Thursday, January 16, 2014Maker Studios Taps AOL Vet As New International PresidentLos Angeles- based Maker Studios said Thursday that it has hired Rene Rechtman, a former AOL executive, as its new President of international operations. As part of the appointment, Maker also said that Rechtman has made an investment in the company. Size of that investment was not announced. The company said that Rechtman will head up partnership efforts abroad for the content network. Rechtman was most recently CEO of AOL's branded content division.
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AqueSys Raises $43.6M For Glaucoma TreatmentsAliso Viejo-based AqueSys, a medical device firm developing stent-based treatments for glaucoma, said this morning that it has raised $43.6M in a Series D funding. ACcording to the company, the round came from Accuitive Medical Ventures, The Carlyle Group, Longitude Capital, Rho Ventures, and SV Life Sciences, along with new, undisclosed investors. The round was led by that new, undisclosed investor. AqueSys develops stents which are used for treating glaucoma, which the company says safely and (More info...)
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Fullscreen Buys ViddyCulver City-based YouTube network Fullscreen said late Wednesday that it has acquired Supernova, the company which was formerly known as Viddy. Financial terms of the buy were not announced, however, several publications have placed the deal at around $15.0M. According to Fullscreen, the buy will help it add products, infrastructure, and a team to its efforts. Viddy had relaunched itself as Supernova in September, as it looked to recast itself as a developer of range of social apps. Supernova ha (More info...)
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ecoATM: Two Million Devices RecycledSan Diego-based cell phone recycling kiosk maker ecoATM -- which was recently sold to Outerwall -- reports that it has now reached more than two million phones and devices recycled in its four year history. The number of phones and devices recycled by the company via its interactive kiosks has seen quite an uptick, as the company only just announced it had reached the one million devices recycled mark in April of 2013. ecoATM was acquired for $350M in July of 2013 by Outerwall (formerly known as (More info...)
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CallFire Names New Board MemberSanta Monica-based CallFire announced this morning that it has named Charles Hilliard, the former President and CFO of Demand Media, as a member of its board of directors. Hilliard has also been an advisor to DropBox, and served as CFO of United Online and NetZero. Hilliard was also formerly an investment banker. The addition of Hilliard comes shortly after the appointment of Ron Burr--who co-founded NetZero--as CEO. CallFire operates a cloud-based texting and voice platform for businesses, offe (More info...)
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Amgen, Illumina In Diagnostic Test DealThousand Oaks-based Amgen and San Diego-based Illumina are in an agreement to develop and commercialize a test for metastatic colorectal cancer, Illumina said late Wednesday. Illumina said the test will use its MiSeqDx instrument to develop a test platform which can identify patients who would be appropriate to receive Vectibix, Amgen's anti-EGFR monocolonal antibody--which is used for treating colorectal cancer. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
posted on Thursday, January 16, 2014(Full story)