Entretrech - Serving Businesses in the Pasadena Area

Wallaby Financial, the developer of credit card recommendation and other financial apps, said today that it has launched a brand new product to help consumers find the best credit cards for their needs. Wallaby, one of the startups out of LA's MuckerLab accelerator, said its new Wallaby Boost product helps recommend the ideal mix of credit cards for a users' needs. The new tool analyzes a consumer's spending, and combines it with rewards preferences, favorite airlines, and more, and cranks out suggestions for which cards a consumer ought to be carrying. Wallaby, which is based in Pasadena and led by Matthew Goldman, has been developing Android and iPhone apps which help users decide what credit cards they ought to be using for a transaction, to optimize the level of rewards they earn. Wallaby's backers include Founders Fund Angel, WI Harper Group, SLP Ventures, Lion Wells Capital, Karlin Ventures, and others.

Is there anything you can't connect nowadays to your smartphone? A new, Pasadena-based startup, Pintofeed, has just raised over $50,00 in crowdfunding for its smartphone-connected pet feeder, which connects to your iPhone, Android, or Windows 8 device. Pintofeed said that its intelligent pet feeder will let users control the feeding of their pets--even if they're across the world, via its smartphone application. Pintofeed has started taking reservations for its device, which has not yet been released. The company said its software will monitor and automate your pet's feeding times; monitor your pet's actual food intake; and provide that information via Twitter and Facebook. Pintofeed did not saw when it expects to make its device available to users for purchase.

Pasadena-based Idealab has sold another one of its companies to Yahoo today: GoPollGo, a Twitter polling service which let Twitter users collect feedback from their friends and followers. Financial details of the deal were not announced. GoPollGo had been backed by Ram Srinivasan, Phil Schaechter, CrunchFund, Chris Eppstein and Idealab. According to GoPollGo, it will be joining Yahoo! Mobile, but would also be shutting down its properties, including its service, widgets, and mobile app. GoPollGo had been started by Ben Schaechter, Sam Grossberg, and Paul Kompfner, and was based in Palo Alto. Idealab made its investment in GoPollGo back in June of 2011, one of a series of Twitter-related investments by the startup incubator during that time frame.

Wish you had a better calendar app? Los Angeles-based GetAtlas has launched its mobile apps for iOS and Android into beta this week, looking to make it easier for users to track and schedule their appointments and calendar. The Launchpad LA company, which has raised $700,000 form such investors as the Tech Coast Angels, Maverick Angels, Pasadena Angels, Angel Capital Entrepreneur Fund, Clark Landry, and Yuri Pikover, made a big media push yesterday on the launch of its apps. Launchpad's apps provide a simple, coordinated way to schedule and coordinate meetings with others, eliminating the back and forth emails, phone calls, and other hassles in setting up appointments.

Publicly held biotherapeutics developer Arrowhead Research said this morning that it has raised $36M in a private offering. The Pasadena-based company said the new financing was led by RA Capital, and included new investors Camber Capital, Special Situations Fund, and Aquilo Capital. Existing investors Sabby Capital, Sphera Global Healthcare Fund, and Jim Mellon also participated in the offering. Arrowhead Research has a number of biotherapeutics candidates, aimed at such areas as cancer, obesity, and hepatitis. The firm said the new funding will give it a cash runway into 2015, based on its current burn rate. Arrowhead trades on the NASDAQ as ARWR.

Upcoming.org, an online service which was started in Los Angeles, and acquired by Yahoo in 2005, is shutting down, according to Yahoo in an announcement over the weekend. Taking a clue from Google, Yahoo has begun closing donw lesser used services owned and operated by the company, including a half dozen different services announced Friday, including Upcoming, Yahoo! Deals, SMS alerts, Yahoo Kids, and more. Upcoming.org was a social calendaring application which let users post free listings about events coming up in an area; the company was acquired in October 2005 by Yahoo, and its founders moved to the Bay Area by Yahoo. The shutdown isn't the first by Yahoo of a startup originally created in Southern California; the firm notably has shut down such local onetime Internet high-flyers as Geocities (started in Santa Monica) and GoTo/Overture (Pasadena). Upcoming.org's founder posted a long diatribe on Yahoo's shutdown of his creation Friday. [Read more...]