Thursday, September 24, 2009SAIC Moves HQ To VirginiaDefense integrator SAIC, which has been based in San Diego, said today that it has officially relocated its corporate headquarters to McLean, Virginia. The firm said the move relocates its corporate executive leadership team closer to its federal government customers. SAIC said it has 17,500 employees in the metropolitan Washington, D.C. area, the largest concentration of its staff, which makes it the area's fourth largest employer. The company did say it will maintain a "significant" presence i (More info...)
posted on Thursday, September 24, 2009(Full story)
Insights and Opinions: Five Common Mistakes Entrepreneurs MakeFor our Insights and Opinions section today, we have an article from Scott Edward Walker, an attorney at Walker Corporate Law Group, who gives his list of five common mistake that entrepeneurs make in raising capital.
This post discusses the five most common mistakes entrepreneurs make in raising capital: (i) playing securities lawyer; (ii) selling securities to non-"accredited investors"; (iii) advertising or soliciting investors; (iv) using an unregistered finder to sell securities; and ( (More info...)
posted on Thursday, September 24, 2009(Full story)
PriceGrabber.com, TRUSTe In DealLos Angeles-based online comparison shopping site PriceGrabber.com is in a deal with online privacy certification firm TRUSTe, TRUSTe said Thursday. According to TRUSTe, PriceGrabber.com will allow merchants using PriceGrabber to display their TRUSTe seal in their shopping listings. TRUSTe runs a program which allows ecommerce sites and others to show they protect and keep private user information. Financial details of the arrangement were not disclosed.
posted on Thursday, September 24, 2009(Full story)
Private Equity Firms Behind Bidding War For MSC.Software RevealedThe mysterious private equity firms in a bidding war for Santa Ana-based MSC Software are Vector Capital and Golden Gate Capital, according to a report from TheDeal, citing sources close to the negotiation efforts. A group of unnamed, private equity firm have been bidding against Symphony Technology Group to gain control of MSC, which makes simulation software used to develop and test product designs. The latest bid on MSC.Software was on Tuesday, when the undisclosed group of private equity fir (More info...)
posted on Thursday, September 24, 2009(Full story)
OC Firm On Patent OffensiveAn Orange County firm, SpeedTrack, has targeted Amazon.com, Best Buy, Dell, Costco, The Home Depot, and a slew of other firms over a patent the firm said is being infringed upon by the companies. According to SpeedTrack, the patent--U.S. Patent No. 5,544,360--covers how those retailers return searches for products on their web sites, so that users don't see "cannot be found" in the results. SpeedTrack said the patent protects a method it calls "Guided Information Access", which was created by co (More info...)
posted on Thursday, September 24, 2009(Full story)
Life Technologies, Illumina In Patent SpatSan Diego-based Illumina said today that it has been served with a complaint alleging patent infringement, from Carlsbad-based Life Technologies. According to Illumina, it is being sued by Life Technologies, Applied Biosystems, a Russian research institute, and the holders of patents which Life Technologies said are being infringed upon by Illumina in its Genome Analyzer System. Illumina said it will "defend this suit vigorously" claiming that the claims are "unfounded". The patents in questions (More info...)
posted on Thursday, September 24, 2009(Full story)
Hydra Snags Exec From LowerMyBillsBeverly Hills-based Hydra, a pay-for-performance advertising network, said yesterday that it has named Josh Eldridge as the firm's Director of Display Media. Eldridge joins the firm from LowerMyBills.com, where he was Marketing Director. Eldridge has also served at CarParts Technologies, L. Norman Howe & Associates and American Home Foods. Hydra operates an advertising network where advertisers only pay if the firm generates leads or customers.
posted on Thursday, September 24, 2009(Full story)
Clean Energy Fuels Buys BAF TechnologiesSeal Beach-based Clean Energy Fuels, a provider of natural gas for the transportation industry, reported this morning that it has signed a purchase and sale agreement to acquire BAF Technologies, a provider of natural gas vehicle systems and conversions. The deal is worth approximately $8.3M, with around $3.8M in debt owed by BAF Technologies being used to pay off Clean Energy Fuels. The deal also includes unspecified earn out based on future gross profits. BAF provides conversion of light duty (More info...)
posted on Thursday, September 24, 2009(Full story)
Projecturf Upgrades Project Management SoftwareLos Angeles-based Projecturf, a developer of software-as-a-service for project and collaboration management for small and medium businesses, is announcing an upgrade to the firm's namesake offering today. According to the firm, the version 2.0 of the firm's product includes over 60 new features and enhancements, including a better user interface, new sections for ticketing and bug tracking, better customization options, and more. The privately held firm is looking to attract users of Microsoft P (More info...)
posted on Thursday, September 24, 2009(Full story)
Ace Metrix Enhances Advertising Testing ServiceLos Angeles-based Ace Metrix, which is venture backed by Hummer Winblad Venture Partners and Palomar Ventures, said today that it has rolled out a number of enhancements to the firm's service for the advertising market. The firm, which provides testing of advertising creative, said it has launched Ace PreTest, which provides custom ad pre-testing for clients, Ace Macroscope, which breaks down ad analytics based on demographics, along with other updates like better graphing and filtering. Ace Met (More info...)
posted on Thursday, September 24, 2009(Full story)
Netlist Sues InphiIrvine-based Netlist, a developer of memory subsystems for cthe computing and communication market, said Wednesday afternoon that it has sued Westlake Village-based Inphi Corporation, claiming that Inphi has infringed on one of the firm's patents. Netlist claims that Inphi's iMB line of isolation memory buffer integrated circuits infringes on its patent, and is seeking both monetary damages and a permanent action barring Inphi from making and selling those devices. The patent in question is U.S. (More info...)
posted on Thursday, September 24, 2009(Full story)