Author: Wade Roush

Between 2007 and 2014, I was a staff editor for Xconomy in Boston and San Francisco. Since 2008 I've been writing a weekly opinion/review column called VOX: The Voice of Xperience. (From 2008 to 2013 the column was known as World Wide Wade.) I've been writing about science and technology professionally since 1994. Before joining Xconomy in 2007, I was a staff member at MIT’s Technology Review from 2001 to 2006, serving as senior editor, San Francisco bureau chief, and executive editor of TechnologyReview.com. Before that, I was the Boston bureau reporter for Science, managing editor of supercomputing publications at NASA Ames Research Center, and Web editor at e-book pioneer NuvoMedia. I have a B.A. in the history of science from Harvard College and a PhD in the history and social study of science and technology from MIT. I've published articles in Science, Technology Review, IEEE Spectrum, Encyclopaedia Brittanica, Technology and Culture, Alaska Airlines Magazine, and World Business, and I've been a guest of NPR, CNN, CNBC, NECN, WGBH and the PBS NewsHour. I'm a frequent conference participant and enjoy opportunities to moderate panel discussions and on-stage chats. My personal site: waderoush.com My social media coordinates: Twitter: @wroush Facebook: facebook.com/wade.roush LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/waderoush Google+ : google.com/+WadeRoush YouTube: youtube.com/wroush1967 Flickr: flickr.com/photos/wroush/ Pinterest: pinterest.com/waderoush/

RentJuice Seeks to Help Landlords and Brokers Get Serious About the Web, Like Consumers Already Are

David Vivero, the co-founder and CEO of San Francisco-based RentJuice, was raised in the real estate business. His family owns and manages several apartment buildings in Miami Beach. He grew up fixing air conditioners, traipsing up and down the stairs collecting rent checks, and negotiating with tenants over security deposits. Even after he went off … Continue reading “RentJuice Seeks to Help Landlords and Brokers Get Serious About the Web, Like Consumers Already Are”

Tapjoy Raises $30 Million

Fremont, CA-based mobile app distributor Tapjoy has raised $30 million in a Series D financing round led by J.P. Morgan. Previous investors D.E. Shaw, InterWest Partners, North Bridge Venture Partners, and Rho Ventures also participated in the round. Tapjoy raised $21 million in January, shortly after a merger with Offerpal. The combined companies have raised $71 … Continue reading “Tapjoy Raises $30 Million”

Report: $20M for Solar City

San Mateo, CA-based SolarCity, which finances residential rooftop solar installations, has collected $20 million in a Series F fundraising round, according to a report today in VentureWire. The report said half of the funds came from company chair Elon Musk, who is also CEO and chair of electric vehicle maker Tesla Motors and rocket builder … Continue reading “Report: $20M for Solar City”

Eric Ries, the Face of the Lean Startup Movement, on How a Once-Insane Idea Went Mainstream

Many Internet startups these days release new code several times a day, in the belief that the faster they can iterate the sooner they’ll discover a profitable business niche. The concept, of pushing out products that aren’t necessarily ready for prime time, gathering customer feedback, revising code, and starting again, would have been considered insane … Continue reading “Eric Ries, the Face of the Lean Startup Movement, on How a Once-Insane Idea Went Mainstream”

Eric Ries and the Origins of the Lean Startup Theory—The Full Xconomy Interview

I spoke with Eric Ries, founder of the Lean Startup movement, on July 5, 2011, at Peet’s Coffee & Tea in San Francisco’s startup-rich SoMa neighborhood. If you’re pressed for time, a much shorter summary of our conversation is available here. But at least a few readers—the types who attend Ries’s conferences or go to … Continue reading “Eric Ries and the Origins of the Lean Startup Theory—The Full Xconomy Interview”

Nvelo Stores $6.6M

Nvelo, a Santa Clara, CA-based startup that makes high-capacity solid state Flash drives for Windows and Linux PCs, has raised $6.55 million in a round of equity and debt financing, according to a regulatory filing. The startup was formed as a spinoff last year during Denali Software’s acquisition by Cadence Systems.

