Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 14, 2015

Today Twitter announced it had laid off around 336 jobs or 8% of its workforce. Nobody should celebrate, cheer or shout, “it’s about time.” This is about 336 people whose lives are altered and need to begin looking for work, saying goodbye to friends & colleagues and go on that journey of transition that most people dread. I wish all of them well and feel confident that anybody employed at one of the most innovative companies of the past 10 years will land on his or her fe

Venture Capital 311

Venture Capital Slides Capital Funding 311

Berkonomics

OCTOBER 15, 2015

Let me tell you a few short hair-raising stories of entrepreneurs who have raised money and regretted it later. Here are some rules that entrepreneurs almost always ignore to their future peril. Don’t take money from relatives who can’t afford to walk away without remorse. Do take money from experienced family members only after you ask them if they are sure three or more separate times.

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Startup Invest Course Entrepreneur 241

InfoChachkie

OCTOBER 12, 2015

A version of this article previously appeared in Forbes. On a micro level, you can do your part to fix tech's gender problem by recruiting people with diverse backgrounds and place them in a company culture that rewards those who challenge the status quo. Like all important social movements, the change begins with you. If you haven't already subscribed yet, subscribe now for free weekly JohnGreathouse.com articles!

Company 191

Company Companies Santa Barbara Education 191

socalTECH

OCTOBER 12, 2015

Calabasas-based Ixia said this morning that it is expanding out its lineup of products for the cybersecurity market, with a new product called ThreatARMOR. According to the company, the new product is aimed at enterprise networks, and specifically blocks known bad traffic from malicious IPs, hijacked IPs, and unassigned or unused IP spaces and addresses, all at line speed.

Networking 175

Networking Product IP Calabasas 175

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

TechCrunch LA

OCTOBER 10, 2015

L.A. tech has clearly hit its growth inflection point, but the City of Angels has yet to get its startup wings. Here’s the good news: In 2014 alone, we raised more than $3 billion, saw more than $5 billion realized capital across over 80 exits and became the fastest growing startup region in the U.S. Read More.

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Los Angeles Angel News Capital 100

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 16, 2015

Every new business dreams of becoming the premier brand in their space, like Starbucks is to coffee, and Apple is to consumer electronics, but they have no idea how difficult that is to achieve. In fact, only 100 of the 10,000 multimillion-dollar consumer companies around the world can claim to be an “apostle brand” – one that inspires enduring trust, loyalty, and endorsement.

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Startup Customer Custom Social Media 104

socalTECH

OCTOBER 15, 2015

Santa Barbara-based Ice Energy , the developer of energy storage devices which use ice to offload electric grids of peak loads, said Wednesday that it has launched a new, bundled solution which combines both its energy storage and photovoltaic solar energy. According to the company, it has created a Solar + Ice bundle, which uses rooftop solar PV and its Ice Bear thermal energy storage products, to help utilities with their clean energy efforts.

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Santa Barbara Demand Technical Review Product 171

socalTECH

OCTOBER 15, 2015

Two, Southern California companies have made the semi-finalist list for the much-watch Cisco Innovation Grand Challenge competition, which promises to give out $150,000 to a company developing the "next best thing" in the Internet-of-Things area. Cisco said Thursday that San Diego-based CyberFlow Analytics and Los Angeles-based Inston are one of fifteen semifinalists that were selected out of 3,000 participants from 100 countries entering the competition.

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Southern California UCLA San Diego Competition 171

socalTECH

OCTOBER 15, 2015

Southern California has seen another, big venture capital investment quarter, with companies raising $1.46 billion across the region in Q3 of 2015, according to the latest numbers released by the PricewaterhouseCoopers/NVCA MoneyTree survey, based on data from Thomson Reuters. According to the report, which was released this evening, there were 97 deals totaling $1.467 billion across the Southern California region, a rise, dollarwise, over Q3 of 2014, when there was $797.0M in 108 deals.

