Monday, March 17, 2014


Delta Airlines Links Silicon Beach, Austin With New Flight
Delta Air Lines announced Monday that it has launched a new, daily onnstop flight between Los Angeles International and Austin, Texas, to specifically connect the Silicon Beach startup community with the growing, technology community in Austin. According to Delta, the move--which is expected to start on June 16th--is part of an effort connect Los Angeles with all of the key, U.S. technology markets through its gateway at LAX. Delta said the serviec to Austin will be operated using Delta Boeing 7 (More info...)
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Auction.com Adds Former Oracle CFO To Board
Irvine-based online real estate marketplace Auction.com--fresh off a massive funding round from Google--is further bolstering its board, with the addition of former Oracle Chief Financial Officer Jeff Epstein. Epstein is an operating partner at Bessemer Venture Partners, a senior advisor at Oak Hill Capital Partners, and also serves on the board of Priceline.com and Shutterstock. Epstein also was CFO of DoubleClick, King World Productions, and Nielsen's Media Measurement and Information Group.
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C3 Jian Raises $60.5M To End Cavities
Los Angeles-based C3 Jian, which is developing biopharmaceuticals aimed at improving oral healthcare, said Monday that it has raised $60.5M in a Series D financing. The funding was led by Renaissance Holding Company, and also included affiliates of Delta Dental. According to the company, the funds will go towards clinical development of the company's peptide-based, antimicrobial drugs, which are aimed at attacking Streptococcus mutans, a bacterium responsible for dental caries or tooth decay. C (More info...)
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DoubleBeam Wins Hawaiian Grocer
Pasadena-based mobile payments and commerce technology provider DoubleBeam has scored a win with Hawaiian grocery store chain Foodland. Foodland Super Market, Ltd--which operates 32 supermarkets across four of the Hawaiian islands--said it has launched a new mobile app for both iPhone and Android, which was build in partnership with DoubleBeam. Foodland's mobile app helps provide loyalty card point information, shopping lists, in-store location information, and more to grocery shoppers for the c (More info...)
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Kurion Opens New Office In Toyko
Irvine-based Kurion, the venture-backed startup which has been contributing its technology to the cleanup of the Fukushima nuclear power plant, is setting up a new office in Tokyo, to support the company's continued work at the devastated nuclear power site. According to Kurion, the new office will within walking distance of the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), the Ministry of Economy Trade and Industry (METI) and the International Research Institute for Nuclear Decommissioning (IRID), and (More info...)
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Alleged Bitcoin Creator Hires Lawyer, Issues Denial
The alleged creator of the Bitcoin alternative currency, Dorian Satoshi Nakamoto, has officially denied being involved with Bitcoin, and says he has hired counsel to help "clear his name". In a statement to the press, Nakamoto denied having ever been involved with Bitcoin, saying the earlier Newsweek report that he was the secretive and anonymous creator of Bitcoin was false, and that he only heard of Bitcoin in February after being contact by his son about being contacted by Newsweek's reporter (More info...)
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AMN Healthcare invests In PipelineRx
San Diego-based healthcare staffing firm AMN Healthcare Services said this morning that it has made a strategic investment in PipelineRx, a developer of clinical, telepharmacy medication management services. AMN said it is investing $5M in staged payments to San Francisco-based PipelineRx in the deal, and has reecived a seat on the startup's board. PipelineRx's other strategic investors include San Diego-based CareFusion and the California Healthcare Foundation (CHF). PipelineRx provides 24 hour (More info...)
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MRV Communications Upgrades To NASDAQ Global Market
Chatsworth-based optical networking hardware provider MRV Communications said this morning that it is upgrading its stock listing from the over-the-counter market, to the NASDAQ Global Market. According to MRV Communications, it has been approved to list on the NASDAQ Global Market under its existing ticker symbol, MRVC. The company will begin trading on the NASDAQ on March 19th. The company said the moves came from the "significant progress" is has made in the areas of "corporate governance, re (More info...)
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Everbridge Buys UK-based Vocal
Glendale-based Everbridge, the provider of cloud-based, emergency notification and communications services, said this morning that it has acquired UK-based Vocal, a provider of business continuity and communication services. Financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. Everbridge said that Vocal will continue to operate as a wholly owned subsidary of Everbridge. Both companies provide emergency notification and incident rsponse, including automated calls and texts, for businesses and g (More info...)
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SmartDrive Sets New Engineering VP
San Diego-based SmartDrive Systems announced today that it has named Andy Deninger as the company's new Vice President of Engineering. Deninger was previously at Qualcomm's Omnitracs unit, where he had headed the company's engineering division. SmartDrive Systems said that Deninger will focus on product innovation for SmartDrive's platform, application development, and firmware quality assurance. SmartDrive develops video-based, driver safety and monitoring systems for the fleet tracking industr (More info...)
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Ligand Gets $1M From Merck
San Diego-based Ligand Pharmaceuticals reported this morning that it has earned a $1M, milestone payment related to the licensing of its technology to Merck. Ligand said that the payment game due to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's approval of Merck's NOXAFIL (posaconazole) injection (18 mg/mL). Ligand said it will sell its Captisol formulation to Merck for the new product, under a commercial supply agreement. The compound i s being used for the treatment of invasive fungal infections in (More info...)
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