StartUp Beat

8/31/07 – GigaOm is reporting that Helio, the Westwood-based mobile virtual network operator, or MVNO, is letting 100 employees go.  While not confirming the exact number, a Helio spokesman says that some employees are being let go, primarily in the company's field sales organization.

Amp’d Mobile’s well-documented bankruptcy filing and shutdown have highlighted the numerous questions about the viability of the MVNO model, where the company does not own wireless spectrum, but leases it and resells the basic phone service from mobile phone companies.  The cuts also come just days after primary investor EarthLink announced it would layoff 900 employees—about half of its total staff.

But Helio's Rick Heineman emphasizes that EarthLink and Helio are two separate businesses and the cuts at each are not correlated.  Heineman says the eliminated positions are part of Helio's effort to "responsibly manage our business" while it grows and matures, a message clearly aimed at skeptics citing Amp'd's failure as proof of the MVNO model's shakiness. 

Helio has garnered some major attention and positive reviews for its Ocean and Fin devices.  The company, founded in 2005, is backed by EarthLink and South Korea’s SK Telecom.  

Helio – www.helio.com

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

8/31/07 – Beverly Hills-based Vuguru, an online media studio founded by former Disney chief Michael Eisner, and Blinkx.com, a popular video search engine, have reached a deal to distribute Vuguru’s “Prom Queen: Summer Heat” series on the site.

The companies say that Blinkx is now showing the web-based program for free, with new two-minute episodes appearing daily for a three-week run, with the episodes archived on the site after airing.

The Prom Queen series has been an unqualified success for Vuguru, and has even earned an Emmy nomination.

Vuguru is owned by Eisner’s The Tornante Company, which invests in and incubates new media companies.  Tornante also holds ownership stakes in Veoh Networks and Team Baby Entertainment.

Vuguru – www.vuguru.com

The Tornante Company – www.tornante.com

Posted by startupbeat at 09:07 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

8/30/07 – SpaceX, the El Segundo-based developer of space launch vehicles, has announced the successful completion of the first of three phases of review required by NASA’s Safety Review Panel to send the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft to the International Space Station.  The company says that this phase of the process involved the presentation of SpaceX’s plan for sending the cargo version of Dragon to the $100 billion orbiting space laboratory.

SpaceX says the review covered twenty-three specific hazards, with extra attention paid to the danger of collision, which is a primary topic of the safety review, and is generally considered one of the more difficult visiting vehicle topics, according to the company.

The company, founded in 2002 by Elon Musk, the founder of PayPal and the Zip2 Corporation, is one of the first commercial space travel companies.  As part of the Commercial Orbital Services competition, SpaceX was awarded a contract by NASA to demonstrate delivery and return of cargo to the International Space Station.  SpaceX says it intends to demonstrate its launch, maneuvering and docking abilities by 2009—a year before NASA has scheduled the conclusion of Space Shuttle operations.

Posted by startupbeat at 09:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

8/30/07 – News Corp. and NBC Universal announced yesterday that they have named their new online video joint venture “Hulu.”  The venture is based both in Los Angeles and New York.

The collaboration was announced in March, and is being pushed by the media giants as a You Tube rival.  The companies say the site will be available for testing by a limited number of users in a private beta set to begin in October.

In July, Hulu named former Amazon.com executive Jason Kilar as its CEO.

Posted by startupbeat at 09:55 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

8/30/07 – Westlake Village-based Xirrus has announced yet another deployment of its Wi-Fi Arrays at a school—this time at Saint Leo University in Florida.  Xirrus develops and deploys high-performance, long-range wi-fi products.  The network is going to serve approximately 14,000 students, teachers and administration staff at the University, according to Xirrus.

Earlier this month, the company deployed a wi-fi network in a temporary school facility in tornado-ravaged Greensburg, Kansas.  The company, founded in 2004 by former Xircom executives, is backed by investors that include U.S. Venture Partners and August Capital.

Xirrus – www.xirrus.com

Posted by startupbeat at 09:52 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

8/29/07 – Santa Monica-based Trilogy Studios, a videogame and virtual world development startup, today announced it has completed a second round of independent equity funding, totaling $3.2 million.  The company says the funds will be allocated to expand the company’s virtual world and casual massively multiplayer online businesses.

