Wednesday, June 9, 2010Walmart Stake In Green Dot Most Likely Worth $71.2MA regulatory filing today from Monrovia, California-based prepaid debit card provider Green Dot indicates that the firm recently issued $71.18M in its stock, as part of a commercial agreement--most likely part of the stock recently issued to retail giant Walmart, as part of a renewed distribution deal in May. Green Dot had revealed through an S-1 filing earlier this month that it had issued 2,208,552 shares of its common stock to Walmart as part of a renewed distribution deal with Walmart, its b (More info...)
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Otonomy Takes $10.5MSan Diego-based Otonomy, a biopharmaceuticals firm developing drug therapies to treat inner and middle ear disorders, has raised $10.56M as part of an ongoing, $26.0M fundraising effort, according to a regulatory filing by the firm. Source of the new funding was not disclosed, however, one of its founders, Jay Lichter, is at San Diego venture firm Avalon Ventures, which has previously backed the company.
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Soraa Names Former Intel CMO As President, CEOGoleta-based Soraa, the Khosla-backed startup started by LED pioneer Shuji Nakamura and other professors at UCSB, announced today that it has named Eric Kim as the firm's President and CEO. Kim was most recently intel's Chief Marketing Officer and head of global Sales and Marketing. Kim also has served as an executive vice president at Samsung. Along with the appointment of Kim as President and CEO, the company said it will move its corporate headquarters to Fremont, California. Soraa is commerc (More info...)
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DR Technologies Lands $4.5M More From Private EquitySan Diego-based DR Technologies, a firm which designs, engineers, and manufactures composites for commercial, military, and scientific satellites and other space systems, has raised $4.5M in a follow-on investment. The investment came from Los Angeles private equity firm Nogales Investors. According to Nogales, the investment will go to grow DR Technologies core space market. Nogales also highlighted DR Technologies' involvement in the space solar power business. Nogales has owned DRT since Febr (More info...)
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Insights and Opinions: Social Media Goes MedievalFor today's Insights and Opinions piece, we have an article from social media strategist Drew Mehl, who talks about why social media is so important in today's high tech world:
Humans are wired as social creatures. We thrive on interaction with each other. Particularly with respect to conducting commerce. There’s certainly no great revelation in that fact. Since the first public market or back alley bazaar, we have had the ability to look people in the eye and establish a bond of trust…or (More info...)
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RotoHog Partners With Hi5Los Angeles-based RotoHog is in a partnership with social networking site Hi5, Hi5 announced last night, and is using RotoHog to power a new fantasy sports game called 2010 World Futbol Challenge. hi5 said that the game is the first-ever, fantasy sports game to published on the site, and that the game will allow its users an opportunity to play along with their favorite countries during the South African, 2010 World Cup. hi5 said the game is currently available on the site, and will be feature o (More info...)
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MaxLinear Hits 100M Tuner IC ShipmentsCarlsbad-based MaxLinear, a developer of radio frequency, analog, and mixed-signal semiconductors, said today that it has now shipped more than 100 million of its TV tuner ICs. The firm said the shipment numbers come as a result of its penetration into the cable and terrestrial TV markets. MaxLinear's semiconductors are used for televisions and set-top boxes. The firm had said a year ago that it had shipped 50 million of the deviecs. MaxLinear is one of the venture-backed firms which successfull (More info...)
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Interview with Adam Bernhard, HauteLookLast week, Los Angeles-based HauteLook (www.hautelook.com), an online private sales site, scored a major round of funding--raising $31M from Insight Venture Partners. To understand why investors are finding the firm so interesting, and why the company raised such a large round, we spoke with Adam Bernhard, CEO of the firm, about the company and funding, how email has allowed the firm to get past the "Google trap" of marketing on the web, and where the firm is going.
Adam, thanks for the time. (More info...)
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PC Mall Buys Network Services PlusTorrance-based PC Mall, the online retailer of PC products, said today that its subsidiary Sarcom has acquired substantially all of the assets of Network Services Plus, Inc (NSPI), a provider of hosted data center and managed IT services. The deal was worth $7.8M plus the extinguishment of debt worth approximately $1.3 million. NSPI serves the southeastern United States, and had approximately 73 employees, all of whom have joined Sarcom except NSPI founder Ted King, who is leaving the firm. PC M (More info...)
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Xirrus Snags Sales Exec From JuniperThousand Oaks-based Xirrus, which develops Wi-Fi networking equipment, said today that it has hired Hayley Tabor, the former Senior Vice President of U.S. Enterprise Sales for Juniper Networks, as its new Vice President of Worldwide Sales. Tabor has also served at CA. Xirrus said that Tabor will be responsible for expanding the firm's sales team and opening up new geographies. Xirrus is headed by Dirk Gates.
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Total Immersion Wins Army, Air ForceLos Angeles-based Total Immersion, the developer of augmented reality software run by Bruno Uzzan, said this week that both the U.S. Army and Air Force are using the firm's technology. According to Total Immersion, the U.S. Army is using Total Immersion for an augmented reality entertainment game which allows users to race against MRAP and Stryker armored vehicles via the web and at certain NASCAR events. The game is part of the U.S. Army's recruiting efforts. For the Air Force, Total Immersion (More info...)
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