Tuesday, February 14, 2017Float Finds $3M To Help Millennials Establish A Credit ScoreLos Angeles-based Float said late last week that it has raised $3M in an angel funding round, to help Millennials establish a credit score. The funding came from Camp One Ventures, Funders Club, 500 Startups, as well as the Silicon Valley Bank and MasterCard accelerator programs. The startup, led by Max Klein, is looking to help Millennials establish a credit score; the startup said that sixty three percent of Millenials don't own a credit card, and about 45 percent have a "thin file" which make (More info...)
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Report: Vadio Winds Down OperationsVadio, a startup which had been developing software to synchoronize music and advertisements with online videos, is winding down, according to a number of reports on Tuesday. The startup--which has a significant number of LA inestors--told the The Oregonian that the company couldn't secure adequate investment. The company had been backed by Mucker Capital, Amplify.LA, as well as along list of local Southern California angel investors. The company had operations in Portland and Los Angeles.
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ZestFinance Rolls Out Millennial Underwriting PlatformLos Angeles-based ZestFinance, the fintech startup led by Douglas Merrill, said on Tuesday that it has rolled out a new platform aimed to help lenders better underwrite loans to millennials and others with a limited credit history. The company said its new Zest Automated Machine Learning (ZAML) Platform uses machine learning to use non-traditional credit union to reduce risk of credit decisions. The company said that the platform specifically is aimed at helping financial institutions expand cre (More info...)
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Cylance Names New President and COOIrvine-based cybersecurity software developer Cylance announced this morning that it has named Daniel Doimo as its new President and Chief Operating Officer. Doimo will report to CEO Stuart McClure. Doimo was previously Executive Vice President of Global Solutions at Schneider Electric, where he had been for 12 years. Cylance says Doimo will lead its sales, marketing, business development and professional services organizations.
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Mattel Partners With Alibaba, Targets ChinaEl Segundo-based toy company Mattel, and Chinese online marketplace giant Alibaba Group said Tuesday morning that the two companies are in a strategic partnership, where Alibaba Group will help Mattel reach the Chinese market. Financial details of the partnership were not announced. The two said they are seeking to "re-shape the way parents in China think about play." The companies said Alibaba will help Mattel with both online and offline marketing in China.
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Dreamscape Immersive Raises Series A Funding For VR Entertainment CentersLos Angeles-based Dreamscape Immersive, a developer of immersive, virtual reality entertainment experiences, said on yesterday afternoon that it has raised a Series A financing round. Size of the funding round was not announced, however, a regulatory filing indicates around $11.36M was raised in the round. The funding was led by Bold Capital Partners, the investment firm run by Peter Diamandis, and also included Warner Bros., 21st Century Fox, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), IMAX Corporation, Westfie (More info...)
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Disney's Maker Studios Drops PewDiePie After Anti-Semitic VideosPewDiePie, the social media star who reportedly is one of the highest paid YouTube stars, has been dropped by Disney's Maker Studios, after a series of anti-semitic videos posted to his channel. In one of the videos, PewDiePie (Felix Kjellberg) had people hold up a sign reading "death to all Jews." Kjellberg defended the videos as "a joke". The videos also included ones with Nazi symbols and imagery. PewDiePie reportedly was earning as much as $12M a year for his videos.
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Atom Tickets Expands In Utah, NevadaLos Angeles-based mobile movie ticketing app developer Atom Tickets is expanding to Utah and Nevada, in a deal with movie theater operator Larry H. Miller (LHM) Megaplex Theatres. Atom Tickets said the move adds 17 locations and nearly 200 auditoriums to its movie ticketing app. Atom Tickets said all of those locaitons were added yesterday. Atom Tickets allows users to purchase tickets and concessions from theaters using their Android or iOS phones, and replace the need for paper tickets at tho (More info...)
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CrowdStrike Launches New Services OfferingIrvine-based cybersecurity software developer CrowdStrike said Monday that it has rolled out a new set of customer support and services options, to support the deployment of its CrowdStrike Falcon software. According to the company, its Premium Customer Support offering will provide a dedicated technical support team, one-on-one strategic support planning, deployment support, security operations review, and continuous account management. Pricing on its new services offerings were not announced.
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