socaltech.com TechNews - Friday, August 3, 2012 Edited by Benjamin F. Kuo ISSN: 1524-6736 http://www.socaltech.com/News ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Sponsored by:
Clearstone Ventures (www.clearstone.com). Venture capital for innovators. Binary Pulse Technology Marketing (http://www.binarypulse.com). We Create Demand for California's Technology Companies. Deloitte LLP (http://www.deloitte.com/us/technology). TriNet (http://www.socaltech.com/trinet) The preferred strategic HR partner for emerging tech companies. Fetch Recruiting, Inc. (http://www.fetchrecruiting.com) Technical Recruiting for LA based Startups and High-Growth Companies ------------------------------------------------------------------------ --Interview with John Mudge, iBN Sports --Saban Brands Buys The Playforge --SkuRun Links Deal With Paddle Board Firm SUP ATX --Handful of Southern California Investors In Top Twitter Investor List --Report: LegalZoom IPO Delayed --Celebrity E-Commerce Spreads To Silicon Valley With FabKids --NextWave Wireless Acquired By AT&T --io/LA's Sister Program Gets Exit At CodeEval MARKETPLACE --The latest trend in tech: Ordering Food Online with Seamless --LAVA's Annual Venture Capital Panel - August 14th, Santa Monica --PwC Emerging Company Zone --5 Ways To Manage The Rising Costs Of Benefits by TriNet RECENT JOB POSTINGS --Senior IT Operations Architect/Analyst, La Jolla, Fortis Advisors --JDE Business Analyst, Los Angeles, TenTek, Inc. --Project Manager, Los Angeles, TenTek, Inc. --BPC (MS) Architect, Glendale, TenTek --Failure Analysis Engineer, Chatsworth, DataDirect Networks --System Administrator, Chatsworth, DataDirect Networks RECENT FUNDING EVENTS ------------------------------ADVERTISEMENT------------------------------- Safire Partners Executive Search Safire Partners has completed 150+ retained executive searches since 2006 working with emerging businesses in digital media, Internet, eCommerce, software and clean technology across Southern California. Please visit our website to see an updated list of our clients and searches completed at http://www.safirepartners.com/. We are always interested in meeting new candidates and potential clients, so feel free to email our Managing Partner, Todd Gitlin at [email protected]. We can also always be a friendly source for investor introductions and general market / compensation intelligence. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Interview with John Mudge, iBN Sports ---- One of the big questions in the content world has been: what's the right formula to make content creation profitable on the Internet? And, how do programs like YouTube's recent push to help fund original content channels on the site helping? We spoke with John Mudge, CEO of iBN Sports (www.ibnsports.com), to learn more about the Lake Forest-based company's success in making content pay on the Internet, and how his company's relationship as one of YouTube's Premium Channels is helping with that effort. What is IBN Sports? John Mudge: We launched IBN Sports in January of 2007, focused on creating an interactive, broadcast network for sports. Our focus was to utilize (More...) http://bit.ly/Rhe9WC --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Saban Brands Buys The Playforge ---- Los Angeles-based Saban Brands, which is owned by Saban Capital Group, the investment arm of media mogul Haim Saban, said Thursday that it has acquired The Play Forge, a mobile games developer known for its title Zombie Farm. Financial terms of the buy were not disclosed. The Play Forge was based in San Mateo. According to Saban, the acquisition will provide it with a "solid footprint" in Silicon Valley. The Play Forge has more than 25 employees. Saban said The Play Forge will continue to release game titles under its own brand. Saban Brands owns such properties as the Power Rangers and Paul Frank. SkuRun Links Deal With Paddle Board Firm SUP ATX ---- Los Angeles-based mobile software developer Skurun has inked a partnership deal with paddle board manufacturer SUP ATX, the companies said earlier this week. According to the two, SUP ATX will work with SkuRun to create a custom, B2B, mbile product for its sales representatives. Financial details of the win wer enot announced. SkuRun, which is headed