TechCrunch LA
FEBRUARY 11, 2020
Hyundai Motor Group said it will jointly develop an electric vehicle platform with Los Angeles-based startup Canoo, the latest startup tapped by the automaker as part of an $87 billion push to invest in electrification and other future technologies. The electric vehicle platform will be based on Canoo’s proprietary skateboard design, according to the agreement that was announced Tuesday.
L.A. Business Journal
FEBRUARY 14, 2020
Steve Isakowitz is president and chief executive of Aerospace Corp., the nation’s only federally funded research and development center focused on aerospace.
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Berkonomics
FEBRUARY 13, 2020
Our challenge is getting more difficult. How many of us have “hired” independent contractors over the years, a bit worried over the gray area between employee and contractor as defined by the IRS? Or separately the State of California? I’ve experienced the results of a wrong decision, and the IRS and state agencies are not forgiving in their pursuit of penalties, interest and most damaging, assessing a company with the on both employer and employee taxes when reclassifying the person as an emp
socalTECH
FEBRUARY 13, 2020
San Diego-based Seqster , which develops software used f[link] health data management, said today that it has received an investment from Takeda Pharmaceuticals. Size of the investment was not announced. According to Seqster, it will use the new funding to accelerate adoption of its technology, which is used for managing clinical trials and patient engagement.
Advertiser: Aggregage
Office leases are one of companies’ largest expenses, and if your whole team is working from home with no clear end in sight, you may be wondering what to do about your lease.
Startup Professionals Musings
FEBRUARY 8, 2020
There is an old saying that good lawyers run away from risk, while good businessmen run towards risk. Entrepreneurs see “no risk” as meaning “no reward.” In reality, all risks are not the same. Many risks can be managed or calculated to improve growth or provide a competitive edge, while others, like skipping quality checks to save money, are recipes for failure.
L.A. Business Journal
FEBRUARY 14, 2020
Dating app owner Match Group reported an estimated 16% annual increase in net income in fiscal 2019, due largely to Tinder, its highest-performing subsidiary.
Southern California Tech Central brings together the best content for technical professionals in Southern California from the widest variety of industry thought leaders.
socalTECH
FEBRUARY 13, 2020
Santa Monica-based GumGum , which develops artificial intelligence software for the advertising and media market, has raised $22M more in a funding round, the company said on Thursday. According to the firm, the new $22M funding came from Morgan Stanley Expansion Capital, NewView Capital, and Upfront Ventures. All three of those investors are existing investors in the company.
Startup Professionals Musings
FEBRUARY 12, 2020
Too many people, young and older, let their career and their lifestyle happen to them, rather than proactively making things happen based on their personal passions, skills, and interests. Others make decisions based on someone else’s interests, such as the father who wants his son to take over the family business, or dreams openly of having a doctor in the family.
L.A. Business Journal
FEBRUARY 13, 2020
Artificial intelligence and advertising firm GumGum raised a $22 million Series D funding round from existing investors.
Xconomy
FEBRUARY 11, 2020
Pfizer and Merck are each cutting ties with a smaller clinical-stage biotech after experimental drugs being developed under separate alliances fell short in human testing. Pfizer (NYSE: PFE ) is walking away from a partnership with GlycoMimetics (NASDAQ: GLYC ) a Rockville, MD-based company developing drugs for diseases where carbohydrates play a role.
socalTECH
FEBRUARY 13, 2020
In the latest move by a tech billionaire into the neighborhood, Jeff Bezos , the founder of Amazon , has paid a record $165M for a mansion in Beverly Hills. The mansion had previously been owned by David Geffen, who had owned the property since 1990. It's unclear how much the move will benefit Southern California's technology industry, as many other tech moguls with property in Beverly Hills have not necessarily gotten involved with the growing technology industry here despite having residences
Startup Professionals Musings
FEBRUARY 14, 2020
Business partnerships have traditionally been agreements to drive more transactions than either company could do alone. The new paradigm, driven by disruptive technologies, cloud-served supercomputing, and the new generation of young adults with global empathy, is partnering and giving something now for a competitive advantage in the future. An excellent example is the initiative by Elon Musk and Tesla Motors a few years ago to give away their battery patents, to infrastructure and competitive c
AllTopStartups
FEBRUARY 12, 2020
Perhaps you have dreams of starting your own business, or maybe you have recently set up and want to ensure that your business is heading in the right direction. From… The post 4 Things That Could Help Make Your Startup Business a Success appeared first on AllTopStartups.
