Thursday, February 16, 2012


Competition Dangles $200K To Students With Clean Technology Ideas
A new competition--part of the Startup America effort launched by the Obama Administration, and spearheaded locally by Caltech, USC, and UCLA--said today that it is looking to award $200,000 in prize money to university students with clean energy business ideas. According to First Look West (FLoW), it is offering to $200,000 in prizes, plus access to experience mentors, legal start-up packages, and the opportunity to pitch investors as part of the competition. First Look West said that the first (More info...)
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Tenrox Acquired By Silverback Enterprise Group
Glendale-based Tenrox, the developer of cloud-based, enterprise project management software, has been acquired by Texas-based Silverback Enterprise Group, Silverback said Thursday, as part of a rollup of a number of project management firms by Silverback. Financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. Silverback acquired Tenrox, along with fellow project management software firm PowerSteering Software. Silverback is venture backed by Austin Ventures, and acquired its first firm, Visionae (More info...)
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The Backplane Snags Investors
The Backplane, a developer of online community software, which is best known for its work creating Lady Gaga's #Little Monsters website, said Thursday that it has raised $4.5M in a funding round. The round include Sequoia Capital, Greylock Discovery Fund, Battery Ventures, Formation 8, Advance/Newhouse Investment Partnership an affiliate of Conde Nast, along with Google Ventures, Founders Fund Angel, Menlo Ventures, SV Angel, i/o Ventures and other angels. The firm is headed by Matt Michelsen, w (More info...)
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Amplify Partners With Cloud Provider Joyent
Amplify, the startup accelerator program being run by Paul Bricault in Venice Beach, has tied with a cloud computing provider, Joyent, the two said this morning. The two said they are in a partnership, where Joyent will provide free cloud computing resources and marketing services to Amplify's portfolio companies. Joyent's cloud services are used by companies such as LinkedIn, TaskRabbit, Kabam, Voxer, ModCloth, and others. Amplify has a 10,000 square foot office in the Venice Beach area, and a (More info...)
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CODA Automotive Raises $21.5M, Targets $150M In New Financing
Santa Monica-based CODA Automotive, the developer of electric vehicles and battery systems, has raised $21.5M in new, equity funding, with plans to raise a total of $150M, according to a regulatory filing by the firm this week. The funding is on top of the $150M in its latest round, which it closed in September. CODA has raised over $300M in financing so far for its efforts to bring an electric car to market. CODA--along with Irvine's Fisker Automotive--has been driving a huge chunk of the inves (More info...)
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StockTwits Adds Threaded Conversations
San Diego-based StockTwits, the stock and financial focused micro-messaging service headed by Howard Lindzon, has launched a new, threaded conversation feature on the site, which ties together responses between people on the service into a threaded view, allowing users to better follow the train of replies and responses on the site. According to the company, the new feature lets users see an entire conversation thread on the site, sorted from newest to oldest message. The company said the featur (More info...)
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Recargo Buys PlugInCars.com
Los Angeles-based Recargo, a startup which is developing mobile apps for helping electric vehicle owners find the nearest electric charging stations, said this week that it has acquired PlugInCars.com, an online news and community site focused on electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids. Financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. PlugInCars.com was launched in 2010 by Brad Berman, and according to Recargo had an average of 70,000 unique monthly visitors in 2011. Recargo is headed by Bri (More info...)
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Hulu Plus Hits The Wii
Fans of shows on Los Angeles-based Hulu can get their content on yet another device--the Nintendo Wii--as of this morning, Nintendo and Hulu said today. According to the two, Wii owners can now subscribe to Hulu Plus, Hulu's premium service, for $7.99 a month, to get access to current TV shows and back seasons on the Hulu service. Hulu and Nintendo said that users of the Wii who have a broadband Internet connection now download the Hulu Plus application from the Wii Shop Channel; the two are off (More info...)
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Interview with Dale Quayle, FileTrek
Consumers have dozens of choices if they want to share their files with others on the Internet, however, if you're a corporate user, there just aren't the same number of options. To address that, Los Angeles-based FileTrek (www.filetrek.com) announced a funding round for its cloud-based software for sharing enterprise and business files yesterday. We spoke with Dale Quayle, the firm's CEO, about the funding and company. Dale's last firm, Integrien, was sold to VMware in 2010. What is FileTrek (More info...)
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The Complete Guide To Southern California Accelerators and Incubators, Part III
In recent months, a dozen accelerators and incubators have emerged in the Southern California area, looking to help take the new generation of technology startups to funding and beyond. However, with the proliferation of incubators, the difficulty in figuring out which programs are--and aren't--worth looking at has become very diffcult, if not impossible, for startup entrepreneurs. In an attempt to help people navigate the landscape of accelerators and incubators, we've come up with a (hopefull (More info...)
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j2 Global Buys UK-based Voice Services Firm
Los Angeles-based j2 Global, the provider of online cloud services, e-fax, backup, and other services, is continuing its acquisition streak this morning, saying that it has acquired UK-based Zimo Communications Ltd.. Zimo provides a cloud-based voice service called Numberstore. The acquisition is the third already for j2 Global in 2012. j2 Global, which is led by Hemi Zucker, said the acquisitio brings its additional voice customers in the UK, who wil lbe migrated to its existing platforms. j2 h (More info...)
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Quest Software Buys BlueFolder
Aliso Viejo-based Quest Software, the developer of IT automation software, said this morning that it has acquired a developer of field and professional service management software, BlueFolder. Financial details of the acquisition were not disclosed. Quest said it will use the acquisition to bolster its PacketTrap MSP software, which is used by managed service providers for remotely monitoring and managing client systems. Quest says it plans to integrate an updated version of PacketTrap MSP in th (More info...)
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University of California Launches YouTube Channel
The University of California's television channel, University of California Television (UCTV), said Wednesday that it is launching a new, YouTube channel in partnership with the online video site. According to UCTV, its new YouTube channel will launch of March 1st, and will debut around 15 minutes of new content each week. The content will include 10-minute, mini-documentaries, 5-minute political commentaries and election analysis, and other features. The University of California joins the growi (More info...)
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Myspace Sets Entertainment Head
Beverly Hills-based Myspace, the online social entertainment site now owned by Specific Media, said this morning that it has named Roger Mincheff as President of Myspace Entertainment. Mincheff was previously at Fox Filmed Entertainment, serving as SVP Branded Entertainment; he also served as CEO of Spacedog Media, a digital marketing agency. Myspace said that Mincheff will help lead internal production and entertainment efforts, developing original programming and content for the site. As part (More info...)
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Celladon Gets $43M For Heart Failure Treatments
La Jolla-based Celladon Corporation, a developer of biopharmaceuticals targeting cardiovascular disease, said Wednesday afternoon that it has raised $43M in a financing round. The round was led by Pfizer Venture Investments, and also included Lundbeckfond Ventures, Novartis Venture Funds, H&Q Healthcare/Life Sciences Investors, and GBS Venture Partners--all new investors--along with prior investors Enterprise Partners Venture Capital, Johnson & Johnson Development Corporation, and Venrock Associ (More info...)
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