Tuesday, February 22, 2011Dr. Sears Family Essentials Gains $5.6MIrvine-based Dr. Sears Family Essentials, a maker of all-natural snacks, beverages and supplements, said Tuesday that it has raised $5.6M in a venture funding round. The round came from Intuitive Venture Partners, and will go towards growth and branding of its line of products. Dr. Sears Family Essentials is headed by Tom Hicks.
posted on Tuesday, February 22, 2011 (More)(Full story)
Fetch Technologies Raises $4.6MEl Segundo-based Fetch Technologies, a firm which develops software for aggregating data from web sites, said Tuesday that it has raised $4.6M in a Series B funding round. The firm said the funding was led by Robert Sansom, a founder of Fore Systems, and also included Sheldon Stone, founder of Oaktree Capital Management, and Frank Baxter, Chairman Emeritus of Jeffries and Company. Fetch said its products are being used by such companies as Dow Jones, Reuters, McGraw Hill and Verifications, Inc. (More info...)
posted on Tuesday, February 22, 2011 (More)(Full story)
ECOtality Starts Installing EV Chargers In LA, San DiegoECOtality, a firm which is installing electric vehicle chargers nationwide as part of The EV Project, said Tuesday that it has started installing electric vehicle chargers in Los Angeles and San Diego. The firm said it is installing its Blink home EV chargers in homes in the area, as the first step in its deployment of rich charging infrastructure. The firm said it is planning similar installations in Portland tomorrow, Seattle on Thursday, and Arizona on Friday. ECOtality said its charger insta (More info...)
posted on Tuesday, February 22, 2011(Full story)
Demand Media Reports ProfitSanta Monica-based Demand Media, the internet publishing firm headed by Richard Rosenblatt, reported its fourth quarter and fiscal 2010 results today, the first as a public company. Demand Media said it had revenues of $73.6M for Q4 of 2010, up 33 percent from the $55.5M in revenues from Q4 of 2009. The firm also reported net income of $1.0M, versus $3.9M in a loss in Q4 of 2009. The firm said the fourth quarter revenues were driven by new brand advertisers, and growth to more than 100 million u (More info...)
posted on Tuesday, February 22, 2011(Full story)
Insights and Opinions: Valuations like it's 1999?For today's Insights and Opinions section, Megan Jones, an investment banker, talks about the surge in technology company valuations, and whether there is, or isn't, a bubble forming:
Zynga is reported to be raising $500 million at a $10 billion valuation. Twitter recently raised $200 million at a $3.75 billion valuation, and turned down a rumored offer of $5 billion from Facebook. Facebook is valued at $50 billion. Demand Media's market cap is close to $2 billion. Groupon turned down a r (More info...)
posted on Tuesday, February 22, 2011(Full story)
2tor Lands $750KNew York-based 2tor, a startup which helps universities develop online degree programs, has just raised $750,000 in additional funding, according to a regulatory filing by the firm Monday. The firm has previously raised funding from Highland Capital, Redpoint Ventures, Novak Biddle Venture Partners, and City Light Capital. 2tor is powering online degree programs from universities, including the University of Southern California, and has operations in Los Angeles.
posted on Tuesday, February 22, 2011 (More)(Full story)
DealOn Sued Over Group Buying TechnologyDealOn, the developer of white label group buying software which was acquired by Woodland Hills-based ReachLocal, has just been sued over patent infringement by group buying site Tippr. According to a court filing, KashLess, Inc., the parent firm of Tippr, has sued both DealOn LLC and BuyWithMe, Inc., another group buying site, over patents held by Kashless. Kashless owns a number of group buying patents it acquired from Paul Allen's Vulcan in February of last year. The suit was filed in the Was (More info...)
posted on Tuesday, February 22, 2011(Full story)
mEgo Gets $915K MoreLos Angeles-based mEgo, the online avatar creation site, has raised $915,116 out of an ongoing $2.5M funding round for the company, according to a regulatory filing by the firm. The filing indicates the round covers a Series A preferred stock round. Source of the funding was not disclosed. The filing indicates the round had a first sale on February 17th. mEgo allows users to create their own online avatars, used for social networking websites.
posted on Tuesday, February 22, 2011 (More)(Full story)
Fisker Automotive Raises $150M MoreIrvine-based Fisker Automotive, the manufacturer and designer of electric vehicles, has raised another $150M, according to a regulatory filing from the firm last week. Details on the funding haven't been announced, but reports say that the valuation was at $600M pre-money and include Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and New Enterprise Associates.
posted on Tuesday, February 22, 2011 (More)(Full story)
Ashton Kutcher Backs SeatGeekActor Ashton Kutcher has backed a New York-based sports, concert, and theater tickets site, SeatGeek, the firm said today. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. The funding also included A Grade investments. SeatGeek helps users find the best prices on upcoming events and shows. A recent regulatory filing by SeatGeek indicates it completed a $1.1M in a funding in November.
posted on Tuesday, February 22, 2011 (More)(Full story)
Amazon Enters Video Streaming MarketOnline retailing giant Amazon.com is joining the online movie and TV streaming market this morning, saying that it has started offering up its Amazon Prime users unlimited, commercial-free, instant streaming of 5,000 movies and TV shows. Amazon Prime is Amazon.com's free shipping service, and costs $79 a year.
posted on Tuesday, February 22, 2011(Full story)
Interview with Fouad ElNaggar, Redpoint VenturesRedpoint Ventures is one of the venture capital firms which has straddled both Northern California and Southern California, with offices in both locations. To hear about the firm's interest in Los Angeles, and Southern California investments in general, we spoke with Fouad ElNaggar, Principal at the firm, to hear about where the firm is nowadays and what kind of investments it is making locally.
