INDUSTRY INSIGHTS YOUR PEERS ARE READING
Santa Monica-based cloud-based human capital and resources management software developer Cornerstone OnDemand announced this morning that it has opened up a new office in Utah, where it expects to hire up to 350 people. According to Cornerstone OnDemand, the new, 26,000 square foot office is in Sandy, Utah, which is a suburb of Salt Lake City in an area where the tech industry refers to itself as the "Silicon Slopes". MORE
Stacey Abrams Interviewed by Lisa Borders, CEO of TimesUp This past week Stacey Abrams spoke at The Upfront Summit in a 25-minute talk followed by a breakout town hall discussion. You may know that later today she will deliver the response to The State of the Union speech by the president. MORE
Costa Mesa-based Ice Energy , which develops energy storage technology based on storing energy for air conditioning in the form of ice, has completed the first phase of a big deployment for Southern California Edison (SCE), the company announced on Wednesday. According to Ice Energy, it has installed 100 of its "Ice Bear" units across SCE's service territory, the first stage of a 21.6 MW energy storage contract it has with SCE. The company says the first units have a total capacity of 1.9 MORE
Los Angeles-based shipping and logistics marketplace developer NEXT , fresh off a big, $97M funding round announced last week, said that it has hired Peter Janda as the company's first ever Chief Financial Officer. Janda was most recently CFO at Chef'd, and also has served at such companies as Ingram Micro, Ernst & Young, among other companies. NEXT, which is led by Lydia Yan, raised its latest round of funding from Brookfield Ventures, Sequoia Capital, and GLP. MORE
Need something for the annual music festival at Coachella ? Amazon is looking to cater to the crowd of tech-savvy visitors to the popular festival, and said on Tuesday that it will be offering up its Lockers at on-site locations at Coachella during the two weekends of the festival in April. MORE
Santa Monica-based TrueCar announced late Thursday that it has acquired a 20 percent stake in Accu-Trade , a provider of vehicle apparisal technology. Financial terms of the deal were not annoucned. Accu-Trade, which is based in Manheim, Pennsylvania, and provides a mobile app which offers up vehicle appraisals and valuations for dealers and consumers. MORE
Think you don’t use negotiation most every day of your life? From the time we learn to manipulate our parents from the crib to today, we learn to negotiate to obtain our wants and needs. As we grow, we negotiate constantly with our parents, then with our peers. MORE
Tuesday, February 19, 2019 -- Sharing Ownership. CSULB Beach Incubator. Attorney Rick Citron. Mr. Citron is an attorney and entrepreneur specializing in business law, real estate, and succession planning. With over 40 years of experience in practicing law, Mr. Citron has contributed to the success stories of hundreds of companies, utilizing his experience and the synergy of a carefully nurtured network of professionals. See [link] (more MORE
San Diego-based Radicle Growth , a new, seed-stage investor focused on the agtech and food technology sector, said this morning that it has invested $250,000 in Leaf Agriculture , a pre-seed company developing application programming interfaces (APIs) between agtech products. Radicle Growth said Leaf Agriculture is developing an API product that facilitates fast, easy and secure data transfer between agtech platform partners through a single point of access. MORE
Irvine-based Avetta , a provider of supply chain management software, has merged with another supply chain risk management company, BROWZ , the companies said this week. Avetta is owned by private equity investor Welsh Carson Anderson & Stowe. The combined firm says it has more than 85,000 customers in over 100 countries. Financial terms of the merger were not announced. The combined company will be led by John Herr, the CEO of Avetta. MORE
Fountain Valley-based gaming accessories maker HyperX said this morning that it has become an official sponsor of the Pittsburgh Knights , the esports team that is associated with the Pitssburgh Steelers. According to HyperX, which is the gaming division of Kingston Technology, it will become the "Exclusive Peripherals Sponsors" of the Knights, providing gaming headsets, keyboards, mice, mousepads and internal memory products to the team. Financial details of the arrangement were not announced. MORE