by Ralph Acosta, develops mobile software which helps sales people present product documents, images, and videos to customers. The company had announced a small seed round from angels in April. Handful of Southern California Investors In Top Twitter Investor List ---- A list issued Thursday by Twitter analytics firm PeekAnalytics identifies the top, influential high tech investors based on their key Twitter metrics, and--perhaps unsurprisingly--only a small number of local investors show up on the list. However, thanks to some celebrity magic, the top name on the Top 1000 Technology Investors list is an often-LA resident, Ashton Kutcher, who was ranked the most influential technology investors using Twitter. Other local investors (More...) http://bit.ly/T5j4IM Report: LegalZoom IPO Delayed ---- The long awaited IPO of Glendale-based LegalZoom apparently has been delayed, according to reports Thursday afternoon. According to Reuters, citing an "underwriting source", LegalZoom has delayed the offering due to marketing conditions. LegalZoom had been aiming to list on the New York Stock Exchange as LGZ. The delay comes on the same day that another, Southern California company -- Genomatica -- abandoned its own IPO plans, and its own hopes to raise $100M on the market. It's unclear how long of a delay will be involved in LegalZoom's case; generally, companies delay their IPO depending on the kind of reception they get from investors on their IPO roadshow, or depending on the particular mood of the public markets. LegalZoom had been expected to price Thursday evening and start trading Friday. Celebrity E-Commerce Spreads To Silicon Valley With FabKids ---- It looks like the trend--started in Los Angeles--to partner celebrity with e-commerce has spread to Silicon Valley. A San Francisco startup, Personalized Retailing, is joining the dozens of Los Angeles celebrity-with-e-commerce-subscription startups, saying today that it has raised $2.6M for FabKids, a new personalized, e-commerce site delivering kids clothing on a subscription, in a partnership with celebrity and actress Christina Applegate. FabKids.com is offering up clothing dlieverd to members for a monthly membership of $49.95. Although Los Angeles does not have a monopoly on e-commerce and celebrities, the area has been dominant in spinning up startups modeled after combining subscriptions, e-commerce, and celebrity figures; those include The Honest Co. (Jessica Alba); ShoeDazzle (Kim Kardashian); Teeology (Jennifer Lopez); intiMint (Brooke Burke); HomeMint (Justin Timberlake); typeF (Tyra Banks); BeautyMint (Jessica Simpson); and StyleMint (Mark-Kate and Ashley Olsen)--just to name a few. http://www.socaltech.com/intelligence/index.php?action=showdeal&id=44468 NextWave Wireless Acquired By AT&T ---- San Diego-based NextWave Wireless, the company which holds a chunk of bandwidth used for the wireless communications market, has been acquired by AT&T, AT&T announced Thursday morning. AT&T said it will acquire all of the equity of NextWave for $25M, plus a contingent payment of up to approximately $25M. In addition, AT&T said it will acquire or retire all of NextWave's outstanding debt, which is worth $600M in cash. NextWave Wireless hold spectrum licenses in the (WCS) and Advanced Wireless Service (AWS) bands, which AT&T says it hopes to use for mobile Internet service. AT&T and Sirius XM are currently working with the FCC to allow use of the WCS spectrum, which is currently being held open due to concerns about interference to satellite radio users. io/LA's Sister Program Gets Exit At CodeEval ---- Hollywood-based tech incubator and co-working space io/LA's sister effort in San Francisco has just scored its first exit, after incubator firm CodeEval was acquired Thursday morning by HireVue. CodeEval develops online tools which allow non-technical recruiters and managers to quiz potential employees on their software coding skills. HireVue is a developer of online recruiting and video interviewing tools. Financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. io/LA is the coworking/incubator/accelerator space whose founders include Aber Whitcomb, one of the co-founders of MySpace; i/o Ventures is the group's San Francisco incubator. