Tuesday, April 2, 2013Science's Mike Macadaan: What I Learned From Redesigning MySpaceBefore MySpace had Justin Timberlake, there was Mike Macadaan. Macadaan shared what he learned from his experience redesigning MySpace in 2009, and how that's helping to shape what he's doing--along with the rest of the team at LA technology incubator/studio Science Inc.. Macadaan--who's been instrumental in everything from AOL, MySpace, Twiistup, Tsavo, and many other local startup efforts--shared some of what he learned at the Big Kansas City event last week, talking about Dollar Shave Club, S (More info...)
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YouMail Looks To Purge Inactive UsersYouMail, the enhanced voicemail and voicemail application developer, is looking to purge out a backlog of inactive users, saying Tuesday that it has revised its terms of service to make it easier for the company to delete users who haven't used the service recently. According to YouMail, the new change in its terms will let it automatically delete inactive accounts--those accounts where users have not used one of its apps, log on to its web site, check voicemails or missed calls, or otherwise us (More info...)
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DailyLook Uncovers $2.5M For Fast FashionAre you a fashion startup? It looks like Los Angeles has become the hotbed of new fashion and e-commerce startups, with the latest being DailyLook, which disclosed Tuesday that it has raised $2.5M in a funding round, from GRP Partners, RRE Ventures, SV Angel, Novel TMT Ventures, Matt Coffin, Thomas Mclnerney, and Rachel Zoe. The startup focuses on "looks", letting consumers find a complete collection of clothing--blazers, dresses, jackets, lingerie, shorts, shoes, bags, purses, belts, and more-- (More info...)
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TakeLessons Sees Jump In Music Lesson InterestNeed to find a ukulele or blues harmonica teacher? San Diego-based TakeLessons, the online marketplace for music lessons, said that it is seeing a jump in interest in the firm's marketplace for online music lessons. The startup--which is backed by Triangle Peak Partners, Siemer Ventures, Crosslink Capital, and SoftTech VC--said it has seen a 124 percent increase in the number of people who are taking online music lessons through its online marketplace. The company said that, among a number of fa (More info...)
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Obagi Gets Competing Buyout OfferLong Beach-based aesthetic medicine firm Obagi Medical Products--which just agreed to a $360M buyout offer from Valeant Pharmaceuticals, said it has just received a competing, unsolicited buyout offer from Merz Pharma. Obagi Medical said that Merz Pharma is offering $22 per share in cash to acquire the company. Valeant's earlier offer is worth $19.75 per share in cash. Obagi said it would be evaluating the offer from Merz Pharma.
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Algenetix Scores $2M For Renewable Fuels TechnologySan Diego-based Algenetix, a startup, industrial biotechnology firm, announced this morning that it has raised $2.0M in a Series A-1 funding. The firm said it is developing technology which improves the oil productivity in microbes, for the renewable oil industry. The funding came from Two Oceans, Finistere Ventures, and other local San Diego investors. Algenetix is an offshoot of Kapyon Ventures. Algenetix is led by Han Chen; the firm's technology is being developed in partnership with Dr. Jane (More info...)
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OneHealth Raises $9M For Patient Health TechnologySolana Beach-based OneHealth, a developer of technology-based patient health services, said today that it has raised $9M in a Series B funding round. The funding was led by Lemhi Ventures. OneHealth says it uses game mechanics, social networking, peer support communities and clinical protocols to help patients manage their own health and medical conditions. The firm is led by Bruce Springer.
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Hello Society Takes On Pinterest MarketingRemember Hello Insights, the Pinterest analytics and measurement tool out of Los Angeles startup incubator Science Inc.? Well, the firm has transformed itself into Hello Society, a marketing agency for brands this morning, expanding out its offerings from just analytics tools to include a full suite of services around Pinterest. Pinterest is the popular visually-driven photo sharing site, which is geared around products and fashion.
Hello Society calls itself the "premier Pinterest marketing (More info...)
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Emulex Adds Two To BoardCosta Mesa-based Emulex said Monday that it has added two members to its board of directors. The developer of high speed, networking hardware said it added Gene Frantz and Greg Clarke to its board. Frantz was most recently a partner at TPG Capital, and also served at Oracle Corporation and Morgan Stanley. The firm said that Frantz has previously served on the boards of ALLTEL, Avaya, Freescale Semiconductor, Network General, MEMC Electronic Materials, Paradyne Networks, SMART Modular Technologie (More info...)
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CapLinked Adds Folder DownloadsLos Angeles-based CapLinked, the developer of online software used to manage financial deals, said Monday that it has added a new feature which lets its members download entire folders from the site. The company--which is targeting the Virtual Data Room market--said the new feature lets members select important folders to download, and then packages those together for a quick download. CapLinked's software-as-a-service is being used to manage everything from merger and acquisition deals, to asse (More info...)
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Kofax Wins Italian BankIrvine-based Kofax Software, the developer of document capture software, reported a win in Italy today, with an Italian bank. According to Kofax, the major Italian bank win was worth more than $300,000, and went towards expanding its use of Kofax software across all of its branches across Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa. Name of the customer was not announced. Kofax said the customer has now invested more than $1M in its software.
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