Wednesday, April 1, 2009RealtyTrac Looks To Rental Market With New ServiceIn a sign of the times, Irvine-based RealtyTrac, a provider of information on real estate foreclosures, has launched a service which helps rental tenants determine if their landlord is about to be foreclosed on. According to RealtyTrac, it has rolled out a new service called RealtyTrac Renter Alerts, which will let tenants avoid an unexpected eviction if their landlord falls into foreclosure. RealtyTrac said it will charge $24.95 a year for tenants who are worried about their landlords, and will (More info...)
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SpaceX Finds $15MHawthorne-based SpaceX, the commercial space rocket venture of Paypal's Elon Musk, disclosed Tuesday in a regulatory filing that the firm has raised $15M of an ongoing $60M, equity round. According to the filing, the first close occurred on March 18th. No details of the funding round have been released by the company. SpaceX has previously raised funding from the Founders Fund.
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Ambrx Gains $10MLa Jolla-based Ambrx, which is developing protein and antibody drugs, said in a regulatory filing today that it has raised $10M. No details of the funding round have been disclosed. Ambrx has previously raised capital from 5AM Ventures, Maverick, Tavistock Life Sciences, CMEA Capital, Versant Ventures, Twilight Venture Partners, Aravis, Alexandria Equities, and Apposite.
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VC IPO Drought ContinuesThe drought in the IPOs of U.S., venture backed companies continued in Q1, according to numbers released by Dow Jones VentureSource. According to the firm, total merger and acquisition activity only totaled $3.2 billion in the first quarter of 2009, down 65 percent from the $9.1 billion generated in liquidity last year. The numbers were the lowest quarterly totals since 2003. Interestingly enough the news for Southern California companies was not all bad--two Southern California exits, both sale (More info...)
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Report: Veoh Planning Major LayoffsSan Diego- and Los Angeles-based online video site Veoh is reportedly in the midst of a "major restructuring," according to a report from VentureBeat. Quoting a "source close to the company" VentureBeat said that the layoffs would be "drastic." An email to Dmitry Shapiro, CEO of Veoh, this morning, asking for comments on the rumor was not returned. Veoh laid off 20 percent of its employees in November. The firm is venture backed by Intel Capital, Adobe, Shelter Capital, Spark Capital, Goldman (More info...)
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Zag Powers AAA ServiceSanta Monica-based Zag.com, the online car buying software firm headed by Scott Painter, announced this morning that it has inked a deal with the AAA, to power a new service called AAA Automaker. According to Zag, the firm will provide a turnkey, fully integrated auto buying program for the site, which will offer resources to research and compare vehicles, read AAA editorial reviews, and configure and purchase vehicles. Financial details of the win was not disclosed. Zag provides the technology (More info...)
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Central Desktop Plugs Into OutlookPasadena-based Central Desktop, a developer of software-as-a-service, project management tools, announced today that it has released a new plug-in for Microsoft Outlook. Central Desktop said the new plug-in will allow Outlook users to synchronize tasks, calendars, and share content between Central Desktop and Microsoft's email platform. Central Desktop's service provides team project management along the lines of Microsoft's SharePoint portal product; the firm said it is looking to provide a Saa (More info...)
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Chi.mp Opens RegistrationsSan Diego- and Honolulu-based Chi.mp has opened up registration for the firm's personalized profile and domain site. The firm said this morning that anyone can now go to its site, and select an available domain name. Chi.mp allows users to select a personalized .mp domain name, and link that to their online social networking profiles and other social media sites.
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Aerovironment Looks To Expand Usage Of RavenMonrovia-based Aerovironment, which develops unmanned aircraft systems for the defense industry, said this morning that the firm has recently conducted a 30-hour demonstration of the firm's Raven aircraft for the Pentagon. Aerovironment said the demonstration cames following an inquiry from the Pentagon on the potential of using its products for low-cost, tactically relevant persistent surveillance. The company said the demonstration was conducted with the U.S. Army Product Manager for Small Unm (More info...)
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Slacker Adds LyricsSan Diego-based Slacker, a venture-backed, personalized online radio service, told its users this morning that it has launched a new feature which adds complete lyrics to the firm's services. According to Slacker, its premium Slacker Radio Plus service now includes access to the exact words to users' favorite songs. The firm's premium service provides unlimited skipping of songs, no advertising, unlimited requests for specific tracks, and more. Slacker is charging $3.99 for the premium service. (More info...)
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Employers Cut 742,000 In MarchPrivate sector employers cut 742,000 positions in March, according to a report released this morning from ADP Employer Services, a major provider of payroll services, as the economy continued to sputter. According to the ADP National Employment Report, total employment in the U.S. dropped by 742,000, with losses totaling 284,000 jobs for small business with less than 49 employees, 330,000 of those to medium businesses with 50-499 employees, and 128,000 for large businesses with more than 499 emp (More info...)
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Disney Online Acquires Sites From KabooseNorth Hollywood-based Disney Online, the online publishing arm of Disney Interactive Media Group, announced this morning that it has acquired a number of assets from Canadian firm Kaboose, in a deal worth approximately $18.4M. Disney said that it is acquiring Kaboose.com, Babyzone.com, AmazingMoms.com, Funschool.com, and Zeeks.com from Kaboose, to integrate into its lineup of web sites. According to Disney Online, the new web properties complement its existing kids and family sites. Disney Onli (More info...)
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Networks In Motion Ship Blackberry AppAliso Viejo-based Networks In Motion, which develops location based services applications for the mobile phone market, announced this morning that it has shipped a new Blackberry application it is calling Gokivo Navigator. The firm said that the new title is the first, direct-to-consumer application released by the company. The firm's prior titles have all been white labeled by mobile service providers. Networks In Motion said the new Gokivo title will be available through Blackberry App World, (More info...)
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OpenX Announces Customer NumbersPasadena-based OpenX Technologies, which develops ad serving software used by online publishers, is reporting this morning that it has added more than 8,000 publishers since it launched its product in October of 2008. The software developed by OpenX is used by online publishers to serve up Internet advertising. According to OpenX, the new customers are using both its downloadable software, as well as a hosted version of its product. Financial impact of the customer wins was not disclosed; the so (More info...)
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Kyocera Forms New Business In San DiegoWireless firm Kyocera Corporation disclosed this morning that the firm has created a new business, Kyocera Communications Inc. in San Diego. Kyocera said that the business will combine the sales, marketing, and service functions of Kyocera Wireless Corp. and Kyocera Sanyo Telecom Inc., and manage both Kyocera- and Sanyo-branded wireless devices in the Americas. Kyocera Wireless Corp. is the former wireless handset business of Qualcomm, which was acquired by Kyocera in 2000; Kyocera Sanyo Telecom (More info...)
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