Wednesday, July 8, 2009Vitesse Board Member ResignsCamarillo-based Vitesse Semiconductor said late Wednesday that one of the firm's board members, Vincent Chan, has resigned. Reason for the resignation as not given. Chan has been a director on the board of Vitesse since April of 2000. Vitesse CEO Chris Gardner said in a statement that Chan was a "valuable source of knowledge and information" to the firm's board and management team. Chan is a member of MIT's faculty and an expert on optoelectronics and communications.
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GumGum Raises $2.6MSanta Monica-based GumGum, which sells photos and other content on a CPM basis to online publishers, has raised $2.6M in a venture round, according to a regulatory filing from the firm. No details on the funding have yet been released by the company. GumGum has previously raised funding from First Round Capital and Crosscut Ventures. The firm now lists First Round's Howard Morgan and angel investor and current MySpace COO Michael Jones as board members. (Update: GumGum tells us the new round was (More info...)
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ZADSPACE Gains More FundingEl Segundo-based ZADSPACE, a stealth mode firm developing advertising related products or technology, has raised an additional $500,000 in funding, according to a regulatory filing from the firm, bringing its total fundraising to $1.91M. Details on the funding have not been released by the firm. According to the filing, Frank Foster of Draper Fisher Jurvetson has joined the board, which also included direct marketing advertising's Lester Wunderman, as well as Rick Smith of Crosscut Ventures. DF (More info...)
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Local.com Reports Traffic NumbersIrvine-based Local.com, which operates a network of local business search sites, reported the firm's traffic numbers today, saying that during Q2, it had 63 million monthly unique visitors on its site and network. The firm claimed that the traffic was up 5% from Q1, and up 32% from the similar quarter in 2008. Local.com's web sites allow users to search for local businesses and services. The firm claimed that organic traffic--traffic being driven to the site through search engines, and not via p (More info...)
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Quantum Fuel Systems Inks $10.2M Contract With Fisker AutomotiveIrvine-based Quantum Fuel Systems Technologies, a developer of energy storage and other related systems, said today that it has signed a $10.2M contract with Fisker Automotive to develop plug-in hybrid powertrains. According to Quantum, the Phase III effort will enable Quantum to manage production validation of its plug-in hybrid system, for volume production in 2010. Fisker Automotive, which is backed by the Qatar Investment Authority, Palo Alto Investors and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, h (More info...)
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Gorilla Nation Renews FangoriaLos Angeles-based Gorilla Nation, which represents online publishers for advertising sales, reports today that the firm has extended an agreement with The Brooklyn Company, which owns horror site Fangoria.com, FangoriaGoreZone.com, and Starlog.com. Gorilla Nation said that it will continue to exclusively represent the three web sites, but did not disclose financial terms of the deal. The two said they have been working together for the last five years. The Brooklyn Company's three site reach ar (More info...)
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Inphi Names Former NEC Exec To Advisory BoardWestlake Village-based Inphi, a provider of high performance analog components, said today that it has tapped the former CEO and President of NEC Electronics America, Hirakazu Hashimoto, to its advisory board. Hashimoto has also served at EVP of NEC Electronics Japan, CEO of Japan foundry planning Co. Ltd, an advisor to Hitachi Corp., and chairman of Magma KK. Inphi is a developer of analog components, including DDR memory interfaces, optical components, and other components. The firm is ventur (More info...)
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Novatel Wireless Signs DistributorSan Diego-based Novatel Wireless reports today that it has signed on a distributor for the firm's wireless hotspot router. According to Novatel, distributor Mobilx will distribute the firm's hardware to resellers through Central and Eastern Europe and the Middle East. Novatel launched its mobile hotspot product, the MiFi 2352, in December, and is shipping it through Verizon and others. Mobilix has its technical, pre and post sales support centre in Debrecen, Hungary.
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Evolution Robotics Gets $1M Navy ContractPasadena-based Evolution Robotics, an Idealab-backed firm developing robotics software, said today that it has won a federal contract from the U.S. Navy Office of Naval Research, which is worth nearly $1M. According to Evolution Robotics, the contract covers research on scaling visual recognition for maritime domain awareness. Visual recognition algorithms are one of the key parts of Evolution's robotics software, and are being deployed commercially with firms such as NTT DoCoMo. Evolution Robot (More info...)
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Interview with Steve Goldman, Ace MetrixLos Angeles-based Ace Metrix (www.acemetrix.com) launched its software-as-a-service, TV advertising rating service last month, and we spoke with the firm's CEO and co-founder, Steve Goldman, recently to learn more about the firm. In particular, we wanted to hear from Steve about how the firm is applying scientific techniques to what has been more of a creative area--advertising effectiveness. Ace Metrix is venture backed by Hummer Winblad, and Palomar Ventures.
Tell us a bit about your compan (More info...)
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MSC.Software Gets $360M Acquisition OfferSanta Ana-based MSC.Software, a developer of simulation and design software, has received a $360M acquisition offer from a group of private equity investors. According to Symphony Technology Group (STG) and Elliot Management Corp., the two have entered into a definitive agreement to acquire all of MSC. Software's outstanding shares in an all-cash, merger transaction. The two firms said they would pay $7.63 in cash for each share of MSC common stock to acquire MSC, which thefirms said is a approx (More info...)
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