Rivian , a developer of electric powered pickups and SUVs--which has significant operations in Irvine--has raised $700M in a funding round, the company announced Friday morning. The funding was led by Amazon. According to Rivian, its first two vehicles--the R1T and R1S--provide over 400 miles of range, and are expected to be delivered in late 2020. The company is led by founder and CEO RJ Scaringe. MORE
Saturday, February 23, 2019 -- Quantum Computing: From Physics Lab to Applications. Caltech Entrepreneurs Forum. Quantum computing is moving from lab experiments to real devices; but as with other disruptive computing innovations, what will be applications be? Will it be limited to a handful of niche scientific and government uses or will there be broad applications? And what of software platforms will be needed to leverage these devices? MORE
Early stage investors have been arguing over this for years. Do they bet on the entrepreneur (jockey) or the business idea and plan (the horse)? This is serious stuff. MORE
I’ve heard a lot of people question whether there is too much money in venture capital chasing too few great deals. “We’re We’re in a new tech bubble!” some have pronounced. Valuations are out of control” is the mantra of others. MORE
Think you don’t use negotiation most every day of your life? From the time we learn to manipulate our parents from the crib to today, we learn to negotiate to obtain our wants and needs. As we grow, we negotiate constantly with our parents, then with our peers. MORE
Santa Monica-based healthcare communications software developer TigerConnect has inked a partnership with physician scheduling and labor analytics software developer OpenTempo , the two announced today in a deal which will provide closer integration between their tools. Financial details of the deal were not announced. MORE
Seed investments are down by any measure (funds, deals, dollars) over the past 3 years in deals < $1 million AND in deals between $1–5 million. What gives? MORE
TuSimple , a developer of autonomous trucking technology which has offices in San Diego and in China, said on Wednesday that it has raised $95M in a Series D funding round. The funding came from Chinese investors SINA Corp. and Composite Capital. TuSimple says it has now raised a total of $178M. The new funding values the company at $1 billion. The company was founded in 2015. MORE
Los Angeles-based JibJab , which provides animated, personalized greeting cards and other social content, has been acquired by private equity investor Catapult Capital LLC , Catapult Capital announced this morning. Financial terms of the deal were not announced. JibJab's stable of electronic greeting cards allow users to send personalized videos for such things as birthdays, holidays, and other events. MORE
Last week, it was reported by multiple media outlets (see here , and here , and here ) that a group of Israeli scientists had found “a cure for all cancer” and that it could be ready within a year. As a long-time life sciences industry executive my knee-jerk reaction was not “finally!” MORE
Tesla Motors , the electric car-and-solar panel company led by Elon Musk, is acquiring San Diego-based technology developer Maxwell Technologies , in a deal worth approximately $218M, the companies announced on Monday. ACcording to the two, the merger agreement calls for Tesla to pay $4.75 per share for all of the outstanding stock of Maxwell Technologies. Maxwell is publicly traded on the Nasdaq as MXWL. MORE
As you may know we run an annual conference called The Upfront Summit in which we try to bring together the world of investors, entrepreneurs and interesting people from the world of sports, politics, music & film. MORE
Virgin Galactic and its sister company, The Spaceship Company (TSC), said last week that it has donated a rocket motor to the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum , for the Smithsonian's efforts to create a new gallery focused on commercial space flight. The hybrid rocket motor was used on SpaceShipTwo, VSS Unity last year. The rocket motor was designed and built by TSC. The 3,000 pound motor is what is used to send Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo spacecraft into space. MORE
Santa Monica-based venture investor March Capital Partners (www.marchcp.com) announced last week that it has raised a second fund, worth $300M. To learn about the new fund, we sat down with Jamie Montgomery , one of the fund's co-founders, to hear about March Capital's strategy and the new fund. Tell us a little bit about the new fund? Jamie Montgomery: It's interesting, as you grow, you get bigger and more focused. We found out what we're really good at, and we're drilling into those areas. MORE
