Wednesday, October 4, 2006Foundation Offers $10M For Genetic Mapping PrizeLos Angeles-based X PRIZE Foundation, the organization behind the Ansari X Prize, announced a new prize today, a $10M prize for technology to successfully map 100 human genomes in 10 days. The foundation said that the Archon X Prize for Genetics is designed to usher in a new era of personalized preventative medicine and stimulate new avenues of research and development of medical sciences. The new competition is being sponsored by Archon Minerals, whose President, Dr. Steart Blusson, is underwri (More info...)
posted on Wednesday, October 4, 2006(Full story)
Prolacta Raises $5MMonrovia-based Prolacta Bioscience has raised $5M, in a Series B prime financing round. The firm said that the funding came from Arcturus Capital, DFJ Mercury, Philip Capital, Funk Ventures Capital, and the Gideon Hixon Fund, along with existing investors DFJ Frontier, Draper Richards, and Draper Associates. Prolacta is developing specialty formulations of human milk, designed for premature and critically ill infants. The firm also said investors included several high profile angel investors.
posted on Wednesday, October 4, 2006 (More)(Full story)
Interview with Peter Grubstein, NGEN PartnersSanta Barbara-based NGEN Partners (www.ngenpartners.com), a venture capital firm focused on the materials and clean technology area, recently announced their second fund, NGEN Partners II. We spoke with Peter Grubstein, Managing Partner of the firm, about the new fund and a little bit about what the firm is investing in.
Ben Kuo: Tell me a little bit about your new fund?
Peter Grubstein: The new fund is focused on clean technology and materials. We are now running a little over a quarter (More info...)
posted on Wednesday, October 4, 2006(Full story)
Helio Goes HybridLos Angeles-based MVNO Helio, a mobile phone service targeted at the youth market, said today it will offer a new, combined 3G and Wi-Fi access plan. The new plan, Helio Hybrid, will provide both a 3G card and support for built-in laptop Wi-Fi. The firm said that the subscription will give users the ability to get easy access to everything they care about without multiple subscriptions and logins. The new package includes software, a PCMCIA EV-DO card, and 3G and Wi-fi hot spot roaming, and star (More info...)
posted on Wednesday, October 4, 2006(Full story)
Fonality Buys TrixboxLos Angeles-based Fonality, which develops IP telephony systems based on the open source Asterisk VoIP project, said today that it has acquired Trixbox, which the firm said is the world's largeste Asterisk-based community. Trixbox distributes a version of the Asterisk software, which is used by small and medium sized businesses to replace expensive telephone systems. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. Trixbox founder Andrew Gillis will join Fonality as part of the deal. Fonality said t (More info...)
posted on Wednesday, October 4, 2006(Full story)
St. Bernard Software Buys SinglefinSt. Bernard Software has purchased Singlefin, a provider of managed security and email filtering services. Financial terms were not disclosed. St. Bernard said this morning that the acquisition will enhance the firm's appliance, software, and on-demand security solutions. Singlefin provides email, web, and instant message filtering through a hosted service. St. Bernard develops Internet and email filtering appliances. Both firms are headquartered in San Diego.
posted on Wednesday, October 4, 2006(Full story)
Zecco To Launch Online Trading SiteLos Angeles-based Zecco.com announced today that it will launch a new, zero comission online trading site this month. The firm, which is backed by early Skype investor Morten Lund, said that it will offset trading costs from premium services, margin loans, and broker accounts. The startup said that it will also provide Web 2.0 experiences including financial blogging, discussion forums, and social networking filtering, along with sharing advertising revenue with bloggers.
posted on Wednesday, October 4, 2006(Full story)
Luxtera Adds Lanny Ross To BoardCarlsbad-based Luxtera has added Lanny Ross, former President and CEO of Broadcom, to the firm's board of directors. Ross also serves on the board of directors of Broadcom, and has also served as President of Rockwell International's Telecommunications Group. Ross has also held positions at National Semiconductor and Fairchild Semiconductor. Luxtera is developing single chip CMOS photonic transceivers, and is a Caltech spinoff funded by August Capital, ITU Ventures, New Enterprise Associates, Se (More info...)
posted on Wednesday, October 4, 2006 (More)(Full story)
Kalon Semi Adds VPSan Diego-based Kalon Semiconductor has named a new VP, saying this morning that Jarvis Tou has joined as Vice President of Business Development and Industry Initiatives. Kalon joins the firm from Staccato Communications, and has also served at Silicon Wave and Intel. Kalon Semiconductor develops high data rate semiconductors based on ultra-wideband (UWB) technology. The firm is backed by Avalon Ventures, Cisco Corp., Enterprise Partners, and Mission Ventures.
posted on Wednesday, October 4, 2006 (More)(Full story)