Thursday, September 6, 2012Insights and Opinions: They Just Didn't Get It: VC RejectionHow do you handle it when a venture capitalist rejects your pitch? Steve Reich, a Southern California angel investor, tells the story of how one startup handle dit, and gives some advice.
A billion dollar established market. Incumbent companies so despised by consumers that they are routinely sued over the poor quality of their offerings. A dynamic founder who has proven he can run lean and get the job done. A young VC liked the idea and took it to his partner meeting. What could go wro (More info...)
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Amazon's Big Santa Monica Announcement: New KindlesThat great big press party being held at the Santa Monica airport this morning by Amazon.com? Yes, it's a new set of Kindle devices. Amazon said its new Kindle Paperwhite 3G will cost $179, and ships October 1st. Among new features of the device: a sharper display, front lighting, and better contrast. The Kindle Fire HD is a tablet, and will cost $299, and includes a larger, 8.9 inch display plus stereo speakers with Dolby Digital Plus, and dual-antenna MIMO wireless. As part of all the new devi (More info...)
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24/7 Media Expands Video FormatsOnline advertising provider Real Media Group, which is part of 24/7 Media, said today that it has launched three new video formats. The video group--which is run out of Los Angeles, and is made up of the former team of Panache--said it has added a new Social Slide Bar, Action Button, and Click-to-Long Play formats, all designed to help advertisers engage viewers with video advertising. The Social Slide Bar links users to social media sites like Facebook; the Action Button links to retailers like (More info...)
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Active Storage Raises $1.2MTorrance-based storage developer Active Storage, which develops Mac- and media-oriented storage arrays, has raised $1.2M in a funding round, according to a regulatory filing by the firm this week. Details of the funding--which looks to be a convertible debt round--were not announced by the company. The firm's investors include Valhalla Partners. Active Stroage develops high performance, high availability RAID storage devices aimed at the creative industry, and which connect into the Mac, PC, and (More info...)
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NetSol Launches Cloud Infrastructure DivisionCalabasas-based NetSol Technologies has created a new division to tackle the cloud computing market, the firm announced this morning. NetSol said that its new division, NetSolCloudVM, will offer infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) products to the North American market. The company said that the division will offer clients IT infrastructure on a monthly, tiered subscription. The firm did not detail what kind of infrastructure it will use for the new offering, but did say it looks to provide "priva (More info...)
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ACTIVE Network Wins Philadelphia ZooSan Diego-based ACTIVE Network, the provider of online, activity, ticketing, and registration services for sports and other recreation providers, reported today that it has been selected by the Philadelphia Zoo. Financial details of the win were not announced. ACTIVE NTEwork said that it will power ticketing, point-of-sale, and other zoo operation efforts via its RTP|ONE commerce engine. The deal includes point-of-sale operations, online renewals of membership, an online store, and more.
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KidsRuby Teaches Kids ProgrammingHow early is too early to teach your kids a programming language? Never too early, apparently. A Los Angeles software developer has created a Ruby-based programming software package--Kidsruby--which allows children to learn how to develops software in the Ruby programming language. The free software--which runs on Windows, Mac, and Linux--provides a visual tool which lets kids learn all about programming. The firm released an international version of its software today, supporting not just Engli (More info...)
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Contour Energy Merges With ActaCellAzusa-based advanced battery developer Contour Energy Systems has merged with Austin-based ActaCell Energy Systems, the two said Wednesday. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. The two said the merger would help accelerate the companies' technology to market. ActaCell is venture backed by DFJ Mercury, Good Energies, Applied Ventures and Google.org. Contour Energy Systems is backed by In-Q-Tel, SBI Jeffires Asia, CMEA Capital, Harris & Harris, Schlumberger and U.S. Venture Partners.
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Schmoozd Opens Event ApplicationsIn the quest to gain investor and community interest, one of the hallmarks of how Los Angeles area startups approach networking with the community is that they're more likely to demo and mix and mingle at a nightclub or hip hangout, rather than sit through a stuffy, formal daytime conference. One of those events, Schmoozd, said Wednesday that it has begun accepting applications for its next event, scheduled for October 25th in Santa Monica. The event--run by John Diep--looks to highlight interes (More info...)
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Wellington Financial Closes $177.5M Venture Debt FundWellington Financial, a provider of venture debt and growth capital to high tech startups and other companies, said yesterday that it has closed on a $177.5M, fourth fund. Wellington is based in Canada, but has its U.S. offices in Santa Monica. The fund, Wellington Financial Fund IV, came from Canadian institutional investors, pension plans and family offices. The firm said it plans to open up a second, U.S> office in Palo Alto later this year. The company said that 20 of its last 25 investment (More info...)
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