Chris Lorenz, Geoffrey Anderson, and James Borow may have spent their days over the past few years working at Snap, but on nights and weekends Anderson and Lorenz were laboring on a different project — improving Ethereum development tools. . MORE
Nuro , a self-driving, delivery robot developer backed by Los Angeles-based venture investor Greylock Partners, has raised a huge, $940M funding round from SoftBank Vision Fund, the company said on Monday. Nuro said the new funding brings its total raised to more than $1 billion. Other investors in Nuro include Greylock Partners and Gaorong Capital. MORE
Early stage investors have been arguing over this for years. Do they bet on the entrepreneur (jockey) or the business idea and plan (the horse)? This is serious stuff. MORE
With the help of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab, the U.S. Air Force, Lockheed Martin, Maxar Technologies, SAIC and the Israel Aerospace Industries company, Techstars and Starburst Aerospace are launching an accelerator focused on the space industry in Los Angeles. MORE
Santa Monica-based TigerConnect , the developer of healthcare communications software, has rolled out a new set of products and product enhancements, all aimed at communications between healthcare providers, patients, and health systems. According to the company, it has rolled out a new product called TigerTouch, which it says allows health systems to communicate directly with patients through video, voice, and text. MORE
Too many people treat pet adoption like a one-night stand. You look at a dog, and see his eyes, and think he’s cute,” says Tama Lundquist, co-president of Houston PetSet, an organization that works with about 70 animal shelters in the Houston area. MORE
TechCrunch LA
FEBRUARY 12, 2019
With the help of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab, the U.S. Air Force, Lockheed Martin, Maxar Technologies, SAIC and the Israel Aerospace Industries company, Techstars and Starburst Aerospace are launching an accelerator focused on the space industry in Los Angeles.
Both Sides of the Table
FEBRUARY 12, 2019
Seed investments are down by any measure (funds, deals, dollars) over the past 3 years in deals < $1 million AND in deals between $1–5 million. What gives?
Berkonomics
FEBRUARY 14, 2019
Early stage investors have been arguing over this for years. Do they bet on the entrepreneur (jockey) or the business idea and plan (the horse)? This is serious stuff.
socalTECH
FEBRUARY 5, 2019
Santa Monica-based venture investor March Capital Partners (www.marchcp.com) announced last week that it has raised a second fund, worth $300M. To learn about the new fund, we sat down with Jamie Montgomery , one of the fund's co-founders, to hear about March Capital's strategy and the new fund. Tell us a little bit about the new fund? Jamie Montgomery: It's interesting, as you grow, you get bigger and more focused. We found out what we're really good at, and we're drilling into those areas.
SoCal Tech Calendar
FEBRUARY 17, 2019
Saturday, February 23, 2019 -- Quantum Computing: From Physics Lab to Applications. Caltech Entrepreneurs Forum. Quantum computing is moving from lab experiments to real devices; but as with other disruptive computing innovations, what will be applications be? Will it be limited to a handful of niche scientific and government uses or will there be broad applications? And what of software platforms will be needed to leverage these devices?
Xconomy
FEBRUARY 14, 2019
Too many people treat pet adoption like a one-night stand. You look at a dog, and see his eyes, and think he’s cute,” says Tama Lundquist, co-president of Houston PetSet, an organization that works with about 70 animal shelters in the Houston area.
Southern California Tech Central brings together the best content for technical professionals in Southern California from the widest variety of industry thought leaders.
Both Sides of the Table
FEBRUARY 6, 2019
I’ve heard a lot of people question whether there is too much money in venture capital chasing too few great deals. “We’re We’re in a new tech bubble!” some have pronounced. Valuations are out of control” is the mantra of others.
Berkonomics
FEBRUARY 14, 2019
Early stage investors have been arguing over this for years. Do they bet on the entrepreneur (jockey) or the business idea and plan (the horse)? This is serious stuff.
socalTECH
FEBRUARY 15, 2019
Rivian , a developer of electric powered pickups and SUVs--which has significant operations in Irvine--has raised $700M in a funding round, the company announced Friday morning. The funding was led by Amazon. According to Rivian, its first two vehicles--the R1T and R1S--provide over 400 miles of range, and are expected to be delivered in late 2020. The company is led by founder and CEO RJ Scaringe.
