Wednesday, February 23, 2011Conexant Goes To Golden Gate CapitalNewport Beach-based Conexant Systems said Wednesday afternoon that it has agreed to be acquired by private equity firm Golden Gate Capital, and has terminated its earlier merger agreement with Standard Microsystems. The move came after SMSC said it would not up its offer for Conexant, after Golden Gate said it would pay $2.40 per share in cash for Conexant's common stock. Conexant said it paid $7.7M in a termination fee to SMSC as part of the agreement. SMSC had said it would acquire Conexant in (More info...)
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Specific Media Ties Into High Gear Media, AutoMediaIrvine-based Specific Media, the online ad network operator, said Wednesday that it has inked deals with two automotive publishers. According to Specific Media, it has signed High Gear Media, which runs such sites as TheCarConnection.com, MotorAuthority.com, and GreenCarReports.com, as well as AutoMedia, a provider of auto content online, as part of its Exclusive Publisher (EP) program. That program helps advertisers gain access to name brand publishers on their remnant inventory. Financial deta (More info...)
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United Online Turns Down MemoryLane.comWoodland Hills-based United Online said Wednesday afternoon that has launched a new business, MemoryLane.com, focused on nostalgic content, folding its Classmates Online business into the new website. United Online said that Classmates Online will become Memory Lane, Inc., and will focus on providing vintage magazines, historic newsreels, classic sports highlights, movie trailers, song samples and cover art, digitized high school yearbooks, and other nostalgic content via the site. Memory Lane, (More info...)
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USC Stevens Institute Funds Seven ProjectsIn a bid to help research from the University of Southern California reach the market, the USC Stevens Institute for Innovation said Wednesday afternoon that it is awarding $439,000 in gap funding to seven projects from USC, which have a high potential to spin out of the school. According to the USC Stevens Institute for Innovation, the projects were selected by more than thirty members of the LA business and entrepreneurial community, who reviewed the proposals and mentored the research teams i (More info...)
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Transphorm Gets $20M For Energy TechnologyGoleta-based Transphorm, a developer of energy efficiency and power conversion technology, emerged from stealth today, saying it has just closed a $20M, Series C funding led by Google Ventures. The firm, which is headed by Umesh Mishra, said it has now raised over $38M in funding from Google, Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers, Foundation Capital, and Lux Capital for its technology. Transphorm said its power modules eliminate up to 90 percent of all electric conversion losses. Mishra is a profes (More info...)
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Clearstone Backs CupidsPlay.comSanta Monica-based venture capital firm Clearstone Ventures has backed a developer of an online social dating and games firm, CupidsPlay. Financial details of the investment were not disclosed. CupidsPlay said it received seed funding from Clearstone. CupidsPlay is based in Bellevue, Washington.
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Calacanis, Arrington In War Over Launch, Says ReportA report last night from the Atlantic Wire says that Jason Calacanis, the CEO of Santa Monica-based Mahalo.com, and Michael Arrington, the founder of TechCrunch, are at war over the new Launch Conference being run by Calacanis this week. According to the report, Arrington has been threatening potential attendees, sponsors, and companies with bad or no-coverage on TechCrunch. Calacanis has been selling Launch as an alternative to Arrington's own TechCrunch Disrupt conference. The reports would no (More info...)
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Interview with John Delacruz, FoodmePasadena-based Foodme (www.foodme.com) is one of the first, external startups funded out of Idealab's New Venture Group, and is looking to help connect restaurants with customers using a CPA model. The firm so far has signed up a number of restaurants in the Pasadena area. We caught up with founder John Delacruz to hear more about what the company hopes to do as it expands beyond Pasadena.
What is Foodme all about?
John Delacruz: What we do is we broker deals between restaurants and hungr (More info...)
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CoolPlanetBiofuels Ups Latest Funding To $17.7MCamarillo-based CoolPlanetBiofuels, the developer of biofuels technology run by Mike Cheiky, has upped the funding in it latest round to $17.7M, according to a regulatory filing by the firm. It appears the additional capital--around $10.0M--is a result of the investment announced in January by Energy Technology Ventures, a new joint venture of GE, NRG, and ConocoPhillips. CoolPlanetBioFuels is developing technology that converts low-grade biomass into high-grade fuel and carbon that can be seque (More info...)
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MarketShare Expands InternationallyLos Angeles-based MarketShare, the provider of marketing analytics run by Wes Nichols, said this week that it has expanded its international operations in both the EMEA and Japan. MarketShare said it appointed Jeanette Carlsson as EVP and Managing Director EMEA, and Shigeyuki Tomomatsu as EVP and Managing Director Japan. Carlsson joins from IBM Global Services, and Tomomatsu joins from Yahoo! Japan. MarketShare helps marketers monitor what kind of impact their marketing efforts have on their sal (More info...)
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Occam Networks Acquisition CompletesThe acquisition Santa Barbara-based Occam Networks has completed, according to buyer Calix. The deal was worth $83.3M in cash plus approximately 6.4 million shares of Calix common stock, or around $202M based on CALX stock trading Wednesday morning. Calix had announced the acquisition of Occam Networks in September. As part of the acquisition, Calix said that Thomas Pardun, formerly a board member at Occam Networks, joins its board, replacing Sprout Group's Robert Finzi. Occam Networks was a pro (More info...)
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Break Media Plans New Video SeriesLos Angeles-based Break Media is continuing to roll out new, original video content for the site, saying today that it plans to roll out five new web series on Break.com. Break Media said is launching For the Win, Awesome America, Thinking Out Loud, MMAshed Potato, and FAQ U, all original series created by its Creative Lab in-house digital production studio. Break said it is on track to create more than 1,000 original videos this year.
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Livestrong.com Claims Traffic RecordSanta Monica-based LIVESTRONG.COM, the fitness and healthy living site run by Demand Media, said this morning that it has seen a "momentous activity spike" in usage of the site. Livestrong.com said it had over 12 million unique visitors in January 2011, an all-time traffic high for the site. Livestrong said the numbers place it as the largest, single website in the United States in the health category, according to comScore. Livestrong.com is a joint venture of Demand Media and Lance Armstrong. (More info...)
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Nexon America Dangles $1M To Game DevelopersLos Angeles-based Nexon America, the North America arm of entertainment software firm Nexon Group, said Tuesday that it is offering up $1M in development funds to independent game developers. Nexon said its Nexon iNitiative will look to fund the "most promising" independent video game projects. The firm said it is specifically looking for games that "encourage community and social interaction", including Flash, client-based games, and game ports from other platforms, and that it favors games wi (More info...)
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Biomatrica Gets Investment From In-Q-TelSan Diego-based Biomatrica, a developer of technology for storing biological samples at room temperature, announced this morning that it has scored an investment from In-Q-Tel, the investment arm of the U.S. intelligence community. Size of the funding was not announced. The funding came as part of a strategic partnership with In-Q-Tel. Biomatrica's technology is used to allow the storage of DNA, RNA, proteins, and other biological samples at room temperature. The technology is expected to reduce (More info...)
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