Thursday, February 5, 2015Branson Details Virgin Galactic's Next MovesSir Richard Branson detailed the next moves over at Mojave-based Virgin Galactic on Thursday, releasing a video and more details on the company's second, SpaceShipTwo. Branson said in a blog post that Virgin Galactic is "not just about taking people up to space, but also about connecting space to Earth" and "solving our planet's greatest challenges." Branson said the second spaceship will be built and tested by sister organization The Spaceship Company, with plans this year to manufacture the sp (More info...)
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Sony Co-Chair Pascal Latest Casualty In HackAmy Pascal, the co-chair of Sony Pictures Entertainment and Chairman of Sony Pictures Entertainment Motion Pictures Group, is the latest casualty of the devastating hack of Sony Pictures last year, and is stepping down from her position. Pascal had been under fire for both approving The Interview--which spawned the hack, blamed on North Korea, which devastated Sony Pictures internal IT systems--as well as leaked emails disparaging Angelina Jolie and President Obama. Pascal apparently will step d (More info...)
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GrubHub Buys OC's Restaurants On The RunOnline dining ordering service GrubHub has acquired Aliso Viejo-based Restaurants On The Run, the provider of restaurant delivery services which serves Los Angeles, San Francisco, Orange County, San Diego, Houston, Seattle, Las Vegas and Tulsa Oklahoma. Financial terms of the buy were not disclosed. The acquisition was announced on Thursday, as part of a major strategic shift by GrubHub to not only enable to-go orders for restaurants, but a shift where GrubHub itself will deiver those orders. Gr (More info...)
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UberMedia Snags Yahoo ExecPasadena-based UberMedia, the Idealab-backed developer of mobile apps and other mobile advertising products, said today that it has named Yahoo veteran Eric Aledort as the company's Chief Business Development Officer. Aledort was most recently VP, head of media for Yahoo's global partnerships group. Aldeort has previously worked at Dex One, WebMD, Disney Internet Group, Immuno AG, and Sidley & Austin. UberMedia is led by Idealab's Bill Gross.
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Transphorm's Product Go Into Mass Deployment In JapanGoleta-based Transphorm, which develops Gallium Nitride (GaN) power conversion technology, reported today that Japanese customer Yaskawa Electric Company has gone into mass production on a product that uses its devices. Transphorm says that Yaskawa has shipped a 4.5 kW, indoor photovoltaic (PV) inverter, which uses the company's platform. The company is expected annual production of 34,000 of thse systems, which are used to convert photovoltaic, solar energy into AC power. Transphorm said its pr (More info...)
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Typo Ordered To Pay $860K To BlackBerryLos Angeles-based Typo, the startup backed by Ryan Seacrest, has been ordered to pay $860,000 to BlackBerry Ltd, for selling its iPhone case, which had been found likely to infringe on BlackBerry's patents. The fine came as a result of a ruling on Wednesday in San Francisco in the U.S. District court. BlackBerry had claimed that Typo had continued to sell and market its original, iPhone case--which duplicated the distinctive BlackBerry keyboard--even after a court injunction issued last year ord (More info...)
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MGID: Move to Los Angeles Helped Drive Record GrowthSanta Monica-based MGID, which provides native advertising, says its move from New York to Los Angeles earlier this year helped drive "dramatic growth" at the company. MGID said it saw a 21.7 percent increase in its revenues in the fourth quarter of 2014, which it attributed to new products, as well as better access to the large entertainment and lifestyle customers in Los Angeles. The company also said it benefited from mainstream adoption of native ads. MGID moved to Los Angeles in July.
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Procore Doubles Headcount, Reports GrowthCarpinteria-based Procore Technologies, the developer of cloud-based, construction management software let by Tooey Courtemanche, says it more than doubled its headcount in 2014, and also saw record growth in its business. The company did not say how many employees it has now, or provide any details on finances, however, the company's recent Inc. 5000 rating says the company had 2013 revenues of $9.5M, compared with 2010 revenues of $1.5M. Procore recently raised $15M in a Series D funding, whi (More info...)
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Kofax Wins $1.4M Contract From Government AgencyIrvine-based Kofax, which provides document handling software, said today that it has scored a $1.4M contract win with a state health and human services agency. Name of the state was not announced. Kofax said the win covers the use of its software for that state's enrollment and eligibility processes. Kofax said its new customer expects to process more than 60 million images within the next two years using its software.
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