SoCal Tech Calendar
FEBRUARY 15, 2019
Tuesday, February 19, 2019 -- Sharing Ownership. CSULB Beach Incubator. Attorney Rick Citron. Mr. Citron is an attorney and entrepreneur specializing in business law, real estate, and succession planning. With over 40 years of experience in practicing law, Mr. Citron has contributed to the success stories of hundreds of companies, utilizing his experience and the synergy of a carefully nurtured network of professionals. See [link] (more
Xconomy
FEBRUARY 4, 2019
Last week, it was reported by multiple media outlets (see here , and here , and here ) that a group of Israeli scientists had found “a cure for all cancer” and that it could be ready within a year. As a long-time life sciences industry executive my knee-jerk reaction was not “finally!”
Berkonomics
FEBRUARY 7, 2019
Think you don’t use negotiation most every day of your life? From the time we learn to manipulate our parents from the crib to today, we learn to negotiate to obtain our wants and needs. As we grow, we negotiate constantly with our parents, then with our peers.
Berkonomics
FEBRUARY 7, 2019
Think you don’t use negotiation most every day of your life? From the time we learn to manipulate our parents from the crib to today, we learn to negotiate to obtain our wants and needs. As we grow, we negotiate constantly with our parents, then with our peers.
Both Sides of the Table
FEBRUARY 5, 2019
Stacey Abrams Interviewed by Lisa Borders, CEO of TimesUp This past week Stacey Abrams spoke at The Upfront Summit in a 25-minute talk followed by a breakout town hall discussion. You may know that later today she will deliver the response to The State of the Union speech by the president.
Both Sides of the Table
FEBRUARY 8, 2019
As you may know we run an annual conference called The Upfront Summit in which we try to bring together the world of investors, entrepreneurs and interesting people from the world of sports, politics, music & film.
socalTECH
FEBRUARY 15, 2019
Irvine-based Avetta , a provider of supply chain management software, has merged with another supply chain risk management company, BROWZ , the companies said this week. Avetta is owned by private equity investor Welsh Carson Anderson & Stowe. The combined firm says it has more than 85,000 customers in over 100 countries. Financial terms of the merger were not announced. The combined company will be led by John Herr, the CEO of Avetta.
socalTECH
FEBRUARY 15, 2019
Santa Monica-based TrueCar announced late Thursday that it has acquired a 20 percent stake in Accu-Trade , a provider of vehicle apparisal technology. Financial terms of the deal were not annoucned. Accu-Trade, which is based in Manheim, Pennsylvania, and provides a mobile app which offers up vehicle appraisals and valuations for dealers and consumers.
socalTECH
FEBRUARY 13, 2019
TuSimple , a developer of autonomous trucking technology which has offices in San Diego and in China, said on Wednesday that it has raised $95M in a Series D funding round. The funding came from Chinese investors SINA Corp. and Composite Capital. TuSimple says it has now raised a total of $178M. The new funding values the company at $1 billion. The company was founded in 2015.
socalTECH
FEBRUARY 13, 2019
Santa Monica-based healthcare communications software developer TigerConnect has inked a partnership with physician scheduling and labor analytics software developer OpenTempo , the two announced today in a deal which will provide closer integration between their tools. Financial details of the deal were not announced.
socalTECH
FEBRUARY 12, 2019
Need something for the annual music festival at Coachella ? Amazon is looking to cater to the crowd of tech-savvy visitors to the popular festival, and said on Tuesday that it will be offering up its Lockers at on-site locations at Coachella during the two weekends of the festival in April.
socalTECH
FEBRUARY 12, 2019
Santa Monica-based TigerConnect , the developer of healthcare communications software, has rolled out a new set of products and product enhancements, all aimed at communications between healthcare providers, patients, and health systems. According to the company, it has rolled out a new product called TigerTouch, which it says allows health systems to communicate directly with patients through video, voice, and text.
