Wednesday, November 13, 2013Report: Snapchat Turns Down $3 Billion Offer From FacebookIn a very bold move, Venice-based Snapchat has apparently turned down a $3 billion acquisition offer from Facebook, according to a report today from the Wall Street Journal. According to the WSJ--citing "people briefed on the matter"--Snapchat turned down the offer after Chinese e-commerce firm Tencent offered to lead an investment valuing the company at $4 billion. A $3 billion acquisition offer is heady territory for Southern California's high tech startup ecosystem--the largest exit in recent (More info...)
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Ezoic Gets $5.6M For Automated Website Layout SoftwareSan Diego-based Ezoic announced this morning that it has raised $5.6M in a funding round, for the company's software for automatically improving site layout and advertising revenue. The Series A funding was led by Balderton Capital, and also included New Amsterdam Capital, Silicon Valley Bank and angels. Ezoic's software automatically changes the layout of a site, based on how users are interacting with that site, plus what kind of device they're using to browse a site, using multivariate testin (More info...)
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Southern California Companies Have Healthy Showing In Deloitte Fast 500Southern California had a healthy showing in the latest ranking of the fastest growing companies from Deloitte's Technology Fast 500, which was announced last night. Of those 500, there were at least 60 Southern California companies in the rankings. Among the highest ranked in the annual program was OpenX Software, based in Pasadena, which had a 44,075% five year growth rate, which was ranked at number 5 in the nation, based on its fiscal revenue growth rate from 2008 to 2012. Other high growth (More info...)
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CapLinked In Partnership With Business Brokerage Franchise SunbeltLos Angeles-based deal document management service CapLinked announced this morning that it has inked a partnership with business brokerage company Sunbelt Business Brokers. According to the two, CapLinked has been selected at the preferred online deal management provider for Sunbelt. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. CapLinked offers up an online, deal management service, which lets businesses store documents and due diligence, manage workflow, and other items around business deal (More info...)
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ReachLocal Extends Lead Management Software To CanadaWoodland Hills-based ReachLocal said today that it has launched its leads tracking and management software, ReachEdge, into the Canadian market. The software--which ReachLocal recently launched in the United States--helps manage leads conversion, capturing lead details, and automatically reminding staff via text message, email, or mobile apps to follow up on those leads. The software is aimed at small and medium sized businesses, and is part of an expansion of ReachLocal's range of offerings aim (More info...)
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LivnGiv.com Combines Dining Out, Charity In Venice BeachA new, Venice-based startup, LivnGiv.com said Wednesday afternoon that it has launched a brand new service, which donates money to charity when you eat out at local restaurants. According to the startup, it allows users to purchase dining certificates on the site, and donates 20 percent of those certificates to a user's favorite cause. The new startup was co-founded by Kenneth Hepburn and Lee Hanson. The company's list of restaurants currently includes mostly local, Venice Beach restaurants, wit (More info...)
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Peregrine Powers Pantech SmartphoneSan Diego-based Peregrine Semiconductor is supplying its components as part of a new, Pantech smartphone device, the company announced Wednesday. According to Peregrine Semiconductor, its UltraCMOS main-antenna tuning switches are being used as part of the new Pantech Vega Secret Note LTE-A Phablet, as part of that devices mobile wireless antenna system. Shipment volumes and financial impact of the design win were not announced. Peregrine said that Pantech's device is being offered as part of SK (More info...)
posted on Wednesday, November 13, 2013(Full story)