Los Angeles Startup: MoonShark Laucnhes, Founded By CAA & Qualcomm

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Creative Artists Agency (CAA) and silicon giant Qualcomm have partner to launch a new mobile game development startup called MoonShark.

The new startup is going to leverage the high level celebrity relationships within CAA and the technical prowess of Qualcomm and the studios developers to make great mobile games, tied in with celebrities.

The CAA roster includes hundreds of the most well known celebrities. At launch, MoonShark is working with movie star and recording artist Jennifer Lopez. MoonShark has released their first game, Dance Pad, in a partnership with Lopez. The game is a finger dancing game reminiscent of dance dance revolution, except instead of using your feet and other body parts, players use their fingers to tap to the music. The game packs over 100 levels featuring a soundtrack with over 30 top artists.

“Moonshark was formed to connect uniquely talented artists with the best independent mobile developers to bring amazing ideas to life as mobile games,” said Matt Kozlov, CEO of Moonshark. “Our mission is to keep the Moonshark pipeline full of creative, addictive titles and give talent the means to share their creativity with fans on cutting edge mobile platforms.”

MoonShark’s second title is being developed in conjunction with LA based developer Mention Mobile and YouTube superstar Philip DeFranco. The company is also partnering for a future title with Hollywood director John Woo and his production company Tiger Hill.

“The collaborative development process at Moonshark has been an outstanding experience,” said Woo. “We worked with Moonshark to find just the right development team to bring these characters and concepts to life in an immersive, engaging game. The early versions of the title look absolutely amazing; I can’t wait until I can share more.”
Source: PR Newswire (http://s.tt/1gc2v)

Linkage:

Checkout MoonShark here

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Live Broadcast From Silicon Beach Fest Of Demo Day And More

 

Tomorrow at 2pm PST we’ll be broadcasting live from SBF Demo Day presented by StartEngine. As well as broadcasting from other events live throughout the whole event that starts tomorrow. Panels ranging from Meet The Accelerators to  How To Hire A Developer. Into coding and actually products, don’t worry as StartEngine has you covered with a full 48 hours Hackathon going on throughout the event. Quick hint, teams from Disney are among those who’ll be showing up to show us what they can do.

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We Interview Ari Rashti Of StartEngine And Angel Vision Investors

Over the past weekend, I was able to interview Ari Rashti, from StartEngine and Angel Vision Investors. We where able to talk to him about how the Los Angeles Tech Scene has come and gone, and then coming back again. Along the same lines we dug deeper into why LA hasn’t seen as many hot startups come from here, as well as the valuation disparity we have from the Bay.

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LA Startup: 12 Society Offering Hot Subscription Box Of Celebrity Endorsed Goodies

12society,nas,mark cuban,techcrunchWe’ve all seen so many varieties of the subscription box model. We’ve got birch box for health and beauty, Chicago’s Klutch Club for health and wellness products, England’s Flavor Box for monthly flavors, Houston’s Whimsey Box for craft goodies and countless others.

12 Society is offering something really cool. We don’t want to call it the dudes equivalent to a Birch Box because there are definitely geeky, gadget and fun loving women who will love the stuff they can get from being a 12 society member. The best part about 12 Society though is that you’re getting products that are endorsed by celebrities like Nick Cannon, Nas, Tim Linecum, Michael Strahan, Blake Griffin and Kevin Love.

12 Society offers top notch gadgets, gear and fun. Their website shows off a pair of headphones, remote controlled helicopter and a nice Spalding basketball as some of the things you could get delivered for your $39 subscription, monthly.

12 Society promises between four and six premium products from tech,athletics,fashion and apparel.

Co-Founder Nasir Jones (Hip Hop legend Nas) says on the company’s website:

“I’ve been blessed to lead a lifestyle that allows me to experience the pinnacle of creation and innovation, and I have always wanted a way to share this with the people that I love. That’s why I’m teaming up with some of my favorite athletes, entertainers, musicians and thought-leaders to start 12Society.


Our celebrity style board will give you an inside look into the latest trends in tech, fashion, popular culture and athletics that are impacting and improving our lives. We’ll turn you into a taste-maker and trend-setter by picking out products every month that we love and use, all while giving you a great value on gadgets, gear, apparel, accessories and more! We are award-winners, world champions, entrepreneurs, music legends, dunk masters and sack-artists – and we’re here to hook you up.”