socalTECH
FEBRUARY 1, 2019
Los Angeles-based shipping and logistics marketplace developer NEXT , fresh off a big, $97M funding round announced last week, said that it has hired Peter Janda as the company's first ever Chief Financial Officer. Janda was most recently CFO at Chef'd, and also has served at such companies as Ingram Micro, Ernst & Young, among other companies. NEXT, which is led by Lydia Yan, raised its latest round of funding from Brookfield Ventures, Sequoia Capital, and GLP.
socalTECH
FEBRUARY 11, 2019
Nuro , a self-driving, delivery robot developer backed by Los Angeles-based venture investor Greylock Partners, has raised a huge, $940M funding round from SoftBank Vision Fund, the company said on Monday. Nuro said the new funding brings its total raised to more than $1 billion. Other investors in Nuro include Greylock Partners and Gaorong Capital.
socalTECH
FEBRUARY 11, 2019
Fountain Valley-based gaming accessories maker HyperX said this morning that it has become an official sponsor of the Pittsburgh Knights , the esports team that is associated with the Pitssburgh Steelers. According to HyperX, which is the gaming division of Kingston Technology, it will become the "Exclusive Peripherals Sponsors" of the Knights, providing gaming headsets, keyboards, mice, mousepads and internal memory products to the team. Financial details of the arrangement were not announced.
socalTECH
FEBRUARY 11, 2019
Virgin Galactic and its sister company, The Spaceship Company (TSC), said last week that it has donated a rocket motor to the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum , for the Smithsonian's efforts to create a new gallery focused on commercial space flight. The hybrid rocket motor was used on SpaceShipTwo, VSS Unity last year. The rocket motor was designed and built by TSC. The 3,000 pound motor is what is used to send Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo spacecraft into space.
socalTECH
FEBRUARY 13, 2019
Los Angeles-based JibJab , which provides animated, personalized greeting cards and other social content, has been acquired by private equity investor Catapult Capital LLC , Catapult Capital announced this morning. Financial terms of the deal were not announced. JibJab's stable of electronic greeting cards allow users to send personalized videos for such things as birthdays, holidays, and other events.
socalTECH
FEBRUARY 13, 2019
Santa Monica-based cloud-based human capital and resources management software developer Cornerstone OnDemand announced this morning that it has opened up a new office in Utah, where it expects to hire up to 350 people. According to Cornerstone OnDemand, the new, 26,000 square foot office is in Sandy, Utah, which is a suburb of Salt Lake City in an area where the tech industry refers to itself as the "Silicon Slopes".
socalTECH
FEBRUARY 6, 2019
Costa Mesa-based Ice Energy , which develops energy storage technology based on storing energy for air conditioning in the form of ice, has completed the first phase of a big deployment for Southern California Edison (SCE), the company announced on Wednesday. According to Ice Energy, it has installed 100 of its "Ice Bear" units across SCE's service territory, the first stage of a 21.6 MW energy storage contract it has with SCE. The company says the first units have a total capacity of 1.9
socalTECH
FEBRUARY 6, 2019
San Diego-based Radicle Growth , a new, seed-stage investor focused on the agtech and food technology sector, said this morning that it has invested $250,000 in Leaf Agriculture , a pre-seed company developing application programming interfaces (APIs) between agtech products. Radicle Growth said Leaf Agriculture is developing an API product that facilitates fast, easy and secure data transfer between agtech platform partners through a single point of access.
socalTECH
FEBRUARY 4, 2019
Tesla Motors , the electric car-and-solar panel company led by Elon Musk, is acquiring San Diego-based technology developer Maxwell Technologies , in a deal worth approximately $218M, the companies announced on Monday. ACcording to the two, the merger agreement calls for Tesla to pay $4.75 per share for all of the outstanding stock of Maxwell Technologies. Maxwell is publicly traded on the Nasdaq as MXWL.
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