Thursday, March 7, 2013Video Game Maker Pulls In More Than $1.9M On Kickstarter
Think you need to find a venture capitalist or angel investor to help you fund your great new idea for a videogame? Think again. A Newport Beach-based videogame publishing firm, inXile, has just raised $1.9M (and counting) in funding on the crowdfunding site Kickstarter, for their new game, Torment: Tides of Numenera. The game development firm--founded by Brian Fargo, who founded Interplay Entertainment--posted its videogame project only Wednesday, hitting its initial goal of $900,000 in less (More info...)
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Visualnet.com Raises $1M For Film, TV Production Services MarketplaceBeverly Hills-based Visualnet.com, which operates an online marketplace for production services for the film, TV, and video production industry, said Thursday that it has raised $1M in a funding round. The company said the funding came from Kibo Ventures, which is backed by Telefonica. The company said the new round will go towards expanding its technology. Visualnet.com operates an online site where production managers and others can put out bids for everything from equipment rentals, to post p (More info...)
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Scopely: Out With The Bacon, In With The CashScopely, the Los Angeles developer of game monetization services, told its supporters today that it will pay $5,000 in cash to anyone who refers job candidates that result in a hire for the company. The firm--billing the effort "Operation Haystack"--is one of many companies in the area which have been fighting for talent, particularly in the engineering area. The new offer from Scopely comes a couple of years after the firm's last, recruitment push, which offered not just cash, but cash wrapped (More info...)
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San Diego Founder Institute Deadline NearsOne of the groups trying to help local startups in their efforts to find funding and get to the next level, the Founder Institute, said this morning that its early deadline for its Spring 2013, San Diego session is this Sunday. The group--which said its efforts in San Diego are being led by Jeanine Jacobson, co-founder of FounderList--is looking to sign up prospective and existing startup founders who can learn about launching their startups. The Founder Institute says its mentors in San Diego i (More info...)
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Qualcomm Backs 3D Scanning Startup MatterportQualcomm Ventures, the venture capital arm of San Diego-based communications chip maker Qualcomm, has made an investment in a developer of 3D scanning tools. Matterport said today that it has raised $5.6M in a Series A round, which was led by Lux Capital, and also included Felicis Ventures, Red Swan Ventures, Greylock, Qualcomm Ventures and angels. Matterport is developing a 3D camera and software to accurately capture interior spaces in 3D, allowing for immersive interaction with those interior (More info...)
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Beachmint Looks Towards A Strong Future, As It Reorganizes, Refocuses On BasicsFast growth isn't always the best growth, Beachmint has figured out--the hard way--over the last few months. The celebrity-driven e-commerce firm, which is based in Los Angeles, hit a rough patch last year with a major layoff, and even as recently as this week has been in the midst of reorganizing and restructuring its operations, streamlining operations, and letting go of people that haven't been a match to the company. But, according to Greg Steiner, the Chief Operating Officer of Beachmint, a (More info...)
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Amazon Greenlights New Kids' PilotAmazon Studios, the entertainment and production project being run by Amazon.com out of Los Angeles, said Wednesday that it has greenlighted another, new kids pilot for its Prime Instant Video service. According to Amazon, Sara Solves It is a new show from the creators of Curious George and Blue's Clues, and will be posted later this year to Amazon Instant Video, Prime Instant Video, Lovefilm UK, and Lovefilm Germany. The show is the sixth kids show which has received an okay for production. Ama (More info...)
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Ixia Selected By Microsoft For Wi-Fi TestingCalabasas-based networking test equipment and software developer Ixia said Wednesday that it has been selected by Microsoft, as the official test house for qualifying Microsoft's Lync application against Wi-Fi networking and client devices. Microsoft Lync is the company's unified communications platform, which provides instant messaging, voice, and video in the enterprise. Ixia said it is providing the qualification of Wi-Fi equipment to make sure it supports Microsoft's UC product. Financial de (More info...)
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Esri Debuts Mobile AppsRedlands-based geographical information systems (GIS) and mapping software developer Esri announced a new set of mobile applications Wednesday, saying it has created two applications for field data collection and monitoring. The firm said it has debuted Operations Dashboard for ArcGIS, which provides interactive maps and data, which runs on Windows desktops and Windows tablets, and Collector for ArcGIS, an applicaiton which can be used to gather data using GPS, which runs on iOS and Android. Bot (More info...)
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Sorrento Therapeutics To Buy IGDRASOLSan Diego-based biopharmaceuticals developer Sorrento Therapeutics announced today that it has signed an exclusive option to acquired Fountain Valley-based IGDRASOL, a company developing oncologic agents for treating metastatic breast cancer (MBC), non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and other cancers. Sorrento said it will buy IGDRASOL by issuing 76,199,171 shares of its common stock, or approximately $18.2M. The firm also said it will pay out an additional 32,656,788 shares of its common stock (More info...)
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