Friday, November 21, 2014Surf Air Expands To San DiegoLos Angeles-based all-you-can-fly subscription airline Surf Air made a major expansion this week, saying that it has begun flying out of the San Diego Area--or more specifically, the Tom McClellan-Palomar Airport (CRQ) in Carlsbad--earlier this week. The new flights give non stop access from Carlsbad to San Caros (SQL) in the Bay Area, and Santa Barbara (SBA). Surf Air said it will also start flying from Carlsbad to Hawthorne (HHR) on January 12th. The new Carlsbad location is actually convenien (More info...)
posted on Friday, November 21, 2014(Full story)
CurbStand Takes Valet Parking To The TrailsIn a "that's so LA" moment, Los Angeles-based on-demand, valet parking app provider CurbStand is taking its valet parking service to the popular Runyon Canyon hiking trail in Hollywood, saying it will let users valet park their autos at the popular hiking/running trail this weekend. Curbstand said it will offer the parking for $5 on both Saturday (November 22nd) and Sunday (November 23rd) between 9am and 4pm, and also set up employees on the trail to strategically make sure hikers' cars are in t (More info...)
posted on Friday, November 21, 2014(Full story)
Title365 Acquired By SolutionstarNewport Beach-based Title365, a developer of technology and services for the title insurance and escrow business, has been acquired by Texas-based Solutionstar. Solutionstar said it will pay $36M in cash for Title365, which it says is expected to have $63M in revenues in 2014. Title365 was advised by JMP Securities in the deal. Solutionstar is a provider of technology and software to the real estate industry.
posted on Friday, November 21, 2014(Full story)
Cal State L.A. Plans Bioscience IncubatorCal State LA is planning to launch a bioscience incubator on its campus, after receiving a $3.5M grant from Los Angeles County. According to Cal State LA, the new bioscience incubator--BioSpace L.A.--will allow start-up businesses to work with students and faculty on cutting-edge bioscience research. The school said the new incubator will have up to 20,000 square feet of lab space for bioscience research projects with start-up businesses.
posted on Friday, November 21, 2014(Full story)
How A Pivot Turned Vantage Media Into A $100M Plus BusinessHow do you take what has been a healthy business--but which has stalled out in growth--and put it back onto the growth curve? Patrick Quigley, the CEO of Los Angeles-based Vantage Media (www.vantagemedia.com), tells the story of how he pivoted the company from what had been an online advertising agency, into an online advertising technology provider--and in the process, helped move the company past the $100M in revenues mark, which is a big milestone for companies in the growth area. We sat dow (More info...)
posted on Friday, November 21, 2014(Full story)
Pluto.TV Raises $13MLos Angeles-based Pluto TV, an online video streaming and channel guide, said Thursday that it has raised $13M in a Series A funding round. The funding came from U.S. Venture Partners, United Talent Agency, Sky plc, Chicago Ventures, Great Oaks Venture Capital, Luminari Capital, along with Ross Levinsohn, Ken Parks (Spotify), and Stephane Kurgan (King Digital). Pluto TV offers up access to a curated set of online video channels. Rick Lewis of USVP joins the company's board as part of the funding (More info...)
posted on Friday, November 21, 2014 (More)(Full story)
DTS Powers New App From Deepak ChopraCalabasas-based audio and sound processing technology developer DTS said this morning that it has helped roll out a new iOS app from Deepak Chopra and ABOVE Technologies. The company said the new app specifically uses its DTS Headphone:X technology. According to DTS and Dr. Chopra, the new app features Chopra narrating poems inspired by 13th century Persian mystic Rumi, to help create an environment for meditation and healing. Chopra said the app is designed to help users calm down, reduce stres (More info...)
posted on Friday, November 21, 2014(Full story)
Kwikset Upgrades Kevo Smart Door LockLake Forest-based lock maker Kwikset has upgraded the company's smartphone-enabled Kevo door lock, saying this week that it has improved the user experience with the device, started offering up the product internationally, and also launched a new private beta on Android. Among the enhancements are the ability to create "Guest Keys" to allow others access to a home for 24 hours at a time, key scheduling which have day and time constraints, new calibration features to adjust the distance from a lo (More info...)
posted on Friday, November 21, 2014(Full story)
Slacker Radio Links Into Toyota, LexusSan Diego-based Slacker Radio, which operates a streaming radio service, has scored a big win with Toyota and Lexus. Slacker said Thursday that it will offer up a new Slacker Radio app on select Lexus models, and soon on select Toyota model years from 2011 to 2015. The app will be featured on Toyota's Entune in-dash multimedia systems and the Lexus Enform App Suite. Financial details of the deal were not disclosed. Slacker said the apps will give Toyota and Lexus owners the ability to create per (More info...)
posted on Friday, November 21, 2014(Full story)