Wednesday, May 16, 2012Verdezyne Hires DuPont Vet As Business HeadBiofuels and renewable chemical technology firm Verdezyne announced Wednesday that it has named a new Chief Business Officer. The firm said that Ray W. Miller, who was at DuPont from 1972 through 2011, has joined the firm to head up business development initiatives for the company. Miller was most recently Global Business Development Manager, Biomaterials and Specialties, at DuPont. Veredyzyne is venture backed by BP Alternative Energy Ventures, DSM Venturing B.V., OVP Venture Partners and Monit (More info...)
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StartEngine Allies With Peak HostingLos Angeles-based business accelerator StartEngine has aligned itself with hosting firm Peak Hosting, the two said Wednesday, where members of the StartEngine business accelerator will gain $12,000 woth of credit for 12 months of hosting services from the firm. Peak Hosting said it will provide one-on-one mentoring plus the programs for companies in StartEngine. Financial details of the deal between StartEngine and Peak Hosting were not announced. The deal is one of several drawn between local s (More info...)
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EdgeCast Powers Imgur GrowthSanta Monica-based content delivery network (CDN) operator EdgeCast Networks said this week that it has been powering the big growth behind Imgur, the online image hosting and discovery service. Imgur just reported it is now getting over one billion page views a day, a portion of which is served through EdgeCast's CDN service. EdgeCast said that Imgur haas been using EdgeCasts's CDN services since June of 2011, after a huge growth in its uploads spurred the company to turn on its services. Finan (More info...)
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Funny or Die Gets Investment From Turner BroadcastingLos Angeles-based humor site Funny or Die has received an investment from Turner Broadcasting, as part of a strategic deal between the companies for Turner to manage ad site sales for the company. Financial terms of the investment were not disclosed. Funny or Die, which is led by Dick Glover, operates an online site which features original, humorous videos, and also produces content for television. AdAge reports that the investment gives Turner a 10 percent stake in Funny or Die. Funny or Die wa (More info...)
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TeleSign Ties With Internet Security FirmLos Angeles-based TeleSign, the provider of Internet fraud prevention and authentication services which is headed by Steve Jillings, has inked a partnership with Internet security provider Comodo, the firm reported this week. TeleSign said the two are offering a joint layered security solution, whic hcombines digital certificates with out-of-band, phone-based authentication. The two said that TeleSign's offering has replaced the typical question-and-answers used by financial institutions to try (More info...)
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Report: IPO Fever Lifting Valuations, Slowing M&AA report today says that "IPO fever" is lifting valuations of technology companies, while slowing the pace of mergers and acquisitions. The report from PricewaterhouseCoopers, says that technology businesses are continuing to lead other sectors in terms of U.S mergers and acquisitions activity, with 13 technology IPOs and another 14 IPO registrations in the first three months of the year. Technology sectors transactions totaled $28.9 billion, despite a volume decrease to 64 deals, versus 69 deal (More info...)
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Interview with Taylor Peck and Nick Boutelier, iSideWithIt's an election year in the United States, and the screens and airwaves are full of provocative sound bites, pundits, scandals, and the latest political gossip of the day. However, do you really know which political candidate you most agree with on the issues? Looking to help voters educate themselves better on the candidates, and the issues, Taylor Peck and Nick Boutelier came up with iSideWith (www.isidewith.com), a cleverly built site which lets users input their opinions on issues important (More info...)
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Triptrotting Adds Events and ActivitiesSanta Monica-based Triptrotting, which helps match travelers with like-minded locals, is expanding this morning, saying that it has added a new "Social Activities" feature to help users find activities by location, date, time, and price. The company said the new feature is aimed at helping users find other like-minded travelers at parties, tours, concerts, trips, and much more. The new feature comes as part of a relaunch of Triptrotting's website, which also includes enhancement of member profil (More info...)
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HitFix Launches iPad AppLos Angeles-based Hitfix, the entertainment news site co-founded by Jennifer Sargent and Gregory Ellwood, announced this morning that it has launched its first iPad app. The company said its new app, HitFix TV, allows television enthusiasts to get news, reviews, recaps, commentary, and alerts about their favorite TV shows. The app also includes a schedule of television events, commenting functions, and more. The app is free. Hitfix is backed by Golden Seeds, Tech Coast Angels, Liquid Capital Gro (More info...)
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Quality Systems Buys The Poseidon GroupIrvine-based Quality Systems, the developer of electronic health records and medical practice management software, said this morning that it has acquired The Poseidon Group, a developer of emergency room documentation and electronic medical record products. Financial terms of the acquisition were not announced. The Poseidon Group was based in Atlanta, and was founded in 1998.
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Shopatron Names CFOSan Luis Obispo-based Shopatron, the developer of a e-commerce software which combines online ordering for brands with distribution of those orders to local distributors, has named a new CFO. The firm said it has named Dave Morrison as its Chief Financial officer. Morrison was previously at Shop.com, as well as serving at Heller Ehrman and Consolidated Freightways. Shopatron's software lets major brands take online orders, and then allows those brands' local distributors to fulfill those orders. (More info...)
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