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BAY AREA TECH WIRE -- Feb. 13, 2017
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Sponsored By: Fairfax County Economic Development Authority
http://www.fairfaxcountyeda.org/bay-area-tech-wire
o Ford Accelerates Push into Autonomous Vehicles with $1B Investment
o San Jose-Based Electric Cloud Lands $6 Million Investment
o Redwood City-Based Omidyar Network Invests in Landmapp BV
o Santa Clara-Based NSFocus Names Jens Andreassen as COO
> The Shifting Sands of Employee Motivation
o Briefly Noted: Meta, Knightscope
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> Job/Event/Marketplace Classified Listings (Full Listings Below Stories)
--The Shifting Sands of Employee Motivation
--Job Listing: Director of the Department of Technology/Chief Information Officer
--Mid-Atlantic Marketing Summit - April 21 - DC
Full Job, Event, Marketplace and Services Descriptions Below in Classified Ad Section
Post Job/Event/Marketplace ad at: http://www.bayareatechwire.com
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o Ford Accelerates Push into Autonomous Vehicles with $1B Investment
San Francisco -- Ford Motor Company said it will invest $1 billion over the next five years in Argo AI, a Pennsylvania-based artificial intelligence company with an engineering hub in the Bay Area, to develop a virtual driver system for the automaker's autonomous vehicle coming in 2021. The current team developing Ford's virtual driver system -- the machine-learning software that acts as the brain of autonomous vehicles -- will be combined with the robotics talent and expertise of Argo AI. Argo AI founders Bryan Salesky (CEO) and Peter Rander (COO) both are alumni of Carnegie Mellon's National Robotics Engineering Center and former leaders on the self-driving car teams of Google and Uber, respectively. "The next decade will be defined by the automation of the automobile, and autonomous vehicles will have as significant an impact on society as Ford's moving assembly line did 100 years ago," said Ford CEO Mark Fields. "We believe that investing in Argo AI will create significant value for our shareholders by strengthening Ford's leadership in bringing self-driving vehicles to market in the near term and by creating technology that could be licensed to others in the future." Ford hopes to release a fully autonomous vehicle for commercial application in mobility services in 2021. By the end of this year, Argo AI expects to have more than 200 team members, based in the company's Pittsburgh headquarters and at major sites in Southeastern Michigan and the Bay Area.
http://www.argo.ai
http://www.media.ford.com
https://media.ford.com/content/fordmedia-mobile/fna/us/en/news/2017/02/10/ford-invests-in-argo-ai-new-artificial-intelligence-company.html
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o San Jose-Based Electric Cloud Lands $6 Million Investment
San Jose, Calif. -- Electric Cloud, a San Jose-based developer of tools designed to automate and accelerate the software delivery process, said on Monday it has landed a new $6 million investment from Wellington Financial. As part of the deal, the company also will get a $5 million line of credit and venture term loan facility from Bridge Bank. "This investment will help us continue to improve the support that we provide to our existing clients, grow our footprint in new regions worldwide and fund further product development to keep us well ahead of the competition," said CEO Steve Brodie. The company's flagship product, called ElectricFlow, is designed to orchestrate the entire delivery process, automating builds, tests and deployments. Customers include E*Trade, Scottrade, Gap, Qualcomm and GE. Electric Cloud is backed by Rembrandt Venture Partners, US Venture Partners, RRE Ventures and Siemens Venture Capital.
