StartUp Beat

2/28/07 – Venice-based Vantage Media, the performance-based search engine marketing and online lead generation firm, today announced it has completed a $70 million series A preferred financing round led by Montgomery & Co. and Scale Venture Partners.  The company also announced that it has named Steve Jillings as CEO.

Tudor Ventures and Integral Capital Partners also participated in the funding round, according to Vantage.  Jamie Montgomery, CEO of Montgomery & Co., and Rory O'Driscoll, managing director of Scale Venture Partners, will also join the board.

Jillings comes to Vantage after service as CEO of Frontbridge Technologies, which was acquired by Microsoft in August 2005.

“The addition of Steve and key members of his Frontbridge management team, along with our new investors, will allow Vantage Media to continue its rapid growth while maintaining its market leadership,” said Mark DiPaola, founder and president of Vantage Media.  “We are thrilled to partner with such an experienced team and believe that our clients will see immediate benefits as the company enters a new level of growth.”

“Mark and I have built a great relationship over the past year, and I look forward to working with him and his team to leverage the company's skills and proven technology platform,” said Jillings.  “This validates Vantage Media's successful search engine marketing solutions for the education marketplace, and speaks volumes for the company's growth potential across new markets.”

Founded in 2002, Vantage Media says that it was one of the first companies to offer search marketing solutions on a performance basis, and that as an early customer of both Google and Yahoo, Vantage has gained unique insight into the inner-workings of these search engines and how to harness them to benefit its clients.  Vantage says it currently manages more than 40 million keywords yielding over one billion impressions per year, and is one of the largest providers of search-based marketing leads for educational institutions.

“Paid search is the biggest recipient of the rapid shift of traditional ad spending to the online market,” said Jamie Montgomery, Montgomery & Co. CEO.  “However, the complexities and costs involved with running a paid search campaign are substantial.  We believe Vantage Media’s performance-based model will ultimately allow almost any business to benefit from paid search cost- effectively.”

Vantage Media – www.vantagemedia.com

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2/27/07 – Irvine-based Axiom Microdevices, provider of complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) power amplifiers (PA), today announced that its AX502 CMOS device successfully completed full type approval (FTA) testing.

FTA is a mandatory verification process used to ensure compliance with the Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) specification.  Axiom says that during this lengthy and complex testing process, the cellular handset and the AX502 PA were subjected to the tests required to declare that the AX502 CMOS PA, designed into a cellular handset, was 100 percent compliant to GSM specifications and performance requirements.

“Axiom Microdevices is very proud to announce this significant achievement,” said Donald McClymont, vice president of marketing, Axiom Microdevices.  “Type approval of our AX502 CMOS PA is an important milestone.  The cellular handset industry is now starting to enjoy the benefits that accompany moving the last major RF function into mainstream CMOS.  This is an important technological development that will enable new levels of integration and new cost points.”

Axiom says that the AX502 integrates full quad-band GSM/GPRS PA function on a single integrated circuit (IC) using mainstream silicon CMOS process technology.  

Prior to passing FTA, the company says, the reliability of the AX502 had been proven through thousands of hours of life testing at accelerated operating conditions.

Axiom Microdevices - www.axiom-micro.com

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2/27/07 – Pasadena-based Entretech, a business development organization supporting high technology companies throughout greater Los Angeles, today announced nine finalists for its fourth annual Entrepreneurship Award program.  Offered in partnership with PricewaterhouseCoopers, Entretech says the award celebrates the entrepreneurial vigor and business achievements of technology companies in greater Los Angeles.

Among the nine finalists for 2007 include Auditude, Desktop Factory, Prolacta Bioscience, Alelo, Provision Interactive Technologies, Snap.com, LegalZoom, Oversee.net and Energy Innovations.

“The finalists exemplify successful young companies with annual revenues ranging from under $1 million to $40 million that have achieved significant product and market milestones as represented by either customer commitment or early revenues,” said Stephanie Yanchinski, Entretech executive director.  “The award also acknowledges the growing importance of advanced tech within greater Los Angeles, and its contribution to the economic wealth of the overall region.”

The finalists will be recognized at Entretech’s “Hot Companies Morning” on March 1, at the Athenaeum on the Caltech campus in Pasadena.  Entretech says the winner will be announced at an awards dinner on April 19, featuring keynote speaker Ruth Owades, distinguished entrepreneur and founder of two successful companies, Calyx & Corolla, and Gardeners’ Eden.

