Friday, April 15, 2016Former Surf Air Founder's New Flight Startup, Beacon, Shuts DownBeacon, the new, all-you-can fly startup led by former Surf Air founder Wade Eyerly, has shut down, after burning through all of its cash--and never getting off the ground. According to a report from TechCrunch, Beacon apparently was unable to cover all of its expenses as it ramped up its operations, having relied on "pre-selling" spots on its all-you-can-fly service--but finding that most of those people who had paid a deposit to reserve a spot on the airline were unwilling to sign up for its m (More info...)
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Gatsby: Tackling Shopping Cart Abandonment With Social Sharing
How do you help online brand owners both reduce the abandonment of a shopping cart by online shoppers—and also get the word out about their brands? Los Angeles-based Gatsby (www.thinkgatsby.com) has come up with a way to combine both ways to promote social sharing, as well as reduce shopping cart abandonment, via discounts which change depending on your social influence and sharing activity. We spoke with co-founder Brett Bernstein.
Explain how Gatsby works?
Brett Bernstein: First and (More info...)
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Ponder, Backed by Tinder Founders, Launches Photo, Video Sharing AppLos Angeles-based Ponder, a new startup backed by Tinder founders Sean Rad and Justin Mateen, along with Mark Cuban and Greylock Partners, has launched a new photo and video sharing app. The new app applies the swipe left-and-right ethos of Tinder to photos and videos, letting users "push" or "pass" on any photo and video to match users up to other people with similar tastes. Ponder said its app focuses on the quality of photos and videos, rather than how many followers one might have. The new s (More info...)
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Illumina Creates New, $100M Venture FundSan Diego-based life sciences equipment maker Illumina has created a new, $100M venture capital fund, the company said Thursday afternoon, which will focus on investments in early stage companies that are pioneering new applications of nucleic acid sequencing, developing products that will expand the genomics ecosystem, and utilizing genomics to improve human health. According to Illumina, it will commit $100M over 10 years to the new fund, to be run by new venture capital firm Illumina Ventures (More info...)
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Sysrepublic Acquired By ApprissTorrance-based Sysrepublic, a developer of analytics software used by retailers to reduce shrinkage and returns fraud, has been acquired by Kentucky-based Appriss. Financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. Appriss said it will merge Sysrepublic into its retail division, The Retail Equation, focused on retail exception-based reporting and return fraud solutions.
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Nativo Snags Google Vet As VP of ProductLos Angeles-based native advertising technology developer Nativo said this week that it has named Eugene Cherny, a former Google executive, as its new Vice President of Product. Nativo said that Cherny was previously manger of Google's TrueView In-display product, a native ad unit used on YouTube and Google. Nativo is led by Justin Choi, and venture backed by Greycroft Partners, Signia Ventures, Bertelsmann Digital Media Investment, and e.ventures.
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Glaukos Co-founder Retiring From BoardLaguna Hills-based medical device developer Glaukos Corporation reported late Thursday that co-founder Olav Bergheim is retiring from its board of directors. Bergheim has been a member of the company's board of directors since he co-founded Glaukos in 1998. Glaukos said Bergheim will remain on the board for the remainder of his term, which runs until June 2nd. Bergheim said he is retiring to spend more time with Fjord Ventures, a life sciences accelerator. Glaukos develops medical technology for (More info...)
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Lieberman Software Teams With FireEyeLos Angeles-based cybersecurity software developer LIeberman Software said this week that it has partnered with FireEye, to better respond to data breaches and threats. According to the company, its new integration triggers rapid, real time credential rotation for systems, whenever a cyber threat is identified, making it more difficult for attackers to gain access to systems.
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Southern California VC Totals Drop To $810.5M In Q1Southern California startups raised $810.5M in venture capital in Q1, according to the latest MoneyTree Report by PricewaterhouseCoopers and the National Venture Capital Association, based on data from Thomson Reuters. Southern California venture totals were down significantly from the $1.38 billion raised in Q4, and even lower than Q1 of 2015, when $2.01 billion was raised in the region.
Los Angeles had $399.1M in funds invested, across 47 deals; Orange County had $158M invested across 15 d (More info...)
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