Wednesday, October 12, 2016


Snapchat Selects Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs To Lead IPO, Says Report
Venice-based Snapchat has selected two investments banks--Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs--to lead the company's much anticipated IPO, according to a report from Reuters Wednesday afternoon. The report--citing "a source familiar with the situation"--said the IPO would value Snapchat at $25 billion. The report said that JPMorgan Chas & Co., Deutsche Bank, Allen & Co, Barclays, and Credit Suisse will also be involved in the IPO effort. Snapchat--which recently renamed itself Snap, Inc.--has been (More info...)
posted on Wednesday, October 12, 2016(Full story)

Report: NastyGal Facing Cram Down Round, Seeking Buyer
Los Angeles-based fashion website NastyGal is apparently in the midst of a "cram down" round--a round where the current shareholders in a company essentially reset the equity structure of a company that usually forces non-participating investors to lose most, if not all of their stake in the company. The report today, from PandoDaily, follows an earlier report from the fashion industry which said that NastyGal was seeking a buyer for the company. NastyGal--founded by Sophia Amorusa--had been fac (More info...)
posted on Wednesday, October 12, 2016(Full story)

Resonant Finds New CFO
Goleta-based radio frequency filter developer Resonant said on Wednesday that it has appointed a new Chief Financial Officer, replacing current Interim CFO Ross Goolsby. According to Resonant, it has hired on Jeff Killian, a longtime veteran of the semiconductor industry, to the CFO position. Killian was previously CFO of Cascade Microtech, where he had been CFO since 2010, up until its recent sale this year to FormFactor. Killian also previously served at TriQuint Semiconductor and US Bank. Res (More info...)
posted on Wednesday, October 12, 2016(Full story)

March Capital Re-Ups On E8 Security
Santa Monica-based venture investor March Capital Partners has re-upped on one of its portfolio companies, Redwood City-based E8 Security, which develops software used to analyze cybersecurity threats. E8 Security said on Tuesday that it has raised $12M in Series B funding, led by Strategic Cyber Ventures, and also including prior investors March Capital Partners, Allegis Capital, and The Hive. E8 Security has now raised $21.8M in funding. March Capital Partners made its first investment in E8 b (More info...)
posted on Wednesday, October 12, 2016 (More)(Full story)

Three LA Companies Selected For Commerce.Innovated Accelerator
Three, Los Angeles area companies have been selected for a accelerator being run by Silicon Valley Bank and Mastercard, the companies announced this morning. SVB and Mastercard said it selected six startups for its Commerce.Innovated virtual accelerator, which is aimed at helping commerce, payments and fintech startups grow their businesses, including Santa Monica's Domuso, Santa Monica-based Earny, and Burbank-based Papaya. Domuso is developing payment financing software for renters; Earny is a (More info...)
posted on Wednesday, October 12, 2016(Full story)

Atari's Nolan Bushnell Launches Virtual Reality Startup, Modal VR
Nolan Bushnell, the longtime serial entrepreneur who founded Atari and Chuck E. Cheese, has launched another new company, this time in the virtual reality area. Bushnell's newest company, Modal VR, is aimed at the enterprise, virtual reality market, and will offer up both hardware and software for full body tracking and interaction in a VR environment. According to the company, it is aiming its system at used in everything from themed entertainment, marketing, e-sports, and real estate to film a (More info...)
posted on Wednesday, October 12, 2016(Full story)

Edlio Raises $40M For School Website Software, Looks Towards Acquisitions
Los Angeles-based Edlio, a developer of a cloud-based, software product used by schools and school districts to build and manage school websites, has raised $40M in a funding round. The funding came from L Squared Capital Partners. According to L Square, the investment in Edlio will go towards sales and marketing, international growth, new product development, and strategic acquisitions. Edlio is led by CEO Ali Arsan. Edlio's content management software lets schools manage and update their websi (More info...)
posted on Wednesday, October 12, 2016 (More)(Full story)

Akriveia Therapeutics Raises $7.5M
Thousand Oaks-based Akriveia Therapeutics, a biotechnology startup focused on immuno-oncology, announced this morning that it has raised $7.5M in a Series A investment. The investment came from F-Prime Capital Partners. Akriveia Therapeutics said it is developing immunotherapeutic products that are specifically activated in the microenvironment of the tumor. As part of the funding, F-Prime's Thomas Beck and Ben Auspitz have joined the company's board. Akriveia is led by Simon Tomlinson. The comp (More info...)
posted on Wednesday, October 12, 2016 (More)(Full story)

Phenomenex Acquired By Danaher
Torrance-based Phenomenex, a manufacturer and distributor of consumables for the life sciences market, said today that it has been acquired by Danaher Corporation. Financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. Phenomenex will remain in Torrance, and continue operating under its current brand, personnel, and site locations. Phenomenex has more than 700 employees and sells a broad line of consumables used in the liquid and gas chromatography market. The company is led and was owned by CE (More info...)
posted on Wednesday, October 12, 2016(Full story)

YouMail Aims To Halt Robocalls In Any App With New API
Irvine-based enhanced voicemail developer YouMail, in a move to extend the technology it has developed for its own apps, has opened up a new API to the company's robocall blocking technology to third parties the company said on Tuesday. YouMail said has launched a new application programming interface (API) which will allow telecom carriers, private branch exchange (PBX) providers, and third-party developers to determine if a phone number is a robocaller--all based on its database of hundreds of (More info...)
posted on Wednesday, October 12, 2016(Full story)