Pulse2 Technology and Social Media News » Tech Coast Angels http://pulse2.com Sun, 27 May 2012 19:13:16 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 Docufide Raises $4.5 Million, Hires Matthew Pittinsky As CEO http://pulse2.com/2011/02/09/docufide-raises-4-5-million-hires-matthew-pittinsky-as-ceo/ http://pulse2.com/2011/02/09/docufide-raises-4-5-million-hires-matthew-pittinsky-as-ceo/#comments Thu, 10 Feb 2011 02:57:06 +0000 Amit Chowdhry http://pulse2.com/?p=43419 Continue reading →]]>
Docufide is a Los Angeles based company that develops educational software used for transferring high school transcripts to colleges. The company raised $4.5 million and hired Blackboard founder Matthew Pittinsky as their CEO.

Docufide’s funding came was led by Novak Biddle Venture Partners. The company plans to move their headquarters to Scottsdale, Arizona. Pittinsky most recently the associate professor of sociology at Arizona State University. They will maintain an office in Los Angeles as well. Previous investors include AltoTech Ventures, Pasadena Angels, and the Tech Coast Angels. The current CEO John Reese will become Executive Chairman of the company.

[SoCalTech]

]]> http://pulse2.com/2011/02/09/docufide-raises-4-5-million-hires-matthew-pittinsky-as-ceo/feed/ 1 Masher Media Raises $300K From Tech Coast Angels http://pulse2.com/2009/08/12/masher-media-raises-300k-from-tech-coast-angels/ http://pulse2.com/2009/08/12/masher-media-raises-300k-from-tech-coast-angels/#comments Wed, 12 Aug 2009 09:32:12 +0000 Amit Chowdhry http://pulse2.com/?p=18667 Continue reading →]]> masher-media-logo
Masher Media has announced a multi-player children’s game called MyMiniPeeps.  MyMiniPeeps is a virtual world that was intended for kids that are between the ages of 6-13.  Masher Media recently has raised $300,000 in funding from Tech Coast Angels.  MyMiniPeeps will be launching in Fall 2010.  The company plans to raise revenue by launching a toy line.

This will enable kids to interact online and offline with the virtual world.  Virtual goods will also be sold on MyMiniPeeps.  Subscriptions will cost $5.95 per month with discounts on 6 month and 12 months increments.

Masher Media was started by Sherry Gunther.  She previously founded kids website Zookazoo.  She is also a producer for shows such as The Simpsons, Rugrats, Family Guy, Looney Tunes, and Power Puff Girls.

[via Alarm:Clock]

]]> http://pulse2.com/2009/08/12/masher-media-raises-300k-from-tech-coast-angels/feed/ 0 Zubican Search Engine Raises Funding For Finding Local Businesses http://pulse2.com/2008/07/29/zubican-search-engine-raises-funding-for-finding-local-businesses/ http://pulse2.com/2008/07/29/zubican-search-engine-raises-funding-for-finding-local-businesses/#comments Tue, 29 Jul 2008 22:16:32 +0000 Amit Chowdhry http://pulse2.com/?p=4134 Continue reading →]]>
Zubican is the second search engine company to launch this week (Cuil being the first) backed with funding.  Zubican’s motto is “Find a business in a haystack.”  If you search for a business on Zubican, you will be able to find the number of employees and annual revenues for each company.

Investors in Zubican include Athenaeum Capital, Pasadena Angels, and Tech Coast Angels.  Other investors include executives from JAMDAT Mobile, Rent.com, MP3.com, Tickets.com, and Vivendi.  Users can rate each individual business.  The site is monetized through Google Ads.

Zubican was founded two years ago by Matthew Graczyk, Joe Kevin, and Brian Newton.  Zubican launched in closed Beta in January 2008.  Zubican is based in L.A., Calif.

I have a hard time being convinced that I should switch to Zubican from Google Business Search or Yelp.  Matthew Graczyk, CEO of Zubican discussed with me in the comments how Zubican distinguishes itself from the others.  Zubican plans to improve the search UI to make it more clear to users how to use it.  This is something that I look forward to as the company progresses because I’d like to see strong alternatives to Yelp and Google Business Search.

Thank you Matthew for providing me background info on Zubican.

Related Links:
1. Zubican
2. paidContent

]]> http://pulse2.com/2008/07/29/zubican-search-engine-raises-funding-for-finding-local-businesses/feed/ 3 Tech Coast Angels Provide Clupedia With $1.3 Million http://pulse2.com/2007/05/21/tech-coast-angels-provide-clupedia-with-13-million/ http://pulse2.com/2007/05/21/tech-coast-angels-provide-clupedia-with-13-million/#comments Mon, 21 May 2007 17:37:57 +0000 Amit Chowdhry http://pulse2.com/2007/05/21/tech-coast-angels-provide-clupedia-with-13-million/ Continue reading →]]> Clupedia LogoTech Coast Angels (TCA), the largest network of its kind in the U.S. consisting of 270 angel investors who have invested more than $85 million in 128 other companies has provided David Saad $1.3 million in funding.  Saad is the founder of Clupedia.
[Information Source: TechCoastAngels.com]

Clucast is a browser plugin for Mozilla Firefox 2.0 and aims to attach clues to certain text.  The clues include ratings, reviews, related blog posts, etc.  The clues are expressed in the form of audio, text, and video.  In terms of the plugin finding relevant content, the idea seems similar to Sphere.  It terms of it actually being a plugin and finding clues, the idea seems similar to AdaptiveBlue.

Saad’s previous company, Braintec was sold to Technisource.  Johannes Larcher is now on board with Clupedia.  Larcher was a former chief of staff at Overture before it was sold to Yahoo!.
[Information Source: StartupSquad]

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