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- MARKETPLACE Reach 10000+ readers for 5 days for $250 Post your marketplace ad at: http://www.socaltech.com/postad.html ------------------------------ADVERTISEMENT------------------------------- The latest trend in tech: Ordering Food Online with Seamless >From individual meals and late-night group orders, to catered meetings and blowout parties, Seamless is the easiest way to feed the office. We link companies and their employees to hundreds of local food options, offer fast and convenient online ordering and provide just one invoice for all food orders. Join us for lunch and learn how we can make your hungry office happy. August 14th @ 12 pm – Lucques August 15th & 12 pm – Wilshire Space is Limited - RSVP today https://seamlessoffice.wufoo.com/forms/los-angeles-lunch-learn/ ------------------------------ADVERTISEMENT------------------------------- LAVA's Annual Venture Capital Panel - August 14th, Santa Monica LAVA Special Event LAVA's Annual Venture Capital Panel Tuesday August 14, 2012 6:00pm - 9:30pm Fairmont Miramar Hotel & Bungalows, 101 Wilshire Blvd, Santa Monica, CA 90401 Meet the top VCs who are investing in Southern California. Find out what they are looking to invest in. Find out what does it take to secure Venture Capital for your company. Learn about the hottest trends and the mistakes NOT to make. Moderator: Jon Funk, Founder, Ocean Road Partners Confirmed Panelists Jim Andelman, Managing Partner, Rincon Venture Partners David Caseras, Principal, Vicente Capital Partners See http://www.lava.org ------------------------------ADVERTISEMENT------------------------------- PwC Emerging Company Zone Visit the Emerging Company Zone, sponsored by PricewaterhouseCoopers, for access to the latest MoneyTree venture capital report; thought leadership articles, information on IPOs and more. http://www.socaltech.com/pwc ------------------------------ADVERTISEMENT------------------------------- 5 Ways To Manage The Rising Costs Of Benefits by TriNet A robust benefits package can be the difference between a talented superstar choosing to work with you versus a larger, more established competitor. But with the cost of benefits rising each year, providing a benefits package that helps you attract, retain and motivate talented people gets harder all the time. With knowledge and planning, you can create a win-win situation for yourself and your employees. You can use benefits to meet the needs of your workforce and successfully compete for top talent. As a business owner, it’s important to be aware of the ways you can manage costs and attract top hires. In this paper read about: 1. Finding a benefits package that’s tailored for your specific industry 2. Encouraging consumerism among your employees to help save money 3. Taking advantage of technology to keep a lid on administrative costs 4. Promoting health and wellness programs to help prevent heavy benefits usage 5. Preparing for the impact and opportunities of health care reform. Download the white paper here: http://www.socaltech.com/trinet/wp.php?id=4 ------------------------------ADVERTISEMENT------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------------------ RECENT JOB POSTINGS More jobs at http://www.socaltech.com/Jobs Members post jobs for free Senior IT Operations Architect/Analyst, La Jolla, Fortis Advisors http://www.socaltech.com/showjob.php?id=5391 JDE Business Analyst, Los Angeles, TenTek, Inc. http://www.socaltech.com/showjob.php?id=5390 Project Manager, Los Angeles, TenTek, Inc. http://www.socaltech.com/showjob.php?id=5389 BPC (MS) Architect, Glendale, TenTek http://www.socaltech.com/showjob.php?id=5388 Failure Analysis Engineer, Chatsworth, DataDirect Networks http://www.socaltech.com/showjob.php?id=5387 System Administrator, Chatsworth, DataDirect Networks http://www.socaltech.com/showjob.php?id=5386 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ RECENT FUNDING SUMMARY 08/02/12 Genomatica $41.5M http://www.socaltech.com/intelligence/?action=showdeal&id=44463 07/31/12 InstaCanvas $1.7M http://www.socaltech.com/intelligence/?action=showdeal&id=44391 07/26/12 Pop-up Pantry $1.7M http://www.socaltech.com/intelligence/?action=showdeal&id=44307 07/26/12 Apptopia.com $1.0M http://www.socaltech.com/intelligence/?action=showdeal&id=44305 