Thursday, February 23, 2017


Blurr Moves From Boston, Sets Up Shop In LA To Tap Into Social Media Scene
Blurr, a social media app developer focused on communal photo sharing with users around you, has relocated to Los Angeles from Boston. The startup, which offers up an iOS app, said that Los Angeles was a "far better place" for the company, specifically citing such local Los Angeles companies as Snapchat, Tinder, musical.ly and Flipagram. The company said called LA the "epicentre for Social-Media startups", and also cited the city as likely to have "the best talent" for a social products startup. (More info...)
posted on Thursday, February 23, 2017(Full story)

SpaceX Dragon Successfully Docks With ISS
Hawthorne, California-based SpaceX has successfully docked its SpaceX Dragon cargo spacecraft to the International Space Station on Thursday morning at 8:12 a.m. EST, after a successful launch earlier this week. NASA said the hatch between the spacecraft and the ISS Harmony module is scheduled to be opened later this afternoon. The SpaceX Dragon is expected to spend about four weeks at the ISS, according to NASA. The Dragon, which is on the tenth Commercial Resupply Services mission (CRS-10) for (More info...)
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Skyview Capital Sells Off Syncplicity
Los Angeles-based private equity investor Skyview Capital has sold off portfolio company Syncplicity, a developer of enterprise file sharing and synchronization software, to Axway. Financial details of the sale were not announced. Skyview Capital had acquired Syncplicity from EMC back in July of 2015. Axway is based Paris, France. Skyview says it focuses on acquisition and management of mission critical enterprises in the areas of technology, telecommunications, business services and manufactur (More info...)
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Rubicon Project Sets Tech Veteran David Day As CFO
Los Angeles-based online advertising marketplace operator Rubicon Project said Thursday morning that it has named David Day, who has served as interim CFO since May of last year, as its Chief Financial Officer. Day had been Chief Accounting Officer at Rubicon Project since March of 2013. Day reports to Rubicon Project's founder and CEO, Frank Addante. Before joining Rubicon Project, Day had been Chief Accounting Officer at ReachLocal, and also served at Overture and Yahoo Search Marketing, co-fo (More info...)
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MomentFeed Adds $16.3M
Santa Monica-based MomentFeed, which develops software that helps multi-location, retailers and brands better understand and interact with customers, has raised $16.3M in new funding, the company said this morning. The funding was led by Level Equity, and also included Signia Venture Partners, Draper Nexus and DFJ Frontier. The startup, led by CEO Robert Blatt, said the funding will go towards operations, and to add new products, features, and services for its customers, along with additional sa (More info...)
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Tx Zhuo On LA's Newest Venture Fund, Fika Ventures
Last week, Fika Ventures, LA's newest venture fund, announced its formation, led by tech investment veterans Tx Zhuo and Eva Ho. We sat down with Tx Zhuo to chat about the new fund, what investments it hopes to make, and what kind of entrepreneurs the fund is looking to invest in. Tell us a bit about the new fund? Tx Zhuo: The new fund is going to be focused on seed stage investment, and is pretty similar to what we have done in the past. We are investing in founders who are leveraging t (More info...)
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AirMap Lands $26M In Series B Funding
Santa Monica-based AirMap, which is developing software and a service for airspace management for drones, has raised $26M in a Series B funding round, the company said this morning. The funding was led by Microsoft Ventures, and also included Airbus Ventures, Qualcomm Ventures, Rakuten, Sony, and Yuneec, along with prior investors General Catalyst and Lux Capital. The company says it has now raised more than $43M in funding. AirMap said it will use the funding for worldwide expansion, including (More info...)
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SpaceX Dragon Captured By ISS; Docking Continues This Morning
NASA said this morning that the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft has successfully been captured by the International Space Station this morning, at 5:44 a.m. ET, as it was traveling about 250 miles over the west coast of Australia. The spacecraft was captured by Expedition 50 Commander Shane Kimbrough of NASA and Flight Engineer Thomas Pesquet of ESA (European Space Agency) using the ISS's robotic arm. The capture comes just in time, as a Russian Progress spacecraft is also is approaching the ISS for a (More info...)
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Heal Plans Expansion To Four More States
Los Angeles-based Heal, which operates an on-demand service which schedules in-home housecalls from doctors, said on Wednesday that it plans to expand to four more states this year. According to Heal, it will start to offer services in select cities in Florida, Texas, New York, and Pennsylvania by the end of 2017. Heal says it has delivered 16,000 patient house call visits so far, since it started in February of 2015. Heal is backed by Fidelity ContraFund, Thomas Tull, Jim Breyer, the Ellison Fa (More info...)
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OSI Systems Sells Off European AED Product Line
Hawthorne-based OSI Systems said late Wednesday that it has sold off its German healthcare subsidiary, Metrax GmbH (Primedic), and its associated Automated External Defibrillator (AED) product line, in a deal worth $12.38M. OSI Systems had acquired Metrax in 2014 for approximately $7.94M (7.5M euros). Metrax/Primedic had sold automated external defibrillators outside the United States. OSI said it sold off the division as it was a "non-core asset" to its hospital and clinical solutions products.
posted on Thursday, February 23, 2017(Full story)