Tuesday, November 20, 2012


New Fund Targets Celebrities, Hollywood
It seems like combining Hollywood and venture capital is the rage in Silicon Valley this week, as news came Tuesday of a new, seed-stage venture capital fund--run by former Mashable blogger Ben Parr--looking to raise money from Hollywood celebrities for access to hot, Silicon Valley Startups. According to a report from Forbes, the new fund, called the #DominateFund, is aimed at raising a small amount of venture capital to specifically let celebrities and Hollywood executives gain access to techn (More info...)
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Sole Society Puts Effort Behind Charity Shoe Donation
Los Angeles-based Sole Society said this week that it is supporting charity Soles4Soles, by donating one pair of shoes for every pair bought through the service the week of Cyber Monday. Soles4Soles is a charity which distributes shoes to children who need them. Sole Society is the new fashion-meets-ecommerce startup headed by Brett Markinson, one of the co-founders of Hautelook, and which is backed by Nordstrom, Insight Ventures, and Nine West's Vince Camuto.
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THQ Loses CFO, Nears Financing Deal
Troubled videogame maker THQ said late Tuesday that its CFO, Paul J. Pucino, has resigned, and that the firm is in the midst of negotiations with a "financial sponsor" to provide financing alternatives to the company. The company did not say why Pucino decided to leave the firm. THQ said that the financing may result in "significant and material" dilution to shareholders of the company. THQ has been looking for a buyer for the company, as it has faced decreasing sales and losses over the past fe (More info...)
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Silicon Valley Investor Lowercase Capital Names LA Chief
The latest, Silicon Valley venture capital investor trying to get into the Los Angeles technology market, Lowercase Capital, has decided to tap a former Creative Artist Agency executive to head up its efforts here. Lowercase Capital disclosed it has hired Matt Mazzeo, formerly a business development exec at CAA, to head up its investment efforts and a new fund in Los Angeles. Lowercase said earlier this month that it was gearing up to make investment in Los Angeles. Apparently, the firm selected (More info...)
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Eight Tech Gadgets To Add To Your Gifts List
It's that time of year again; food, shopping, holidays, and more shopping. Combining the theme of holiday shopping with Southern California's technology industry, here are eight electronic gifts from local companies to add to your shopping list this season. 1. Sonos Play:3 Sonos has set the standard for high quality, easy to use, whole-house music systems which seamlessly connect to your smartphone, PC, and streaming media services. The company's all- in-one Play:3 lets u (More info...)
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Rubicon Project Powers Glam Media
Santa Monica-based Rubicon Project, the online advertising exchange operator, is powering female content network Glam Media, Glam Media said Tuesday. Glam Media said it is using REVV Connect, Rubicon Project's real time advertising trading platform as part of an invite-only, premium ad marketplace. Financial impact of the deal were not disclosed. Rubicon's technology is used to help publishers gain the most revenue they can from Internet advertising impressions. Rubicon Project is headed by Fran (More info...)
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Cap That Turns Photos, Videos Into Products, Gets $2.3M
A new, Los Angeles startup is looking to help users take those videos on Viddy, as well as photos they've taken and shared on Instagram--and turn those into products such as t-shirts, decals, mugs, wall art, and more. Cap That said it just raised $2.3M in a Series B funding from Intertainment Media to fund its business, which connects with Viddy, Facebook, and Instagram and lets users create their own custom merchandise. The new startup said it will offer apparel, canvas prints, laptop skins, ga (More info...)
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LiveTime Software Acquired By Absolute Software
Newport Beach-based LiveTime Software, a developer of cloud-based, IT service management software, has been acquired by Absolute Software. Absolute Software said it paid less than $15M in cash and stock for LiveTime, which includes a three year earn-out. Absolute Software said that LiveTime's products are complementary to its existing product lines. Absolute Software is based in Vancouver, Canada. LiveTime's software was used for help desk and IT services support. The firm had been backed by Agi (More info...)
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Los Angeles Ranks Third In Top Startup Ecosystems
A new report issued this morning from the Startup Genome has ranked Los Angeles as the third top startup ecosystem, only behind Silicon Valley and Tel Aviv. The Startup Genome is an effort to benchmark startups against other startups, and figure out the keys to startup success. At number three, Los Angeles beat out Seattle (4), New York City (5), Boston (6), and other technology centers in the ranking.
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Report: Yahoo Eyeballs Maker Studios
A report this morning from AllThingsD says that Yahoo is on the prowl for companies, and has been looking at Maker Studios. The report comes after reports that Yahoo is considering an acquisition of TVGuide from Lionsgate, in a deal worth $20M. AllThingsD said that Yahoo's M&A point person has been looking at Los Angeles-based Maker studios as part of its efforts to bolster Yahoo's properties.
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MabVax Raises $5.25M
San Diego-based MabVax Therapeutics, a developer of immunotherapies aimed at preventing recurrent cancer, said today that it has raised $5.25M in a funding round. The round was led by Numoda Capital Innovation, and also included Burrill Capital Fund IV and RTP Venture Fund. MabVax said the funding will go towards its phase 2 vaccine aimed at preventing recurrent sarcoma, as well as an antibody program targeting metastatic pancreatic cancer.
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CallFire Targets Small Businesses With Free SMS Keywords
Santa Monica-based cloud telephony provider CallFire said this morning that it is looking to help small businesses, with a free, SMS keyword promotion. Callfire said it is looking to help small businesses use SMS keyword texting, as part of a promotion with Amex Small Business Saturday, the American Express campaign to spur visits and promotion of small businesses. CallFire said businesses signing up for its service btween Nov. 19th and Nov. 26th can gain access to its SMS keyword features for (More info...)
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WD Debuts 4TB Desktop Hard Drive
Irvine-based WD announced today that it is shipping a new, 4 TB, 3.5-inch, 7200 RPM hard drive, the largest capacity and performance available for its desktop hard drives. The new WD Black 4 TB is aimed at high performance desktops and workstations. WD said the new drive has a suggested retail price of $339, and is available through select distributors and resellers. The new drive provides a SATA 6 gigabit per second interface and 64MB cache.
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