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Southern California Venture Capital Orange County Flipagram 168

socalTECH

OCTOBER 12, 2015

You might already drive a hybrid electric vehicle, but do you have your office in a hybrid electric buliding? Land and real estate developer The Irvine Company said this morning that it intends to create a "fleet" of hybrid-electric buildings, which all use Tesla Energy's new battery energy storage systems. The Irvine Company said that it will install Tesla's systems across its portfolio, starting with 24 office buildings in Irvie.

Company 168

Company Companies Southern California Startup 168

socalTECH

OCTOBER 13, 2015

A new, Los Angeles-based startup, spun out of UCLA, is in the midst of looking to commercialize a technique developed by researchers at the school to create easily printable supercapacitors--circuits which, in the future, could further shrink the size of mobile electronics. In a detailed report in the IEEE Spectrum, the details on the Micro Super-Capacitor , a laser-etched, graphene device which promises to massively shrink the size of capacitors used on circuit boards to a fraction of their cur

UCLA 167

UCLA Research Los Angeles Mobile 167

socalTECH

OCTOBER 16, 2015

Action camera maker GoPro said late Thursday that it has partnered with the University of Southern California , and the USC School of Cinematic Arts, to bolster its content efforts--and maybe help the company recruit talented students to work for the company. According to GoPro, USC's School of Cinematic Arts is a flagship partner in the GoPro community, and will integrate GoPro into its curriculum, through workshops, mentorship, and donation of cameras and equipment.

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USC Content Southern California Platform 160

socalTECH

OCTOBER 15, 2015

What is the appeal of e-sports; and how is it that investors are now buying their own e-sports teams, just like investors might buy and sell their own, traditional sports teams in soccer, basketball, and football? To get some insight into the growing world and business of e-sports, we caught up with Clinton Foy , a local venture capital investor at Crosscut Ventures in Los Angeles.

Riot Games 149

Riot Games Southern California Invest Startup 149

socalTECH

OCTOBER 14, 2015

Venice, California-based Radical.FM , the Internet radio service led by Thomas McAlevey, is looking to ramp up the sharing of music streams from the service, with a $500 cash prize each week. According to Radical.FM, over the next four weeks, the company will give away $500 a week to users who share their music streams with others using its "RadCasting" feature, either via Facebook or Twitter.

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Venice Services Company Companies 143

socalTECH

OCTOBER 12, 2015

Irvine-based Vubiq Networks , a developer of Gigabit Ethernet, wireless link systems which use the unlicensed 60 Ghz millimeter wave radio band, has launched a new product. According to Vubiq, it has launched its HaulPass V60 Wireless Gigabit Ethernet link, which has a 50 percent in increase in range over its prior product, to 750 meters, and made it easier to install.

Networking 143

Networking Product Mobile Develop 143

socalTECH

OCTOBER 12, 2015

It's not all that often that you hear of a local startup being acquired after only raising less than $1M in funding, because the company was growing so fast, rather than because an idea didn't pan out. That's the story behind Los Angeles-based Kixer (www.kixer.com), which saw a great exit last week as it was acquired by content management software developer Lakana.

Mobile 141

Mobile Startup Content Advertising 141

socalTECH

OCTOBER 16, 2015

Santa Barbara-based Ansible > , a developer of IT automation software, has been acquireed by Red Hat , to help bolster Red Hat's management capabilities for hybrid and OpenStack clouds, and container-based services. Financial terms of the buy were not disclosed, however, reports say the deal was worth around $100M. Ansible was venture backed by Menlo Ventures, and was led by Michael DeHaan.

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Santa Barbara Southern California Acquisition Pasadena 139

socalTECH

OCTOBER 16, 2015

Pasadena-based 17hats , a startup that develops business management software aimed specifically at solo entrepreneurs (solopreneurs), has raised $4M in a Series A funding. The funding was led by Wavemaer Partners, and also included Talmadge O'Neill and Harry Tsao of Mezi Media and Tamim Mourad of PriceGrabber. 17hats is led by Donovan Janus. The startup's software handles everything from booking clients and managing projects, to finances and other administrative processes.

