Thursday, July 22, 2010Caltech Leads $122M Energy EffortThe U.S. Department of Energy is continuing its efforts to fund new energy innovation projects, saying Thursday that it is awarding up to $122M in funding to a project being led by the California Institute of Technology, based out of Pasadena. According to U.S. Deputy Secretary of Energy Daniel Poneman, the DOE will award up to $122M over five years to a team which will develop "revolutionary methods" to generate fuel directly from sunlight. The new Energy Innovation Hub also includes participat (More info...)
posted on Thursday, July 22, 2010(Full story)
LeadPoint Raises $6.5MLos Angeles-based Leadpoint, a developer of an online marketplace for sales leads, has raised $6.5M of an ongoing, $7.0M funding round, according to a regulatory filing by the firm today. Source of the new funding, which came from nine investors, was not disclosed. Leadpoint, which is headed by Marc Diana, has previously raised funding from Breakwater Ventures, Estalea, European Founders Fund, Redpoint Ventures, RVA Enterprises Retirement Trust, and Stanford University. The filing indicates the (More info...)
posted on Thursday, July 22, 2010 (More)(Full story)
Green Dot Up 22.2 Percent In IPOMonrovia-based Green Dot, the provider of prepaid credit cards which hit the market today, closed up 22.2 percent in its IPO, at $43.99. The firm had debuted on the market Thursday morning at $36.00 per share, above initial estimates of $32.00 to $35.00 per share. The firm is now listed at GDOT on the NYSE. The IPO is the second successful, Southern California IPO in as many weeks, with Beverly Hills-based RealD also getting a similarly robust reception last Friday at its own IPO. RealD had surg (More info...)
posted on Thursday, July 22, 2010(Full story)
SDNN Ceases PublishingThe San Diego News Network (SDNN), the local media venture run by Barbara Bry and Neil Senturia, appears to have ceased its publishing efforts, according to a note posted by the staff Wednesday. According to the note, the site is "exploring our options". SDNN had offered up content focused on the San Diego metro area, including both aggregated and original content, and had been staffed by former San Diego Union Tribune editors. The firm had reportedly been looking for a buyer since June. SDNN sa (More info...)
posted on Thursday, July 22, 2010(Full story)
Qualcomm Eyes Sale Of MediaFLOSan Diego-based Qualcomm is apparently looking to sell its MediaFLO business, the firm's digital mobile television venture, according to CEO Paul Jacobs. On a conference call discussing the firm's quarterly results Wednesday, Jacobs said that the firm is "engaged in discussions" with partners regarding the direction of the business. Qualcomm's MediaFLO business streams television channels to mobile phones. Jacobs said the firm hopes to have determined what to do with the business within a year's (More info...)
posted on Thursday, July 22, 2010(Full story)
Huntington Capital Boosts Custom Products ManufacturerSan Diego-based Huntington Capital, a provider of mezzanine capital provider to lower middle market companies, is backing a Seattle manufacturer of custom photo books and other printed products. According to Seattle-based RPI, a provider of automated manufacturing and fulfillment for consumer, on-demand printed products, it scored a financing round from Huntington. Amount of the funding was not disclosed. As part of the funding, Tim Bubnack, an investment partner at Huntington Capital, will join (More info...)
posted on Thursday, July 22, 2010 (More)(Full story)
Buy.com Pushes Out Returns to 45 DaysAliso Viejo-based ecommerce site Buy.com said this morning that it is going beyond the industry-standard, 30-day return policy and extending out a new, 45-day return policy on its items. The firm said it has extended out the return policy to become a "more customer-friendly option" than competitors Amazon, Best Buy, Barnes & Noble, NewEgg and others. Buy.com also said it will also offer the 45-day return option for its Marketplace partners, the firm's network of third-party e-commerce providers (More info...)
posted on Thursday, July 22, 2010(Full story)
Green Dot Up 20 Percent In Early TradingMonrovia-based Green Dot, the provider of prepaid credit cards which hit the markets this morning in its IPO, is up in early trading this morning on the NYSE. The firm, which debuted at GDOT this morning, was up as high as $44.83 so far this morning. The firm priced last night above its initial estimated range of $32 to $35 per share, at $36.00 per share. The IPO was underwritten by J.P. Morgan, Morgan Stanley, Deutsche Bank Securities, Piper Jaffray & Co., and UBS Securities. The firm is backed (More info...)
posted on Thursday, July 22, 2010(Full story)
SoCal Racks Up Another Successful IPOSouthern California appears to be on a IPO roll this month, with the pricing of Monrovia-based Green Dot's IPO last night and expected trading today, following the successful IPO of Beverly Hills-based RealD last Friday. In recent months, Woodland Hills-based ReachLocal and Carlsbad-based MaxLinear also have managed to reach the markets via an IPO, and there are at least seven other Southern California companies waiting in the wings for the public markets. Those firms include Pasadena-based Genm (More info...)
posted on Thursday, July 22, 2010(Full story)
Green Dot Prices IPO, Starts Trading TodayMonrovia-based Green Dot, the provider of prepaid debit cards, priced its IPO at $36.00 per share Wednesday evening, above its initial expected IPO range of $32.00 to $35.00. The firm has said that it will not be receiving any of the proceeds of the offering. Shareholders are selling 4,558,050 of the stock, which is expected to start trading today on the New York Stock Exchange as GDOT. The IPO is being underwritten by J.P. Morgan, Morgan Stanley, Deutsche Bank Securities, Piper Jaffray & Co., a (More info...)
posted on Thursday, July 22, 2010(Full story)
WD Revenues Hit $2.4BLake Forest-based hard drive maker Western Digital Corp. announced its Q4 results yesterday saying that it had revenues of $2.4 billion and net income of $265M. The results were up from $1.9 billion and $196M in net income in the year ago quarter. The firm said it saw softer than anticipated June quarter demand, but still generated $363M in cash from its operations, giving it $2.7 billion in cash and cash equivalents. Despite the lower demand in the quarter, the firm said that it believes long-t (More info...)
posted on Thursday, July 22, 2010(Full story)
eFax In International ExpansionLos Angeles-based eFax, the online FAX service run by j2 Global Communications, reports today that it is in a big expansion internationally. The firm said it has grown its global network by more than 13 percent since March, bringing its total number of cities domestically to 2,700 cities, and total international cities to 1,458. The firm said the recent growth is due to expansion in both Asia and Europe. eFax offers an online fax-to-email and fax sending features based on a monthly subscription.
posted on Thursday, July 22, 2010(Full story)
Masimo Settles LawsuitIrvine-based Masimo, a developer of medical pulse oximetry systems, reported today that it has settled a lawsuit with Hygia Health Services, which reprocesses used medical equipment. Terms of the settlement were confidential. Masimo had sued Hygia in April of 2009 over Hygia's reprocessing of its sensors, and also had later claimed patent and trademark infringement, unfair competition, false designation of origin, and injury to business reputation in its suit. Masimo said the settlement was made (More info...)
posted on Thursday, July 22, 2010(Full story)
NextWave Wireless Gets Delisting Notice From NASDAQSan Diego-based NextWave Wireless, a developer of wireless technology, reported Wednesday afternoon that it is being delisted from the NASDAQ stock market, as of July 23rd. The firm said the notification came from the NASDAQ Listing Qualifications Panel, and was because of non-compliance with the minimum, $1.00 per share closing bid price requirement of the exchange. NextWave said it will begin trading instead on the OTCQB market as WAVE.
posted on Thursday, July 22, 2010(Full story)