Friday, February 11, 2011


Topspin Co-founder Gotcher To Benefit From Pandora IPo
Peter Gotcher, the Chairman and co-founder of Los Angeles-based Topspin Media, looks to reap a big harvest, if Pandora Media pulls off its IPO. Pandora filed for an IPO Friday, saying in a filing with the SEC that it is looking to raise up to $100M in its IPO. Pandora is venture backed by Crosslink Capital, Walden Venture Capital, Greylock Partners, Labrador Ventures, The Hearst Corporation, GGV Capital, and others. According to Pandora's S-1, Gotcher owns roughly 1.05 percent of Pandora, owning (More info...)
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Caltech Taps Venture Capitalist As Trustee
Pasadena-based California Insitute of Technology said this week that it has tapped a venture capitalist for its Board of Trustees. According to Caltech, Narendra K. Gupta, cofounder and managing director of Nexus Venture Partners and an alumnus of the school, has been elected to its board. Gupta's firm is based in Menlo Park, and primarily invests in companies serving India and the global markets. Gupta also previously was co-founder of Integrated Systems, which he took public in 1990. Gupta is (More info...)
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FTD Groupon Deal Goes South
A nationwide offer from FTD, the flower delivery service owned by Woodland Hills-based United Online, with daily deals phenomenon Groupon has gone south, after consumers complained that the price presented to Groupon users was more than the price a user would get by going directly to FTD's web site. Group had offered up $10 for $20 worth of flowers at FTD Thursday in one of their national, daily promotions. However, after the issue came to light, Groupon sent an email to users saying that the of (More info...)
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Chromatik Takes Twiistup Top Showoff Prize
Los Angeles-based Chromatik, which is developing a web-based, music learning products, took the top honors at the Twiistup Showoff event Thursday night. The startup, headed by Matt Sandler, was voted tops out of eight total companies who pitched their startups to attendees and judges at the Los Angeles area technology event. Judges of the event were Naval Ravikant (Angel List), Scott Sangster (TechCoast Angels), Matt Thompson (Microsoft), Paige Craig (BetterWorks), and Jim Andelman (Rincon Ventu (More info...)
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Magento's Major Investor: eBay
The secret investor in Los Angeles-based Magento, the developer of e-commerce website software run by Roy Rubin is online auction giant eBay, according to reports. Magento, which according to a regulatory filing raised $22.5M in March of last year, had acknowledged a funding, but had not revealed any details on the firm's investors. According to AuctionBytes, eBay revealed that it owns 49 percent of Magento this week in an Analyst Day, and took a stake in the firm via its subsidiary, Paypal. Mag (More info...)
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BUZZMEDIA Buys The Frisky
Los Angeles-based BUZZMEDIA, the publisher of entertainment related blogs and websites, said Friday that it has acquired The Frisky, an entertainment news, celebrity, and fashion site, from Turner Broadcasting Systems. Financial terms of the buy were not disclosed. BUZZMEDIA said The Frisky had more than 2 million average monthly readers in 2010, based on comScore numbers. BUZZMEDIA now has a stable of entertainment related blog, news, and community sites, including Buzznet, Celebuzz, Stereogum, (More info...)
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Google To Ramp Hiring In Southern California, Too
Search engine giant Google says that its hiring surge this year will affect its Southern California offices, despite a lack of an increase in its listed positions on its jobs pages for its Santa Monica and Irvine locations. According to a communications and public affairs executive at the firm, in response to an article last week in this publication, Google is indeed actively hiring in Southern California, as it is everywhere else, as its anticipates its biggest hiring year in company history. G (More info...)
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MyShape Runs Out Of Cash, Shuts Down
Los Angeles-based MyShape, the online personalized fashion and women's clothing firm, has shut down. According to a message on the firm's site, it is "temporarily suspending its retail operations" and is no longer offering products. According to sources near the firm, the firm has sold off its inventory and is now hoping to find a buyer for the company via an assignment for the benefit of creditors. MyShape apparently had run out of money three times between April and November of last year, wa (More info...)
