Venture capital activity jumps sharply in third quarter.Third-quarter venture capital funding in the Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. area jumped sharply from a year ago, with 26 companies in the region hauling in $207.5 million, according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. a new survey. The companies, in Los Angeles, Ventura Ventura (vĕnt  `rə), city (1990 pop. 92,575), seat of Ventura co., SW Calif., on the Pacific coast in a farm and oil region; inc. 1866. and Santa Barbara Santa Barbara (săn'tə bär`brə, –bərə), city (1990 pop. 85,571), seat of Santa Barbara co., S Calif., on the Pacific Ocean; inc. 1850. counties,
received 50 percent more funding than in the third quarter of 2004 as
venture capitalists Venture CapitalistAn investor who provides capital to either start-up ventures or support small companies who wish to expand but do not have access to public funding. Notes: Venture capitalists usually expect higher returns for the additional risks taken. displayed eagerness to put their dollars to work, according to the latest MoneyTree Survey by PricewaterhouseCoopers, Thomson Venture Economics and the National Venture Capital Association. "People have really have started to work out the problems in their portfolio from the tech bubble A bit in bubble memory or a symbol in a bubble chart. , and now they're ready to start looking at new opportunities," said John Babcock John Henry Foster Babcock (born July 23, 1900) is, at age 107, the only known surviving veteran of the Canadian military to have served in the First World War since the death of Dwight Wilson. , a partner at Santa Monica-based Rustic Canyon Partners, which closed several modest deals with Internet-related businesses. The funding level was 15 percent off from the second quarter, but the third quarter is a traditionally slower period as it includes the vacation-filled summer months. Year-to-date Year-to-date (YTD) The period beginning at the start of the calendar year up to the current date. funding for the first three quarters of 2005 was $672 million, also up 50 percent from a year ago. Among significant local investments in the July-September period was $14 million raised by Los Angeles-based Amp'd Mobile Amp'd Mobile was a mobile phone service launched in the United States in late 2005. The company was a Mobile Virtual Network Operator and operated on the Verizon Wireless CDMA EV-DO network. Its primary non-Venture Capital investors were MTV Networks and Universal Music Group. Inc., which plans to launch a mobile-phone entertainment service by the end of the year. The largest single amount was received by Torrance-based Primarion Inc., which makes mixed-signal integrated circuits A mixed-signal integrated circuit combines analog circuits with digital signal processing (DSP) circuits on a single semiconductor die. An integrated circuit that includes both analog and digital circuitry (but no DSP), like a 555 timer, is generally not considered a mixed-signal and received $22.4 million. The MoneyTree survey doesn't detail which venture firm made those and other investments. It primarily surveys professional venture capital practitioners about their cash-for-equity investments, with some VCs providing only partial information on a deal for proprietary reasons. The Amp'd investment, as well as $22.2 million in expansion funding for Los Angeles-based eStyle Inc., owner of the Babystyle.com e-commerce e-commerce, commerce conducted over the Internet, most often via the World Wide Web. E-commerce can apply to purchases made through the Web or to business-to-business activities such as inventory transfers. site, were typical of venture investments popular in Los Angeles--information technology companies with an entertainment or lifestyle emphasis. "If you're an entrepreneur entrepreneur (än'trəprənûr`) [Fr.,=one who undertakes], person who assumes the organization, management, and risks of a business enterprise. it's a good time to seek funds," said Randy The name Randy generally derives from the names Randall or Randolph (meaning wolf with a shield). Randy is used as a given name primarily in the US and Canada. Men known as Randy
