Companies
Best of 2014 Santa Cruz Tech
By Sara Isenberg
Publisher/Editor, Santa Cruz Tech Beat
We had an amazing year. After reviewing the news of 2014, I was really inspired by how much happened in the local tech community this year! What follows is a long list but it’s only a fraction of all that happened or all that Santa Cruz Tech Beat published. Please join the conversation on Twitter or Facebook if you think anything is missing. Don’t miss the Editor’s Choice section at the bottom of this list. — Sara
Acorn
Acorn App: From Santa Cruz to New York City and back again (Aug)
Arqetype
Arqetype acquired by Vivo Technology (Nov)
Biotech Hub
Six Companies to Watch in the Emerging Santa Cruz Biotech Hub (Feb)
Broadband
Surfnet teams with Sunesys to win $10.6 million grant for regional fiber network (Apr)
Cruzio’s Master Plan for broadband expansion in Santa Cruz County (Apr)
Broadband: Turning Red Tape into Red Carpet (Dec)
Civinomics
Survey Finds Santa Cruz Exporting Local Tech Talent (Mar)
Water initiatives open for public evaluation (Oct)
Cruzio
Watch: Cruzio’s 25th anniversary on Think Local First Radio (Oct)
Cruzio rolls out the red carpet to celebrate 25 years (Nov)
Digital NEST
Dreams do come true: Digital NEST opens, receives $100K donor match (Dec)
Gaming Hub
Garden of Gaming in Santa Cruz is Tilled and Ready for Growth (Apr)
UCSC Games and Playable Media Programs take it to the Next Level (Apr)
Gaijin Games Reborn: Life, happiness, and cannibalism (July)
Asylum Labs: Going after ‘Social Casino’ (Aug)
Looker
A New Lookout for Looker (June)
Watch: Honoring Lloyd Tabb, First Looker (Nov)
MagicLeap
It’s official: Magic Leap secures $542M funding round led by Google (Oct)
Monarch Media
Case Study: Digital STEAM Workshop (June)
NextSpace
NextSpace ranked #1 of top 75 coworking spaces in U.S. (Sep)
NextSpace CEO passes the baton (Dec)
PayStand
Santa Cruz Warriors announce partnership with Paystand Inc. (Nov)
Plantronics
Plantronics Named 2013 Winner of Secretary of State’s Award for Corporate Excellence (Jan)
Plantronics announces 2015 PLT Labs Application Innovation Contest, prizes up to $85K (Sep)
Plantronics and Cityblooms collaborate on sustainable agriculture project (Sep)
PredPol
PredPol Hires New CEO (Feb)
SupplyShift
SupplyShift Growing in All Directions (Dec)
Tuul
We Are Tuul (Aug)
UC Santa Cruz
UC Santa Cruz to play major role in $40 million Center of Excellence in Stem Cell Genomics (Jan)
Cancer study reveals powerful new system for classifying tumors (Aug)
UCSC genomics center awarded $11M grant (Oct)
Unify
Behind the scenes: Why Unify Won Santa Cruz (Sep)
Editor’s Choice
Here are my additional top selections simply because these feature articles/topics are community minded, well written, heartwarming, and/or fun. Enjoy!
- An Angel descends on Santa Cruz (Jan)
- How 6 Remarkable Women Are Making Waves in Surf City (Jan)
- Memories of the ol’ days at NextSpace as Yahoo buys Tomfoolery for $16M (Feb)
- Hack UCSC: A Step in the Right Direction (Apr)
- TechRaising 2014: 48 Hours of Innovation, Ambition, and Collaboration (Apr)
- Ten Ways You Know You Work in Tech in Santa Cruz (Mar)
- Key Takeaways from Guy Kawasaki (May)
- J Guevara on the County Economic Vitality Strategy (July)
- Watch: Grass roots growth of Santa Cruz tech (Aug)
- How do Santa Cruz wages really compare to Silicon Valley? (Sep)
- Event Santa Cruz celebrates one year anniversary (Sep)
- You live here, why not work here? (Sep)
- Two locals make Tech Crunch list of 10 Men Making Waves for Women in Tech (Oct)
- Do you think veterans make great entrepreneurs? I do…(Nov)
- Thimbleweed Park: Gaming Like It’s 1987 (Dec)
- Glowing Art Form – What’s Glove Got To Do With It (Dec)
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