Thursday, December 2, 2010


Grid2Home Raises $400K
San Diego-based Grid2Home, a developer of energy management software, has closed on $400,000 of a $500,000 funding round, according to a regulatory filing by the firm Thursday. The round appears to be the same seed round of funding the company announced in September from Granite Ventures. Grid2Home's software is used to communicate smart meters, appliances, and electric vehicles.
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Levine Leichtman Buys Luminator Technology Group
Los Angeles-based private equity firm Levine Leichtman Capital Partners said Thursday that it has acquired Luminator Technology Group, a provider of advanced information systems and LED displays and lighting products for the transportation industry. Financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. Levine Leichtman said it acquired Luminator from Mark IV, LLV in conjunction with the firm's management. Luminator is the sixth investment from Levine Leichtman Capital Partners, IV, L.P. Lumniat (More info...)
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California Tech Exports Down In 2009
California's technology exports fell in 2009, dropping by $8.0 billion from 2008 to 2009, according to a report released this week. According to the Trade in the Cyberstates 2010 report released by the TechAmerica Foundation, however, California still had the most number of high-tech exports of any state--$41.3M. The study said California's largest export areas were in semiconductors ($10.4 billion) and computers and peripherals ($9.7 billion). The U.S. as a whole exported $188 billion in high t (More info...)
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Broadcom In New Patent Fight With Rambus
Irvine-based Broadcom is one of a slew of firms which have just been sued by Rambus over patents related to DRAM controllers. According to Rambus late Wednesday, it has filed a complaint with the United States International Trade Commission (ITC) against Broadcom, Freescale Semiconductor, LSI Corporation, MediaTEK, NVIDIA Corporation, and STMicroelectronics. Rambus said that those firms infringe on patents covering PCI Express, certain Serial ATA, certain Serial Attached SCSI (SAS), and DisplayP (More info...)
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Avalon Leads Investment In Standing Cloud
San Diego-based venture capital firm Avalon Ventures has led an investment in a cloud computing company, Standing Cloud, based in Boulder, Colorado. According to Standing Cloud, it received a $3M, Series B financing from Avalon, which also included the firm's prior investor, The Foundry Group. Avalon's Rich Levandov joins Standing Cloud's board as part of the funding. Standing Cloud develops software which makes it easier for users to deploy cloud-based applications.
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FileFront Relaunches As GameFront
Los Angeles-based Break Media, the online media firm run by Keith Richman, said today that it has relaunched FileFront as GameFront. Break acquired FileFront in February. According to Break, the newly launched GameFront sight has been re-designed and expanded, and now includes game walkthroughs, pictures and galleries, a weekly opinion column from Destructoid's Jim Sterling, and more. Break Media took over FileFront from Ziff Davis, which had planned to shutter the file sharing site last year. S (More info...)
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Solarflare Raises $5.0M In Debt
Irvine-based Solarflare Communications, a developer of 10 Gigabit Ethernet adapters and silicon, has raised $5.0M in a debt funding round, according to a regulatory filing by the firm. No details on the source of the debt funding were disclosed. Solarflare is venture backed by Oak Investment Partners, Anthem Venture Partners, Acacia Capital Partners, Intel Capital, and Miramar Venture Partners.
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Cooking.com Powers Marley Coffee
Marina Del Rey-based Cooking.com, the online e-commerce provider for cooking products, reported today that it has been chosen to rebuild and manage the web site for Marley Coffee. Marley Coffee is a coffee company run by Bob Marley's son. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. According to Cooking.com, it has revamped Marley Coffee's online website, and has created a "unique branded experience" for Marley Coffee. In recent years, Cooking.com has branched out to run e-commerce websites f (More info...)
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The Linc Group Sold To ABM Industries
Irvine-based The Linc Group, a provider of technical building services owned by private equity firm GI Partners, has been sold for $300M in cash to ABM Industries, GI Partners said Wednesday evening. GI Partners had acquired The Linc Group from the Enron bankruptcy procss in 2003.
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