socalTECH

NOVEMBER 4, 2009

Santa Barbara-based RingRevenue , the call tracking firm headed by former Callwave CFO Jason Spievak, has inked a deal with online marketing and affiliate firm LinkTrust, the two said today. RingRevenue is venture backed by Great Pacific Capital, GRP Partners, and Rincon Venture Partners. READ MORE>>.

Marketing 189

Marketing GRP Partners Santa Barbara Networking 189

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 7, 2013

Gradient X , the online mobile marketing and advertising technology developer backed by GRP Partners, Rincon Venture Partners, Crosscut Ventures, Founder Collective, Double M Capital, Baroda Ventures, Siemer Ventures, and others, has snapped up some talent from OpenX with its latest hire. READ MORE>>.

OpenX 223

OpenX CTO Hire GRP Partners CIO 223

socalTECH

JUNE 11, 2012

One of the portfolio companies of Los Angeles-based venture capital firm GRP Partners has filed for an IPO, according to a filing with the SEC late Friday. GRP Partners owns around 10.94 GRP's Yves Sisteron leads the investment in Qualys, and sits on the company's board. The Qualys IPO is being underwritten by J.P.

Trident Capital 140

Trident Capital GRP Partners Venture Capital Los Angeles 140

socalTECH

JUNE 27, 2013

Santa Monica-based Gradient X , the programmatic mobile advertising startup backed by GRP Partners, Rincon Venture Partners, Crosscut Ventures, Founder Collective, Double M Capital, Baroda Ventures, Siemer Ventures, Walter Kortschak (Summit Capital), and Mark Suster, said today that it has exited its beta. READ MORE>>.

GRP Partners 168

GRP Partners OpenX Santa Monica Advertising 168

socalTECH

APRIL 29, 2011

Santa Barbara-based RingRevenue , the developer of pay-per-call technology for the affiliate marketing industry, told its customers Friday that it has moved into a new space on East Figueroa Street in Santa Barbara. RingRevenue is backed by GRP Partners and Rincon Venture Partners. READ MORE>>.

Santa Barbara 203

Santa Barbara GRP Partners Marketing Customer 203

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 27, 2013

Launchpad LA , the startup accelerator based in Santa Monica, is bolstering its team today, saying it has added Jamie Kantrowitz as an additional partner at the accelerator. Katrowitz was previously co-founder at Gobbler, and also served as VP of Marketing at MySpace.

GRP Partners 168

GRP Partners Santa Monica Class Incubator 168

socalTECH

JANUARY 30, 2012

Los Angeles-based Topspin Media , which develops tools to help musicians market themselves online, has released a new set of analytics tools today, called Topspin Sharealytics. Topspin said the new set of features will allow artists to track the spread of their marketing widgets on Facebook and Twitter, track signups, and more.

GRP Partners 160

GRP Partners Services Los Angeles Tool 160

socalTECH

NOVEMBER 5, 2012

The company--which provides call tracking technology for the affiliate marketing industry--said in the filing that the funds would be used for working capital. Investors in the round have not yet been announced, however, the firm has raised funding in the past from Great Pacific Capital, GRP Partners, and Rincon Venture Partners.

GRP Partners 170

GRP Partners Santa Barbara Capital Funding 170

socalTECH

JANUARY 10, 2012

Santa Barbara-based RinvRevenue , the provider of pay-per-call marketing technology, said today that it has partnered with mobile ad network firm Tapjoy. Tapjoy is backed by J.P.Morgan Asset Management, Rho Ventures, North Bridge Venture Partners, InterWest Partners, and D.E. Shaw Ventures. READ MORE>>.

Mobile 182

Mobile Networking GRP Partners Santa Barbara 182

socalTECH

JULY 31, 2013

The startup, which is backed by Upfront Ventures (which also just went through a renaming effort, from GRP Partners), did not say exactly why it decided to rename itself. As part of the rebranding, the company said it has named Stephanie Grossman as SVP, Business Development, Sales and Marketing.

GRP Partners 168

GRP Partners Santa Monica Advertising Startup 168

socalTECH

MAY 1, 2012

Santa Barbara-based RingRevenue , the provider of pay-per-call technology used by affiliate marketers to track conversions, looks to be in growth mode, with the firm nearly doubling its staff over the last four months. RingRevenue is backed by GRP Partners and Rincon Venture Partners. READ MORE>>.

GRP Partners 170

GRP Partners Santa Barbara Marketing Technology 170

socalTECH

JULY 15, 2010

Los Angeles-based venture firm GRP Partners is backing a prepaid card firm, Wave Crest Holdings Limited , based in Gibraltar. in a Series B funding round led by GRP Partners, which also included Park Ventures. As part of the funding, Brian McLoughlin of GRP Partners joins the firm's board of directors.