Apture, Stipple, Zynga: The 1-Minute Version of Last Week’s Bay Area BizTech News

Fresh back from vacation last week, I dived back into the Bay Area tech news scene with three long news profiles, an e-book review column, and a smattering of other stories. —I profiled True Ventures, a six-year-old venture firm focused on early stage infotech companies. With only four full-time partners managing $378 million, the firm … Continue reading “Apture, Stipple, Zynga: The 1-Minute Version of Last Week’s Bay Area BizTech News”

$3.3M for Summit Microelectronics

Sunnyvale, CA-based Summit Microelectronics has collected $3.3 million in a round of equity-based financing that could top out at $5 million, according to a regulatory filing. The company makes battery chargers, power supplies, and other power management devices. Past investors include August Capital, Bessemer Venture Partners, FirstMark Capital, Hotung Capital Management, Nokia Growth Partners, and … Continue reading “$3.3M for Summit Microelectronics”

Three E-Books That Are Making the iPad Sing, Just in Time for Summer Reading Season

Technology changes quickly, and sometimes, so does my own mind. In January, I wrote a dismissive column about two e-book titles tailored for the Apple iPad, Alice for the iPad and Why the Net Matters. My main beef was that the apps, which had been lauded by the New York Times as “superbooks,” contained more … Continue reading “Three E-Books That Are Making the iPad Sing, Just in Time for Summer Reading Season”

True Ventures Looks for Magic in the Crowd of Portfolio CEOs, Not Its Partners’ Brains

How do you run a venture capital fund with $378 million under management with just four full-time partners? San Francisco-based True Ventures, a six-year-old early stage investing firm, has found a way: you crowdsource a lot of the work of shepherding your investments to the group of portfolio company CEOs themselves. You can’t go far … Continue reading “True Ventures Looks for Magic in the Crowd of Portfolio CEOs, Not Its Partners’ Brains”

OpSource Acquired by Johannesburg Firm

Santa Clara, CA-based OpSource, a nine-year-old managed Internet hosting provider, said today that it has been acquired by telecommunications firm Dimension Data, an NTT Holdings subsidiary based in Johannesburg, South Africa. OpSource’s 150 employees will become part of a new “Cloud Solutions Business Unit” at Dimension Data, the companies said. Financial details of the deal … Continue reading “OpSource Acquired by Johannesburg Firm”

Vendio Buys SingleFeed

San Francisco-based SingleFeed, which helps e-retailers format product data so that it can be found more easily via comparison shopping engines, has been acquired by San Mateo, CA-based e-commerce software provider Vendio, according to a June 28 announcement. Financial terms of the deal weren’t disclosed. SingleFeed was backed by True Ventures, KPG Ventures, and NetService … Continue reading “Vendio Buys SingleFeed”

Connected Connects with $500K

San Francisco-based Connected, a maker of simplified, Web-based contact management tools, said today that it has raised $500,000 in seed funding. Trinity Ventures led the seed round, which was joined by Ignition Partners and 500 Startups and individual investors Christopher Michel, Michael Hoydich, and Mark Gray. “Our innovation is that we’ve removed all the mundane … Continue reading “Connected Connects with $500K”

$30M for RockMelt

RockMelt, the Mountain View, CA-based maker of a “social browser” integrated with Facebook and other social media services, said today that it has collected $30 million in Series B financing. New investors Accel Partners and Khosla Ventures led the round, which was joined by existing investor Andreessen Horowitz. The company said it will use the … Continue reading “$30M for RockMelt”

Apture Seeks to Keep Web Readers Glued On Sites Longer, While Still Enabling Them to Explore the Web

The Web giveth and the Web taketh away. On the giveth side, the Web is a great medium for publishers because of its low distribution costs, and because of all the free traffic that results when search engines and other sites create links to a publisher’s pages. On the taketh side, the Web’s abundance and … Continue reading “Apture Seeks to Keep Web Readers Glued On Sites Longer, While Still Enabling Them to Explore the Web”

