socaltech.com TechNews - Tuesday, December 16, 2014 Edited by Benjamin F. Kuo ISSN: 1524-6736 http://www.socaltech.com/News ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Sponsored by:
TVC Capital LLC (www.tvccapital.com) Investments and acquisitions of growing software companies. Silicon Valley Bank (http://www.svb.com). Helping entrepreneurs succeed. Stubbs Alderton Markiles, LLP (http://www.stubbsalderton.com). Business. Technology. Law. Vision. PricewaterhouseCoopers (http://www.socaltech.com/pwc). Key info (http://www.keyinfo.com) infrastructure ~ connectivity ~ co-location ~ cloud ------------------------------------------------------------------------ --SGN Ties With NetEase To Bring Cookie Jam To China --ChowNow Ties Into Apple Pay --Sorrento Therapeutics Gets Strategic Investment From NantWorks --Ceres Swaps Board Member --Voxox Expands SMS API --Guidance Software Names Chief Revenue Officer --AdRev Buys DashGo --RealD Loses CTO --The Digital Family Reunion and the socalTECH 50 In Pictures --Western Digital Buys Skyera MARKETPLACE --Binary Pulse Technology Marketing. We Create Demand. --Fetch Recruiting, Inc. --Pixelgate.net - Internet Access, Web Hosting, Network Services --Deloitte --Apply for the Stubbs Alderton & Markiles Precellerator! --La Visual - A Branding, Product Strategy & Rapid Prototyping Accelerator RECENT JOB POSTINGS --Head of Product (VF iQ), Venice, Vision Fleet --Mid + Sr. Software Engineer, San Luis Obispo,, MINDBODY Inc. --Senior Front End Engineer, San Luis Obispo,, MINDBODY Inc. RECENT FUNDING EVENTS --------------------------------------------------------------------------- SGN Ties With NetEase To Bring Cookie Jam To China ---- Los Angeles-based mobile games developer SGN, which is led by former MySpace founder Chris DeWolfe, said today that it is in a licensing deal with NetEase, to distribute SGN's popular mobile puzzle game Cookie Jam in China. Financial details of the deal were not disclosed. (More...) http://www.socaltech.com/sgn_ties_with_netease/s-0058250.html ChowNow Ties Into Apple Pay ---- Los Angeles-based ChowNow, which develops tablet-driven, online and smartphone ordering apps for restaurants, has tied its product into Apple Py. According to the company, it is the first online ordering platform to integrate with Apple's new payment system. ChowNow is led by Chris Webb. According to ChowNow, the move allows thousands of local restaurants to accept Apple Pay for purchases. Apple Pay allows iPhone users to pay for items just using their phone and a fingerprint. ChowNow is venture backed by Daher Capital, Double M Partners, Karlin Ventures, Upfront Ventures, and Velos Partners. Sorrento Therapeutics Gets Strategic Investment From NantWorks ---- San Diego-based oncology drug developer Sorrento Therapeutics has scored a strategic investment from NantWorks, the biotech research company led by Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong. According to the two, the investment comes as part of a global, strategic collaboration around developing next generation immunotherapies for the treatment of cancer and auto-immune diseases. The two said they will create a joint venture, funded with $20M, which will focus on developing immunotherapy antibodies. As part of that deal, the companies said NantWorks will acquire a 19.9 percent stage in Sorrento, by purchasing common stock at $5.80 per share. NantWorks will also gain a 3-year warrant to purchase 1,724,138 shares of its common stock at $5.80 per share. Ceres Swaps Board Member ---- Thousand Oaks-based agricultural biotechnology and seed developer Ceres said Monday that it has named a new member of its board of directors. The company said Aflalo Guimaraes has joined the company, replacing existing board member Raymond Debbane. Guimaraes is managing director of The Invus Group, which is an affiliate of Ceres' stockholder Artal Luxembourg. Debbane also had represented Artal Luxembourg on Ceres' board. Ceres develops dseeds to produce crops for bioenergy, using both plant breeding and biotechnology for hybrid seed development. Voxox Expands SMS API ---- San Diego-based communications provider Voxox said today that it is expanding