Monday, July 8, 2013Beats Looks To Launch Service With AT&TLos Angeles-based Beats Electronics is looking to launch its subscription music service with AT&T's data plans, according to CNET Monday. Beats, which recently raised $60M to spin out its music service, Daisy, is led by former Topspin and Yahoo Music head Ian Rogers. Beats acquired music streaming service MOG in July of last year.
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Hulu Receives Bid From DirecTV, Says ReportA report Monday says that satellite television provider DirecTV has finally made a bid for Los Angeles online video company Hulu, and that Time Warner Cable is also mulling an offer, according to Bloomberg Monday. Details on those offers haven't been announced. Hulu has been on the market for months, with DirecTV looking at Hulu since at least mid-May.
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Payoff.com Gets $4.5M More For Online Personal Finance ToolsPayoff.com, which operates an online service to help people better manage their financial goals and paying off debt, has raised $4.5M, part of an ongoing, $7.0M funding effort by the company, according to a regulatory filing. The startup, which is led by Scott Saunders, has not yet announced details of the funding. Payoff.com's service uses online rewards, peer pressure, and social tools to help users pay off debt, save more money, and spend wisely; the company says its goal is to help people po (More info...)
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Zebit Gets $30M in Debt Funding For Expansion
San Diego-based Global Analytics, the operator of Zebit, a developer of lending and underwriting software, has raised $30M in a term debt facility, the company said Monday. The funding came from Crystal Financial LLC. According to the company, the new funding brings its total raised to $95M.
Zebit develops software used by banks for underwriting loans; the company said its customers use its products to offer up short term loans, lines of credit, and secured and unsecured credit. Zebit curre (More info...)
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Yardi Acquires Apartment Research Provider Pierce-EislenSanta Barbara-based Yardi, which develops real estate software, said last week that it has acquired Pierce-Eislen, a supplier of property and market research for the multifamily real estate industry. Financial terms of the acquisition were not announced. Yardi said the acquisition will add information on apartment industry data at the property, market, regional, and national levels. Pierce-Eislen was based in Scottsdale, Arizona.
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Predixion Software Snags $20M More For Predictive AnalyticsSan Juan Capistrano-based Predixion Software, the predictive analytics software firm headed by Simon Arkell, has raised $20M in a Series C financing, the company said this morning. The new funding came from Accenture and GE Ventures, two strategic investors in the company, along with new investor Frost Venture Partners. Prior investors DFJ Frontier, EMC, Miramar Venture Partners and Palomar Ventures also participated.
According to Predixion, the strategic investment round also includes a deal (More info...)
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Samsung Bundles Year Of Boingo Wireless On Galaxy Tab 3, Note 8
Los Angeles-based Wi-Fi network operator Boingo has tied in with mobile device developer Samsung Electronics America, and will be bundling one year of free Wi-Fi access with that company's new Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 and Galaxy Note 8 products, the companies said this morning. According to the companies, consumers who buy either the Galaxy Tab 3 or Galaxy Note 8 will receive one year of free, unlimited access to Boingo's network of hotspots, across North America. Financial details of the deal wer (More info...)
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Building A Dream Team For Mobile Advertising, with Gradient X
If there were such a thing as a "Dream Team" for mobile advertising, you would be hard pressed not to pick the founding team of Los Angeles-based Gradient X (www.gradientx.com), whose founders include Michael Lum (formerly of OpenX), Brian Baumgart (formerly at Adconion), and Julie Mattern (formerly of Rubicon Project). We caught up with Michael to learn more about what Gradient X is doing, and why the three have teamed up at the company. Gradient X is backed by Rincon Venture Partners, GRP Pa (More info...)
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12Society Acquired By QuarterlyWest Hollywood-based 12Society, which operated a subscription-based, celebrity-driven gift delivery service, has been acquired by fellow Los Angeles gift subscription firm Quarterly. Financial details of the buy were not disclosed. Quarterly is venture backed by Collaborative Fund, Initialized Capital, SV Angel, and True Ventures. 12Society had offered up a $39 a month, subscription service which delivered curated gifts from such celebrities as hip hop's Nasir Jones, the NBA's Blake Griffin, and (More info...)
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Guidance Software Expands In GermanyPasadena-based digital forensics software developer Guidance Software said today that it has expanded in Europe, opening up a brand new office in Munich, Germany. Guidance Software said the new office will include a team of business development and product specialists to support Western Europe. Guidance Software develops software for electronic discovery and cyber security. As part of the expansion in Munich, Guidance Software said it had also opened up a new German website to support local cust (More info...)
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Teledyne Buys Remainder Of Nova SensorsThousand Oaks-based Teledyne Technologies announced this morning that it has acquired the remainder of Nova Sensors, a Buellton-based developer of integrated camera electronics, image processing algorithms, and compact mid-wave and short-wave infrared camera systems. Financial details of the acquisition were not announced. Teledyne had already owned 51% of Nova Sensors. Teledyne had previously acquired a majority of Nova Sensors back in 2011. Teledyne is a provider of instrumentation, digital im (More info...)
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Acacia Research Shuffles CEONewport Beach-based patent licensing firm Acacia Research Corporation reported late Friday that it has shuffled its CEO. According to the company, Paul Ryan, the firm's CEO, will retire, and step down from his position and his board seat from the firm on July 31st. Ryan will be replaced by Matthew Vella, who is currently President of the company. In a statement, Acacia Research said that Ryan recently turned 68, and has been at Acacia Research for the last thirteen years. Ryan became CEO of Acac (More info...)
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ServiceNow Wins Colorado CustomerSan Diego-based enterprise IT software developer ServiceNow has signed up a new customer in Colorado, the firm reported today. ServiceNow said that the Colorado Springs Utilities has implemented the company's cloud-based, software-as-a-service products for managing its IT services. Financial details of the win were not disclosed. ServiceNow said its tool has eliminated 12 different IT tools that were in use at the utility, including legacy software, homegrown applications, Excel spreadsheets, an (More info...)
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