Thursday, November 29, 2012ArmaGen Technologies Gets $17M For Protein TherapeuticsSanta Monica-based biopharmaceuticals startup ArmaGen Technologies announced Thursday afternoon tha tit has raised $17M in a Series A financing round. The firm said it is developing brain-penetrating recombinant protein therapeutics, which allows biopharmaceuticals to reach the central nervous system more effectively. The funding was led by Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund, and also included Shire plc, Takeda Ventures, Inc., and Mitsui & Co. Global Investment. ArmaGen's products are aimed at g (More info...)
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ZEFR Taps Levinsohn For BoardVenice, California-based ZEFR, the online content distribution startup founded by Zach James and Richard Raddon, has some new experience in its corner: Ross Levinsohn, the former interim CEO of Yahoo. Levinsohn apparently has joined ZEFR's board, as the firm reshapes its business to go beyond its roots as MovieClips.com, and adding content in the areas of sports, television, and music. ZEFR has been fairly quiet about what its future looks like beyond MovieClips.com, only saying that it's on the (More info...)
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Codewars Launches To Challenge, Educate DevelopersAre you a code warrior? Do you know how to solve any software challenge thrown at you? A newly launch, Los Angeles startup, CodeWars, is looking to create a place where developers can compete, sharpen their skills, and gain the respect of their peers. The startup--founded by Nathan Doctor and Jake Hoffner--says it is building a society where highly talented developers can compete, collaborate, and unite on technical challenges. The recently launched site lets users join but only after passing a (More info...)
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Insights and Opinions: Finding the startup that will succeedMost startups fail, but some of those startups doing extraordinarly well. How do you figure out if that startup you are interviewing is going to succeed? In our Insights and Opinions section, Nick Hulse, Chief Revenue Officer at Rubicon Project, gives some tips on what to ask and how to figure that out.
What's preventing you from finding and joining Start-Ups that will succeed?
All of us who venture into small businesses want to be part
of a big success story. Facebook, Google a (More info...)
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TranscribeMe Gets Funding From TCA, Maverick, KeiretsuThree active angel investment groups--The Tech Coast Angels, the largest and most active angel investment group in Southern California; Maverick Angels, and Keiretsu Forum, have backed a developer of transcription services, TranscribeMe. TranscribeMe revealed today that it hasraised $900,000 in a funding round, which closed last week, which was led by the Keiretsu Forum, and which also included the Ice Angels, Maverick Angels, Sand Hill Angels, Sierra Angels, TEC Ventures, and Tech Coast Angels. (More info...)
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Qualcomm Backs MacheenSan Diego-based wireless technology giant Qualcomm has made a strategic investment in Macheen, a provider of services and technology to provide always-on, connected devices. Financial details of that strategic investment were not disclosed. Macheen is a startup developing service which connect smart devices, including PCs, to Internet services; the firm's services are already being used by such companies as Dell and Lenovo, as an alternative to expensive, mobile broadband plans. Macheen's existi (More info...)
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CardiAQ Gets $37.3M For Heart Valve ReplacementIrvine-based CardiAQ, which is developing medical devices used in percutaneous mitral heart valve replacement, said this morning that it has raised $37.3M in a Series B funding round. The funding was led by Orbimed, and also included Versant Ventures, Advent Life Sciences, and the firm's existing investors. CardiAQ said the funding will go towards validating its technology and towards feasibility and CE mark clinical trials. Orbimed's David Bonita and Vince Burgess join the company's board with (More info...)
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CapLinked Raises New FundingCapLinked, the Los Angeles, cloud-based financial software firm founded by Eric M. Jackson and Christopher Grey, announced this morning that it has scored a new, Series A funding round, worth $1.6M. The firm said the funding brings its total raised to $2.5M. The new funding included FF Angel, Siemer Ventures, 500 Startups, Peter Thiel, Andrej Henkler, and Alexsis de Raadt-St. James. CapLinked operates an online platform which lets users manage capital raises, commercial real estate deals, busine (More info...)
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Chill Debuts Premium Video Service, Chill DirectChill, the online video discovery service founded by Brian Norgard and Daniel Gould, has debuted a brand new service today, aimed at helping artists to distribute their premium videos to fans. Chill said its new service, Chill Direct, allows artists to offer up their videos to fans via desktop, mobile and Internet connected televisions. The new service gives artists ability to control their own sales, making their content available for purchase, giving them real time analytics tools, and much mo (More info...)
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Oversee.net's ShopWiki Debuts Barcode Scanning AppShopWiki, the online Internet shopping search engine owned by Los Angeles-based Oversee.net, said this morning that it has debuted a new, barcode scanning app for both Apple iOS and Android. The app lets users scan barcodes to kick off a shopping search, letting users comparison shop for items in brick-and-mortar stores. Oversee.net said that Shopwiki currently features 32,000 stores with 42 million listings in the UK market. Oversee.net acquired ShopWiki in 2010.
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Fourth Wall Studios Whacks Staff, Stops ProductionCulver City-based Fourth Wall Studios, a developer of interactive content backed by LA billionaire Patrick Soon-Shiong, has laid off the majority of its staff, and stopped production, according to a report from the LA Times. The time said that the firm is instead re-focusing on technology to allow users to consume content on both television and mobile phones at the same time. The report said between 25 and 30 employees, out of approximately 40, were laid off from the firm on Monday.
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DriveCam Wins Transportation FirmSan Diego-based DriveCam, the developer of driver monitoring and risk management systems, reported a win today with an agricultural transportation company. DriveCam said Mountain Milk Hauling is using the firm's systems as part of a program for managing driver safety. Financial impact of the deal was not disclosed.
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