Tuesday, August 26, 2014Factual Extends Restaurant Data OverseasLos Angeles-based Factual, which maintains a giant data store of location data, businesses, and other information, is extending its data coverage overseas. The company said Tuesday that it is adding more data to its restaurant information in France, Germany, and Australia, to include everything from kid friendliness, cuisine types, to parking. That data has previously only been available in the United States and the United Kingdom. The company says it now has information on over 300,000 restaura (More info...)
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The Honest Company Gets $70MLos Angeles-based The Honest Company, the online, family products retailer led by serial entrepreneur Brian Lee, and which was co-founded by Jessica Alba, has raised $70M in a funding round, according to the company Tuesday. The funding was led by Wellingtom Management Company, and also included un-named, public market institutional investors, along with prior investors Lightspeed Venture Partners, Institutional Venture Partners, General Catalyst Partners and ICONIQ Capital. The funding brings t (More info...)
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Western Digital Names New CFOIrvine-based disk drive giant Western Digital has named a new CFO, saying that its current CFO, Tim Leyden, has retired after 24 years at the company. WD said that Olivier Leonetti, who previously was VP Finance at Amgen, and also spent 14 years in finance positions at Dell, will become CFO of the company. Leyden will continue at the company through January to help in the transition. Leonetti had been Vice President, Finance at Amgen since 2011.
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NSF To Create Innovation Center In LAThe National Science Foundation is planning to create a new, innovation center in Los Angeles, in conjunction with the University of Southern California, the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), and the University of California Los Angeles, the NSF said this morning. According to the NSF, the new center is looking to support the translation of scientific and engineering research into technology for the marketplace, and will be supported by a multi-million dollar grant. Size of that gran (More info...)
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ZipRecruiter Gets $63M Series AIn what looks like one of the largest Series A funding rounds in awhile in Southern California, Santa Monica-based ZipRecruiter announced this morning that it has raised $63M in a funding round, for its job posting service for small and medium sized businesses. The startup, which is led by Ian Siegel, said the Series A funding was led by
Institutional Venture Partners (IVP), and also included Basepoint and Industry Ventures. ZipRecruiter helps companies by distributing job postings to over 50 (More info...)
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Swagbucks Taps Shopzilla's Weinrot As COOEl Segundo-based Prodege, the parent company of Swagbucks, has named a new COO, naming former ShopZilla executive David Weinrot to the new position. Weinrot was previously Chief Marketing Officer and Divisional President for Shopzilla/Bizrate, where he had been for over 14 years. Weinrot also previously has served at such companies as CarsDirect, DIsney Online, and BonusMail (MyPoints). Weinrot had been heading up operations and business management for Shopzilla, heading up its marketing, produc (More info...)
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Transphorm In Deal With India's Tata Power SolarGoleta-based Transphorm, which develops highly efficient, power conversion technology, said today that it is in a partnership with Tata Power Solar, a solar power products manufacturer in India. According to Transphorm, they will introduce India's most efficient solar inverter, using its technology. Financial impact of the deal were not disclosed. Transphorm's GaN power electronics technology reduces energy loss in power electronics by more than 50 percent, compared with conventional, silicon-ba (More info...)
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Evolve Media Partners With Viewability Audit FirmLos Angeles-based Evolve Media, the parent company of CraveOnline and TotallyHer, said late last night that it is in a partnership with Moat, where Moat will help to audit the viewability of all of its properties. Moat will provide Evolve Media with information on brand metrics for display and video ads, as well as information on viewability, to Evolve. Financial details of the deal were not disclosed. Evolve says its family of sites now reach 95 million people each month.
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SOA Software Gets Win In AustraliaLos Angeles-based SOA Software, which develops software used for managing internal corporate APIs and software interfaces, reported a win today in Australia. SOA Software said Healthdirect Australia is using its API management products to bridge REST APIs and existing SOAP services. Financial details of the deal were not announced. SOA Software's software allows developers to access a range of information from Healthdirect Australia, using the common REST API, rather than the more difficult to u (More info...)
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