Trilogy also says that Michael Wilson, CEO of Makena Technologies and producer of There.com, has joined the company’s board of directors.  Wilson brings more than 25 years of experience in the e-commerce and online community building fields to the company, having previously held executive positions at eBay and Oracle.

Trilogy, founded in 2005, develops virtual worlds and console games for the Playstation 3, Xbox 360 and PCs.  The company says it offers major media companies the opportunity to promote and monetize their content and new entertainment properties in the online space through micro-transactions, premium subscriptions, e-commerce, sponsorship and advertising.  The company recently designed and launched MTV Networks’ online virtual “Pimp My Ride” site.

The company raised $2.9 million in funding when the company launched.

Trilogy Studios – www.trilogystudios.com

Posted by startupbeat at 09:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

8/29/07 – inQ, an Agoura Hills-based firm that provides outsourced online live chat sales solutions, says it has raised $5 million in a series D round of funding.  The round was led by Emergence Capital with existing investors Partech International, Dolphin Equity Partners and Hudson Ventures also participating, according to inQ.

inQ has developed a live chat solution that humanizes the online experience by engaging with online shoppers and replicates what the company calls a quality in-store experience.  The company operates a chat contact center with live sales representatives and offers a fully outsourced online chat sales option to customers.

inQ was founded in 1999.

inQ – www.inq.com

Posted by startupbeat at 09:17 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

8/28/07 – Language Weaver, the Los Angeles-based developer of software for automated language translation, has signed a strategic marketing and integration agreement with Armedia, an Atlanta-based consulting and integration firm that helps clients automate the creation, capture, organization and presentation of their intellectual assets.

Armedia’s solution will integrate the EMC Documentum software platform with Language Weaver’s statistical machine translation software, enabling automated language translation capabilities for users from within any of Documentum’s web interfaces, according to the companies.  Upon request, the translation into English or another supported language is available within minutes and the user is notified via email.

Armedia will also resell Language Weaver’s software, and will provide software support services along with customization and integration services, the companies say.

Language Weaver was founded in 2002 and is based on research and development done at the University of Southern California’s Information Sciences Institute.  It also operates a subsidiary user-generated news web site, called Kontrib, which uses Language Weaver’s technology to automatically translate stories that are originally posted in multiple languages.

The company says its statistical machine translation software offers an established solution and a departure from traditional complex, linguistics rule-based machine translation by producing fluent, natural sounding translations based on what it calls “statistical likelihoods.”  It is currently available for translation of 37 languages.

Language Weaver has signed several integration and reseller partnerships during the first two quarters of the year, most recently teaming with Germany’s Pi -consult.

Language Weaver – www.languageweaver.com

Posted by startupbeat at 09:52 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

8/28/07 – Beverly Hills-based OnlyBusiness.com has announced that Triple L Distribution, a re-distributor of bar and restaurant supplies to the food service industry, has joined the OnlyBusiness.com online marketplace and platform, and has created a customer-facing e-commerce web site using the service.  Triple L claims it is one of the largest independent re-distributors on the West Coast, with over 120 employees and $80 million in annual revenue.

Triple L says it joined OnlyBusiness as a result of its search for an online solution that would make it easier for customers to make online inquiries to purchase their products and for the company to manage their inventory and online sales channels more effectively and efficiently.  The Triple L web site through OnlyBusiness includes e-commerce tools, auction functionality, lead trading and a secure control panel for site administrators to manage their inventory information and content.

OnlyBusiness.com launched earlier this month.

OnlyBusiness – www.onlybusiness.com

Posted by startupbeat at 09:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

8/28/07 – Hollywood-based FastCall411, a startup offering local search options based on a pay-per-call model for consumers, has named former Citysearch CEO Briggs Ferguson and Momentum Venture Management’s Stuart MacFarlane to its advisory board.  The company’s services are designed to connect consumers with local businesses via telephone.  It will officially unveil its product next month at the DEMOfall show.

During his tenure at Citysearch, Ferguson oversaw IAC/InterActiveCorp’s national and international city guide business, and launched the Internet’s first local pay-for-performance model.  Prior to joining Citysearch, he served as executive vice president, marketing and product strategy, for Launch Media, which was later acquired by Yahoo!.

