Thursday, August 24, 2006Audit Integrity Gets Series A InvestmentLos Angeles-based Audit Integrity, a financial research firm in the corporate accounting and governance risk assessment area, has landed a Series A round of funding. The investors were not disclosed. The firm was advised by North Haven Partners, an investment banking firm in the deal. Terms of the financing were not disclosed, but Audit Integrity said it would use the proceeds of the funding to expand its sales and marketing activities. The firm serves the financial and investment community by m (More info...)
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Kemia Raises $31MSan Diego-based Kemia has raised $31M in a Series C investment, the firm said Wednesday. Kemia said that the funding came from Aberdare Ventures, and included new investors MedInnume ventures and Red Abbey Venture Partners. Existing investors Alta Partners, Forward Ventures, Hamilton Bioventures, JPMorgan Partners, Novartis Bioventures, Novo A/S, and Texas Pacific Group all particpated in the financing. Kemia will use the funding to advanced its lead clinical compound through initial Phase II cl (More info...)
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AOL Launches Digital Movie DownloadsAOL has launched itself into the online, downloadable movie business, saying today that it has partnered with 20th Century Fox, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, Universal Pictures, and Warner Bros. Home Entertainment to allow for downloadable movies through its AOL Video portable. AOL said that it would offer movies at prices ranging from $9.99 to $19.99 per movie, and that the movies could be viewed offline as well as on other PCs and compatible portable devices. The deals also include the add (More info...)
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Ansari Founder Headed To SpaceAnousheh Ansari, co-founder of the X Prize Foundation and the Ansari X Prize, is headed to space on the upcoming Russian mission to the International Space Station, after a Japanese tourist was found to be medically unfit. Ansari, along with brother Amir Ansari, funded the $10M Ansari X-Prize that spurred the first commercial spaceflight in October of 2004, and has kicked off a new space industry. Anousheh is a trustee of Santa Monica-based X PRIZE Foundation, which is now running a number of pr (More info...)
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Interview with Bryan Biniak, Managing Director of Provenance VenturesProvenance Ventures (www.provenanceventures.com) is a new, Los Angeles-based venture capital firm that just raised a $10M fund for investing in what it calls socially forward ventures. We spoke with the founder and Managing Director of Provenance, Bryan Biniak, about the fund, what they are looking for in investments, and specifically on the types of entrepreneurs and companies are most attractive to the firm.
Ben Kuo: Tell us a bit about your fund, and the kinds of investments you're targeti (More info...)
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MP3tunes Makes Music Storage FreeSan Diego-based MP3tunes has rolled out a free version of its online music storage service, Oboe. The firm, which is run by former MP3.com founder Michael Robertson, said today that it will provide free space for up to 1000 songs for users who want to use its services. Oboe allows users to upload any music for streaming to PCs, handhelds, and other devices. The new Oboe Free version is a more limited version of the firm's online music storage service. The other services which have been offered b (More info...)
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Entriq Teams With BT For Mobile MediaBritish Telecommunications (BT) and San Diego-based Entriq said Thursday that the two companies are teaming together to provide and end-to-end digital content system for selling content via the web and mobile platforms. BT Media & Broadcast said that the service powers BT Vision, a recently launched download-to-own service which allows for the download of titles from NBC Universal for viewing on PCs, portable media players, and TV. Entriq is a provider of solutions designed for service providers (More info...)
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TV Guide Partners For Mobile ListingsLos Angeles-based TV Guide Mobile Entertainment, a unit of Gemstar-TV Guide International, is partnering with a Bay Area startup to provide its listings to cell phones. TV Guide said yesterday that it will provide its TV listings to Palo Alto-based 4INFO, allowing users to search for channel listings and television listings from any mobile phone via SMS or WAP. The firms said that the service will be available through any mobile phone provider. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
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Maverick Angels Expands Into Silicon ValleyMaverick Angels, a Southern California-based angel investment group, is expanding into Silicon Valley. The group said this week that it will focus on an "entrepreneurial approach" to angel investing. The group is headed by John Dilts, who will serve as President of the Northern California chapter. Maverick is the first Southern California angel group to move North, and joins other angel investors in Northern California, including Band of Angels, Keiretsu Forum, Silicon Valley Angels, Life Scienc (More info...)
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