Monday, May 11, 2015Rowl Acquires Open MeSanta Monica-based event discovery app startup Rowl said Monday that it has acquired Open Me, a company which provides e-greeting cards and birthday and holiday reminders. Rowl said it paid $6M, consisting of 10 million shares of its common stock at $0.60 per share, for Open Me, which has around 140,000 daily active users. Open Me was venture backed by MySpace (Science, MySpace), Pritzker Group Venture Capital, United Talent Agency, Sky, along with others. Open Me was co-founded by Ilya Pozin.
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WiSpry Acquired By Hong Kong CompanyIrvine-based RF semiconductor developer WiSpry has been acquired by a Hong Kong-based electronics manufacturer, AAC Technologies, the two said this morning. Financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. WiSpry is a developer of tunable, MEMs-based radio frequency semiconductors used for antenna tuning and filtering. The companies said WiSpry will continue to develop its RF MEMS products as a subsidiary of AAC Technologies. WiSpry was venture backed by Acadia Woods Partners, American Ri (More info...)
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Grindr Seeks Sale, Says ReportLos Angeles-based gay dating app and website developer Grindr is looking for a buyer, according to Bloomberg. Bloomberg said that Grindr has hired investment banker Raine Group to advise the company on a sale. Grindr was founded by Joel Simkhai.
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Wag! Finds $2.45M For Dog Walking MarketplaceLos Angeles-based Wag!, the developer of a mobile, on-demand marketplace to find dog walkers, said last week that it has raised $2.45M in a seed funding round. The funding came from Freestyle Capital, Greylock, CrunchFund, Slow Ventures, Social Leverage, and RRE Ventures. Wag develops an app which lets users instantly find someone to walk their dog. The startup, led by Josh Viner, said it will use the funds to open up services in San Francisco and for further market expansion. Wag said it costs (More info...)
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Veritone Raises $34.0MNewport Beach-based Veritone, a provider of services to help companies with cross media advertising, recently raised $34.0M in a funding round. Details on that funding have not been announced. Veritone servs the broadcast and advertising market. The funding was recently disclosed in the PricewaterhouseCoopers/NVCA MoneyTree report.
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Ligand Buys Programs From Selexis SASan Diego-based Ligand Pharmaceuticals announced this morning that it has acquired more than 15 different programs from Selexis SA, for $4M in cash. Ligand--which develops a range of pharmaceuticals--said that it acquired a number of programs in various stages of development, ranging from preclinical through Phase 3 studies. Ligand said each of the programs is already fully funded by a development partner.
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Ceres Signs New Customer In HollandThousand Oaks-based agricultural biotechnology and seed developer Ceres reported a wint his morning in Holland, with seed potato developer HZPC Holland BV. According to Ceres, it has licensed its Persephone bioinformatics software to HZPC to support that company's R&D and product development. Financial details of the win were not disclosed. Ceres' software is used for storing, accessing, and exploring DNA databases.
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Kofax, Lexmark Get Nod On Acquisition DealIrvine-based Kofax Limited and Lexmark International said late Friday that the two companies have received Hart-Scott-Rodino (HSR) Antitrust clearance on the proposed acquisition of Kofax by Lexmark. The two had announced in March that Lexmark would pay $11.00 per share in cash--or approximately $1 billion--for Kofax. the two companies said that it also recently received approval from the German Federal Cartel Office on the proposed transaction. The two are now expecting a close of the deal on o (More info...)
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Maxwell Technologies Names CFOSan Diego-based Maxwell Technologies, a provider of energy storage, microelectronics, and other products, said this morning that it has named David Lyle as its new Senior Vice President, Chief Financial Officer, Treasurer, and Secretary. Lyle was most recently CFO of Entropic Communications, and also had been CFO of RF Magic. Lyle also has been CFO at Syray Wireless and Mobilian Corporation, along with serving at Intel Capital, among other companies. Entropic was recently acquired by MaxLinear.
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