Monday, October 14, 2013


Emulex Seeks Private Equity Buyout, Says Report
Costa Mesa-based networking equipment maker Emulex is in the midst of discussions with private equity investors, to take the company private, according to a report Monday. The report, from Reuters, said that Emulex has talked with such private equity investors as Francisco Partners, Thoma Bravo, and Thomas H. Lee about a deal. The report cited "several people familiar with the matter". Emulex is a developer of storage networking equipment, including Fibre Channel host bus adapters, 10Gb Ethernet (More info...)
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Embarke Raises $1.25M For Email MarketingTools
San Diego-based Embarke has raised $1.25M in a funding round, which the company's founder said came from a number of venture capitalists and angel investors. The company's backers include Anthem Ventures, La Costa Investment Group, Right Side Capital Group, Promus Ventures, Social Leverage, plus angels, including Howard Lindzon, Eric Otterson, and others. The company develops a tool to optimize emails for better open rates, helping marketers to better segment and understand their users, optimize (More info...)
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Vital Therapies Seeks $86.52M In IPO
San Diego-based Vital Therapies has filed for an IPO, saying in a filing late Friday that it is looking to raised $86.25M in an IPO effort on the NASDAQ Global Market. The company is looking to trade as VTL. The company, which develops cell-based treatments for acute liver failure, is backed by private investors, including Wall Street financier Muneer A. Satter, who owns 48.6 percent of the company. The company's IPO is being underwritten by Credit Suisse, William Blair, Cowen and Company, and C (More info...)
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Celladon Files For IPO
San Diego-based Celladon, a clinical stage biopharmaceuticals firm which is developing enzymes to address calcium regulation, has filed for an IPO. The company said it is looking to raise up to $86.25M in an offering on the NASDAQ Global Market, trading under the symbol CLDN. The company's IPO is being underwritten by J.P. Morgan, Barclays, Stifel, and Wedbush PacGrow Life Sciences. Celladon is backed by Enterprise Partners, Pfizer, Lundbeckfond, Novartis Bioventures, J&J Development, GBS Bioven (More info...)
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How Deka Sounds Is Using 3D Printing For Your Next Bluetooth Headset
There's been a revolution in the last few years with the dropping price and increasing accessibility of 3D printers--those devices which let you print practically anything using just your own personal computer, 3D software, and a special printer. One of the startups to come out of that 3D printing revolution is Deka Sounds (www.dekasounds.com), which is based in Orange County. We caught up with founder and CEO Erik Adams to hear more about what is startup is up to, and how it's trying to use the (More info...)
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socalTECH: Nominations Close In Three Weeks For The Socaltech 100
We're trying to identify the top 100 up-and-coming individuals in Southern California's technology industry! We're looking to identify the individuals here in the technology industry, across all sectors, who are most likely to create the next big thing, produce the next big exit or to influence the industry in a significant way--the next generation of entrepreneurs and leaders across all of Southern California. If you'd like to nominate an individual (not company) for this award, we're collectin (More info...)
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Sonos Debuts Play:1 Speaker
Santa Barbara-based whole home entertainment system maker Sonos has launched a brand new product this morning, the Sonos Play:1. The new, compact speaker, which costs $199, provides a mid-woofer and tweeter, all integrated into the Sonos streaming music system. Sonos said the new product gives access to such services as Spotify, Rdio, Pandora, 100,000+ radio stations, plus users' own digital music library. Sonos has already begun shipping the new device in the US, and says it will launch it glob (More info...)
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Fliptu Targets Music Industry With Social Service
Los Angeles-based Fliptu, the social media software developer headed by Jeremy Gocke, is targeting the music industry with its social service, and is launching a new platform that lets the music industry share the pictures, video clips, and other social items that fans are sharing before, during, and after concerts. The company said its new "social hub as a service" helps bands and artists aggregate that fan-created content, and also ties that content into merchandise, special ticket offers, and (More info...)
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DOE Launches Auction For Fisker Loan
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) kicked of an auction Friday for the loan obligations it owns from ill-fated Fisker Automotive, in a bid to regain the remaining $168M in funding it provided to Fisker Automotive. The sale--which had been announced last month--is an attempt to capture some of the millions loaned by the U.S. government to Fisker, which burned through over $1.4 billion in funds before suspending its operations. The U.S. government had requested that prospective bidders offer at l (More info...)
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Channel Technologies Group Buys H.C. Materials
Santa Barbara-based Channel Technologies Group, a manufacturer of piezoelectric ceramics, transducers, and other related products, said Friday that it has acquired H.C. Materials, a manufacturer of crystals used in medical ultrasound imaging, ocean mining, sensors, transducers and sonar systems. Financial terms of the acquisition were not announced. H.C. Materials was based in Illinois. According to Channel Technologies Group, the acquisition will support its efforts in the piezoelectric single- (More info...)
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Activision Blizzard Completes Split From Vivendi
Santa Monica-based videogame developer Activision Blizzard said late Friday that it has completed its acquisition of its shares from Vivendi, in a deal worth approximately $5.83 billion. The company said it paid $13.60 per share in cash from Vivendi. The deal once again makes Activision Blizzard a fully independent company. The investor group which led the acquisition was led by Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick and Chairman Brian Kelly, as well as Davis Advisors, Leonard Green & Partners, L. (More info...)
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Arrowhead Research Raises $60M In PIPE
Pasadena-based Arrowhead Research said this morning that it has raised $60M in a private offering, from RA Capital Management, LLC, plus its other existing institutional investors. The biopharmaceuticals firm, which is developing targeted RNAi therapeutics, said the funding will go to fund two new pharmaceuticals candidates through clinical proof of concet, plus to advance its pre-clinical pipeline.
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Pulse Electronics Names New CFO
San Diego-based electronics components firm Pulse Electronics announced late last week that it has named Michael C. Bond as its new Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. Bond replaces the company's current CFO, Drew A. Moyer, who the company said resigned to mvoe back to the East Coast to be closer to his family. Bond was most recently VP and Treasurer for the company, and joined the company two years ago; he also had served at Deloitte, AT&T, Lucent Technologies, and Avaya. The com (More info...)
posted on Monday, October 14, 2013(Full story)