TechCrunch LA
FEBRUARY 14, 2018
Alongside co-founder and longtime partner Stephan Ango, Jesse Genet has built a business with Lumi that’s already been profitable, and has just raised $9 million in venture funding to boost its growth. Read More.
Both Sides of the Table
FEBRUARY 14, 2018
If you haven’t yet heard about Female Founder Office Hours it is an initiative you should be aware of whether you’re male, female or any other gender identify. The idea is simple enough: several female VC partners at top funds will hold 1-hour meetings with 40 promising female entrepreneurs looking to get advice on their business and pitch in a friendly, non-judgmental, safe environment.
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TechEmpower
FEBRUARY 14, 2018
What better day than Valentine's Day to renew one's vow to create high-performance web applications? Respecting the time of your users is a sure way to earn their love and loyalty. And the perfect start is selecting high-performance platforms and frameworks. Results from Round 15 of the Web Framework Benchmarks project are now available! Round 15 includes results from the physical hardware environment at Server Central.
socalTECH
FEBRUARY 13, 2018
Los Angeles-based parking marketplace Pavemint wants to make parking in Los Angeles like a musical--quite literally. In a promotion for the service, which connects people with parking spaces with LA residents needing a space, Pavemint has rolled out a new music video featuring such film and TV stars as HGTV's Property Brothers Drew and Jonathan Scott, KTLA's Libert Chan, and Cool Runnings' Rawle D.
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.
TechCrunch LA
FEBRUARY 14, 2018
Alongside co-founder and longtime partner Stephan Ango, Jesse Genet has built a business with Lumi that's already been profitable, and has just raised $9 million in venture funding to boost its growth. .
Both Sides of the Table
FEBRUARY 11, 2018
If a picture is worth a thousand words then you already know that Chamillionaire is having a great time with his new startup Convoz. He’s here on stage with Snoop Dogg and they had just dialed in Shaq to record a live video for his platform. It was just announced today on TechCrunch. We’ve known each other for nearly a decade and he’s been a friend, a co-investor in startups and a mentor to many startups with whom I’ve worked.
Southern California Tech Central brings together the best content for technical professionals in Southern California from the widest variety of industry thought leaders.
socalTECH
FEBRUARY 15, 2018
Anyone who someone managed to completely miss the last SpaceX launch in Southern California--the UFO-report-spurring, traffic-stopping launch of a set of satellites in December --might want to get up a little early on Saturday morning, and look to the North and West. SpaceX's launch of a satellite for Spanish satellite firm Hisdesat, as well as a secondary payload containing SpaceX's prototypes for its own Internet communications network, is expected to launch at 6:17 a.m.
InfoChachkie
FEBRUARY 15, 2018
A version of this article previously appeared on Forbes. Have you ever had a couple of drinks, started to feel a mild buzz and wondered if you’re over the legal limit? If you’ve had drinks in a public setting, the answer is likely “Heck yes.”. A Santa Barbara based company, Milo Sensors, is tackling this problem via a wearable that constantly alerts your smartphone of your blood alcohol level.
SoCal Tech Calendar
FEBRUARY 15, 2018
Wednesday, February 21, 2018 -- Silicon Beach Networking Mixer at The Room In Santa Monica (Limited Free Drinks). Wednesday, February 21st Starting at 6pm! Meet new people and participate in lively discussions with outstanding names in the Silicon Beach community. Make sure to bring your business cards and be ready to make awesome connections with people across all industries.
L.A. Business Journal
FEBRUARY 12, 2018
California is facing increasing competition from states and national governments for its video game industry, according to a report scheduled to be released on Feb. 13 by the Milken Institute.
socalTECH
FEBRUARY 14, 2018
Los Angeles-based venture investor Mucker Capital , led by Erik Rannala and William Hsu, has booted up an effort to raise a new fund, Mucker IV, worth $55M, according to a regulatory filing by the firm this week. No details on the new fund have yet been announced by the venture investment firm, which has not yet signed its first limited partner in the new fund, according to the filing.