MacFarlane, managing director of Momentum Venture Management, brings more than 10 years of consumer Internet and new media experience to the company, including his role as CEO of Insider Pages.  He also served as vice president of new ventures at Idealab, where he advised portfolio companies in business development, fundraising and new product development.

FastCall411 was founded earlier this year.

FastCall411 – www.fastcall411.com

Posted by startupbeat at 09:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

8/27/07 – Monrovia-based FastSoft, developer of Internet data transfer acceleration products, has hired Mike Beard as director of sales and Pamela Hunt as financial comptroller.  The company says the appointments are a part of its expansion following the closing of its series A round of funding.

Beard was previously district sales director at Netli, which was acquired by Akami, where he was named “top performer” in the first quarter of 2007.  He has also held sales and sales management positions at Interwoven, SAP, InterWorld and HP.  Hunt has more than 17 years experience in job cost analysis, variance analysis, cash management and financial statement preparation.

FastSoft is a product of Caltech’s Office of Technology Transfer, where its “FastTCP” technology was developed.  For the past four years, FastTCP was used to break the world record for the fastest sustained data transfer rates at the Supercomputing Network Bandwidth Challenge.  The company offers an appliance, called Aria, that utilizes the FastTCP technology to speed up Internet connections by addressing the problem of Internet file transfer inefficiency, according to FastSoft.  The product does not require modification of applications or load software.

FastSoft’s series A financing came from Miramar Venture Partners.

FastSoft – www.fastsoft.com

Posted by startupbeat at 09:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

8/27/07 – Helio, the Westwood-based mobile virtual network operator, or MVNO, has been getting significant press for its new ultra-thin Fin device.  Touted as the thinnest “clamshell” phone available in the U.S., the Fin is getting attention similar to the Ocean dual-slider device, which has been a hit for the company.  For Helio, the buzz and overall positive reviews come at a good time, as the recent bankruptcy filing and subsequent shutdown of fellow Los Angeles-based MVNO Amp’d Mobile has only intensified questions about the MVNO business model in general.

Helio is selling the Fin, which is manufactured by Samsung, for $175 at company stores and online.  As an MVNO, Helio does not own wireless spectrum, but leases it and resells the basic phone service from mobile phone companies.  Helio’s real value proposition is value-added services and specialized devices, like the Fin, that it offers to customers.

Founded in 2005, the company is a joint venture of Atlanta-based Internet service provider EarthLink and South Korea’s SK Telecom, each of which recently increased their investments in Helio.

Helio – www.helio.com

Posted by startupbeat at 08:58 AM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

8/24/07 – Venture Vehicles, a Los Angeles-based environmentally-friendly vehicle company, has closed $6 million in series A financing from NGEN Partners.  The company says that concurrent with the financing, NGEN’s Steve Parry and Robert Koch will join chief executive officer Howard Levine and co-founder Ian Bruce on the board of directors.

Venture Vehicles says it holds the exclusive North American license to the patented three-wheel tilt steering technology developed in Europe by Carver Engineering for hybrid and electric vehicles, and a non-exclusive agreement for development of flex fuel vehicles.

The company says the three-wheel steering technology produces a driving experience described by owners as similar to flying or surfing, with the vehicle able to bank into corners, producing a highly stable ride.  Utilizing the tilt technology, Venture Vehicles says it will redesign the vehicle, replacing its gasoline engine with both electric powered and hybrid versions that are targeted to achieve 100 miles-per-gallon and speeds up to 100 miles-per-hour.

The first vehicles, scheduled to be released in 2009, are being developed in conjunction with a team of strategic partners that include Swift Engineering, Cal Motors and Automotive Marketing Consultants Inc., according to Venture Vehicles.

The company says it will source assemblies and sub-assemblies offshore and then assemble the vehicles in the United States. It is currently looking at manufacturing facility opportunities in Southern California and New Mexico.

Venture Vehicles – www.flytheroad.com

Posted by startupbeat at 08:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

8/24/07 – Irvine-based Integrien, provider of integrity management solutions for business, has launched a dynamic thresholding initiative to help organizations alleviate the burden of manually setting static thresholds for critical business services.

