Tuesday, October 9, 2012


Enervee Ranks Appliance, Electronics On Energy Use
How energy efficient is that new television you just bought for your house, and how can you be sure? A new, Santa Monica-based startup, Enervee, has recently rolled out a new tool to help people estimate how much energy their television--and soon, other appliances--are consuming. The startup said it is working on introducing what it calls a miles-per-gallon (MPG) sticker for TVs, called the "Enervee Score". The company said televisions are only the first set of scores it will be providing, with (More info...)
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uSamp Expands In Europe
Los Angeles-based uSamp, the provider of market research services and software, said Tuesday that it has expanded in Europe, hiring a new EVP to head up its operations in the region. The firm said it has named George Llorens as Executive Vice President, Global Head of Sales, to head up growth in Europe, where it says it had a "double-digit" staff expansion. The company says it now has five offices internationally. uSamp explained that it had 104 percent revenue growth in Europe last year.
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TrueCar Wins Regions Bank
TrueCar, the Santa Monica-based provider of auto buying and pricing software, is powering another online vehicle purchase service with a deal with Regions Bank, the company said today. TrueCar said it is providing the online vehicle information service for Regions Bank, which allows customers of that bank to research, shop for, finance, and insure a new or used vehicle. Financial impact of the deal was not disclosed. TrueCar's software and services allow users to shop and specify cars for purcha (More info...)
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LoneStar Heart Gets $20M For Heart Therapy
Laguna Hills-based LoneStar Heart, a firm developing cardiac restorative therapies for patients with heart failure, has raised $20M in a funding round, the firm revealed today, from Chinese investor Themes Investment Partners. The firm said the equity funding will go towards clinical testing and regulatory clearance of its lead product. The firm said it has now raised $35M in funding since founding in June of 2010. Themes' Frank Yu has joined the company's board as part of the funding. Orange (More info...)
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Variety Acquired By Penske Media
The bible of entertainment industry news, Variety, has been acquired by Internet entrepreneur Jay Penske, via his firm, Penske Media, the companies said today. Financial details of the acquisition were not announced. Penske Media owns such online publications as Deadline, HollywoodLife, BGR, and TVLine MovieLine, a number of which are major competitors to Variety. Penske acquired Variety from parent firm Reed Business Information, which is part of Reed Elsevier. Variety has been covering enterta (More info...)
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Hulu Adds Nickelodeon Titles To Hulu Plus
A new deal by Los Angeles-based Hulu this morning will add content from Nickelodeon to Hulu's premium service, Hulu Plus. The Nickelodeon deal brings titles such as "iCarly," "Big Time Rush," "VICTORiOUS," "How to Rock," "Supah Ninjas," "SpongeBob Squarepants," "Kung Fu Panda," "Penguins of Madagascar," "Winx Club," "Robot & Monster," "The Legend of Korra," "T.U.F.F. Puppy," and "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" to Hulu for the first time. Hulu said the deal is part of an expansion of an existing, (More info...)
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Flud Launches Social News Apps For Companies
What's the best way to share competitive intelligence and company announcements with your employees? Flud, a San Diego startup developing mobile apps to let teams privately share news with their co-workers and others in the company, recently revealed that it is trying to take on that task with its social news platform developed with the backing of a couple of venture capital firms. Flud firm said its tool is aimed at bringing private news and intelligence sharing to businesses, letting co-worker (More info...)
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Phillipine Angels Look To Follow Tech Coast Angels Model
A new, angel investment group based in the Phillipines is basing its effort on the model set by Southern California's Tech Coast Angels, according to a report today from Phillipine publication Sun.Star Cebu. Sun.Star said that a new group--headed by none other than Southern California's Winston Damarillo--hopes to follow the Tech Coast Angels model and make it fit in the Philippine environment. Damarillo founded GlueCode (acquired by IBM), MorphLabs, DevZuz, Simula Labs, and other open source so (More info...)
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NetZero Offers Up Free, Wireless 4G Data To Facebook Friends
Woodland Hills-based NetZero Wireless, the 4G wireless service run by United Online, announced that it has launched a campaign to give away free 4G wireless data to Facebook users. NetZero said it will offer one free gigabyte of wireless data per month to its current users to give away to their friends on Facebook, via a new "Netzero 4G Data Share" program. NetZero is offering free, 4G wireless---powered by Clearwire--with data transfer of up to 200MB/month, in addition to tiered plans starting (More info...)
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OptionEase Acquired By Solium Capital
Mission Viejo-based OptionEase, the developer of software-as-a-service for tracking stock options and equity, as well as valuation and compliance, has been acquired by Solium Capital Financial terms of the buy were not disclosed. OptionEase, which was headed by Kim Kovacs, was venture backed by the GADS Option Fund, Miramar Venture Partners, Pasadena Angels, and Tech Coast Angels. Solium Capital is a developer of cloud software for equity administration, financial reporting and compliance.
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Anametrix Raises $4.4M
Anametrix, which develops cloud-based, digital analytics software, said today that it has raised $4.4M in a Series A funding round. The round came from San Diego's TVC Capital. According to Anametrix, the investment is the first out of TVC Capital's new, $75M Fund II. Steve Hammerslag of TVC Capital joins the Anametrix board as part of the investment. Anametrix develops cloud-based, business analytics software, used for web analytics, online marketing, and more. The founders of Anametrix are vet (More info...)
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Life Technologies Buys Compendia Bioscience
Carlsbad-based life sciences equipment firm Life Technologies said Monday that it has acquired Compendia Bioscience, a developer of cancer bioinformatics products. Financial terms of the buy were not disclosed. Compendia's products are used by the pharmaceuticals industry to identify gene targets for drug discovery and development. Life Technologies said that Compendia will continue to operate under the leadership of the firm's current management team. Compendia is based in Michigan.
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Verenium Gets $10M In Credit Facility
San Diego-based industrial biotechnology company Verenium announced yesterday that it has received $10M in a revolving credit facility. The new credit line comes from Comerica Bank. Verenium said the credit facility will allow it to borrow up to $8.4M against its foreign and domestic receivables, and also covers an existing $1.6M letter of credit to its landlord. The firm said it will pay interest at the daily LIBOR plus 4.75% on the line of credit. Verenium develops enzymes used in food, fuel, (More info...)
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ServiceNow Updates IT Automation Software
San Diego-based ServiceNow has released a new version of its enterprise IT automation software, the company announced this morning. ServiceNow said its updated software now includes IT asset management features, which helps IT organizations track IT assets such as software licenses. ServiceNow said the IT asset track ing features are available to all of its users for no additional cost. The new features help enterprises track their software licenses and usage.
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Novatel Wireless In Mobile Tracking Deal With Thrifty Car Rental
San Diego-based Novatel Wireless said this morning that it has been selected by Thrifty Car Rental, to provide a mobile tracking device for the car rental company. Novatel said it will supply its mobile tracking device, the MT 2500, to Thrifty in South Africa to manage and protect that firm's rental vehicles. Financial impact and size of the win was not announced. Novatel's product is used for capturing driver behavior, including information on driver behavior such as acceleration, braking, and (More info...)
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