Thursday, February 17, 2011Hautelook Acquired By Nordstrom For $270MLos Angeles-based HauteLook, the flash sales site run by Adam Bernhard, has been acquired by Nordstrom for up to $270M. According to Nordstrom, it will pay $180M in stock plus up to $90M in earn out over the next three years. Nordstrom said the buy will enable it to participate in the fast-growing private sale marketplace. HauteLook was venture backed by Insight Venture Partners, which just invested $31M in the company in June of 2010. HauteLook had raised somewhere around $41M in total funding (More info...)
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OnGreen Links With USC Stevens InstituteLos Angeles-based OnGreen, the operator of an online marketplace for green technology and clean technology businesses and projects, said Thursday that it is in a marketing partnership with the University of Southern California's Stevens Institute for Innovation. According to OnGreen, which is headed by Nikhil Jain, USC's patented technologies for potential clean tech applications and commercialization will be listed on its website. OnGreen operates its own, patent exchange marketplace, OGPX. The (More info...)
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KidZui Launches Advertising PlatformSan Diego-based KidZui said this week that it has launched a new advertising platform focused on family-friendly brands. The firm said its new platform, KidClicks, allows brands to reach kids through the KidZui browser. As part of the launch, the firm said it has hired Bryan Mullen as Chief Revenue Officer. Mullen joins the firm from The Nickelodeon Kids & Family Group, where he was VP Sales and Marketing. The advertising on KidClicks includes age- and gender-filtered content, must meet editoria (More info...)
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Google Lunar X Prize Announces Official TeamsPlaya Vista-based X PRIZE Foundation, the group which was behind the Ansari X Prize, which spurred the development of the first commercial vehicle to reach space, announced today that its official roster of 29 teams competing for $30M in the Google Lunar X Prize. The competition seeks to send a robot to the Moon, and transmit video, images, and data back to earth. The X PRIZE Fondation said that teams are spread across 17 nations on four continents. The foundation believes it will have a winner (More info...)
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Image Metrics Buys Big StageSanta Monica-based Image Metrics, a developer of facial animation technology, announced Thursday morning that it has acquired Big Stage, the developer of avatar creation software. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Image Metrics said it would merge Big Stag's avatar creation platform into its existing, real-time video animation technology. Big Stage--which was a spinout of technology developed at USC--allowed users to upload several photographs of themselves into software, which the (More info...)
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AeroVironment Develops Nano Air VehicleMonrovia-based Aerovironment reports this morning that it has reached a technical milestone, and has demonstrated a prototype of a "hummingbird-like" nano air vehicle for a Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) contract. The firm said its two-wing, flapping aircraft was developed to meet a milestone in part of a DARPA Phase II contract, aimed at developing unmanned nano-sized aircraft. The firm said its vehicle weighs two-thirds of an ounce, including batteries and a video camera, an (More info...)
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Orexigen Therapeutics Loses CFOSan Diego-based Orexigen Therapeutics announced this morning that its CFO, Graham Cooper, is resigning from the firm. The company said that Cooper is resigning for personal reasons, and partially because he has been commuting from the San Francisco Bay Area since 2006. Cooper will be replaced by Jay Hagan, the firm's Senior Vice President Corporate Development and Strategy, who will serve as acing CFO. Hagan has previously served at Amgen. Orexigen Therapeutics is developing treatments for obesi (More info...)
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ReachLocal's Zorik Gordon On Daily DealsEarlier this week, Woodland Hills-based ReachLocal (www.reachlocal.com), which helps small and medium sized businesses place online ads, announced a deal to buy daily deals site DealOn.com. The buy puts ReachLocal squarely into the fast growing area of daily deals, but also potentially into competition with such companies as Groupon and LivingSocial. To get some perspective into ReachLocal's entry into the daily deals space and where it sees the acquisition fitting, we spoke with Zorik Gordon, C (More info...)
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Oakley, RealD Certify 3D GlassesFoothill Ranch-based sunglasses maker Oakley, and Los Angeles-based 3D technology firm RealD said Wednesday that Oakley's 3D glasses have been certified by RealD. The firms said the official certification means that Oakley's certified glasses will work with RealD's 3D cinema technology. RealD's technology uses polarized lenses for providing the 3D experience, which have been incorporated into Oakley's 3D glasses line.
posted on Thursday, February 17, 2011(Full story)