Monday, April 21, 2014Report: LA Should Emulate San Francisco, NYC For Startup, Tech EffortsA new report, released over the weekend, says that Los Angeles should look towards New York and San Francisco and what they have done to help strengthen the community here for technology startups. The L.A. Tech Agenda report, edited by David C. Murphy, says that although LA's tech community "is on fire", the community could learn from those other markets, by addressing funding shortages, retaining engineering talent from loca luniversities, building closer ties with the community, and by address (More info...)
posted on Monday, April 21, 2014(Full story)
Taxi Magic Looks To LA Market With Free RidesLook out, Uber--another, smartphone-driven ride service, Taxi Magic, is looking to get into the Los Angeles market, saying that it will offer up free rides to people in Los Angeles who need a ride, starting on Tuesday (April 22nd) and running until Friday, April 25th. According to Ride Charge, the Virginia company behind the Taxi Magic app, everyone in Los Angeles who books a ride with the app for the rest of the week will ride free, as long as they include a special code (TAXIBACK) in their boo (More info...)
posted on Monday, April 21, 2014(Full story)
Beats Music Struggles With Low Subscriber Counts, Says ReportLos Angeles-based Beats Music--the heavily backed, streaming music provider spun out of Beats Electronics--is struggling with its launch, and only has subscriber counts in the "low six figures", according to a report today from Billboard. The report says Beats Music also will face new competition from Spotify, which is rolling out a music partnership with Sprint which challenges Beats' own deal with AT&T.
posted on Monday, April 21, 2014(Full story)
Oversee.net Sells DomainSponsorLos Angeles-based Oversee.net said today that it has sold its DomainSponsor domain monetization business. Financial terms of the sale were not announced. Oversee.net said it sold DomainSponsor to Rook Media, a European domain monetization company based in Zurich. Oversee.net said the move would allow it to focus on "more aggressively" developing its portfolio of web properties and mobile applications--and in particular, the many branded websites the company now owns in the areas of travel, consu (More info...)
posted on Monday, April 21, 2014(Full story)
LaunchpadLA Grad Preact Raises $4.6MPreact, a developer of software to help software companies reduce churn in their subscription customers which came out of Los Angeles-based startup incubator/accelerator Launchpad LA, has raised $4.6M in a funding round. The company said the funding came from Trinity Ventures. Preact--which was formerly known as FolioHD--was founded by Christopher Gooley and Cory Watilo. The company is now based in San Francisco. Gooley was at Earbits, and Watilo is an Orange County native who has consulted for (More info...)
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Nervana Raises $600K For Artificial Intelligence HardwareSan Diego-based Nervana Systems, a startup developing hardware specifically aimed at artificial intelligence software, has raised $600,000 in a funding round. The funding came from Ali and Hadi Partovi, Sam Altman, Geoff Ralston, Scott Banister, Owen Van Natta, Eric Baker, Farzad Khosrowshahi, Dara Khosrowshahi, Allen & Co., Aditya Agrawal, Ruchi Sanghvi, and SV Angels. The company--led by Naveen Rao--says it is developing computer hardware specifically for "deep learning". That hardware includ (More info...)
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Enplug Gets $2.5MLos Angeles-based Enplug, a company that develops digital displays which display real time, social media from Twittter, Facebook, Yelp, and elsewhere at retail locations, has raised $2.5M in a seed funding round. Enplug said the investment came from Larry Keele (Oaktree Capital), Rasoul Oskouv (Juniper Networks), Bill Gross (Idealab), Hossein Eslambolchi (ATT), David Cohen (Interscope), Justin Caldbeck (Lightspeed Vnture Partners), Troy Carter, Howard Marks, DominateFund, zPark Venture, and Amid (More info...)
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Southern California Firms Raise $762.88M in Q1The latest numbers are out on venture capital investments in Southern California from PricewaterhouseCoopers and the National Venture Capital Association, finding that the region had nearly $762.88M invested in companies in the region during Q1 of 2014. According to the MoneyTree Report, based on data from Thomson Reuters, Los Angeles led the region with $309.9M in funding, followed by San Diego with $242.98M in investments, and $209.97M in investments in Orange County.
The biggest deals of t (More info...)
posted on Monday, April 21, 2014(Full story)
Verdezyne Hits Production MilestoneCarlsbad-based biotechnology developer Verdezyne said this morning that it has hit a key production milestone. The company--which is developing processes for developing renewable chemicals--said it has produced more than one metric ton of bio-based dodecanedioic acid (DDDA) using its proprietary yeast platform and downstream process. DDDA is a precursor to such products as nylon, molding resins, lubricants, adhesives, and powder coatings as well as such products as toothbrushes, fishing line, an (More info...)
posted on Monday, April 21, 2014(Full story)
SONOS Swizzles Wireless TechnologySanta Barbara-based whole home music system developer Sonos said late last week that it has made a big change to the way its products work, removing the need to connect one of its components to a user's wireless router. The requirement to connect a Sonos BRIDGE or other product to your Wi-Fi router has been a requirement since the introduction of the company's products, even though Sonos has its own, proprietary wireless mesh technology called SonosNet. Sonos said the removal of the wireless rou (More info...)
posted on Monday, April 21, 2014(Full story)
Bullet Proof iPhone 5, Samsung Galaxy S 5? Ask PelicanCell phone cases seem to be a dime a dozen nowadays, however, a new set of cases Friday by Torrance-based Pelican Products are worth mentioning. Pelican--known for their lineup of very tough, protective cases used by police, fire, military, and outdoor enthusiasts--said it has launched a set of rugged phone cases for the Apple iPhone 5/5S and Samsung Galaxy S 5. The new cases will be sold through AT&T's retail stores and through AT&T's online site. The cases retail between $40.00 and $50.00 dep (More info...)
posted on Monday, April 21, 2014(Full story)
BP Logix Wins Fresno CountySan Diego-based business process management software developer BP Logix reported a win this morning with the County of Fresno, replace a legacy system in that country for automating business reporting for the county. Financial impact of the win was not disclosed. BP Logix said it won the contract as part of an RFP, where a total of nine vendors responded, and was chosen afer a competitive, four month process at the county.
posted on Monday, April 21, 2014(Full story)