La Jolla-based venture capital firm Correlation Ventures added eight new startup companies to its portfolio during the second quarter, Managing Director David Coats said. The investments included PowerVision, Soldsie, Splice Machine, SynthoRX and VigLink, plus three smaller seed deals. La Jolla-based Avalon Ventures is a co-investor in San Diego-based biotech firm SynthoRX, which is developing two new synthetic building blocks to the four already found in DNA, Coats said. Correlation, which is investing out of a $166 million fund and uses predictive analytics, put a record amount of capital to work during the quarter, increasing its number of portfolio companies to 88. Coats also said he had a profitable exit recently, when San Francisco-based online tutoring provider InstaEDU was acquired in June by college textbook lender Chegg. Correlation participated in InstaEDU’s $4 million Series A round in August 2013. … Wall Street municipal credit rating agencies Standard & Poor’s and Fitch Ratings gave an AAA rating to Sandag’s proposed sale of $350 million in tax revenue bonds to finance regional transportation improvements. The bonds are to be secured by revenue from TransNet, the half-cent sales tax that was extended by voters in 2004. Among other projects, the sale will likely help finance construction of a trolley line extension to University City. … Brett Weiss, CEO of print-to-digital photo conversion service ScanDiego, is donating $500 worth of scanning services to families who lost homes in the May wildfires. Weiss said he is also assembling a fire resource team to provide evacuation tips and other emergency information. Meanwhile, Weiss said he brings a ton of experience to ScanDiego after launching and building two previous small businesses, including a dry cleaning company. … The office of the 400-plus-member strong San Diego Press Club has found a home in the historic Spreckels Building on Broadway, occupying an 800-square-foot space that has undergone extensive renovations. In addition to monthly board meetings, the club will be able to stage smaller events such as its “Nuts-and-Bolts” workshops and occasional social gatherings, club executive Terry Williams said. … Finally, The Old Globe has a hit on its hands. The theater in Balboa Park has extended the current production of Stephen Sondheim’s “Into the Woods” as re-imagined by the East Coast’s Fiasco Theater through Aug. 17. But you’d best hurry. By the time this appears, some tickets might be left at theoldglobe.org. Till next week.
Contributing Editor Tom York writes the SDBJ Insider. You can reach him via email at tyork@sdbj.com or tom.york@gmail.com. Tweet to him at @toms2cents.