Nas’ co-founder and CEO of 12 Society is Sameer Mehta a 2009 graduate of Carnegie Mellon. Mehta was also the co-founder of Mark Cuban backed Jungle Cents which had raised $1.5 million before selling the assets off to Cuban to found 12 Society.

Linkage:

Check out or sign up for 12 Society here

Nibletz is the voice of startups “everywhere else” here are more stories from “everywhere else”

Silicon Beach Fest What To Look Forward To On The 21st

Over the past weekend both Kyle and I were at startup events, and if you think with all the events so far this month the two of us have been covering is enough you’d be wrong. Later this month I’ll be covering Silicon Beach Fest in Santa Monica California from June 21-23rd. Organizes by Kevin Winston formally of MySpace, and current CEO of Digital LA. Jason Crilly, CEO and Founder of Pagewoo and Efren Toscano. Founder of TechZulu an independent news organization delivering an insightful story of the technology industry by showcasing the very people creating it. Brought together he top Startup Incubators in the Los Angeles area such as Start Engine, io/LA, Idealab, Amplify and others. For this start studded event. When Kevin Winston was questioned about what brought him to creating Silicon Beach Fest, he mentioned to me.

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Exclusive Interview With Travis Chen Winner Of Hollywood Hack A Day

This weekend, we covered Hollywood Hack Day and now we have an exclusive interview with Travis Chen, created or Typing Karaoke. While not picking up a single Sponsors award, Travis won over both the crowd and judges. Who would think that something that could be education could be so fun. Watch the video below for not only the interview, but also how the crowd reacts when someone tries it during his pitch. They go Crazy

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Hollywood Hack A Day, Final Recap

It’s like a party, you are afraid that no one will show up”

Rahim Sonawalla mentioned to me about his fears about putting together Hollywood Hack A Day. But boy did they show up. While Kyle was in Memphis for a Launch event this past weekend, I was on the West Coast. More specifically Hollywood California to witness Hollywood Hack Day taking place at io/LA which was nice enough to provide their location to use for the weekend. Put together by Ryan Chisholm, Rahim Sonawalla and Abe Burns, this weekends event expected around around 70 developers, graphic artist, and visionaries to show up. Battling 80 degree crystal clear skies, developers spent all weekend from 0900 on Saturday to 6pm on Sunday putting together not only presentations but working projects as well.

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Day 2 Has Started At Hollywood Hack Day At io/LA

We are here at Hollywood Hack Day, on a gloomy Sunday in Hollywood California covering what has turned into 70+ programmers from all over So Cal into one place. The idea behind Hollywood Hack Day was to bring Media and Tech together into one. With sponsors like Rovi, ToxBox, Mashery, Rdio, Spotify just to name a few, the programmers here have been coding all throughout the night.

We’ll be covering all the goings on today as well as later tonight and tomorrow have full videos on all the pitches and the winners as the night goes on.

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We’ll Be Live At io/LA Covering Hollywood Hack Day

This weekend, while Kyle will be on the East Coast at another Startup event. I’ll be at a Hackathon on the West Coast covering the Hollywood Hackathon. The event, which has moved to io/LA’s venue near the famed Hollywood and Highland intersection in the middle of Hollywood. Will be filled with those trying to make it into the entertainment field by way of Tech.

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5 Trending Angel List (Angel.co) Startups From Everywhere Else

Chances are if you read nibletz.com regularly, you are a startup, accelerator,incubator or angel from “everywhere else” just like us. So I’m sure you’ve probably noticed in your daily check to angel.co that all of the trending startups are almost always from Silicon Valley.

We’ve decided to highlight some of the trending startups from “everywhere else” that can be found on angel.co. So here’s our first list of five.

NetPlenish (Los Angeles)

NetPlenish is an innovative way to keep track of the things you regularly buy from the store, albeit razors, gatorade, coffee, socks, diapers etc. It hold all that information in a list for you in the cloud. NetPlenish then finds the best prices for everything on your list. This could be at K-Mart, WalMart, Target, Wahlgreen’s or which ever NetPlenish merchant partner has the best price.

Then, once a week you’re notified by NetPlenish either with a push notification or email, that they’ve done the research and found the best prices for the items you need. They get each item at the vendor with the best price and then voila in a few days your items are at your doorstep.