The company says the initiative includes the dynamic thresholding capabilities of Integrien’s flagship software, Alive, which it says continuously adjusts the thresholds that trigger alerts to system problems, replacing the need to manually set static thresholds.  The program includes a license fee as well as professional services, according to Integrien.

The dynamic thresholding program will include up to 250 servers, a base product license, a dynamic thresholding license and a packaged professional services offering.  Integrien says the professional services package includes software installation, data collection setup, activation of data collection and dynamic thresholding.

Integrien says its Alive product solves a number of problems related to maintaining application availability and service levels, including the ability to pinpoint the source of problems when a distributed application suffers performance degradation or outage.  Alive analyzes in real-time critical metrics across an IT infrastructure in order to predict and help staff prevent a failure before it occurs.

The company, which was established in 2001, has a host of strategic partnerships with vendors that include Citrix, HP, IBM, Oracle, SAP and Tata Consultancy Services.  It is backed by Clearstone Venture Partners and Acartha Group, and received initial funding from the Tech Coast Angels.

Integrien – www.integrien.com

Posted by startupbeat at 08:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

8/23/07 – Los Angeles-based Wannago.com has launched its “Yes or Next” application, which the company says connects people offline based on their mutual interest in an event and in each other.  Wannago is a social networking and dating site that is based on arranging meetups around local events and activities.

The company says the new application allows users to select an event they want to attend, give an anonymous “thumbs up” to members who chose the same event, and Wannago notifies both sides of the mutual interest. 

In conjunction with the launch, the company says it is giving away tickets for the Los Angeles engagement of “Corteo” from Cirque Du Soleil.

Wannago launched earlier this year as MatchActivity and has received angel funding from the Tech Coast Angels.

Wannago – www.wannago.com

Posted by startupbeat at 09:26 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

8/23/07 – Leads360, the Los Angeles-based provider of on-demand customer acquisition and lead management solutions, has announced the hiring of Noel Collins as client success manager.  The company says he will play a central role in providing Leads360 customers with expert advice and proven workflow management.

Leads360, founded in 2004, provides tools for the mortgage, insurance and secondary education markets to improve distribution, tracking, analysis and conversion of sales leads into profitable customers.

Prior to joining the company, Collins served as marketing director for Equity Direct Mortgage Corporation, based in Mission Viejo.

Earlier this week, Leads360 launched its LeadDialer sales call management application.

Leads360 – www.leads360.com

Posted by startupbeat at 09:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

8/22/07 – Buzznet, the Hollywood-based social networking startup focused on music and pop culture, today announced that singer and actress Mandy Moore has created a profile on the site where she will  personally share exclusive behind-the-scenes photos and videos shot while on the road throughout her upcoming nationwide tour.  The company says that as part of the promotion fans will be able to win tickets and a meet and greet with the artist.

Buzznet says other well-known artists have created personal profiles and similar fan forums on the web site.  The company, founded in 2005, says it has experienced steady growth over the last six months, now counting more than 8 million users.  Buzznet is backed by Redpoint Ventures and Anthem Venture Partners.

Buzznet – www.buzznet.com

Posted by startupbeat at 09:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

8/22/07 – Los Angeles-based online video web site Revver has announced the appointment of Marc Hernandez as vice president of advertising sales.  Hernandez actually started at the company last month, and his duties include management of advertising sales operations and the development of new, customized sponsorship packages to align brands with content.

Under Hernandez’s leadership, Revver says it has recently launched new CPM ad products, which include pre- and post-roll video ads that allow content owners to earn revenue.  The company says Hernandez has also secured Proctor and Gamble and ABC as advertisers for the new offering.

Hernandez came to Revver from Tribal Fusion, the online advertising network, where he led its entertainment vertical division.

Revver was founded in 2004. 

Revver – www.revver.com

Posted by startupbeat at 09:18 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

8/21/07 – Los Angeles-based Oversee.net, an online marketing and domain name solutions company, announced today that Kamran Pourzanjani, founder and former CEO of PriceGrabber.com, has joined its board of directors.

Pourzanjani founded PriceGrabber in 1999, and built it into a leading online shopping comparison site before it was acquired by Experian in 2005.  In fact, he was named Ernst & Young’s 2005 Entrepreneur of the Year in Los Angeles.  Prior to PriceGrabber, he was president and CEO of Syseca, an information technology, software development and system integration provider and a U.S. subsidiary of Thales Group.

