Friday, November 1, 2013Elon Musk Doubles Down On LA: Buys Neighbor's HouseTechnology billionaire Elon Musk is doubling down on Los Angeles--property, at least--and has acquired his neighbor's house, across from his existing house in Bel Air. According to Trulia, Musk paid $6.75M for the home, which was once owned by actor Gene Wilder. Musk splits his time between Los Angeles and Silicon Valley, rotating between Tesla Motors, SpaceX, and SolarCity.
posted on Friday, November 1, 2013(Full story)
Insights and Opinions: Do You Have That Entrepreneurial DNA?
For Friday's Insights and Opinions section, we're again featuring a tidbit of advice from investor and author Dave Berkus, who talks about entrepreneurial DNA.
My immediate family members were entrepreneurs from as far back as I can trace. Dad was a jeweler, then a furniture store owner. Mom wrote books and articles from her college days until she could no longer see the keyboard. One grandfather owned and maintained his apartment houses. The other was a grocer, then a jeweler.
So it (More info...)
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socaltech: Last day for Nominations 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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eHarmony Adds Personal Counseling, Matchmaking ServiceSanta Monica-based eHarmony is going beyond the algorithm, and into personalized counseling, saying this morning that it has launched a new service it calls eH+, which will join a personal counselor to its algorithmically driven services to present users with personalized service. According to eHarmony, the new service will provide credentialed therapists who will guide people through the entire online dating process, helping users choose matches and vetting those connections in a personal way. (More info...)
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United Online Spins Off FTDWoodland Hills-based United Online announced this morning that it has successfully spuin off FTD, via a distribution of FTD common stock. The company also said it has completed a one-for-seven reverse stock split of its shares. As part of the move, United Online and FTD will now be separately traded on the NASDAQ, with United Online continuing to trade as UNTD, and FTD now trading on the NASDAQ Global Select Market as FTD. The spinout and split of the company--which has been in the works for ove (More info...)
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How Sekur.me Wants To Use Cell Phones To Fix Abandoned Shopping Carts
Is your cell phone the secret to fixing e-commerce's problem with abandoned shopping carts? Sekur.me, a new Santa Ana-based startup, has come up with a new app and service to use your cell phone for payment, bypassing the complexity of shopping carts. We spoke with CEO and founder Jack Bicer--just back from DEMO--to learn more about the app and why he thinks the company has the solution to e-commerce shopping cart abandonment.
Explain what your service/app is all about?
Jack Bicer: Six (More info...)
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RF Industries Sells Unit To ManagementSan Diego-based RF Industries, a manufacturer of interconnects and cable assemblies, said Thursday that it has sold its RadioMobile division to the current management team of the division, to a new company, RadioMobile. Financial terms of the spinoff were not announced. According to RF Industries, in exchange for the transfer of assets, it will receive a portion of all of RadioMobile's future revenues for three years. RadioMobile develops mobile, public safety communications systems, and had bee (More info...)
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The Gores Group Sells Enterasys To Extreme NetworksLos Angeles-based private equity firm The Gores Group said today that it has closed a transaction to sell Enterasys Networks to Extreme Networks, via its joint venture with Siemens AG. According to Gores Group, Unify (formerly Siemens Enterprise Communications) sold Enterasys to help further focus the company on its "core mission". Unify is a joint venture of The Gores Group and Siemens AG. Gores bought Enterasys back in 2006 for $386M.
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Ignyta Hits Public Markets In Reverse MergerVenture-backed biotechnology startup Ignyta, which is backed by Colt Ventures and City Hill Ventures, has gone public in a reverse merger. According to the company, it completed a reverse merger with Infinity Oil & Gas Company, which trades on the OTCBB as IGASD. The company said it will start trading as RXDX on the OTCBB on or around December 2nd. Ignyte is developing treatments for cancer. The use of a reverse merger to go public is somewhat rare for venture backed startups, but is not unheard (More info...)
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Netwrix Names Marketing VPIrvine-based Netwrix, a developer of configuration management and auditing software, said today that it has named Nick Cavalancia as its new Vice President of Marketing. Cavalancia had previously been at SpectorSoft, serving as Vice President of Marketing. He also had served at ScriptLogic.
posted on Friday, November 1, 2013(Full story)