Tuesday, February 7, 2012Superconductor Technologies Spins Off SubsidiarySuperconductor Technologies, the developer of superconducting materials which was, until recently, located in Santa Barbara, said earlier this week that it has spun off a subsidiary working on its Reconfigurable Resonance (RcR) technology. The company--which moved its corporate headquarters in December to Texas--said the spinoff comes as a result of a product development agreement with a un-named, mobile communications product firm. The spinoff--Resonant Inc.--is looking to find financing before (More info...)
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Report: Rapportive, Backed By Calacanis, Acquired By LinkedInAngel investor Jason Calacanis looks to have scored an exit in his portfolio, according to reports today from AllThingsD. According to those reports, San Francisco-based Rapportive, a developer of plug-ins which overlay social networking information on your Gmail account, has been acquired by LinkedIn. The report put the acquisition in the "low teens" of millions of dollars. Jason Calacanis was an investor in Rapportive, along with Charles River Ventures, Dave McClure, Paul Buchheit, Gary Vayner (More info...)
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Guidance Software Acquires CaseCentralPasadena-based Guidance Software, which develops digital forensics and e-discovery software, said Tuesday afternoon that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire CaseCentral, a developer of electronic discovery software. Guidance Software said it will pay $17.1M for CaseCentral, with up to $33M in earn out. The deal is split between $8.3M in cash and $8.3M in Guidance Software common stock. Guidance Software said it expects to add approximately $10M in software-as-a-service revenues from (More info...)
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Viddy Sees $6MVenice, California-based Viddy, a developer of social video sharing applications for mobile phones, has raised $6M in a new funding round. The round was led by Battery Ventures, and also included Qualcomm and Greycroft Ventures. Viddy is headed by Brett O'Brien, best known for co-founding Xdrive. Viddy's prior investors include Sky Dayton, the founder of Earthlink/Boingo Wireless/Business.com, Jarl Mohn of Liberty Digital, and Christina Brodbeck, the first employee at YouTube.com. Viddy's app al (More info...)
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GraphEffect Expands In New York, ChicagoSanta Monica-based social marketing firm GraphEffect said this morning that it has opned up new offices in both New York City and Chicago, as the company continues to expand its staff. The venture-backed firm, which is venture backed by Lerer Ventures, Thrive Capital, Founder Collective, Rincon Venture Partners, CrossCut Ventures and Baroda Ventures, said it has appointed three new directors in the locations, as well as added a over a half dozen other staffers in recent weeks. GraphEffect, which (More info...)
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Eventup Launches Venue Booking Site, Backed by Science, Inc.Los Angeles-based Eventup, a new startup backed by Mike Jones Science, Inc. "digital studio", launched today, saying that it will help people find and book venues for their parties, weddings, and more. The startup--headed by Tony Adam--creates a marketplace which lets people find exclusive venues directly from private property owners. Jones, in an interview, described EventUp as an "Airbnb for venues", a comparison to the popular service which allows people to rent out spare rooms to travelers. (More info...)
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Fisker Automotive Chops StaffIrvine-based Fisker Automotive, the maker of electric vehicles, is cutting staff in both Delaware and California, after a setback in receiving cash from the U.S Department of Energy. According to reports, Fisker has laid off 26 employees in Delaware, and 45 in California, after failing to meet DOE deadlines for its production goals. Fisker apparently is try to re-negotiate those milestones with the DOE, after receiving only $193M of a promised $593M in loans. Fisker has been scaling back sales p (More info...)
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Interview with Alex Benzer, SocialEngineSouthern California has had its share of new startup accelerators launch in the last few months, however, few people here have actually experienced an accelerator firsthand. One of the few who has is Alex Benzer,the co-founder of Silverlake-based SocialEngine (www.socialengine.com) and Fanmix (www.fanmix.com). We heard from Alex to learn how SocialEngine was bootstrapped to $1.4M in sales last year, what he learned from his experience at TechStars, and where he's going with Fanmix. Plus, he told (More info...)
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Report Tallies $7.7 Billion In SoCal IT Exits In 2011A new report released today tallies up $7.7 billion in IT exits in 2011, the highest since 2000, for Southern California IT firms. The report--compiled by Ocean Road Partners--included both venture-backed and self-financed information technology companies. According to the report, the biggest exit during 2011 was for Green Dot, which provided liquidity of $2 billion for its pre-IPO investors, the highest of any exit since 2000. The exit was the eighth highest in the database, according to Ocean (More info...)
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Applied Proteomics Raises $22.5MSan Diego-based Applied Proteomics, which is developing personalized medicine applications, said today that it has raised $22.5M in a Series B funding, and moved its headquarters to San Diego. The funding came from Domain Associates, Vulcan Capital, and angel investors. As part of the funding, the firm said that Domain's James C. Blair joins the company's board. Applied Proteomics was co-founded by David Agus, who is director of the USC Center for Applied Molecular Medicine and the USC Westside (More info...)
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D3Publisher, DreamWorks Tie On Three TitlesLos Angeles-based D3Publisher, a developer of interactive entertainment software for the Wii, DS, and 3DS, Playstation, Xbox360, and the PC, said it has inked a deal with DreamWorks Animation SKG. D3Publisher said the deal gives its rights to develop and publish video games for three animated feature films, Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted; Rise of the Guardians; and The Croods. Financial terms of the deal were not announced. The Madagascar 3 title will be available in June; the Rise of the Gu (More info...)
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Cynvenio Biosystems Raises $2.0M, Gets NCI ContractsWestlake Village-based Cynvenio Biosystems, which is developing molecular diagnostics systems for cancer, announced this morning that it has received $2.0M in financing, plus scored two Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) contracts from the National Cancer Institute (NCI). The funding came from the company's existing investors. The company said it has so far received $1.2M of the funding, as part of the fully committed $2.0M financing round. The two SBIR contracts are around developing lun (More info...)
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Cyber-Rain Becomes EPA WaterSense PartnerEncino-based Cyber-Rain, the venture backed developer of Internet-connected, smart irrigation controllers, reported yesterday that it has become part of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's WaterSense program. Cyber-Rain develops an irrigation controller which automatically changes watering schedules depending on weather forecasts and information. The company is venture backed by DeWaay Investment Partners, Athenian Venture Partners, Momentum Venture Management and Funk Ventures. (Editor' (More info...)
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Mindspeed Completes Picochip BuyNewport Beach-based Mindspeed Technologies said this morning that it has completed its acquisition of UK-based Picochip Limited. Mindspeed had announced the acquisition of the small cell base station systems-on-a-chip (SoC) developer on January 5th. The deal is worth approximately $51.8M. Picochip's products are used for developing small base stations for wireless providers, for enterprise, metro, and residential base stations.
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