Talk about the king of convenience.

Find out more about NetPlenish here.

 

FormLabs, Boston 

FormLabs in Boston is hoping to make 3D printers actually attainable. Right now companies like Makerbot and others have 3D printers that they can sell to you but they are often thousands of dollars.

The FormLabs 3D printer is going to be low-cost and print in 3D right out of the box.

Co-Founders Maxim Lobovsky and David Cranor are hiring right now and we’re hoping for a roll out soon because I want to start making action figures in my basement.

Find out more about Formlabs here

 

Mile High Organics, Boulder 

We all know that Boulder has a thriving tech scene. In fact TechStars is based there and it’s like a little metropolis of all the next best ideas.

Mile High was recently featured in the Wall Street Journal’s Market Watch section as the Nation’s First USDA -Certified Organic Online Grocer.

Mile High Organics is America’s First Certified Organic Online Grocer. Members order online and receive convenient, scheduled home or office delivery of local, organic, non-GMO (non-genetically modified) produce, dairy, meat, seafood, groceries; health, home and beauty products. We have over 500 SKUs and growing.

Mile High is backed by Dave McClure and 500 startups.

If you’re into organic food, now you can order from Mile High, get your every day supplies from NetPlenish and never have to leave the house again, where we know you’re incubating that next big startup.

More on Mile High, here

 

Hungerly, Columbus OH

Food trucks, food trucks, food trucks, I’ve been saying this since South By Southwest 2011, the food truck app space is heating up. Hungerly from Columbus Ohio is part of that new trend. But unlike other food truck apps, this app is for the vendor not the customer.

If you are a food truck vendor you’ve got a lot on your plate (no pun intended) you have to clean your truck to code, prepare all your food to code and then find a place to vend where you won’t get a ticket.

That’s where Hungerly comes in. Hungerly maintains a database of the best, approved locations for food trucks to set up and start vending. A food truck owner just logs in, looks for a spot and Hungerly has done all the work.

For more on Hungerly visit this link

 

Social Meter, Houston Texas

Social Meter is a unique way for people to get face time with important people by donating to their favorite charity. While some may cry afoul, this tactic actually works, I know this first hand.

During my radio and records career I was helping my little brothers band get noticed. They were actually really good for a young (teenage) rock band with their own material. A major label executive at Sony had said they liked what they heard but never had the time for us.

A bunch of googling later I found a charity that this executive was very involved with. We went to the Sony Tower on Madison Ave in New York and I sent up a $100 money order for the charity in an envelope with the executives name on it, we got the meeting.

Social Meter makes it much easier as they’ve already sourced the charities and the influencers have decided how much of a donation will get the donator a phone call, a meeting or a lunch. Ultimately it’s a win win for everyone after you get over the “pimp my charity” part.

It’s all about getting noticed and Social Meter helps you do that.

For more on Social Meter click here.

 

Linkage:

If you’re a startup from “everywhere else” and trending on Angel.co bring it to our attention by sending an email to startup@nibletz.com

We’re on a nationwide sneaker strapped strartup roadtrip and could use your help, please check this out

Check out the Angel List at angel.co

LA Startup: Lovvvit Video Interview With Founder Max Gotlieb At TechCrunch Disrupt NY 2012

lovvvit app,max gottlieb,techcrunch disrupt,nibletz.comHollywood producer turned startup founder Max Gotlieb had a genius idea in his head and started developing it into what is now known as Lovvvit. We reported on Lovvvit earlier this year. It’s a video review/recommendation platform for people to pronounce their love for their favorite things.

After a few minutes with Gottlieb I quickly grabbed hold of the concept and it’s indeed genius. I thought back on the past seven years (the youtube years) and how many videos I’ve taken and shared from my favorite places. The number is quite large, but none of them ever talked about the places I actually love.

Sure there are birthday party videos, bachelor party videos, playing around videos and other funny stuff at my favorite haunts but not once did I walk in and do a video saying, “I love this place”. Imagine how cool it would be to have crowd sourced video reviews of peoples’ favorite places. It would be genuine, and engaging for both the loyal customer and the merchant.

