Los Angeles-based Passenger , a developer of software used by brands to run online communities for their customers, announced today that it has released a new version of its platform. According to the company, it has expanded its product to allow agencies to build and manage their own communities using its software. Passenger's software allows brands to develop communities with discussion boards, Previously, Passenger provided full-service development of those communities. The firm is backed by Shelter Capital Partners, StarVest Partners and Steamboat Ventures. READ MORE>>

Passenger is venture backed by Shelter Capital Partners, StarVest Partners and Steamboat Ventures. Tags: technology executive brands software community online passenge Los Angeles-based Passenger , an operator of online communities for brands, said Wednesday that it has named Michael Winner as the firm's Senior Vice President of Technology. Winner has served at Ideal Soft and Blink Logic, in addition to working at IBM, Compaq and KPMG.

Passenger is venture backed by Shelter Capital Partners, StarVest Partners, and Steamboat Ventures. Tags: passenger online social networking software nyse euronex Los Angeles-based Passenger , which develops online communities for brands, said Thursday that the firm is powering a new private online community for NYSE Euronext (NYX). Passenger said that the community is for investor relations executives of NYSE-listed companies.

Sometrics is venture backed by Steamboat Ventures, The Mail Room Fund, AT&T, and Greycroft Partners. READ MORE>> ...Tags: Tags: advertising software gaming analytics social online ijji games sometric Los Angeles-based Sometrics , a developer of analytics tools for online game developers, reported recently that it has signed on gaming site Ijji.com as a customer. Financial details of the deal were not disclosed.

Passenger is venture backed by Shelter Capital Partners, StarVest Partners and Steamboat Ventures. Tags: passenger brand community online software executive overture yaho Los Angeles-based Passenger , which operates online communities for major brands, said today that it has named Jaynie Miller Studenmund to the firm's board of directors. Studenmund is an advisor focused on startups, rapid growth, turnaround, and merger and acquisition, and was previously Chief Operating Officer at Overture.

Los Angeles-based Sometrics , which develops analytics software for gaming applications, said Friday morning that it has raised a Series B round of financing. The investment was led by Steamboat Ventures, and also included prior investors Mail Room Fund and Greycroft Partners. Beau Laskey of Steamboat has joined the firm's board with the funding. Amount of the funding was not released, however, reports put the amount at $4M. According to Ian Swanson, the CEO of Sometrics, the investment came as the firm has shifted its business focus into providing analytics for better

The conference, held at the Westin South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa, featured pitches by eight different companies vying for the attention--and pocketbooks--of venture capitalists. The "best of show" prize went to Magnify360, which develops software for optimizing content and web sites for specific users. Magnify360 was voted the best investment opportunity by both venture capitalist audience members Southern California's top startups showed up in force Friday at the Westin South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa, for the Technology Council of Southern California's annual VentureNet conference. (socalTECH