“We're excited about the significant growth in the award this year to expand and honor companies in three key stages of entrepreneurial growth, and by the tremendous level of support and involvement from the greater Los Angeles area technology community,” said Louise Wannier, chair of the Entrepreneurship Award Committee.  “This year, our fourth annual, we have seen the applicant pool grow and enable us to present and honor an outstanding roster of emerging companies.”

Previous Entrepreneurship Award winners include Guidance Software, which completed a successful IPO in December 2006, and NextAce Corporation.

Entretech - www.entretech.org

2/27/07 – Amp’d Mobile, the Los Angeles-based mobile virtual network operator (MVNO), today announced the launch of its newest made-for-mobile animated series, “Lil’ Hollywood.”  Amp’d says the parody series will follow the adventures of Hollywood’s hottest celebrities.

“We realized, ‘Hey, these Hollywood celebrities are pretty funny – why doesn't anyone ever make fun of them,’” said series creator and industry veteran Donick Cary, writer for “The Simpsons”, “Just Shoot Me” and “Late Night with David Letterman.”

“Lil’ Hollywood” is the second made-for-mobile partnership between Amp’d and Cary who, according to the company, teamed to create this series with Tony Barbieri, writer of “The Man Show” and “Jimmy Kimmel Live,” and Rich Goodman, writer of “According to Jim.”

A new episode will be featured each week for the next six weeks on Amp’d Live.  

The company is offering sneak peaks of the first episode of “Lil’ Hollywood” online at LilHollywood.ampd.com.

Amp'd Mobile – www.ampd.com

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-Today’s SoCalTech includes an interesting interview with Jake Weinbaum, CEO of Business.com, and founder of the Santa Monica-based eCompanies incubator back in 1999.  Businesses spawned from eCompanies investment and guidance include Jamdat Mobile (aquired by EA), Business.com and Boingo Wireless.  Here’s the interview: Interview with Jake Weinbaum, CEO of Business.com

-Although this article is not about a Southland-based company, it is a fascinating account of the huge decisions confronting Facebook over the next year or so.  Facebook is no doubt in an enviable position in the world of startups, especially for one started by a college student.  However, when figures close to $1 billion are being offered (the acquisition price Yahoo! was rumored to have offered Facebook last year), the stakes become extremely high for all involved: Facebook.com faces dilemma: build or sell(reg. required)   

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“At a time when consumers are actively avoiding marketing messages, brands can no longer afford to underestimate the voice of their customers,” said Andrew Leary, CEO and co-founder of Passenger.  “In fact, Passenger is the direct result of market innovators voicing their need to engage and activate customers.”

The company says that brands such as Coca-Cola, ABC Television and Sara Lee are leveraging Passenger to deploy private brand communities designed to facilitate discussions with customers and better understand how to respond to changes in consumer behavior, attitudes, tastes and market trends.

“We are trying to re-invent customer connections by engaging in a richer, deeper dialogue with our customers, while also helping us to drive bottom-up innovation,” said Ravi Parmeswar, vice president of Sara Lee’s Central Insights Group.

Founded in 2005 and privately held and backed by Shelter Capital Partners, Passenger says that it leverages a customer community, helps companies identify opportunities and provides a means of collaborating with customers to refine new marketing strategies before investing in them.  

“Marketers must look for new ways to integrate seamlessly with emerging online communities and glean customer insight,” said Art Bilger, managing partner of Shelter Capital.  “Passenger recognized this need and pioneered an innovative platform that is unmatched by competitors and for the first time provides brands with an all-encompassing customer collaboration tool.”

“The power of online communities is increasingly important as companies recognize that community engagement is becoming a key contributor to customer insight,” said Adam Sarner, principal research analyst at Gartner.  “Companies are realizing that there is a correlation between bottom-line business growth and levels of customer advocacy.”

Passenger - www.thinkpassenger.com

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2/26/07 – The Technology Council of Southern California today announced the finalists for the 2007 Technology Industry Awards.  The awards honor individuals and companies that have made extraordinary contributions to the growth of Southern California as a center for technological innovation and includes nominations for a number Los Angeles-area based startups.