Tech.Co
FEBRUARY 15, 2018
So you’ve finally got your startup up and running. Endless market research, late nights, more than one launch, bottomless coffee pots, and a grueling seed round have led to this. But as you have probably realized at this point in your startup journey, the learning process is constantly changing as your startup reaches new stages. The next stage after a successful seed round is to start proving that your business model can scale.
SoCal Tech Calendar
FEBRUARY 16, 2018
Tuesday, February 20, 2018 -- LA Fintech Demo Mix Mingle Network. Come mix and mingle with other Financial Technologist's Tues February 20th. Learn about the newest and fastest changes going on in financial technology. Finance is undergoing a massive change some call the "financial paradigm". Laws from 1930-1940 (old right?) are getting broken down with technological innovation in finance.
L.A. Business Journal
FEBRUARY 14, 2018
City of Commerce-based Hollar Inc., operators of an online discount store, recently announced that it had deployed 100 “picker robots” to help with automating fulfillment services at its warehouse.
socalTECH
FEBRUARY 15, 2018
Peter Thiel , the highly visible, and controversial, billionaire investor and venture capitalist who co-founded PayPal, is moving to Los Angeles , according to a report from the WSJ this morning. According to the report, Thiel is moving both his home and personal investment firms to LA, and also is considering resigning from Facebook's board. Thiel bought a house above the Sunset Strip six years ago, the report says, and plans to set up new LA headquarters for Thiel Capital and Thiel Foundation.
Xconomy
FEBRUARY 14, 2018
The FDA has approved the first blood test to help diagnose concussions, clearing a path to the market for a diagnostic that could reduce the use of expensive brain imaging technologies that expose patients to radiation. The approval goes to San Diego diagnostics developer Banyan Biomarkers. The company’s test, called Banyan BTI (short for brain trauma indicator), measures the levels of two proteins that the brain releases into the blood in the hours following a head injury.
Startup Professionals Musings
FEBRUARY 11, 2018
Most small businesses have now forgotten the last recession, and are back to “business as usual.” They don’t realize that business as usual is gone forever. With social media and smart phone apps, real product information spreads at astounding speeds. Entrepreneurs that are not listening, not engaging, and not changing are destined to be left behind even in the best of times.
L.A. Business Journal
FEBRUARY 14, 2018
Electric scooter sharing startup Bird raises $15 million; Snap to provide analytics to top Snapchat creators; and SpaceX hits two milestones in plan for low-latency satellite broadband.
socalTECH
FEBRUARY 15, 2018
Playa Vista-based Hyperloop Transportation Technologies (HTT), the Hyperloop technology developer co-founded by Dirk Ahlborn and Bibop Gresta, said on Thursday that it has signed a study deal to look at routes to connect Cleveland and Chicago with its technology. According to HTT, it signed official agreements with the North Ohio Areawide Coordinating Agency (NOACA) and Illinois' Department of Transportation (IDOT) to begin a feasibility study for the region to connect Cleveland and Chicago.
Xconomy
FEBRUARY 12, 2018
As president-elect, Donald Trump in January 2017 slammed drug companies for “getting away with murder” and said he supported Medicare negotiation. He vowed during last month’s State of the Union speech that drug prices “will come down.” Today, his administration’s fiscal 2019 budget proposal laid out what it calls a “comprehensive” strategy to lower drug prices.
L.A. Business Journal
FEBRUARY 14, 2018
Electric scooter sharing startup Bird announced on Feb. 14 that it raised a $15 million Series A round.
