Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Southern California Linked IPOs Grow
The number of Southern California related initial public offerings is growing steadily upwards, as Gevo--originally started in Pasadena, and based on technology out of Caltech and UCLA--hit the market this morning. Gevo is just the latest in a surge of companies hitting the public markets which have Southern California links. Those include a rumor of an IPO at music service Pandora, which is based in Northern California, which was co-founded by UberTwitter's Jon Kraft, a successful IPO for Los Angeles-based Demand Media last month, not to mention companies filed like Santa Monica's Boingo Wireless, San Diego's Fallbrook Technologies, Santa Monica-based Cornerstone On Demand, San Diego-based Peregrine Semiconductor, Los Angeles-based GameFly, and City of Industry-based NewEgg. In fact, a recent study released by Ernst & Young found that there were eight companies in Southern California, out of 22 total in California, who were lined up for an IPO in Q4. Other recent IPOs with Southern California roots include Inphi Corp., which has substantial operations in Westlake Village, Beverly Hills-based RealD, Monrovia-based Green Dot, and Woodland Hills-based ReachLocal.