GRP Partners 140

GRP Partners Monrovia Venture Capital Los Angeles 140

socalTECH

NOVEMBER 8, 2012

A Silicon Valley startup is looking to take on Pop Up Pantry in its home market of Los Angeles, saying today that it has raised a funding round which will go towards expanding in Los Angeles, as well as Seattle and New York City. READ MORE>>.

GRP Partners 208

GRP Partners Los Angeles Course Services 208

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 15, 2011

Santa Barbara-based RingRevenue , which provides pay-per-call tracking technology, has partnered with marketing and lead generation firm DoublePositive Marketing Group , the firms said today. RingRevenue is backed by GRP Partners and Rincon Venture Partners, and is led by Jason Spievak. READ MORE>>.

GRP Partners 154

GRP Partners Santa Barbara Education Advertising 154

socalTECH

MARCH 22, 2011

The firm said companies like Progrexion Marketing--which markets the credit repair product Lexington Law--has been seeing success with pay-per-call using its products. RingRevenue is venture backed by GRP Partners and Rincon Venture Partners. READ MORE>>.

Services 189

Services GRP Partners Santa Barbara Technical Review 189

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 7, 2013

The round was led by GRP Partners, and also included angels such as Dave McClure, Dave Tisch, Ben Smith (Merchant Circle), Brian Lee (ShoeDazzle, LegalZoom), Jason Calacanis, Evan Rifkin, Jennifer Lum, and Jay Weintraub. MyTime is led by Ethan Anderson, whose last firm, Redbeacon, had been acquired by Home Depot.

Services 229

Services Funding GRP Partners Legalzoom 229

socalTECH

OCTOBER 11, 2010

Los Angeles-based venture capital firm GRP Partners --which has been very active in the local technology startup market--has made its latest investment, in an interesting industry: mortgage lending. GRP is the lead investor in Skyline Financial , a Calabasas-based provider of mortgage banking and lending.

GRP Partners 160

GRP Partners Calabasas Venture Capital Invest 160

InfoChachkie

JULY 14, 2011

Value Prop Twitter Style : “Ringrevenue’s call performance marketing platform enables ad networks, agencies, advertisers & publishers to generate more inbound sales calls.”. In today’s market, so much focus is placed on transacting business online. 10) Rob, why does the world need RingRevenue? . “In

Marketing 209

Marketing Advertising Paid Search Startup 209

socalTECH

NOVEMBER 30, 2010

Santa Barbara-based RingRevenue , the provider of pay-per-call, performance marketing technology run by Jason Spievak, said this morning that it has closed on $4M more in a new round of funding. The round was led by GRP Partners and Rincon Venture Partners, and brings the total raised by the company to $7.5M. READ MORE>>.

GRP Partners 154

GRP Partners Santa Barbara Custom Development Sales 154

socalTECH

JUNE 4, 2010

investment from Rincon Venture Partners and GRP Partners. Burstly is developing a free ad management platform for the mobile phone market, and specifically the iPhone and Android operating systems. Size of the additional investment was not disclosed. Burstly recently announced a $1.8M READ MORE>>.

GRP Partners 169

GRP Partners Venture Capital Mobile Advertising 169

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 12, 2013

It is with great pleasure that I can finally announce that we have added Greg Bettinelli as a partner at GRP Partners. He shared tons of information about how how they were using marketing to quantitatively make marketing decisions at HauteLook and acquire customers for prices that were far cheaper than similar companies.

Venture Capital 360

Venture Capital GRP Partners Startup Invest 360

socalTECH

NOVEMBER 11, 2010

Los Angeles-based DataPop , a new paid search ad management firm started by a pair of Overture/Yahoo Search Marketing veterans, has raised $1.7M The company's technology allows search marketers to automatically create more relevant search ads, which result in a better response rate than a standard generic ad. READ MORE>>.

Yahoo 145

Yahoo Paid Search GRP Partners SoCalTech 145

SoCal Tech Calendar

SEPTEMBER 8, 2010

What does it take for a San Diego company to raise a round of capital in today's market? What is the market environment like for companies, and VCs? Tuesday, September 14, 2010 -- Raising Capital Today. Specific to the software, communications and IT sectors - what is of interest to capital sources. See [link] (more).

Capital 113

Capital Tech Coast Angels GRP Partners Southern California 113

socalTECH

AUGUST 17, 2009

San Diego-based EMN8 , a developer of self-service, restaurant kiosks, said Monday that the firm is in a agreement with IBM, where the two will jointly manufacture, market, and support its products. The company also said they will mutually market EMN8's solutions. EMN8 is backed by GRP Partners, Sid R.