Xconomy
FEBRUARY 12, 2020
Ligand Pharmaceuticals is adding neurological disease and cystic fibrosis programs to its pipeline through a deal to acquire assets from drug discovery company Icagen. San Diego-based Ligand (NASDAQ: LGND ) is paying $15 million up front for the “core assets” of Icagen’s North Carolina operations. The neuroscience program is being developed under a partnership with Roche while the cystic fibrosis research is a collaboration with the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.
socalTECH
FEBRUARY 14, 2020
Los Angeles-based AdQuick , a new startup which is developing software tools to help enable out of home (OOH) advertising, has raised $6M in its Series A, the company said this week. The funding was led by Initialized Capital, and also included WndrCo, Shrug Capital, The Todd & Rahul Angel Fund and Michael Kassan's MediaLink. AdQuick says it is developing tools to help anyone easily launch out-of-home advertising campaigns, which currently involved what the company says is an "extremely cumb
Startup Professionals Musings
FEBRUARY 10, 2020
One of the realities of being an entrepreneur is that you have to keep learning and changing to survive. Everyone on the startup team knows there is no buffer, and no personal isolation from impact based on your job description that can save you. Thus everyone has to make sure they are focusing on what is important, and making leadership decisions to save the business.
Southern California Edison Blog
FEBRUARY 11, 2020
It can be a significant time and financial investment to run and maintain a network. While some organizations may have the resources to manage their own network, an in-house team without the right technical prowess may still struggle to handle their networks in the most cost-effective and productive way. Managed Network Service Providers (MNSPs) have the equipment, staff, expertise, and experience necessary to take on infrastructure tasks so companies can focus less on network upkeep and more on
Xconomy
FEBRUARY 10, 2020
Two experimental drugs from Eli Lilly and Roche have failed a clinical trial testing them as treatments for a form of Alzheimer’s disease caused by certain genetic mutations, the companies reported Monday. The study, sponsored by Washington University, tested the drugs in patients who have an early onset, inherited form of Alzheimer’s called autosomal dominant.
socalTECH
FEBRUARY 12, 2020
In an unprecedented move, the GSMA, the organization that represents mobile network operators worldwide, has cancelled its Mobile World Congress Barcelona 2020 event, as a result of the ongoing coronavirus scare. Instead, the GSMA said it will focus its efforts on Mobile World Congress Los Angeles , which is currently scheduled to take place October 28th through the 30th -- as well as MWC Shanghai, which is set for June 30th to July 2nd.
Startup Professionals Musings
FEBRUARY 9, 2020
In my years of advising startups and occasional investing, I’ve seen many great ideas start and fail, but the right team always seems to make good things happen, even without the ultimate idea. That’s why investors say they invest in people (bet on the jockey, not the horse), rather than the idea. Yet every entrepreneur I meet wants to talk about the idea, and rarely mentions the team.
TechCrunch LA
FEBRUARY 10, 2020
Max Q is a new weekly newsletter all about space. Sign up here to receive it weekly on Sundays in your inbox. Two rocket launches were set to take off Sunday , including one from Wallops Island in Virginia and another from Cape Canaveral in Florida. The first is a relatively standard (but still exciting — we are talking about rockets here, very little is “standard”) ISS resupply mission, and the second is a major scientific mission from NASA and the ESA called the “Solar
Xconomy
FEBRUARY 13, 2020
Eisai is withdrawing weight-loss drug lorcaserin after a post-marketing study found a higher incidence of cancer in patients who took the medicine. The FDA said Thursday that its request for removal of the product from the market is voluntary, but Eisai has already started the process for doing so. The withdrawal follows an FDA alert issued last month that lorcaserin may contribute to a higher risk of cancer.
socalTECH
FEBRUARY 12, 2020
Camarillo-based Semtech , a developer of analog and mixed signal semiconductors, reported a design win today, with Taiwanese company YUAN High-Tech Development Co., Ltd. According to Semtech, YUAN has integrated its technology into a new line of Software Defined Video over Ethernet (SDVoE) products. Semtech did not announce shipment volumes and financial impact of that win.
socalTECH
FEBRUARY 11, 2020
Irvine-based analog semiconductor developer Skyworks Solutions says it will support the new, Wi-Fi 6 standard, the new next generation wireless technology being established by the Wi-Fi Alliance. According to Skyworks, it is working with the Wi-Fi Alliance to develop its own Wi-Fi 6E products. Those new products operate in the 5.925 to 7.125 GHz frequency range, and are in addition to the current use of 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz bands used for Wi-Fi today.
socalTECH
FEBRUARY 10, 2020
Irvine-based JenaValve Technology , which develops aortic valve replacements, said last week that it has raised $50M in a financing round. The funding was led by Bain Capital Life Sciences, and also included existing investors Andera Partners, Gimv, Legend Capital, NeoMed Management, RMM, Valiance Life Sciences and VI Partners. As part of the funding, Bain Capital's Andrew Hack, MD, Ph.D., has joined the company's board of directors.
