Wednesday, December 7, 2016


AxonVR Gets $5.8M For Virtual Reality Haptics
San Luis Obispo- and Seattle-based AxonVR announced today that it has raised $5.8M in a seed funding round, for its development of realistic touch (haptic) technology for use in virtual and augmented reality. The company said the round was led by Chinese company NetEase, and also included Dawn Patrol Ventures and former Twitter CEO Dick Costolo, along with The Virtual Reality Company, Jon Snoddy (Walt Disney Imagineering), Keeler Investment Group, and Paul Matthaeus (Digital Kitchen). The compan (More info...)
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MomentFeed Adds New Customer Tracking Tools
Santa Monica-based MomentFeed, the developer of mobile customer analytics tools, says that it has launched a new, online-to-offline customer journey tracking tool in the latest version of its platform. The company said that MomentFeed 3.3 makes it easier for its multi-location brand customers to track "online-to-offline journeys" and calculate the ROI of their mobile marketing efforts. The company said its tools are being used by such brands as Jamba Juice, Avis, and Starbucks.
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Pokemon Go To Make Every Sprint Store A PokeStop, Gym
Wireless phone service operator Sprint and Pokemon Go developer Niantic announced this morning in a press conference, that the two have inked a deal where every Sprint store--as well as RadioShack and BOOST stores run by Sprint---will become a PokeStop and Gym. Financial details of the deal were not announced. The two said that more than 10,500 stores will be included in the deal. Sprint also said it will set up specific charging stations at each of its stores for users of Pokemon Go, run contes (More info...)
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How Beatshare Is Tackling Music And Messaging
There are lots of music and messaging apps out there, but is there room for an app which makes music the message? Orange County startup Beatshare--backed by the Tech Coast Angels, Pasadena Angels, Harvard Business School Angels, and Archangels, among others—thinks it's figured out the formula to make music the message in its mobile app. We talked with Eli Aizenstat, the founder and CEO of Beatshare—and still a student--as well as President and longtime technology vet Barry Lieberman about t (More info...)
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Joymode's Pop Up Store Launches Today
Los Angeles-based Joymode, the new startup headed by former Klout founder Joe Fernandez, has opened up its first "pop up" store today, at the Sunset Junction. The startup offers up the ability to rent a wide range of "experiences"--all the stuff you need for a backyard movie night, virtual reality gear, electric scooters, and more--so you don't have to own a bunch of things you only use once. The startup said that the store will be open throughout the month of December, and that anyone who visi (More info...)
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The Mobile Majority Buys Qualcomm Spinoff Gimbal
Santa Monica-based The Mobile Majority, the mobile advertising technology developer led by Rob Emrich, says it has acquired Gimbal, the Qualcomm spinout focused on mobile engagement and location intelligence in the retail market. Financial details of the acquisition were not announced. Gimbal's technology was used by brands, retailers, advertisers, venues, and out-of-home (OOH) networks to understand the movement of their customers. Gimbal was spun out of Qualcomm in 2014, and had started as a p (More info...)
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Illumina Names New CFO
San Diego-based DNA sequencing equipment maker Illumina announced this morning that it has named Sam A. Samad as its new Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. Samad was most recently at Cardinal health, where he was most recently Senior Vice President and Corporate Treasurer. He also has served at Eli Lilly and PepsiCo Inc.
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