Tuesday, November 9, 2010Bid4Spots.com Extends Into Online MediaLos Angeles-based Bid4Spots, which operates an online reverse auction site for radio advertising, has extended into display media advertising, the firm said Tuesday. According to Bid4Spots, which is headed by Dave Newmark, it will offer up an online, weekly auction of unsold display media. Bid4Spots claims it has participation of 2/3 of all rated radio stations in the U.S. to its reverse auction, which is used to fill unsold radio airtime without impacting advertising rates on a station's price (More info...)
posted on Tuesday, November 9, 2010(Full story)
SpaceX Raises Another $50.2MHawthorne-based SpaceX, the commercial rocket firm headed by PayPal co-founder Elon Musk, has raised another $50M in funding, according to a regulatory filing by the firm Tuesday. Source of the new funding was not disclosed. SpaceX has previously raised funding from the Founders Fund, and others, as well as significant backing from Musk's own personal fortune. Musk is also CEO of electric car firm Tesla Motors.
posted on Tuesday, November 9, 2010(Full story)
M86 Security Raises $3.0MOrange-based M86 Security, a developer of SMB security tools and software, has raised $3.0M in a new round of funding, according to a regulatory filing by the firm Tuesday. Source of the new funding was not disclosed. M86 -- which was formerly known as Marshal8e6--develops appliances which provide web security functionality to small and medium sized businesses, used by schools and businesses to filter out inappropriate URLs and to report on web usage. The firm is the result of the mergers of fir (More info...)
posted on Tuesday, November 9, 2010 (More)(Full story)
Cornerstone OnDemand Selects NASDAQSanta Monica-based Cornerstone OnDemand, the provider of software-as-a-service tools used by human resources departments to manage manage learning, career development, succession planning, and other corporate operations, has selected an exchange in its IPO effort, saying in a filing today that it intends to list its common stock on the NASDAQ Global Market as CSOD. The firm, which is headed by Adam Miller, also updated its financials, saying it had a net loss of $31.39M on revenues of $32.57M fo (More info...)
posted on Tuesday, November 9, 2010(Full story)
Green Dot Files $100M OfferingMonrovia-based Green Dot, the publicly held provider of prepaid debit cards, said in a statement with the SEC Monday that it is looking to offer up to $100M in a new public offering of its Class A shares. The firm--one of the Southern California companies which has successfully hit the public market this year--said all of the shares in the offering will be offered by its existing shareholders, and that none of the proceeds will go to the firm. Green Dot, which trades on the NYSE at GDOT, went IP (More info...)
posted on Tuesday, November 9, 2010(Full story)
Total Immersion Ties With AdobeLos Angeles-based Total Immersion, the developer of augmented reality technology, said today that it is in a strategic alliance with Adobe. According to the firm, the alliance will include technical collaboration and education focused on using Total Immersion's D-Fusion software along with Adobe Flash. Financial details of the strategic alliance were not disclosed. The companies said the relationship will help ensure that Flash will support development and playback of augmented reality based on (More info...)
posted on Tuesday, November 9, 2010(Full story)
OnGreen Raises $1.4MLos Angeles-based OnGreen, the online marketplace for green technology projects and investments headed by Nikhil Jain, said today that it has raised $1.4M in a Series A funding round. The round came from China Southern Hong Kong Investment Ltd. OnGreen said the new funding will go towards developing new tools for the site. OnGreen's site is aimed at helping clean energy and other green technology businesses, startups, and projects find angel investors and venture capital. OnGreen was formerly kn (More info...)
posted on Tuesday, November 9, 2010 (More)(Full story)
SharesPost Names New CEOSanta Monica-based SharesPost, the online marketplace for private company shares, is announcing today that it has appointed David Weir as CEO. Weir was most recently at Spring Creek Advisory Group, LLC, a firm providing merger and acquisition advice, and was also President and CEO of OffRoad Capital and a Managing Director at J.P. Morgan & Co. SharesPost's marketplace is for the shares of privately held, venture backed companies, including such firms as Facebook, Twitter, and others. The firm pr (More info...)
posted on Tuesday, November 9, 2010(Full story)
Blue Microphones Gets $2.5M In Line Of CreditWestlake Village-based Blue Microphones, the manufacturer of both professional and consumer microphones, has scored a new, $2.5M line of credit from Wells Fargo & Company. According to Wells Fargo, the funding will go towards growth at the company. Blue Microphones develops microphones used in both professional studios as well as in the consumer market; the firm's most recent push has been into the consumer market, with desktop USB microphones, iPod peripherals, and web camera products.
posted on Tuesday, November 9, 2010(Full story)
Quest Software Buys BakBoneAliso Viejo-based Quest Software and San Diego-based BakBone Software have just announced that Quest is buying the maker of data backup and protection software. According to the two firms this morning, Quest will pay approximately $55M, including payment of certain debt obligations, for BakBone. Quest said the buy would complement its portfolio of solutions for virtual, database, and application-level data protection. BakBone shareholders will get $0.33 per common share, and $1.29 per common sha (More info...)
posted on Tuesday, November 9, 2010(Full story)
Call of Duty Black Ops Hits StoresSanta MOnica-based Activision Publishing has launched its latest title, Call of Duty: Black Ops to retail stores, the firm said this morning. The title--a follow-on to its Call of Duty series--runs on Xbox 360, Playstation 3, Nintendo Wii, Windows PC, and Nintendo DS. Among the new features of the game include stereoscopic 3D graphics. The new title was developed by Treyarch Studios, which is based in Santa Monica. Treyarch also developed Call of Duty: World At War. The launch of the new title i (More info...)
posted on Tuesday, November 9, 2010(Full story)
Quartics Expands License With DDDIrvine-based Quartics, the semiconductor firm developing video processing chips, said Monday along with DDD Group Plc, that they have extended a license between the companies. The firms said the license allows Quartics to provide its customers with a license of DDD's TriDef 2D to 3D conversion algorithm, with Quartics paying DDD directly for royalties for active licenses. DDD's algorithms are being used to provide conversion of 2D video content into 3D format. Financial details of the licensing (More info...)
posted on Tuesday, November 9, 2010(Full story)
MovieClips Raises $3MSanta Monica-based MOVIECLIPS.com, a firm which allows users to share and license official movie scenes from the major studios, announced today that it has raised $3M in a Series A funding round. The funding came from Shasta ventures, First Round Capital, Aydin Senkut of Felicis Ventures, Naval Ravikant and Nivi Babak of VentureHacks, Jeff Kearl, Tom McInerney, and Richmond Park Partners. As part of the funding, Tod Fracis of Shasta Ventures and Adam Lilling will join the company's board of dir (More info...)
posted on Tuesday, November 9, 2010 (More)(Full story)