http://electric-cloud.com/
http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170213005607/en/Wellington-Financial-US6M-Electric-Cloud-Accelerate-Growth
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o Redwood City-Based Omidyar Network Invests in Landmapp BV
Redwood City, Calif. -- Omidyar Network, the Redwood City-based philanthropic investment firm founded by eBay founder Pierre Omidyar and his wife Pam, said on Monday it has invested an unspecified amount in Landmapp BV, an Amsterdam-based property rights company that helps smallholder farmers document and protect their land holdings. Launched in 2015, Landmapp offers a mobile platform that provides smallholder farmer families with documentation of their land. The company has a field-based team of surveyors who use handheld GPS devices to map each farmer's plot. then validates the land claim with neighbors, submits the claim to the authorities and delivers a final land certificate to the farmer. Landmapp currently focuses on cocoa farmers in Ghana, but plans to expand into other countries. "They have clearly shown that farmers in Ghana understand the value of land documentation and are willing to pay for the legal protection they offer," said Peter Rabley, an Omidyar venture partner. "We believe this model can be replicated in other countries."
http://www.omidyar.com
http://www.landmapp.net/
http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/omidyar-network-invests-in-property-rights-startup-landmapp-to-help-ghanaian-farmers-document-their-land-300405865.html
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o Santa Clara-Based NSFocus Names Jens Andreassen as COO
Santa Clara, Calif. -- NSFocus, a Santa Clara-based developer of intelligent hybrid security tools, on Monday named Jens Andreassen as its new chief operating officer (COO). Andreassen, most recently the CEO of cybersecurity firm Lastline, will be responsible for launching new products and growing the company's business outside of China, focusing on the North America, EMEA, Japan and APAC regions. Andreassen also previously spent eight years as the international vice president of strategy and new technology at Fortinet. NSFocus builds and implements multi-layered defense systems, utilizing both cloud and on-premises security platforms and real-time global threat intelligence.
http://nsfocusglobal.com/
http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170213005015/en/NSFOCUS-Names-Jens-Andreassen-Chief-Operating-Officer
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> The Shifting Sands of Employee Motivation
The old "if-then motivators" of giving bonuses for the achievement of goals no longer work. Work has become too complex and is changing too rapidly for such simple formulas to be relevant and to motivate performance. Here, we summarize research on shifts in employee motivators.
http://www.fairfaxcountyeda.org/bay-area-tech-wire
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o Briefly Noted:
(San Mateo, Calif.) San Mateo-based Meta, a developer of augmented reality technology, on Monday named Kari Pulli as its chief technology officer (CTO) of core technologies. Pulli most recently served as senior principal engineer and CTO of the Imaging and Camera Technologies Group at Intel. Meta's technology is designed to let people use their hands to interact with holograms so they can touch, grab, create and share digital content.
http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170213005204/en/Silicon-Valley-Luminary-Kari-Pulli-Joins-Meta
(Mountain View, Calif.) Mountain View-based Knightscope, a developer of advanced physical security technologies, said on Monday it has landed more than $1 million in new contracts, including over $400,000 in January alone. Under the deals, the company will deploy its autonomous data machines in a variety of environments, including corporate campuses, hospitals, malls, stadiums and movie studios across the U.S.
http://knightscope.com/
http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170213005040/en/Knightscope-Announces-Contracts-Totaling-1-Million
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Job/Event/Services Listings:
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To Post in Job/Event/Marketplace: http://www.bayareatechwire.com
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> The Shifting Sands of Employee Motivation
The old "if-then motivators" of giving bonuses for the achievement of goals no longer work. Work has become too complex and is changing too rapidly for such simple formulas to be relevant and to motivate performance. Here, we summarize research on shifts in employee motivators.
http://www.fairfaxcountyeda.org/bay-area-tech-wire
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> Director of the Department of Technology/Chief Information Officer
The City and County of San Francisco is conducting a national search for an engaging, customer-service driven executive to oversee the award-winning Department of Technology with over 220 employees and an annual operating budget of nearly $100 million. The Director of the Department of Technology/Chief Information Officer (Director of DT/CIO) is at-will management-level position reporting to the Mayor with functional reporting to the City Administrator. Interested candidates should apply by by submitting a compelling cover letter, comprehensive resume, and current salary to apply@ralphandersen.com. Confidential inquiries welcomed to Ms. Heather Renschler at (916) 630-4900. Detailed brochure available at www.ralphandersen.com.
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