Friday, September 7, 2018Elon Musk Smokes Weed On Podcast
Elon Musk, the technology mogul behind Los Angeles-based SpaceX and The Boring Company--already under fire by investors at Tesla Motors for his recent inconsistent, public statements--boldly took a puff of marijuana on a YouTube broadcast on the Joe Rogan Experience on Thursday evening....Continue →
Friday, September 7, 2018NantWorks Invests In Daybreak Game Company
Los Angeles-based NantWorks, the investment arm of billionaire Dr. Patrick Soon Shiong, said on Thursday afternoon that it has made a strategic investment in San Diego-based multiplayer online games developer Daybreak Game Company. Size of the investment was not announced. As part of that investment, NantWorks said it has created a new joint venture called NantG Mobile, which will develop and publish mobile version of Daybreak's current games....Continue →
Friday, September 7, 2018GumGum Sports Wins NHL's Columbus Blue Jackets
Santa Monica-based GumGum Sports, the arm of GumGum which develops technology to measure the social media value of sponsorships for sports teams, says it has just signed the NHL's Columbus Blue Jackets as a new customer. According to GumGumSports, they are in a multi-year partnership where the Blue Jackets will use its full valuation suite. Financial details of the win were not announced....Continue →
Friday, September 7, 2018Quality Systems Becomes NextGen Healthcare
Irvine-based Quality Systems announced early Friday morning that it has officially changed its name to NextGen Healthcare, and also wil change its current symbol on the Nasdaq from QSII to NXGN. The change will go into effect on September 10th. NextGen Healthcare, which develops electronic health records software, was previously a subsidiary of Quality Systems.Continue →
Thursday, September 6, 2018Surf Air Lands $9.1M More In Ongoing Funding
Santa Monica-based Surf Air, the startup, membership-based airline, has raised $9.1M more in the first part of an ongoing funding round, according to a regulatory filing by the company on Thursday. The filing said that the company has raised $9.14M in a targeted $25.0M funding round, with at least four investors participating in the new funding round. According to the filing, the funding injection came in the form of convertible securities....Continue →
Thursday, September 6, 2018Ordermark Finds $9.5M For Restaurant Ordering Technology
Santa Monica-based Ordermark, a developer of online ordering management software and systems for the restaurant industry, has raised $9.5M in a Series A funding. The funding was led by Nosara Capital, and also included Vertical Venture Partners, Techstars Ventures, Riverpark Ventures, and Matchstick Ventures plus prior investors TenOneTen, Mucker Capital, Act One Ventures and AARD Capital....Continue →
Thursday, September 6, 2018US DOJ Charges North Korean Programmer With 2014 Sony Attack
The U.S. Department of Justice has charged a North Korean programmer with coordinating the devastating, 2014 attack on Sony Pictures Entertainment, along with a whole host of other cyber-attacks across the world. According to criminal charges announced by the Justice Department, Park Jin Hyok (a/k/a Jin Hyok Park and Pak Jin Hek) coordinated the efforts of a North Korean hacking team, which not only was respondible for the devastating attack on Sony Pictures, but also the WannaCry 2....Continue →
Thursday, September 6, 2018DDN Completes Acquisition Of Tintri, Pays $60M For Bankrupt Data Storage Firm
DataDirect Networks, which develops high performance data storage for the enterprise and high-performance-computing (HPC) market, has completed its acquisition of Tintri, the bankrupt flash data storage developer. DDN--which has major operations in Chatsworth, but calls Santa Clara its headquarters--said it paid $60M for Tintri. According to DDN, the acquisition came after an "extensive" bidding process, where DDN was declared the auction winner....Continue →
Thursday, September 6, 2018KB Home Links With Google
Los Angeles-based homebuilder KB Home, in another move to boost the technology features of its homes, said this morning that it has linked up with Google, to integrate its homes with Google Assistant. According to KB Home, it will offer up the KB Smart Home Systems, an in-home system which will be included with new homes at select communities in Denver, Colorado; Las Vegas, Nevada; Jacksonville, Florida; and Orange County, California....Continue →
Thursday, September 6, 2018TP-Link Debuts New Router For Gaming Crowd
Brea, California-based TP-Link, which develops networking products for both the business and consumer market, has launched a new networking router specifically for the gaming market. According to the company, its new Archer C5400X MU-MIMO Tri-Band Gaming Router specifically prioritizes gaming traffic, and is designed for heavy-bandwidth gaming and 4K video streaming. The company said the new router is powered by 1....Continue →
Wednesday, September 5, 2018Westlake Village BioPartners, Led By Amgen Vets, Launches $320M Fund
Westlake Village BioPartners, a brand new venture capital fund focused on the life sciences, said on Wednesday that it has launched a new, $320 investment fund aimed at early stage companies. According to the new venture fund, it was founded by Beth Seidenberg, M.D., general partner at Kleiner Perkins and former chief medical officer and head of global development at Amgen, and Sean Harper, M.D., executive vice president and head of R&D at Amgen....Continue →
Wednesday, September 5, 2018Core Innovation Capital Backs SynapseFi
Los Angeles-based fintech investor Core Innovation Capital is one of the lead investors in SynapseFi, a developer of APIs and other tools for connecting into banking services. SynapseFi said it raised a $17M Series A--which actually closed at the end of last year--which was led by Trinity Ventures and Core Innovation Capital, along with others. SynapseFi is based in San Francisco.Continue →
