Thursday, October 12, 2017


Hyperloop One Becomes Virgin Hyperloop One After Investment
Los Angeles-based Hyperloop One, the Hyperloop transportation developer led by Rob Lloyd, said on Thursday that it is rebranding itself as Virgin Hyperloop One, after an investment by Sir Richard Branson. According to Hyperloop One, Branson and his Virgin Group have made an investment of undisclosed size in the company, with Branson also joining the company's board of directors. The two companies said they will enter into a global, strategic partnership focused on passenger and mixed-use cargo (More info...)
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Techstars Music Adds Three Companies
Techstars Music, one of the startup accelerator programs run by Techstars in Los Angeles, said this week that it has added three new companies to its effort, bringing its total class to nine. According to Techstars Music, it added Concord Music, RecoChoku, and Royalty Exchange to Techstars Music 2018. Concord Music is the music publishing and record company that formed in 2015 in the merger of Concord Music Group and The Bicycle Music Company; RecoChoku is based in Japan, and provides on-demand (More info...)
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Clearlake Capital Takes Lead In Raising $10M For Puerto Rico Hurricane Relief
Santa Monica-based private equity investor Clearlake Capital, along with Valor Equity Partners, StepStone Group, Palladium Equity Partners, and MoonSail Capital, have launched an effort to raise $10M in funding to help humanitarian efforts in Puerto Rico in the wake of Hurricane Maria. Clearlake Capital Group and the Kwanza Jones & Jose E. Feliciano Supercharged Initiative said they will match all donations up to $500,000 to the effort, which so far has raised a little over $832,000 in funds to (More info...)
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Tech Scenes: Leura Fine of Laurel & Wolf
Welcome to Tech Scenes where we explore what makes tech founders and the cities they live in thrive. In this solo episode we meet up with Leura Fine and talk about Laurel & Wolf, recruiting, interior design, industry diversity, and the advantages of being in tech in Los Angeles. Watch Tech Scenes Episode One where we explore Los Angeles from Santa Monica, West Hollywood, to Compton and meet up with Royce Disini of Mobcrush, Greg Bettinelli of Upfront Ventures, Leura Fine of Laurel (More info...)
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j2 Global Acquires Two More Companies, But Also Sells Three Firms
Los Angeles-based Internet services and digital media giant j2 Global has acquired two more companies, but in an interesting shift, also said it has divested three companies from its portfolio. According to j2 Global, it acquired backupsonline, a cloud-based backup company based in The Netherlands, and StreamSend, a cloud-based email marketing company during Q3. In addition, the company said it sold Cambridge BioMarketing, a subsidiary of Everyday Health, Web24, its Australian hosting business, (More info...)
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Qualcomm Fined $774M By Taiwan
San Diego-based Qualcomm is facing more overseas antitrust woes, and has just been fined $773.9M by Taiwan's Fair Trade Commission. According to the Fair Trade Commission, Qualcomm unfairly exercised a "monopoly position" for its chips used in mobile communications for seven years, and ordered Qualcomm to pay 23.4 billion Taiwan dollars in penalties. In the order the Taiwan Fair Trade Commission cited information received from more than 20 domestic and foreign mobile phone manufacturers, saying (More info...)
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DreamHost Gets Win In Anti-Trump Website Fight
Los Angeles-based web hosting provider DreamHost has scored a big win in its battle to keep information on visitors to the anti-Trump website disruptj20.org out of the hands of the Department of Justice. According to Dreamhost, the final order from Chief Judge Morin will "protect the constitutional rights of innocent internet users" and allow Dreamhost to redact all identifying information and protect identities of users who interacted with the website. In the ruling, Judge Morin said that the g (More info...)
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