Thanks for the time today. It would be interesting to hear about where your interests are nowdays, (More info...)
posted on Tuesday, February 22, 2011(Full story)
CapLinked Raises $525K From PayPal MafiaManhattan Beach-based CapLinked, the provider of an online service for managing equity fundraising and investor relationships, has scored a funding round from the "PayPal Mafia", the group of ex-PayPal founders, executives, and employees. CapLinked, which is headed by Eric M. Jackson--also an early PayPal employee--said it raised $525,000 from a group which was led by Peter Thiel, Joe Lonsdale of Palantir Technologies, Dave McClure of 500Startups, and Aman Verjee the CFO of Sonos.
Jackson sai (More info...)
posted on Tuesday, February 22, 2011 (More)(Full story)
Tech Coast Angels Highlights 2010 DealsThe Tech Coast Angels, [profile] the largest angel investment group in Southern California, outlined its 2010 deals today, saying that it funded a total of 31 deals in 2010, and had three profitable exits. The TCA said that 12 of those deals were new investments, and 19 were follow-on investments for the company. The group invested a total of $6M through direct investments, with was joined by approximately another $33.9M in other capital from venture and other angel investors. Investments were u (More info...)
posted on Tuesday, February 22, 2011(Full story)
Twidroyd, UberSocial Back onlineTwo of the applications developed by Pasadena-based UberMedia, the Twitter client applications firm headed by Idealab's Bill Gross, are back online, according to Twitter. Over the weekend, Twitter said it had reactivated API support for Twidroyd and UberSocial (formerly UberTwitter), after UberMedia made the changes it requested of those applications. On Friday, Twitter had declared war on UberMedia and suspended a number of UberMedia's applications for unspecified, violations of its terms of se (More info...)
posted on Tuesday, February 22, 2011(Full story)
Buy.com Expands Marketplace To JapanAliso Viejo-based Buy.com has expanded its third party, marketplace services to Japan, the home of parent firm Rakuten, the firm announced this morning. Buy.com said it will offer up international shipping of Buy.com's marketplace items to Japan, which will extend the reach of its U.S., third-party retailers to nearly 70 million customers of Rakuten in Japan. Buy.com said the listings will be on Rakuten Ichiba, which is says is the largest online mall in Japan. Rakuten said it has plans to expan (More info...)
posted on Tuesday, February 22, 2011(Full story)
Conexant Gets New Bid From Golden Gate CapitalNewport Beach-based Conexant Systems said this morning that it received a new offer from Golden Gate Capital. According to Conexant, Golden Gate Capital has offered to pay $2.40 per share in cash for the firm, a superior proposal to an earlier offer from Standard Microsystems. SMSC had offered to pay $1.125 in cash and $1.125 in stock for Conexant in January. Golden Gate had told Conexant it would be making a competing offer for the company earlier this month. Conexant is a maker of semiconducto (More info...)
posted on Tuesday, February 22, 2011(Full story)
WebVisible Launches In JapanIrvine-based WebVisible.com, which helps small and medium sized businesses place online advertising, announced this morning that it has expanded into the Japanese market. WebVisible said it has linked with Recruit Co. Ltd., a Japanese advertising media provider and publisher, as well as transcosmos Inc., a provider of marketing management services, to offer its online advertising solutions. Financial details of the arrangement were not disclosed. WebVisible said Recruit's Local Promotion divisio (More info...)
posted on Tuesday, February 22, 2011(Full story)
Skytronics Acquired By Phillips Service IndustriesEl Segundo-based Skytronics, a manufacturer of aircraft components and provider of maintenance repair services, has been acquired by Phillips Service Industries. Financial details of the acquisition were not disclosed. Skytronics provides manufacturing, repair, overhaul, and sales of aircraft ball screw and actuator assemblies, which are used in Boeing 727/737/747/757/767 aircraft.
posted on Tuesday, February 22, 2011(Full story)
PC Mall Buys eCOST.comTorrance-based PC Mall said today that it has acquired the assets of eCOST.com, an online electronics retailer, from PFSWeb, in a deal worth $2.3M. According to PC Mall, it will continue to operate eCOST.com as an online marketplace for computers, networking equipment, electronics, entertainment, and other products. PC Mall said that eCost had approximately $76M in sales for the 12 months ending September 30, 2010, and that it also acquired approximately $1M in inventory with the acquisition.
posted on Tuesday, February 22, 2011(Full story)