Wednesday, February 12, 2014Texas Looks To Steal Away Another San Diego Company, OmnitracsIt looks like Texas is playing to win, as the state apparently is in a deal to steal away, Omnitracs, the former Qualcomm GPS fleet management and software division -- taking with it at least 1,000 jobs. According to reports, Omnitracs is in the midst of negotations to move its operations out of San Diego, and to Austin, following the recent sale of Omnitracs by Qualcomm to private equity firm Vista Equity Partners. If the deal goes through, the company will be the second Vista Equity owned comp (More info...)
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Disney Launches New LA Startup AcceleratorWalt Disney Company said Wednesday that it is launching a new, Los Angeles based startup accelerator, focused on
startups looking to develop consumer entertainment experiences, called the Disney Accelerator. According to Disney, it will provide $120,000 in investment capital to startups to help them develp their ideas, and also provide mentoring from Disney executives. Disney is tapping the startup accelerator expertise of TechStars to operate the program. Disney has not yet set a specific loc (More info...)
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ACTIVE Network Wins Three CitiesSan Diego-based ACTIVE Network is expanding its footprint in the parks and recreation management market, reporting this morning that it has signed up the cities of Phoenix, Portland, and Denver as customers of its ACTIVE Net software. Financial impact of the wins were not announced. ACTIVE Net is ACTIVE Network's software that help cities manage reservations at facilities, classes, community programs, and memberships.
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Snapchat: 35 Employees, Great Place To WorkVenice-based social networking app developer Snapchat looks to be on the prowl for employees, based on a new
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Trio Of SoCal Investors Back WelltokThree, local venture capital investors -- Miramar Venture Partners, Okapi Venture Capital, and Qualcomm Ventures -- are part of a group investing $22.1M in healthcare software developer Welltok, which announced a big funding round this morning. Miramar and Okapi are in Orange County, and Qualcomm is in San Diego. According to Welltok, it raised its new $22.1M Series C funding from New Enterprise Associates (NEA), IBM--via its new "Watson Fund"--and Qualcomm Ventures, along with existing investor (More info...)
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Tapiture Takes $2.25M In Seed FundingVenice, California-based social sharing site Tapiture said this morning that it has raised $2.25M in a seed funding round, which was led by JUMP Investors, along with angels Barry Sternlicht, Herb Simon, Brad Keywell (Lightbank), Brian Lee, Sam Bakhshandehpour, Dave Leyrer (Boulevard Capital), Happy Walters, Hilary Swank, Dwight Howard, and Amar'e Stoudemire. The company said the new funding includes $1.25M in new capital, plus a $1M convertible note from last year. Tapiture said the new funds w (More info...)
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Bridging The Gap Between Students And Startups, With TechLA
There's a gap between the robust, growing technology startups in Los Angeles and the many students graduating from local universities, according to Steven Dietz, who is a venture capitalist at LA's Upfront Ventures. Steve is helping to spearhead the efforts of TechLA Internships (techla.internships.com), an online site which lists local internships at high tech companies for college students. The goal, according to Dietz, is help students at local universities find internships and start establ (More info...)
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Spoiler Shield Blocks Sochi Olympics ResultsAre you tired of people spoiling your DVR watching by giving away the medal results at the Winter Olympics in Sochi? It turns out, a Los Angeles startup has a fix for that. Spoiler Shield, which develops iOS, Android, and Kindle apps, says that its apps help shelter social media users from seeing the results of the Winter Olympics--or even the plots of television shows or other sporting events, by helping to screen a user's Facebook and Twitter streams. The company's apps are free to download. S (More info...)
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FirePower Technology Buys Power Supply Businesses From OCZCarlsbad-based Firepower Technology said Tuesday that it has acquired the power supply businesses of OCZ Technology Group and PC Power and Cooling. Financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. According to FirePower, the deal will give it a line of power supply products aimed at the high-end computer gaming and industrial workstation market. FirePower said it will supply those products out of its Carlsbad facility, and now will produce and sell the full line of PC power and cooling pow (More info...)
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Illumina Launches Genomics Accelerator Program, But Not In San DiegoSan Diego-based life sciences equipment maker Illumina has tossed its hat into the accelerator market, saying this morning that it has launched a brand new, genomics-focused startup accelerator program. Illumina said its new Illumina Accelerator Program will provider $100,000 in support plus access to its gene sequencing technology, to help support entry for entrepreneurs, start-ups and early stage companies working on scientifically and commercially promising next-generation sequencing applicat (More info...)
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