Tuesday, December 21, 2010Materia Spinoff Elevance Gets $100MBolingbrook, Illinois-based Elevance Renewable Sciences, a developer of ingredients for use in personal care products, detergents, lubricants and other specialty chemicals and fuel markets, based on renewable feedstock, has raised $100M in funding, the firm said Tuesday. Elevance is a spinout of Pasadena-based Materia, the material research firm based on research out of Caltech.
Materia spun out Elevance Renewable Sciences in March of 2008, with $40M in funding. The new funding for Elevance cam (More info...)
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Demand Media Ups Article Count To 3 MillionSanta Monica-based Demand Media, the online publishing firm headed by Richard Rosenblatt, has updated its S-1 filing, saying it now has around 3 million articles in the firm's library of content. Demand Media has applied to list on the NYSE as DMD, but has not yet set an offering range or pricing on its IPO. Demand Media filed for an IPO in August. Demand operates Livestrong.com, eHow.com, and other web properties.
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StudioEX Launches Social Games Startup With $1.9MLos Angeles-based StudioEX, a developer of Facebook and other social games, said Tuesday that it has launched, with the backing of Camelot Media Investments Media Group and $1.9M in funding. The firm develops Galaxy X, an action game which runs within Facebook. According to the firm's executives, StudioEX's development arm is based in South Korea, and the firm is taking game concepts from successful South Korean games and applying them to the US market. The company said its first game is launchi (More info...)
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Boingo Get Preload On MetroPCSLos Angeles-based Boingo Wireless, which operates a network of Wi-Fi hotspots, reported Tuesday that its software is now being preloaded on Android phones from wireless carrier MetroPCS. The firm said that its Boingo Mobile app--which helps users connect with its WiFi network--will be pre-installed on select, Wi-Fi enabled smartphones through MetroPCS, which provides prepaid, no-contract wireless services. Boingo did not disclose financial details of the deal, but did say it was its first pre-lo (More info...)
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Insights and Opinions: Net Neutrality For Poets
For today's Insights and Opinions section, we have a contribution from Joe Moreno, President of Epics3, in Carlsbad, who provides a quick primer and his opinions on net neutrality. The FCC voted to adopt net neutrality rules this morning.
Net neutrality is a complicated and controversial subject. The principle states that if a given user pays for a certain level of Internet access, and another user pays for the same level of access, then the two users should be able to connect to each oth (More info...)
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Report: Hulu Drops IPO EffortLos Angeles-based Hulu, the online television streaming site, is dropping its plans to pursue an IPO, according to a report today from from the WSJ. Hulu had been among the Southern California companies looking to file an IPO. The WSJ cited people "familiar with the matter", saying that Hulu's management and board decided to backburner the IPO effort due to a lack of long term licenses to the content featured on the site. Hulu had been rumored to be seeking an IPO since August, with an IPO fili (More info...)
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MySpace Picks Artists For Promo ProgramBeverly Hills-based Myspace Music, the music side of Myspace, said today along with Fuse, the music television channel, that it has selected the artists for its next "Introducing.." showcase of emerging artists. The firms said they have selected Cali Swag District, Rye Rye, Christina Perri, Young the Giant for the program, which showcases new artists through both online and offline promotions.
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What Mattered In 2010: Scott Painter, TrueCarLast week, we announced our end-of-the-year project, which was to collect and share the opinions of some of the top influencers in Southern California's high tech community. We asked the same five questions of a variety of top technology entrepreneurs, investors, and others, to hear what they're thinking about, and are sharing it here over the next two weeks.
Yesterday, we heard from DFJ Frontier's David Cremin. Today, we share the thoughts of Scott Painter the CEO and founder of TrueCar, as (More info...)
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MeLLmo Raises $10M MoreSan Diego-based MeLLmo, maker of the Roambi mobile business application for the iPhone, said this morning that it has raised an additional $10M in funding. Names of the investors were not disclosed. The firm said the new round of funding brings its total raised to $20M across three round of funding. MeLLmo said the new round will go towards product innovation and go-to-market strategy. MeLLmo's Roambi app allows users to access business data from their mobile phone, connecting those phones to IB (More info...)
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OSI Systems Gets $3M OrderHawthorne-based OSI Systems, a developer and manufacturer of specialized electronic systems, said today that it has received a $3M order from a Washington state hospital. The firm said its Spacelabs Healthcare division received the $3M order from Swedish Medical Center, for advanced patient monitoring solutions.
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GreatCall Adds DistributorSan Diego-based GreatCall, the provider of the Jitterbug wireless phone service, said today that it has inked a new partnership with D&H Distributing. According to GreatCall, D&H will make the firm's entire line of handsets available to consumer electronics retailers nationwide. GreatCall said the addition of the distributor will make it easier for consumers to purchase its handsets and services at neighborhood retailers. GreatCall's Jitterbug phones are aimed at providing simple, easy to use wi (More info...)
posted on Tuesday, December 21, 2010(Full story)