Wednesday, July 10, 2013Siemer Ventures Boosts Portfolio To 55 CompaniesLocal Santa Monica-based venture investor Siemer Ventures has boosted its total number of investments to 55 companies, the firm announced this week, after adding nine new companies in the second quarter of the year. Siemer Ventures said that it added the nine companies as part of its Siemer Ventures II portfolio, with the majority of those investments in Southern California. Siemer said the investments in Q2 included 20JEANS, Ardent Capital, DFR, Ecinity, Ellie, Ringadoc, TheBouqs.com, Tonx, and (More info...)
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Ecinity Scores Funding RoundLos Angeles-based Ecinity, a developer of online, automated marketing software for the SMB market, has raised a round of funding from Siemer Ventures and others, according to details on investments released by Siemer Ventures yesterday. Ecinity, which is still in stealth mode, is one of the companies in the MuckerLab accelerator. Details on the funding have not been announced, however, a recent regulatory filing indicates the company recently raiesd $1.55M as part of an ongoing, $1.85M funding r (More info...)
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Fandango Powers Mobile Ticketing For Pacific TheatresLos Angeles-based mobile and online movie ticketing company Fandango added another theater chain this week, saying that it has added Pacific Theatres, the Southern California movie exhibitor. Pacific Theatres has a large number of screens here, including a flagship location at The Grove. According to Fandango, it will provide exclusive online and mobile movie tickets for Pacific. Financial details of the deal were not disclosed.
Fandango says the deal is its fifth new exhibitor it has signed (More info...)
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Surf Air Expands To Santa BarbaraIn what could help Santa Barbara further increase its influence in the high tech world, Surf Air, the subscription-membership based, all-you-can-fly airline headed by Wade Eyerly, said today that it has added Santa Barbara to its daily schedule. SurfAir said it will connect Santa Barbara with nonstop service to Silicon Valley, with the first flight leaving this morning at 8:15 a.m.
The new flights make Santa Barbara as close to San Francisco as it is to Los Angeles, and could help bolster the (More info...)
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ViaCyte Snags $10.6M For Diabetes TreatmentsSan Diego-based ViaCyte, a developer of stem-cell based treaments for diabetes, has raised $10.6M. According to ViaCyte, the Series C-1 funding round came from existing investors Johnson & Johnson Development Corporation, Sanderling Ventures and Asset Management Company. ViaCyte's compounts are derived from stem cells, and are aimed at treating diabetes. The company's product uses pancreatic precursor cells and a proprietary medical device, to replace the need for insulin therapy for diabetics. (More info...)
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Western Digital Buys VeloBitIrvine-based Western Digital announced this morning that it has acquired VeloBit, a provider of storage I/O optimization software. Financial terms of the buy were not announced. VeloBit, which is headquartered in Lincoln, Mass, develops software specifically designed for optimization of solid state disk drives (SSDs). Western Digital said that VeloBit will become part of its subsidiary, HGST. VeloBit was venture backed by Fairhaven Capital and Longworth Venture Partners.
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Factual Launches Mobile Personalization, Ad Targeting Tools
Los Angeles-based Factual, the location data provider headed by Gil Elbaz, launched two new products Tuesday, aimed at mobile personalization and ad targeting. Factual said its new tool, Geopulse Audience, provides demographic, behavioral, and geographic user profiles to publishers and developers, based on a timestamped locaiton data. Geopulse Proximity helps developers filter through location data being provided by mobile applications, allowing developers and advertising technology companies (More info...)
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Payvia, Mobile-XL Partner On Mobile PaymentsLos Angeles-based Payvia, which is developing mobile payment technology, and Mobile-XL, which develops software for providing access to digital services to people in Africa and India, are in a partnership, the companies said this morning. According to the two companies, they are integrating Payvia's mobile payments technology with Mobile-XL's service, which is used to deliver news, content, games, and Internet services to emerging markets. The partnership will allow consumers to purchase digital (More info...)
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Broadcom Gets Design Win With BrotherIrvine-based semiconductor firm Broadcom announced a design win this morning with printer manufacturer Brother. Broadcom said that Brother will be using its Near Field Communications (NFC) chips in a new line of NFC-enabled printers, along with its wireless LAN chips. The move will allow consumers to print and scan to their smart devices through an NFC and Wi-Fi enabled device. Financial impact of the win, and shipment volumes were not announced. The new printers are expected to ship sometime th (More info...)
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