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ResumeBucket Hits Milestone
Santa Monica-based ResumeBucket says today that it has hit a milestone of 1 million communications between employers and job seekers on the site, and now has over 600,000 users in its database. The firm said it is approaching 5,000 active companies using its site for finding talent. ResumeBucket operates an online site for employees, which allows them to post their resume; the firm is headed by Ted Hekman, and was co-founded by Josh Stomel. ResumeBucket's site allows users to upload their resume (More info...)
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Palomar Ventures Backs Damballa
Santa Monica-based venture capital firm Palomar Ventures has re-upped its investment in a security software firm Damballa, which is based in Atlanta, as part of a new $12M funding round for that company. Palomar's Jim Gauer sites on the board of Damballa. The funding round was led by Paladin Capital Group, and also included Sigma Partners, Palomar Ventures, InterWest Partners, GRA Venture Fund, Imlay Investments, and Blumberg Capital. Damballa makes security software used by ISPs, telcos, and en (More info...)
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CoreLogic Loses CFO
Santa Ana-based CoreLogic said Thursday that its CFO, Anthony "Buddy" Piszel, has resigned. The firm said that Piszel resigned due to receiving a Wells notice from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), over his role at Freddie Mac. Piszel was CFO at Freddie Mac during the recent financial meltdown. The Wells notice indicates that the SEC is considering a civil enforcement action against Piszel. CoreLogic said that SVP of Finance and Accounting, Michael A. Rasic will replace Piszel. (More info...)
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Jason Nazar On Startups, Execution, and Hiring
Jason Nazar is CEO of Santa Monica-based Docstoc (www.docstoc.com), the online document sharing site, and a fixture at Los Angeles technology events. Nazar--who moderated a panel on the venture capital industry in Los Angeles at Twiistup 8 yesterday, and who is considered by many to be one of the key "super connectors" in the LA technology community--took a few minutes with us to give his advice to startup entrepreneurs. Given all of the work you've been doing with helping other entrepreneurs (More info...)
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Boingo Launches Unlimited European Service
Los Angeles-based Boingo Wireless said this morning that it has launched and unlimited Wi-Fi service in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. Boingo said its Boingo Europe Plus service will cost 27.95 euros per month, and give users access to 90,000 wireless access points in the EMEA. The firm said the new plan gives its users more flexibility in choosing a plan that specifically serves certain geographic areas. Boingo previously only offered European access via a more expensive global plan.
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Move Redeems Stock For Elevation
Move, Inc., the operator of real estate sites Move.com and Realtor.com, said Thursday that it has reached an agreement to redeem $70M in Series B preferred stock owned by Elevation Partners. The firm, which is based in Northern California but has major operations in Thousand Oaks, said that Elevation will continue to hold $50M in Series B preferred stock in the firm. Move said the moves are part of a plan to "streamline" its capital structure. The redemption comes as part of a proposed, one-for- (More info...)
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RealD Goes To The Opera
Los Angeles-based RealD, the developer of 3D theater and movie technology, said this week that it has inked a marketing and promotional deal with Toshiba Corporation around the upcoming feature film Carmen in 3D. RealD said that Toshiba will package 3D Blu-Ray Discs of Carmen in 3D with 3D-enabled Toshiba TVs, PCs, and Blu-ray devices. Toshiba and RealD recently announced a deal to collaborate on 3D technology for the consumer electronics market, adding support for RealD's stereoscopic format o (More info...)
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HireRight Names Transportation VP
Irvine-based HireRight, the provider of employment background screening and drug screening services, said this week that it has named Steven Spencer as its Vice President of Transportation Solutions. Spencer has been at the firm since 1999, and was most recently Senior Director of Transportation Sales. The firm said Spencer will head up its transportation business unit.
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