Tuesday, January 18, 2011Cheezburger Deal Spawned Out Of LA's TwiistUpThe $30M funding deal for Seattle's Cheezburger, the web publisher best known for its LOLcats-themed I Can Has Cheezburger? and FAIL Blog web sites, apparently was spawned out of an introduction at last year's Twiistup technology conference, according to investor the Foundry Group. According to the Foundry Group, which led the funding round for Cheezburger, the investment came as a result of an introduction between Foundry and Cheezburger CEO Ben Huh about 18 months ago at the LA TwiistUp event. (More info...)
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Insights and Opinions: 3 Things to Avoid When Fundraising in LAFor today's Insights and Opinions article, we have an article from Ryan Born, CEO of AudioMicro, on his experience fundraising in Los Angeles. In an article that is sure to spur many comments and a few flames, Ryan gives his opinion on the 3 Things to Avoid When Fundraising in LA.
It's been over 3 years since I moved to LA and started what I'll call the Los Angeles Venture Capital "fundraising scene". Over the past 3 years, I've raised a good deal of money (some disclosed, some undisclos (More info...)
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Xirrus Signs Up Another School DistrictThousand Oaks-based Xirrus, the venture backed developer of Wi-Fi equipment headed by Dirk Gates, said today that it has deployed its products at the Madison School District in Rexburg, Idaho. Financial details of the win were not disclosed. Xirrus said that the firm is providing to allow students and teachers to connect via laptops, smart phones, iPads, and other devices. Xirrus is venture backed by August Capital, Canaan Partners, InterWest, QuestMark Partners, and US Venture Partners. Xirrus (More info...)
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Julie Schoenfeld On Perfect Market's New FundingThis morning, Pasadena-based Perfect Market (www.perfectmarket.com) announced a new, $9M round of funding for the firm's technology, which is used to help publishers monetize their content. We caught up with Julie Schoenfeld, the firm's CEO, to hear about how the firm's offerings have evolved, an interesting comparison of the firm's software to what Demand Media is doing, and what this new funding will go towards.
Congrats on funding. It's been awhile since we last talked, I wonder if you m (More info...)
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Fonality Leaves Los Angeles, Heads to TexasIn a loss to the Los Angeles technology industry, Voice over IP software developer Fonality has relocated its headquarters to Texas, the firm said today. According to Fonality, it has moved its headquarters to Plano, Texas from Los Angeles. Fonality said it will continue to maintain a "Center of Technology Excellence" in Los Angeles. The firm said it has bolstered its staff in Texas by more than 75 since August of 2010, including executive staff, finance, sales, and marketing. Fonality CEO Dean (More info...)
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Perfect Market Raises $9 Million MorePasadena-based Perfect Market, which provides tools for publishers to better create value from their content, is announcing today that it has raised $9M in a new funding round. The round was led by Comcast Interactive Capital, and also included Idealab, Rustic Canyon Partners, Tribune Company, and Trinity Ventures. Perfect Market is headed by Julie Sohenfeld, and provides tools to better monetize and create content for newspapers and other publishers, as well as further distribute that content t (More info...)
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Arrowhead Sells Unidym To Korean FirmPasadena-based Arrowhead Research said today that its Unidym subsidiary has been acquired by Korean electronics firm Wisepower Co., Ltd. Arrowhead said the deal was worth stock and convertible bonds worth $5M, plus up to $140M in earn-out. Arrowhead said the move will "substantially decrease" its burn rate, allowing it to focus on the nanomedicine area. Unidym was focused on carbon nanotube technology. Arrowhead is the owner of Calando, which focuses on RNAi delivery technology, and Ablaris, wh (More info...)
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Verve Wireless Names New CEOEncinitas-based Verve Wireless, the developer of mobile publishing software used by newspapers and the Associated Press, said today that it has named a new CEO. Verve said it has named Tom MacIsaac, most recently CEO of ExtendMedia, as CEO of the company. MacIsaac also has served at Lightningcast, AOL, and Backwire. MacIsaac headed up ExtendMedia until its acquisition by Cisco in September of 2010. Verve Wireless said MacIsaac will be based in a new, Washington, DC office. Former CEO Art Howe wi (More info...)
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Steamboat Ventures Sells ScrapblogScrapblog, an online scrapbooking service backed by Burbank-based Steamboat Ventures, has been sold to personal photo publishing firm Mixbook. Financial terms of the sale were not disclosed. Scrapblog as venture backed by Steamboat Ventures and Longworth Venture Partners, and allowed users to create a digital scrapbook of personal photos and other information. Mixbook is based in San Jose.
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NanoH2O Names Operations HeadLos Angeles-based NanoH2O, which develops reverse osmosis membranes used for desalinating water, said today that it has named Kyle MacDonald its Vice President of Operations. MacDonald was most recently Senior Vice President and General Manager of Polaroid's Instant Imaging business unit. NanoH2O said MacDonald has almost 20 years of manufacturing experience. NanoH2O is headed by Jeff Green, and is based on technology spun out of UCLA. NanoH2O is backed by Khosla Ventures, Oak Investment Partner (More info...)
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