Friday, September 12, 2014


Upfront Ventures Backs 6SensorLabs
Los Angeles-based venture capital investor Upfront Ventures is the lead investor in a developer of a food testing gadget, initially aimed at sensing gluten in food. According to San Francisco-based 6SensorLabs, it has raised $4M in a seed funding, led by Upfront, and also including SoftTech VC, Lemnos Labs, Kapor Capital, SK Ventures and Xandex Investments.
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Favrit Takes On Bookmarking Your Favorite Places
Need an app to help you keep track of your favorite places? Santa Monica-based Favrit said this week that it has launched its new app, which helps people save, organize, and share their favorite places. The startup is led by Anke Audenaert, and said its team was behind JumpTime, a content optimization software product that was sold to OpenX in 2013. Favrit's app runs on iOS, and lets users bookmark and recommend places, such as restaurants and stores, to friends.
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SpaceX's Elon Musk: No IPO, Our Goal Is A City On Mars
If you're looking at Hawthorne-based rocket firm SpaceX as the next big IPO in Southern California, you might have to look again. Founder and CEO Elon Musk said this week that he doesn't have any intention of taking SpaceX public, because the "goals of SpaceX are very long-term, which is to establish a city on Mars." The remarks, which were made at a conference in Tokyo, were first reported by Bloomberg.
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AssetAvenue Gets $3M In Seed Funding
Los Angeles-based peer-to-peer commercial real estate investment site AssetAvenue said Friday that it has raised $3M in a seed funding round. According to the company, the funding was led by Matrix Partners and NetEase, with other investors, including Vectr Ventures, Russ Meyer (Grandpoint Capital); Bam Ventures; and LaunchpadLA. The startup offers up an online, peer-to-peer lending platform which lets users invest and borrow money to invest in commercial real estate deals. The startup is led by (More info...)
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Oculus VR's Iribe Gives $31M To Alma Mater
Brendan Iribe, the co-founder and CEO of Irvine-based Oculus VR, has donated $31M to his alma mater, the University of Maryland, to help build a new building for that school's Computer Science department. According to the University, Iribe's gift will go towards the new Brendan Iribe Center for Computer Science and Innovation. The gift is the largest, ever, in the University's history. $1M of that donation will go to fund the Brendan Iribe Scholarship in Computer Science. Fellow Oculus VR co-fou (More info...)
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Conversant Acquired By Alliance Data In $2.3B Deal
Westlake Village-based online advertising firm Conversant--until recently, ValueClick--has been acquired by Alliance Data in a $2.3 billion deal, the companies said late Thursday. According to Alliance Data, it will purchase Conversant in a combination of cash and stock worth $35 per share of Conversant. The deal is split between 48 percent cash and 52 percent in ADS shares. Conversant is projecting revenues of $670M in 2015.
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DTS Buys Manzanita Systems
Calabasas-based DTS, the developer of surround sound and other technology, said late Thursday that it has acquired Manzanita Ssstems, which develops MPEG software for the digital television, video on demand, and other markets. Financial terms of the buy were not disclosed. Manzanita Systems is based in Poway, just north of San Diego. According to DTS, the move will bolster tools for online and streaming video applications.
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Deluxe Acquires Mediapeers
Burbank-based Deluxe, the provider of post-production, distribution, asset management, and related services to Hollywood, said today that it has acquired B2B, cloud software provider mediapeers. Financial details of the buy were not disclosed. Mediapeers was based in Berlin, and had been founded in 2007. Mediapeers serves such companies as Lionsgate, MGMG, FremantleMedia, and Global Screen. Mediapeers becomes part of Delxue's Burbank Deluxe Media Unit.
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LEHR Gets New Private Equity Funding
Los Angeles-based LEHR, which develops propane-fueled tools and engines, has received a round of private equity funding from Newport Beach-based Solis Capital Partners, according to the firms. Size of the investment was not disclosed. LEHR currently is focusing its efforts on a line of propane-powered outboard marine engines, which the company says has significant environmental benefits over gasoline. LEHR is led by Bernardo Herzer.
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MaxLinear Wins Design With German Customer
Carslbad-based MaxLinear reported a customer yesterday in Germany, saying that satellite receiver developer Digital Devices GmbH has selected one of its chips as part of its product line. According to MaxLinear, Digital Devices GmbH is using its MxL584 Full-Spectrum Capture (FSC) satellite receiver as part of a new PCIe TV card and gateway. Financial terms and shipment volumes related to the win were not announced.
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