Friday, February 10, 2017Amplify.LA Backs SafeRide HealthSafeRide Health, which provides transportation of patients to health care providers, has scored funding and backing of Los Angeles startup accelerator and investor Amplify.LA, Amplify said this week. SafeRide Health joins Amplify.LA along with the funding. Size of the funding was not announced SafeRide currently operates across the Midwest and Chicago, is soon launching Seattle and Portland, and will shortly be expanding to LA, New York City and surrounding areas. Paul Bricault of Amplify.LA sai (More info...)
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Report: Honest Company Seeking CPG CEOLos Angeles-based e-commerce provider Honest Company, which sells organic baby and beauty products, is looking to replace CEO Brian Lee with a veteran of the consumer packaged goods (CPG) market, according to a report. Recode, citing insiders at The Honest Company, says board members have been talking to executives from consumer packaged goods companies to take a role at the company. The move apparently comes after The Honest Company failed to sell the company to Unilever, which instead acquired (More info...)
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Snapchat's Would-Be Investors Drive Up Wrong StockEnthusiastic, yet clearly unsophisticated, fans of Venice, California-based Snap Inc., the parent company of Snapchat, have driven the stock of a completely unrelated, over-the-counter company, Snap Interactive, through the roof this week. According to CNET, Snap Interactive's stock--which had been trading below $6 a share all year, has jumped as high as $15 a share, all due to widespread investor confusion on exactly what company they were buying the stock for. Snap Interactive is a developer o (More info...)
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Interview with Mike Whitmire, CEO and Co-founder, FloQast
For today's interview, we sat down and talked with Mike Whitmire, the CEO and Co-founder of Los Angeles-based FloQast (www.floqast.com), a developer of financial close management software for enterprise accounting. Mike tells us about the company, who uses its software, as well as how he was initially turned away from the Amplify.LA accelerator--which only inspired him to keep working on making his startup a reality and go from just an idea, to a real company. The company, which started in 201 (More info...)
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New Website, ElectroMotive, Looks To Match You With Electric CarsA new website, ElectroMotive, which recently launched here in Los Angeles, is hoping that its site might convince more people to switch to electric cars. The site--created by he 11th Hour Project and Insight Campaigns--says it is aimed helping Angelenos browse, learn, and "fall in love with the next generation of cars." The site quizzes users about their driving habits, lifestle, and budget, and then recommends different EVs depending on those answers. The site said it was built with help from e (More info...)
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Once Upon A Farm Harvests $3.1M For Organic Baby FoodSan Diego-based Once Upon A Farm, a maker of "cold-pressed, organic, non-GMO" baby food, has raised $3.1M in a Series A funding, the company disclosed this week. The funding came from Cambridge Companies SPG, Seed 2 Growth Fund, and Harbinger Ventures. The company was co-founded by Ari Raz (CEO) and Cassandra Curtis (COO). Once Upon A Farm's baby food is sourced from local, organic farms, and then minimally processed into the those ubiquitous laminated baby food pouches.
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Carttronics Acquired By Gatekeeper SystemsSan Diego-based Carttronics, a developer of electronic systems used to reduce shoplifting and loss of shopping carts at retail stores, has been acquired by Irvine-based Gatekeeper Systems. Financial details of the buy were not announced. Gatekeeper is owned by private equity investor Hammond, Kennedy, Whitney & Company. The companies said the buy will help expand Gatekeeper's capabilities in shopping cart containment, loss prevention and retail analytics markets. Gatekeeper is led by CEO Michael (More info...)
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SanDisk Co-Founder Departs Western Digital BoardThe co-founder and former CEO of SanDisk, Sanjay Mehrotra, has stepped down from the board of Irvine-based Western Digital, WD said Thursday afternoon. Mehrotra had joined the board of Western Digital in May of 2016, as part of the acquisition of San Disk by Western Digital. The company released a statement from Mehrotra saying the "time is right" for him to "evaluate the next challenge in my career."
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