Friday, October 21, 2011ClearLight Partners Sells Electronics Connector FirmNewport Beach-based private equity firm ClearLight Partners said Friday that it has sold 100 percent of Switchcraft Holdco, Inc., a manufacturer of high-performance electronic connectors, cable assemblies, and other products, to HEICO Corporation. Financial details of the deal were not announced. ClearLight has $600M in assets under management.
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bLife Finds $1.25MLos Angeles-based bLife, the stealth-mode, wellness-related startup headed by Hamet Watt, has raised $1.25M in a seed funding round, according to a regulatory filing by the firm this week. According to the filing, the funding--which actually had its first funding in January--is part of an ongoing $1.5M seed funding for the firm. True Ventures lists bLife as a portfolio company, which is not unexpected--Watt has been acting as an Entrepreneur In Residence for True Ventures. No details on the comp (More info...)
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zuuka Releases Interactive iBook TitleJust in time for Halloween, Santa Barbara-based zuuka, the firm behind the iStoryTime line of interactive books for the iPhone, said it has launched a title called Five Little Pumpkins, which it says is the first interactive title for Apple's iBook app. According to zuuka, the book was released in partnership with HarperCollins Children's Books, and features animation and sound, which was recently added by Apple to iBook via its EPUB 3.0 technology. zuuka said it has added animation and sound to (More info...)
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Pose Lands $3M For Mobile Style and ShoppingSanta Monica-based Pose, a developer of mobile apps for shopping discovery, announced Friday morning that it has raised $3M in a Series A funding round. The round came from GRP Partners, True Ventures, and Mousse Partners. Pose develops both iPhone and Android apps which lets people share their style and shopping efforts with friends and followers. The firm is headed by Dustin Rosen, formerly a venture capitalist at The Mail Room Fund, and who was also at the William Morris Agency. According to (More info...)
posted on Friday, October 21, 2011(Full story)
Hulu Plus Heads To Nintendo 3DSLos Angeles-based Hulu is continuing to expand the distribution of its premium, Hulu Plus service today, as Nintendo announced that it will be bringing the service to the Nintendo 3DS and Wii. According to Nintendo, it will be adding Hulu Plus to both systems by the end of the year. Hulu Plus is the streaming television and movie service operated by Hulu, which gives users access to additional content and device access for $7.99 a month. Nintendo announced the effort along with a number of new f (More info...)
posted on Friday, October 21, 2011(Full story)
Evolve Media Buys BabyandBump.comLos Angeles-based Evolve Media Corp., the online media company that owns AtomicsOnline, Gorilla Nation, and SheKnows, continues to expand its empire, saying this morning that it has acquired pregnancy community BabyandBump.com. Evolve Media said that BabyandBump.com will become part of its Momtastic, its online community for moms. Financial terms of the buy were not disclosed. BabyAndBump.com was founded in 2007 by expecting parents. Evolve Media said the site now has over 170,000 members, with (More info...)
posted on Friday, October 21, 2011(Full story)
JMI Equity Boosts CouponCabin.comSan Diego-based JMI Equity is the lead investor in a first round of funding for online coupons site CouponCabin.com, which said Thursday evening that it has raised $54M in a funding round from JMI Equity. According to CouponCabin.com, JMI will hold a minority stake in the firm. CouponCabin is based in Whiting, Indiana, and was founded in 2003. As part of the deal, JMI Equity's Brad Woloson has joined CouponCabin.com's board of directors, which also includes CEO Scott Kluth and Chip Hardt, former (More info...)
posted on Friday, October 21, 2011(Full story)
Esri Buys SpotOnRedland-based Esri, the developer of geographical information software, said Thursday that it has acquired SpotOn Systems, a developer of business intelligence and interactive mapping software. Financial terms of the buy were not disclosed. Esri said that SpotOn provides interactive mapping software for IBM Cognos, IBM's business intelligence software. Esri's software is used for geographical information systems (GIS), which overlays information onto maps for governments, companies, and others.
posted on Friday, October 21, 2011(Full story)
NASA Launches Twitter Event At VandenbergNASA said Thursday that it is again, letting twenty of its followers to get behind-the-scenes access to one of its launches, this time with access to a satellite mission at Vandenberg Air Force Base. NASA said that its day long "Tweetup" will allow twenty Twitter users access to an Earth-observing satellite mission next week, on October 27th, to view NASA's NPP satellite. The satellite is being launched in the wee hours of the morning on a Delta II rocket from Vandenberg. NASA said it selected 2 (More info...)
posted on Friday, October 21, 2011(Full story)