Thursday, September 20, 2018uBeam CEO Steps Aside As Firm Pivots Towards Technology LicensingMeredith Perry, the CEO of Los Angeles-based uBeam, has stepped down from her post, and will shift to become a senior advisor and board member of the company, according to Mark Suster of Upfront Ventures, one of the company's backers. uBeam, which had been working on technology to wirelessly charge phones using sound waves, also is pivoting into the B2B market, and intends to license its technology to others rather than build its own products. Suster said that uBeam--which has been extremely qui (More info...)
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Crosscut Ventures Lead Round In DomicileLos Angeles-based venture investor Crosscut Ventures is the lead investor in a Seattle company, Domicile, which offers up fully furnished, luxury apartments to business travelers. In addition to Crosscut, the $5M seed funding also included Madrona Venture Group, plus such angel investors as Spencer Rascoff (Zillow), Jeff Wilke (Amazon), and others. The funding included $3.6M in new funding on top of existing $1.4M in convertible notes, the company has disclosed. Domicile's service for business t (More info...)
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The/Studio Finds $11M For Custom Manufacturing NetworkLos Angeles-based The/Studio, a startup offering up custom manufacturing of products through a worldwide network of apparel manufacturers, accessory makers, textile manufacturers, and many others, has raised $11M in a funding round. The funding was led by Ignition Partners, and also included FJ Labs, VTF, WTI, Firebolt Ventures and Interplay Ventures. The company's founder and CEO is Joseph Heller. As part of the funding, Ignition's Preeti Rathi, plus Chris Hicken and Greg McCurley all join the (More info...)
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HyreCar Teams For Vehicle Tracking, ControlLos Angeles-based car sharing marketplace operator HyreCar, which helps connect car dealerships and others looking to lease out their vehicles to ridesharing drivers, said late Wednesday that it has teamed with another company for a vehicle tracking and inventory management solution. According to HyreCar, it has entered into a strategic partnership with PassTime, a GPS-enabled telematics provider, to offer up advanced vehicle asset and tracking management to those dealers. Terms of the deal were (More info...)
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OpenX Expands Video Exchange To Japan, APACPasadena-based advertising technology provider and ad exchange operator OpenX said last night that it has made an expansion to Japan and the Asia Pacific market, launching a new, programmatic video exchange to the region. According to OpenX, publishers and marketers in Japan and the APAC can now access its video inventory through its OpenX Exchange. OpenX said it opened up a new office in Japan earlier this year.
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Sientra's Founder, Former CEO Charged By SECThe founder and former CEO of Santa Barbara-based Sientra, Hani Zeni, has been charged by the SEC of fradulently concealing damaging information about the company, as it was raising more than $61M in its stock offering in 2015. According to the SEC lawsuit, which was filed in the United States District Court, Central District of California, Zeni withheld that damaging information about the company until the day after its stock offering--when the company's stock promptly lost half of its value. T (More info...)
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Applied Information Expands In LAApplied Information, Inc., a developer of "intelligent" transportation systems and Internet-of-Things mobility technology, says it has named a new VP for the company in Los Angeles, to head up business development in the western states. According to Applied Information, it named Alan Clelland as Vice President, West, to manage the company's business development efforts in the western United States. The company said Clelland was most recently leading connected and automated vehicle activities inc (More info...)
posted on Thursday, September 20, 2018(Full story)