Thursday, November 19, 2009Aptera Delays VehicleVista-based electric vehicle maker Aptera, on the heels of the departure of the firm's co-founders, has officially pushed back deliver of the firm's Aptera 2e vehicle, acknowledged the departure of co-founders Chris Anthony and Steve Fambro, and said it has laid of an unspecified number of staff. The firm said in a statement that the firm's vehicle development has "outpaced the rate of fundraising" at the firm, and it is now adjusting its production schedule to "align with financing realities." (More info...)
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Calacanis: First Angels In New Angel GroupJason Calacanis, CEO of Santa Monica-based Internet search site Mahalo, has signed on several angels for his new angel group, the Open Angel Forum - Los Angeles. Calacanis--who started the group as an outgrowth of his crusade against pay-to-pitch angel groups like The Keiretsu Forum--said in his blog today that he has signed up Matt Coffin, Sky Dayton, and Bill Woodward as members of his group. Coffin is the founder of LowerMyBills, Dayton is the founder of Earthlink, and Woodward is a venture c (More info...)
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SoCal VC's Scarce On Top VC ListThis week's release of a list of their "Top 100" venture capitalists by AlwaysOn -- based roughly on number and dollar amount of successful M&A and IPO deals between October 1, 2005 to September 30, 2009--seems to have skipped local Southern California venture capitalists, with only one Southern California VCs listed. According to the list, just Jim Gauer of Palomar Ventures, made the cut. AlwaysOn highlighted Gauer's involvement in firms AlterPoint, Network Physics, RealOps, and Cerebra in the (More info...)
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HireRight Names Operations VPIrvine-based HireRight said Thursday morning that it has named Catherine Aldrich as its Vice President of Operations. Aldrich joins the firm from Accurate Background, where she was EVP, and will report to HireRight President and CEO Michael Petrullo. HireRight is a provider of employment background screening and other employee screening services, integrated with enterprise recruiting software.
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Digiboo Gets Funding For Digital Film Rental VentureLos Angeles-based Digiboo, a new startup focused on allowing consumers to rent films on flash drives, at retail kiosks, has scored funding from Revelations Entertainment, the production firm owned by actor Morgan Freeman and Lori McCreary. Amount of the funding was not disclosed. Digiboo is headed by Richard Cohen, formerly an executive at MGM Home Entertainment and Consumer Products.
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Alelo Opens Office In VirginiaLos Angeles-based Alelo, a USC spinout developing foreign language and culture training tools, said this week that it has opened an office in Suffolk, Virginia. The firm said the new office was opened to better serve government customers interested in its products. The new center is in the Virginia Model and Simulation Center (VMASC). Alelo's software uses computer gaming technology to help users learn languages and culture, and is being used by the military for training of troops being deployed (More info...)
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YouMail: Sprint Users Can Now Use Us For FreeIrvine-based YouMail
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Nomadix In Major Patent OffensiveNewbury Park-based Nomadix, a developer of network gateway hardware, is in a major patent infringement offensive. Nomadix said late Wednesday evening that it has filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Hewlett-Packard Company, Wayport, Inc., iBAHN Corporation, Guest-Tek Interactive Entertainment Ltd., Guest-Tek Interactive Entertainment, Inc., LodgeNet Interactive Corporation, LodgeNet StayOnline, Inc., On Command Corporation, Aruba Networks, Inc., Superclick, Inc. and Superclick Networks, I (More info...)
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Spot Runner Launches Media PlatformLos Angeles-based Spot Runner, a developer of services which help advertisers buy TV advertising, announced today that it has launched its Malibu Media Platform, which the firm says will help improve the process of buying and selling television advertising. The company said the new technology has been under development for two years, and offers media sellers and buyers features such as creating campaigns and orders, managing inventory and pricing, managing credit and invoicing, submitting and cl (More info...)
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KidZui Upgrades BrowserSan Diego-based KidZui has upgraded the firm's web browser for children, saying yesterday that version 5.0 of the service now includes ways for children to send videos, websites, and photos to their parents, and for parents to send content to children. The company also said its upgraded software allows parents to connect through Facebook. KidZui develops a web browser which limits access to Internet content which has been screened for appropriateness for kids; the firm is backed by Emergence Cap (More info...)
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