Thursday, December 1, 2016


SpaceX Targets Next Mission December 16th From Vandenberg
Hawthorne, California-based SpaceX, the rocket company led by Elon Musk, is hoping to launch on its next mission on December 16th, launching from Vandenberg Air Force Base, just North of Santa Barbara. According to satellite constellation operator Iridium--best known for its satellite phones--it hopes to launch 10 Iridium NEXT satellites into low-earth orbit via the SpaceX Falcon on December 16th at 12:36pm PT. The launch is contingent on the FAA's approval for SpaceX to return to space after a (More info...)
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Somabar Snags $1.5M For Robotic Bartender
Los Angeles-based Somabar, which is developing a robotic bartender which automatically mixes cocktails for you, has raised $1.5M in a bridge funding round, according to lead investor the Tech Coast Angels. The TCA said that the round also included members of the Harvard Business School Angels and the Duke University Angel Network, as well as local private equity fund rainforest.LA. Somabar currently is in pre-ordering for its Wi-Fi connected, smartphone-enabled appliance designed for home kitch (More info...)
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SendGrid Finds $33M In Series D
SendGrid, which provides email delivery services and software for sending transactional emails, has raised $33M in a Series D funding, the company said on Wednesday. The company, which has engineering offices in Irvine, said the funding was led by Bain Capital Ventures, and also included Foundry Group, Bessemer Venture Partners, and SoftTech VC. SendGrid's software is used by such companies as Airbnb, Costco, eBay, Spotify, Uber and Yelp, to ensure delivery of emails to their customers. The comp (More info...)
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21st Century Fox Backs Augmented Reality Glasses Maker
21st Century Fox is the lead investor in a $58M, Series A funding for San Francisco-based Osterhaut Design Group (ODG), a developer of augmented reality sunglasses. According to ODG, the Series A was led by 21st Century Fox, and also included Shenzhen O-film Tech Co., Ltd., Vanfund Urban Investment & Development Co. Ltd. and individuals.
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TurboTax Opens Up For Tax Filing Season
Is it tax time already? San Diego-based TurboTax, the software division of Intuit which makes the popular tax filing software, says on Wednesday that it has opened up for the season, and has begun allowing its users to start working on their taxes. According to TurboTax, it has opened up for the 2016-2017 filing season, including again offering up its TurboTax Absolute Zero free edition. That free filing edition lets customers with simple tax returns (1040A and 1040EZ) file their Federal and Sta (More info...)
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CrowdStrike Names New Sales, Operations Executive
Irvine-based endpoint protection software developer CrowdStrike said today that it has appointed Michael Carpenter as President of Global Sales and Field Operations. Carpenter joins the company from Tanium, where he was President Global Sales and Field Operations. He also had served at Intel Security.
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Xencor Launches $110M Public Offering
Monrovia-based biotechnology developer Xencor has launched a public offering of its common stock, with the aim of raising approximately $110M in funding, the company said on Wednesday. The publicly traded biotechnology developer--which trades on the NASDAQ as XNCR--said it has priced the offering at $24.000 per share. The company said the new funding will go towards working capital and general corporate purposes, including investing in its pipeline and lead compoound.
posted on Thursday, December 1, 2016(Full story)