Monday, July 9, 2007


Gemstar-TV Guide Explores Sale
Los Angeles-based Gemstar-TV Guide International announced Monday evening that the firm is exploring strategic alternatives, including sale of the firm. The firm said that it has retained UBS Investment Bank as a financial advisor to the company, along with Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz as a legal advisor. The firm said that the move was intended to maximize shareholder value, and had been approved by the firm's board of directors. Gemstar-TV Guide licenses and develops digital television guide (More info...)
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ExaDigm Gets $12M
Santa Ana-based ExaDigm, a developer of wired and wireless point-of-sale (POS) terminals, announced Monday morning that it has received $12M in a Series B round. Funding came from Dunrath Capital and Valhalla Partners, along with McDonnell & Associates LP and prior investors Meruelo Capital and Sunrise Investments. ExaDigm's terminals are used by retailers, which the firm says include Best Western and Amtrak. Brian Gannon of Dunrath and Gene Riechers of Valhalla have joined the firm's board of d (More info...)
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Ripple Adds $10M
El Segundo-based Ripple Networks said Monday that it has raised an additional $10M in a Series B funding. Funding came from Draper Fisher Jurvetson, which led the round, along with Trinity Ventures. John Fisher of DFJ has joined Ripple's board as part of the funding. Ripple Networks is developing a network of in-store, electronic displays that show news, entertainment, and other information to consumers. The firm also said that it has inked a strategic partnership with Jack in the Box to deploy (More info...)
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GaimTheory Scores Investment
Los Angeles-based GaimTheory, a company developing an online gaming platform, has received an undisclosed amount of investment from Momentum Venture Management. Momentum, which provides both capital and management to early stage companies, said today that it has appointed Stuart MacFarlane as CEO of GaimTheory. Stuart MacFarlane is a Managing Director at Momentum, and previously was CEO of InsiderPages. GaimTheory is focused on an online platform for first person shooter games. Amount of the inv (More info...)
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FIM Completes Photobucket Buy
Los Angeles-based Fox Interactive Media said today that it has completed its acuqisition of Photobucket, a provider of online storage for photos and videos. Financial terms were not disclosed. Fox Interactive Media announced the deal in May. Photobucket was the leading provider of storage for photos, videos, and other content, used by web users to share their photos on blogging web sites like MySpace, Facebook, and other social networking web sites.
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Websense Gets UK Clearance
San Diego-based Websense said Friday that it has received clearances in the UK for its acquisition of Surcontrol Plc. Websense said that the U.K. Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has decided not to refer the proposed acquisition to its Competition Commission, which is the first step in gaining full clearance for the acquisition. Websense is in the midst of a $400M acquisition of Surfcontrol, which it originally announced in April. Both Websense and Surfcontrol develop web and email security software (More info...)
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Spark Networks To Reorg In U.S., Move To ASE
Beverly Hills-based Spark Networks plc, the online operator of dating and personals web sites, said today that it has been given approval by the High Court of Justice in England and Wales to reorganize its operations. Spark is forming a Delaware Corporation, Spark Networks, Inc.; the result is that Spark Networks plc will become a subsidiary. The reorganization will result in the firm's stock moving from the Frankfurt Stock Exchange to a listing on the American Stock Exchange. The firm said the (More info...)
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Answerbag Connects Into Facebook
Santa Monica-based Answerbag.com, the online social question and answer service run by Demand Media, said today that it has announced a new social question and answer application for Facebook. Answerbag said that the new application will allow users to post questions and receive answers from anyone on Facebook, in addition to Answerbag's community. The application is one of the latest to be spawned by Facebook's new open API for application providers; Answerbag also offers web widget versions fo (More info...)
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SpectraSensors Raises $14M
Rancho Cucamonga-based SpectraSensors, a firm that manufactures optical gas analyzers for the natural gas and energy market, said Friday that it has raised $14M in a Series C round of funding. The funding was led by Nomura's New Energy & Clean Technology Ventures. Other investors in the round included current investors American River Ventures, Blueprint Ventures, Nth Power, and new investors CTTV Investments, Chevron's venture capital arm. The funding will go towards accelerating the growth of t (More info...)
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QLogic, Hitachi Data Systems Ship iSCSI Package
Aliso Viejo-based storage products developer QLogic said today that it is in a collaboration with Hitachi Data Systems in the iSCSI area. The two are shipping a new iSCSI SAN kit, the Hitachi Data Sytems iSCSI Plug-and-play SAN Kit, which incorporates QLogic's iSCSI host bus adapters. The QLogic products are used by storage administrators to connect PCs and servers to storage using Ethernet. The new kit specifically is targeted for use with Microsoft Windows Server 2003. Hitachi Data Systems is (More info...)
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Arkeia Ships Data Protection Appliance
San Diego-based Arkeia Software, a developer of data protection software for the storage industry, said today that its new appliance-based data protection product, EdgeFort, is in general availability. The new product is targeted at remote offices and mid-sized businesses, and provides integrated backup software and hardware. The appliance includes Arkeia's backup software, disk, and an integrated tape drive with support for either LTO, or DAY 72 tape drives. The product starts at $3,100. Arkeia (More info...)
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