07/26/12 Just Fabulous $76.0M http://www.socaltech.com/intelligence/?action=showdeal&id=44308 07/25/12 NantPharma $125.0M http://www.socaltech.com/intelligence/?action=showdeal&id=44240 07/25/12 CoDa Therapeutics $20.0M http://www.socaltech.com/intelligence/?action=showdeal&id=44241 07/19/12 MOVIECLIPS, INC. $0.0M http://www.socaltech.com/intelligence/?action=showdeal&id=44139 07/18/12 Retention Science $1.3M http://www.socaltech.com/intelligence/?action=showdeal&id=44060 07/16/12 Tealium Inc. $10.5M http://www.socaltech.com/intelligence/?action=showdeal&id=44042 07/12/12 POPTENT INC $5.5M http://www.socaltech.com/intelligence/?action=showdeal&id=43964 07/11/12 MiCardia $4.4M http://www.socaltech.com/intelligence/?action=showdeal&id=43098 07/11/12 ValCare $8.0M http://www.socaltech.com/intelligence/?action=showdeal&id=43669 07/11/12 SteelHouse $8.3M http://www.socaltech.com/intelligence/?action=showdeal&id=43670 07/11/12 StackSocial $0.8M http://www.socaltech.com/intelligence/?action=showdeal&id=43674 07/10/12 Zumbox $10.0M http://www.socaltech.com/intelligence/?action=showdeal&id=43641 07/09/12 BIOSURPLUS, INC. $2.4M http://www.socaltech.com/intelligence/?action=showdeal&id=43614 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Upcoming Events This Month http://www.socaltech.com/Calendar socaltech.com Calendar of Southern California High Tech Events Submit your events at least two weeks in advance to: http://www.socaltech.com/submitevent.html August 4, Costa Mesa -- PMI OC August 2012 Advanced Topics Seminar. Dave Cornelius, a veteran information technology solutions consultant and doctoral candidate, will lead a half-day workshop August 4, 2012, on how to lead global teams successfully as part of the Project Management Institute Orange County Chapter’s Advanced Topics Seminars. Presentation topics will include understanding culture, effective communication, and adapting methods and best practices, as well as break out sessions to discuss participants’ own experiences.NEW . See http://www.socaltech.com/calendar/eventid/22651 August 7, Redondo Beach -- Advanced Social Media School. It's time to take your social media knowledge to the next level. Attend class and learn about ifttt, paper.li, Quora, Rebel Mouse, Glossi, Dropbox, the Google Office Suite and other platforms and apps. This will make you more productive in your personal and professional lives. Email [email protected] . See http://www.socaltech.com/calendar/eventid/22654 August 7, Westlake Village -- Los Angeles Clean Technology Council Conference. Our keynote speaker is Tom McGrath, Founder of LABS Renewable Energy. Tom will present "A Disruptive Technology-Converting Waste Into Energy With Fuel Cells.. See http://www.socaltech.com/calendar/eventid/22629 August 9, Santa Monica -- Startups Uncensored #29 - Eventbrite Co-Founders Kevin and Julia Hartz. Eventbrite is an online service that people everywhere use to create, share, and join any event imaginable. Eventbrite enable's event creation, promotion and ticket sales. They help people discover events that match their passions. And they let everyone share the events they're creating or joining, bringing more people together around the world. See http://www.socaltech.com/calendar/eventid/22639 August 10, Santa Barbara -- Clean Business Investment Summit. The Clean Business Investment Summit aligns the power of capital to bring together cutting-edge entrepreneurs and investors looking for dynamic opportunities in green, sustainable business with powerful entrepreneur presentations and an outstanding lineup of speakers exploring critical facets in sustainability, business growth strategies, investment opportunities, and more. See http://www.socaltech.com/calendar/eventid/22640 August 14, Irvine, CA -- PMI-OC August 2012 Networking Event. The Orange County Chapter of the Project Management Institute will host a dinner and miniature golf tournamentNEW . See http://www.socaltech.com/calendar/eventid/22652 August 14, Santa Monica -- LAVA's Annual Venture Capital Panel. Meet the top VCs who are investing in Southern California. Find out what they are looking to invest in. Find out what does it take to secure Venture Capital for your company. Learn about the hottest trends and the mistakes NOT to make. Moderator: