Monday, December 1, 2008


Earth Class Mail Lands In West LA
Seattle-based startup Earth Class Mail has landed in Los Angeles, saying Monday that the firm has opened up shop on Santa Monica Boulevard for the firm's Internet mail service. Earth Class Mail -- which is venture backed by the Keiretsu Forum -- said the new location will help "entertainment-industry professionals and jet-setters" to gain a Hollywood area mail address. Earth Class Mail receives and digitized physical, postal mail for its users, allowing them to read their postal mail online, and (More info...)
posted on Monday, December 1, 2008(Full story)

Confirmnet Acquisition Completes
San Diego-based insurance software firm Confirmnet is now officially part of Ebix, a provider of software for the insurance industry, Ebix said Monday afternoon. Ebix had announced the buy in early November, saying that the deal was worth between $10M and $11M. Confirmnet develops software used for issuing insurance certificates.
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Symwave Hires Three, Moves To OC
Laguna Niguel-based Symwave, a provider of mixed signal and analog semiconductors, said Monday that it has hired on three new vice presidents, and moved itself to Orange County. According to Symwave, it has hired Gideon Intrater as VP of Solutions Architecture; John O'Neill as VP of Marketing, and Craig Stein as VP of Engineering. The firm was previously located in San Diego. Intrater was most recently at MIPS Technologies; O'Neill was most recently at ClariPhy Communications and Broadcom, among (More info...)
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Evite Links With Real Simple
Los Angeles-based online invitiations site Evite has inked a deal with magazine Real Simple, saying Monday that the two companies have launched a partnership around its online invitations service. According to Evite, the two will create a collection of online invitations featuring photography from Real Simple, which will be showcased on both firms' web sites. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Real Simple is a magazine owned by Time, Inc., which is targeted at busy women. Evite is a (More info...)
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Interview with Richard Yen, Saban Ventures
In what looks to be a challenging funding climate for entrepreneurs, we thought it would be interesting to talk to one fund which is still making investments--Saban Ventures (www.saban.com)--a new, digital media focused venture capital fund located in Los Angeles. We talked with Richard Yen, the firm's Director of Venture Capital and New Media, about the company's link to Univision, what kinds of investments it is making, and his impressions as an investor of the opportunity here in Southern Cal (More info...)
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j2 Global Acquires Two Firms
Los Angeles-based online FAX and messaging services firm j2 Global Communications announced Monday that it has acquired two companies--Mailwise, LLC, and Mijanda, Inc. Mailwise is based in Boston, and provides hosted email security services; and Mijanda, Inc. is a Michigan-based provider of digital fax and voice messaging products. Financial terms of the deals were not disclosed. Both deals were asset purchases, and j2 said that the financial impact of the acquisition was not expected to be mate (More info...)
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D2 Technologies Gets Design Win
Santa Barbara-based D2 Technologies' embedded software has been selected by U4EA Technologies for a residential gateway product, D2 disclosed this morning. D2 said that its software--used for Voice-over-IP applications--will be used as part of a small office/home office product used to connect home users to broadband services. Financial impact of the win was not disclosed. D2 said its vPort software is being used as part of U4EA's Horizon HG1100 Home Office Gateway, which shipped last month.
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Symark Names New CEO
Agoura Hills-based software provider Symark International has hired on a new CEO, the firm said today. Symark said that John Mutch has been appointed as Chief Executive Officer of the firm, joining from strategic investment firm MV Advisors, LLC. Mutch is the former President and CEO of Peregrine Systems, which he headed when it sold to Hewlett-Packard. Mutch has also served at HNC Software, and sits on the boards of Adaptec and Asprya. Symark is a developer of software used for controlling acce (More info...)
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Overland Storage Gets $9M In Receivables Financing
San Diego-based data storage firm Overland Storage said late last week that it has received $9M in a receivable financing transaction. The funding came from Marquette Commercial Finance. Overland said the financing will help provide the company with "accelerated" liquidity. Overland Storage is a provider of tape libraries, disk-based backup systems, RAID storage, and other related products. Overland was represented by FTI Capital Advisors in the funding.
posted on Monday, December 1, 2008(Full story)