Monday, September 23, 2024SeatBoost Gets Funding From IAG
Los Angeles-based SeatBoost, which offers up a service which lets passengers use their mobile phones bid on seat upgrades, says it has received an investment from International Airlines Group (IAG). Size of that investment was not announced. The company currently offers up its service for such airline brands as Iberia, TAP Air Portugal, Condor, Avianca and LATAM. SeatBoost is led by CEO Kevin Stamler.Continue →
Thursday, September 5, 2024Aerospacelab Sets Up Manufacturing Facility In LA
Belgium-based Aerospacelab, a manufacturer of satellites, said it has set up a new facility in Torrance. According to the company, the new facility will increase the production of its satellite technology. The company also has an office--but not manufacturing--in Palo Alto. Aerospacelab said its new facility has 35,000 square feet of high-bay and cleanroom environments, and has the ability to produce an average of 2 satellites per week on a single shift schedule....Continue →
Thursday, September 5, 2024Bidpath Names CEO
Westlake Village-based Bidpath, which develops technology for the auction industry, said it has named David Brindley as its new CEO. Brindley joined the company in 2016 as Managing Director (UK). According to the company, Brindley takes over from founder and Executive Chairman, Adam Alexander....Continue →
Monday, August 26, 2024Fisker Automotive To Be Liquidated
Irvine-based Fisker Automotive will be liquidated, in an an agreement with creditors on Friday in bankruptcy court. According to reports, there are likely to be over $1 billion in secured and unsecured claims against Fisker, meaning a total writeoff for investors who invested in the company. Fisker went public in 2020 via a Special Purpose Acquisition Company (SPAC)....Continue →
Wednesday, August 21, 2024Sonos CEO: We Can't Bring Back The Old App
Santa Barbara-based Sonos says that it can't bring back its old app, despite the huge customer backlash over the company's app design, according to its CEO, Patrick Spence. The company has been suffering from major customer complaints, major sales impacts, and delays of product launches after a failed redesign of the app in May....Continue →
Wednesday, August 21, 2024YouMail Partners To Battle Election Deepfakes
Irvine-based voicemail services provider YouMail said this morning that it has inked a partnership to keep people from being hit by deepfaked artificial intelligence (AI) calling campaigns. According to YouMail, it has partnered with Pintrop, to identify and stop calls utilizing artificial intelligence (AI) or deepfake technologies targeting the public to interfere with US elections. Financial details of that partnership were not announced....Continue →
Tuesday, August 20, 2024USC's Law School Adds AI Certificate
The Gould School of Law the law school at the University of Southern California, says it is adding a new certificate on Law and Artificial Intelligence (AI). According to the school, the certificate will "enable students to navigate the various legal issues related to the development and use of AI programs, including privacy, IP, antitrust law, ethics and more....Continue →
Monday, August 19, 2024Chatsworth Products Jumps On AI Bandwagon
In a sign of the eagerness to jump on the artificial intelligence bandwagon, Simi Valley-based Chatsworth Products--a maker of enclosures, racks, mounting hardware, cable management products, and more--says it has launched some products specifically for meeting the need for GPU and AI-based applications. According to the company, its new high-power rack PDU configurations are specifically designed to meet the need of applications running the chips and systems that power AI....Continue →
Monday, August 19, 2024Umbra Sends Two More Satellites Into Space
Santa Barbara-based satellite developer Umbra says it has sent two more of its Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) satellites into space on a SpaceX rocket. According to the company, it sent a new pair of satellites, Umbra-09 and Umbra-10 into space on August 16th, on the Transporter-11 Rideshare mission. Umbra's satellites used a technique called Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) to image things on earth from space....Continue →
Monday, August 19, 2024University Lab Partners Names Winners Of Pitch Competition
Irvine-based University Lab Partners said this morning that it has named the winners of its annual pitch competition. The nonprofit, wet-lab incubator said it had over 40 applications for this year's pitch competition, and named Hybrid Biotherapeutics Inc. and Cellecho Biotech as its Life Sciences winners; Syntr Health Technologies, Inc. and iPill Dispenser as its Medical Technology winners, and Remmie Health as its Pediatric winner....Continue →