in the area of SMS APIs, and is looking to provide wholesale access to its SMS capabilities via a web service API. Voxox said it is looking to help address the needs of businesses who are looking to SMS-enable their products, services and customer communications. VoxOx said the expansion includes inbound SMS delivery to Europe; addition of UK-based telephone numbers, among other enhancements. Guidance Software Names Chief Revenue Officer ---- Pasadena-based forensics investigation software developer Guidance Software named Jay Ackerman as its new Chief Revenue Officer this morning. Ackerman joins the company from ServiceSource, and also had served at WNS North America and Exult. Guidance said that Ackerman had been head of worldwide sales and customer success for ServiceSource, heading up those efforts as that company grew from $25M to $285M in revenues, and through that company's IPO in 2011. AdRev Buys DashGo ---- Los Angeles-based AdRev, which provides digital rights management for large music publishers on YouTube, said Monday that it has purchased DashGo, a service that allows artists, labels, and publishers to distribute, promote, market, and license music across digital retailers, subscription services and internet radio. Financial terms of the buy were not disclosed. DashGo distributes music to iTunes, Spotify, YouTube Music Key, Pandora, Amazon, Google Play, Beats, Rdio, Rhapsody, Sound Exchange, BeatPort, and elsewhere, and was founded by Ben Patterson. AdRev is led by Ryan Born, and is venture backed by DFJ Frontier and Fotolia. RealD Loses CTO ---- Los Angeles-based RealD said late Monday that its Chief Technology Officer and Chief Innovation Oficer, Gary Sharp, is leaving the company. RealD said that Sharp will leave the firm effective March 31st. The reason for the departure was not given, and RealD said that it would not be replacing Sharp. RealD is a developer of 3D movie projection systems. The Digital Family Reunion and the socalTECH 50 In Pictures ---- Miss our big technology and media industry holiday party last week, the Digital Family Reunion? Here are some photos from the event, which brought together over 800 people from the industry to rub elbows, meet old friends, network with others, and honor the socalTECH 50 for 2014. (More...) http://www.socaltech.com/the_digital_family_reunion/s-0058240.html Western Digital Buys Skyera ---- Irvine-based Western Digital said Monday morning that it has acquired San Jose-based Skyera>, which develops solid state storage systems for the cloud and enterprise markets. Financial terms of the buy were not disclosed. Skyera is becoming part of WD subsidiary HGST. Skyera was already backed by Western Digital, and also had received funding from Dell Ventures. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- MARKETPLACE Reach 10000+ readers for 5 days for $250 Post your marketplace ad at: http://www.socaltech.com/postad.html ------------------------------ADVERTISEMENT------------------------------- Binary Pulse Technology Marketing. We Create Demand. 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To learn more about Deloitte's capabilities, please visit Deloitte.com or contact Kris Kaufmann, Partner at [email protected]. ------------------------------ADVERTISEMENT------------------------------- Apply for the Stubbs Alderton & Markiles Precellerator! Stubbs Alderton & Markiles, LLP is one of the leading start-up law firms in Southern California. We pioneered a fixed fee start-up package making the formation and organization of your start-up as seamless as possible. Our Preccelerator Program is a new platform offered to select start-up companies out of our Santa Monica office that provides interim office space and sophisticated legal services, with the objective of helping you grow your idea from business concept to funded startup. The Preccelerator Program provides free co-working space and other perks for 5-6 promising young startups. We are now opening up applications for five new startups to join the program. Apply now! http://www.stubbsalderton.com/preccelerator ------------------------------ADVERTISEMENT------------------------------- La Visual - A