Los Angeles-based Equipois , has raised $1M in a recent venture funding round, the firm told socalTECH this week. The firm--which develops mechanical devices to make objects weightless, used by manufacturers and others to reduce workplace injuries and improve efficiency--has now raised $6M since its Series A funding in 2007. The funding was disclosed by Eric Golden, the firm's President and CEO, in an interview this week. READ MORE>> ...Tags:

The firm told socalTECH that the boost came both because it has been more aggressive in search engine marketing, and a new travel deals newsletter which has driven customers to return to the site. LowFares.com is managed by Greg Samson; Oversee acquired LowFares.com in January of 2007. Travel search site LowFares.com , which is owned by Oversee.net, is reporting that it has seen a jump in visitors to the site of 73 percent since the beginning of the year. LowFares said the search engine marketing efforts were the result of additional advertiser relationships the firm has secured

A study of the venture capital deal flow in Southern California conducted by socalTECH shows that venture capital deals dropped for Q3, to around $720M in deals, in a market dominated by clean technology firms. The numbers, which were drawn from venture deals tracked and reported in socalTECH's proprietary venture capital database, found that there was $719.7M invested in venture capital deals in the third quarter, down dramatically from $1.2B The numbers--which are derived by socalTECH from venture deals reported by companies, in news, disclosed in regulatory filings, and otherwise

Ryan Born, AudioMicro's founder, is no stranger to Getty: he was VP of Finance and Controller at MediaVast (WireImage.com), which was acquired by Getty Images in 2007. Born told socalTECH that the entry of iStock into the area "validates and expands the market" for micro stock audio. Los Angeles-based AudioMicro , the stock audio startup looking to provide music and sound effects, has some new competition this week: Getty Images, through its iStockphoto site. AudioMicro, which has raised funding from DFJ Frontier, operates a web site which allows video and other media producers to

Handschiegel sold Stylediary in 2007 to StyleHive. Handschiegel told socalTECH that the firm's projects include a redesign and positioning of an Internet site purchased from another company, and a TV project in developing and packaging it for shopping/sale; she also said that the investors in the firm are all from outside California. ...Tags: Los Angeles-based 9 , a startup offering consulting and production for brands, entertainment, media, internet and retail companies, has raised a small round of funding from private investors. Details on the amount of funding were not released.

Google, released a preview of its new voicemail services late Wednesday evening, saying that the new service--based on technology it gained from an acquisition of GrandCentral Communications in 2007--will offer call screening, voicemail transcripts, ability to check voicemails online, personalized greetings, and other features. However, Alex Quilici, the firm's CEO, told socalTECH that he actually sees something good from the competition. "Our Irvine-based startup YouMail has just gotten a new competitor: search engine giant Google, which launched a significantly comparable service to YouMail's voice mail services.

One things worth pointing out is that more dollars in Q4, nationally, as well in LA, went into second and later stage deals, than early stage deals, " said Mike Schoenfeld, part of Ernst & Young's Global Venture Capital Advisory Group, commenting on the results in an interview with socalTECH. billion, down 8 percent from 2007, when $31.4 Southern California's venture capital numbers for Q4 slipped, as did numbers nationally, according to numbers released over the weekend by Dow Jones VentureSource. According to the report, Southern California's venture capital totals slipped for the

One of those taking a calmer view of the markets is William Quigley of Clearstone Venture Partners (a sponsor of socalTECH), who recently crafted this editorial on his perspective. The figure that stays with me more than any other during these trying times is the performance of the Internet and hospitality sectors from 2002 to 2007. Among the rampant fear the bouncing market has instilled in entrepreneurs and venture capitalists, there are more than a few people hyperventilating about what that means for the high tech market. On the other hand, there are some who are trying to take