Tuesday, August 2, 2011ValueClick Acquires Dotomi For $295MWestlake Village-based online advertising firm ValueClick said Tuesday afternoon that it is acquiring Dotomi, a provider of real-time, dynamic display advertising technology, in a deal worth $295M. The deal is split between 55 percent cash and 45 percent common stock. Dotomi is base din Chicago, and has 160 employees. ValueClick said the acquisition will help it meet the needs of marketers. ValueClick said that Dotomi had expects to generate over $80 million in revenue in 2011.
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Betterworks Ramps Hiring, Looks To Hire 50Testifying to the rapid growth rate at which local startups operate, Santa Monica-based BetterWorks, the online employee benefits and perks firm headed by Paige Craig, revealed Tuesday that it is expecting to expand its team to over 80 people, after inking a round of funding from Redpoint Ventures. BetterWorks announced $8M in funding Tuesday, and as part of that, revealed that it is looking to grow the firm to more than 80 employees as it expands to cover the next twenty biggest cities in the U (More info...)
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King.com Extends Yahoo Deal To Latin AmericaLos Angeles-based King.com, the online casual games publisher, said Tuesday that it has extended a partnership it has with Yahoo!, extending its social tournament games to Latin America and the U.S. Hispanic market. Financial details of the deal were not announced. King.com said the partnership gives Yahoo!'s Hispanic customers access to dozens of social tournament games, in Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Peru, Venezuela, and Yahoo! en Espanol in the U.S. King.com has offices in London, Ham (More info...)
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ZUMBOX's Twist On Mailbox SweepstakesDo you miss no longer getting those Publisher's Clearinghouse "You May Have Already Won" envelopes in the mail? Wish Ed McMahon--who pitched sweepstakes for Publisher's Clearinghouse competitor American Family Publishers was still alive? Well, if you are, a new promotion from online mailbox service Westlake Village-based ZUMBOX is for you. Taking a clue from those ubiquitous direct mail sweepstakes mailings, ZUMBOX, which is run by former Stamps.com CEO John Payne, is giving away six, $1,000,000 (More info...)
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CyberDefender's Guseinov Steps Down, Firm Chops StaffLos Angeles-based CyberDefender, the developer of Internet security software and remote technical support, said Tuesday that Chairman and CEO Gary Guseinov has resigned. Reason for the resignation was not disclosed, however, the firm said it has implemented a "strategic plan" to achieve profitability at the publicly held firm. The firm said that Guseinov has been replaced by independent board member Howard Bain as Charman, and that the firm is "actively negotiating" with an interim CEO candidate (More info...)
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Causecast Launches New FeatureLos Angeles-based Causecast, the provider of cause marketing and related tools for nonprofits and brands run by Ryan Scott, said Tuesday that it has launched a new feature aimed at connecting nonprofits and brands. The company said its new "Cause Marketing Campaigns for Nonprofits" feature helps nonprofits participate in cause marketing campaigns from brands, making it easier for those nonprofits to link into various brand marketing efforts directly. The firm said the feature allows marketers to (More info...)
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Ellipse Technologies Gains $17.6MIrvine-based Ellipse Technologies, a developer of minimally invasive treatments for spinal deformities, said Tuesday that it has raised $17.6M in a Series C financing round. The round came form HBM BioVentures and BioStar Ventures, along with current investors WExford Capital and MedFocus Funds. Ellise Technologies develops a medical device which can be adjusted, non-invasively, from outside of the body via remote control. The firm is targeting the device for treatment of spinal scoliosis in chi (More info...)
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Solarflare Wins CBOEIrvine-based Solarflare, the developer of high speed, accelerated network adapters, announced Tuesday that the firm's technology has just been selected by the Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE). The firm said its 10GbE adapters, along with products from Arista Networks, are being used for a high frequency, trading platform at the CBOE. Financial details of the win were not disclosed by the firms. Solarflare's adapters provide better bandwidth and response time for financial customers, and are (More info...)
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Active Storage Raises $7.0M MoreTorrance-based Active Storage, the developer of RAID storage products for the Apple Macintosh, has raised $7.0M in a new funding round, according to a regulatory filing from the firm Tuesday. Source of the new funding was not announced by the company, however, the firm's board continues to include representatives from Mission Ventures and Valhalla Partners.
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ShareSquare Links With Amazon, Shopkick APIsLos Angeles-based ShareSquare, the QR code marketing startup run by Matthias Galica, said Tuesday that it has linked its service to the e-commerce APIs from Amazon.com and Songkick. ShareSquare said that the new link allows marketers creating QR codes using its service to link directly to a "Buy" module for Amazon, which allows those marketers to directly link to purchases on the popular e-commerce site. In addition, ShareSquare's link with Songkick links with the Songkick API, to show a dynamic (More info...)
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Boingo Swizzles Wi-Fi PlansLos Angeles-based Boingo Wireless, the Wi-fi hotspot operator, said today that it has simplified its unlimited Wi-Fi data plans, specifically creating a plan allowing users with multiple devices to log into their account. Boing said its unlimited plans now include up to two unique devices per month, with an additional fee of $5 per device, for a maximum of five devices on a plan. Boingo's prior Wi-Fi hotspot plan previously supported a separate laptop plan and mobile plans, with a separate combi (More info...)
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Interview with Niall Donnelly, BevvyLast week, Los Angeles-based Bevvy (www.bevvy.com) launched on online site aimed at deals and offers for nightlife and nightclubs. In an interesting twist to the daily deals model, the site does not use printable coupons, but instead uses "secret passwords" to provide people with special deals at venues, is squarely aiming at high end nightclubs, and is striving to be venue friendly to bar and club owners. To hear more about the firm's unique take on deals for nightlife, we caught up with Niall (More info...)
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BetterWorks Gets $8MLos Angeles-based BetterWorks, the employee benefits platform provider headed by Paige Craig, announced today that it has raised $8M in a Series A funding round. According to the firm, the round was led by Redpoint Ventures, and will go towards hiring, expansion, and continued development of its platform. The round brings the company's total raised to $10M. As part of the funding, Redpoint's Satish Dharmaraj joins the company's board of directors. BetterWorks develops an online platform which ma (More info...)
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Citrix GoToMeeting Adds HD Video ConferencingCitrix Systems' Santa Barbara-based online services division said today that it is expanding its Citrix GoToMeeting service to include high definition, group video conferencing support. Citrix said its new HDFaces feature will provide high definition video for up to six attendees via the online conferencing service. According to Citrix, the new service is available at no additional cost to current users. The new HD video support supports up to six streams of HD video, at a resolution of 640x480p (More info...)
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Homebuilder Pre-Wires SoCal Homes for Nissan Electric CarsLooking to capitalize on the interest in electric cars in Southern California, a homebuilder building eco-friendly, urban homes in the area said today that it is planning to pre-wire its homes for home-charging equipment for Nissan LEAF electric vehicle chargers. According to homebuilder City Ventures and Nissan America, the two are pre-wiring 190 homes for EV charging systems, including a development in Long Beach Signal Hill neighborhood, representing 54 homes, and Santa Barbara, with 48 homes (More info...)
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