Right now merchants are growing tired of the group-coupon (Groupon) deal space. Merchants are finding that they are losing their ass in margin to attract one time customers. Now they want better tools to target their frequent customers. Lovvvit provides a platform for just that, and it’s engaging, innovative and fun.

There’s a reward benefit on both sides of the platform as well. If you’re the customer and you do a video review of your favorite places you can earn Lovvvit dollars and upgrade to a premium status.  As with any site the more reviews you do of your favorite places, the more trusted you become in the Lovvvit community.

On the side of the merchant, they are granted access to the videos in Lovvvit. They can share them across their own websites and their other social  media channels. They can also add coupons and deals to the videos as well.

All of that makes Lovvvit a three fold community of reviewers, people looking to discover places and the merchants.

Check out our video interview with Gottlieb below:

Check out more of our TechCrunch Disrupt NY coverage here


Two Startup Founders Selected To Attend The Kentucky Derby With Scott Case

Scott Case, Startup America, Kentucky Derby, Nibletz, Contest

Two lucky startup founders will join Startup America CEO Scott Case this weekend for the Kentucky Derby

The Startup America partnership recently held a video pitch challenge contest where member company founders could pitch for their chance to win a trip to the world famous Kentucky Derby. The derby is this weekend in Louisville Kentucky and kicks off the coveted Triple Crown of horse racing.

Once in Kentucky the two winners will enjoy spending time with the startup world’s most traveled man, Startup America CEO Scott Case. Ralph Acosta the founder of LA based SkuRun and Andrew Sell, the founder of Ocean NJ based HipCycle were chosen as the winners.

SkuRun delivers sales and marketing content to road warriors in real time. HipCycle offers upcycled home furnishings.

The tickets to the derby were provided by Nucleus: Kentucky’s Life Science and Innovation Center.

In addition to spending time with Scott Case, who was the founding CTO of Priceline.com, they will also spend some time with the Mayor of Louisville, Greg Fischer. The two winners will also participate in mentoring time with leading entrepreneurs.

The Startup America Partnership is an initiative of the Obama administration. They just recently added their 20th region. Startup Kentucky is just two weeks old. The most recent launch was  Startup Indiana, last week.

Nibletz.com is a proud member of Startup America

Linkage:

For more information on Startup America visit here

Source: Bizjournals.com

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L.A. Startup: BuzzMob Is First Company In MWW Ventures

MWW is one of the largest PR firms in the country with a global presence. Their client list includes some of the top tier companies in their industries. Nikon and Samsung Mobile are both represented by MWW among a long list of familiar brands.

MWW just announced a new venture capital project spearheaded by their global head of technology and digital content, Ephraim Cohen. MWW ventures is incubating startups that advance media, marketing and public relations industries by investing firm resources in exchange for equity.

Cohen told Nibletz.com that MWW Ventures was developed by he and MWW Group CEO Michael Kempner who is a serial entrepreneur. With the verticals that the MWW Group is involved with Cohen says they come across great startups all the time. With MWW Ventures, the MWW Group will invest and incubate companies that will help them stay on “…the cutting edge of technology”.

Buzzmob, a Los Angeles startup was announced as MWW Ventures first portfolio company last week. Buzzmob is a mobile app for live events that forms location based social networks in real time and on the fly.

More after the break

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Everywhere Else Beats The Valley In Forbes Top 10 Incubator List

Nibletz is growing a lot faster than we could ever imagine. We thank every one of you that’s come to the site to check out a story, or two, added us to your RSS feed and shared us on social media. Despite the rate we’ve been growing (500% month over month), we still find ourselves explaining “everywhere else” at least once a day.

Nibletz is the voice of startups everywhere else. We’re proud to bring news, interviews, and resources to those startups that are “everywhere else”. Monday Forbes posted their list of the top ten start up incubators across the country. Y-Combinator, in the valley, topped the list with $7.8 billion in value.

If you take a closer look at the Forbes list, you’ll quickly notice, like we did, that the number of incubators “everywhere else” trumped the number of valley based incubators 6-4. In fact TechStars, with offices in Boulder, Boston, New York, Seattle, and San Antonio, came in second place.

TechStars has had 114 companies through the program with 98 still active. TechStars has a franchise model of sorts, and is headquartered in Boulder Colorado. TechStars founder David Cohen has hired directors for each of the other locations. TechStars selects 1% of about 4,000 applications into their program.

More after the break
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