Wednesday, January 12, 2011Vokle Scores $542KSanta Monica-based Vokle, a provider of interactive broadcasting services, has raised $542,000 in debt as part of an ongoing, $1.0M funding round, according to regulatory filings from the firm. Details on the funding have not been disclosed, however, the firm is angel backed by the Tech Coast Angels. Raymond Chan of the TCA sits on the company's board. Vokle allows users to host and interact with live, interactive online broadcasts. The firm is headed by Robert Kiraz.
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Insights and Opinions: The Problem with the Super AngelsFor today's Insights and Opinions section today, we have a post from Jim Armstrong, Managing Director at Clearstone Venture Partners, who talks about some of the issues behind the super angel trend.
There is a lot of talk these days about the growing number of angel funds and super angel funds, that is funds that quickly invest 250k to 2MM (roughly) into a company and remain very hands off. To be sure these super angel funds do indeed properly fit into the new trends around company creation (More info...)
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Steamboat Supports Baynote In Latest RoundBurbank-based Steamboat Ventures, the venture capital arm of the Walt Disney Company, has re-upped its investment in San Jose-based Baynote, a developer of personalization and marketing software for the enterprise market. Baynote said that it raised $13M in a Series C led by SingTel Innov8, which also included prior investors Hummer Winblad, Steamboat Ventures and JK&B Capital. Steamboat's Dan Beldy sites on the board of directors of Baynote.
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Corent Boosts Funding For SaaS ToolsAliso Viejo-based Corent, which develops software tools to more easily port traditional software to the software-as-a-service model, has raised $3.2M in a funding round. Corent CEO Feyzi Fatehi confirmed the round, saying that the firm is seeing lots of traction from firms looking to "SaaS"-ify their software. Fatehi said the firm's software makes it easy for companies to plug their software into their existing applications, to transform them into software-as-a-service applications which can be (More info...)
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Ondax Closes Round At $2.2MMonrovia-based Ondax, a manufacturer of volume holographic grating filters and lasers, said Tuesday that it has officially closed its $2.2M, Series E funding round. The round was led by Prospector Equity Capital and Arcturus Capital, and also included the Pasadena Angels and Tech Coast Angels. Andrea Belz joins the firm's board as part of the funding, representing both the Pasadena Angels and Tech Coast Angels. Those two angel groups had announced their involvement in the funding in December.
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Demand Media Sets IPO Pricing RangeSanta Monica-based Demand Media, the online publishing firm headed by Richard Rosenblatt, said today in an S-1 filing that it expects its IPO to be between $14.00 and $16.00 per share. The firm plans to offer 7,500,000 shares of its stock in its IPO, which has been approved for listing on the New York Stock Exchange as DMD. Demand Media's IPO efforts have been one of the closest watched activities in the Southern California technology industry, as an indicator of the IPO prospects for other tech (More info...)
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JMI Equity Boosts Adknowledge In $200M DealSan Diego-based private equity firm JMI Equity has backed Internet advertising firm Adknowledge, as lead on a $200M debt and equity financing round for that firm. Adknowledge, which is based in Kansas City, MO, said today that it raised $200M in debt and equity to fuel its growth and for future acquisitions, led by JMI Equity. The debt portion of the round came from Bank of America. As part of the investment, JMI Equity General Partner Brad Woloson has joined Adknowledge's board. Adknowledge has (More info...)
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Interview with Loren Bendele, Savings.comIt's been a very busy for coupon and deal sites over the past few months, with a giant, $950M round of funding for Groupon, and the acquisition of at least three locally headquartered coupon and deal sites--LogicBuy.com, NextCoupons.com, and DealPerk--in the last month. For some perspective on the industry, as well as to learn more about the company, we spoke with Loren Bendele, CEO of Los Angeles-based Savings.com (www.savings.com).
First, for people who aren't familiar with the site, talk a (More info...)
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Illumina Buys Epicentre BiotechnologiesSan Diego-based Illumina, a manufacturer of genetic analysis tools, said last night that it has acquired Epicentre Biotechnologies, a provider of nucleic acid sample preparation reagents and specialty enzymes. Financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. Epicentre's products are used for sequencing and microarrays in the genetic analysis area.
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BakBone Gets Shareholder Approval On AcquisitionSan Diego-based BakBone Software, a developer of backup software, reported today that the firm has received both shareholder and court approval for its acquisition by Quest Software. Bakbone said 88 percent of the votes cast by shareholders were in favor of the acquisition. In addition, BakBone said it has received approval from the Court of Queen's Bench of Alberta for the acquisition. The deal is worth approximately $55M, and was originally announced in November.
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NanoH2O Appoints CFOLos Angeles-based NanoH2O, the UCLA spinout developing reverse osmosis membranes used for purifying water, said today that it has named John Markovich as the firm's Chief Financial Officer. Markovich was most recently CFO of publicly held EMCORE Corporation. NanoH2O is headed by Jeff Green, who was co-founder of Archive Inc. and Stamps.com, and is venture backed by Khosla Ventures, Oak Investment Partners, and Rusheen Capital Partners.
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ESET Names New CEOSan Diego-basd ESET, a developer of security software, said today that Andrew Lee has been named CEO of the firm. Lee replaces founder Anton Zajac, who becomes President of the firm. Lee was most recently at K7 Computing, and had previously been Chief Research Officer at ESET from 2004 to 2008.
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QAD Signs German CustomerSanta Barbara-based QAD, which develops enterprise resource planning (ERP) software for manufacturers, announced this morning that German firm Retina Implant AG is using its products. The firm said that Retina Implant AG is using its WAD Enterprise Applications software. Financial impact of the win was not announced. Retina Implant AG is a developer of subretinal implants for restoring partial sight to the blind.
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