socalTECH
FEBRUARY 15, 2018
Which NBA team is winning, on social media? Los Angeles-based GumGum , the image recognition, computer vision, and advertising technology developer, has rolled out a new service called GumGum Sports Scoreboard , a new tool which helps benchmark and analyze media value generated from NBA team-owned social media accounts. According to GumGum, its tool determined that about 80 percent of total sponsorship value for brand advertising for the NBA comes from Instagram, and that the top teams--at least
Xconomy
FEBRUARY 14, 2018
As the last year has shown, the tech industry has a significant problem with sexual harassment and ensuring that women are treated equitably in the workplace. Now, some founders are seeking to use tech tools such as chatbots, artificial intelligence, analytics, and mobile to help clients remedy those deficiencies. One of those founders is Heather Yanak, a Houston-based attorney who recently co-founded B3ond (pronounced “beyond”), a consultancy that works with companies to assess workplace cultur
L.A. Business Journal
FEBRUARY 13, 2018
Leaf Group raises $23.3 million in secondary offering; online dollar store Hollar contracts with InVia Robotics; and plumbing monitoring company Phyn raises $10 million.
socalTECH
FEBRUARY 15, 2018
Pasadena-based Miso Robotics , the robot developer which is developing robots for assisting in commercial kitchens, has raised $10M in a Series B funding round. The funding was led by Acacia Research Corporation, and also included entertainment and sports hospitality firm Levy, Joseph Essas, the chief technology officer of OpenTable, as well as investors associated with CaliBurger.
Xconomy
FEBRUARY 12, 2018
With the opioid epidemic showing little sign of letting up, new ways of treating chronic pain are desperately needed. But the development of non-addictive, non-opioid pain drugs lags far behind drug R&D for other diseases ( I wrote a few months ago about why that is ), and a report from BIO released today helps quantify just how little the industry is doing in this area, and how rarely they succeed when companies do try.
Startup Professionals Musings
FEBRUARY 14, 2018
Sometimes entrepreneurs are so focused on making change happen for customers that they forget that continually changing themselves and their company is equally important. Some get stuck in a rut and get run over by competitors with new technology, like Eastman Kodak, and others get pushed into a crisis, like Apple did, before they reinvent themselves into a new market.
L.A. Business Journal
FEBRUARY 12, 2018
California facing competition for video game industry; Snapchat’s new update triggers revolt by teens; and Tony Goncalves hired as CEO of Chernin Group and Otter Media.
socalTECH
FEBRUARY 14, 2018
Newport Beach-based patent licensing firm Acacia Research has made its first move into the blockchain and cryptocurrency market, saying this morning that it has made an investment in New York-based Bitzumi. According to Acacia, it invested $1M in equity in Bitzumi in a joint venture, with the option to invest up to an additional $9M in the company. Bitzumi is developing technology for the cryptocurrency and blockchain industries, including a next generation decentralized exchange.
Xconomy
FEBRUARY 12, 2018
With multiple products on the market and many more coming, it’s easy to think that cancer immunotherapy has arrived. In reality, however, we’ve only just begun to figure out how to coax the immune system into killing cancer. That’s why a mad dash is on to expand its reach, and a panel of experts invested in doing so pondered the major issues that lie ahead.
Startup Professionals Musings
FEBRUARY 16, 2018
The market is changing so fast these days, and if you are not planning a solution today for tomorrow’s customers, you may be setting yourself up for failure and don’t even realize it. There are always new competitors who are planning their arrival tomorrow. As an angel investor, I routinely toss business plans that focus too much on today, and don’t talk about tomorrow.
L.A. Business Journal
FEBRUARY 16, 2018
Task management software Workast raises $1.85 million; Snap CEO Evan Spiegel defends Snapchat redesign; and Air Force moves to buy small rocket launch services.
socalTECH
FEBRUARY 14, 2018
Santa Barbara-based FastSpring , which develops e-commerce software for subscription-based software businesses, has been acquired by private equity investor Accel-KKR. According to FastSpring, Accel-KKR has made a majority equity investment in the firm, to provide capital and resources for its technology and go-to-market initiatives. Financial details of the acquisition were not announced.
Xconomy
FEBRUARY 16, 2018
Take a look at this blurb for a session about data privacy at the upcoming RSA conference on cybersecurity. It sounds a polite warning: “The importance of privacy is often alluded to in generalized, value-laden terms that, while sincere, don’t necessarily help privacy be taken seriously in the enterprise risk management process.” That situation is changing radically, with the looming May 25 deadline for enforcement of the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)—a sort of
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