Jon Funk, Founder, Ocean Road Partners. Confirmed Panelists: Jim Andelman, Managing Partner, Rincon Venture Partners; David Casares, Principal, Vicente Capital Partners; Dana Settle, Partner, Greycroft Partners. See http://www.socaltech.com/calendar/eventid/22627 August 16, Santa Monica -- An Evening with LA Mobile Entrepreneurs and a VC. Moderator Lori Kozlowski (Forbes) will be joined by mobile company founders Matthias Galica (ShareSquare), Nick Smoot (Here on Biz), Dave Matthews (NeuAer) and VC David Travers (Rustic Canyon). An evening chat with Los Angeles based mobile startup founders/executives and an experienced VC about what’s hot in the community right now: what is trending, what is challenging and what is going away.NEW . See http://www.socaltech.com/calendar/eventid/22655 August 18, Los Angeles -- TECHBREW Multi-Dimensional MEGA MIXER. The TECHBREW Multi-Dimensional MEGA MIXER will include a workshop, presentations by international speakers, Lielle Arad and Alan Tratner, and a celebratory and fun mini-concert entertainment by the unique pop innovators, B4Neptune. Alan and Lielle will be speaking about responsibility in a special presentation entitled, ‘The Sustainable Planet & the Total Vantage Point’. See http://www.socaltech.com/calendar/eventid/22637 August 22, Santa Monica -- SM New Tech Meetup. 10 min presentation by Winston J. Perez on Concept Modeling for technology entrepreneurs. 5 amazing new tech companies will present. See http://www.socaltech.com/calendar/eventid/22648 August 23, Santa Monica -- TEDxSantaMonica Salon Event. Join TEDxSantaMonica for a salon-style event as we explore how local Santa Monica people are transforming the community and inspiring others. See http://www.socaltech.com/calendar/eventid/22645 August 28, Santa Monica -- Tech Cocktail Mixer & Startup Showcase Events - they’re our specialty. The premise is simple; we Mix together your region’s hottest tech startups with a couple hundred passionate technophiles- and serve over cocktails. The result is delicious blend of entrepreneurs, investors, employers, job seekers, and those simply looking for a fun environment to mingle with fellow local tech enthusiastsNEW . See http://www.socaltech.com/calendar/eventid/22653 ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Sponsored by: Rustic Canyon Partners (www.rusticcanyon.com). Funding great entrepreneurs. Clearstone Ventures (www.clearstone.com). Venture capital for innovators. Silicon Valley Bank (http://www.svb.com). Helping entrepreneurs succeed. Stubbs Alderton Markiles, LLP (http://www.stubbsalderton.com). Business. Technology. Law. Vision. Safire Partners (http://www.safirepartners.com). Los Angeles-based executive search for emerging growth companies Binary Pulse Technology Marketing (http://www.binarypulse.com). We Create Demand for California's Technology Companies. Deloitte LLP (http://www.deloitte.com/us/technology). TriNet (http://www.socaltech.com/trinet) The HR outsourcing partner for emerging tech companies. Fetch Recruiting, Inc. (www.fetchrecruiting.com) Technical Recruiting for LA based Startups and High-Growth Companies Email [email protected] for more information about sponsoring this newsletter. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- You are receiving this email because you subscribed to the socalTECH.com TechNews from our web site, or otherwise requested a subscription. If you do not want to receive this newsletter go to: http://www.socaltech.com/unsubscribe.php or email us at [email protected] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Legal Notices ---- While SOCALTECH LLC has used its best efforts in collecting and preparing the information published herein, SOCALTECH LLC does not assume, and hereby disclaims, any liability for any loss or damage caused by errors or omissions, whether such errors or omissions resulted from negligence, accident or other causes. All contents Copyright (c) 2012 SOCALTECH LLC. All rights reserved. socalTECH.com - Dedicated to High Tech in Southern California http://www.socaltech.com/ SOCALTECH LLC 4607 Lakeview Canyon Road, Suite 290, Westlake Village, CA 91361 _______________________________________________ Socaltech mailing list [email protected] http://listserv.socaltech.com/mailman/listinfo/socaltech
