Friday, September 2, 2011Report: Harrison Metal VC Heads To SoCalA report today from CNN's Term Sheet says that a Silicon Valley venture capitalist, Erik Rannala, is leaving Harrison Metal Venture Capital to set up a new venture capital fund in Southern California. According to the report, Rannala is setting up a separate fund to focus on opportunities in Southern California. Rannala had previously been at TripAdvisor, where he was VP of Product Management and Strategy. He also served at eBay, MVP.com, and Accenture. No details on the new fund have been annou (More info...)
posted on Friday, September 2, 2011(Full story)
X1 Loses Competitor: GooglePasadena-based X1 Technologies, the developer of desktop search software, has one less competitor: Google, as Google said Friday that it is shutting down its Google Desktop search software project. X1 had been considered a head-to-head competitor with Google's Desktop although X1 had in recent years focused on the enterprise market rather than the consumer. Google said, in shutting down Google Desktop, that there had been a "huge shift" from local to cloud-based storage and computing, as well as (More info...)
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SolarWorld Chops Camarillo JobsSolarWorld AG, a German solar panel manufacturer which operates a production facility in Camarillo, California, said today that it is shutting down its manufacturing operations in Camarillo, and moving them to Hillsboro, Oregon. According to the company, the move was made to "expand and modernize" its production capacity. The firm did not say what the effect on local employment will be, however, it said it will retain and "further strengthen" the sales and distribution unit in Camarillo. SolarWo (More info...)
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Restaurant Revolution Technologies Gains FundingSanta Barbara-based Restaurant Revolution Technologies, a firm developing restaurant order management technology, has raised a round of venture funding, according to BR Venture Fund, a MBA student run venture capital fund based out of Cornell University. Financial details of the investment were not disclosed. Restaurant Revolution Technologies develops products for managing off-premise takeout and delivery orders. The firm is headed by Michael Dicks. Other investors in the round were not announc (More info...)
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National Technical Systems Buys Test Lab FirmCalabasas-based National Technical Systems, the provider of testing and engineering services, said this morning that it has acquired Lighting Technologies, an engineering services and testing laboratory. NTS said it paid $6M in cash plus up to $1M in earn out for Lighting Technologies. Lighting Technologies is based in Pittsfield, Mass. NTS said Lighting Technologies had sales of approximately $4.6M in the 12 months ended July 31st.
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Novatel Wireless Named In WiLAN Patent SuitSan Diego-based Novatel Wireless, the developer of wireless modems and related equipment, is one of the defendants in a patent suit filed yesterday by WiLAN Inc.. WiLAN has sued Apple, Alcatel-Lucent, Dell, Hewlett-Packard, HTC America, Kyocera International, Kyocera Communications, and Sierra Wireless, in addition to Novatel, over several patents related to CDMA, HSPA, Wi-Fi, and LTE. WiLAN filed the suit ysterday in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, Tyler Division, a f (More info...)
posted on Friday, September 2, 2011(Full story)