Branding, Product Strategy & Rapid Prototyping Accelerator Local branding agency launches a new design-centric accelerator program. We help you streamline the launch of your startup by offering world-class branding, product strategy, user-experience design, rapid-prototyping technology, mentorship, and access to early stage investment all under one roof! Contact us to setup a meet and greet today. Contact: Braven Greenelsh CEO [email protected] [email protected] Direct: 323-924-8847 | Studio: 818-824-6430 | Fax: 888-763-7412 Website: Lavisual.com Linkedin Profile: www.linkedin.com/in/braven ------------------------------ADVERTISEMENT------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------------------ RECENT JOB POSTINGS More jobs at http://www.socaltech.com/Jobs Members post jobs for free Head of Product (VF iQ), Venice, Vision Fleet http://www.socaltech.com/showjob.php?id=5605 User Experience (UX) Design Manager - Mobile, San Luis Obispo,, MINDBODY Inc. http://www.socaltech.com/showjob.php?id=5604 User Experience (UX) Design Manager - Mobile, San Luis Obispo,, MINDBODY Inc. http://www.socaltech.com/showjob.php?id=5603 Senior User Experience (UX) Designer, San Luis Obispo,, MINDBODY Inc. http://www.socaltech.com/showjob.php?id=5602 Mid + Sr. Software Engineer, San Luis Obispo,, MINDBODY Inc. http://www.socaltech.com/showjob.php?id=5601 Senior Front End Engineer, San Luis Obispo,, MINDBODY Inc. http://www.socaltech.com/showjob.php?id=5600 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ RECENT FUNDING SUMMARY 12/16/14 Sorrento Therapeutics, Inc. $20.0M http://www.socaltech.com/intelligence/?action=showdeal&id=61357 12/11/14 VideoAmp $2.2M http://www.socaltech.com/intelligence/?action=showdeal&id=61333 12/11/14 Woven Digital $18.0M http://www.socaltech.com/intelligence/?action=showdeal&id=61331 12/10/14 Ring FKA Doorbot $4.5M http://www.socaltech.com/intelligence/?action=showdeal&id=61328 12/09/14 DB Networks $17.0M http://www.socaltech.com/intelligence/?action=showdeal&id=61224 12/04/14 WhipClip $20.0M http://www.socaltech.com/intelligence/?action=showdeal&id=61166 12/04/14 Serviz, Inc. $3.2M http://www.socaltech.com/intelligence/?action=showdeal&id=61165 12/03/14 Cognitive Networks $14.5M http://www.socaltech.com/intelligence/?action=showdeal&id=61164 11/21/14 Breezeworks $5.0M http://www.socaltech.com/intelligence/?action=showdeal&id=61127 11/21/14 PlutoTV $13.0M http://www.socaltech.com/intelligence/?action=showdeal&id=61126 11/20/14 FastPay $15.0M http://www.socaltech.com/intelligence/?action=showdeal&id=61047 11/20/14 BioNano Genomics, Inc $53.0M http://www.socaltech.com/intelligence/?action=showdeal&id=61045 11/19/14 Honk $1.8M http://www.socaltech.com/intelligence/?action=showdeal&id=61038 11/19/14 Carbonics $5.5M http://www.socaltech.com/intelligence/?action=showdeal&id=61037 11/18/14 Renova Therapeutics $7.5M http://www.socaltech.com/intelligence/?action=showdeal&id=61033 11/17/14 Metal Networks $5.0M http://www.socaltech.com/intelligence/?action=showdeal&id=61032 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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 December 16, Marina del Rey -- #LATHH Holiday Party & Ping Pong Tourney. It's that time of year again! Get your party hats on and your pong paddles out - we're throwing a killer hotel party in MDR. See http://www.socaltech.com/calendar/eventid/24425 December 16, Santa Monica -- PandoMonthly Presents: A Fireside Chat with Jeremy Liew. See http://www.socaltech.com/calendar/eventid/24441 December 16, -- For OCTANe Members and Sponsors Only. Please RSVP through the email invitation you have received through Eventbrite. See http://www.socaltech.com/calendar/eventid/24450 December 16, Irvine -- OC Tech Alliance Holiday Reception. See http://www.socaltech.com/calendar/eventid/24389 December 16, Santa Monica -- Mindshare Presents "Interstellar & The Science of Entertainment" at Cross Campus What do Hollywood and the field of Science have in common? Not much, at least most of the time. But with easy access to information movie fans just might be getting smarter! These days, unless it's a story of pure fantasy, script writers face more criticism than ever