“Last year the Council chose to expand our community to include all of the software and technology innovators within Southern California, and it's gratifying to see such a wide variety of companies participate in this year's awards event,” said Jon Kraft, Technology Council chair of the board.  “The finalists are among the best and brightest technology companies in the region and we are proud to salute their efforts.”

Presented by the Technology Council, the awards are sponsored by Dorsey & Whitney, Silicon Valley Bank, CJ Patrick Company, Ruder Finn and SoCalTech.com.

A total of 24 companies have been selected as finalists in the following awards categories:

*  CEO of the Year - Brett Caine, Citrix Online; George Klaus, Epicor Software Corporate; Lee Perlman, New Age Electronics, Inc.

*  Entrepreneur of the Year - Eric David Greenspan, Make It Work, Inc.; Russ Mann, SEMDirector; Kerry Shih, SyncVoice Communications

*  Hardware and Storage Company of the Year - Dot Hill Systems; QLogic; ViewSonic Corporation

*  Mobile Company of the Year - Amp'd Mobile; Networks In Motion, Inc.; Broadcom Corporation

*  Network and Security Company of the Year - 8e6 Technologies; Occam Networks; SOA Software

*  Internet & New Media Company of the Year - LoanToolbox; Lowermybills; Oversee.net

*  Software Company of the Year - Cornerstone On-Demand Inc.; Portellus, Inc.; WebVisible; SYSPRO; Telelogic North America Inc.; WebSideStory/Visual Sciences

The awards will be presented at a gala dinner event on March 7 at the Millennium Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles.

Technology Council of Southern California - www.tcosc.org

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-CNET today featured a piece about Santa Monica-based Stickam, an online video social networking company trying to compete with the likes of You Tube and MySpace with streaming video.  The article notes solid growth in its user base, but also some of the daunting challenges the company faces, not the least of which involve bandwidth and child safely issues.  Here’s the article: A social site where webcams rule

-New slider phone coming from Helio – Apparently, Los Angeles-based MVNO Helio is working with South Korea’s Pantech on a new “slider” phone for mobile voice and data use.  The pictures speak for themselves.  Here they are on Engadget: Helio’s Pantech PN810 QWERTY device pops up in FCC

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2/22/07 – Among a spate of announcements last week out of the big 3GSM World Congress mobile technology show in Barcelona, Spain, came news that Santa Monica-based Boingo Wireless has debuted Boingo Mobile, a global wi-fi Internet service designed for wi-fi enabled mobile phones and devices.  Boingo is the wholesale network aggregator and operator of neutral-host wi-fi networks established by EarthLink and Helio founder Sky Dayton.

According to the company, Boingo Mobile lets users enjoy the Internet capabilities built into their handsets over true broadband speeds in Boingo’s hot spots around the world.  For a monthly flat rate of $7.95, Boingo Mobile subscribers get high-speed Internet access in locations like airports, hotels, restaurants and convention centers worldwide.

The Boingo Mobile software is a free download that enables automatic connection and roaming authentication to more than 150 different wi-fi network operators around the world.  Boingo says it is currently available for Windows Mobile 5.0-based Smartphones or Pocket PC devices.

“Wi-fi enabled phones just became a whole lot more useful,” said Tim Farrell, Boingo vice president for product management and professional services.  “With the worldwide access of Boingo Mobile, subscribers can use their phones for the applications that make them more productive, let them stay in touch or just have a little more fun.”

Using the service, Boingo Mobile subscribers can use the wi-fi access for all Internet-enabled services and applications they have on their phones—making calls with wireless voice-over-IP, receiving push email, sending SMS messages, watching online news or video, performing photo or video uploads and downloads, searching the Internet, accessing Intranet services, as well as other network-based uses.

Boingo says the service delivers instant connectivity at tens of thousands of hot spots in more than 60 countries around the globe including France, Germany, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States.

Boingo Wireless – www.boingo.com

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-Pasadena listed as top city for cleantech – Led by CalTech’s Entretec and Idealab’s Energy Innovations, Pasadena was named number four in SustainLine’s list of top U.S. cities for green technology innovations/development.  Here is an overview of the list in WorldChanging: Top Five U.S. Cities for Cleantech

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2/21/07 – Los Angeles-based Fonality, the open source IP telephony provider, today announced version 3.5 of its PBXtra Call Center Edition product, which the company describes as a full-featured call center for small-to-medium size businesses that supports agents working on premise, at home or from any remote location.