Oversee.net was recently ranked as the third fastest growing private business in Los Angeles by the Los Angeles Business Journal, and received the 2007 “Internet and New Media Company of the Year” award from the Technology Council of Southern California.

Oversee offers marketing services in vertical markets, including mortgages and travel through its sites Low.com and Lowfares.com.  In the domain management sector, the company owns DomainSponsor, which enables the monetization of Internet domains, and SnapNames, which makes expired and deleting domain names available for purchase.  

The company, which was founded in 2000, now counts more than 200 employees working out of its downtown L.A. headquarters and offices in Portland, Oregon, and San Mateo, Calif.

Oversee.net – www.oversee.net

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

8/21/07 – Westlake Village-based Xirrus, the provider of high-performance, long-range wi-fi products, has deployed a wireless network in a temporary school facility in tornado-ravaged Greensburg, Kansas.  The company says that the network was up-and-running in less than a day and covers the 14 temporary buildings where it says 74 percent of the student population will return for this school year.  The wi-fi network will provide Internet access for the students, faculty and school staff using 200 new computers, according to Xirrus.

Greensburg was hit by an F5-class tornado on May 4 which destroyed approximately 95 percent of the city, including all of the district’s schools.  

Last week Xirrus announced that it has been selected for the rollout of wi-fi networks throughout the Schaller-Crestland School District in Schaller, Iowa. 

Xirrus was founded in 2004 and is backed by U.S. Venture Partners and August Capital.

Xirrus – www.xirrus.com

Posted by startupbeat at 09:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

8/21/07 – Inphi, the Westlake Village-based developer of integrated circuits for processing high-speed data in computing and communications systems, today announced that Sam Srinivasan has joined its board of directors.

Srinivasan currently serves as a director and chairman of the audit committee for Sirf Technology Holdings, and as a director of Centillium Communications.  In addition, he is a charter member of the Weatherhead School of Management advisory council at Case Western Reserve University.

Previously, Srinivasan served as senior vice president, finance and chief financial officer of Cirrus Logic and director, internal audits and corporate controller of Intel Corporation.

Inphi was founded in late 2000.

Inphi Corporation – www.inphi-corp.com

Posted by startupbeat at 09:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

8/20/07 – CircleUp, the Newport Beach-based provider of a service that helps users organize email and instant messages, today announced the launch of a downloadable toolbar for Microsoft Office Outlook.

The free CircleUp service allows users to use email or instant messenger to ask a question or gather information from groups and get back a single, organized answer.  The company says that the goal of the service is to allow users to send a question, announcement or information request to any size group and get back a result that can be acted on immediately.

The Outlook toolbar allows users to initiate new contact “circles,” view the status of questions and answers, and search for questions and answers across the CircleUp service, according to the company.

CircleUp was part of the DEMO 07 class earlier this year, and has garnered series A financing from Sid R. Bass Associates.

CircleUp - www.circleup.com 

Posted by startupbeat at 09:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

8/20/07 – Los Angeles-based Leads360, which provides on-demand customer acquisition and lead management solutions, has announced the upcoming release of a sales call management application called LeadDialer.

The company says that LeadDialer is offered in both a “click-to-dial” and a “progressive dialing” format.  In click-to-dial mode, LeadDialer instantly connects the sales agent and begins dialing a prospect, automatically handling the dialing and call disposition, according to Leads360.

The company says the product includes performance measurement tools and provides a complete audit history with built-in reporting to aid in sales team management.

Leads360 provides tools to improve distribution, tracking, analysis and conversion of sales leads into profitable customers.  It was founded in 2004 and focuses primarily on the mortgage, insurance and secondary education markets.

Leads360 – www.leads360.com

Posted by startupbeat at 09:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

8/20/07 – Santa Monica-based social networking web site Reunion.com today announced a partnership with ZoomInfo, a business information search engine, to expand its people search results by adding ZoomInfo’s listings.  ZoomInfo says its database includes more than 36 million professionals and 3.8 million businesses.

Reunion.com claims it has annual revenue growth of 100 percent, and says it is now one of the top-ranked social networking sites with almost 8 million unique visitors and 60 million searches for people monthly.