when they gloss over the facts and attempt to get away with a plot that has no foundation in reality. What is the history of Hollywood's relationship with academia? How have the two areas of human endeavor influenced each other? What new technologies, whether in the theater or in the lab, will be the next thing to shape the future of story telling? Lets see what happens when we mix together great minds from the world of entertainment, design & science. See http://www.socaltech.com/calendar/eventid/24445 December 16, Culver City -- FWD.us Monthly Meetup: How immigration announcement impacts tech. Join the FWD.us Los Angeles Chapter on Tuesday, December 16 from 7-9 to hear more about how the President's recent actions on immigration will impact the tech community, and participate in a mini-hackathon focused on advancing immigration reform through creative content. RSVP to reserve your spot today. See http://www.socaltech.com/calendar/eventid/24447 December 18, Irvine -- AWT Annual Holiday Fundraiser cordially invited you to join AWT and colleagues from Southern California’s tech community to celebrate the season at our annual holiday event supporting our annual scholarship awards. This evening of great food, fine wine and festive networking will be once again held at the beautiful Prego Ristorante in Irvine. See http://www.socaltech.com/calendar/eventid/24448 December 18, Santa Monica -- LAVA Holiday Party. Come celebrate the Holiday Season with LAVA! Enjoy a great networking event, awesome food, and holiday beverages. See http://www.socaltech.com/calendar/eventid/24420 December 18, Santa Monica -- CONVERSATION W/ KEITH FERRAZZI AND NIR EYAL. Join us for a Conversation between Keith Ferrazzi and Nir Eyal, focusing on his new book Hoooked – How to Build Habit-Forming Products. In Hooked, Nir Eyal explores why some products capture widespread attention while others flop. Based on years of research and his class at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, Eyal has written the book he wished had been available to him as a startup founder—not abstract theory, but a how-to guide for building better products and technologies. Eyal’s four-step “Hook Model” details what’s required to build a habit-forming product that brings users back repeatedly, without relying on costly advertising or aggressive messaging. Hear Nir discuss and elaborate on these 4 steps live, during an in depth conversation with author and noted busines strategist Keith Ferrazzi. See http://www.socaltech.com/calendar/eventid/24410 December 31, -- Heart to Heart: Building Emotional Connections with Consumers in the Automotive Industry. Wharton University. Presenters: Professor Patti Williams, John Mendel, and Vicki Poponi (WG’98). Increasingly marketers want to capture consumer hearts, build loyalty and brand love. Join us for a discussion about how emotions influence consumer decision making and specifically how Honda builds bonds with consumers. Vicki Poponi, Assistant Vice President of Product Planning, Honda, will discuss how Honda learns about consumers and strives to build emotions into the product design process. John Mendel, Executive Vice President, Honda will discuss how Honda uses marketing communications to spark consumer emotions. Wharton's Professor Patti Williams will discuss research on emotions and consumer decision making . See http://www.socaltech.com/calendar/eventid/23907 December 31, Santa Monica -- 409a Valuation. LA CFOs is a sponsor supported forum where CFO's of technology companies can come together to freely collaborate, learn and innovate, share expertise, ideas, and experiences in confidential, informal, non-threatening environment in order increase the efficiency and effectiveness of their role and enhance our value to our respective organizations. This month's topic is 409a Valuations, led by Eric Briggs, Silicon Valley Bank. This event is restricted to CFOs only. A confirmed reservation is required, others will not be admitted. Please contact [email protected] for an invitation.. See http://www.socaltech.com/calendar/eventid/24007 January 8, Santa Monica -- LA CEOs presents: CEO secrets to running a successful tech