Fonality says that this version of PBXtra Call Center is not location-based and allows users to receive distributed queue calls in the office, at home, in a hotel on a PC-based softphone or even from a car on a mobile phone.  The product is designed for companies with two to 200 agents, and includes call center capabilities such as branch office agent sharing, on-the-fly recording, barging, monitoring, text whisper/coach, web and phone agent log-in, real-time and historical graphical queues, and agent presence management.

“When people hear ‘call center’ they think about thousands of agents in an off-shore facility.  No longer,” said Chris Lyman, Fonality CEO.  “Fonality has built a call center that mimics the ‘work anywhere’ functionality of the virtual call center, yet has the enterprise feature set of a premise call center, and it is at a ridiculously low price point.”

Fonality says that PBXtra Call Center is also available with HUD Agent, a universal contact management application that provides agent presence management, whether that agent is in the office or telecommuting.

Fonality provides around the clock technical support for its products, and says its patent-pending hybrid-hosted architecture ensures reliability by allowing real-time monitoring and remote system management.

Fonality - www.fonality.com

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2/21/07 – Tarzana-based DigiContractor, which developed the industry’s first photo measuring software, iPhotoMEASURE, today announced it has reached an agreement with The Meyering Corporation to distribute the software in the Midwest U.S.

DigiContractor says that iPhotoMEASURE allows professionals and do-it-yourselfers to measure objects that would otherwise be too difficult, too dangerous or too far away.  

To use iPhotoMEASURE, the user places a small DigiTarget in the room or on the property and takes a picture.  The photo is then emailed or transferred to the professional’s computer where the software measures everything within it with 95-99.5 percent accuracy, according to DigiContractor.  The measurements can also be archived for future use.

The software, in essence, eliminates the need to physically go to a site, allowing professionals to make more bids and estimates in less time, to submit bids faster, and to save time, money and energy, according to the company.

“We specialize in taking new products to market that help our customers save time and money,” said Carl Meyering, CEO of The Meyering Corporation.  “That’s exactly what iPhotoMEASURE software does.  The product transforms any digital camera into an accurate measuring device.  So instead of spending hours stuck in traffic on the way to a site, contractors, landscapers and other professionals simply download a digital photo into the software and instantly get accurate measurements of everything in the photo.  It’s fast, it’s easy to use, and it’s priced right for our market.”

“The Meyering Corporation distributes to some of our key prospects,” said Paul Minor, president of DigiContractor.  “As a strategic partner, they are helping us establish a strong distribution channel throughout the U.S.”

DigiContractor - www.digicontractor.com

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-Reunion.com and Plaxo, Inc. Reach Settlement in Patent Infringement Lawsuit – Santa Monica-based Reunion.com, Inc., its subsidiary GoodContacts, Ltd. and Plaxo, Inc., have announced that they have reached an agreement to resolve their current legal dispute.  The companies say that they are dismissing all claims and counterclaims in their pending lawsuit and releasing each other from claims related to the suit.  The agreement includes cross-licensing patented technology, according to the companies.  Other terms of the settlement were not disclosed.

-Today’s SoCalTech.com has a news item about a Pasadena-based startup called Central Desktop, and a new online spreadsheet offering the company is adding to it online platform.  It will be interesting to see how a startup like Central Desktop can compete with the likes of Google in this area.  Article: Central Desktop Adds Spreadsheets

-Los Angeles-based MVNO (mobile virtual network operator) Helio has been in the news quite a bit recently, with most of the talk being about whether or not the company is a good long-term bet for its primary investors, EarthLink and SK Telecom.  Despite the speculation, the company seems to be moving ahead full-steam—CrunchGear yesterday included details of a new, yet-to-be-debuted Samsung handset from Helio.  See it here: Helio’s New Samsung Brings the Sexy

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-The Wall Street Journal last week featured a story about Los Angeles-based Geni.com, one of the more interesting local startups that have recently launched.  As the article points out, genealogy web sites/tools are not a new concept, but Geni’s free “social networking” approach is a departure from other genealogy sites.  Even though the company faces numerous challenges, not the least of which are technical in nature and include the ever-present concerns about privacy, the company is led by an experienced team and may be on to something here.  Article: The Next Generation of Genealogy Sites (sub req’d after 2/22/07)

-Fonality included in list of top 25 VOIP startups – VOIP News last week included Los Angeles-based Fonality in its list of “25 Most Interesting VOIP Startups”.  Fonality offers IP-based telephony PBX products based on an open-source technology called Asterisk.  For more on Asterisk and Fonality’s business, VOIP News includes a good overview of the technology and the players involved in the Asterisk open source IP telephony market: What’s So Great About Asterisk?

