Thursday, December 11, 2014Hearst Takes Stake In Awesomeness.TVHearst Corporation and DreamWorks Animation said late Thursday that Hearst has taken a 25% stake in Awesomeness.TV, for $81.25M, in a deal that values Awesomeness.TV at around $325M. DreamWorks--had acquired Awesomeness.TV in May of 2013 for what was then worth up to $117M. Awesomess TV's Brian Robbins will continue to lead the company. Awesomeness.TV continues to be one of the fastest and most capital efficient exits in Southern California, with the company originally raising only $3.5M in Augu (More info...)
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Saatchi Rolls New Virtual Reality, Art Buying AppDo you wish you could see what that artwork you want to buy might look like on your wall at home? Santa Monica-baesd online art site Saatchi Art0--part of Demand Media--said Thursdya that it has launched a new, mobile app that lets users use virtual reality to see how a piece of art might look like on their wall. The company said the
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Fullscreen Links With Indian MCN QyukiCulver City-based Fullscreen is making a foray into the country of India, the company said this week, in a deal with Indian MCN Qyuki, the two said this week. According to the two companies, the deal will
give Qyuki's creators access to Fullscreen's technology, partnerships, and brand services. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Fullscreen is owned by At&T and the Chernin Group.
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VideoAmp Raises $2.2M For Video Advertising PlatformSanta Monica-based VideoAmp, which operates a programmatic video advertising platform, said this morning that it has raised $2.2M in a funding round, from Anthem Venture Partners, Simon Equity Partners, Third Wave Capital, Wavemaker Partners and ZenShin Capital. The startup--founded by 23-year-old Ross McCray--says it offers up inventory across desktop, mobile, tablet and television and real time reporting, which it says lets brands and advertisers buy, optimize, and measure video ads in a more (More info...)
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Woven Digital Finds $18MLos Angeles-based Woven Digital has raised $18M in a Series A funding, the company said this morning, led by Institutional Venture Partners. Advancit Capital, The San Francisco 49ers, United Talent Agency, Advancit Capital, The San Francisco 49ers, United Talent Agency, partners at Ziffren Brittenhanm LLP, Chris DeWolfe of MySpace, Mike Lazerow of Buddy Media, and former NBA players Baron Davis and Jermaine O'Neal also participated. Somesh Dash of IVP joins the company's board as part of the fun (More info...)
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DFR2014 and the socalTECH 50: SoCal's Tech Industry Celebrates The HolidaysThanks to everyone who joined us last night for the Digital Family Reunion, where we celebrated this year's socalTECH 50, and awarded Belkin founder Chet Pipkin with DFR's Outstanding Achievement Award. We had over 800 people join us at the Skirball Cultural Center until late until the evening, in what was the largest Digital Family Reunion yet.
The evening kicked off with a panel with Chet Pipkin, CEO of Belkin; Abhi Nemani, Chief Data Officer for the City of Los Angeles; Oded Noy, Co-founde (More info...)
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RapidEngage Acquired By QuestionProSan Diego-based RapidEngage, a developer of online survey software and tools used to collect customer feedback and to engage users, has been acquired by fellow online survey company QuestionPro. Financial terms of the buy were not disclosed. RapidEngage was founded by Daniel Marashlian, Sean Callahan, and Rodney Rumford, who also founded photo sharing app Plixi (TweetPhoto), which had been acquired by Lockerz in 2011. RapidEngage was one of the companies incubated at EvoNexus. Co-founder Sean C (More info...)
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Toshiba Rolls Out Wireless, Chromecast-Connected Hard DriveToshiba's Digital Products Division, which is headquartered in Irvine, said today that it has rolled out a new device called the Canvio AeroCast Wireless Hard Drive, which specifically provides storage to Google Chromecast. According to Toshiba, the new device, which has 1TB of capacity, is specifically designed to allow users to download and store movies, music, and photos. The hard drive connects to other devices using a Wi-Fi connection, and retails at $219.99. Toshiba also said it has rolled (More info...)
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Kurion Expands Win At FukushimaIrvine-based clear and hazardous waste management technology developer Kurion said late last night that it has scored another contract at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, for a second, mobile processing unit to clean up nuclear tainted water at the disaster site. Kurion said the contract, from Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), arrived in Japan last week. Size of the contract was not announced. Kurion had delivered another of its mobile processing systems to TEPCO in October. Kurion (More info...)
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Resonant Names COOSanta Barbara-based Resonant, which develops radio frequency (RF) filters for the mobile device industry, said Wednesday that it has named Neal Fenzi as its Chief Operating Officer. Fenzi is one of the company's co-founders, and has served as Vice President of Engineering since June of 2013. Fenzi previously also served at Superconductor Technologies.
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