Tuesday, December 13, 2011Aerovironment Names VPMonrovia-based Aerovironment, which develops both unmanned aircraft and electric vehicle charging technology, said Wednesday afternoon that it has named Wahid Nawabi as Senior Vice President and General Manager of its Efficient Energy Systems (EES) business. Nawabi has previously served at American Power Conversion. Aerovironment said that Senior Vice President Mike Bissonnette will transition to Deputy General manaer, focusing on program management, production, engineering and quality assurance (More info...)
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Report: United Online Chops Staff At MemoryLaneWoodland Hills-based United Online, has reportedly cut its staff at unit MemoryLane in Seattle, eleven months after transforming what was an online networking site into one focused on nostalgia. The report said an unspecified number of staff were cut across multiple functions at the company. Memory Lane used to be Classmates.com, but turned its focus to nostalgia products and digitized high school yearbooks in February, as Classmates original business--connecting people with their high school an (More info...)
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Insights and Opinions: Idealab and the Bill Gross Legacy
For today's Insights and Opinions section, we thought we'd share a recent article penned by Clearstone Ventures' William Quigley. In all of the recent rush to create internet accelerators in the region, William talks about, Bill Gross, the person behind the "original" tech incubator, Idealab.
I thought I would take an opportunity on this blog to move away from some of the current investment and startup trends, reflect, and dive into the tech history books (as well as my own personal hi (More info...)
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Broadcom Eyes Acquisition Of Israeli StartupIrvine-based Broadcom is in the process of buying Israeli network processor firm Broadlight, in a deal worth between $230M and $340M, according to Israel papers. The two apparently have signed a letter of intent for the acquisition. Broadlight develops embedded networking processors, and is based in Herzliya, Israel. No details on the acquisition have been released by Broadcom.
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SoCal's Space Industry Powers New Space Startup: StratolaunchSouthern California's spaceflight industry has come together to enable a new startup, Stratolaunch, backed by Paul G. Allen, the Microsoft billionaire. According to Stratolaunch today, it is leveraging technology from both Mojave-based Scaled Composites, and Hawthorne-based Space Exploration Technologies to create a new, air-launch system to provide orbital access to space. Stratolaunch said it will create the "largest aircraft ever flown" based on a design developed by Scaled Composites, the fi (More info...)
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Party Earth Finds $4.0MLos Angeles-based Party Earth, a new startup focused on connecting people to bars, night clubs, lounges, and other night life, announced today that it has raised $4.0M in a funding round. Source of the new funding was not announced. Party Earth is headed by Sam Altman, and said it will provide personalized reviews and listings of the local venues, events, and other "social experiences" around the world. Party Earthy currently covers cities in both the U.S. and Europe, including Los Angeles, Bost (More info...)
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Legend3D Scores $19MSan Diego-based Legend3d, a developer of 2D to 3D movie conversion technology, has raised $19M in a Series E funding round. The firm said the round was led by Northwater Capital Management, and also included prior investors PAR Investment Partners and Augustus Ventures. The company said the funding will go towards ongoing R&D. Legend3D provides a process and services for converting 2D to 3D films, which has been used for scenes in Hugo, Transformers: Dark of the Moon, Pirates of the Caribbean: O (More info...)
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Encompass Digital Media Acquired By Private Equity FirmLos Angeles-based Encompass Digital Media, a provider of digital media services to the broadcast and cable television market, said this morning that it is in a deal with private equity Court Square Capital Partners, where Court Square will acquire a majority interest in the company. Court Square is buying the interest in the company from Wasserstein & Co. L.P. and others. Financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. Encompass Digital Media was advised by MacQuarie Capital, as well as M (More info...)
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textPlus Expands To Phone CallsLos Angeles-based Gogii, the free text messaging app developer behind textPlus which is headed by former JAMDAT Mobile founder Scott Lahman, is moving into the world of free Wi-Fi calling. The firm has just released TextPlus Free Calls, which allows free phone calls from the iPhone and iPod touch, as well as Android devices, to any other TextPlus member. The app will also allow users to make phone calls to non-TextPlus members for a low rate, helping cell phone users to avoid running up against (More info...)
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Hulu Launches Spanish Language ProgrammingLos Angeles-based Hulu reported this morning that it has launched its Spanish language programming service, "Hulu Latino", offering up Spanish language programs from Univision, Azteca America, Butaca, Caracol Televisión, Comarex, Estrella TV, Imagina US, Laguna Productions, Maya Entertainment, RCTV, Todobebe Inc, and Venevision. Hulu had announced its deal with Univision in October; the remainder of the providers are all new. Hulu said users of both Hulu and Hulu Plus will find "hundreds" of ho (More info...)
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Nexiant Plans Major UpgradeLake Forest-based Nexiant, the developer of software-as-a-service for materials management (MRO), said this morning that it is planning a major software release. The firm said it MRO (Maintenance, Repair, and Operations) software will include ability to control material usage at multiple inventory locations, better visibility and analysis across sites, tools to set up business rules, and more. The entire software will deploy on Microsoft's Windows Azure cloud. The company said deployments will b (More info...)
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MINDBODY Takes On Daily DealsSan Luis Obispo-based MINDBODY, the provider of online software for health and wellness companies, reported today that it has launched a new, custom daily deal feature to its software. The firm--whose software is used to manage fitness, yoga, salon, and other businesses--said the new feature integrates social coupon redemption into its users' point-of-sale (POS) systems. MINDBODY said the daily deals feature allows business owners to create their own deals, and distribute them through a network (More info...)
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