Monday, March 14, 2016Core Innovation Capital Gets Speedy Exit At Honest DollarLos Angeles-based fintech venture investor Core Innovation Capital has scored a quick exit at one of its portfolio companies, Honest Dollar, just a year after its seed funding. Goldman Sachs said this morning that it has acquired Honest Dollar, which will become part of its Investment Management division. Financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. Honest Dollar offered up retirement plans for small and medium sized businesses, using IRAs rather than 401Ks. Core Innovation Capital had (More info...)
posted on Monday, March 14, 2016(Full story)
Amplify, MuckerLab, and Techstars Among Top Accelerators, Says ReportA project created to rank startup accelerators, has put three, Southern California startup accelerators among the top programs in the U.S. for startup accelerators, according to results released at SXSW over the weekend. The Seed Accelerator Rankings Project, created by Rice University professor Yael Hochberg, and University of North Carolina lecturer Susan Cohen, placed Amplify, MuckerLab, and Techstars--which has operated a number of startup accelerators in LA, including the Disney Accelerator (More info...)
posted on Monday, March 14, 2016(Full story)
Clearlake Capital Targets Food, Health and Wellness InvestmentsSanta Monica-based investor Clearlake Capital Group said Friday that it has launched a new effort to make investment in emerging food and health & wellness trends, through Better For You Holdings. Clearlake said the new venture is being set up in conjunction with food industry veterans Jason Cohen and Leigh Feuerstein. Cohen and Feuerstein are behind Halen Brands, which is behind such brands as Mamma Says Biscotti, Sensible Portions Veggie Straws, Rickland Orchards Greek Yogurt Snacks, Dippin' C (More info...)
posted on Monday, March 14, 2016(Full story)
United Airlines Goes Green With Biofuel Use At LAXUnited Airlines on Friday that it has become the first U.S. airline to begin use of commercial-scale volumes of sustainable aviation biofuel for regularly scheduled flights, through at effort at Los Angeles International Airport. United said the first flight, United Flight 708, between LAX and San Francisco, was entirely fueled by sustainable biofuel, and that it will be operating flights between LAX and SFO for the next two weeks entirely using that biofuel as part of the effort. United also sa (More info...)
posted on Monday, March 14, 2016(Full story)
Honest Co. Responds To Investigative ReportLos Angeles-based Honest Co., the natural baby products retailer founded by Jessica Alba, is facing a major crisis after an investigative report published by the Wall Street Journal on Thursday, which claimed the Honest Co.'s laundry detergent uses sodium laurel sulfate (SLS)--an ingredient that the company had pledged not to use. In a response, The Honest Co.'s Alba said she was "extremely disappointed" by the article, which she said was "full of misrepresentations about The Honest Company". Th (More info...)
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NantKwest Names VPCulver City-based NantKwest, a developer of biopharmaceuticals for treating cancer, infection, and inflammatory disease, has named a new VP. NantKwest said today that it has appointed Fatih M. Uckun, M.D., as its Vice President of Research and Clinical Development. Uckun was previously President of Ares Pharmaceuticals, and was professor in the Department of Pediatrics at the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California and head of Translational Research in Leukemia and Lymph (More info...)
posted on Monday, March 14, 2016(Full story)