Tuesday, April 20, 2010CardioPolymers Adds $1.35MLaguna Hills-based CardioPolymers, a developer of an implantable device for treating congestive heart failure, has added $1.35M to its venture funding, according to numbers from the latest PricewaterhouseCoopers/NVCA quarterly venture capital report. No details on the funding have been announced by the company. The firm has previously raised funding from Domain Associates, Morgenthaler Ventures, Johnson & Johnson Development Corporation, Triathlon Medical Ventures, Saints Capital, and Fjord Vent (More info...)
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Lunch.com Looks For Ning OrphansLos Angeles-based Lunch.com, the online social media and networking site run by J.R. Johnson, is targeting orphaned users of the Ning social networking service, the firm said this week. Ning said this week that it will eliminate free accounts on its service, which allowed users to build their own social networking sites. According to Lunch.com, it will allow Ning members to create their own, personally branded websites and URLs on the service, saying that it offers a "better experience" for user (More info...)
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Yahoo Taps Pepperdine Prof As Chief Product OfficerOnline search portal Yahoo said yesterday that it has named Blake Irving, most recently a professor at the Pepperdine University's Graziadio School of Business and Management in Malibu, as its Chief Product Officer, heading up the company's product strategy and direction. Irving, who had been a professor at Pepperdine since January of 2009, was teaching classes at Pepperdine's full time MBA program in Malibu. Irving had previously served as Corporate Vice President at Microsoft, heading up its W (More info...)
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Cisco Backs Green X Prize EffortsNetwork equipment giant Cisco is backing Playa Vista-based X Prize Foundation's clean technology prize effort, the Energy & Environment Prize Group, the firm said today, and will be helping to develop future X prizes focused on environmental and energy-saving goals. The X PRIZE foundation said the collaboration will focus on generating breakthroughs in climate change, water resource management, energy distribution and storage, clean energy, and energy efficiency/use. Financial details behind the (More info...)
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Imagine Communications Raises $10MSan Diego-based Imagine Communications, a developer of digital video products for the TV broadcast market, announced today that it has raised $10M in a round of expansion financing. The round came from existing investors Court Square Ventures, Columbia Capital and Carmel Ventures. According to Imagine Communications, the funding will go towards expanding support for customers, and accelerating deployment of its MPEG-4 encoding and transcoding tools. The new funding brings the company's total rai (More info...)
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Overtone Gets $7M MoreOvertone, a developer of social media monitoring software for consumer brands, announced this week that it has raised $7M in a Series C funding round. The firm--which is based in San Francisco, but has its finance, R&D, and client services operations in Carlsbad--said the funding came from ABS Ventures and Dolphin Equity Partners. Overtone said it will use the funds to grow its customer base, expand its professional services organization, and for software development.
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Clearstone's Sumant Mandal On Exits, OpportunitiesOver the last few months, Santa Monica-based Clearstone Ventures (www.clearstone.com) has had a number of high profile exits in its portfolio. We sat down with Sumant Mandal, Managing Director at Clearstone, and who has been closely involved with a number of those exits, to get some more color on what has driven those exits, and about his outlook on the venture market.
Has there been any rhyme or reason behind the surge of exits you've been seeing?
Sumant Mandal: I think there have been a (More info...)
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Rubicon Project Debuts New ProductLos Angeles-based Rubicon Project, the developer of online advertising optimization tools funded by Clearstone Venture Partners, Mayfield Fund, IDG Ventures and Peacock Equity Fund, said today that it has rolled out a new product called REVV for demand. The firm said the new product helps advertisers to automate inventory and audience buys in its REVV Marketplace. Rubicon explained that its new REVV for demand helps ad networks, exchanges, rep firms, other publishers, agency exchanges, and other (More info...)
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UCSD Ties With Agilent On Photonics TestingAgilent Technologies and the University of California, San Diego said Monday afternoon that the two have created a new, chip-scale micro- and nanophotonic-systems testing facility at UCSD. According to Agilent and UCSD, the new facility is housed at UCSD's California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology (Calit2), and will support testing and characterization of micro- and nano-scale ultra-high-speed optical components and subsystems. The new facility is part of a larger, N (More info...)
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Evolution Robotics Expands Into Floor Cleaning RobotsPasadena-based Evolution Robotics, the Idealab firm working on robot technology, announced today that it has begun taking pre-orders for its Mint Automatic Floor Cleaner, a robot which cleans floors using cleaning cloths such as Swiffer and other similar cleaning products. The firm said the product--which is the first, retail product for the company--will be available directly in Q3, and in retail outlets in Q4, for under $250. The new product pits Evolution Robotics directly against robotic cle (More info...)
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BlackLine Ties With SAPCalabasas-based BlackLine Systems, which develops software-as-a-service for balance sheet and account reconciliation, said Monday that the firm has been certified by SAP for integration with SAP applications. Blackline said its product helps to automate spreadsheet processes normally done outside of the SAP Business Suite software. As part of the certification, BlackLine said it has joined SAP's PartnerEdge program. BlackLine is headed by Therese Tucker.
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Contour Energy Expands BoardAzusa-based Contour Energy, the developer of advanced battery technology backed by CMEA Capital, Harris and Harris, Schlumberger and US Venture Partners, announced today that it has named automotive executive Francois Castaing to its board of directors. According to Contour Energy, Castaing has 27 years of experience with such firms as Renault, American Motors Corporation and Chrysler. Contour Energy--formerly CFX Battery--said that Castaing will help the firm to identify existing and potentiall (More info...)
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