This has been the year co-working hit the Tri-Counties. With the opening on Nov. 4 of Connect Ventura in the Working Artists Ventura building, there are now co-work spaces in Ventura, Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo.
Music equipment maker Sonos markets some of the highest-quality audio equipment around, but the company is being very quiet as it snaps up thousands of square feet of space in downtown Santa Barbara. According to the brokers at Radius Group’s economic and commercial real estate forecast on Oct. 31, Sonos has now leased about 100,000 square feet of new space over the last year, and is looking for more.
Thousand Oaks-based ImmunGene, a cancer treatment firm led by a former Amgen scientist, has raised $9 million from Ally Bridge Group, an investment group with ties to Hong Kong.
ImmunGene’s so-called antibody-cytokine fusion technology could help improve the cancer-cell targeting in therapies. President and CEO Sanjay D. Khare was formerly the scientific director at Amgen, the biotech giant. Prior to the funding, ImmunGene had received several hundred thousand dollars in federal research grants.
Called MAST, short for Marine Advanced Systems and Technology, the program will create an innovation hub of sorts for companies to test paint, products and devices for their ability to operate in marine environments.
Christian and conservative media operator Salem Communications Corp.’s third-quarter profits jumped 58 percent to $5.3 million, or 21 cents per share, as revenue increased 3.1 percent to $58.5 million. The Camarillo-based firm’s revenue continued to shift to the Web, with third-quarter Internet revenue increasing 20.4 percent to $9.4 million.
Online advertising firm ValueClick’s third-quarter profits jumped 33 percent to $22.1 million and the firm announced plans to sell off company-owned websites such as Investopedia.com and CouponMountain.com.
“We delivered strong profitability and cash flow in the third quarter, driven by a continued mix shift into our higher-value-added offerings,” ValueClick CEO and President John Giuliani said in a news release. “Solid year-over-year growth in our CRM, affiliate marketing, mobile, video and cross-device solutions was offset by weakness in our insertion order display business within the media segment.”
Startup Weekend is gearing up for its return to Santa Barbara on Nov. 15-17. The event is a three-day creative sprint that brings together technical experts, designers and business minds to create a company idea over a weekend. The idea took off with support from the Kauffman Foundation, Microsoft and Google, with local groups organizing Read More →