Friday, October 25, 2013Snapchat Seeks More Funding At Up To $3.6 Billion ValuationLos Angeles-based mobile app developer Snapchat is in the midst of a new funding round, which values the company at more than $3.6 billion, according to a report Friday. AllThingsD reports that the firm--which just raised $60M in June--is looking for more money, upping its valuation from $800M to $3.6 billion. The deal apparently has not yet closed. Snapchat has emerged as one of the few Southern California companies over the years which has managed to see the kind of stratospheric interest more (More info...)
posted on Friday, October 25, 2013(Full story)
Demand Media Cuts 15, Says ReportLos Angeles-based Demand Media has juts cut fifteen members of the company's research and development unit, according to a report from Variety. According to the report, the cuts included Chief Innovation Officer Byron Reese, and were a result of the abrupt resignation of CEO Richard Rosenblatt last week.
posted on Friday, October 25, 2013(Full story)
Sonos Ties With Jack Johnson On Target PromotionSanta Barbara-based whole-home, wireless audio systems developer Sonos has just launched a new promotion, which ties music artist Jack Johnson together with the brand, via an outreach at Target. According to Sonos, it will be letting fans of Jack Johnson preview his new album, From Here to Now To You, inside Target stores in the US. Sonos will have kiosks set up with the new SONOS PLAY:1 speaker at Target, where people can listen to the album. Financial details of the deal were not disclosed.
posted on Friday, October 25, 2013(Full story)
Sorrento Therapeutics Raises $30M, Shifts To NASDAQSan Diego-based Sorrento Therapeutics, a biopharmaceuticals firm focused on oncology, and therapeutic products for inflammation, metabolic, and infectious diseases, has raised $30M in a public offering, and has been listed on the NASDAQ Capital Market. The firm--which had formerly been OTC traded--said it raised approximately $30M by offering up 4,150,000 shares of its common stock at $7.25 per share. The firm is now trading as SRNE.
posted on Friday, October 25, 2013(Full story)
socalTECH: Deadline For Nominations For The Socaltech 100 ApproachingWe'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...)
posted on Friday, October 25, 2013(Full story)
Aerie Pharmaceuticals Prices IPOAerie Pharmaceuticals, which develops therapies for treating glaucoma and other eye diseases, has priced its IPO, saying this morning that it is offering up 6,720,000 share os its common stock at $10.00 per share. The company said it will begin trading on the NASDAQ Global Market this morning as AERI. Aerie had filed for an IPO last month. The company is venture backed by ACP, Clarus Lifesciences, Sofinnova Venture Partners, and TPG Biotech. The company's operations are split between Bedminster, (More info...)
posted on Friday, October 25, 2013(Full story)
The Struggle For Maker StudiosOne of Southern California's hottest Hollywood-meets-Internet companies is Maker Studios, the provider of content to YouTube. The company just raised $26M more in venture fund last month. However, all is not well at Maker: the Hollywood Reporter has just published an in-depth look into the lawsuit filed by ousted co-founder Danny Zappin in June--a story that combines everything from drug dealing and prison to a who's who of Southern California's venture capitalists.
posted on Friday, October 25, 2013(Full story)
EdgeCast Networks Wins Atlantic MediaSanta Monica-based content delivery network provider EdgeCast Networks said Thursday that it is providing its services to publisher Atlantic Media. Financial impact of the deal was not disclosed. EdgeCast said The Atlantic is specifically using EdgeCast due to the ability to quickly replace or update content on its edge servers around the world, due to changing news and breaking stories.
posted on Friday, October 25, 2013(Full story)
Ixia CEO Steps Down Over Fabricated ResumeCalabasas-based network testing equipment and software developer Ixia said late Thursday that the firm's CEO, Vic Alston, has resigned, after the company's audit committee determined that Alston had mis-stated his academic credentials. According to Ixia, Alston had incorrectly claimed to have received a B.S. and a M.S. in Computer Science from Stanford, and had misstated his age and early employment history. Ixia said it has named founder Errol Ginsberg as acting CEO, and appointed Alex Pepe, th (More info...)
posted on Friday, October 25, 2013(Full story)
Fandango Debuts New iOS AppLos Angeles-based Fandango, which provides movie information and movie tickets, said Thursday that it has released a newly updated, iOS app, which it has updated to support the latest features of iOS 7. According to Fandango, it added such features as new predictive search for movies, theaters, stars, and more; showtime countdowns for tickets consumers have purchased; new sorting by movie genres; and much more. Fandango said that previous versions of its app have been downloaded more than 38 mi (More info...)
posted on Friday, October 25, 2013(Full story)