Monday, August 22, 2016


Cast & Crew Completes Caps Payroll Buy
Burbank-based Cast & Crew Entertainment Services, the provider of technology and payroll, and production management services for the entertainment industry, said on Monday that it has completed its acquisition of Culver City-based CAPS Payroll. Financial details of the acquisition--which had originally been announced in June--have not been announced. The acquisition was funded by Cast & Crew's controlling shareholder, technology investing and private equity firm Silver Lake. Both Cast & Crew and (More info...)
posted on Monday, August 22, 2016(Full story)

LA Dodgers Accelerator Names New Class
The LA Dodgers Sports Accelerator, the startup accelerator program run by the Dodgers organization in conjunction with R/GA, has announced the five participants in its second class of startups today. According to the accelerator, it has added Greenfly (content creation and distribution); Keemotion (sports video streaming for broadcasters, professional leagues, and universities); ShotTracker (basketball stats); Renegade (sports detergents); and WSC Technologies (personalized sports video platform (More info...)
posted on Monday, August 22, 2016(Full story)

Kobe Bryant, Jeff Stibel Team On New $100M Venture Capital Fund In LA
In an interesting intersection of LA's world of technology, investing, and sports, Kobe Bryant, the LA Laker star, and technology startup veteran Jeff Stibel have teamed up to create a new, $100M venture capital fund, to invest in technology, media, and data companies. According to the two, the new firm, Bryant Stibel, will be entirely funded by Stibel and Bryant. Stibel is a very active angel investor in Los Angeles, in addition to having been CEO of D&B Credibility, among other companies. Brya (More info...)
posted on Monday, August 22, 2016(Full story)

MabVax Raises $9.4M In PIPE
San Diego-based oncology drug developer MabVax Therapeutics says it has raised $9.4M in a funding, in a combination of a public offering of its common stock and Series F preferred stock and warrants. The publicly traded company, listed on the Nasdaq as MBVX, said the funding came from OPKO Health. MabVax said the Series F preferred stock went for $4.81 per share of common stock, and included a warrant at $5.55 per share and $6.29 per share.
posted on Monday, August 22, 2016 (More)(Full story)

Platinum Equity Buys Two Chinese Manufacuring Companies
Los Angeles-based private equity investor Platinum Equity announced today that it has acquired two Chinese businesses from Broadway Industrial Group Limited. Platinum Equity said it acquired Foam Plastic Solutions (FPS) and Flow Control Devices (FCD) from Broadway Industrial. FPS supplies protective packaging, insulation and component products to the consumer electronics, automotive, medical and other end-markets, and FCS provides valves, fittings, sensors, and related components. Platinum Equit (More info...)
posted on Monday, August 22, 2016(Full story)

Vroozi Deploys In The UK
Los Angeles-based mobile procurement software developer Vroozi said this morning that it has deployed its software in the UK, as part of an online marketplace for the U.K. Government, called G-Cloud. Vroozi said it is rolling out its solution via U.K. channel partner voom!. The U.K.'s G-Cloud is similar to the US GSA listing: Vroozi said G-Cloud listing means that any public sector group can buy items or services without running a full tender or competition procurement process.
posted on Monday, August 22, 2016(Full story)

ViaSat Wins Navy Contract
Carlsbad-based Viasat announced this morning that it has received a new, military contract award, from the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command (SPAWAR), to modernize the U.S. Navy's UHF satellite communications network. The contract is worth $48,270,580. ViaSat said it will help support the sustainment and modernization of the joint UHF military satcom network integrated control system, UHF satcom channel controllers and user terminals.
posted on Monday, August 22, 2016(Full story)

Virtium Aims At Industrial Market With New SSDs
Rancho Santa Margarita-based solid state storage developer Virtium says it has launched a new set of products for the industrial and embedded storage market. According to Virtium, its new TuffDrive SSDs feature up to 256GB capacity and low power consumption, and are specifically designed for the eUSB 10-Pin form factor, for industrial and embedded applications. The company said that, unlike most USB storage devices, the company's new products are specifically designed for the industrial market. (More info...)
posted on Monday, August 22, 2016(Full story)

CalAmp Launches Industrial Cellular Routers
Irvine-based CalAmp said late last week that it has launched two new cellular router products, aimed at the industrial market. According to CalAmp, its new Vanguard 400 and Vanguard 600 are two cost-optimized cellular routers designed to provide reliable wireless connectivity for monitoring and control of industrial fixed assets. The two devices are aimed at use in smart grid and remote site applications, where users require either primary, temporary, or back up internet connectivity using 3G. P (More info...)
posted on Monday, August 22, 2016(Full story)