IBM 124

IBM IBM GRP Partners San Diego 124

socalTECH

JANUARY 28, 2010

Santa Barbara-based RingRevenue , the pay-per-call technology firm headed by Jason Spievak, is powering a new direct reponse marketer, As Seen Anywhere , also based in Santa Barbara, the two firms said today. RingRevenue is venture backed by GRP Partners, Rincon Venture Partners, and Great Pacific Capital. READ MORE>>.

Santa Barbara 153

Santa Barbara GRP Partners Social Media Advertising 153

socalTECH

AUGUST 30, 2011

For today's Insights and Opinions piece, we turn again to prolific blogger and local venture capitalist Mark Suster of GRP Partners , for his insights into how a wider experience--beyond the confines of the startup world--can help you as an entrepreneur. It was an enterprise 2.0

Web 2.0 124

Web 2.0 GRP Partners Blogging Web 124

SoCal Tech Calendar

DECEMBER 3, 2010

Early stage investing is booming and we are finally seeing the kind of exits that show signs of a potential IPO market in our future. Thursday, December 9, 2010 -- If the Venture Model is Broken, Whos Funding All These Startups? Dealmaker Media LA. Moderator: Vince Thompson, Middleshift and author of the business bestseller, Ignited.

GRP Partners 100

GRP Partners Clearstone Funding Startup 100

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 17, 2010

Never say never – GRP Partners is actually looking very closely at a company in its A round that is raising a large sum of money. But it’s more atypical for investors located in this market. my firm, GRP Partners, was an investor). I’m sure others have, too. So it’s always a trade-off.

Company 290

Company Companies Technology Startup 290

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 22, 2009

I myself recently covered the topic when I spoke about why GRP Partners invested in Ad.ly. GRP Partners invested in GoTo.com which rebranded as Overture. Let innovation happen and the market decide - I don’t how all of this will end up. If the market rejects in-stream then the market wins.

Advertising 277

Advertising Technical Review GRP Partners Google 277

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 1, 2010

Many (Union Square Ventures, Foundry Group, True Ventures, GRP Partners, Mike Hirshland at Polaris Ventures) do it the right way – we treat it as a normal investment and we don’t have a “options&# strategy with our investment. Tags: Startup Advice Tech Market Analysis VC Industry. Ask their strategy.

Seed Funding 298

Seed Funding Funding Venture Capital GRP Partners 298

socalTECH

NOVEMBER 27, 2012

READ MORE>>.

Services 159

Services GRP Partners Santa Monica Incubator 159

socalTECH

JULY 8, 2013

Gradient X is backed by Rincon Venture Partners, GRP Partners (now Upfront Ventures), CrossCut Ventures, Founder Collective, Siemer Ventures, Baroda Ventures, and Double M Partners. There are lots of players in this market, why you are different? Is that due to your prior experience in this market?

Advertising 253

Advertising Mobile OpenX Software Review 253

socalTECH

APRIL 18, 2012

Mark Suster, a venture capitalist at GRP Partners, and frequent blogger and host of This Week In Venture Capital, added his own thoughts, which we're reprinting here (with his permission). I kind of think LA is just LA and doesn't need some clever marketing term. Brad Feld visited Los Angeles this past week. That's OK with me.

GRP Partners 147

GRP Partners Startup Blogging Los Angeles 147

Tech Zulu Event

JANUARY 21, 2013

Funds were contributed by returning investor GRP Partners along with Double M Capitol, Karlin Ventures, LaunchPad LA and Daher Capitol, all local investors. Additional marketing support is available for email lists, promotions and custom collateral. ChowNow came out of incubator LaunchPad LA.

GRP Partners 73

GRP Partners Email Incubator Platform 73

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 12, 2013

Todd Gitlin is one of the best executive recruiters the technology & startup market in Los Angeles. On many occasions over the years I’ve called him with a request, “I’m not looking for an X right now but if I were, who is good in the market.” He’s been such a consistent giver over the years.

Venture Capital 407

Venture Capital Press GRP Partners Blogging 407

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 27, 2013

Perhaps the biggest piece of new news is that after 17 years of operations we’ve changed our name from GRP Partners to Upfront Ventures. We also run annual CEO summits and topical discussions groups in marketing, technology, recruiting and the like. What’s up with that? And there’s much more of this to come.

Funding 343

Funding Santa Monica Venture Capital Startup 343

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 7, 2013

I’m super excited to announce that GRP Partners led the investment in Ethan Anderson’s new company MyTime (link has LA-based merchants but will give you a good feel for the product). And we wanted a head of global marketing. Let me not bury the lede. With a benefit to both consumers and merchants.

CTO Coach 359

CTO Coach Google CTO Hire GRP Partners 359