-Evolution Robotics Joins Industry Leading Robotics Companies in Sponsorship of RoboBusiness Conference – The Pasadena-based company, an Idealab startup, will be a participant and sponsor in the international business development event for mobile robotics and intelligent systems.  More information: http://www.embedded-computing.com/news/db/?5454

-Study on Piracy and the Local Economy – This Los Angeles Times story is somewhat tangential to the business of technology, but interesting nonetheless in terms of measuring the effects of piracy on the local economy: Piracy robs L.A. economy, study says

-This is a TechCrunch story from earlier this week about FilmLoop, a Silicon Valley-based “photocasting” network startup.  TechCrunch describes a sordid story of a quick decline and subsequent fire sale of the company, allegedly prompted by its primary investor.  Here’s the story: Filmloop Betrayed By Investors?

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2/15/07 - Inogen, a leading developer of long-term oxygen therapy technologies, today announced that it has secured $22 million in funding from a group of investors led by Novo A/S.  The company says the funds will support new manufacturing capabilities and Inogen's expansion into international markets.

Denmark-based Novo A/S and Michigan-based Arboretum Ventures are first-time investors in Inogen.  The company says other participants in the financing round are existing investors Versant Ventures, Avalon Ventures, and Accuitive Medical Ventures.

“We believe that Inogen is at the forefront of a paradigm shift in home oxygen therapy.  The Inogen One device has the potential to obviate the need for expensive home oxygen tank delivery services, while allowing COPD patients greater flexibility and freedom in their day-to-day lives.  We are delighted to be involved with a company that is providing patients with such an innovative device,” said Heath Lukatch, a partner at Novo who will now serve on Inogen's board of directors.

Inogen's first product is the Inogen One portable oxygen concentrator, developed to meet the supplemental oxygen needs of those with chronic lung diseases.

“This latest financing round reflects our investors’ confidence in our approach to meeting the needs of a rapidly expanding COPD market,” said Kathy Odell, Inogen CEO.  “As COPD prevalence escalates, Inogen will further expand its leadership in meeting the needs of patients and the clinical community.  Inogen expects to continue its strong momentum by capitalizing on the increased adoption of portable oxygen concentrators and recent changes to Medicare reimbursement.”

Inogen: www.inogen.net and www.oxygenation.com

Novo A/S: www.novo.dk

Arboretum Ventures: www.arboretumvc.com

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2/15/07 - Lake Forest-based Newport Media, a fabless semiconductor company supplying products to the mobile broadcast media market, has announced the opening of the Newport Media Egypt Design Center in Cairo.  The facility adds additional systems design and software development resources to meet customer demand and product development.

The company says that the Cairo facility is the first design center for Newport Media and will be a vital resource as the company looks to expand its operations globally in key markets and provide increased support for new and existing customers.  In addition, according to Newport Media, the location of the design facility taps into a valuable engineering talent pool, as well as local academic research programs.

“The opening of the Newport Media Egypt Design Center strengthens our product development engineering and allows us to have the necessary resources in place to meet growing customer demand and an aggressive product development roadmap,” said Mohy Abdelgany, president and CEO of Newport Media.  “This is an exciting time in the mobile TV industry and the new Egypt design center enables us to quickly maximize our efforts to develop and support multiple major programs in parallel.”

Newport Media says that NMI300 single-chip Sundance H mobile digital TV receiver significantly increases viewing time while cutting handset size and cost, and sets key performance records in critical areas that drive digital mobile TV reception and picture quality.

Newport Media - www.newportmediainc.com

-Following this week’s announcement from Encino-based Bid4Spots about the ongoing success of its remnant radio “reverse” online auctions, Eric Sass at Media Post writes about Google’s struggles in breaking into the radio advertising market (mentioning Bid4Spots in the process): Why Can’t Google Sell Premium Radio Ads?

