Thursday, August 2, 2012


Handful of Southern California Investors In Top Twitter Investor List
A list issued Thursday by Twitter analytics firm PeekAnalytics identifies the top, influential high tech investors based on their key Twitter metrics, and--perhaps unsurprisingly--only a small number of local investors show up on the list. However, thanks to some celebrity magic, the top name on the Top 1000 Technology Investors list is an often-LA resident, Ashton Kutcher, who was ranked the most influential technology investors using Twitter. Other local investors represented on the top hundre (More info...)
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Report: LegalZoom IPO Delayed
The long awaited IPO of Glendale-based LegalZoom apparently has been delayed, according to reports Thursday afternoon. According to Reuters, citing an "underwriting source", LegalZoom has delayed the offering due to marketing conditions. LegalZoom had been aiming to list on the New York Stock Exchange as LGZ. The delay comes on the same day that another, Southern California company -- Genomatica -- abandoned its own IPO plans, and its own hopes to raise $100M on the market. It's unclear how long (More info...)
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Celebrity E-Commerce Spreads To Silicon Valley With FabKids
It looks like the trend--started in Los Angeles--to partner celebrity with e-commerce has spread to Silicon Valley. A San Francisco startup, Personalized Retailing, is joining the dozens of Los Angeles celebrity-with-e-commerce-subscription startups, saying today that it has raised $2.6M for FabKids, a new personalized, e-commerce site delivering kids clothing on a subscription, in a partnership with celebrity and actress Christina Applegate. FabKids.com is offering up clothing dlieverd to membe (More info...)
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NextWave Wireless Acquired By AT&T
San Diego-based NextWave Wireless, the company which holds a chunk of bandwidth used for the wireless communications market, has been acquired by AT&T, AT&T announced this morning. AT&T said it will acquire all of the equity of NextWave for $25M, plus a contingent payment of up to approximately $25M. In addition, AT&T said it will acquire or retire all of NextWave's outstanding debt, which is worth $600M in cash. NextWave Wireless hold spectrum licenses in the (WCS) and Advanced Wireless Service (More info...)
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io/LA's Sister Program Gets Exit At CodeEval
Hollywood-based tech incubator and co-working space io/LA's sister effort in San Francisco has just scored an exit, after incubator firm CodeEval was acquired this morning by HireVue. CodeEval develops online tools which allow non-technical recruiters and managers to quiz potential employees on their software coding skills. HireVue is a developer of online recruiting and video interviewing tools. Financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. io/LA is the coworking/incubator/accelerator (More info...)
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Connexity, Headed By Dave Gross, Finds $3M More
Connexity the online advertising startup headed by former Fastclick co-founder Dave Gross, announced this morning that it has raised $3M in a seed funding round. The round was led by Rincon Venture Partners, and also included Siemer Ventures, Persistence Partners and Fastclick Cofounders Jeff Pryor and Dave Gross. Connexity, according to Gross, does to online ads what Amazon and Netflix do for products and movies. The company uses advertising to recommend products and services to users, based on (More info...)
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Genomatica Drops IPO Plans, Raises $41.5M
San Diego-based renewable chemicals developer Genomatica has dropped its IPO plans, according to a regulatory filing by the company this morning. The firm, which had filed for a $100M IPO in August of 2011, said in a withdrawal of its registration, that it has determined not to proceed with its IPO, "in light of current market conditions." Genomatica is venture backed by TPG biotechnology Partners, Mohr Davidow Ventures, VantagePoint Venture Partners, Alloy Ventures, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, WM (More info...)
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MomentFeed Connects Into foursquare
Los Angeles-based MomentFeed, the startup developing location-based analytics software for brands, said Wednesday afternoon that it has connected its service directly into foursquare, allowing its customers to use MomentFeed to publish and manage their foursquare updates. MomentFeed said the move allows brands to add text, photos, and other information for their brand pages, single venues, or groups of venues on the foursquare service. MomentFeed's software is being used by brands to better unde (More info...)
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Boingo Wins Wendy's Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi is coming to the Wendy's fast food franchise, thanks to a deal announced this morning by Los Angeles-based Boingo Wireless, a provider of Wi-Fi networking services. Boingo said that it has been selected by The Wendy's Company to manage and operate Wi-Fi services at participating Wendy's company restaurants in the U.S. and Canada. Financial details of the deal were not announced. Boingo said it will operate, install and maintain the networks at the restaurant chain, including both company a (More info...)
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Nami Ships PPC Bid Engine
Los Angeles-based Nami, which provides pay-per-click advertising software and is run by Alex Cory, said that it has released a new product today, Nami AdManager. The new software is a white label bid engine used for pay-per-click bidding. The company said the new product allows networks and their advertisers to create, price, and distribute PPC ads, giving them control over keywords, bulk uploading and downloading tools, conversion tracking tools, and more.
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