Entrepreneur 139

Entrepreneur Tool Coach Pasadena 139

socalTECH

OCTOBER 14, 2015

Venice, California-based Radical.FM , the Internet radio service led by Thomas McAlevey, is looking to ramp up the sharing of music streams from the service, with a $500 cash prize each week. According to Radical.FM, over the next four weeks, the company will give away $500 a week to users who share their music streams with others using its "RadCasting" feature, either via Facebook or Twitter.

Venice 138

Venice Services Company Companies 138

socalTECH

OCTOBER 12, 2015

San Diego-based Patara Pharma , a biopharmaceuticals company developing treatments for allergic and inflammatory diseases and conditions, said today that it has raised $26M in a Series A funding round. Sourec of the funding was not announced. In addition to the equity funding, Patara said it has also received a loan from Silicon Valley Bank of up to $7M.

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San Diego Equity Funding Develop 138

socalTECH

OCTOBER 14, 2015

Drone aircraft manufacturer Yuneec , which recently set up its U.S. headquarters in Ontario, California, said Tuesday that it has launched a new product, the Typhoon Wizard , which allows users to "point and click" to fly their drones. The company said its new, ultra lightweight drone aircraft lets users fly the drone by simply pointing a handheld controller in the direction a user wants the drone to fly, and clicking some buttons.

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Product Company Companies 135

socalTECH

OCTOBER 14, 2015

San Diego-based DNA sequencing equipment maker Illumina has joined in a new venture funding round for high profile, genetic testing startup 23andMe. 23andMe said this morning that it has raised $115M in a Series E funding round, which was led by Fidelity Management & Research Company, and also included Casdin Capital, WuXi Healthcare Ventures and Xfund, plus Illumina, New Enterprise Associates, MPM Capital, and Google Ventures.

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Funding San Diego Google Research 132

socalTECH

OCTOBER 12, 2015

San Diego-based Qualcomm said this morning that it is selling its Vuforia Internet-of-Things (IoT) business to PTC. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. The two said that PTC will acquire Vuforia and its developer ecosystem. Vuforia develops mobile vision and augmented reality software, and was created at Qualcomm five years ago. READ MORE>>.

San Diego 132

San Diego Mobile Software Develop 132

socalTECH

OCTOBER 16, 2015

Los Angeles-based massage-on-demand app developer Soothe said this week that it is expanding its services to Vancouver, British Columbia. According to the company, it started offering up its services on Thursday in Vancouver, allowing clients to book a same-day massage from licensed massage therapists in their home, office, or hotel room. Soothe says it offers up Swedish, Deep Tissue, or Sports massages to singles or couples in 60-, 90- and 120-minute sessions.

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Demand Startup Los Angeles Services 131

socalTECH

OCTOBER 15, 2015

Los Angeles-based web and cloud hosting service provider Media Temple said Thursday that it has launched a new, shared hosting solution, which is based on its existing shared hosting platform, Grid. According to Media Temple, the new shared hosting offer now offers a managed, shared hosting to its users, available through three different plans: Grid Pro, Grid Agency and Grid Agency+.

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Media Web Design Web Los Angeles 131

socalTECH

OCTOBER 15, 2015

Los Angeles-based startup Service , a new, on-demand startup looking to channel the frustration and anger of customers not happy with their customer service from other companies, has raised $3.1M in a seed funding round, the company said this week. The funding was led by the Founders Fund, and also included Menlo Ventures, Maveron, Eight Ventures, Arena Ventures, Alex Bard, Tikhon Bernstam, Brenden Mulligan and Robin Chan.

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Seed Funding Services Funding Custom 131

socalTECH

OCTOBER 14, 2015

Irvine-based data storage developer Western Digital has been named as one of the companies potentially looking at a deal for flash memory maker SanDisk , according to a report late Tuesday. According to Bloomberg, SanDisk has hired investment bankers to find a buyer for the company. Western Digital--one of several companies potentially looking at SanDisk--reportedly has interest in SanDisk due to the importance of flash memory in a growing, flash-based storage market.