-Los Angeles Wi-Fi Initiative Announced – L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa today unveiled plans to launch a citywide wi-fi network by 2009.  Here’s coverage from the L.A. Times: L.A. mayor wants citywide wireless access

-Engadget this week mentioned the debut of wireless home speakers which are used with the Sonos ZP80 device.  Santa Barbara-based Sonos has garnered a lot of attention for its multi-room music systems for digital entertainment—which allows control of digital music on multiple devices throughout the home.  Here’s the posting…more to come in the future about Sonos: Sonos goes totally wireless

2/13/07 – Santa Monica-based Answerbag.com, an independent social knowledge platform and a division of Demand Media, today released a social question-and-answer API that gives users full access to their structured database of user-generated questions and answers.

The company says that integrating another site’s service offerings with Answerbag’s allows people to find and share knowledge through a variety of tools, including posting a question, answering a question, rating content and searching for existing questions and answers.  Answerbag says that the API also gives sites the flexibility to monetize the pages in the manner that best supports their business model.

“A tool as flexible as Answerbag’s user-generated Q&A API opens the world up to unlimited possibilities of cool new applications that creative and forward-thinking people can use to enhance their existing services or create an entirely new and innovative mashup of Q&A with other features,” said Joel Downs, Answerbag founder and general manager.  “Our API offers customers a straightforward and easy way to implement social Q&A and both benefit from and contribute to our knowledgebase.”

The company says that the offering of the social Q&A API is a complement to Answerbag’s existing Knowledge Network programs, including widgets and a white-label system.  Answerbag widgets are available to anyone wanting to display Q&A on topics specific to their web site, while the free white-label system allows sites to create a hosted, branded version of Answerbag as a channel within their own site.

Answerbag says its API will allow users to register, read categories, questions and answers, and contribute questions and answers, with additional functionality to follow.

Answerbag.com – www.answerbag.com

Demand Media – www.demandmedia.com

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2/13/07 – Los Angeles-based LiveDigital, the video programming and channel site, today announced the launch of a platform that enables Internet video users to select which advertisements will appear on their user generated channels, as well as specifically where advertisements will be displayed.

LiveDigital, an Oversee.net company, says that channels that show more advertisements and ultimately become more popular will be eligible to earn a share of $25,000 during LiveDigital's February Sweeps.  This announcement comes on the heels of the company’s launch of its user-generated channel and video programming platform.

“This is the first application on the web that enables content creators and channel programmers to control the advertising that is shown as part of their own personal brand.  LiveDigital channel programmers can select advertising which reinforces the emotional appeal of their channel,” said Sumant Sridharan, director of new media for LiveDigital.  “We are moving one step closer to bringing user-generated television programming to the masses.  Users can now control the content, brand, subscriptions and advertising on their LiveDigital broadcast channel.  No other video sharing site today brings all of these elements together.”

In addition, LiveDigital says that it has launched a $25,000 February Sweeps contest, in which users compete by creating their own channels and earning points by placing advertisements and driving traffic to their channels.

The company says that the top 25 LiveDigital channels are guaranteed to receive a minimum of $200, with the remaining money split among those channels according to their respective ratings.

LiveDigital – www.livedigital.com

Oversee.net - www.oversee.net

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2/13/07 – Santa Monica-based Bellrock Media, a premium entertainment content developer and producer, has acquired mobile multimedia content company Moderati.

The companies say the new joint entity develops best-of-breed, branded and co-owned entertainment leveraging strategic relationships and access to key entertainment and sports content worldwide.  In addition, Bellrock Media says it now boasts a larger catalog of content and services, and Moderati’s distribution relationships and technology infrastructure give it access to immediate deployment directly to carriers.

Bellrock, founded in 2005 and headquartered in both Santa Monica and Tokyo, owns, develops and distributes original digital entertainment products.  The company is headed up by Peter Levin, former executive at Creative Artists Agency and The Walt Disney Company.

“Bringing Moderati and its management team under the Bellrock umbrella gives us tremendous credibility and a mature platform from which to execute in the U.S. mobile market,” said Levin.  “This acquisition accelerates our growth timeline domestically and gets us up to speed with our Japanese operation, which is firing on all cylinders.”

Moderati was founded as a subsidiary of Faith, Inc. and, according to the company, emerged as a leading mobile personalization provider under its Modtones brand as well as via direct distribution through the carrier brands, and has evolved its portfolio to include social entertainment services like Mobile Faker. 

