EI Solutions, the solar integration startup backed by Pasadena-based Idealab, has scored a win in the City of Santa Barbara. EI Solutions is based in the Bay Area with sales offices in Pasadena, and is one of a number of energy related companies out of Idealab. Idealab's portfolio firms include Energy Innovations, focused on solar concentrators; eSolar, focused on utlity-scale solar thermal power; and Aptera Motors, a hybrid car startup. According to Tioga Energy, a renewable energy services provider, and EI Solutions, the two are building and funding a 384 kW DC solar electric system for Santa Barbara.

Pasadena-based Perfect Market, the Idealab-backed startup which is looking to help publishers monetize their underutilized and archive content, said Wednesday that it has created a new advisory board. The firm said that it has added Darshan Kantak, Chief Product Architect for Yahoo's Marketing Products Division; Larry Goodman, President of White Mountain Media; Jonah Schnel of the Ezralow Company; and Chris Muller, Director of Business Development of Synthasite, to its advisory group. Perfect Market is looking to apply search engine marketing and search engine optimization techniques to what has traditionally been considered "archive" content--for example, old advice articles from newspapers and magazines.

Carlsbad-based Aptera, the electric car startup backed by Google and Idealab, is delaying delivery of the firm's vehicles to customers, according to a letter to customers. The firm said that it plans to build a "much slower rate" starting with a small test fleet. Among issues causing the delay was feedback from customers who had put down a deposit on the vehicles: among the complaints was the According to Aptera, it missed its goal to deliver its first production 2e vehicles by the end of 2008, and is moving its volume production launch to October 1 of 2009. In the letter,

One of the continuing problems in the startup and venture market today is the issue of exit opportunities for companies, and in particular the problem of liquidity for founders. One company, Startup Exchange (www.startupexchange.com) is taking an interesting angle on the problem, with a financial fund which allows startup founders to put some of their stock into a pool of other companies--providing them with more opportunities for some liquidity, and a little bit of diversification. The firm has relationships with DFJ Gotham, Idealab, and others.

Venture capital firm First Round Capital , the early stage venture fund whose Managing Directors include Idealab's Howard Morgan , said last night that it has created its own startup exchange fund, a fund which allows the founders of the firm's various startups to diversify their investments and share in the success of the company's portfolio. The fund is similar to Startup Exchange , a fund run by Michael Barton, which strives to do the same thing across venture firm lines. The fund allows founders of First Round Cpaital's portfolio firms to contribute some of their equity into a central pool, and share in any exit success of others who also participate in the fund.

San Diego-based LHV Power , a supplier of power supplies to the electronics and medical instruments markets, said late Thursday that it has spun off a new company called Flux Power , which will focuse on Lithium battery technology management, including smart charging systems and related systems. The new firm will be headed by Chris Anthony, who was the co-founder of Aptera, the electric vehicle firm backed by Idealab. LHV said that Flux Power has developed high power, battery cell management systems which help extend cycle life in Lithium batteries. ...Tags: Tags: flux power lithium

Pasadena-based Desktop Factory , the Idealab startup working on low cost, 3D fabricators, told its users this week that it is shutting the firm and will be selling its intellectual property, as it has failed to secure funding for the firm. According to CEO Cathy Lewis, the firm--close to the last 30 days of cash at the firm--believes it has found interested buyers for the company, and expects to sell the firm within the next 30 days. The company said that it is issuing refund checks to all of the customers who had placed deposits on the firm's 3D printers, and is now focused on closing a sale of the firm within the next 30 days.

Santa Monica-based Factual , the new data focused startup run by Gil Elbaz , the co-founder of Applied Semantics , which invented Google's AdSense technology, is announcing the investors in the firm this evening. According to Elbaz, the firm has a number of very high profile investors backing the the firm, including Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz of Andreessen Horowitz, Bill Gross of Idealab, Danny Rimer of Index Ventures, Esther Dyson, the Founder Collective, Gunderson Dettmer, Lee and June Stein, former MySQL CEO Marten Mickos, Miramar Venture Partners, Demand Media' Richard Rosenblatt,