Tuesday, October 17, 2017


Beyond Meat Adds Leonardo DiCaprio As Investor
Los Angeles-based Beyond Meat, the maker of plant-based, protein products which look and taste like hamburger--but are not--has added actor Leonardo DiCaprio as an investor in the company. Beyond Meat, which has its headquarters in El Segundo, did not announce how much DiCaprio invested in the company. In recent years, DiCaprio has become a big environmental crusader, recently documenting the major issues--and some possible solutions--to climate change in the film Before The Flood. DiCaprio said (More info...)
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SeatAdvisor Acquired By Patron Technology
San Diego-based SeatAdvisor, a developer of ticketing and venue management software, has been acquired by Patron Technology, a ticketing and event software developer. Financial terms of the acquisition were not announced. Patron Technology is owned by private equity investor Providence Strategic Growth (PSG). SeatAdvisor was founded in 1999, and was led by co-founder and CEO Brent Miller.
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Illumina Ventures Raises $230M Venture Capital Fund
Illumina Ventures, the early-stage venture capital investor which was founded by San Diego-based life sciences equipment maker Illumina, says it has raised $230M for its first fund. The venture capital investment fund said it is focused on genomics, and will invest in companies in the areas of life science research, clinical diagnostics, novel therapeutic platforms, and other technologies impacting human health. The fund launched in summer of 2016 with $100M from Illumina. The venture investment (More info...)
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Ankona Capital Joins New Pack Of LA Venture Investors
A new, venture capital firm, founded by Jon Bauch and Brian Mesic, has emerged in Los Angeles, called Ankona Capital. Bauch and Mesic--who were previously at Anthem Venture Partners--apparently are aiming at early growth capital investment in software companies. The new firm joins an increasingly long list of new venture capital investment funds in the region, which have almost rivaled the number of startups across Southern California. In particular, there's been a search of early, seed- and Ser (More info...)
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Interview with Jon Ferrara on Nimble, The Microsoft Accelerator, And The Cloud
Jon Ferrara was co-founder of Goldmine software, a huge customer relationship management (CRM) provider which he built into a $100M business in the PC age, and is now working on doing the same thing in the age of the cloud, with another CRM startup, Nimble (www.nimble.com). Most recently, Nimble was accepted into Microsoft's Accelerator, aimed at taking companies and scaling them through Microsoft relationships. We caught up with Jon about the company's entry into Microsoft's Accelerator, and (More info...)
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Social Reality Looks For A Buyer For SRAXmd
Los Angeles-based advertising technology developer Social Reality said this morning that it has engaged financial advisors to pursue "strategic alternatives" to its SRAXmd healthcare business. Social Reality said it is considering spinning off the business into its own public company, strategic acquisitions or a variety of other possible transactions. SRAXmd provides digital and mobile advertising services to the healthcare and pharmaceuticals market. The company said it has hired Chardan Capita (More info...)
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Pluto TV Gets $5M More
Los Angeles-based Pluto TV, which operates an online, Internet television service, said today that it has raised $5M more in a funding round. The funding ame from Samsung Venture Investment Corporation. Pluto says it has now raised $8.3M in total. Pluto TV is led by CEO Tom Ryan. The company--which offers up themed collections of "channels" of television content through its website and app--said the funding will go towards expanding its product, content, and marketing efforts.
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QLess: 100 Million People Served
Pasadena-based QLess, which develops technology that helps people avoid waiting in line, said today that it has now saved more than 100 million people from standing in lines at government offices, hospitals, universities and retail stores. The company, which is led by CEO Dr. Alex Backer, develops software which creates a "virtual queue" and lets people know via an app, phone call, text message, or on-site kiosk that it's their turn for appointments and service. The company said its software he (More info...)
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Newegg Makes Push into Automotive Products
Los Angeles-based online technology retailer Newegg is making an interesting extension today, into the world of automotive products--and specifically, for B2B sales. According to NewEgg, it unveiled a new automotive product category on its B2B website, where it now has over one million SKUs. The new category is now available on NewEggBusiness.com. Newegg said the new site includes a wide variety of automotive products, with a focus on vehicle maintenance, tools & equipment, electric vehicle supp (More info...)
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CytRx Dodges Delisting With Reverse Split Plan
Los Angeles-based biopharmaceuticals research and development company CytRx, which has been on notice from the Nasdaq, said it has been granted a request for continued listing, as a result of a plan to run a reverse stock split. CytRx has been on notice over failure to meet minimum bid prices on its stock. CytRx said the listing extension is pending a stockholder vote on its reverse stock split proposal, which still requires approval of its shareholders. CytRx said it has until October 30th for (More info...)
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