Tuesday, October 14, 2008Soliant Adds GE As Investor In $21M RoundMonrovia, California-based Soliant Energy has scored $21M in a venture capital round, including a $2.5M investment from GE Energy Financial Services, GE said Tuesday. According to GE, it is investing as part of a round which also includes Convexa Capital and earlier investors RockPort Capital Partners, Nth Power, Trinity Ventures and Rincon Venture Partners. Soliant Energy is developing rooftop concentrators for the solar power market. Soliant--formerly known as Practical Instruments--was founde (More info...)
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Verari Opens German OfficesSan Diego-based Verari Systems, which develops blade-based computing and storage hardware, has expanded in Europe with a new sales office in Hamburg, Germany. Verari announced the opening of the new office today, saying the move would strengthen its European sales network and broaden its local customer service capabilities. Verari already has offices in London. Verari's hardware is used for the blade computing market, and include blade racks, storage, servers, and related products.
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ContentNext Hires Research DirectorSanta Monica-based ContentNext Media, the parent company of digital media publisher paidContent.org, said this morning that it has hired Lauren Rich Fine, CFA, as Research Director at the firm. ContentNext said that Fine will author research reports and briefing notes on the digital media industry for the firm. Fine joins the firm from Merrill Lynch, where she was a managing director in Equity Research; she is also a practitioner in residence at Kent State University's College of Communication a (More info...)
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Sendio Enhances Email ApplianceIrvine-based Sendio, which develops email security software, has rolled out an upgraded version of the firm's email security appliance. According to Sendio, its E-Mail Security Platform (ESP) eliminates spam and thwarts viruses. The appliance uses a combination of SMTP tests and other methods to identify e-mail servers, along with sender address verification to very senders of emails to a user. The appliance--which was formerly known as the Sendio I.C.E. box--adds new features based on low-level (More info...)
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Interview Ian Rogers, TopSpin MediaIan Rogers is the CEO of Topspin Media (www.topspinmedia.com), a venture backed, Santa Monica-based startup developing web applications for the music industry. Topspin is backed by Redpoint Ventures and The Foundry Group. Rogers is the former GM of Yahoo Music, and sat down with us to talk about the company and his view of the music business and where it is going.
What's the idea behind Topspin Media?
Ian Rogers: The company was founded by Peter Gotcher, who founded DigiDesign in the 1980' (More info...)
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DivX Signs Warner Bros.San Diego-based DivX, a provider of coding and decoding technology for consumer electronics devices, has added Warner Bros. Entertainment as a licensee of its DivX format, the firm announced this morning. According to DivX and Warner Bros., the firms have signed an agreement which will allow online retailers to offer Warner Bros. titles in the DivX standard. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed, however the firms said the agreement covers all titles available for digital distribution in the (More info...)
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Demand Media Hires Ad Sales HeadSanta Monica-based Demand Media has hired a new executive to head up the firm's advertising sales, the firm disclosed Tuesday. Demand Media has appointed George Stewart as the company's Executive Vice President of Advertising Sales, heading up sales for all of the company's sales channels. The firm said that Stewart will build a sales team to increase sales revenue of Demand's eHow, Trails.com, Cracked, Livestrong.com, and other web sites. Stewart joins from Next New Networks, and has also serve (More info...)
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Leads360 Targets Small CompaniesLos Angeles-based Leads360, which develops leads management software, has launched a new product specifically targeting small companies. Leads360 said it has just launched its Leads360 Express product, which is targeted at managing sales leads for small companies in any industry. The software is free for a single salesperson, and costs $35 a month for up to five salespeople. Leads360 develops leads management software used to handle and manage Internet and other leads; previously, the firm provi (More info...)
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Shopit Deploys On NingLos Angeles-based Shopit, which develops a platform to allow users to buy and sell products on social networks, announced support for Ning this morning. Shopit said that it will support Ning, a social networking site, through its support of the OpenSocial API. Shopit creates software widgets which allow users to sell products from their profile pages and other web pages. Shopit's software also works with MySpace, Facebook, AIM, Bebo, Friendster, Blogger, and Hi5.
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Zag Makes Exec Hires, PromotionsSanta Monica-based Zag, a venture-backed developer of online car buying software, said this morning that it has made
a number of hires and a promotion. Zag said it has promoted Bernie Brenner to Executive Vice President in charge of the firm's consumer initiatives, named David Pributsky as VP of Partner development. The firm also named Steward Easterby as VP of Sales; Bill Lepter as VP of Business Intelligence; and Star Marcus as VP of Human Resources. Brenner has served at 1-800-CARSEARCH, Pr (More info...)
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