Moderati’s management team, led by Carolynne Schloeder, has experience in wireless entertainment, digital music and consumer marketing.  The Moderati executive management will remain with the merged company in its San Francisco office.

“Joining the Bellrock Media family is an exciting move for us,” said Carolynne Schloeder, president of Moderati.  “They bring expertise in branded entertainment and relationships with major franchises that perfectly complement our mobile content business, and we immediately expand our joint product portfolio.  Together, we will shape the next phase in mobile and broadband entertainment.”

Bellrock Media – www.bellrockmedia.com

Moderati – www.moderati.com

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2/13/07 – Irvine-based LogicalApps, the provider of embedded governance software for enterprise applications, has announced that Jim Zierick has joined the company as chief executive officer.  Zierick is a 25-year industry veteran and former executive vice president of worldwide field operations for Peregrine Systems.

“We are thrilled that Jim has accepted the position as CEO,” said LogicalApps founding president and CEO Chris Capdevila.  “Jim’s experience, track record and commitment will be a tremendous asset to LogicalApps and our customers as we enter a new phase of our growth and as the GRC industry moves towards a more mature model.”

LogicalApps says that Capdevila will continue to be an active member of the company’s board of directors and the executive team focusing his efforts on the company’s strategic initiatives and corporate development.

Prior to joining Peregrine, Zierick was a partner with McKinsey & Co., where working with CEOs and other senior managers of technology and industrial companies, he identified an opportunity for a rapidly growing enterprise applications software provider to sustain growth by establishing a new $500 million market segment.  Zierick also developed wired and wireless communications market entry strategies to help a leading semiconductor producer capture $1 billion of new revenues.

“I am excited to be at LogicalApps and the opportunity here to extend our leadership position by partnering with the best risk advisory and consulting firms and continuing to develop unique best-in-class technologies to proliferate embedded governance across the spectrum of ERP platforms,” said Zierick.  “We continue to distance ourselves from the competition by providing superior solutions that provide high value to our customers.  Our development team and partners will accelerate our growth by delivering products and services that are robust, dependable and relied-upon by the most innovative companies in the world.”

LogicalApps - www.logicalapps.com

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2/12/07 – Encino-based Bid4Spots, the reverse-auction site for radio advertising time, today reported that its terrestrial radio auction reached an all-time high for the broadcast week of Feb. 5—awarding auction winnings with an aggregate value of $224,000 among its participating radio stations.

Bid4Spots says this is the most advertisers have spent in a one-week period since the company’s terrestrial marketplace launched in 2005.  The company says that advertiser participation has been growing rapidly, with approximately 1,500 advertisers and agencies now signed into the system.  

In addition, Bid4Spots claims that its just-launched reverse auction for Internet radio increased by more than 300 percent from week one to week two.

“While others are talking and speculating about the next big thing in radio, we’re doing it – building two distinct marketplaces that successfully bring advertisers and radio broadcasters together,” said Dave Newmark, Bid4Spots CEO.  “These high marks confirm that our model works.”

According to the company, its reverse auctions allow radio stations to compete for advertisers’ dollars and bid the ad rates down.

Bid4Spots also recently launched a reverse auction for Internet radio through a partnership with Spacial Audio Solutions.

Bid4Spots – www.bid4spots.com

Posted by startupbeat at 09:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

2/12/07 – ShoZu Inc. today announced a distribution agreement that will make its Share-It uploading service available on phones sold by Amp’d Mobile, the Los Angeles-based mobile virtual network operator (MVNO).  The companies claim that the Share-It service will expand Amp’d Mobile’s social networking feature set by enabling subscribers to easily transmit photos and video clips to nearly two dozen media sharing, blogging and community sites using a single ShoZu application on the handset.

ShoZu, which made the announcement at the 3GSM World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, says that Amp’d Mobile is its first mobile operator partner in the U.S.  Amp’d recently announced several content development deals, as well as a partnership with MTV Networks.

The companies say that the deal announced today will allow subscribers to upload images to online communities ranging from Flickr and YouTube to Buzznet, Kodak EasyShare Gallery, MSN’s Windows Live Spaces, Textamerica, Webshots, Pikeo and/or Moblog.uk.  Other choices include personal blogging sites Blogger, TypePad and WordPress; citizen-contributed photojournalism sites like CNN, the BBC and Scoopt; and any FTP or email address.

