UCLA opens doors to new accelerator
The UCLA Anderson School of Management announced the launch of their new accelerator this week. Housed within the Rosenfeld Library building, the 10,000 square foot is open to any student entrepreneurs. The accelerator will feature guest speakers, demo days, and a co-working space that can host 45 people. [UCLA Anderson Opens an Accelerator: LA Business Journal]
Peekaboo VR plans to bring Virtual Reality to children
The man behind the visual effects for I, Robot, and The Polar Express is helping create a new immersive virtual world for children. The 360 degree space will help teach children about topics like evolution and space exploration. [Peekaboo VR Plans Virtual World For Children: SoCal Tech]
The City of Los Angeles unveils open data mapping site
In hopes of making its data more accessible to citizens, LA released their new data mapping site: Los Angeles Geohub. The site is powered by GIS technology from Esri. It can track map-based data including flood zones, bus routes, accident prone areas, and even the location of tech companies. [LA Rolls Out Slick Open Data Mapping Site, GeoHub: SoCal Tech]
links up with Huffington Post
Culver City's Jukin Media inked a deal with the Huffington Post this week to supply licensed user-generated videos for their site. Jukin grabs potentially viral videos from sites like YouTube and licenses them in order to provide the content to suitable broadcast partners. [Jukin Media Inks Deal with Huffington Post: LA Business Journal]
sees huge revenue growth in 2015
Culver City ad-tech company SteelHouse announced they grew their revenue by 170 percent in 2015, achieving a $130 million revenue run rate. The company added 400 customers last year including Oakley, Staples, and Getty Images. [SteelHouse Revenue Grows 170%: LA Business Journal]
named as the sixth best large tech workplace
For the second year in a row, Fortune has ranked its 30 Best Workplaces in Tech and Santa Monica's Cornerstone OnDemand has landed in a prominent spot. Cornerstone took the number six spot in the Large Workplace category, followed by Yelp (#7) and Google (#8).
announces new CEO
The LA-based developer of API management software, Akana, said they have appointed Mark Tapling as their CEO this week. Tapling was previously CEO of PacketVideo and Language Weaver. He will replace Paul Gigg who had been CEO since 2004. [Akana Names New CEO: SoCal Tech]
Fundings of the week
, $10.2 million
Investors: FirstMark Capital, Greycroft Partners, Pritzker Group Venture Capital, along with prior investors Upfront Ventures, BBG Ventures and 1776
HopSkipDrive, a ridesharing service for kids, continued their rapid growth this week with the announcement of their $10.2 million Series A. CEO Joanna McFarland said the funding will be used to build their operations team and expand to new markets. [HopSkipDrive nets $10.2M in Series A funding for national expansion: Built In]
, $5.3 million
Investors: Shea Ventures, TYLT Labs and Whittier Ventures
SnapMD is a LA-based startup that provides virtual healthcare and telemedicine platform. The company will reportedly use the funding to add talent to its team and aid future technology development. [SnapMD Raises $5.3M: SoCal Tech]
, $2.5 million
Investors: Not disclosed
Based in both Newport Beach and Tel Aviv, Memeni develops a social software platform for brands to create personalized online communities. [Memeni Gets $2.5M For Community Software: SoCal Tech]
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