Wednesday, September 17, 2008Valeant Pharmaceuticals Buys Specialty PharmaAliso Viejo-based Valeant Pharmaceuticals said Wednesday that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Coria Laboratories, a specialty pharmaceutical company focused on dermatology. Valeant said it will pay approximately $95M for Coria, from parent firm DFB Pharmaceuticals and other shareholders. Valeant Pharmaceuticals said that Coria currently has annualized net sales of approximately $40M.
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Sapphire Energy Scores $50M In New FundingSan Diego-based Sapphire Energy, which develops technology for producing gasoline using algae, said Wednesday that it has raised an additional $50M in funding from its existing and new investors. Sapphire says the Series B round came from ARCH Venture Partners, Wellcome Trust, Venrock, and Cascade Investment, the investment holding company of Microsoft's Bill Gates. Sapphire said the round will go to scale up the firm's production facilities to full commercial feasability, and brings the company (More info...)
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Quest Software Buys NetPro ComputingAliso Viejo-based Quest Software has acquired a Phoenix, Arizona-based software firm which develops Microsoft management tools. Quest said late last week that would pay approximately $78.7M in cash for NetPro Computing, whose products are used to manage Microsoft Active Directory, Exchange, SharePoint and SQL Server environments. Quest is develops enterprise management software used for monitoring and managing IT systems.
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Slacker Rolls Out New Personal Radio PlayerSan Diego-based Slacker, which operates an online personalized music service and music players, has rolled out a new radio player, the firm said Tuesday. The new device is cheaper than prior models from the firm, and now includes automatic updates to playlists on the device. Slacker, which is venture backed by Centennial Ventures, Rho Ventures, Mission Ventures and Sevin Rosen Funds, said that its new Slacker G2 Personal Radio Player offers the ability for users to listen to their Slacker Radio (More info...)
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RoyaltyShare Signs Distribution DealsSan Diego-based RoyaltyShare has signed a set of distribution deals for the firm's digital media management and royalty tracking software. According to RoyaltyShare, it has expanded support for distribution to mobile music services LiveWire Mobile, Moderati, SendMe Mobile, Thumbplay and Zed. RoyaltyShare said the deal enables record labels and music distributors to sell track downloads, master tones, ringback tones, wallpapers, and other products through U.S. wireless carriers. Financial arrange (More info...)
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eHarmony Inks Deal With AOLPasadena-based online dating site eHarmony said today that it has inked a partnership with AOL, on AOL Personals, an online dating service. According to eHarmony, it will bring its scientific matchmaking to AOL Personals, through promotion on AOL's sites, a dedicated "eHarmony Boutique", and dating advice. The deal allows AOL users to register for eHarmony's service directly from AOL Personals, and also includes a content deal to include dating advice across AOL's portal. Financial terms of the (More info...)
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Interview with Michael Kantor, OrgooThere are a lot of users, with lots of different email and instant messaging accounts, who are finding that there are too many ways to communicate with their friends and associates. Los Angeles-based Orgoo (www.orgoo.com) is looking to solve the problem by creating a unified communications service which ties all those ways of communicating together. We sat down with Michael Kantor, the firm's CEO, to talk about the service and the company.
What's the idea behind Orgoo?
Michael Kantor: The (More info...)
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MySpace Expands Presidential Debate Site, FeaturesLos Angeles-based social networking site MySpace has rolled out new tools for its MyDebates.org website, the joint effort of the firm with the Commission on Presidential Debates. According to MySpace, it has added interactive tools, including a personalized issue scorecard, polling, national statistics, and live streaming to complement the upcoming presidential and vice presidential debates. Among the features of the site are a way for visitors to compare their position on issues against the can (More info...)
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PowerGenix Raises $30MSan Diego-based PowerGenix, which develops Nickel-Zinc rechargeable batteries, said today that it has raised $30M in a Series D funding round. The round was led by Bessemer Venture Partners, and also included Advent International, Angeleno Group, Braemar Energy Ventures, Granite Ventures, OnPoint Technologies and Technology Partners. The new round brings the company's total raised to approximately $60M. PowerGenix develops rechargeable batteries based on NiZn chemistry, which the firm says is no (More info...)
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ProfitLine Hires Sales VPSan Diego-based ProfitLine said today that it has appointed Kurt Bloxdorf as Senior Vice President of Sales and Business Development at the firm. According to ProfitLine, Bloxdorf joins the firm after serving at such companies as SSA Global, Computer Associates, Inacom and PC Service Source. ProfitLine is a provider of telecom expense management for large enterprises and government agencies; the firm is backed by venture capital from FTVentures and Menlo Ventures.
posted on Wednesday, September 17, 2008(Full story)