Tuesday, September 4, 2012Local College Startups Get LimelightFour, local college startups -- all founded at the University of Southern California -- have the spotlight in the latest Inc.com magazine, which highlights America's coolest College Start-Ups. The article highlighting eighteen startups founded out of college included 1st Round Sports (founded by Teague and Riley Egan, Zack Johnson, and Sterling Brewster); Stoked Skateboards (founded by David Rajewski); Salute The Brave Apparel (founded by Ryan Morris); and TrueRSVP (founded by Fei Xiao and Anna (More info...)
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GlobalWide Media Buys Canadian FirmWestlake Village-based GlobalWide Media, a provider of online affiliate marketing, display marketing, search engine marketing, and other services, has acquired Canadian firm Neverblue Media Company and AKMG, the firm said last week. The deal was worth $40M in cash. Neverblue is a provider of performance-based online marketing, and is based in Victoria, British Columbia. AKMG is an operator of an affiliate marketing network which was run in conjunction with Neverblue, and is based in El Segundo. (More info...)
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FaceCake Gets Funding For Virtual Dressing RoomsCalabasas-based FaceCake Marketing Technologies, a developer of 3-D, virtual dressing room technology, has raised a round of funding from XG Ventures, a Silicon Valley venture firm whose founders are former Google execs. Amount of the funding was not disclosed. The funding round was first reported by the Wall Street Journal Tuesday morning. FaceCake develops 3-D software which allows consumers to try on different outfits, and is apparently debuting on Thursday at Bloomingdale's.
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LA Technology Investor Bohnett Appointed To Kennedy Center BoardDavid Bohnett, the founder of Geocities.com, and currently head of Los Angeles venture capital firm Baroda Ventures, has been appointed as a Trustee to the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. The appointment was announced Friday by the White House and the Obama administration. Bohnett, who spends a significant amount of time nowadays focused on philanthropic efforts, is currently Chairman of the Board of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Association, and is a trustee at Los Angeles Count (More info...)
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POP Charger Gets $139K In Crowdfunded ProjectThe POP Charger project on Kickstarter, the electronics charging device being developed by local serial entrepreneur Jamie Siminoff, closed out its funding effort on Kickstarter over the weekend, raising a total of $139,170 out of a $50,000 goal, from 1,000 backers. The project--which was launched in July--goes towards creating a project to create a portable device charger capable of charing multiple iPhones, iPads, and other devices all at thes same time. Siminoff is the former CEO of Unsubscri (More info...)
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Elevance Pulls IPOElevance Renewable Sciences, the producer of specialty, renewable chemicals based on research licensed from Pasadena-based Materia, has pulled its IPO. The Illinois company said in a filing this morning that it has pulled the IPO due to a new private placement of preferred stock. Elevance just announced a $104M venture capital round in July, a Series E round which came from Lacustrine Limited via Genting Genomics Limited, and Total Energy Ventures International. Elevance was spun out of Materia (More info...)
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MicroProbe Acquired By FormFactor For $116MMicroProbe, a venture-backed developer of semiconductor systems-on-a-chip wafer test equipment that has offices in Carlsbad, has been acquired by FormFactor, FormFactor said today. FormFactor said it paid $100M in cash and $16.8M in stock for Astria Semiconductor Holdings Inc, the parent company of MicroProbe. Astria/MicroProbe was venture backed by Flywheel Ventures, Gemini Investors, and Intel Capital. FormFactor said that MicroProbe had $87.3M in revenue in its fiscal year ended December 31, (More info...)
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DriveCam Deploys At Waste ManagementSan Diego-based DriveCam, the developer of driver monitoring technology used to manage driving fleets, reports today that waste hauler Waste Management, Inc. plans to deploy the company's products across its entire fleet. Financial impact of the deal were not disclosed. DriveCam said the 5-year service contract comes after a successful, 6-month pilot in two of Waste Management's markets. DriveCam's systems use both video and other data collection to monitor fleet drivers and behavior, helping wi (More info...)
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Geni Connects With FacebookLos Angeles-based Geni, the family tree and family history site, said over the weekend that it has added a new social feature to connect Geni with Facebook. The company said its new Facebook Social Sharing feature allows users to share their public Geni activities with friends and family on Facebook. The new feature automatically shares information on those public activities if users turn on social sharing, and if they are logged into Facebook Connect.
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DTS Wins SonyCalabasas-based surround sound and audio processing technology firm DTS reports today that it has signed Sony as its newest customer. DTS said that Sony will integrate its audio solutions into its line of flat-panel televisions. Financial impact of the win was not disclosed. DTS said it is now supplying its technology to eight of the top 10 flat panel television manufacturers.
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Sequenom Bolsters BoardSan Diego-based Sequenom, the developer of life sciences and genetic testing equipment, said today that it has added Myla Lai-Goldman, M.D., to its board of directors. Lai-Goldman is Managing Partner at Personalized Science LLC, CEO of GeneCentric Diagnostics, and also serves as a Venture Partner at Hatteras Venture Partners.
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