Friday, February 26, 2016Three SoCal Startups That Beat Snapchat To $100M In RevenuesVenice-based Snapchat might be the darling of the technology startup scene, but there are at least three, privately held startups--and maybe, more--in Southern California who recently passed $100M in revenues, according to a look through recent announcements. Snapchat had reportedly been on track to hit a $100M run rate--a longtime milestone--in 2015, however, has not announced yet if it hit that goal. However, three local startups--OpenX, Steelhouse, and Thrive Market all have pushed past the $ (More info...)
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Crexi Collects $4.3M For Commercial Real Estate MarketplaceVenice, California-based Crexi, a new startup which operates an online, commercial real estate marketplace, has raised $4.3M in a seed funding round, the company said this week. The funding came from Lerer Hippeau Ventures, Freestyle Capital, TenOneTen Ventures, Founder Collective, Karlin Ventures, Leon Capital Group and angels. Crexi, which was founded and is led by Michael DeGiorgio, said it has created a marketplace aimed at commercial real estate brokers, which helps them with everything fro (More info...)
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Interview with Asher Hunt, Overnight
Are you one of those last minute travelers, who doesn't make any plans until the last minute for your trips--or with you didn't have to? If so, Los Angeles-based Overnight (www.joinovernight.com) is for you. The startup, which launched this week, is hoping to find both travelers and hosts who don't want to deal with long term plans, and who can respond immediately to finding and offering up a place to stay for the night. We caught up with Asher Hunt, CEO of the company, to learn more about how (More info...)
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55Haitao Gets $15M For Chinese ShoppingPasadena-based 55Haitao.com, a Chinese shopping site which acts as a forum and shopping guide for Chinese consumers, has raised $15M in a Series A financing, the company said today. The funding was led by JJ Capital, a Chinese venture capital firm. The startup--which is based in Pasadena, but has 90 percent of its customers from China--said the funding will help to fund its editorial content intiiatives and expand operations. The company said it helps such e-commerce provider as Amazon.com, Drug (More info...)
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Legend 3D Launches Virtual Reality DivisionHollywood visual and special effects company Legend 3D is jumping feet first into the world of virtual reality, saying on Thursday that it is expanding its efforts in the area with a dedicated virtual reality divivision, Legend VR. Legend 3D said the new division will build tools to help studios, documentary filmmakers, retailers, and brands create high-performance interactive VR content. Legend 3D said it will be helped in those efforts via a partnership with virtual reality content redistribut (More info...)
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Medical Devices Pioneer Al Mann Passes Away At 90Alfred E. Mann, the medical devices pioneer, investor, and philantropist, has passed away at the age of 90. Mann was Mann behind such companies as Mannkind, MiniMed, Second Sight Medical, Bioness, IncuMed, PerQFlo, RoundTrip, Advanced Bionics, Pacesetter Systems, and many other medical devices companies in Los Angeles, and was by far the region's most prolific creators of medical device startups. According to his companies, Mann had founded a total of 14 companies during his career, nine of whic (More info...)
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Rincon Backs Software QA DeveloperSanta Barbara-based venture investor Rincon Venture Partners is one of the investors in San Francisco-based Rainforest QA, which recently announced a $12M, Series A funding. Rainforest QA develops tools to help automate software quality assurance (SQA) tasks. Rincon Venture Partners was joined by Bessemer Venture Partners, which led the round, plus Industry Ventures, and Marc Benioff of Salesforce.com.
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PatientSafe Solutions Names Cofounder As CEOSan Diego-based healthcare software developer PatientSafe Solutions said Thursday that it has named company co-founder Si Luo as its new CEO, in addition to his existing position as President. Reason for the shift was not given by the company. Luo replaces Joseph Conduroso, who left PatientSafe Solutions in November of last year. Conduroso had been at PatientSafe since 2011.
posted on Friday, February 26, 2016(Full story)