Tuesday, May 27, 2008


Los Angeles/Orange County Leads Biotech Fundings, Says Report
The Los Angeles/Orange County area led the nation in overall capital raised in biotechnology, according to a report released last week by Ernst & Young. According to the Ernst & Young, 2008 Beyond Borders report, which analyzes the biotechnology industry, Southern California led the nation in total capital -- including both venture capital and other financing -- raised by biotech related firms for the year. The region is ranked ahead of both the San Francisco Bay Area and New England in terms of (More info...)
posted on Tuesday, May 27, 2008(Full story)

AudioMicro Launches Stock Audio Site
Los Angeles-based AudioMicro, a startup focused on "stock" audio content, launched a beta of a site for allowing music creators to create audio content for the film, radio, television, and video production industry over the weekend. The firm said that it is looking to give composers, songwriters, sound designers, and audio engineers a way to create audio content which they can license to others. According to the company--which told socalTECH that is currently looking to raise capital with Southe (More info...)
posted on Tuesday, May 27, 2008(Full story)

AeroVironment Gets DARPA Contract
Monrovia, California-based AeroVironment has scored a new contract from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the firm said Tuesday. AeroVironment said it received a Phase II, $636,000 development contract covering the design and build of a flying prototype for the Nano Air Vehicle program. The program is focused on development of extremely small scale aircraft for military reconnaissance. According to AeroVironment, its program will culminate with a demonstration of a three-inc (More info...)
posted on Tuesday, May 27, 2008(Full story)

Interview with Abdul Khan, ibeatyou
Santa Monica-based ibeatyou (www.ibeatyou.com) is a web site focused on online competitions, whose founders include NBA star Baron Davis and Hollywood producer Cash Warren. The firm raised a seed round of capital in September from Prism VentureWorks, Baron Davis, VCs from Crosslink Capital, Seagate's Steve Luczo, and Ronnie Lott. We spoke with the firm's CEO, Abdul Khan, about what the idea is behind the site and its many connections. What is ibeatyou all about? Abdul Kahn: What the compa (More info...)
posted on Tuesday, May 27, 2008(Full story)

Kyriba Raises $7M
San Diego-based Kyriba Corporation, a provider of software for managing bank balances and cash for multi-national corporations, said today that it has raised $7M from Coface and its existing investors, GRP and BRED Banque Populaire. The firm said the new funding will be used to finance its growth, particularly in North America, Europe, and the Pacific. Coface also adds a representative to Kyriba's board of directors. Kyriba's software-as-a-service is used for cash management. The firm has previo (More info...)
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Gorilla Nation Signs Virtual World For Girls
Los Angeles-based online advertising representation firm Gorilla Nation said today that the firm has been selected to represent the online ad inventory for Horseland.com, an online multiplayer game and community focused on girls 8-18. The online virtual world allows girls to design, raise, show, and share their own virtual horses. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Gorilla Nation provides representation to online web publishers and sites to advertisers.
posted on Tuesday, May 27, 2008(Full story)

Symark Promotes Farber To CEO
Agoura Hills-based Symark International, a developer of systems access management software, announced today that it has appointed Bob Farber as the firm's Chief Executive Officer. The firm was previously Chief Operating Officer at the company. Farber has been at Symark for more than 20 years, and was the firm's first employee. No details on the reason for the executive switchup were given. Symark is venture backed by Insight Venture Partners, and develops software for managing security and acces (More info...)
posted on Tuesday, May 27, 2008(Full story)

DivX Adds Spanish Support
San Diego-based DivX said today that it has begun offering Spanish versions of the firm's video creation and playback software. The firm, which develops video encoding/decoding software, said that the firm's software for converting digital video files into its format also adds support for QuickTime files and AVI 2.0, and new high-definition 1080p HD support, in addition to the new Spanish localization. DivX licenses its codec to consumer electronics manufacturers and software developers.
posted on Tuesday, May 27, 2008(Full story)