Monday, January 25, 2010Founder Institute Expands To Los AngelesThe Founder Institute, the business incubation and mentoring program started by TheFunded's Adeo Ressi, is expanding into the Los Angeles area, and is accepting applications for entrepreneurs for a Spring session, the group said late last week. The Los Angeles effort is being headed by Ken Rutkowski. In an invite to an information session on the incubation program, Rutkowski said that mentors in the Los Angeles program include Alan Friel, Bill Woodward, Brock Pierce, Dan Gould, Elon Musk, Eric P (More info...)
posted on Monday, January 25, 2010(Full story)
Sendio Adds Mobile Management SupportNewport Beach-based Sendio, which develops appliances and services which reduce spam and other unwanted email, said Monday that the firm has added a new mobile management support feature for its products. The firm said its appliance and online services now support small format, Web browsers on standard mobile devices, allowing users on such platforms as BlackBerry, iPhone, and Android devices to access its email community management tools. Sendio is venture backed by Athenian Venture Partners, M (More info...)
posted on Monday, January 25, 2010(Full story)
MySpace In Royalty Deal With SoundExchangeLos Angeles-based MySpace is in a deal with SoundExchange, which collects music royalties, to help deliver unclaimed royalties to artists, MySpace CEO Owen Van Natta said over the weekend at the MIDEM conference in Cannes. According to Van Natta, SoundExchange has placed $14M of unclaimed royalties in escrow, and will help the social networking site find the 25,000 artists owed those royalties. MySpace said the royalties are owed for streaming of music on the Internet and satellite radio.
posted on Monday, January 25, 2010(Full story)
Coraid Heads North After Getting FundingCoraid, a developer of data storage blades, is moving its headquarters to the Bay Area, after raising $10M in funding. Coraid said today that it raised $10M in Series A funding from Allegis Capital and Azure Capital Partners, and is now headquartered in Redwood Shores. The firm had previously based itself in San Clemente.
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TrueCar Licenses Auto Pricing DataSanta Monica-based TrueCar, the new car pricing data startup headed by Scott Painter, said Monday that it has inked a deal with automotive publisher High Gear Media, where High Gear will include TrueCar's data on its network of web sites. TrueCar said that High Gear will include its search and pricing services through sites like TheCarConnection.com, MotorAuthority.com and GreenCarReports.com, part of High Gear's network of web sites. Financial details of the deal were not disclosed. TrueCar pro (More info...)
posted on Monday, January 25, 2010(Full story)
Central Desktop, ActiveWord PartnerPasadena-based Central Desktop, the online project planning software-as-a-service firm headed by Isaac Garcia, said today that it has partnered with ActiveWord Systems. According to Central Desktop, ActiveWord Systems will provide a free custom version of its ActiveWords productivity tool for Microsoft Windows for Central Desktop users. ActiveWord's product automates desktop tasks such as launching programs, navigating to certain Internet sites, or automatically inserting text into software. The (More info...)
posted on Monday, January 25, 2010(Full story)
Palomar Ventures Teams With Soros On Wireless InvestmentLos Angeles-based Palomar Ventures is in a new funding with Soros Fund Management, in a deal worth $128.4M to Illinois wireless firm ExteNet Systems. According to ExteNet, Palomar, an existing investor in the firm, was part of a new round of equity financing led by SSP Offshore LLC, an affiliate of Soros Fund Management and SBA Communications Corporation, which also included Centennial Ventures, Columbia Capital, Sevin Rosen Funds, and CenterPoint Ventures. Palomar is represented on ExteNet's bo (More info...)
posted on Monday, January 25, 2010(Full story)
Mayfield Eyes Los Angeles Startups, Taps Ticketmaster's MoriartyBay area venture capital firm Mayfield Fund appears to be eyeing more investments in the Los Angeles area, with the addition of Sean Moriarty, the former CEO of Ticketmaster, as an Entrepreneur-in-Residence at the firm. According to Mayfield, it added Sean Moriarty--along with Neopath Networks Rajeev Chawla--as an EIR at the firm, specifically to evaluate companies in the consumer, e-commerce and new mobile applications area. Mayfield said it hopes to "tap innovative networks in Los Angeles" by (More info...)
posted on Monday, January 25, 2010(Full story)
Break Expands Into Online GamesLos Angeles-based Break Media, the online media firm run by Keith Richman, said this morning that it is expanding into social gaming, with the launch of its own game studio. The firm said it is opening up a studio located in Shanghai, China, and has will launch its first game, MMA FightPicker, on site CagePotato.com on February 1st. MMA FightPicker is focused on mixed-martial-arts. Richman said in a statement that the move into social gaming is a "nautral extension" of its strategy to deliver th (More info...)
posted on Monday, January 25, 2010(Full story)
Rentech Scores $23M DOE GrantLos Angeles-based Rentech, a developer of biomass gasification process technology, said today that a joint project to build a biomass gasifier at its Denver technology center, has received a $22.6M grant from the U.S. Department of Energy. Rentech said the DOE grant is in conjunction with ClearFuels Technology Inc., of which the firm is a 25 percent strategic owner. The funding will go towards manufacturing and installing technology to demonstrate the production of renewable synthetic fuels from (More info...)
posted on Monday, January 25, 2010(Full story)
Interview with J.R. Johnson, Lunch.comJ.R. Johnson, founder of Lunch.com, is an experienced entrepreneur, who sold his last firm, VirtualTourist.com, to Expedia. Johnson's latest effort is Lunch.com (www.lunch.com), a web site which takes the concepts behind VirtualTourist.com beyond travel, and into lots of other subjects. We spoke with Johnson about his new startup, as well as had him fill us in on the story behind VirtualTourist, how he bootstrapped that firm, and his exit. Lunch.com is based in Los Angeles.
What's the story b (More info...)
posted on Monday, January 25, 2010(Full story)
Rubicon Project: Online CPMs Up 34 Percent In Q4Los Angeles-based Rubicon Project, the online ad optimization firm, said today that its analysis finds that online spending in Q4 of 2009 was up, resulting in an increase in CPMs by 34%. The firm--which has been running its own series of reports on the online advertising market--attributed the increase in CPMs to holiday ad spending, as well as interesting in celebrity news topics. Rubicon said it expects 2010 to be a "strong year" for digital advertising. The firm is venture backed by $42M in f (More info...)
posted on Monday, January 25, 2010(Full story)
Citrix Online Wins American Cancer SocietySanta Barbara-based Citrix Online Audio, the audio conferencing arm of Citrix Online, reports today that it has signed on the American Cancer Society, Midwest Division, as a customer. The firm said that the American Cancer Society is using its HiDef Corporate audio conferencing product. Financial impact of the win was not disclosed. Citrix expanded into the audio conferencing business in February of 2009.
posted on Monday, January 25, 2010(Full story)
Buy.com Links With AlibrisOnline rare book seller Alibris said this morning that it has joined Aliso Viejo-based Buy.com's online marketplace. Alibris, which sells new, rare, and used books, said that Buy.com will feature its catalog of books through Buy.com's web site. Alibris specializes in hard to find, out of print, and rare book sales, in addition to offering new books.
posted on Monday, January 25, 2010(Full story)
SAIC Buys Virginia FirmSan Diego-based Science Applications International Corporation said this morning that it has acquired Science, Engineering and Technology Associates Corporation (SET), a firm commercializing information technology. Financial terms of the buy were not disclosed. SET is based in Arlington, Virginia, and was founded in 2002 by scientists affiliated with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).
posted on Monday, January 25, 2010(Full story)