Tech rebound?

Los Angeles can expect to see a pick up in venture capital funding for technology, communications and software companies in the second half of 2004.

"The technology sector is beginning to warm up, which should bode well for the L.A. community," said Don Williams, the Pacific Southwest venture capital group leader at Ernst & Young.

Many tech companies are getting add-on rounds of funding from existing investors.

FrontBridge Technologies Inc., an antispare e-mail protection firm in Marina del Rey, received $10 million in a "series-D" round of venture capital funding in the second quarter. Its main investors include Focus Ventures in Palo Alto, Sierra Ventures in Menlo Park and BA Venture Partners in Foster City.

CinemaNow Inc., an online movie download service, raised $11 million in a new round of funding from Mellon Ventures in Menlo Park, Cisco Systems Inc. and existing investors including Lions Gate Entertainment, which already owned a 54 percent stake in the company.

In the second quarter, 15 Los Angeles-based companies raised $123 million in venture capital funding, compared with 18 companies that received $199 million in venture funding in the first quarter, according to a survey released last week by Ernst & Young and VentureOne. However, funding levels are up 20 percent from the first half of 2003 to $322 million, compared with $269 million in the first half of 2003.