Friday, May 1, 2015


Tech Coast Angels Makes Eight Investments, Sees Two Exits In Q1
The Tech Coast Angels, one of the most active angel investment groups nationwide in addition to here in Southern California, said Friday that it invested in eight new and follow on deals in the first quarter of 2015, in addition to seeing two exits out of its portfolio. The TCA did not say how much it invested in the quarter, but sale the investments in the first quarter went to Groundmetrics, ImmunoGum, iPourIt, Pediatric Biosciences, Playlist Media, Schlep & Fetch, Spine Innovation and Twigtal (More info...)
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BigRentz Scores Growth Funding
Irvine-based BigRentz, which operates an online marketplace for heavy equipment rentals, has reportedly raised a round of growth capital funding from St. Cloud Capital. Details of that funding were not announced. St. Cloud Capital is based in Los Angeles.
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Two Bit Circus Targets San Francisco With STEAM Carnival in November
Los Angeles-based Two Bit Circus, the startup led by Brent Bushnell helping to inspire kids around science, technology, engineering, art, and math (STEAM), said this week that it is planning to bring its STEAM Carnival to San Francisco. Two Bit Circus said its new San Francisco STEAM Carnival will be held November 6-8th, and is being sponsored by Cartoon Network. Bushnell's company has created a wide range of high tech games, interactive installations, and more which combine the circus atmosphe (More info...)
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Demand Media Names Two Execs
Santa Monica-based Demand Media announced late Thursday that it has named two new executives. Demand said it has named Rachel Glaser as its new CFO, and Tawn Albright as its EVP of Corporate Development. Glaser was most recently CFO of Move, Inc., and also served as COO and CFO of MyLife.com, in addition to serving at Yahoo and The Walt Disney Company. Albright had previously been CEO and founding partner of Rockhouse Partners, and also had served at Etix.
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Factual Ties With Goodway Group
Los Angeles-based Factual, the data startup which has a giant cloud based database of location-based information about businesses, said Thursday that it has partnered with Goodway Group. According to the two, Goodway is working with Factual to provide a personalized ad delivery experience for mobile users worldwide. Financial details of the deal were not announced. Goodway gets access to information on users about geographic, demographic, and behavioral characteristics, affinities to specific re (More info...)
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Teledyne Wins $67.4M Army Contract
Thousand Oaks-based Teledyne Technologies is reporting a $67.4M Army contract win this morning, via its subsidiary, Teledyne Brown Engineering. Teledyne said that Teledyne Brown won a $67.4M U.S. Army Task Order, from the U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command/Army Forces Strategic Command (USASMDC/ARSTRAT). The contract covers testing, validation, analyses, flight and ground test data collection, live fire test and evaluation, and other efforts for missile defense weapon systems.
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Freedom Innovations Plans Hiring, Expansion In Irvine
Irvine-based Freedom Innovations, a developer of prosthetic devices for lower limb amputees, said Thursday that it is planning a bit hiring boost in Irvine, after addition of a new, 3,500 square foot manufacturing facility. The company said it plans to add 39 new employees this year at the location. The company already said it has hired 20 new staff during the first quarter. It has 41,000 square feet in Irvine at its headquarters.
posted on Friday, May 1, 2015(Full story)