Tuesday, October 27, 2009Snowball Factory Raises FundingBeverly Hills-based The Snowball Factory, the developer of Awe.sm, a URL shortener for domains, and tweetpo.st, software for updating Facebook from Twitter, has raised $562,600 in an equity funding round, according to a regulatory filing from the firm Tuesday. Source of the funding was not disclosed. Snowball Factory is headed by Jonathan Strauss, who according to his profile on LinkedIn was most recently a Sr. Product Manager at Yahoo! Widgets.
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RFaxis Switches To IBMIrvine-based RFaxis, a developer of wireless semiconductors, announced Tuesday that it has switched to IBM Microelectronics for its fully integrated, single-chip, single-die RF front end integrated circuits. The firm said it is using IBM's BiCMOS process in Burlington, Vermont. RFaxis was previously using STMicro for the firm's fab. RFaxis is developing wireless front ends for Bluetooth, WLAN, Zigbee, WiMAX, and mobile phone markets.
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MyPrint Acquired By Triton PacificIrvine-based MyPrint, a provider of print and promotional marketing programs, as well as related e-commerce tecnology, has been acquired by Los Angeles private equity firm Triton Pacific Capital Partners, Triton said Tuesday. Triton Pacific said it acquired a majority interest in MyPrint, but did not provide financial details.
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Fisker Automotive Buys GM PlantIrvine-based Fisker Automotive, a venture backed startup developing electric vehicles, said today that it has acquired a dormant GM plant in Wilmington, Delaware, to build its plug-in hybrid cars. According to Fisker, the new plant will support the firm's Project NINA, affordable plug-in hybrid sedan. Fisker said production is scheduled to begin on the new car in late 2012, and will support 2,000 factory jobs and more than 3,000 vendor and supplier jobs by 2014. Fisker said it will pay $18M to p (More info...)
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Eisner Spins Off Digital Studio VuguruMichael Eisner's Vuguru, the new media production studio started by Michael Eisner as an offshoot of Tornante Company, is being spun off as part of an investment deal with Rogers Media, the firms said Monday. Financial details of the spinof were not disclosed. The two companies aid that Vuguru will become a stand-alone entity, with Eisner serving as Chairman of the board. Rogers Media is a division of Rogers Communications, an owner of radio and television channels across Canada.
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Nirvanix Turns Attention To ChannelSan Diego-based Nirvanix, a provider of cloud-based storage services, said today that it has started to look towards the channel with a new Channel Partner Program. The firm said it is looking to partner with resellers, integrators, and IT consulting firms to offer the Nirvanix cloud storage offerings--including its Storage Delivery Network and CloudNAS products--to end customers. The firm said it has signed on its first partner, Nth Generation Computing, as part of the effort. Nth Generation se (More info...)
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Emulex Wins IBMCosta Mesa-based Emulex is reporting today that its products--including its 10Gb/s Ethernet Network Interface Cards and 16Gb/s Fibre Channel Host Bus Adapters--have been selected by IBM for its IBM Power Systems product line. According to Emulex, the technology agreement with IBM covers using Emulex technology along with the IBM Power platform, PowerVM virtualization technology, and IBM AIX. Financial impact of the win was not disclosed. The two announced a patent licensing deal in August, along (More info...)
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Boingo Hits BlackBerryLos Angeles-based Boingo Wireless, which operates a network of Wi-Fi hotspots, has added support for the RIM BlackBerry, the firm said today. According to Boingo, its authentication software is now available from its web site, and supports the BlackBerry Curve 8900, BlackBerry Curve 8320, and BlackBerry Bold. The free application allows users to connect into any of the Wi-Fi access points in Boingo's network. Boingo currently also supports Android, iPhone, Symbian, and Windows Mobile smart phone (More info...)
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Break.com Launches Horror ChannelLos Angeles-based Break.com, an online site focused on entertainment for men, said it has launched a new Horror Channel this morning. The site said the new channel includes both original content and user generated videos focused on Halloween. Break.com said it is partnering with horror site FEARnet on the new channel, and also has its Creative Lab working on original content specifically for the channel. Break.com operates a network of online sites focused on young men, and is headed by Keith Ri (More info...)
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Ligand Buys MetabasisSan Diego-based biopharmaceuticals firms Ligand Pharmaceuticals and Metabasis Therapeutics announced this morning that Ligand is acquiring Metabasis, in a deal worth $3.2M in cash plus rights to receive payments from any royalties or licensing of programs in the future. According to Metabasis CEO Mark D. Erion, the sale was made due to the firm's "limited financial and operational resources." Metabasis was advised by Merriman Curhan Ford in the deal. Metabasis was developing small molecule drug (More info...)
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