Elsewhere in Southern California Southern California, also colloquially known as SoCal, is the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Centered on the cities of Los Angeles and San Diego, Southern California is home to nearly 24 million people and is the nation's second most populated region, , $204.6 million was given to 36 San Diego San Diego (săn dēā`gō), city (1990 pop. 1,110,549), seat of San Diego co., S Calif., on San Diego Bay; inc. 1850. San Diego includes the unincorporated communities of La Jolla and Spring Valley. Coronado is across the bay. County companies. That's down 19 percent from a year ago when $252.5 million was invested. In Orange County, $132.4 million was given to 18 companies, up 129 percent from a year ago when $57.8 million was invested. Nationally, venture capitalists invested $5.3 billion in 714 companies in the third quarter, up 15 percent from the like period a year ago. The survey projects that total venture investing venture investing The acquiring of a stake in a start-up company by a brokerage firm or analyst by obtaining discounted, pre-IPO shares. Critics claim venture investing causes analysts to have a vested interest in seeing a stock appreciate in value and so this year across the nation could meet or exceed 2002's $21.7 billion level--the highest level in the prior three years. A separate survey using different criteria, conducted by Venture One and Ernst & Young LLP LLP - Lower Layer Protocol , recorded $88.7 million in venture commitments to 15 companies in Los Angeles during the third quarter, with some recipients overlapping with MoneyTree's list. The figure was up 19 percent from the year-ago third quarter. "There were a lot of mid-size deals in the quarter and that's typical for Los Angeles," said Don Williams, leader of Ernst & Young's Southern California Venture Capital Group. "We don't get the kind of large bio-med deals you see in San Diego or medical device investments in Orange County." The average deal was valued at $8 million in the Money Tree survey.
Dealmakers
Local venture capital transactions in the third quarter.
Company Headquarters Business
Primarion Inc. Torrance mixed-signal integrated
circuit
eStyle Inc. Los Angeles e-commerce
Newegg.com La Puente e-marketer
CaseStack Inc. Santa Monica logistics outsourcing
Sonos Inc Santa Barbara digital music systems
Ampd Mobile Inc. Los Angeles cell phone entertainment
Kotura Inc. Monterey Park optical communications
products
InTouch Technologies
Inc. Santa Barbara healthcare mobile robotic
Perfect Market
Technologies Pasadena Snap.com search engine
Celetronix Simi Valley electronic & optical
manufacturing
Insider Pages Inc. Pasadena local business search engine
Zag.com Santa Monica auto sales Web site
Sennari Inc. Los Angeles mobile phone &
infrastructure
5Square Systems Corp. Westlake Village auto dealer sales mgmt.
systems
Inogen Inc Goleta respiratory disease products
Strix Systems Inc. Calabasas Park mobile Internet access
equipment
Audyssey Laboratories
Inc Cheviot Hills audio systems corrective
software
InQ Inc. Agoura Hills e-commerce after-sale live
chat mktng.
Auryn Inc. Los Angeles animation services
Mojix Inc. Los Angeles sensory network products
Academy123 Inc. Westlake Village online homework assistance
Progressive Beverages
Inc. Culver City brand marketing firm
CrystalVoice Corp. Santa Barbara voice over Internet software
Aestherx Inc. Woodland Hills medical product R&D
Catalist Homes Inc. Hermosa Beach regional real estate
services
Methanotech Inc. Pasadena biological methanol
production
Amt. Raised
Company (millions)
Primarion Inc. $22.4
eStyle Inc. 22.2
Newegg.com 20.0
CaseStack Inc. 20.0
Sonos Inc 15.0
Ampd Mobile Inc. 14.0
Kotura Inc. 13.0
InTouch Technologies
Inc. 12.1
Perfect Market
Technologies 10.0
Celetronix 10.0
Insider Pages Inc. 8.5
Zag.com 8.1
Sennari Inc. 5.0
5Square Systems Corp. 4.2
Inogen Inc 4.0
Strix Systems Inc. 3.2
Audyssey Laboratories
Inc 2.5
InQ Inc. 2.5
Auryn Inc. 2.0
Mojix Inc. 2.0
Academy123 Inc. 1.8
Progressive Beverages
Inc. 1.7
CrystalVoice Corp. 1.0
Aestherx Inc. 1.0
Catalist Homes Inc. 0.7
Methanotech Inc. 0.5
Source: PricewaterhouseCoopers, Venture Economics, National Venture
Capital Association Money Tree survey
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