Monday, July 17, 2017BYD Aims To Boost Job Opportunities In LancasterElectric bus maker BYD and a number of local groups, including the Jobs to Move America coalition and the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers Union (SMART) Local 105, said on Monday that they have signed an agreement which will increase job opportunities for disadvantaged individuals at the company facility in Lancaster. The company--which has operations in Los Angeles, but is headquartered in China--said BYD has signed a "Community Benefit Agreement" ( (More info...)
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Impact Health Raises $13M For Health Insurance MarketplaceLooking for the best health insurance plan for you? Pasadena-based Impact Health said Monday that it has raised $13M in a Series A funding, to help connect patients with health insurers. The startup said the funding came from Techstars Venture Capital Fund and Foundry Group. The startup, led by Christine Carrillo, says it helps patients enroll in health plans, find doctors, help contesting surprise medical bills, and check for what is covered under their health plan.
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UC San Diego Engineers' Glove Understands American Sign LanguageA new, "smart glove" developed by engineers at the University of California San Diego, understands and translates the American Sign Language alphabet into text, the school said last week. According to UCSD, the glove was built for less than $100, using stretchable, printable electronics. The researchers say that, in addition to being used to decode American Sign Language, the glove also can be used in virtual and augmented reality, telesurgery, technical training, and defense. UC San Diego relea (More info...)
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Collectly Hunts Down $1.9M For Medical Debt Recovery ServiceWalnut, California-based Collectly, a debt collection service which tracks down patients owing overdue medical bills, has raised $1.9M in a funding, the company said last week. The LA area company, led by CEO Levon Brutyan, said the funding came from GoAhead Ventures, and also included Lightspeed Venture Partners, Index Ventures, WTI, IT-Farm, Cabra.vc, Granatus Ventures, HIVE and OnWave Ventures.
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AdQuick Finds $1.1M In Seed FundingLos Angeles-based startup AdQuick has raised $1.1M in a seed funding round, the company said over the weekend. The funding came from Initialized Capital, and also included VTF Capital and Haystack Ventures. AdQuick is led by Matthew O'Conoor. The company help companies buy and measure outdoor billboard advertising.
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5 Bars Acquired By Neutral Connect NetworksIrvine-based 5 Bars, a distributed antenna systems (DAS) installer and operator, has been acquired by Florida-based Neutral Connect Networks (NCN), the companies announced earlier this month. Financial terms of the buy were not disclosed. The acquisition was announced by Neutral Connect Networks, as part of a $30M funding from M/C Partners. 5 Bars was led by CEO John Clarey, who becomes an investor in NCN as part of the deal; 5 Bars provided its DAS systems in the sports and entertainment market (More info...)
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Techstars Names New Los Angeles Accelerator ClassTechstars Los Angeles has just named the ten companies that will be joining the startup accelerator for its 2017 class, saying its theme this year was "going long on LA and southern California". According to Techstars, although just one third of the companies that applied to the Los Angeles program this year were in SoCal, it ultimately selected nine of the ten companies from the region. The companies in this class include Avisare (business networking), Blue Fever (Netflix for millennial women), (More info...)
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AT&T Eyes Focus On Silicon Beach, HollywoodAT&T says that it is bolstering its operations in both Silicon Beach and Hollywood, as part of its $85.4 billion takeover of Time Warner. According to AT&T spokespeople at the company's SHAPE Tech & Entertainment Expo, which was held at the Warner Bros. Studios lot on Friday and Saturday, the company is planning to bolster its operations across Los Angeles, to take advantage of the region's growing reputation as a center of the technology industry. AT&T and Time Warner are currently working thro (More info...)
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Warner Music Group Buys Assets From SongkickBurbank-based Warner Music Group has acquired the core assets of Songkick, including its app, website, and trademark, according to the firms. Financial details of the acquisition were not announced. Songkick had operated an online website focused on concert discovery. Warner Music Group said that Songkick will become part of WEA, its artist and label services division. Warner Music Group said that "some" Songkick employees related to the discovery business will move over to the company, althoug (More info...)
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Ixia, ProtectWise In PartnershipCalabasas-based Ixia, the developer of network testing products, and enterprise security software developer ProtectWise said today that they are in an integration patnership. Accorsding to the two, the partnership will deliver enterprises a comprehensive solution for end-to-end visibility across enterprise, mixed cloud, and multi-cloud environments. Financial details of the strategic alliance were not announced.
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HyperX Rolls Out New Gaming KeyboardsFountain Valley-based HyperX, the gaming products division of Kingston Technology, said today that it has rolled out two new, mechanical gaming keyboards, aimed at the e-sports gaming market. According to the company, the keybaords include solid steel frames, lighting effects, "anti-ghosting" featuers, and more. The HyperX Alloy Elite Mechanical Gaming Keyboard has an MSRP of $109.99, and the HyperX Alloy FPS Pro Mechanical Gaming Keyboard has a MSRP of $79.99. HyperX said both will be availabel (More info...)
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Quidel Buys Assets From Alere In $440M DealSan Diego-based diagnostic testing systems developer Quidel announced this morning that it is acquiring a number of assets from Alere Inc., including the the Triage MeterPro cardiovascular (CV) and toxicology assets and the B-type Naturietic Peptide (BNP) assay business run on Beckman Coulter analyzers from Alere. The acquisition is part of the pending acquisition of Alere by Abbott. According to Quidel, it will pay $400M plus another $40M in contingent consideration for the Triage business, inc (More info...)
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