Active Life device finds link between diabetes, bone issues
A device made by Santa Barbara-based Active Life Scientific played a critical role in a new study at the Mayo Clinic linking Type 2 diabetes to bone problems.
Cal Poly engineering students team with firms to tackle projects
An in-bottle wine aerator, a Spider-Man-like robot that can climb walls and a peach pit detector were among the projects on display at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo’s mechanical engineering expo on Nov. 21.
Philanthropist Fred Kavli dies at 86
Fred Kavli, a Norwegian-born entrepreneur, scientist and philanthropist who created thousands of jobs and gave millions for the study of theoretical physics, died at his home in Santa Barbara on Nov. 21. He founded KavliCo Corp., a Moorpark-based maker of advanced sensors for cars and aircraft. He also invested in real estate for more than 50 years.
Panel: Data is key to crowd funding success
Crowd funding isn’t really about raising money. It’s about gathering data and contact information whose long-term value far outweighs the one-time cash that comes in. A group of crowd funding experts hammered that point home at an Oct. 20 event hosted by the Central Coast MIT Enterprise Forum at UC Santa Barbara. Crowd funding, in Read More →
NextMover, GearUp take top spots at Santa Barbara Startup Weekend
A company looking to shake up the moving industry took home $55,000 and the top spot at Santa Barbara’s third Startup Weekend, one of 200 such gatherings taking place across the globe Nov. 15-17.
The event challenges budding entrepreneurs and programers to launch a startup with just 54 hours separating the concept and final product. The events have been held in Santa Barbara, Santa Maria and San Luis Obispo. The execution, design and business model of the pitches were judged by Kevin O’Connor, co-founder and CEO of Summerland-based FindTheBest; Klaus Schauser, co-founder and chief strategist of AppFolio in Goleta; and Jon Funk of Ocean Road Partners, among others.
A website called NextMover took home first place for its interface that aims to provide users a cheaper alternative to moving companies. Marketing itself as “your friend with a truck,” the site connects movers with others who can get the job done and are looking to make a quick buck.
Taylor Frigon invests in Schmidt-backed cloud tech firm
Alongside its everyday wealth and investment management business, San Luis Obispo-based Taylor Frigon Capital Management has been quietly making venture capital investments over the past five years that are gaining attention from Silicon Valley heavyweights.
Taylor Frigon’s venture investment arm, Taylor Frigon Capital Partners, was an early investor in a company called Otoy in Los Angeles. The company has recently inked deals with a spate of big players — Firefox parent Mozilla, Amazon’s cloud services branch and Autodesk, the gold-standard for 3-D rendering software — to crack a previously unachievable goal.
