Thursday, January 29, 2015


BlackLine Sees 50 Percent Rise In Revenues
Los Angeles-based financial automation software develper BlackLine continues to see its revenues grow, saying Thursday that its 2014, year-over-year revenues were up more than 50 percent. The company did not disclose its financials for the year. Blackline has been trumpeting its revenue growth and customers for the last few years, most recently announcing it has more than 1,000 clients using its product. The company's new clients include JetBlue, T-Mobile, British Gas, Elsevier, and many, many o (More info...)
posted on Thursday, January 29, 2015(Full story)

Ouya Wins $10M From Alibaba, Eyes China
Santa Monica-based game console developer Ouya has just scored $10M in an investment round from Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba, as part of an effort to take the company's technology to China, according to a report citing people familiar with the matter. Ouya's game console leverages the Android operating system. Ouya ha previously raised funding from Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Mayfield Fund, NVIDIA, Shasta Ventures, and Occam Partners.
posted on Thursday, January 29, 2015 (More)(Full story)

HelloTech Finds $2.5M For Tech Support
Los Angeles-based HelloTech said this week that it has raised $2.5M in a seed funding round, to bring remote, technology support to consumers. The startup, led by Richard Wolpert, scored the funding from Upfront Ventures, Accel Partners, Crosscut Ventures, Amplify.LA, Ron Burkle, and others. The startup was incubated from within Amplify.LA. HelloTech is taking an Uber-like approach to its technology support services, tapping into an external network of IT support providers, rather than its own e (More info...)
posted on Thursday, January 29, 2015(Full story)

Cargomatic Raises $8M For Shipping Marketplace
Los Angeles-based Cargomatic said Thursday that it has raised $8M in a Series A funding round, for its online marketplace for shipping services. The startup, led by Jonathan Kessler, offers up a service which helps connect local shippers with carrier companies who have extra space on their trucks. The funding came from Canaan Partners, Volvo Group Venture Capital, Morado Venture Partners, SV Angel, Sherpa Ventures, Winklevoss Capital, Structure Capital, along with angels.
posted on Thursday, January 29, 2015 (More)(Full story)

Tech Coast Angels: Record Amount Invested In 2014
Southern California's biggest organized, angel investment group, the Tech Coast Angels, said this morning that the group had its biggest investment year ever in 2014, investing a total of $16.37M across 61 total deals. The group said the investments make 2014 its largest ever since 1997 in terms of deals funded and amount raised. The Tech Coast Angels said that it saw five more exits in its portfolio in 2014, with the exits of AIRSIS, Allylix, Bluebeam Software, Hookit (formerly Loop'd Networks) (More info...)
posted on Thursday, January 29, 2015(Full story)

Nativo Taps NBCUniversal Vet As Exec
Los Angeles-based native advertising technology developer Nativo has tapped a NBCUniversal veteran as its new Vice President of Product Development, the company said today. Nativo said that Carlos Sapene previously was VP of Digital and New Media at NBCUniversal, and worked on such properties as E! Online, Style Network, and Bravo. Nativo said Sapene will help the company to expand its offerings. Nativo is venture backed by Greycroft Partners, e.ventures and Signia Venture Partners.
posted on Thursday, January 29, 2015(Full story)

Seriously Launches Best Fiends Onto Amazon
Santa Monica- and Helskini-based mobile games and entertainment startup Seriously said this morning that it has launched its popular Best Fiends mobile game onto the Amazon Appstore. The game already is available for iOS and Android. Seriously said that it currently has one million, daily active players using the game. Seriously's Amazon title runs on Amazon's Fire tablets and Fire Phone, as well as other Android devices. Seriously is venture backed by Upfront Ventures, Sunstone Ventures, and Da (More info...)
posted on Thursday, January 29, 2015(Full story)

Uber Used In Drug Deal In Thousand Oaks
The Ventura County Sheriff's department reported this morning that it arrested two suspects in Thousand Oaks, who were using Uber to help conduct deals. According to the Sheriff's Department, Cody Jens (24) of Agoura Hills, and Luke Karasiuk (22) of Thousand Oaks were arrested after local police made a vehicle code enforcement stop on an Uber driver on Wednesday morning. The police said they searched the two, rear seat passengers, who were found to be in possession of concentrated cannabis known (More info...)
posted on Thursday, January 29, 2015(Full story)

Tagg, Fitbit For Dogs, Acquired By Whistle
San Diego-based Tagg, the maker of a GPS-based pet tracker (ala Fitbit for Dogs), has been acquired by San Francisco-based Whistle. Financial terms of the buy were not disclosed. Tagg was founded in 2010 as a subsidiary of Qualcomm, and offered up a system to help pet owners track a pet's location using GPS plus monitor your pet's fitness activities, all through smartphone apps. Whistle said that it has raised $15M in a Series B funding round as part of the acquisition, from Nokia Growth Partner (More info...)
posted on Thursday, January 29, 2015(Full story)

Why Seriously Thinks Mobile Games Are Key To Hollywood's Future
In the mobile age, what is the key to connecting and engaging with users, and where does Hollywood's creative content fit into the mix? According to LA mobile game maker Seriously (www.seriously.com), mobile games are the best way to engage with the mobile generation. We sat down with Seriously CEO Andrew Stalbow--who previously had been EVP Strategic Partnerships for Rovio, and also was key to Fox's content deals with Angry Birds--to hear more about the company, how it sees mobile games converg (More info...)
posted on Thursday, January 29, 2015(Full story)

Takehollywood Links With Mobli
Los Angeles-based Takehollywood, a new startup offering up online short form videos around different topics about acting, said Wednesday that it has linked with Venice-based Mobli, the developer of a social sharing app. The two said the move will help offer up Takehollywood's content library to Mobli's users. Takehollywood offers up a large library of videos where actors, acting coaches, agents, casting directors, directors, and producers provide their advice on a wide range of areas. Financial (More info...)
posted on Thursday, January 29, 2015(Full story)

Gem Bolsters Security Partnerships
Venice, California-based Bitcoin security developer Gem said Wednesday that it has bolstered its security partnerships, via a link with companies Thales e-Security, CryptoSigma, and Bitmo. Gem, which is led by Micah Winkelspecht, said the link adds support for custom Hardware Security Modules (HSMs) to offer up military-grade protection of encryption keys. Financial details of the partnerships were not disclosed. The companies said that Thales' hardware has been used by the traditional payments (More info...)
posted on Thursday, January 29, 2015(Full story)

SEKUR.me Looks To Connect With Mobile Commerce Firms
Santa Ana-based SEKUR.me, a startup developing multi-factor, mobile authentication and payment technology, said today that it has launched a new Strategic Alliance program to help enable mobile e-commerce payments. The startup, led by Jack Bicer, said it is aiming at telecoms, financial institutions, social media, smartphone manufacturers, healthcare, and large systems integrators. The company said its product helps enable secure, mobile payments on iOS and Android.
posted on Thursday, January 29, 2015(Full story)