Surf Air , the subscription-based airline that is venture backed by SAM clients Anthem Venture Partners and Siemer Ventures , in addition to other VC firms and a number of high-profile angels, projects that it will have flights by the end of 2012.  To read the full socaltech.com article, click here. MORE >>

Institutional Investors, whether they be accelerators like Amplify , venture shops like Anthem Venture Partners , or even a super angel investor like Ron Conway’s Silicon Valley Angel bring tremendous value beyond the money they put into a company. What is your exit strategy? By this measure, Groupon was by no means your typical start-up. MORE >>

Viewdle , the developer of cross platform, facial recognition technology backed by Santa Monica-based Anthem Ventures, has scored another round of funding, worth $10M, according to Viewdle. The new round comes from Best Buy, BlackBerry Partners Fund, and Qualcomm, in addition to Anthem Ventures, which was the original investor in the company. MORE >>

I was just talking with someone who's new to Los Angeles and wanting to connect into the Los Angeles Startup Community. told them that I had recently seen several posts/articles talking about how vibrant the community has become. As is usual, I couldn't remember where I had seen those posts. will do my best to keep this up to date. MORE >>

The funding comes from Anthem Ventures, the Mailroom Fund, and Rincon Venture Partners. Hollywood-based Cocodot , an online site which provides online invitations and stationery, has raised $2.0M more in funding, according to reports. Cocodot is the latest startup of Shawn Gold, formerly SVP, Marketing & Content of MySpace.com. MORE >>