Pasadena-based Materia , the advanced chemical technology firm spun out of Caltech, said Tuesday that it has licensed its metathesis technology to specialty chemical firm BASF. According to Materia, BASF will use the technology in research and development of certain specialty chemicals. Materia's olefin metathesis catalyst technology has a very wide range of uses in the chemistry industry, and is Financial terms of the license were not disclosed. Grubbs was the recipient of the Nobel Prize for the technology in 2005.

Pasadena-based FastSoft , a developer of Internet acceleration appliances based on research out of Caltech, has raised $950K in a debt funding, according to a regulatory filing by the firm. The company's technology is based on research into optimizing the TCP/IP protocol. FastSoft has previously received funding from Miramar Venture Partners, Caltech, and angel investors. According to the filing, the round came from eight investors and has a target of $1.34M. No details on the funding have been announced by the firm.

Go research it.  You But the more powerful and seldom used research in Twitter is that you can go to a person’s’ entire Twitter history and see what they’ve Tweeted.  Based I think it is a legitimate research tool; however, I would never considering bringing up something you read in a person’s Tweet stream with them when you see them.  It This is part of my ongoing series Pitching a VC . Last night I attended a DealMaker Media (whom I love because they always host such great discussions) panel on raising angel money moderated by Dan Gould and with

Pasadena-based FastSoft , the Caltech spinout developing Internet acceleration devices, disclosed earlier this week that it has rolled out a new product. FastSoft is venture backed by Miramar Venture Partners, Caltech, and angel investors. The firm's technology is based on software research at Caltech, originally designed to accelerate file transfers over the Internet2. The firm said its new E Series EX accelerator now supports 10Gbps throughput, and accelerates TCP traffic 2 to 5 times. The firm said it is targeting hosting, SaaS, social network, content distribution

Pasadena-based FastSoft , the developer of Internet acceleration appliances based on research out of Caltech, said today that the firm has partnered with Brazilian firm Allier Technology. The firm is backed by Miramar Venture Partners, Caltech, and angel investors. According to the firm, the partnership will focus on Internet-based viewing of world-class sporting events, including the 2014 FIFA World Cup, 2016 Olympics, and 2011 Military World Games. Financial details of the partnership were not disclosed.

I'm blogging from the CalTech Enterprise Forum . Finally we get to: Peter Coffee , Director of Platform Research, Salesforce.com His premise is that we should be beyond having to buy servers, software, or any other infrastructure. The topic is: Betting Your Company On An Internet Platform? A very interesting topic, especially for those of us involved in developing for start-ups. At the CTO Group that I organize in Santa Monica, we've had lots of discussions around this.

Review: None Added 11/8/09 by Todd Zebert Name: Caltech/MIT Enterprise Forum Sites: www.entforum.caltech.edu , twitter.com/CaltechMITForum Self-description: " About the Caltech/MIT Enterprise Forum The Caltech/MIT Enterprise forum is a joint venture of Caltech's Industrial Relations Center, Caltech’s Office of Technology Transfer, the Caltech Alumni Association and the MIT Alumni Association. Mission The mission of the Caltech/MIT Enterprise Forum is to encourage the growth and success of technology-based entrepreneurial ventures in

Pasadena-based Protabit , a brand new startup based on research from Caltech, and chemical giant Monsanto disclosed this morning that the two firms have entered into a two-year collaboration, to develop new tools for protein design and optimization. Protabit, founded by Caltech professor Stephen Mayo, and Duke University professor Homme Hellinga, said the firm's software tools will be used to shorten the product discovery process for Monsanto. Monsanto will use the technology to more quickly identify gene candidates for improving yields in corn, cotton, and soybeans. Financial

President Barack Obama has appointed two Southern California academics--both Nobel prize winners in Chemistry--for his Science and Technology Advisory council, saying Monday that he has selected UC San Diego professor Mario Molina and Caltech professor Ahmed Zewail to the council. Ahmed Zewail is a professor of Chemistry and Physics at Caltech, and was the Nobel Prize winner in Chemistry in 1999. Mario Molina is a Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the University of California, San Diegomand the Center for Atmospheric Sciences at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. Molina

Tuesday, December 8, 2009 -- Caltech Executive Education: Successful Acquisition Integration. Gene Slowinski, Director of Strategic Alliance Research, Graduate School of Management, Rutgers University, Dan G. Learn how to successfully integrate the strategies and operations of merged organizations, implement the latest techniques, tools and metrics to improve performance, revitalize acquisitions that are not meeting expectations. Topics include MandA conception, planning, the first 100 days post-merger/acquisition, IP, ongoing improvement.