Thursday, October 2, 2014DreamJobbing Launches To Find Users Dream JobsWish you could be a VH1 reporter, television producer, or have another dream job? Los Angeles-based DreamJobbing said this week that it has launched a new online site--and associated, television effort--which will give anyone a chance at a "dream job" by harnessing their social media and on-camera skills. The website--started by entertainment and digital industry vets Lisa Hennessy, Burton Roberts and Alex Boylan--said that users of the site compete by submitting a video application, which is v (More info...)
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Rightside Backs KCRW's Left, Right & CenterIn an effort to reach the politically minded, Rightside Group, Ltd., the
spin off of Santa Monica-based Demand Media, said this week that it will sponsor KCRW's Left, Right, & Center podcast. The deal is part of an effort by Rightside to promote its new politically oriented domains, .DEMOCRAT and .REPUBLICAN. Financial details of the sponsorship deal were not announced. KCRW will feature Rightside in an underwriting message both in its local FM radio broadcasts, as well as on the online podcas (More info...)
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Upfront Leads Investment In Navdy's Google Glass For Your CarLos Angeles-based venture capital investor Upfront Ventures is the lead investor in a developer of a heads up display for any car, which the company likens to a "Google Glass for your Car". Navdy--which is based in San Francisco--said it raised $6.5M in a seed round, which was led by Upfront Ventures, and also included Ludlow Ventures, Lightbank, Promus Ventures, MESA+ I, Eniac Ventures, Wareness.io, along with angels Shervin Pishevar, Brad Feld, Eric Ries, Naval Ravikant, Semil Shah, Don Norman (More info...)
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Internships.com Acquired By CheggBurbank-based Internships.com, which is a division of CareerArc Group LLC, has been acquired by Chegg in a $11M deal. According to Chegg, it will pay $10M in cash and $1M in shares of Chegg common stock for the student-focused, internships marketplace. Chegg said that Internships.com had around 2 million registered students using its service. Interships.com was headed by serial entrepeneur Robin D. Richards.
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Insights: The Sky is Not Falling: Reflections on My 16 Months in Bitcoin
For today's Insights and Opinions section, we've got a look at the current world of Bitcoin, from (now) Bitcoin expert Michael Terpin, who talks about his journey from his first introduction to Bitcoin to today--and what it offers up for LA startups.
It's been a little over 16 months since I first set foot in my first bitcoin convention in late May 2013. As I'd noted in a socalTECH post right after I returned, I thought bitcoin and cryptocurrency was poised to grow dramatically, disrup (More info...)
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Nimble Launches Chrome AppSanta Monica-based Nimble, the developer of contact management and social selling tools aimed at the business professional market, said today that it has launched a new app that works with Google's Chrome browser. Nimble said the new Smart Contacts Chrome App helps gather up contact details, email, social conversations, and more for users, pulling data from Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Google+, AngelList, Instagram, Foursquare and more, helping business professionals to prepare for sales calls, (More info...)
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Hired Rolls Out To LASilicon Valley technology hiring site Hired said this morning that it is rolling out its services in Los Angeles, looking to capitalize on the area's growing startup community. The company--which focuses on startup recruiting--offers up a site where technology companies compete to hire engineers, product managers, UX/UI designers, and data scientists. The startup is based in San Francisco
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RealD Gets Go Private Offer From StarboardLos Angeles-based 3D theater technology provider RealD has received an offer from one of its shareholders, activist investor Starboard Value LP, to take the company private for $12.00 per share. The offer is roughly 29 percent more than RealD's trading price as of Wednesday. In a statement released to the press, REalD said it will "carefully review and consider" the unsolicited bid from Starboard. The bid is valued at around $540M. Starboard is a well known, activist investor, and is the company (More info...)
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NantHealth Raises $320M Funding RoundIn what looks to be the largest funding round for Southern California in a very long while, Los Angeles-based NantHealth, the life sciences and technology firm started by billionaire Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong, said Wednesday that it has raised a total of $320M in it Series B funding. The company said the round closed with a $250M investment from the Kuwait Investment Authority (KIA). As part of the funding, the company said it has appointed a number of executives to its team, including naming Stev (More info...)
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j2 Global Buys Excel Micro For Email SecurityLos Angeles-based j2 Global, the diversified Internet and online services firm led by Hemi Zucker, has gobbled up yet another Internet services company, saying it has acquired cloud email security and archiving provider Excel Micro. Financial terms of the buy were not disclosed. Excel Micro was based in Philadelphia. j2 Global said the acquisition will help expand its U.S. and Canadian email security customer base. j2 Global has quietly been gobbling up dozens and dozens of companies across such (More info...)
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Ignyta Gets $31M In Term LoanSan Diego-based Ignyta, a developer of precision medicine technology for the cancer market, said Wednesday afternoon that it has reiceved $31M in a term loan funding. The funding came from Silicon Valley Bank. The company said that $11M of the loan was used to replay and existing loan with SVB. The company said it will use the loan facility for its clinical development efforts. The loan was issued at 8.56%, according to the publicly traded company.
posted on Thursday, October 2, 2014(Full story)