Wednesday, September 16, 2015Amplify.LA, TenOneTen See Exit At Mapsense, As Apple Picks Up Mapping CompanyLos Angeles-based startup accelerator Amplify.LA and local Los Angeles venture investment firm TenOneTen Ventures have both scored an exit, at mapping visualization technology developer Mapsense. According to multiple reports, Mapsense was just acquired by Apple, in a deal worth between $25M and $30M. Neither Mapsense, its investors, nor Apple have commented on the deal. Mapsense lists TenOneTen, Amplify.LA, AmplifyLA's Chris Olson, and Kris Bjonerud (Amplify, CrossCut) as investors; Paul Brica (More info...)
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HelloTech Gets $12.5MLos Angeles-based HelloTech, the in-home, IT and technology help service founded by tech veteran Richard Wolpert, has raised $12.5M in a new funding round. The funding was led by Madrona Venture Group, and also included Upfront Ventures, CrossCut Venturs, and Accel partners. HelloTech said it will use the funding to aggressively expand its tech support service. The startup uses college students in order to provide in home technical support, with a focus on older users. The company said its expan (More info...)
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VUBIQUITY Buys Warner Bros. UnitLos Angeles-based VUBIQUITY, a content monetization service provider for the entertainment and media industry, said Wednesday that it is buying the Digital End-To-End Technology (DETE) unit of Warner Bros. Technical Operations. DETE is a provider of managed content technology services. Financial terms of the buy were not disclosed. VUBIQUITY said it is acquiring DETE to help service its clients, including Warner Bros. itself.
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Fullscreen To Launch Subscription Video-On-Demand ServiceLos Angeles-based Fullscreen announced plans to launch its own, subscription video-on-demand service on Wednesday, with plans to show both its own original and third party content. Details on the release date and pricing have not been announced. Fullscreen, which is led by George Strompolos, is now part of Otter Media, which is backed by AT&T and the Chernin Group. Fullscreen was acquired by Chernin Group and AT&T in September of 2014, and since then has been busy buying up other, online video a (More info...)
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Amazon Prime Now Expands To Los Angeles, OCAmazon.com has expanded its one hour, instant delivery service, Amazon Prime Now, to Los Angeles and Orange County, saying Wednesday that it has begun offering customers in the area with the near-instant delivery of products from Amazon warehouses to Amazon Prime members. Amazon said it will make "thousands" of products from its catalog available for delivery from four new Prime Now hubs in Southern California. In addition, Amazon said it will begin offering up local deliveries from such stores (More info...)
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Moviepilot Raises $16M In Series B FundingMoviepilot, the movie and entertainment website led by Tobi Bauckhage, has raised $16M to help the company expand into gaming content and social video. According to Moviepilot, the funding was led by French publisher Webedia, and also included T-Venture of America and the company's other investors. Moviepilot's entertainment site is aimed at millennials, and offers up movie-related content. The company says is now is seeing around 25 million unique monthly visitors, and around 30 million fans on (More info...)
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Amgen Buys Dezima For Up To $1.55 BillionThousand Oaks-based Amgen announced this morning that it is in a deal to acquire Netherlands-based Dezima Pharma B.V., in a deal worth up to $1.55 billion. Dezima Pharma is a biotechnology company developing cholesterol-lowering drugs. Amgen said it will pay $300M in cash at closing, and up to $1.25 billion in additional payments based on development and sales milestones for Dezima. Dezima's products are in Phase 2b trails, and are used for reducing low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) i (More info...)
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SGN Launches New Cookie Jam Ad CampaignLos Angeles-based social game developer SGN said Tuesday that it has launched a new, advertising campaign for its hit Cookie Jam, featuring actor/comedian Dr. Ken Jeong. SGN said it will be using the advertising spots on TV, mobile, and social to promote its Cookie Jam game and further broaden the audience for its title. SGN did not say how much it is investing in those ads, but said it is funding the push via its recent, $130M strategic investment deal. SGN said the new ads were created by LA-b (More info...)
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Hyperloop Technologies Names CEO, Looks To Raise $80MLos Angeles-based Hyperloop Technologies, one of the companies looking to bring Elon Musk's concept of the Hyperloop, high speed transportation technology to life, has named Rob Lloyd as its new CEO. Lloyd was most recently President of Cisco Systems, and is also an investor in the company. Hyperloop Technologies also said that it has added Emily White--most recently, COO of Snapchat--has joined the company as an advisor and board observer. White also had been at Facebook and Google. Hyperloop i (More info...)
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Xencor, Amgen In $1.7 Billion DealThousand Oaks-based Amgen, and Monrovia, California-based Xencor said this morning they are in a strategic collaboration worth as much as $1.7 billion to Xencor, to develop and commercialize cancer immunotherapy and inflammation drugs. The two said that Amgen will pay Xencor $45M upfront, with the potential of up to $1.7 billion based on certain regulatory and sales milestones, to combine Amgen's target discovery and protein therapeutics efforts with Xencor's XmAb b ispecific technology platform (More info...)
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Giftfund Launches Mobile Gifting AppA new, Los Angeles mobile app, Giftfund, said Tuesday that it has launched a new, mobile gifting app, which can help users crowdfunding group gifts. The mobile app developer, led by Mel Basar, said its app lets users band together to contribute money toward joint gifts to others. The app runs on iOS and Android, and offers up its own catalog of products and gifts, letting users pool their funds to buy those products. The new mobile app was created by IT management service provider Alliant Techno (More info...)
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Hercules Technology Growth Capital Opens Southern California OfficeHercules Technology Growth Capital, a venture debt financing company that serves the venture capital-backed startup market, said today that it is expanding into Southern California. According to the company, it has opened up a Los Angeles office, specifically aimed at tapping into the huge amount of venture capital investments in the Southern California region. The new office is being led by Tim Barnes, formerly of Silicon Valley Bank. HTGC is based in Palo Alto. The company typically provides v (More info...)
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