Wednesday, March 10, 2010AdventureLink Raises $1.29MAltadena-based AdventureLink, which operates an online marketplace for adventure and eco tour operators and trips, appears to have raised $1.29M in a new funding round, according to a regulatory filing. Source of the new funding was not disclosed, however, it appears that prior investors Anthem Ventures and Allegis Capital participated in the new funding round. No details on the funding have been announced by the company. The regulatory filing indicates that the funding was a combination of debt (More info...)
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JMI Equity Gets Win With Nimsoft AcquisitionLa Jolla-based private equity firm JMI Equity has scored a major win, as Computer Associates said Wednesday afternoon that it would acquire portfolio firm Nimsoft, a maker of IT management software. CA said it would pay $350M for Nimsoft, which is based in the Bay area. JMI Equity's Peter Arrowsmith represents JMI Equity on Nimsoft's board; Nimsoft had raised only around $22M in capital from JMI--the original Series A investor in the firm--Goldman Sachs, and Northzone Ventures.
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Audiolife Gets $1M In Bridge FundingVan Nuys-based Audiolife, a firm that develops tools and technology to sell merchandise to music fans, announced today that it has raised $1M in a bridge round of funding. The firm said the round came as a single-tranche note, convertible to preferred shares. Source of the new funding was not disclosed. The company said the funding will go to hire key personal, further develop its technology platform, and for strategic partnerships. Audiolife's software allows artists to sell downloads, ringtone (More info...)
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QLogic Subject Of Takeover RumorsStock in Aliso Viejo-based storage networking gear maker QLogic jumped Tuesday, on the rumor that the firm is a takeover target. According to Briefing.com, the firm was rumored to have hired advisors following takeover interest; the firm jumped 2% Tuesday in trading on the rumor. QLogic has been a constant subject of takeover speculation since last April, when Broadcom made a bid for competitor Emulex, which makes similar storage area networking equipment.
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MySpace Revamps Games Home PageLos Angeles-based MySpace said today that it has launched a new, revamped version of the firm's game homepage, as a new MySpace Games site, to provide a more social gaming environment. According to the social networking site, it has made it easier for users to discover and share games, added analytics tool and an application programming interface (API) for developers, linked the games site into high score service Scoreloop, as well as wired the site to better track how users are finding and choo (More info...)
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Demand Media's eNom Snags .COeNom, the domain name registration arm of Santa Monica-based Demand Media, the Internet publishing empire run by Richard Rosenblatt, is hoping to cash in on a new, top level domain, .CO, which is slated to come onto the market this year, the firm said today. eNom said it has been selected as one of ten exclusive registrars for .co domain names, which was previously the country code extension for Columbia. eNom said it will be helping to relaunch the .co domain through both eNom.com and BulkRegis (More info...)
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Meetrix Gets PatentLos Angeles-based Meetrix, a developer of an online virtual conference room service, said today that it has been granted a patent by the U.S. Patent and Trademark office. The patent, number 7,664,056, was issued February 16th, and covers "Media based collaboration using mixed-mode PSTN and Internet networks". According to the USPTO, the patent covers a technique to allow standard telephone users to audio conference with video conferencing participants over IP networks. Thomas A. Dye and Thomas A (More info...)
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MaxLinear Gets CableLabs CertificationCarlsbad-based MaxLinear, a developer of integrated radio frequency (RF) and mixed-signal circuits for the communications market, said today that it has certified the performance of its MxL241SF MPEG tuner with industry group CableLabs. The firm said the certification came through the certification of an SMC Networks cable gateway, which uses the firm's components. MaxLinear is one of the Southern California companies in the midst of an IPO effort, hoping to list on the NYSE; the firm is venture (More info...)
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Hydra Axes 15,000 Publishers To Boost QualityBeverly Hills-based cost-per-action (CPA) advertising network Hydra announced today that the firm has cut over 15,000 of its active publishers, as a part of a bid to increase the quality of its network. The firm said it is looking to better serve the needs of its premium advertisers. The move brings the company's network from 17,000 publishers to just 2,000 of its best performing and highest quality web partners. Hydra has been embarking on an effort to increase the quality of its network since (More info...)
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Soliant Energy Names Marketing VPMonrovia-based Soliant Energy, a developer of concentrated solar energy systems, announced this morning that it has added Ben Jamison as the firm's new Vice President of Marketing. Jamison was most recently at Savant Systems, and has also served at Visionware, Runco International, Inc., Solus Micro Technologies and NEC Technologies. The firm said that Jamison will be responsible for all marketing related activities at the company. Soliant is venture backed by Convexa Capital, GE Energy, Nth Powe (More info...)
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Interview with Robin Richards, Internships.comOne of the more successful serial entrepreneurs here in Southern California has been Robin D. Richards, who most recently sold The NTI Group to Blackboard, and previously also was CEO of Vivendi Universal Net USA, the founding president and COO of MP3.com, and managing director at Tickets.com. Robin's latest startup is Internships.com (www.internships.com), an online site focused on aggregating internship opportunities and providing resources to potential interns. We spoke to Robin about the new (More info...)
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Study: $48 Billion In Value Created Over 15 Years In SoCal IT VC-Backed FirmsA new study of the financial outcomes for Southern California venture-backed companies in the IT sector finds that approximately $48 billion in value has been created by those companies over the period 1995-2009. The study, conducted by Jon Funk of OceanRoad Partners, includes data from socalTECH.com's proprietary venture database, Dow Jones/VentureSource, and Greg Martin of Redpoint Ventures.
Funk initiated the study last fall to create an historical statistical analysis of the financial ou (More info...)
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Row 44 Adds Former Continental CEO To BoardWestlake Village-based Row 44, a provider of satellite-based Wi-Fi equipment for aircraft, said yesterday that it has added Larry Kellner, former Chairman and CEO of Continental Airlines, to its board of directors. Kellner served as both CFO and CEO of Continental, where he had been for 15 years. Kellner also serves on the board of Marriott International. Row 44 is backed by PAR Capital Management, and is supplying in-flight Wi-Fi to Southwest Airlines, Alaska Airlines, and others.
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Xirrus Deploys At Australian SchoolThousand Oaks-based Xirrus, a developer of Wi-Fi arrays, said today that it has deployed its products at the Illawara Grammar School located on the South Coast of New South Wales, Australia. Financial impact of the sale was not disclosed. The firm's arrays, which combine multiple Wi-Fi access points into a single piece of hardware, were used in lieu of hundreds of standard access points.
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