company in Los Angeles. Join Mark Landay, Dynamic Synergy Executive Recruitment, for a fireside chat with John Tomich, CEO of Onestop Internet. This sponsor supported (free) event is restricted to qualified CEOs & CFOs only. A confirmed reservation is required, others will not be admitted. See http://www.socaltech.com/calendar/eventid/24413 January 8, Irvine -- Firsty is an OCTANe Program that focuses on networking and relationship building. It brings together the Orange County technology ecosystem, consisting of executive leaders, entrepreneurs, investors, venture capitalists, academicians, and strategic advisors. Firsties are free to attend and open to everyone, so bring a friend or coworker. See http://www.socaltech.com/calendar/eventid/24451 January 12, Santa Monica -- Meet the Angels and VCs at the biggest networking event in Santa Monica. Our funding experts are from the incubators, the accelerators, the angels and the VCs all over the country. On the 12th you will get to see the biggest funding names in Santa Monica and all you have to do is walk up to our Expert DOJO upstairs in the VictorianNEW . See http://www.socaltech.com/calendar/eventid/24460 January 12, Irvine -- On-Line Optical Engineering & Instrument Design courses now open for enrollment through UC Irvine Extension: Advanced Lens Design, Optomechanical Systems Engineering, Introduction to Fiber Optics & Introduction to Radiometry: The Propagation and Measurement of Optical Radiant Energy. See http://www.socaltech.com/calendar/eventid/24455 January 13, Los Angeles -- The 7th Annual Mobile Excellence Awards season will begin, so don't miss the one and only awards program that honors Mobile Entertainment, Lifestyle and Technology. Hosted at the new YouTube Space, come meet industry influences and leaders from studios, networks, lifestyle brands, technology, content providers and many others. For further details see http://mobilexawards.com/event/.. See http://www.socaltech.com/calendar/eventid/24459 January 14, San Diego -- Distributed and Virtual Work Teams are a worldwide, unstoppable trend; as many as 1.3 billion business professionals will participate in a virtual team over the next few years. Properly managed virtual teams can improve job satisfaction, employee morale, retention, and organizational efficiency.Join us at the January 14th MIT Enterprise Forum as we discuss not only different technologies that support virtual work teams, but also begin a conversation on the competent virtual manager and what that means for your business moving forward. For further details, see http://sdmitforum.org/ai1ec_event/test/?instance_id=237.. See http://www.socaltech.com/calendar/eventid/24434 January 14, Thousand Oaks -- Climate Change and Technology Forum. Tackling drought and climate change issues • Strategies that work Keynote Speaker: Krista Kline, Managing Director of LARC, the Los Angeles Regional Collaborative for Climate Action and Sustainability. Krista is a leading authority and advocate for environmental sustainability. Prior to directing LARC, Krista headed up sustainability issues at the City of Los Angeles Housing Department. She administered the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (EECBG ARRA) Multifamily Retrofit Financing Program grant for the Department. See http://www.socaltech.com/calendar/eventid/24427 ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Sponsored by: TVC Capital LLC (www.tvccapital.com) Investments in and Acquisitions of Growing Software Companies 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). SoCal-based executive search for emerging growth companies Binary Pulse Technology Marketing (http://www.binarypulse.com). We Create Demand for California's Technology Companies. Fetch Recruiting, Inc. (www.fetchrecruiting.com) Technical Recruiting for LA based Startups and High-Growth Companies Key info (http://www.keyinfo.com) infrastructure ~ connectivity ~ co-location ~ cloud PricewaterhouseCoopers (http://www.socaltech.com/pwc). Shimokaji IP (http://www.shimokaji.com) Bettering Life Through Creative Ideas 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. 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