“ShoZu’s Share-It service enables easy entry to all social networks through their intuitive, single access gateway.  Most important to users is the ability to set their own preferences,” said Brian Mullen, director of content business development for Amp’d Mobile.

Amp’d Mobile – get.ampd.com

ShoZu - www.shozu.com

Posted by startupbeat at 09:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

2/12/07 – Calabasas-based Fulcrum Microsystems today announced that integrated telecoms systems solutions provider Continuous Computing has chosen Fulcrum’s FocalPoint 10-Gigabit Ethernet switch chips for the two cards featured within its new 10GbE AdvancedTCA Traffic Management and Security solution, unveiled today at the 3GSM World Congress in Barcelona, Spain.

Fulcrum says that the AdvancedTCA Traffic Management and Security System provides telco-grade computing, switching and deep packet inspection, and features Continuous Computing’s integrated Trillium protocol software which helps telecom equipment manufacturers accelerate deployment and reduce time to market.

“ATCA is winning over the industry with its focus on standardizing the chassis and freeing vendors to focus on breakthrough product features,” said Bob Nunn, president and chief executive officer of Fulcrum Microsystems.  “Our low latency FocalPoint switches offer the rich set of congestion management and flow control features that make them ideal for innovative ATCA designs like Continuous Computing’s traffic management and security system.”

Continuous Computing - www.ccpu.com

Fulcrum Microsystems - www.fulcrummicro.com

Posted by startupbeat at 09:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

2/9/07 - Irvine-based Axiom Microdevices, a provider of  fully integrated complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) power amplifiers (PA) for the cellular telephone market, announced this week that it has secured $25 million in series C funding.

Axiom, founded in 2002 with technology developed at CalTech, says that the funding will be used to ramp production of its first-generation CMOS PA devices and to further develop its roadmap of innovative and highly-integrated products.

Axiom's $25 million financing round was led by Tallwood Venture Capital.  In addition, the company said that each of the major existing investors, including U.S. Venture Partners, Anthem Venture Partners and VentureTech Alliance increased their investments in the company.

“This commitment from such an esteemed group of investors demonstrates strong support for Axiom's talented team and market opportunity,” said Brett Butler, chief executive officer, Axiom Microdevices.  “We are providing handset manufacturers with the time-tested advantages of mainstream CMOS through integration, which can only be achieved with Axiom's technology.”

“CMOS integration has been instrumental in driving down the cost of cellular handsets over the past 10 years.  Handset makers must continue to fully utilize mainstream CMOS if they are to satisfy cost and supply continuity needs,” said Ron Yara, general partner, Tallwood Venture Capital.  “We are convinced that the use of Axiom's fully integrated CMOS PA products and technology will prove to be a watershed moment for the industry.”

Axiom Microdevices – www.axiom-micro.com

Posted by startupbeat at 09:21 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

-Los Angeles-based Helio, the mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) backed by South Korea’s SK Telecom and Internet provider EarthLink, has generated significant buzz in the mobile community this week with the launch of a mobile music service and the first public release of its subscriber numbers.  CNET addresses the challenges Helio (and others, like rival Amp’d Mobile) face in the mobile space: Is Helio’s Cool Factor Enough?

-Following the barrage of press and product announcements that came out of last week’s DEMO 07 conference, InformationWeek’s Thomas Claburn looks back at companies that debuted at last year’s show and reminds us that the real challenges for most of these early-stage companies lay ahead: Demo Class of 2006: Where Are They Now?

-On the other hand…this year’s DEMO showcased quite a few interesting products and services that are getting rave reviews, including Irvine based Integrien.  CIO includes Integrien in a roundup of DEMO debuts from a corporate IT perspective: The DEMO Inventions CIOs Really Should Care About

-Jon Guynn Joins BiggerBoat – Beverly Hills-based BiggerBoat, a search and discovery engine for entertainment, has announced that entertainment industry veteran Jon Guynn has joined the company as its vice president of sales.  Here is the announcement: http://home.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/index.jsp?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20070207005418&newsLang=en

Posted by startupbeat at 08:26 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

2/8/07 - Taiwan’s Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) announced today that it has selected Pasadena-based Evolution Robotics to provide a standard architecture for robotic application development in Taiwan.

According to Evolution Robotics, an IdeaLab operating company, the Taiwan Ministry of Economic Affairs commissioned ITRI to create a national robotic software development kit to p