Wednesday, March 6, 2013Lindzon Backs DiscoverlyHoward Lindzon, the San Diego angel investors who also heads up stock micro-messaging site StockTwits, has invested in another private company--Discoverly. Discoverly disclosed a seed round of funding worth $750,000 which included Salesforce.com, Bessemer Venture partners, Atlas Venture, Great Oaks Venture Capital, as well as Jim Patterson (Yammer), MJ Elmore, Howard Lindzon (Stocktwits), and Alchemist Accelerator. The San Francisco-based company is one of more than a dozen startups Lindzon has (More info...)
posted on Wednesday, March 6, 2013 (More)(Full story)
At The Pool Redesigns Site, Rolls Out Groups For OrganizationsAt The Pool, the Los Angeles-based social networking site focused on helping locals meet other locals, said Wednesday that it has launched a major, new site redesign, including adding the ability for local groups to create their own "pools". The site, which is headed by Alex Capecelatro, said the new updates include enhanced and optimized profile pages, the ability for groups to create their own, branded "pools", and stronger matching algorithms to connect users.
At The Pool's site revolves (More info...)
posted on Wednesday, March 6, 2013(Full story)
SharesPost Hooks Up With NASDAQ On Private Shares MarketSharesPost, the private company marketplace headed by Greg Brogger, which had been incubated and started in Santa Monica via Brighthouse, the startup incubator run by Brogger and Scott Painter, is in a joint venture with NASDAQ OMX, the two said this morning. According to the two companies, the move will create a new marketplace for private growth companies, which combines NASDAQ OMX's experience in the market and resources, and SharesPost's web-based platform for trading private stock.
As pa (More info...)
posted on Wednesday, March 6, 2013(Full story)
FreedomPop Debuts Free Home Broadband ServiceFreedomPop, the venture-backed provider of free broadband services, has launched into the home broadband market, the company announced this morning. The firm--which has the backing of Mangrove Capital, DCM and Atomico, the venture investment arm of Skype founder Niklas Zennstrom--said it will be ofering up 100 percent, free high speed Internet to customers. The company said its broadband serviec will offer up speeds faster than typical DSL, comparable with most major cable providers.
The new (More info...)
posted on Wednesday, March 6, 2013(Full story)
Finding and Discovering New Music With Earbits
What's the best way to find and discovery new music? Los Angeles-based Earbits (www.earbits.com) has developed a service geared around new music discovery and streaming, making it easy for passionate music fans to find new bands, tracks, and albums they like. We caught up with co-founder and CEO Joey Flores to learn more about the service, plus hear more about the new on-demand service and the challenges it is trying to help musicians and labels deal with in the age of Internet streaming.
(More info...)
posted on Wednesday, March 6, 2013(Full story)
Beats Electronics Gets $60M, Spins Out Daisy Streaming Music ServiceSanta Monica-based Beats Audio, the headphone and audio equipment maker, has raised $60M in a funding round, to spin out its streaming music service 'Daisy', the firm said late Tuesday. The new funding was led by Len Blavatnik's Access Industries, Marc Rowan, James Packer, and affiliates of Lee M. Bass. Blavatnik is the billionaire owner of Warner Music Group.
Beats Audio recently hired on former Topspin CEO Ian Rogers to head up the new sreaming music service; the company had been talking ab (More info...)
posted on Wednesday, March 6, 2013 (More)(Full story)
Althea Technologies Acquired By Japanese CompanySan Diego-based pharmaceuticals contract manufacturer Althea Technologies said today that it has been acquired by Japanese company Ajinomoto Co.. Financial terms of the buy were not disclosed. Althea Technologies provides biopharmaceutical development and manufacturing services. The two said the buy will give Ajinomoto entry into the contract development and manufacturing market. Althea said it was advised by William Blair & Company and Coolley LLP in the deal; the firm was founded in 1998, and (More info...)
posted on Wednesday, March 6, 2013(Full story)
Specific Media Taps Entertainment Exec As New CFOIrvine-based Specific Media, the online advertising firm which now owns Myspace, said late Tuesday that it has named entertainment industry executive Larry Madden as its Chief Financial Officer. Madden was most recently CFO of SFX Entertainment, as well as CFO of 19 Entertainment and XIX Entertainment. He also served at the Weinstein Company, Loudeye, EMAK Worldwide, Atomic Pop, Def Jam Recordings, and PolyGram International. The selection of an entertainment industry CFO is very unusual in the (More info...)
posted on Wednesday, March 6, 2013(Full story)
CapLinked Looks To Challenge Data Room Services With UpdateCapLinked, the Los Angeles-based developer of enterprise software for managing M&A transactions, venture deals, and other business deals, is aiming squarely at legacy, virtual data room services with its latest updates. The firm announced this morning it has launched a new set of deal features, aimed at the enterprise, which help clients manage all kinds of business deals. Those features include iPad compatibility, bulk uploading of files, secure communications and conversations, custom branding (More info...)
posted on Wednesday, March 6, 2013(Full story)