Wednesday, March 21, 2012


New Incubator, Frost Venture Partners, Targets Big Data
Adding another group to the growing list of Southern California startup accelerators and incubators, a new, Orange County incubator, Frost Venture Partners, looks to be gearing up to tackle the "big data" market. The new incubator, headed by Stuart Frost, the founder of DATAllegro, lists five startups in its portfolio of companies. The company describes itself as a "new kind of technology incubator" on its web site, and says it is focused on big data and cloud companies. Frost is well known for (More info...)
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Verve Wireless Raises $7.0M
Encinitas-based Verve Wireless, the developer of mobile publishing software used by newspapers and other local publishers to serve up mobile news and ads, has raised $7.0M as part of an ongoing, $10M funding round, according to a regulatory filing. The first funding in the round was received on February 28th, according to the filing. Source of the new funding has not yet been disclosed. Verve Wireless has previously raised capital from the Associated Press and Iron Capital, and the firm's board (More info...)
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Vantage Media Launches New Educational Marketplace Product
El Segundo-based Vantage Media, the provider of performance-based marketing and advertising services, is expanding the offerings it has in the education market. The firm said it has launched a new, post-secondary school marketplace today, called Vantage Media SchoolSelect. Vantage Media said its new marketplace helps schools to reach prospective students, segmented by geography and area of study interest. Vantage Media provides its pay-for-performance services to brands in the insurance, educati (More info...)
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My Damn Channel Launches Live YouTube Comedy Channel
Los Angeles-based My Damn Channel, the online comedy and video site run by Rob Barnett and Warren Chao, announced this morning that it has launched a new, live comedy channel on YouTube, and also completely redesigned its website. The firm said its new YouTube channel is MY DAMN CHANNEL LIVE, which will feature a new show every weekday at 4PM Eastern. The new live channel, modeled after late night TV, include celebrity guests, live interaction, and premieres of new, original series from the comp (More info...)
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PromoJam Raises $1.2M
Los Angeles-based PromoJam, a developer of enterprise, social marketing tools, has raised $1.2M in a Series A investment, the firm said today. The round was led by Golden Seeds, and also included the Band of Angels. According to the company, the new round will go towards growing its social marketing software, plus expansion of sales and marketing. PromoJam was founded in 2008 by brother and sister Matt and Amanda MacNaughton. The firm's software helps marketers launch and track promotions across (More info...)
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Interview with Paul Bricault, Amplify
If you're looking get your startup off the ground in Los Angeles, it always helps to have help from folks with connections to the venture and angel community. One of the accelerators which recently set up shop in town which does is Amplify, which is headed by Paul Bricault, who runs Amplify and also is a Venture Partner at Greycroft Partners. Bricault was the founder of The Mailroom Fund, which was focused on early stage investments in Southern California digital media, and prior to that spen (More info...)
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Broadcom Buys Broadlight
Irvine-based Broadcom is buying Israeli optical networking firm BroadLight, the company said this morning, in a deal worth $195M in cash. BroadLight develops fiber access PON (Passive Optical Network) processors. Broadcom said the acquisition will help to offer a "complete, end-to-end solution" for its customers in the broadband access area, and specifically for meeting demand for bandwidth for IPTV services, HDTV broadcasting, and high speed Internet access.
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MomentFeed Ties With Retailigence
Santa Monica-based MomentFeed, the startup developing location based analytics software aimed at retailers, said late Tuesday that it has partnered with Retailigence, which provides information on local store inventory to shoppers. MomentFeed, which was founded by Rob Reed, said that the integration between the two will provide retailer with a web-based interface to visualize and analyze data about location-based, product-specific searches on their smartphones. Financial details behind the deal (More info...)
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On Assignment Buys Apex Systems For $600M
Calabasas-based On Assignment, the publicly held provider of temporary staffing services to life science, technology, and healthcare sectors, has made a major acquisition today, saying that it has acquired Apex Systems, an information technology staffing and services firm. The deal is worth $600M, split between $383M in cash and $217M in stock. Apex Systems had 2011 revenues of approximately $700M. On Assignment said it is using the acquisition to bolster its position in the technology and IT st (More info...)
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Semtech Completes Gennum Buy
Camarillo-based Semtech has completed its acquisition of Gennum Corporation, the Canadian developers of optical communications semiconductors, the firm said this morning. Semtech had announced the agreement to purchase Gennum on January 23rd. Semtech said the total purchase price for Gennum was approximately CDN $500M. Genum develops high speed analog and mixed signal semiconductors used for both optical communications and video broadcasting products. Semtech said the buy will broaden its existi (More info...)
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Nuage Raises $500K
Los Angeles-based Nuage, a developer of social business collaboration software, announced this morning that it has raised $500,000 in a funding round. Names of the private investors participating in the funding was not disclosed. The firm said the funding will go towards technology and business development. Nuage is headed by Chris Atkins.
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