Stipple Builds Out System to Help Publishers Profit from Tagged Web Images

Between 30 and 40 percent of all files on the Web are images, and even pages dominated by text usually have a few photos. Yet most of these photos aren’t linked to anything interesting, the way text can be. San Francisco startup Stipple sees this as a waste—and an opportunity. Last fall the company rolled … Continue reading “Stipple Builds Out System to Help Publishers Profit from Tagged Web Images”

MediBabble Attacks Language Barriers the Doctor’s Office

A mobile app developed by a pair of former UCSF medical students could help doctors collect more accurate medical histories from patients, even if they don’t speak the same language. Called MediBabble, the free, donation-supported iPhone app lets doctors play common medical questions aloud in five languages: Cantonese, Haitian Creole, Mandaran, Russian, and Spanish. Patients … Continue reading “MediBabble Attacks Language Barriers the Doctor’s Office”

Doximity, Chirply, IPO Anxiety: The 1-Minute Version of Last Week’s Bay Area BizTech News

I’m in re-entry mode after a week’s vacation in northern Michigan, which means I’m catching up on everything my colleagues published while I was away. Here’s a quick rundown of last week’s business and technology news from Xconomy San Francisco (including a couple of pieces I wrote before my trip): —The IPO market may be … Continue reading “Doximity, Chirply, IPO Anxiety: The 1-Minute Version of Last Week’s Bay Area BizTech News”

BlueArc Re-files for IPO

San Jose, CA-based data and storage management company BlueArc announced Friday that it has restarted the registration process for an initial public offering, on hold since 2008. BlueArc hopes to raise $100 million in the offering, according to its official S-1 filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Chirply Brings Crowdsourcing—and Good Art—to Greeting Cards

In this era of Kindles and iPads and cloud-based data storage, the idea of an Internet startup that’s actually focused on paper is more than an anachronism—it’s almost a contradiction in terms. But that’s Chirply, a Y Combinator-backed company in San Francisco that sells high-end greeting cards—and soon notebooks and wrapping paper—printed with designs from … Continue reading “Chirply Brings Crowdsourcing—and Good Art—to Greeting Cards”

Doximity: A Mobile Facebook for Doctors, but With Real Privacy Protections

LinkedIn founder and CEO Reid Hoffman likes to say that in the world of social media, Facebook is the backyard barbeque, MySpace is the dark nightclub, and LinkedIn is the office. To continue the metaphor, Twitter is the corner soapbox—and Doximity, a new social networking tool for physicians, wants to be the hospital. Or so … Continue reading “Doximity: A Mobile Facebook for Doctors, but With Real Privacy Protections”

Greenstart, Pandora, Google-Admeld—The 1-Minute Version of Last Week’s Bay Area BizTech News

Occasionally, readers write in asking us to slow down a bit so they’ll have time catch up on all the startup news. Well, last week was a slow one around here, mainly because I was in Boston all week helping with Xconomy’s big annual XSITE conference. And this week will be quiet too, as I’m … Continue reading “Greenstart, Pandora, Google-Admeld—The 1-Minute Version of Last Week’s Bay Area BizTech News”

Greenbean Recycle, WaySavvy, Strohl Medical Take Home XSITE Xpo Prizes

The first time you do something, it’s a novelty. The second time, it’s a pattern. The third time, it’s a tradition. After yesterday, the “Xpo” lightning-presentation portion of Xconomy’s annual XSITE conference now qualifies as a Boston-area tradition—one that’s so fun we think we’ll keep it around for a while. A dozen early-stage startups joined … Continue reading “Greenbean Recycle, WaySavvy, Strohl Medical Take Home XSITE Xpo Prizes”

Pulse Raises $9M

Palo Alto, CA-based Pulse, which makes a visual news reader app for iPads, iPhones, and Android devices, said today that it has collected $9 million in Series A financing. New Enterprise Associates, Greycroft Partners, and Lerer Ventures led the round, which will help the company hire more engineers and port the app to additional platforms. … Continue reading “Pulse Raises $9M”

