Thursday, October 7, 2010AERIAL7 Acquired by iGoAERIAL7, a Los Angeles-based firm which develops headphones for mobile electronics and professional audio devices, has been acquired by electronics accessory maker iGo, iGo said late Thursday. According to iGo, it paid $3.34M in cash for AERIAL7, which also has offices in Byron Bay, Australia. iGo said it also has signed on key employees Seth Egorin, Phil Johnson and Eljay Driessens, and granted each of them 150,000 in restricted stock units. iGo said that AERIAL7 had approximately $2.0M in annu (More info...)
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X1 Technologies Goes MobilePasadena-based X1 Technologies, the developer of email and desktop search software, said Thursday that it has rolled out a new, mobile version of its product. X1 said its new, X1 Mobile Search for iPhone will cost $9.99, and will allow users to search their desktops from their iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch. X1's search software provides deep indexing of desktop documents, emails, and attachments. X1 said the new software allows a user's iPhone, iPad or iPod to become "an extension of (his) desktop (More info...)
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Things Get More Crowded For HauteLook, As Amazon Gets BuyVIPThe online, flash sales market for fashion is looking to a bit more crowded this week for Los Angeles-based HauteLook, as Amazon.com said that it had acquired BuyVIP.com. BuyVIP.com is a Spanish operator of a fashion and lifestyle site, which serves the European market with flash fashion sales, similar to HauteLook. HauteLook already has lots of competition in the U.S. market from such competitors as Gilt Group, Ideeli, and Beyond the Rack. HauteLook is among the earlier firms in the industry, h (More info...)
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Power One Buys Fat SpanielCamarillo-based Power-One, a maker of power inverters and power supplies, has acquired startup Fat Spaniel. Fat Spaniel is a provider of software used for lifecycle management of renewable enrgy assets. Financial terms of the buy were not disclosed. According to Power-One, the acquisition will extend its technology advantage of its intervers, and also provide its customers with a system to manage their renewable energy assets and solar installations. Fat Spaniel was based in San Jose, and ventur (More info...)
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mobileStorm Gets Another Taker On Employee Tattoo OfferLos Angeles-based mobileStorm, the email and mobile marketing provider headed by Jared Reitzin, has scored another taker for Reitzin's standing offer to pay employees to get a tattoo of the firm's logo. According to Reitzin, Customer Satisfaction Rep Brett Hopkins has taken advantage of the $1,000 bonus the company pays for any logo, tattooing a logo on his leg. Hopkins is the second employee at the firm--aside from Reitzin--who now has a mobileStorm tattoo on his body.The whole idea for the tat (More info...)
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Edmunds.com App His Apple iTunesSanta Monica-based Edmunds.com, the online car information and buying site, said today that its iPhone App has finally hit the Apple iTunes app store. The firm--which had announced the app back in September--said the application allows users to pull up information about cars while visiting car dealerships. The new iPhone app is part of a major redesign by the company, which said it had overhauled its entire site last month. The application is free.
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Occam Networks Sued By ShareholdersA group of shareholders of Occam Networks, which is in the midst of an acquisition by competitor Calix, is suing the firm over the buy. The shareholder group, which says its owns approximately 19% of the firm's stock, claims Occam's Board of Directors breached their fiduciary duty in the sale, calling the price paid for Occam dramatically under-values the firm. Calix said it would buy Occam in September for $171M in cash and stock. The shareholders--which include Michael H. Steinhardt, Herbert C (More info...)
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Southern California Leads In Green Businesses, Says ReportA new report released today by Next 10, a nonprofit, nonpartisan public policy group, says that Southern California--and California, as a whole--leads the green innovation, cleantech venture capital, and energy market. According to the report, both Los Angeles and the Bay Are were identified as green manufacturing job leaders, with nearly 10,000 jobs in the sector in each region. The report was compiled by research firm Colaborative Economics. The Next 10 report found that California accounted f (More info...)
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USC Launches Annual, $50K Entrepreneurship Prize For EngineersThe University of Southern California and wealthy engineer Fariborz Maseeh, now a hedge fund manager in Newport Beach, is announcing this week a $1M endowment, which will fund an annual, $50,000 prize for a business plan competition for the school's engineering students. The new prize, which is being funded by the Massiah Foundation, will award $50,000 each year to the best, entrepreneurial plan and idea to come out of the USC Viterbi engineering school. Fariborz Maseeh, in an interview with soc (More info...)
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Burstly Opens Up Mobile Ad ServiceLos Angeles-based Burstly, the mobile advertising tools firm run by Evan Rifkin, said this week that it has opened up a new way for mobile application developers to sell their own advertising space. According to Burstly, its new Storefront product allows local businesses and other advertisers to directly buy mobile advertising from developers. The company said its Storefront offering is a turn-key way to enable advertisers to purchase aps directly from a developer's application, and which automa (More info...)
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GotCast Powers Casting Search For Food PublicationLos Angeles-based GotCast, the online casting call firm headed by Alec Shankman, said today that it has been selected by Food & Beverage Magazine to power an online casting search for the magazine. GotCast said that the casting call is for a new female spokesmodel for the publication. Financial details of the win were not disclosed. GotCast has been powering a number of online casting calls for various networks, studios, web sites, and others; the firm's site allows anyone to submit themselves t (More info...)
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Interview with John Maffei, Xfire, On 17 Million Users, PlansJohn Maffei is CEO of Los Angeles-based Xfire (www.xfire.com) an online community focused on online gamers, which is now owned by Titan Gaming. The firm is announcing today that it has just reached its 17 millionth registered user, having added more than 300,000 new users since its August acquisition. We chatted with John about Xfire, Titan Gaming, and his ultimate vision for the combined companies, and also asked him how the firm managed to get the backing of what seems like every single angel/ (More info...)
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Local.com Adds Marketing VPIrvine-based Local.com, the operator of local business search sites, said today that it has added Steven Schindler as its Vice President of Marketing. Schindler joins the firm from Sasa Technologies, and has also served at Schindler Marketing Group, among other positions. Local.com said that Schindler will be responsible for the firm's marketing and branding efforts.
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Synthetic Genomics, J. Craig Venter Spin Out New Vaccine StartupLa Jolla-based Synthetic Genomics and the J. Craig Venter Institute, the nonprofit genetic research organization of genetic sequencing pioneer J. Craig Venter, said today that they have formed a new company in San Diego, Synthetic Genomics Vaccines Inc. (SGVI). According to the two, the new, privately held firm will focus on developing next generation vaccines, using genomic sequencing and synthetic genomic research expertise and intellectual property from SGI and JCVI. As part of the formation (More info...)
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Mindspeed Gets $5.3M In Patent SaleNewport Beach-based semiconductor firm Mindspeed Technologies announced today that it has sold of a portfolio of legacy patents, for $5.3M. Specific details on the sale and the buyer of the patents was not disclosed by the company. The firm said the new sale comes on top of a previously announced, $10.0M patent sale it announced in July. Mindspeed said the patent sales puts the firm in its "strongest net cash position in over five years."
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Ligand Sells Screening TechnologySan Diego-based Ligand Pharmaceuticals announced today that it has agreed to sell its combinatorial compound library and screening technology, in a deal worth $1.8M. According to Ligand, it is selling the technology to Venenum Biodesign, LLC., an affiliate of Medical Diagnostics Laboratories, LLC, which is a part of Genesis Biotechnology Group. The deal is made up of $1M at close of the transaction and $800,000 over the next two years, plus 10 percent of any revenues from third party collaborati (More info...)
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