OCTANE | Venture Capital in Orange County

The annual OCTANE VC in the OC signature event will be May 24, 2011 at the Hyatt Regency in Irvine.

Keynote speakers will be founder and Chief Executive Officer of Vizio William Wang and Mark Stevens a partner at Sequoia Capital. Wang started VIZIO in 2002 and has grown the company to be a leader in LCD TV HDTV sales. Stevens is jointly responsible for investments in such companies as Google, Yahoo!, NVIDIA, YouTube and many others.

The event will feature an Innovation Showcase and an OC Innovation Report. Speakers will give talks on the OC Innovation Lifestyle, Alliance Strategies for Growth in the Life Science Industry, Clean Tech Investment Update, and an OC VC Panel. The OC VC Panel will discuss the three large OC VC sectors: technology, life sciences, and clean tech.

The day will end with presentations by twelve start-up companies seeking investment capital followed by a round of VC Speed Dating. The VC Speed Dating will allow companies to give 2.5 minute presentations to venture capitalists.

Visit OCTANE VC in the OC to read more about the venture capitalists and speakers or to register.

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Blue Dog Mead, Copa Di Vino (as seen on Shark Tank) and Swaddlekeeper – Baby Sleep System will be competing for up to $125,000 of angel invstor money!

View a live streaming video of the event.

Copa Di Vino was featured in a recent USA Today series on entrepreneurs. Click here to view the second article or pick up a copy of the newspaper.

The first installment of the USA Today series about Copa di Vino. You can watch the USA Today video to learn more about Copa Di Vino.

Gorge Angel Conference 2011 in The Dalles Oregon

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Venture Capital Top Blogger Fred Wilson

About Fred Wilson

New Yorker Fred Wilson has been a Venture Capitalist since 1986. He is the managing partner of New York Venture Capital firms Union Square Ventures and Flatiron Partners. Union Square Ventures invests in Internet services that create large networks. Union Square Ventures is one of the venture capital firms that helped make Twitter happen.

Fred Wilson also has the distinction of having one of the most read Venture Capital blogs with over 81,000 unique visitors per month. His blog “A VC” is a wealth of knowledge in the Venture Capital world.

Read Fred Wilson’s Blog >>

Tech Coast Tech Coast Venture Network (TCVN)

How to structure your company for Venture Capital investments.

This Orange County Venture Capital workshop will focus on the critical issues and steps in forming and organizing your start-up to be attractive to Venture Capital investment.

Some of the topics Tech Coast Tech Coast Venture Network (TCVN)’s workshop will cover:
• What type of entity should you use, and why?
• How do you protect against problems?
• What liabilities should you watch out for?
• How do you pull your management team and your business together?
• Getting the Most out of Your Investors

Speakers:

Register for the Orange County Venture Capital Workshop

Jim Shnell – Partner
Jackson DeMarco Tidus Peckenpaugh

Brad Hall – Managing Director
Hall & Company

Agenda:

7:30am – 8:00am: Registration/Breakfast
8:00am – 10:00am: Program/Workshop

Cost: $35 Early Registration
$45 at the event
Always FREE for TCVN Members!

Saddle Creek Corp, a Lakeland, Fla.-based logistics company has acquired Buena Park-based ServiceCraft Logistics. ServiceCraft Logistics, a well known name in the trucking and warehousing company is all set to become a part of Saddle Creek Corp without even revealing the terms and conditions of the acquisition.

ServiceCraft offer their services to almost 25 companies. Their list of customers incorporates the maker of consumer, paper, cleaning, health and beauty as well as food products. Along with two warehouses occupying a space of 830,000 square feet in Buena Park, the company has expansions in Ontario, Chino Hills, Northern California and Texas. Altogether the company has more than 4 million square feet of warehouse space.

Based on reports, ServiceCraft had annual sales of about $80 million and was being paid $15 million by Japan’s Sumitomo Group in the year 2005. Later, Bayside Capital, which is a Miami-based private equity firm also made an investment in the company but there was no information about the cash and stakes involved in the process.

Saddle Creek has acquired ServiceCraft with an aim to meet their purpose of expansion in California. There are about 250 people hired by ServiceCraft. Based on the reports of trade publication Logistics Management most of them are looking forward to join Saddle Creek. John Monson and his family were the brains behind the formation of ServiceCraft until it was sold to May Logistics Services Inc in the year 1998.

Costa Mesa’s Wyndham Hotel has been sold for $21 million at an auction. The 238-room hotel was bought by Rosanna Inc. which is an Irvine based real estate developer and investor. In the year 2006, Costa Mesa’s Wyndham Hotel was bought for $42 million by an associate of Newport Beach-based Makar Properties LLC; Rosanna is associated with the Wincome Group. The Wincome Group is a Hong Kong-based company that owns two more hotels in Orange County.

