Tuesday, June 6, 2006UCLA Team Wins DFJ Venture ChallengeA student team out of UCLA's Anderson School of Management has won Draper Fisher Jurvetson's annual venture challenge, beating out fourteen other companies for the prize of a $250K seed investment in the company. Precision Reproduction, is developing advanced in-vitro fertilitaion (IVF) solutions to doctors, which helps improve the success rate and reduce health risks for IVF. Draper Fisher Jurvetson, DFJ Frontier, and Zone Ventures made the investment in the firm. Precision beat out student tea (More info...)
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McAfee Acquires PreventsysMcAfee has purchased Carlsbad-based Preventsys, the firm said today. No financial terms wre disclosed. McAfee said that it would acquire Preventsys for its risk management and compliance products. Preventsys develops software used for automated security compliance reporting and risk management, used by enterprises to manage their security infrastructure. Preventsys raised over $19.2M in venture funding from Apax Partners, Enterprise Partners, and UV Partners.
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The Knot Buys WeddingChannelNew York-based The Knot is acquiring Los Angeles-based WeddingChannel.com, in a deal worth $78M. The deal, worth $57.9M in cash and 1,150,000 shares of common stock, was announced Monday afternoon. WeddingChannel and The Knot both serve the wedding planning and gift buying market. The Knot said that it would finance the acquisition with a follow-on offering of its common stock. If The Knot does not complete the follow-on offering, the company said it would pay $28M in cash and 3.2 million shares (More info...)
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myShape Gets Angel FundingPasadena-based myShape, an online clothing store focused on professional women, has received a Series A round of funding from the Pasadena Angels. Financial terms were not disclosed. myShape said today that it would use the funding to build its membership, as it sets to launch its store in August. myShape is developing an online store that helps women find clothing that matches their style and fit, and is headed by Louise Wannier, former co-founder of Gemstar.
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Okapi Closes FundLaguna Beach-based Okapi Venture Capital has closed its first fund, Okapi Ventures I, LP at $30M, the fund said today. Okapi said it received the commitments from Advanced Medical Optics, Conexant Systems, Edwards Lifesciences, Western Digital, and a number of other institutional and individual limited partners. The new fund will invest in seed and early stage information technology and life sciences opportunities, with a emphasis on Orange County. The firm's managing directors include Marc Aver (More info...)
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SyncVoice Raises $4MCosta Mesa-based SyncVoice has raised $4M in a venture funding round, the company announced this morning. The funding round came from Clearstone Venture Partners and Hummer Winblad Venture Partners. SyncVoice develops software for managing voice-over-IP and telephony infrastructure. The company's software works with major PBX systems to monitor telephony and VoIP networks. Doug Hickey of Hummer Winblad and William Quigley of Clearstone have joined the company's board of directors as part of the (More info...)
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Vitesse Gets Investment From TennenbaumCamarillo-based Vitesse Semiconductor has received financing from Tennenbaum Capital Partners, the firm said yesterday afternoon. Vitesse said that Tennenbaum has agreed to lend Vitesse up to $24M in the form of a four year, secured note, and up to an additional $30M if the firm meets certain conditions. The move comes as Vitesse faced issues with a line of credit and other lenders due to the SEC's widespread options backdating investigation in the industry. Vitesse had earlier fired its CEO, CF (More info...)
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DATAllegro Adds CFOAliso Viejo-based DATAllegro has added a new member to its executive team, saying today that it has added Richard Little as CFO. Little has served at Teradata, Quotron Systems, and has also served at KPMG. DATAllegro is developing data warehouse appliances used by companies for data mining and business intelligence. DATAllegro is backed by Adams Capital Management, Intel Capital, Palomar Ventures, and Venrock.
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Bid4Spots, Voice123 Team On Radio AdvertisingEncino-based Bid4Spots, which has developed an online marketplace for unsold radio ad spots, said this morning that it has partnered with Voice123, a provider of an online service of voice over talent. The two companies will provide fully produced radio ads for Bid4Spots advertisers. Bid4Spots has a reverse auction-style bidding system for allowing advertisers to place radio advertising. This new deal taps Voice123 for the resources for scripts, voice-over-talent, and production of radio ads.
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Callwave Adds CFOSanta Barbara-based CallWave has added a new CFO, saying yesterday that it has added Mark Stubbs to the position. Current CFO Steve Cordial has been appointed Senior Vice President for Business Strategy. Stubbs was most recently VP and CFO at Sound ID, and has also served as VP and Managing Director EMEA at Somera Communications. Stubbs has also served at Kinko's. Cordial had been appointed interim CFO at Callwave in May. Callwave provides electronic FAX and internet-based telephone services.
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THQ Appoints SVP MarketingAgoura Hills-based THQ has appointed a new Senior Vice President of Marketing, saying today that it has appointed Robert Aniello to the position. Aniello joins THQ from JAMDAT/Electronic Arts, and has also served at Mattel Interactive. Aniello will oversee brand development for the company. THQ is a producer of interactive entertainment software.
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