, which it says are now 75 percent of its fleet.

Report 113
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How To Ensure Results From All Business Conversations

Startup Professionals Musings

Whether you are trying to motivate your team, close a deal with a customer, or get funding from an investor, a casual conversation is usually a waste of your valuable time. These result is a founder who is always “too busy,” but never seems to get the business done and the team moving. All real business is conversations focused on creating results. Shawn Kent Hayashi, in her classic book “ Conversations That Get Results and Inspire Collaboration ” makes my point very well as she outlines the top

Tips 92
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Silicon Beach Report July 11: Bird Seeks More Cash as Revenue Falls

L.A. Business Journal

LauncherOne test successful; Lions Gate links with TF1; Bird raising additional $300 million

Report 100
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Trump Kills His Administration’s Plan to End Secret Drug Rebates

Xconomy

Donald Trump’s criticism of high drug prices began during the 2016 presidential campaign and continued into his presidency, most famously when he said just before his inauguration that drug companies were “ getting away with murder.” This week has underlined the gap between the administration’s rhetoric and results. Most strikingly, the White House said last night that Trump has killed a high-profile proposal to eliminate drug rebates from government insurance plans, an i

Pricing 81
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MomentFeed Names Chief Marketing Officer

socalTECH

Santa Monica-based MomentFeed , which develops software that helps national brands manage their location-based information, such as information about their network of retail stores, has named Jim D'Arcangelo as its new Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) and Head of Business Development. D'Arcangelo was already serving on MomentFeed's board of directors. MomentFeed said that D'Arcangelo has been working in local marketing for more than 25 years.

Marketing 113
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Why the Internet will be the next (and last) Silicon Valley

StartUp Beat

Headlines will have you believe the Silicon Valley of tomorrow is blossoming in the Midwest , Los Angeles or even Medellin , Colombia. It is exciting to speculate where the next tech center of the world could be, however, as companies rely more on distributed teams, the next Silicon Valley might be less tangible than we think. According to a Twitter conversation between Andreas Klinger , Head of Remote at Angle List and a recent speaker at Running Remote , and Angle List co-founder Naval Ravikan

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Silicon Beach Report July 8: 3L Capital Raises $217 Million

L.A. Business Journal

3L Capital gains $217 million; SpaceX Starlink rivaled by Amazon; BBC invests in Quibi

Capital 100
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How Do YOU Think the Internet Will Evolve? A Sampling of Your Tweets

Xconomy

[ Editor’s note: This is part of a series examining the internet’s first 50 years and predicting the next half century. Join Xconomy and World Frontiers Forum on July 16 for Net@50 , an event exploring the internet’s past and future. ] For my feature article “ Special Report 2069: Predicting the Internet’s Next 50 Years ,” I asked my Twitter followers to share their own predictions.

Sample 69