Tuesday, November 10, 2015Report: Fidelity Writes Down Investment in SnapchatA report Tuesday in the Financial Times said that investment giant Fidelity has written its investment in Los Angeles-based Snapchat by 25 percent, citing data from a Morningstar report. Snapchat--arguably, the most visible "unicorn" startup in Southern California--had been valued at $15 billion in its last fundraising round. It's unclear why Fidelity wrote down the value of its investment in the disappearing messaging service. Snapchat, along with other technology unicorns, have been seeing inc (More info...)
posted on Tuesday, November 10, 2015(Full story)
Amazon Prime Now Launches Restaurant Delivery In LAAmazon.com said this morning that it has just launched restaurant delivery using its Prime Now app in Los Angeles, in select LA zip codes. Amazon said that the new service makes Los Angeles its third and largest city where it is offering up its restaurant delivery. The company said that right now, it is offering up delivery in Santa Monica, West Los Angeles and Venice, with additional neighborhoods including Culver City, downtown, and Hollywood coming online soon. The service is currently being (More info...)
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Former LA Tech Champion Percival Takes Silicon Beach Experience To NorwaySean Percival, who was once among Silicon Beach's most visible startup entrepreneurs and activists, is taking his experience starting companies in Southern California to Norway--as the head of a new, seed stage venture fund. 500 Startups said today that it is raising a $15M, seed stage fund for Norway, covering Stockholm, Copenhagen, and Oslo, which will be headed by Percival, who ran technology gossip site Lalawag, and also had served at Docstoc, Tsavo Media, Wittlebee, Science Inc., Mahalo, an (More info...)
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VolJet Launches Private Jet MarketplaceIn the second, on-demand marketplace aimed at private jet travel to launch in the last few days, Los Angeles-based VolJet says it has launched a new marketplace, to help consumers book private jet travel. The startup, led by Susan Sloan, said it has created an online system which combines both private jet and commercial airline travel, aimed at luxury air travelers. The company specifically said it is looking to offer up prices "well below typical charter rates", with features such as allowing u (More info...)
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ReVision Optics' Hits Milestone In Approval ProcessLake Forest-based ReVision Optics, which is developing vision-correcting, corneal inlays, said it has reached a milestone in its efforts to win FDA approval. According to ReVision, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has accepted and deemed fileable the company's premarket approval (PMA) submission for its Raindrop Near Vision Inlay, which is aimed at correctig presbyopia. The company says it now has a goal of FDA approval for the medical device in 2016. ReVision is venture backed by Can (More info...)
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Microsemi: PMC-Sierra Accepts New BidAliso Viejo-based Microsemi reports this morning that the board of directors of PMC-Sierra has acknowledged the company's cash and stock offer for PMC is a "superior proposal", and is now looking at Skyworks Solution for a counter offer. Microsemi has offered up $9.04 in cash and 0.0771 of its common stock for eah share of PMC. Skyworks prior offer was $10.50 per share, all in cash for PMC. Skyworks has three days to respond to PMC-Sierra, according to Microsemi. Microsemi is a developer of anal (More info...)
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Belkin Targets High End, Luxury Cars With New ChargerPlaya Vista-based electronics accessory maker Belkin said this morning that it is launching a new line of in-car chargers, specifically aimed at high end, luxury cars. Belkin said its new Car Power Valet and Dual Car Power Valet chargers work on the iPhone, iPod, and iPad, and adjusts the amount of power needed using an embedded chip for those different devices. The devices are made out of machine, aluminum and stainless steel, which the company specifically said it designed to match luxury vehi (More info...)
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Printronix Sells Off Thermal Printer Business LineIrvine-based industrial printing hardware manufacturer Printronix has agreed to sell of its Thermal/AIDC business line to TSC Auto ID Technology Co., Ltd., the company said Monday. Financial details of the deal were not disclosed. According to Printronix, TSC will acquire all intellectual and branding rights to Printronix' Industrial Thermal stationary and mobile printers, barcode verification, RFID, and PrintCart product lines, in a company that will be called Printronix Auto-ID Inc. Printronix (More info...)
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Zadara Wins European UtilityIrvine-based cloud-storage provider Zadara Storage reports this morning that it has been selected by a German electricity and gas company, RWE, as a customer. According to Zadara, its Virtual Private Storage Array (VPSA) products have been selected by RWE to replace an existing, EMC installation, to support SAP and a number of other applications. Financial impact of the win was not announced. Zadara is led by Nelson Nahum.
posted on Tuesday, November 10, 2015(Full story)