Tuesday, May 11, 2010


Calacanis Splits With Arrington, Boots Up New Tech Conference
Jason Calacanis, CEO of Santa Monica-based search site Mahalo, said Tuesday afternoon that he and TechCrunch's Michael Arrington have parted ways, and will no longer be running the TechCrunch50 conference. According to Calacanis, in a letter to his private email distribution list, he is starting a new conference called the Launch Conference. Calacanis says the new conference will be "the same exact as TechCrunch50" except that he will invest all of the profits from the conference into the compan (More info...)
posted on Tuesday, May 11, 2010(Full story)

Insights and Opinions: The Hook, Part 2
Yesterday, in our Insights and Opinions section, Aaron Fyke started telling us about The Hook. Today, Aaron finishes of and tells us why the Hook is so important when making a pitch. So, I'd like to finish off with the second of the two important items of any pitch - the hook. Last time I talked about being prepared for the questions that people will ask to quickly discount or discredit you. This is time-saving behavior on their part because if you are worthy of being discredited it is (More info...)
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Astute Medical Finds $26.5M
San Diego-based Astute Medical, a developer of biomarker-based medical diagnostics products, has raised $26.5M in a Series B funding round, the firm said yesterday. The round was co-led by Domain Associates and Delphi Ventures. According to the company, the funding will go towards research and development. Johnson & Johnson Development and De Novo Ventures also participated in the funding round.
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SocialVibe Raises $11.65M
West Hollywood-based SocialVibe, an online site which combines social media with support for brands and charities, has raised $11.65M in a Series C funding round, according to a regulatory filing by the firm Monday. No details on the funding have been announced by the company. SocialVibe has previously raised funding from JAFCO American Ventures and Redpoint Ventures. The new funding would bring the company's total raised to $24.85M.
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Ad.ly Raises $5M
Los Angeles-based Ad.ly, the Twitter advertising firm headed by Sean Rad, is announcing today that it has raised $5M in a new round of financing. The round comes from GRP Partners, Greycroft Ventures, and Matt Coffin, the founder of LowerMyBills. The firm also said that it has named Arnie Gullov-Singh as CEO of the company. Singh was most recently EVP of Product, Technology, and Operations at News Corp.'s Fox Audience Network. Sean Rad, founder of Ad.ly, told socalTECH that the company will b (More info...)
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Interview with Jody Sherman, CEO of EcoMom
Last week, Los Angeles-based EcoMom (www.ecomom.com) launched its "green" parenting site, with backing from Dave McClure. We caught up with EcoMom CEO Jody Sherman, to learn more about the company. Jody--an experienced entrepreneur who was most recently co-founder of a firm he sold to the Virgin Group, and has been involved with such firms as Lycos, Buydirect.com, and Xoom--told us the story of EcoMom, plus how he connected with McClure on the investment. What EcoMom is all about? Jody She (More info...)
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Integrien Raises $8M
Irvine-based Integrien, a developer of performance analytics software, said today that it has raised another $8.0M in a new funding round. According to the firm, the round was led by Clearstone Venture Partners, and also included Acartha Group and Mariner Capital Ventures. Integrien said the new funding will go to accelerate growth in both its direct and indirect sales channels. The firm claimed that it had year-over-year top line growth of over 140 percent, and recently signed a number of seven (More info...)
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WebVisible In Big Hiring Push In Los Angeles With New Office
Irvine-based WebVisible, which helps small businesses place online advertising, said this morning it is in a big hiring push, and is immediately looking to hire over 75 employees across sales, IT, software engineering, and product design positions. According to the firm, it is also opening a new office in Playa Vista in the Electronic Arts building, and has a significant number of positions it is hoping to fill at the location. The firm said that it is expecting to more than double its employee (More info...)
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RealD Names President, VP
Los Angeles-based 3D technology provider RealD announced today that it has named Bob Mayson as President of the firm's Consumer Electronics Division, and appointed Marlene Songin as Vice President of Cinema and Appointed General Director, RealD Europe. Mayson has been at RealD since 2008, and previously served at Kodak. Songin has been at RealD since 2007. The company said that Mayson will head up relationships with consumer electronic brands who are using the firm's 3D technology for TVs, compu (More info...)
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LeisureLink Adds Utah Lodge
Pasadena-based LeisureLink said Monday that it has added Springdale, Utah-based Majestic View Lodge, a vacation lodging firm near Zion National Park, as a client. According to LeisureLink, the lodge has been using the firm's distribution platform since the fall of 2009. Financial impact of the customer win was not disclosed. LeisureLink said that LeisureLink helped the lodge get distribution on Expedia, Travelocity, and Orbitz.
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Kofax Wins $300K Contract
Irvine-based Kofax, a supplier of document management tools, reported today that it has won a contract worth more than $300,000, to supply an invoice processing solution to an un-named, software maker. Kofax said it is automating invoice processing and accounts payable for a "leading provider" of design, engineering, and entertainment software.
posted on Tuesday, May 11, 2010(Full story)