Friday, September 23, 2016Renovate America Completes $320M Bond Deal For Green ProjectsSan Diego-based Renovate America, which provides residential Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) financing--which allows homeowners to complete home energy upgrades and renovations paid via their property tax bill--said on Friday that it has securitized $320M in bonds. The company said the latest deal brings its total issued bonds to $1.67 billion.
According to Renovate America, the new bonds represented 12,394 PACE assessments in 34 California counties. Renovate America offers up loans for (More info...)
posted on Friday, September 23, 2016(Full story)
Oculus Founder Palmer Luckey Linked To Anti-Clinton Meme GroupOculus VR founder Palmer Luckey has been linked to a pro-Trump, anti-Clinton group, which circulates "dirty memes" about Hillary Clinton, according to a report on Thursday. According to the report, Luckey is using his substantial fortune to malign Hillary Clinton via social media via efforts led by Milo Yiannopoulos--the social media agitator who was banned from Twitter for harassing actress Leslie Jones. Oculus was started in Orange County, but moved to Silicon Valley shortly after it was acqui (More info...)
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Certona Scores $30M In Growth FundingSan Diego-based Certona, a developer of personalization software which uses machine learning and predictive algorithms, has raised $30M in a combined growth investment and minority recapitalization. The funding came from private equity investor Primus Capital. Certona said the funding will go towards growing market share, product development, and expanding services and support. Certona was founded in 2004. The company is led by CEO and co-founder Meyar Sheik; the company's co-founder and CTO is (More info...)
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SpaceX: Rocket Failure Linked To Cryogenic Helium System BreachHawthorne-based SpaceX said on Friday that it believes the catastrophic failure of one of its Falcon 9 rockets last month were related to a "large breach" in the cryogenic helium system of the second stage, liquid oxygen tank on the Falcon 9. The company released an extensive update on the failure at Cape Canaveral, which occurred as it was preparing a "static launch test" of the rocket. That test had not yet been started. SpaceX said that the majority of the debris from the accident has been "b (More info...)
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SGN Becomes Jam City, Eyes IPO, As It Nears $400M In RevenuesLos Angeles-based mobile game developer SGN has renamed itself Jam City, and says it is expecting $400M in revenues next year--and is eyeing a possible IPO. The company--led by former MySpace founder Chris DeWolfe--also said it has acquired the game rights to the comic strip "Peanuts", which Jam City will release as a new mobile game later this year. Financial details of that licensing deal were not announced. Jam City said the old name of the company "lacked the spirit" of its products. "Jam" r (More info...)
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Esri To Power Maps For Ocean XPRIZERedlands-based Esri, the developer of mapping and GIS tools, has linked up with Marina Del Rey-based prize competition operator the XPRIZE Foundation, to use its tools as part of the Shell Ocean Discovery XPRIZE. The two said that Esri has donated its ArcGIS software for use in mapping efforts in the prize, which is aimed at creating autonomous, deep-sea mapping technology. As part of the partnership, teams competing in the prize will be required to submit their mapping data in ArcGIS format. Th (More info...)
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Triton Digital Wins Bloomberg MediaLos Angeles-based streaming media delivery provider Triton Digital has won the business of Bloomberg Media, the consumer facing arm of Bloomberg L.P., as part of a delivery, monetization, and measurement deal. Financial details of the partnership were not announced. The two companies said that Bloomberg Media is using Triton's technology to delivery financial information and news audio listeners, including using Triton's digital advertising platform and analytics software. The two said Bloomberg (More info...)
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Velocity Names General CounselLos Angeles-based Velocify, which develops a software platform used by sales teams to accelerate the handling of sales leads, has named Joel Ginsburg as its new General Counsel. Ginsburg was most recently Vice President and Deputy General Counsel at Guidance Software. The company said Ginsburg will be negotiating contracts, managing the company's commercial transactions, creating internal processes with sales, finance and HR, and managing outside counsel on other general corporate matters.
posted on Friday, September 23, 2016(Full story)