According to the officials associated with the Los Angeles office of San Francisco-based PKF Capital Inc., the property went through a phase of failure. As a result Rosanna was advised to opt for the business deal. Later in July, proceedings were started by Bank of America Corp. regarding the former proprietorship. The property was managed legally and later the court records revealed that Wyndham was in a debt of $31 million.

The war for K-Cups still continues. Green Mountain raised their earlier offer of $265 million to $290 million for Diedrich. Diedrich is the common interest for the bidding war going on between Emeryville based coffeehouse operator Peet’s Coffee & Tea Inc. and Vermont based Green Mountain
Coffee Roasters Inc.

Diedrich showed its liking towards Green Mountain’s new offer of $290 million. Peet’s Coffee & Tea Inc. has been given time till Monday to reconsider their offer of $265.2 million. Based on reports Peet’s Coffee & Tea Inc. said that the stock and cash offer proposed by them was exceptional and above others. They have also agreed on considering other alternatives in the given period.

Diedrich is witnessing this bidding war for the past two weeks. It all started with Peet’s initial offer of $213 million in cash and stock, later a $247 million cash offer was made by Green Mountain. Since then the cash offer is going up and up. Both Green Mountain and Peet’s are keen to acquire Diedrich as it has a license to make K-Cups. They also sell a new type of single brewing cup that has become a hit formula for companies to lower down the cost of coffee.

On Wednesday, Aliso Viejo’s Networks in Motion Inc. reported of having being acquired by Annapolis, Md.-based TeleCommunication Systems Inc. The amount stated for the acquisition is $170 million in cash, stock and debt. Aliso Viejo’s Networks in Motion Inc is known for making navigation and local search software for mobile devices. They also offer location-based services for wireless phones and hand held devices.

The software allows you to access maps and driving directions. You can also search for local businesses, movies, review and local events. The newer version comes with an added advantage for parents. The “child trackers” facility will allow parents to keep an eye on their kids through their phone. The newer version also hits on a feature like friend finders through social networking.

TeleCommunication Systems Inc. has a recent market value of $435 million with annual sales of about $300 million. They work for both government and commercial customers by making text messages and offering them location-based services. Their government customers include the Defense Department and local law enforcement agencies whereas Motorola Inc. and Alcatel-Lucent of France are their commercial customers. Networks in Motion also have a long list of customers including Verizon Wireless and many other big wireless service providers.

According to Doug Antone, Chief Executive of Networks in Motion, the acquisition will act as a platform for them to move towards their goals of being a leader in location-based services. By the end of the year 2009, the deal is expected to be closed. No information regarding the future plans of the company were provided as a spokesperson refused to reveal anything about what TCS holds for Networks in Motion’s local office and managers.

On Monday, National Diagnostics Inc., a North Carolina- based drug testing company was acquired by
HireRight Inc., an Irvine-based employment screening company. The acquisition took place with an aim to increase its employment screening capabilities. National Diagnostics provides drug testing as well as physical examination services. It offers such services to various industries and organizations. The list of industries also includes government organizations and the Department of Transportation.

The business of National Diagnostic will be operated from its North Carolina headquarters. The business activities will continue to take place under the supervision of Phillip Greene, chief executive and founder of National Diagnostic. National Diagnostics was acquired without even disclosing the terms and exact amount of cash involved.

HireRight, which is currently a part of Virginia-based Altegrity Inc., has itself gone through a phase of acquisition and merger. In the year 2008, HireRight was taken over by Altegrity, formerly Virginia’s US Investigations Services LLC for an amount of $195 million. Later HireRight was combined with US Investigations’ commercial services division.

The bidding war between Emeryville-based coffeehouse operator Peet’s Coffee & Tea Inc. and Irvine-based coffee seller Diedrich Coffee Inc. has come to a new front. Peet’s Coffee & Tea Inc. with its new offer of $265.2 million has decided to pay more cash and stock to Diedrich.

Last week, Vermont-based Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Inc made an offer of $265 million and Diedrich reported that they were interested in this proposal. The latest proposal of Peet’s has got the attention of Diedrich. In the beginning of November, Diedrich was offered $213 million in cash and stock by Peet’s Coffee & Tea Inc. Later Green Mountain made an offer of $247 million cash and then this latest $265 million offer of Peet’s continues the rivalry.

Diedrich is known for providing coffee to restaurants and workplaces. They are also involved in selling a new type of single brewing cup. K-Cups are the common factor for this ongoing bidding war for Diedrich. Keurig Inc., which is a part of Green Mountain, is the brain behind K-Cups.

Both Green Mountain and Peet’s are participating to the fullest in the bidding war as Diedrich is one of the few companies having a license to make K-Cups. These cups are considered as one of the best ways to reduce the cost of coffee by various companies. Stores like Wal-Mart along with other retailers sell them.