Tuesday, December 6, 2011


7digital Sets Up Shop In Los Angeles
7digital, a UK-based digital media firm which provides MP3 music track downloads, said Tuesday that it is expanding its North American operations, and is opening up new offices in Los Angeles. As part of the expansion, the company said it has appointed Vickie Nauman as President of its North American operations. Nauman has been at 7digital since 2009, and has previously served at Sonos, where 7digital said she managed partnerships with Last.fm, Spotify, SiriusXM, RadioTime, Pandora, Rhapsody, Na (More info...)
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Start Engine Creates $15M Fund, Adds Governor Gray Davis As Advisor
Los Angeles-based Start Engine, the business accelerator being spearheaded by Activision co-founder Howard Marks, said today that it has created a new, $15M investment fund for its portfolio of startups, and added former Governor Gray Davis as an advisor. The accelerator--just one of the many accelerators to emerge in Southern California in recent weeks--also said it has added John Maataa, the COO of the CW; Hayward D. Fisk, former VP and General Counsel of Computer Sciences Corporation; General (More info...)
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Gehry Technologies Lands $10M For Architecture Software
Los Angeles-based Gehry Technologies, a developer of architectural design software co-founded by architect Frank Gehry, announced Tuesday that it has raised $10M in a Series B financing round. The firm said the round was led by Autodesk, and also included Dassault Systemes and others. The firm said the funding will go towards the firm's consulting services, as well as towards technology development. Gehry has now raised $15M. The company's software and services are aimed at owners, developers, a (More info...)
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Deca's KinCommunity Debuts On YouTube
YouTube's foray into professionally produced, video channels has launched today, with the debut of a channel from Los Angeles-based Deca, called KinCommunity. Deca launched KinCommunity, and online, women's lifestyle "channel" featuring food, parenting, fashion, and other videos, on YouTube this morning, featuring short, professional clips on fashion, cooking tips, and other topics. The channel is the first in a series of channels YouTube had said it would be launching new, original channels bac (More info...)
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Tribogenics Lands $2.5M For Portable X-ray Technology
Los Angeles-based Tribogenics, a startup working on technology to bring elements of Star Trek's "tricorder" to life, said this morning that it has raised $2.5M in a venture funding round. The firm, a spinoff of UCLA whose technology has been funded by DARPA, said the funding came from Flywheel Ventures and angel investors. Tribogenics has developed technology which will enable small, handheld X-ray devices, originally developed from research at UCLA. The company's technology provides miniature, (More info...)
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Bal Seal Engineering To Boost Hiring, Open New Plant
Foothill Ranch-based Bal Seal Engineering, a supplier of seals, connectors, RF shielding, and other products for the medical, aerospace/defense, energy, automotive and other industries, said this morning that it is planning to hire 210 people and invest $45M in a new factory in Colorado. Bal Seal said the new, 137,000 square foot plant will be complete in early 2013. Bal Seal already has 460 employees and a 125,000 square foot facility in Foothill Ranch; the new plant will be in Colorado Springs (More info...)
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Cooking.com Gets $13.5M
Marina del Rey-based Cooking.com has raised $13.5M in a debt and preferred equity round of funding, according to investment firm BIA Digital Partners II, LP. BIA said that the round also included primary equity backer Azure Capital Partners. The funding will go towards growth of the company's flagship site, as well as build out of its e-commerce and enterprise products. Damien Dovi of BIA joins the company's board as an observer. Cooking.com is recent years has focused on powering white label, b (More info...)
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Panache Acquired By 24/7 Real Media
Los Angeles-based Panache, a provider of online advertising software and services, has been acquired by 24/7 Real Media, 24/7 Real Media said this morning. Financial terms of the buy were not disclosed. 24/7, which is part of WPP, said it will incorporate Panache's digital video ad technology and formats into its Open AdStream platform. Panache offers up a variety of video ad formats to marketers and advertisers, and counts Fox News, CBS, and MTV Networks as customers. The firm was founded in 2 (More info...)
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Interview with Josh Resnick, ntro
Have you ever been sitting around in an airport or public place, and wonder if there is someone around you should be introducing yourself to and meeting? That's the problem that the mobile app ntro is looking to solve. Josh Resnick is a serial entrepreneur, and the founder and CEO of nProgress, the company behind ntro. Josh was formerly the President of Pandemic Studios, and helped co-found the company, merge it with Bioware, and eventually sell the combined firm to Electronic Arts for $860M. Jo (More info...)
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Kofax Buys BPM Firm Singularity
Irvine-based Kofax, the developer of business process automation software, said late Monday evening that it has acquired an Irish business process management software firm, Singularity Limited. Kofax said it will pay $48.1M in cash for Singularity, split between $30.3M at close, $3.3M at one year, and $14.5 via earnout. Kofax said the acquisition "significantly increases" its addressable market. Singularity was headquartered in Derry, Northern Ireland, and had approximately 215 employees. The fi (More info...)
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Central Desktop Lands Three Marketing Agencies
Pasadena-based Central Desktop, the provider of online collaboration and project management software headed by Isaac Garcia, reported today that it has signed three marketing agency customers. Central Desktop said that SK+G, Rhea + Kaiser and Upshot all have begun using the firm's SocialBridge product to communicate and collaborate. Financial details of the wins were not disclosed. Central Desktop's tools are being used for project management, Gantt charts, web conferencing, and other activities (More info...)
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uSamp Names Sales Strategy VP
Encino-based >uSamp, the operator of an online survey panel network, announced this morning that it has named Joshua Pink as its new Senior Vice President, Corporate Sales Strategy & Global Development. Pink joins the company from Think Passenger, where he was VP of Business Development. uSamp's services are used by companies looking for market research and survey panels. The firm was founded by Matt Dusig and Gregg Lavin, who previously founded goZing.
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LifeProof Hires Engineering VP
San Diego-based LifeProof, the developer of protective cases for smartphones and other devices, reported this morning that Peter Armstrong has been named Vice President of Engineering at the company. Armstrong was previously at SeQual Technologies, and also has been at Overland Storage and Medtronic, in addition to other companies.
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