site where fans of independent filmmaking can watch new indie films on the Web on demand. Elise called it “Sundance meets Netflix.”
—Practice Fusion, which offers a free Web-based electronic medical records system to small physicians’ practices, picked up $23 million in Series B funding in order to make a big expansion push. Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund led the round.
—Experience Project, a San Francisco-based online community where people share personal stories, formally launched Broadcause, a platform that non-profits can use to raise money and spread the word about their causes. Corporations can also use Broadcause to call attention to their philanthropic work. I talked with Experience Project founder Armen Berjikly and CEO Peter Jackson.
—I profiled Gigamon, a Milpitas, CA, company that makes the equivalent of power strips for network switches: devices that take one external port on a Cisco or Juniper switch and turn it into many, so that data center operators can tap into their networks with monitoring software. Gigamon co-founder and CEO Ted Ho recounted how the fast-growing hardware company got started with no venture cash.
—In other deals news, Txteagle raised $8.5 million, Autonet Mobile raised $2.8 million, Rocket Fuel raised $6.6 million, Marseille Networks raised $4.5 million, Marin Software raised $16 million, Kiip raised $4 million, Goldspot Media raised $12 million, and Lightspeed Venture Partners and Institutional Venture Partners contributed to a huge $400 million round for Washington, DC-based Living Social.
—Zynga hired a team of online poker experts in Austin, TX, and Responsys set the terms for its IPO—it hopes to raise $76 million in an offering on the NASDAQ exchange.
—Xconomy’s big news last week was our expansion to New York City and our VC65 conference in Cambridge, MA, celebrating the venture capital industry’s 65th birthday.
—Finally, we hope you can join us here in San Francisco for our Spring Open House, 5:00-8:00 pm on Monday, April 18. My colleague Luke Timmerman, Xconomy’s national biotech editor, will be in town to co-host. See you in the Dogpatch!
