Tuesday, October 11, 2016FameBit Acquired By GoogleLos Angeles-based FameBit, the online marketplace which helps brands connect with YouTube influencers, has been acquired by Google, the company's backer--Science--announced on Tuesday afternoon. Financial terms of the acquisition were not announced. Famebit--founded by David Kierzkowski and Agnes Kozera--first received funding from Science in 2014. Science's Mike Jones said that FameBit's acquisition is the third for the company this year, including the acquisition of HelloSociety by The New Yor (More info...)
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Invoca Sets New CEO From SalesforceSanta Barbara-based Invoca, which develops call intelligence software used to match affiliate marketers with phone leads and automate call marketing, has named Gregg Johnson as CEO. Johnson was previously head of Salesforce Marketing CLoud's social marketing product line, and also worked on Salesforce Chatter. He also has served at Boston Consulting Group, among with other companies. Invoca is venture backed by Morgan Stanley Alternative Investment Partners, Accel Partners, Upfront Ventures, Rin (More info...)
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TomTom Adds Live Traffic In Los AngelesNavigation device developer TomTom is continuing its efforts to fight back against such free navigation apps as Google Maps and Waze, with new real-time traffic and travel information in Los Angeles, as well as a host of other cities. According to TomTom, it added seven new U.S. cities, including Los Angeles, which shows current average speeds, snapshots of road information, accidents, and more. The company says it uses data from its over 450 million deployed GPS devices to power the information (More info...)
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Interview with Steve Seigel, Hatched
What's the difference between pitching your startup on television, versus pitching your startup in real life? And how do you best take advantage of a TV audience to promote your startup? We caught up with Steve Seigel, the executive producer and one of the stars of the new startup pitch program Hatched (www.hatchedtv.com), to learn more about those areas, as well as how he ended up going from investment banking, to running a healthcare startup here in LA, to hosting a television pitch show. Ha (More info...)
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j2 Global Acquires Four More CompaniesLos Angeles-based Internet services and online publishing giant j2 Global says it has acquired four more companies, all completed in the third quarter of 2016. According to j2 Global, it has acquired FrontSafe, a backup provider in Denmark; MaxEmail, a fax provider here in the US; DataProtect, a backup provider in Ireland, and Dakota Backup, backup provider here in the US. Financial details of those acquisitions were not announced. j2 Global said that the financial impact of the deals to j2 are (More info...)
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New Service Makes Using Coworking Spaces Easier, More Flexible In LABLANKSPACES? Cross Campus? Next Space? Which coworking space to set up shop in for the day? Now you don't have to make that choice, with the expansion of a program, called Deskpass.com, into Los Angeles. The program lets would-be co-workers buy a monthly pass to any of a number of local coworking spaces, where they are free to go and work in, for as many as five visits per month per location, without having to commit to a monthly plan at that individual coworking space. So far, Los Angeles cowor (More info...)
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Arivale Brings Gene Sequencing Driven Wellness To Los AngelesArivale, a health and wellness startup founded by genetic sequencing pioneer Dr. Leroy Hood, has launched itself into the Los Angeles market, as its first expansion beyond its home market of Seattle. The startup combines whole genome sequencing with clinical labs, lifestyle, nutrition and activity levels, along with data analysis software, and provides counselor-driven, health coaching services aimed at long-term health and wellness of its clients.
According to the company's CEO, Clayton Lewis- (More info...)
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Greenwave Systems Nears $100M in Revenues, 280 EmployeesIrvine-based Greenwave Systems, the developer of Internet-of-Things (IoT) software led by Martin Manniche, says today that it is on track to reach a $100M run rate in 2017, and now has 280 employees. The company is backed by EDBI, Singapore Technologies Telemedia, The Westly Group and E.ON. and recently raised $60M in funding. The company also just acquired Predixion Software.
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Western Digital Rolls Out First Branded Solid State DrivesIrvine-based Western Digital has rolled out its very first, WD-branded solid state disk drives (SSDs), the company announced this morning. Western Digital said its new WD Blue and WD Green solid state drives are aimed at the PC and workstation market. The WD Blue offers capacities of 250GB, 500GB, and 1TB, and are performance driven, with 545MB/s and 525MB/s sequential read and write speeds. The drives start at $79.00. The WD Green SSD is available in 120GB and 240GB, and offer up sequential rea (More info...)
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HomeMe Gets $3.2M For Rental Screening AppLos Angeles-based rental screening app developer HomeMe dislosed this morning that it has raised $3.2M in a funding round. The funding was led by Menlo Ventures. HomeMe develops a mobile app which lets renters find apartments, and then get pre-approval for those apartments. The company is led by Steelhouse founder Mark Douglas. The company has initially been launching its app in Texas.
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SmartDrive Wins Freight Hauling Firm Heyl Truck LinesSan Diego-based driver safety system developer SmartDrive Systems says it has scored another fleet win with freight hauler Heyl Truck Lines. Financial details of the win were not announced. SmartDrive said its systems will be deployed fleet-wide at the family owned international freight hauler. Heyl has 300 company trucks. SmartDrive develops video-based driver safety systems, which monitor both the cab and the road in trucks, and which are combined with sensors, to help improve driver safety an (More info...)
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