Wednesday, February 9, 2011


Orexigen Therapeutics Cuts 40 Percent
San Diego-based Orexigen Therapeutics, which is developing biopharmaceuticals focused on treating obesity, said Wednesday afternoon that it is cutting 40 percent of its staff, or 23 employees. According to Orexigen, the move comes as a result of receiving a Complete Response Letter from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on January 31st. That letter indicated that it was likely the FDA would deny approval until the firm was able to conduct a new clinical trial evaluating cardiovascular risks (More info...)
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SolarFlare Raises $5.0M
Irvine-based SolarFlare, the developer of 10 Gigabit Ethernet (10GbE) semiconductors and adapters, has raised $5.0M in a combination of debt and warrants, according to a regulatory filing by the firm Wednesday. Details on the new funding have not been announced by the company. SolarFlare is led by Russell Stern, and in the last year has been expanding from the silicon area to also providing branded adapters. The firm has previously raised funding from Oak Investment Partners, Anthem Venture Part (More info...)
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Algebraix Data Ups Funding To $7.5M
San Diego-based Algebraix Data, a developer of analytics focused database software, has upped its most recent funding to $7.5M, according to a regulatory filing from the firm this week. No details on the new funding have been announced by the company. Algebraix recently announced a new patent for the firm in the area of computer databases. The firm says its database is self-managing and self-optimizating, and provides a 300x faster response rate than standard relational databases.
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SpaceX Lands Contract For Commercial Moon Mission
Hawthorne-based SpaceX, the commercial rocket firm run by Elon Musk, has landed a contract to deliver a payload to the moon. According to a Pittsburgh-based aerospace startup, Astrobotic Technology, it has signed a contract with SpaceX to deliver a robotic payload to the moon on the SpaceX Falcon 9. Financial details of that contract were not disclosed. Astrobotic is one of the firms competing in the Google Lunar X Prize, the effort to spur a new, commercial mission to the moon. Astrobotic said (More info...)
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Southern California Linked IPOs Grow
The number of Southern California related initial public offerings is growing steadily upwards, as Gevo--originally started in Pasadena, and based on technology out of Caltech and UCLA--hit the market this morning. Gevo is just the latest in a surge of companies hitting the public markets which have Southern California links. Those include a rumor of an IPO at music service Pandora, which is based in Northern California, which was co-founded by UberTwitter's Jon Kraft, a successful IPO for Los A (More info...)
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Gevo Raises $107M In IPO
Gevo, the biofuels technology startup spawned out of technology at Caltech and UCLA, has raised $107M in an IPO this morning. The firm, which is now based in Colorado, debuted on the Nasdaq Global Market Wednesday morning as GEVO, debuting at $15.00. The stock was trading as high as $17.50 in morning trading. GEVO priced at the high end of its estimated pricing range of $13 to $15, selling 7.5 million shares of its common stock. Gevo develops process technology which converts renewable feedstock (More info...)
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Mobile Roadie Powers Beatles LOVE App
Beverly Hills-based Mobile Roadie, which develops software used to create and manage mobile applications for the music industry and brands, said this week that it has built an application for Apple Corps and Cirque du Soleil, called The Beatles LOVE app. Financial details of the win were not disclosed. The firm said the app is tied to the release of the new LOVE album and the film All Together Now, which is being released on iTunes. The Beatles LOVE is a new show being debuted by Cirque du Solei (More info...)
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Inherited Health In Deal With HealthCentral
Los Angeles-based Inherited Health, the online genetic information site run by Lee Essner, has inked a deal with HealthCentral, the firms are announcing today. According to the firm, the deal calls for HealthCentral to gain access to Inherited Health's information on over 500 inherited conditions, plus access to the startup's tool to collect, store, and update family health history. Financial details of the deal were not disclosed. According to Essner, HealthCentral will include the firm's conte (More info...)
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Docufide Raises $4.5M, Taps Blackboard Founder As CEO
Los Angeles-based Docufide, which develops educational software and services used to transfer high school transcripts to colleges, said today that it has raised $4.5M in a funding round, and also appointed Blackboard founder Matthew Pittinsky as its CEO. The firm said the funding came from Novak Biddle Venture Partners. Along with the funding, the firm said it would move its headquarters to Scottsdale, Arizona, where Pittinsky was most recently serving as associate professor of sociology at Ariz (More info...)
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Music Reports Signs Mobile Music Service
Woodland Hills-based Music Reports, the developer of software used for managing music rights and royalties reporting, said this morning that it has signed a licensing and reporting agreement with Cricket Communications, the operator of the Muve Music digital music service. Financial details of the deal were not announced. Music Reports said it will provide music publishing data matching, licensing, and royalty reporting services to Muve. Muve provides unlimited music downloads, ringtones, and ri (More info...)
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Telogis Buys Integris
Aliso Viejo-based Telogis announced last night that it has acquired cetain assets, and substantially all of the business of Integris, a provider of routing, mobile resource, and fleet management software. Financial terms of the buy were not disclosed. The firm said the acquisition of Telogis would complement the firm's current base of large enterprise customers; Integris serves the small and mid sized business market. Telogis is a developer of location-based intelligence software and services.
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Qualcomm Innovation Center Launches Open Source Software
San Diego-based Qualcomm Innovation Center (QuIC), the mobile open source software development arm of Qualcomm, said today that it has launched a new open source project aimed at peer-to-peer device connectivity. QuIC said that it has launched AllJoyn, a project which allows devices to communicate with each other over Wi-Fi or Bluetooth, without needing an intermediate server or access point. QuIC said the technology could potentially be used for peer-to-peer gaming, secure file sharing, set-top (More info...)
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Genomatica, Waste Management In Research Deal
San Diego-based Genomatica, a developer of renewable chemical production technology and processes, has inked a strategic joint development agreement with Waste Management, the firms announced this morning. According to the two, they will advance Genomatica's technology and manufacturing processes to produce intermediate and basic chemicals from syngas made from municipal solid waste. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. The two companies said that Genomatica will create a manufactu (More info...)
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Smith Micro Hit By Customer Pullback
Aliso Viejo-based Smith Micro Software, which develops software for the wireless industry, said late Tuesday evening that it is suspending its 2011 annual revenue guidance, and will withdraw from a investment conference this week, after it says orders from a "key customer" will fall below expected levels. The firm said it believes that customer has "sufficient inventory" to support sales of its mobile broadband services for the first quarter. The firm said it now expects first quarter 2011 reven (More info...)
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Xirrus Lands Colorado School District
Thousand Oaks-based Xirrus, the developer of Wi-Fi equipment headed by Dirk Gates, said yesterday that it has signed a school district in Colorado as a customer. Xirrus said that Fountain Fort Carson School District Eight, based in Fountain, Colorado, has replaced their existing Cisco wireless network with equipment from Xirrus. Financial details of the win were not disclosed. The district is using Xirrus because of density issues. Xirrus develops Wi-Fi arrays which combine multiple access point (More info...)
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