Tuesday, September 22, 2015


Jukin Media Buys People Are Awesome
Los Angeles-based user generated content rights acquirer Jukin Media announced today that it has acquired the online video brand, People Are Awesome, which features online videos of people doing everything from wingsuit flying to cliff diving and more. Financial details of the buy were not announced. Jukin Media said People Are Awesome has more than 400,000 YouTube susbcribers, and more than 240 million views. People Are Awseom's co-founders, Jean Coffey and Daniel Rice, will join Jukin Media as (More info...)
posted on Tuesday, September 22, 2015(Full story)

CoverHound Raises $33.3M
CoverHound, which has offices in Westlake Village, and is also one of the portfolio firms of Los Angeles-based venture investor Core Innovation Capital, has raised $33.3M in a Series C funding. The company now reportedly has a valuation of over $103M. CoverHound operates an online marketplace to compare and purchase insurance, has raised $33.3M more in a Series C funding, in a funding led by ACE Group, and also including RRE Ventures, Blumberg Capital, Core Innovation Capital, Route 66 Ventures (More info...)
posted on Tuesday, September 22, 2015 (More)(Full story)

Amazon Content Effort Pays Off With Five Emmys
Amazon.com, which has been investing in developing content out of its Los Angeles-based Amazon Studios arm, has scored five Emmy awards for its original content series, Transparent. Amazon--which opened up its Amazon Studios business out of Los Angeles back in 2010, said today that it would offer up a special sale on Amazon Prime membership on Friday, offering up the service for just $67.00. The awards came during the 67th Primetime Emmy Awards Sunday night. Access to Amazon's original content i (More info...)
posted on Tuesday, September 22, 2015(Full story)

Qualcomm Joins In $110M Funding For Cloudflare
San Diego-based Qualcomm is joining Google and Microsoft in a big, $110M funding round for Cloudflare, the provider of web site security and caching services. CloudFlare said the $110M round was led by Fidelity, and also included Google Capital, Microsoft, Baidu, and Qualcomm Incorporated. Qualcomm made the investment through Qualcomm Ventures. CloudFlare's service combine both caching and website performance tools, along with distributed denial of service (DDOS) protection and other security fe (More info...)
posted on Tuesday, September 22, 2015 (More)(Full story)

Demand Media Acquires LEAFtv
Santa Monica-based Demand Media is bolstering its efforts to reach out towards millennial women, and has acquired LEAFtv. Demand Media also said it has hired Geri Hirsch and Erin Falconer, the founders of LEAFtv, and will expand the LEAFtv brand. According to Demand Media, Hirsch and Falconer will be expanding the LEAFtv brand as Executive Editor and General Manager of LEAFtv, a move which will help it enhance its position in the categories of home, food, and fashion. Financial details of the d (More info...)
posted on Tuesday, September 22, 2015(Full story)

CrowdStrike Names New CFO, VP
Irvine-based cybersecurity software developer CrowdStrike announced this morning that it has named Burt Podbere as the company's new Chief Financial Officer, and Lisza Cuevas as its new Vice President of People. Podbere was most recently CFO of OpenDNS (acquired by Cisco), and also was at Net Optics (sold to Ixia) and Epocrates (IPO). CrowdStrike said that Gregg Marston, the company's current CFO, is retiring. Cuevas had previously served at Apple, Yahoo!, and Citrix Systems. CrowdStrike just ra (More info...)
posted on Tuesday, September 22, 2015(Full story)

LogicMonitor Opens New London Data Center
Santa Barbara-based infrastructure and performance monitoring software developer LogicMonitor said today that it has opened up a new, European data center, as part of an expansion of business in Europe. LogicMonitor said the new data center, which is located in London, allows it to offer a local presence in the European Union. LogicMonitor says it is specifically targeting the EU to offer up its software-as-a-service to companies still impacted by a slow economy recovery in the EU, to help them (More info...)
posted on Tuesday, September 22, 2015(Full story)

EnGenius Ships New IP Surveillance Cameras
Costa Mesa-based networking and telecommunications product developer EnGenius Technologies announced this morning that it has begun shipping a new product. EnGenius said it has rolled out a line of business class, IP surveillance cameras, aimed at use in indoor and outdoor video surveillance. The new Photon family cameras include 1MP CMOS sensors, infrared filters and illuminators, support for 720P video, and more. The company said the new products start at $249.00.
posted on Tuesday, September 22, 2015(Full story)