Funding is different – In Silicon Valley you have mega venture capital funds and many of them.  They Scott Painter , founder of CarsDirect has created two new generation LA startups (Zag and TrueCar, both backed by GRP Partners). Los Angeles.  People People either love it our hate it.  All

SharesPost, headed by Greg Brogger and incubated by Brighthouse, is looking to create a Web 2.0-enabled secondary marketplace for shares in private companies, and particularly venture-backed, technology firms. Brighthouse is a technology incubator headed by both Brogger and Scott Painter, who also co-founded Zag and CarsDirect. Tags: sharespost brighthouse private Santa Monica-based SharesPost , which has created on online marketplace for sellers and buyers of private company stock, reported to its users late Friday that the firm now has sales of LinkedIn, Linden Lab, Tesla Motors, and SugarCRM going into escrow.

Zag has previously received venture capital from such firms as Anthem Ventures, GRP Partners, the Tech Coast Angels, Capricorn Management, Capital One, and Arcturus Capital. Painter was previously CEO of CarsDirect, and is now involved with such firms as TrueCar and SharesPost. Santa Monica-based Zag.com , the online automobile buying service headed by Scott Painter, is reporting today that it had what is calls its "strongest sales so far this year" in June. The firm--which provides its car buying service as a private-label offering through affiliate groups