Wednesday, August 14, 2024NY Times: The Unraveling of a Crypto Dream
The New York Times has a lengthy article on the current trials and tribulations of cryptocurrency entrepreneur Brock Pierce, who got his start as part of the Los Angeles startup community. In The Unraveling of a Crypto Dream, the New York Times says that Pierce is now "mired in legal disputes and fighting with his business partners" in Puerto Rico, where he moved--for tax reasons--after gaining a fortune from his cryptocurrency efforts....Continue →
Wednesday, August 14, 2024Sonos Chops 100
Santa Barbara-based Sonos appears to be continuing to have issues, and has laid off around 100 of its employees, according to the company. The layoffs come as Sonos has been struggling with a mobile app design it rolled out last year. It's unclear how many employees in Santa Barbara are affected by the cuts. Sonos develops "whole home" music streaming hardware.Continue →
Monday, August 12, 2024Viasat Launches Two Satellites For Arctic Broadband
Carlsbad-based Viasat has had two of its satellites delivered to space -- to provide Internet access to the Artic. According to Viasat, two of its satellites were successfully launched by SpaceX from Vandenberg Space Force Base on Sunday at 7:02pm PT. The launch resulted in a sonic boom heard in Santa Barbara and Ventura County, and was briefly visible. Viasat said the mission was led by Space Norway subsidiary Heosat will offer up commercial broadband in the Arctic region....Continue →
Monday, August 12, 2024Resecurity Rolls Out AI Fraud Detection
Los Angeles-based Resecurity, which develops cybersecurity and risk management software, says it has unveiled a new, AI-based Fraud Prevention Platform. The company said its AI product is designed to "combat fraud across banking, virtual asset service providers (VASPs), gambling, e-commerce, and online marketplaces". Pricing on the software was not announced.Continue →
Tuesday, July 30, 2024GoDocs Signs EverBank
Irvine-based GoDocs, a developer of commercial loan document automation software, says it has partnered with a specialty banking company, EverBank. According to GoDocs, it will 'streamline multifamily lending operations" for EverBank. Financial details of the link were not announced.Continue →
Monday, July 29, 2024Helpt Gets $850K In Seed Investment
Irvine-based Helpt, a provider of technical support services, says it has raised $850,000 in a seed investment round. The company said the funding came from Dealbrook Holdings II. According to Helpt, the investment will go to expand its service offerings, plus sales and marketing, along with platform development. The company's founders are Matthew Pincus and Davis Sohn.Continue →
Monday, July 22, 2024Lithuanian Companies Tap UCLA Anderson For US Market Efforts
A non-profit arm of the Lithuanian government, the Innovation Agency, says it has tapped UCLA Anderson School of Management to help companies launch into the United States. According to the Innovation Agency, a non-profit organization under Lithuania/s Ministry of Economy and Innovation, it is funding a project which will fund the project....Continue →
Monday, July 22, 2024Anchor Operating System Selected By Zoos, Museums
Westlake Village-based Anchor Operating Systems, a developer of ticketing and point of sale systems, says it has signed a number of customers. The company said it signed Miami's Art XSpace, The Teaching Zoo at Moorpark College, the Nevada State Railroad Museum in Carson City, and Nevada State Railroad Museum in Boulder City. The company says it is also providing its ticketing products at such high profile attractions as the Statue of Liberty, Niagara Falls, and Alcatraz....Continue →
Monday, July 22, 2024Latigo Biotherapeutics Names New CEO
Thousand Oaks-based Latigo Biotherapeutics, which is developing non-opioid pain medicines, has named Nima Farzan as its new Chief Executive Officer. Frazan was previously CEO of Kinnate Biopharma, and also was at PaxVax, among other companies. Farzan replaces Desmond Padhi, who was serving as interim CEO; Padhi is the operating partner at Westlake Village BioPartners.Continue →
Friday, July 19, 2024Worldwide IT Outage Attributed To Crowdstrike
A worldwide IT outage--which resulted in chaos in airports, delayed hospital procedures, and more--has been blamed on a end of week update pushed out to Windows machines worldwide by IT management software company Crowdstrike. The update apparently resulted in a "Blue Screen of Death" for millions of corporate Windows computers, resulting in a need for manually removing a file on every single computer impacted....Continue →