socalTECH
FEBRUARY 14, 2020
Virgin Galactic , which is developing vehicles designed to take tourists to space, has relocated its SpaceShipTwo Unity spacecraft to its new launch site, in New Mexico, as the next step along its path to being able to launch its spacecraft into space. According to Virgin Atlantic, the move process was a "captive carry flight" , where the VSS Unity was attached to the VMS Eve carrier aircraft, and also allowed the company's engineers to evaluate how the arrangement between the two vehicles worke
socalTECH
FEBRUARY 14, 2020
San Diego-based wireless device maker Inseego is targeting the business market with a new product, which uses 4G LTE to provide phone service to businesses, the company said on Thursday. According to Inseego, its new product, the BPC100, provides connectivity for voice and data and i ideal for mall and medium businesses, along with enterprise users.
socalTECH
FEBRUARY 14, 2020
Our interview this morning is with James Borow , the co-founder of Pepper Financial (www.trypepper.com), a startup which is creating a new set of tools to help businesses grow smarter. The companywhich is being very quiet about what it is working onwas founded by a group of former Snap executives, and is venture backed by Upfront Ventures, and which also included Lerer Hippeau, Manta Ray, and angels.
socalTECH
FEBRUARY 13, 2020
Irvine-based Mavenlink , which develops business process management software and related tools for services businesses, said on Thursday that it has created a new, Executive Advisory Board at the company. The board includes Keith Carlson (CEO of Growth Stage), Ed Marshall (Chief Product Officer, Ambra Health), and Walt Weisner (Chief Customer Officer of Customer Care, BlueJeans Network).
socalTECH
FEBRUARY 13, 2020
Los Angeles-based food replacement and nutrition products maker Soylent announced this week that it has swapped out its CEO, Bryan Crowley , and replaced him with its CFO, Demir Vangelov. According to Soylent, the move is part of an effort by the company to "re-focus on our core products" and to help it improve its current product line and bring "some truly innovative ideas off the shelf and into the market".
socalTECH
FEBRUARY 13, 2020
Aliso Viejo-based Smith Micro Software says it has acquired the operator business of Circle Media Labs , a developer of parental control software. Smith Micro said the asset deal was worth approximately $13.5M in cash, and included customer contracts and a perpetual software license. The company says it the operator business is expected to report 2019 revenues of $4M.
socalTECH
FEBRUARY 13, 2020
Irvine-based electric vehicle maker Karma Automotive is laying off 60 more workers in Irvine, as the startup continues to shed workers, according to a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN) report issued on Wednesday. The new cuts come on top of an earlier layoff involving 200 workers at the company. Karma said in a statement, that it was "necessary to realign resources in some business functions" saying it wants to go beyond "just creating and selling luxury electric vehicles.
socalTECH
FEBRUARY 12, 2020
Santa Monica-based Headspace , which develops mindfulness and meditation software and tools, has raised $93M in a Series C funding, the company said on Wednesday morning. The company said the round was led by blisce/, and also included Waverly Capital, Times Bridge, The Chernin Group, Spectrum Equity and Advancit Capital. The company said the funding was split between $53M in equity, plus $40M in debt capital from Pacific Western Bank.
socalTECH
FEBRUARY 12, 2020
Parchment , a company which provided records management, transcripts, grades, and other information for the K-12 and other markets--and which has its roots in the LA area--has been acquired by Brentwood Associates. Financial terms of the acquisition were not announced. Parchment got its start in Los Angeles as Docufide, a startup offering up handling of high school transcripts for colleges and university applications; Docufide was venture backed by the Tech Coast Angels and Pasadena Angels.
socalTECH
FEBRUARY 12, 2020
Irvine-based Arcules , a provider of cloud-based video surveillance services, said on Tuesday that it has partnered with Milestone Systems , a provider of on-premise video management software. Financial details of the partnership were not announced. According to the two, the combined service provides a hybrid video surveillance solution for organizations looking to centralize their dispersed video surveillance operations.
socalTECH
FEBRUARY 12, 2020
Hawthorne-based SpaceX showed off its Crew Dragon undergoing electromagnetic interference testing on Tuesday, saying that the craft is expected to fly two NASA astronauts, Bob Behnkey and Doug Hurley, to and from the International Space Station. The launch is expected to take place somewhere around May, with an initial launch target of May 7th. The launch would be the first manned lauch of the Crew Dragon to space, although a prior Crew Dragon had already been sent to the ISS with cargo.
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