Thursday, May 23, 2013Sapphire Energy Names New CTOSan Diego-based green technology firm Sapphire Energy, which is developing algae-to-crude oil production technology, has named Dr. Matthew Croughan as its new Chief Technology Officer. Sapphire has raised more than $300M in funding from such investors as Arrowpoint Partners and Monsanto. According to Sapphire, Croughan was most recently the George B. and Joy Rathmann Professor and Director of the Amgen Bioprocessing Center at Keck Graduate Institute at the Claremont Colleges. He also has served (More info...)
posted on Thursday, May 23, 2013(Full story)
Report: Investors Bidding $20M For Fisker AutomotiveStruggling electric car maker Fisker Automotive has received a bid from a group of investors, to purchase the company for a mere $20M, according to a report today. Reuters reported that a group led by former General Motors exec Bob Lutz has offered to buy Fisker Automotive for only $20M, which is a mere fraction of both the company's recent valuation--not to mention the amount invested in the company, which totals more than $1.2 billion in a combination of equity and Department of Energy funds. (More info...)
posted on Thursday, May 23, 2013(Full story)
UberMedia Recasts Itself In Mobile Advertising
UberMedia, the Idealab-backed startup best known for its Twitter client software, has recast itself as a mobile advertising firm, saying yesterday that it has launched a new mobile advertising product called UberAds. According to UberMedia, its new UberAds product analyzes social media signals to figure out consumer intent, and combines that with geo-location and dynamic ads to increase ad performance.
The new move towards mobile ads comes represents a rebirth, of sorts, for UberMedia, whic (More info...)
posted on Thursday, May 23, 2013(Full story)
DTS Gets Win At BYDCalabasas-based surround sound and audio technology firm DTS has scored a design win with Chinese auto manufacturer BYD, the company said this morning. According to DTS, BYD will implement its DTS Digital Surround into four models of its vehicles. The four models of vehicles will launch in China in Q2. Financial impact of the win was not announced.
posted on Thursday, May 23, 2013(Full story)
Slacker Names Chief Product OfficerSan Diego-based music service Slacker has hired on a new, Chief Product Officer, according to the streaming music company. Slacker said that John Hayase, who was most recently at ElasticPath, has joined the firm in the position, to oversee development of its digital music service. Hayase also served at EA, including heading up development of EA's Origin digital download service, and serving as General Manager of EA China. Slacker also said that Hayase once worked at Boeing designing life support (More info...)
posted on Thursday, May 23, 2013(Full story)