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. Other firms receiving significant capital during the quarter were car buying technology firm Zag , with around $37M raised, and solar energy firm eSolar , which raised $30M from an Indian partner during the quarter. The 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 .

When I drill down on that term, you can see why with posts like: Hollis-Eden Pharmaceuticals Lops A Third Of Company THQ Lays Off 100 Employees, Closes San Diego Office Citrix Cuts 10 Percent; Santa Barbara Hit And it's also interesting to see what geographies are being associated with "Layoffs" more often than others: Layoffs Woodland Hills Layoffs San Diego Layoffs Santa Monica Layoffs Los Angeles I guess this is a sign of the times. The Scott Sanfilippo Interview Media Optimization Firms Are Red Hot In Southern California in 2009