Entretrech - Serving Businesses in the Pasadena Area

Pasadena-based X1 Discovery, the enterprise, e-discovery spinout of X1, announced this morning that its X1 Rapid Discovery product is now available through the Amazon Web Services (AWS) Solution Provider program. Amazon said the use of AWS will allow its software to be installed and operated in an AWS customer's infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) environment. X1 Rapid Discovery is a tool which allows companies to manage their data for electronic discovery, legal, and regulatory purposes. Pricing on the new software was not announced. X1 Discovery said it will offer the solution on a simple flat fee licensing model and no GB processing fees. The firm is a spinout of X1, which develops enterprise search and indexing tools. Both firms are backed by Idealab.

A group of university students from across the region were awarded a total of $200,000 in prize money via a business plan competition for clean technology businesses being driven by the California Institute of Technology and other local institutions, The First Look West regional business plan competition being run by the California Institute of Technology, and including efforts from the USC Stevens Institute of Technology and the LA Cleantech Incubator, said it has awarded $200,000 to three teams of students working on energy related startups. The group said that the winners with Stanford Nitrogen Group, Greenbiotics, and Xite Solar will split the $200,000 in prize money, and also will gain access to the Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator. [Read more...]

Pasadena-based Central Desktop, the developer of cloud-based, project collaboration software which is headed by Isaac Garcia, said Wednesday that it has bolstered its board. The firm said it has added Brent Rasmussen, president of CareerBuilder North America, to its board of directors. Rasmussen has headed up CareerBuilder for a decade, according to the company, and will help contribute his experience in sales, marketing, customer operations and technology know-how to Central Desktop. Central Desktop operates a software-as-a-service product which allows users to collaborate and manage projects and teams.

Carpenteria, California-based Lynda.com, the online education site providing online training on a variety of software, ranging from PhotoShop to AutoCAD and much more which was founded by Lynda Weinman and Bruce Heavin, is now topping $70M in annual revenues, according to reports. The firm is one of Southern California's best kept secrets, and is one of the rare examples of a very successful company which was bootstrapped with no outside funding by its founders. The new revenue numbers came via TechCrunch. The revenues are a healthy increase from the $50M+ that Weinman confirmed in an interview with socalTECH two years ago. Lynda.com originally started as Lynda Weinman's personal domain, when she was teaching classes at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena. [Read more...]

Pasadena-based Materia, the developer of olefin metathesis catalyst technology developed at the California Institute of Technology, said this week that it has received a National Institutes of Health (NIH), Phase II funding grant. Amoumt of the grant was not disclosed. The firm said that the grant will go towards the continued development of functional polymers for use in organic synthesis, and is a joint effort between the company and Professor Paul Hanson of the University of Kansas. Materia is headed by Dr. Michael Giardello. Materia has deals with Dow Corning, BASF Technology, and others, and its technology is the basis for Elevance Renewable Sciences, a venture-backed firm which is using Materia's technology for developing chemicals for personal care products, detergents, lubricants.

Pasadena-based Punchcard, the mobile application developer which develops loyalty programs for retailers, said today that it is now available nationwide, after a debut in Southern California earlier this year. The startup, which is backed by Idealab, said it is aiming at specialty retailers, restaurants, grocery stores, coffee shops, and others with its software, which allows businesses to reward users for repeat visits to a location. Punchcard's mobile software works by letting users take pictures of receipts from those various retailers and awarding cash back, free meals, special discounts, and more to those users. Punchcard is led by Andy Steuer, and has raised $1M in funding so far for its efforts.