Thursday, March 20, 2014


Rubicon Project Sets IPO Range
Los Angeles-based online advertising technology developer Rubicon Project set the pricing range for its initial public offering Thursday, saying that it hopes to offer 6,770,995 shares of its common stock at between $15.00 and $17.00 per share. The company said it has been approved to list on the New York Stock Exchange as RUBI. Rubicon Project is venture backed by Clearstone Ventures, News Corp., Mayfield, as well as others. The IPO is being underwritten by Morgan Stanley, Goldman, Sachs, & Co. (More info...)
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TextPlus Competitor Lands $280M From Alibaba
A direct competitor to Marina Del Rey-based free texting and phone service provider TextPlus said today that it has raised a huge, $280M funding round for its services. Silicon Valley-based Tango raised the giant funding round from Chinese company Alibaba, which reportedly valued Tango at around $1 billion. Tango has previously raised funding from San Diego's Qualcomm Ventures, among a number of other companies. Tango offers up a mobile app which lets users send free text messages, and make voi (More info...)
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Wallaby Rolls Out Smartwatch App
Pasadena-based Wallaby, the developer of financial applications which is led by Matthew Goldman, said today that it has launched a brand new, smartwatch app for Pebble. Wallaby said its new app--Wallaby for Pebble--helps users look up their credit card balances, and make better payment choices, all from their wrist. The app is the second app for Wallaby on the new generation of connected, personal devices -- the company had released another app in February, for Google Glass. Wallaby's various ap (More info...)
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Phunware Gets $26.25M For Mobile App Platform
Phunware, a developer of mobile advertising, application, analytics, and other tools for brands which has operations in both Newport Beach and San Diego, said this week that it has raised $26.25M in a Series E funding. The funding was led by the Firsthand Technology Value Fund, and also included Fraser McCombs Ventures, Maxima Ventures, Wild Basin Investment and the Central Texas Angel Network (CTAN), as well as new strategic investors Cisco and WWE. The company is headquartered in Austin. Phunw (More info...)
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Welltok, Backed By Trio Of Socal Investors, Buys Mindbloom
Welltok, a developer of online applications to help employees improve their health--and also help companies manage their health programs--has acquired Mindbloom, a developer of mobile apps for improving your health. Welltok is backed by a trio of Southern California investors, including Qualcomm Ventures, Miramar Venture Partners, and Okapi Venture Capital. Financial terms of the buy were not disclosed. Welltok is based in Denver, Mindbloom in Seattle. Welltok's CEO, Jeff Margolis, founded healt (More info...)
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Stir Finds $1.5M For High Tech, User Friendly Desk
Los Angeles-based Stir, a startup developing a touchscreen-driven, Wi-fi connected, and sensor-powered desk which automatically adjusts to a user's height, said this morning that it has raised $1.5M in a seed funding round. The funding wa sled by Tony Hsieh's Vegas TechFund, and also included angels Josh Makower, John R. Woodard, Richard Klein, and a number of former Apple employees. Stir was founded by J.P. Labrosse, who the company says was part of the original iPod team at Apple. The company' (More info...)
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MP3Tunes' Michael Robertson Loses Copyright Infringement Suit
Michael Robertson, the founder of online music site MP3Tunes.com--and another related, cloud music storage service Sideload.com, has been found liable in a copyright infringement lawsuit against him filed by Capital Records. A federal jury in New York found both Robertson--as well as his now bankrupt San Diego company, MP3Tunes.com--liable for copyright infringement, with a judge now set to award damages in the case. MP3Tunes filed for bankruptcy back in 2012, after overwhelming legal costs agai (More info...)
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Chideo Creates Advisory Board
Los Angeles-based Chideo, the new startup which combines charity, videos, interactive voting, and more to help celebrities raise money for their charities, has recruited an advisory board with a long list of notable names. According to the startup, which is led by Todd Wagner, it has added such names as local tech entrepreneur Clark Laundry (SHIFT/TagWorld), Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein (The Weinstein Company), musician Mike Shinoda (Linkin Park), and news anchor Dan Rather to the advisory b (More info...)
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Glip Launches $5,000 Hackathon For Creatives
Los Angeles-based Glip, a startup developing project communications and coordination tools, said today that it is running a $5,000 "hackathon" style contest for creative agencies. According to the company, it will offer up $5,000 to creative agencies to help create the company's brand mascot, as well as free subscriptions for teams and more. Glip said that its tools are already being used by many creative agencies. The company said its "hackathon" starts this weekend, on Sunday, March 23rd, with (More info...)
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Zadara Powers Farming Data Provider
Irvine-based Zadara Storage, which provides cloud-based, enterprise storage technology, reports that its products are being used by a provider of farm data. Zadara said its products are being used by Farm Intelligence2 of Mankato, MN, a provider of farm data services. Farm Intelligence2 uses aerial monitoring of corn and soybean crop acreage across 12 Midwestern states, uses sensors to detect moisture, minerals, weeds, pests, gaps, and height variability. All of that data is being stored in the (More info...)
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