Thursday, May 17, 2012Yardi Buys Another Service ProviderSanta Barbara-based Yardi, which develops real estate and property management software, has acquired another firm, saying Thursday tht it has acquired the Multifamily Services Group (MSG) unit of ista North America. Financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. Yardi said the ista's Multifamily Services Group provides energy and water metering, billing and management services, serving more than 700,000 apartment units. The unit has employees in Alpharetta, Ga., Jacksonville, Fla., and S (More info...)
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HireRight Takes On Resume Padding ExecutivesHere's a new product that the board over at Yahoo might have wished they could have used, before the huge flap over once-CEO Scott Thompson's resume: HireRight, the Irvine provider of employment screening software-as-a-service, said it has launched a new product called HireRight Executive Biography Verification, which will help organizations to vet the biographies of high-profiles executives, board members and other high-profile positions. Pricing on the new product was not announced. HireRight (More info...)
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SmartSound Offers Free Music To StudentsAre you a student or teacher looking to find music for your YouTube video project? Northridge-based SmartSound, the developer of royalty-free music software, told its users that it has started to give out free access to its music for students over the summer. The company said students will have access to its web-based music tracks--which can be customized to mood, energy level, length, and more--in exchange for a link from the schools' .edu or .org domain. SmartSound's PC software is popular wit (More info...)
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American Solar Direct Gets $5M in Equity InvestmentSanta Monica-based American Solar Direct, a provider of residential solar lease and power purchase agreements, announced this week that it has raised $5M in an equity investment. The round came from WGL Holdings, inc., along with other existing investors and new investors. American Solar Direct serves the California residential solar market, and provides financing which allows homeowners to install solar power without incurring the typical upfront costs of those systems. American Solar Direct is (More info...)
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BetterWorks Goes From Feast To Famine With LayoffsA report today from PandoDaily said that Santa Monica-based BetterWorks has terminated all of its sales and marketing staff, and half of its operations team. The move is an abrupt shift from feast to famine for BetterWorks, the high profile employee fringe benefits startup headed by prolific angel investor Paige Craig. Just nine months ago, the firm had over fifty open positions, and Craig had huge expansion plans. Now it appears that the firm is looking to pivot its model, and looking to figure (More info...)
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CODA Delivers Fleet VehicleSanta Monica-based electric auto firm CODA Automotive announced Thursday morning that it has delivered its first fleet vehicle sale, to AEP Ohio, a unit of American Electric Power. CODA said the vehicle is part of a demonstration project, which will help AEP's customers learn more about electric vehicles and charging infrastructure. CODA said it is hoping that other fleets will consider its vehicle, saying that fleets account for 22 percent of all vehicles in the U.S. AEP is a provider of electr (More info...)
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San Diego Entrepreneur's Milk Jug Of The Future Gets Backing Of GEA San Diego entrepreneur is getting the backing of GE to help develop the "Milk Jug of the Future", after winning a competition launched by product development site Quirky. Stephanie Burns, the CEO of online site Chic CEO, which provides resources for female entrepreneurs, was selected as the winner of the GE Project, an invention competition which asked people to figure out a way to make an everyday project smarter with software. Apparently, Burns prevailed over 1,500 other submissions for the (More info...)
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Oversee.net Names Travel GMLos Angeles-based online marketing and domain firm Oversee.net has named a new General Manager of its Travel Vertical today, tapping Raj Beri for the position. Beri will oversee the firm's LowFares.com, FareSpotter.net, AboutAirportParking.com and AirportParking.com. websites. Beri joins the company from IgoUgo, an online travel planning and content site owned by Travelocity, and also has served at McGraw-Hill and The Monitor Group. Oversee.net's various travel websites provide flight and vacati (More info...)
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GameSalad Creator Launches On WindowsAre you an enthusiastic game player, and really wish you could create your own iPhone games, but don't own a Mac? GameSalad, the developer of the popular GameSalad Creator software which allows non-programmers to easily create games for the iPhone on their Mac, said today that it has launched a version of its software for Windows. According to GameSalad, the software--which will be available on a first-com, first-served basis--provides all of the features of its Mac software, which will continue (More info...)
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Buy.com Parent Rakuten Leads $100M Round In PinterestRakuten, the Japanese e-commmerce giant which owns Aliso Viejo-based e-commerce site Buy.com, has just grabbed a stake in up-and-coming Internet sharing site Pinterest, according to reports today. Pinterest, which allows people to share pictures with their friends, comment on those pictures, and more, is expected to announced a $100M funding round, which was led by Rakuten, and also includes Andreessen Horowitz, FirstMark Capital and Bessemer Venture Partners. The Wall Street Journal reports the (More info...)
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Edmunds.com In Data Deal With Dealership Software CompanySanta Monica-based Edmunds.com reported today that it is in a new, data sharing agreement with the developer of a dealership inventory management and marketing tool, Nexteppe. Financial details of the deal were not announced. Edmunds.com said it will provide its data via Nexteppe's inControl Pro system, which is used by dealers to compare new and pre-owned vehicle prices with other dealers in the market. The company also said the deal will give consumers access to trade-in vehicle pricing throug (More info...)
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Kythera Files For IPOCalabasas-based KYTHERA Biopharmaceuticals, a developer of biopharmaceuticals for the aesthetic medicine market, has filed for an IPO. According to the firm's S-1 filing, Kythera is looking to raise up to $86.25M on the NASDAQ Global Market as KYTH. The firm's offering is being underwritten by J.P. Morgan, Goldman, Sachs & Co., Leerink Swann, and Lazard Capital Markets. Kythera is venture backed by Versant Ventures, ARCH Ventures, Prospect Venture Partners, JAFCO, Fidelity, among others. The fir (More info...)
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