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SCTB Highlights of 2015
By Sara Isenberg
Founder, Publisher, Editor-in-Chief, Santa Cruz Tech Beat
December 17, 2015 — Santa Cruz, CA
Now that I’ve been publishing Santa Cruz Tech Beat (SCTB) for 2 1/2 years, my memories of “what-happened-when” are starting to blur. So in 
preparation for this annual review, I went to our Historical News page to refresh my memory on what actually happened in 2015. It was also fascinating to check back on our Best of 2014 and Best of 2013 articles. I think you’ll find those old reviews interesting or entertaining. As always, you can join the conversation on Twitter or Facebook or contact me if you think an important item of news was overlooked. Don’t miss the Editor’s Favorites section at the bottom of this page. — Sara
Here are the local tech newsmakers of 2015
Fiber! Fiber! Fiber!
- Santa Cruz #FIBER #LOVE becomes serious city business – December 10, 2015
- Fiber! Fiber! Fiber! – December 9, 2015
- Santa Cruz Muni Fiber Threat Forces Comcast Upgrade – September 23, 2015
- Santa Cruz will be Silicon Valley’s first fully fiber city – July 11, 2015
- What’s So Big About a Gig? A Bold Vision for a 21st Century Santa Cruz – June 26, 2015
- Community-owned fiber networks take a big step forward in Santa Cruz County – April 2, 2015
- Broadband breakout in 2015 for California’s central coast – January 1, 2015
Companies
- Looker closes $30M, expands into 3rd floor of The Ritt, and all that jazz
- Looker Expanding into 3rd floor of The Ritt – October 14, 2015
- Look Who’s in Forbes Top 100 Analytics Startups 2015 – August 20, 2015
- Lookin’ good! Looker closes $30M financing – March 11, 2015
- Futuristic Lights asks for $20K on KickStarter and ends up with over $61K
- Futuristic Lights Presents Æther – December 16, 2015
- Futuristic Lights: From Kickstarter to Shipping – June 6, 2015
- Glove has a lot to do with it! – January 8, 2015
- Amazon comes to Santa Cruz
- Look who’s setting up shop in Santa Cruz! – April 30, 2015
- Seabright Companies acquires Isentio/Pathogenix and SnapPost
- What ever happened to Isentio and SnapPost – October 22, 2015
- Intuvo
- Intuvo was acquired by CU Direct – May 21, 2015
- Market Motive
- Market Motive was acquired by Simplilearn for $10M – June 26, 2015
- Calliope
- Calliope Waterworks Steps Out of Stealth… – September 16, 2015
- OpenCounter
- OpenCounter: Taking an idea to the national scale – February 20, 2015
- Inboard Technology
- Inboard Technology: Central Coast Angels Invest in Electric Skateboard Startup – December 15, 2015
- Cityblooms and Plantronics
Events
- The Drones Data X Conference
- HACK UCSC
- Hacking Out the Solution – January 12, 2015
- The Santa Cruz New Tech Meetup
- SCNTM continues to knock it outta the park month after month, hosting a dynamite networking event for locals in tech.
- Monterey Bay Economic Partnership
- Gavin Newsom to Keynote MBEP’s State of the Region Conference – September 30, 2015
- Recap of “Invent Your Future Here” MBEP tri-county summit – February 6, 2015
Organizations and Hubs
- UCSC’s Genomics Institute
- Santa Cruz’s Big Influence on Personalize Medicine – October 30, 2015
- Genomics Institute Hires New Managing Director – August 26, 2015
- Genomics conference to attract worldwide audience – February 20, 2015
- AgTech hub
- A Silicon Valley for AgTech? Innovation Center for Startups Opens in Salinas – December 16, 2015
- Ten Hot Companies to Watch in the Monterey Bay Region’s Growing Ag Tech Hub – October 1, 2015
- Where Agriculture and Tech Intersect – April 18, 2015
- First-ever Forbes Ag Tech Summit Coming to Salinas – April 10, 2015
- Where tech and agriculture intersect – March 30, 2015
- Gaming hub
- UCSC Hires Game Designer Erin Robinson Swink as Creative Director of Master’s Program — December 17, 2015
- Asylum Labs Accepted into Prestigious London Accelerator — October 7, 2015
- How a Santa Cruz Designer Created One of the Most Unlikely Hits in Video Game History — July 23, 2015
- Rising stars garner national attention in gaming — January 20, 2015
- Digital NEST
- National Science Foundation Funds 3-year Study of Digital NEST – October 14, 2015
- Facebook Donation Doubles Digital NEST Computer Capacity – August 28, 2015
- Mr. Martinez Goes to Washington – April 10, 2015
- Santa Cruz City and County Economic Development Departments
- Booyah! Just-Thawed $15.9M for Santa Cruz – October 29, 2015
- County Hires New Economic Development Manager – October 21, 2015
- Announcing ChooseSantaCruz – July 2, 2015
- Makers: MakersFactory and Idea Fab Lab
- Idea Fab Labs Plans Grand Opening for August 7 – July 24, 2015
- MakersFactory moves to Cabrillo – January 9, 2015
Editor’s Favorites
- Better Than Summer Camp – August 8, 2015
- Little Did We Suspect How Much Awaited Us… – July 2, 2015
- Don’t let anyone tell you tech is new in Santa Cruz! – April 23, 2015
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