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Report Invest Marketing Develop 131

socalTECH

OCTOBER 14, 2015

San Diego-based renewable energy project developer EDF Renewable Energy said Tuesday that it has put a new wind farm, its Spinning Spur 3 Wind Project, into commercial operation ahead of schedule. The wind farm, located in Texas, is supplying electricity to two, municipal utilities, Georgetown Utility Systems and Garland Power & Light, both in Garland, Texas.

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San Diego Product Develop Development 131

socalTECH

OCTOBER 13, 2015

Los Angeles-based on-demand, dog walking service provider Wag! announced Tuesday that it has expanded into its fourth city nationwide, and is now offering up its services in Seattle. The on-demand startup, which offers real-time GPS tracking of your dogs on a walk, plus videos and photos of that same dog during their walks, said that it is now offering up its services in Seattle, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and New York.

Demand 131

Demand Los Angeles Services Angel 131

socalTECH

OCTOBER 13, 2015

Los Angeles-based FabFitFun , a subscription-based, lifestyle brand focused on women, has raised $3.5M in a first round of funding, the company said this morning. The funding came from New Enterprise Associates and Upfront Ventures, who led the round, along with Rachel Zoe Ventures, 500 Startups, Simon Ventures, Draft Ventures, Josh Kushner, Will Gaybrick, Joe Green, Eytan Elbaz, and Bill Woodward.

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Los Angeles Funding Startup Angel 131

socalTECH

OCTOBER 13, 2015

Aliso Viejo-based semiconductor developer Microsemi said this morning that it has rolled out a portfolio of IP cores, in partnership with security and cryptography provider The Athena Group. According to the two, they have added a portfolio of IP cores which feature side channel analysis (SCA) and differential power analysis (DPA) countermeasures, which are used to ensure the security of cryptographic hardware.

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IP Design Help Develop 131

socalTECH

OCTOBER 13, 2015

City of Industry-based technology retailer NewEgg announced this morning that it has refreshed its mobile site , with a major redesign and new apps for both Android and iOS. According to NewEgg, which sells a wide range of electronics products, the mobile refresh is the "most comprehensive" in its history. The major changes include navigation and search functions, comparison shopping features, and streamlined checkout.

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NewEgg Sites Mobile City of Industry 131

socalTECH

OCTOBER 12, 2015

Santa Monica-based private equity investor Clearlake Capital Group announced htis morning that it is buying Syncsort , a new Jersey-based developer of big data, data migration, and other tools. Financial terms of the acquisition were not anounced by the companies. Syncsort was headquartered in Woodcliff Lake, NJ, and is over 40 years old, but has a significant number of Big Data products based on Apache Hadoop, Splunk, Apache Spark, and the cloud, in addition to software for the IBM z Systems ma

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Capital Santa Monica IBM IBM 131

socalTECH

OCTOBER 13, 2015

Los Angeles-based InvestCloud , a developer of cloud-based software to help investment advisors manage their customer experience and customer service, has raised $45M in a funding round, the company said Tuesday. The funding was led by FTV Capital. Richard Garman of FTV Capital joins the company's board of directors with the investment. InvestCloud said it is focusing on the front- and middle-office operations for global investment advisors, including family offices, pension funds and endowments

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Invest Software Los Angeles Capital 130

socalTECH

OCTOBER 16, 2015

Irvine-based Cie Digital Labs (CDL), which is both a provider of interactive development and technology startup "studio" efforts, said that technology investor Anderee Berengian has acquired a majority stake in the company. Size of the deal was not announced. Berengian is managing partner at RezVen Partners, and was formerly an executive at Overture.

Entrepreneur 125

Entrepreneur Capital Technology Startup 125

socalTECH

OCTOBER 16, 2015

Los Angeles-based Wi-Fi and small cell n etwor operator Boingo Wireless announced Thurday that it has added support for Android 6.0 "Marshmallow" to its 100,000 Passpoint Secure hotspots. Boingo said its Passpoint hotspots make it easy for Boingo users with Android devices to switch between Wi-Fi and cellular networks, by automatically switching between those networks without need for logins or passwords.

Los Angeles 125

Los Angeles Networking Angel 125