Los Angeles-based Zag , the online car buying software firm headed by former CarsDirect CEO Scott Painter, has scored an investment from financial services firm USAA , USAA disclosed Thursday. USAA did not provide financial details behind the investment. According to USAA, it is taking an equity position in Zag, which is also providing the firm with its car buying services. Zag develops technology which allows members of groups like USAA to fully configure and purchase cars, through car buying programs. USAA has been offering Zag's services to its members since 2007.

Santa Monica-based Zag has finally revealed the total invested in its latest, strategic round of funding, saying Thursday that it raised $37.4M. The round came from USAA, and included Capricorn Investment Group, LLC, GRP Partners and Anthem Venture Partners. USAA is an affinity group which is using Zag's automotive configuration software and services. The firm's venture round had earlier been reported to be worth $32.4M, and included USAA--however, the firm had refused to confirm those details until today. Zag also provides online car buying software for a number

Santa Monica-based Zag, the online car buying software firm headed by former CarsDirect CEO Scott Painter, has spun out a new company called TrueCar, the firm said late Wednesday. The firm said it has scored Series A funding from Zag, Anthem Venture Partners, Global Retail Partners, Capricorn, Capital One Auto Finance, ARcturus Capital, Scott Painter, and co-founder Tom Taira. All of the venture According to TrueCar, it will provide information about new car pricing, using the actual price people have paid for cars. Painter was most recently CEO of Zag, Taira was Chief Strategy

Zag's technology provides a level of customization and detail on "fleet" style, pre-negotiated sales of autos, down to the accessory level; the firm has deals with USAA, Capital One, Overstock.com, AAA groups, and others to provide its service. Zag has received funding from USAA, Capricorn Investment Group, LLC, GRP Partners and Anthem Venture Partners. Santa Monica-based Zag.com , the online auto buying technology firm headed by Scott Painter, said Wednesday that the firm has sold its 50,000th car through its online auto-buying affinity programs. The firm, which develops

Santa Monica-based Zag.com , the online automotive buying firm headed by Scott Painter, announced Thursday that the company has reached an agreement with Mercedes-Benz USA to offer an additional $5000 off pricing of new Mercedes-Benz cars to members of USAA, one of the affinity groups using Zag's auto pricing and purchasing services. Zag provides a white-label version of its automotive configuration and pricing engine to USAA and other affinity groups, which provides a detailed, in-depth quoting system for "fleet" sales of automobiles. The firm said the additional offer comes on top of special member prices, rebates, and dealer incentives available to members.

According to numbers derived from socalTECH's venture database, there was $717.96M invested in Southern California in the first quarter, up from only $465M in Q4 of 2008. However, the totals for the quarter were significantly boosted by PIPE (private investment in public equity) deals in San Diego, which were included in the analysis due to the venture capital firms involved. PIPE in Cadence Pharmaceuticals Southern California Venture capital totals were up slightly in Q1 of this year from last quarter, to around $718M in deals, according to an analysis of socalTECH.com's proprietary venture database .

It will remain to be seen if local entrepreneurs from such firms as Zag, Docstoc, and others will open up more links between high tech firms and entrepreneurs in Israel and Southern California. ...Tags: Tags: israel israeli conference technology high tech investmen Los Angeles, which has one of the largest Jewish populations in the world, is known for many links to the country of Israel. However, how much of a link do Israeli technology companies see with Southern California's technology industry?

Hi everyone–we’re giving away a ticket to the Perfect Pitch , the investment pitching event later this month which features a keynote by Richard Branson . The event is October 26th in Marina Del Rey , at the Ritz-Carlton, and should be an excellent opportunity to hear from local investors and other influential folks here–it looks like right now Tim Draper (DFJ), John Babcock (Rustic Canyon), Mark Suster (GRP), and Scott Sangster (Tech Coast Angels), Jason Nazar (Docstoc), Jeff Tinsley (MyLife), Shawn Colo (Demand Media), and Scott Painter (Zag/TrueCar) are among the

LA generally doesn’t have an appetite for this kind of investment at early stages.  LA 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 All the stereotypes and caricatures are overblown.

We caught up with Mark to hear about what kinds of investments GRP is looking at nowadays, his view on the software-as-a-service market, and how best to approach him with a pitch. It looks like GRP has been making lots of early stage investments lately--can you talk a little bit about your investment preferences and what you are looking at nowadays? Mark The company was founded This morning's interview is with Mark Suster , a venture capitalist at GRP Partners (www.grpvc.com). GRP has just recently closed on a new $200M fund, and Mark has been one of the more active