The company was founded in 2002 by entrepreneur Jeffrey Tinsley.  Investors include Steve Newman, former president of GreatDomains.com; Richard Rosenblatt, CEO of Intermix Media, parent company of MySpace; Andy Mazzarella, former CEO and CFO, of iMall; and Latham & Watkins LLP, a global law firm with more than 1,500 attorneys.

Reunion.com – www.reunion.com

ZoomInfo – www.zoominfo.com

Posted by startupbeat at 09:17 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

8/17/07 – Agoura Hills-based ClipBlast, a startup that has built a proprietary online video search platform, this week announced it is partnering with Palo Alto-based Metacafe, a video site that claims more than 25 million unique viewers monthly.  ClipBlast says that it will automatically index new video posted to Metacafe, enabling its viewers to find Metacafe video content on its site quickly and easily.

ClipBlast has developed the Video Navigator interface, which the company says continuously updates the largest index of video content across the Internet, and is the first web video technology engineered according to how people actually interact with video online.

ClipBlast was founded in 2004.

ClipBlast – www.clipblast.com

Metacafe – www.metacafe.com

Posted by startupbeat at 08:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

8/17/07 – Mobile industry publication RCR Wireless News is reporting that Amp’d Mobile’s content team has officially joined Kirkland, Washington-based wi-max provider Clearwire—confirming rumors circulating since late last week.  The magazine reports that the 50-plus member team from the bankrupt mobile virtual network operator had been “shopping themselves out as a cohesive unit” to several companies.  The group reportedly includes former Amp’d founder and CEO Peter Adderton.

Amp’d, which was based in Los Angeles, targeted the youth market with its mobile phones and entertainment services, and built some formidable content offerings before its bankruptcy filing.  In fact, there was speculation that the company might emerge from chapter 11 as a pure content play.  The highlights for Amp’d included, most prominently, the animated series Lil’ Bush, which was picked up by Comedy Central.

The company, which was founded in 2005, declared bankruptcy after raising approximately $360 million in funding since its launch.  After the filing, it became clear that Amp’d’s decline was caused by mismanagement, including a failure to collect monthly fees from a significant number of customers.

Amp’d Mobile – www.ampdmobile.com

Clearwire – www.clearwire.com

More about the Amp’d Mobile bankruptcy:

Amp’d Executives Could End Up at Clearwire

Amp’d Mobile Assets Acquired

Amp’d Mobile to Shut Down, Sell Assets

Amp’d Mobile Settles with Verizon Wireless

Amp’d Mobile’s Lifeline Extended

Amp’d Mobile Founder’s High-Flying Commute

Adderton Leaves Amp’d Mobile

Can Amp’d Mobile Survive?

Amp’d Mobile Files for Chapter 11 Protection

Posted by startupbeat at 08:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

8/16/07 – Manhattan Beach-based TechForward, which provides consumer electronics trade-in plans, today announced that its flagship Guaranteed Buyback service is now available in-store at a number of retailers in the Southwest, including Los Angeles-based MacHollywood, MicroLeague, Computer Graphics & Networking, and Las Vegas-based Century 23.

The firm says Guaranteed Buyback provides customers with a way to recoup the value of consumer electronic devices by guaranteeing future trade-in values for devices at the point and time of original sale.

Guaranteed Buyback is offered through the purchase of hangtags on display at retail locations and online at TechForward’s web site.  Upon purchase, a customer is guaranteed trade-in values that return a substantial portion of the retail price they pay for an electronics device, according to TechForward.

The company launched last year, and is backed by First Round Capital.

TechForward – www.techforward.com

Posted by startupbeat at 09:17 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

8/16/07 – AccuScore, a Los Angeles-based “sports forecasting” company, has launched what it claims to be the first web site dedicated to simulations and forecasting of sporting events.  The company says AccuScore.com provides free tools, content and simulation forecasts, and caters to serious and knowledgeable sports fans.

The site is built around its free fantasy forecasting tools for fantasy sports aficionados.  In addition, AccuScore says the site offers written commentary and analysis, as well as video blogs that give viewers expanded insight into match-ups.

AccuScore is launching the site with a competition, called The AccuScore Challenge, which allows site members to compete with one another through a simulated sports book.

The company says the AccuScore.com site is powered by a simulation engine that plays each game play-by-play at least 10,000 times and produces over 500,000 pages of sport and player information.

