Monday, February 27, 2012XCOR Aerospace Raises $5MMojave-based XCOR, which is developing reusable, rocket powered vehicles aimed at the commercial space market, said Monday that it has raised $5M in an equity round of funding. The funding came from Silicon Valley angels Esther Dyson, Pete Ricketts (co-owner of the Chicago Cubs), Stephen Fleming (foermly of ATV Partners), along with others. As part of the funding, the company said that Dyson, Fleming, and Dr. Lee Valentine of the Space Studies Institute have all joined the company's board. XCOR, (More info...)
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Foundstone's George Kurtz Raises $26M For Security SoftwareGeorge Kurtz, the former founder of Irvine-based Foundstone, and most recently the CTO of McAfee, said last week that he's raised $26M for a new startup, CrowdStrike. The stealth mode firm said it is looking to help enterprises and governments protect their most sensitive intellectual property and national security information. The new funding comes from Warburg Pincus, the private equity firm where Kurtz had been serving as Entrepreneur in Residence. Crowdstrike's co-founders include Kurtz, Dmi (More info...)
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Total Immersion Targets Game DevelopersLos Angeles-based Total Immersion, the developer of augmented reality technology, is looking to apply its technology to the game development market, the firm said Monday. According to the firm, it is enabling game developers using game tools from Unity Technologies to use its augmented reality platform on both Apple iOS and Windows. The beta release of D-Fusion for Unity is aimed at allowing game developers to allow users to interact with real-world objects, to incorporate them into games. Total (More info...)
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Entropic Buys Trident Microsystems' Set Top Box Operations For $65MSan Diego-based Entropic Communications reported this morning that it has been selected as the successful bidder to acquire the set-top-box assets of Trident Microsystems. Entropic, which makes semiconductors for the connected home market, said it will acquire Trident's system-on-a-chip (SoC), set-top-box (STB) assets for $65M. The firm said the deal is subject to approval from the United States Bankruptcy court for the District of Delaware. As part of the acquisition, Entropic said it expects t (More info...)
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Interview with Jonathan Shokrian and Barak Diskin, MeUndiesEarlier this month, Los Angeles-based MeUndies, debuted its subscription, e-commerce service for underwear and other basics. The firm is one of the companies which has recently emerged from Science, Inc., the digital studio/accelerator headed by former MySpace CEO Mike Jones. We caught up with Jonathan Shokrian and Barak Diskin, the founders of MeUndies, to hear more about what they're up to:
What is MeUndies?
Jonathan Shokrian: MeUndies is an apparel basics company, which manufactures our (More info...)
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Luxtera Adds $21.7MCarlsbad-based Luxtera, which develops silicon CMOS photonic semiconductors, announced this morning that it has raised $21.7M in a Series C funding round. The round came from current investors NEA, August Capital, Sevin Rosen, Funds, and Lux Capital, along with new investor Tokyo Electron. The firm said the funding will go towards supporting design win opportunities for the company. As part of the funding, Martin Colombatto, former CEO and president of Staccato Communications, has joined the com (More info...)
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Meteor Entertainment Raises $10MMeteor Entertainment, a developer of a downloadable, online shooting game called Hawken, has raised $10M in funding, according to reports. Source of the funding included Benchmark Capital and FirstMark Capital. Hawken is being developed by Alhambra-based game studio Adhesive Games. The funding was led by former JAMDAT founder Mitch Lasky, who is now at Benchmark.
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Punchcard Raises $1MPasadena-based Punchcard, the newly launched startup developing mobile, loyalty programs for retailers, said this morning that it has raised $1M from Idealab. Punchcard, which is headed by Andy Steuer, offers up iPhone and Android apps which reward users for visiting local businesses. The firm has initially launched in Southern California, saying it is providing local visitors with rewards for visiting more than 147,000 local businesses in the region. Punchcard's app allows users to take photos (More info...)
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OpenX Buys LiftDNAPasadena-based OpenX Technologies, the developer of Internet ad serving technology, announced this morning that it has acquired LiftDNA, a provider of yield optimization software for online publishers. Financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. OpenX said it has already integrated LiftDNA's products into its products, and announced LiftDNA by OpenX will be available immediately. LIftDNA's software works with ad servers to optimize the ads displayed from ad networks. OpenX is venture (More info...)
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Teledyne Acquires Interconnect Firm VariSystemsThousand Oaks-based Teledyne Technologies said this morning that it has acquired VariSystems, a Canadian supplier of custom harsh environment interconnects, used in the oil and gas industry. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. VariSystems is headquartered in Calgary, Alberta, and had sales of CAD $27.5M in its fiscal year ended May 31, 2011. Teledyne said the acquired company becomes Teledyne VariSystems. VariSystem's interconnects and cable assemblies are used in the energy, mining, (More info...)
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Nirvanix Snags HP, Lefthand VetSan Diego-based Nirvanix, the developer of cloud storage services, said this morning that it has named former HP-LeftHand vet Dave Barr as its Vice President of Cloud Storage Engineering. Barr had headed up HP's 130-strong, LeftHand engineering organization. Barr had joined HP as part of that firm's acquisition of LeftHand in October of 2008; he has also served at Spectra Logic, Phoenix Technologies, NCR and Marconi Instruments. Nirvanix is a provider of cloud-based storage services.
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Vitesse Announces New FTTH, 40G/100G ChipsCamarillo-based Vitesse Semiconductor reported today that it has launched two new chips, one aimed at the Fiber-to-the-Home market, the other for 40G/100G networks. Vitesse said its new, PON Pro chipset is aimed at triple-play services and FTTH systems deployment in IP edge networks, and is sampling now. Separately, the firm said it has launched a new laser and modulator driver aimed at the 40G/100G carrier and enterprise networking market. The new device is used by optical network OEMs.
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