Thursday, January 28, 2016


Steamboat Ventures Seeks New $100M Fund
Steamboat Ventures, the venture capital firm linked to The Walt Disney Company, is seeking to raised $100M for its latest fund, Steamboat Ventures V. The investment firm--which once was located in Burbank--has shifted its operations to Hong Kong, and now looks to be focusing strongly on overseas rather than domestic investments. Steamboat's US portfolio has included such local companies as Edgecast, GameSalad, GoPro, Sometrics, and Fastclick; however, the vast majority of its efforts now appear (More info...)
posted on Thursday, January 28, 2016(Full story)

SnapMD Raises $5.3M
Los Angeles-based SnapMD, the developer of a virtual healthcare and telemedicine platform, has raised $5.3M in a Series A funding, the company said today. The funding came from Shea Ventures, TYLT Labs and Whittier Ventures. The startup, led by tech veteran Dave Skibinski, operates a service which helps healthcare providers reach out to patients through a mobile app and cloud software. The company said the funding will go towards adding talent to its team, sales, and future technology developmen (More info...)
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SpaceX, NASA Test Parachute Landings
Hawthorne-based SpaceX and NASA said late Wednesday that SpaceX has tested the parachutes that it will initially use to land the Space Crew Dragon spacecraft on earth. According to NASA, the testing--done from a C-130 cargo aircraft--is part of the final development and certification work with NASA's Commercial Crew Program. NASA is initially returning its crew back to earth in the Dragon using those parachutes, a tried-and-true technology for the space agency; SpaceX is hoping at some point in (More info...)
posted on Thursday, January 28, 2016(Full story)

eKomi Expands Board After Investment From Goldman Sachs
Los Angeles- and Berlin-based eKomi, a developer of software to solicit ratings and reviews from e-commerce customers, has added Anastassia Lauterbach to its board of directors. Lauterbach has served on the boards of Dun & Bradstreet, Kaspersky Labs, Intel, and Star Alliance, and been an executive at Qualcomm, Deutsche Telekom, T-Mobile International, Daimler Chrysler Services, and McKinsey & Co. eKomi is led by Michael Ambros, and says it is headquartered in Berlin and Los Angeles with addition (More info...)
posted on Thursday, January 28, 2016(Full story)

SteelHouse Hits $130M In Revenues
Los Angeles-based advertising software developer SteelHouse said it had a $130M revenue run rate in 2015, after seeing a growth of 170% during the year, the company said Wednesday. The company, led by Mark Douglas, offers up software to help its clients with social, mobile, and display advertising. The company did not say why it has seen such a fast growth. Steelhouse is venture backed by Mercato Ventures, Greycroft Partners, and others, and says it has been profitable for more than two years.
posted on Thursday, January 28, 2016(Full story)