AccuScore – www.accuscore.com

Posted by startupbeat at 09:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

8/15/07 – Sonos, the Santa Barbara-based developer of wireless multi-room music systems, and Sirius Satellite Radio today announced that the new release of the Sonos System Software will include streaming from Sirius on the Sonos Digital Music System.  The offering will allow Sirius subscribers to wirelessly stream satellite radio all over the house.

The partnership between the companies also includes a free Sirius 30-day trial for Sonos customers who don't already subscribe.

The Sonos system connects directly to Sirius Internet Radio, which eliminates the need for an antenna, satellite radio hardware, or a computer.  Subscribers control the radio with the Sonos Controller in up to 32 rooms, according to the companies. 

The Sonos Digital Music System is a comprehensive wireless, multi-room offering that lets customers play digital music all over the house and manipulate it from one controller.  The service provides access to online music services, Internet radio and digital music collections.  The company also has similar deals with Audible.com, MTV Networks’ URGE, Napster, Pandora and Rhapsody.

Sonos – www.sonos.com

Sirius – www.sirius.com

Posted by startupbeat at 09:14 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

8/15/07 – Newbury Park-based EdenTree Technologies, which develops lab management and test automation solutions, announced today that it has entered into a partnership with Spirent Communications, a provider of performance analysis and service management solutions.  The companies say that under the agreement, Spirent will resell EdenTree’s lab automation solutions to its clients.

EdenTree says its lab management solution complements and integrates with the capabilities of Spirent’s innovative testing platform, called Spirent TestCenter.  The companies say the goal of the combined services is to significantly reduce testing cost and time-to-market while increasing test coverage for Spirent clients.  Spirent will resell EdenTree’s Lab Manager solution through its global sales force to network equipment manufacturers, service providers and enterprise customers worldwide.

EdenTree calls Lab Manager an open “Lab Operating System,” and says it works with any kind of network equipment, resulting in a software-controlled lab environment that allows engineers to remotely manage and use lab resources.  The company says one of the strengths of Lab Manager is that it’s designed to work in any lab environment with any network device, and is tightly integrated with a growing number of third party physical layer switches, providing broad coverage of connectivity for any interface type.

EdenTree was founded in 2003 and its customers include Cisco Systems, Hitachi Data Systems, Ericsson, Verizon and AT&T.

Edentree – www.edentreetech.com

Spirent Communications – www.spirent.com

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

8/14/07 – Gumiyo, the Woodland Hills-based startup that develops e-commerce solutions for mobile devices, announced today that it is partnering with AutoBase.com to deliver AutoBase’s inventory of vehicle listings to interested buyers on mobile devices.  AutoBase is a data collection and distribution service for car sellers that offers high-quality digital photos, custom window labels, compliant buyers guides, data distribution, easy to use dealer backend reporting and pricing tools in several states throughout the U.S.

Gumiyo says the service will allow potential buyers to set preferences for year, make, model, price range and geographic radius.  Resulting matches will be delivered to the buyer as a text-message the moment the listings are published, allowing buyers to review listings on their phones and connect directly with the dealers, according to the company.

Gumiyo recently announced a partnership with edgeio, to bring edgeio’s listings to mobile devices, and the integration of Google Base listings into its service.

Gumiyo - www.gumiyo.com

Posted by startupbeat at 08:52 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

8/14/07 – Hollywood-based Brash Entertainment, creator of games based on movie releases, television and music properties, today announced that it will be releasing an Alvin and the Chipmunks video game for the upcoming holiday season.  The game will be timed to ship around the release of the 20th Century Fox film with the same title.

Brash was founded earlier this year by gaming and movie industry veterans Mitch Davis, Nicholas Longano, Thomas Tull and Bert Ellis.  The company made its public debut in early June, announcing it had raised $400 million in funding and that Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group would act as its distribution arm.  The company followed that up with the announcement that it had signed deals with Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, Twentieth Century Fox Licensing and Merchandising, Universal Studios Licensing and Vanguard Animation. 

Brash is backed by ABRY Partners, New York Life Capital Partners, Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance and PPM America Private Equity Fund.

Brash Entertainment – www.brashent.com

Posted by startupbeat at 08:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)