An Ode to Error: Entrepreneurship and the Importance of Being Wrong

Is your world view marked by a sense of hopelessness? Do you obsess about past errors? Do you tend to minimize or overlook positive news? If your answers are yes, you may not be clinically depressed. Maybe you’re just being realistic. Depressed people are often told they’re just not looking at things the right way. … Continue reading “An Ode to Error: Entrepreneurship and the Importance of Being Wrong”

Enphase Files for $100M IPO

Petaluma, CA-based Enphase, which sells microinverters that simplify the installation of residential photovoltaic arrays, filed paperwork Wednesday indicating that it hopes to raise $100 million in an initial public offering on the NASDAQ exchange. As Xconomy observed in a March profile of the company, Enphase’s DC-t0-AC conversion technology allows homeowners to configure solar panels more … Continue reading “Enphase Files for $100M IPO”

Behind Pandora, There’s Walden Venture Capital—A Little-Known “Sprout Stage” Investor with Music Mania

[Updated, 8:00 a.m. ET] If there’s a tune playing at Walden Venture Capital today, it’s probably “We’re In the Money.” The San Francisco venture firm is the second-largest shareholder in Pandora, the Oakland CA-based personalized Internet radio startup scheduled to go public on the New York Stock Exchange today under the ticker symbol “P.” Walden … Continue reading “Behind Pandora, There’s Walden Venture Capital—A Little-Known “Sprout Stage” Investor with Music Mania”

Google Puts $280M into SolarCity Fund

San Mateo, CA-based SolarCity and Mountain View, CA-based Google announced today that Google has invested $280 million in a new project financing fund that will help SolarCity extend solar panel installation leases to more homeowners. Google joins six other SolarCity financing partners who have created $1.28 billion in overall project funds overall. In a blog … Continue reading “Google Puts $280M into SolarCity Fund”

TellApart Raises $13M

Burlingame, CA-based TellApart, a two-year-old startup whose software helps e-retailers identify high-value customers and target them with customized offers, said today that it has raised $13 million in Series B financing. Bain Capital Ventures led the round, and Bain managing director Ajay Agarwal has joined TellApart’s board. The company has raised $17.75 million all told.

Streetline Picks Up $15M

Streetline Networks, the San Francisco-based maker of mobile applications that help drivers find open parking spots, said today that it has raised $15 million in Series B financing. The round was led by Fontinalis Partners and Rockport Capital Partners, with existing backer Sutter Hill Ventures also contributing. Streetline said it would use the funds to … Continue reading “Streetline Picks Up $15M”

$4.5M for ReadyForZero

San Francisco-based ReadyForZero, a Y Combinator alumni company that helps credit card holders reduce their debt, said in a blog post today that it has obtained $4.5 million in Series A venture funding. Polaris Venture Partners and Citi Ventures led the round. “Now with more capital resources we can take everything we’ve done so far … Continue reading “$4.5M for ReadyForZero”

Google Confirms Admeld Purchase

Google confirmed yesterday that it has signed an agreement to acquire Admeld, the New York-based online display ad yield optimization startup. The news came in a blog post cross-posted to the DoubleClick Publisher Blog and the official Google blog. The financial terms of the deal weren’t disclosed; the purchase price of roughly $400 million reported … Continue reading “Google Confirms Admeld Purchase”

Will the Internet Venture Incubator Model Work in Cleantech? Greenstart Is About to Find Out

If you’re an entrepreneur with an idea for an Internet startup, there’s a growing collection of venture incubators around the country ready to help you launch it—Y Combinator, TechStars, and 500Startups are a few of the best known ones. There’s even a new incubator for health technology companies: Rock Health, which we covered here a … Continue reading “Will the Internet Venture Incubator Model Work in Cleantech? Greenstart Is About to Find Out”

Apple, Floodgate, VigLink: The 1-Minute Version of Last Week’s Bay Area BizTech News

It wasn’t quite all Apple news all the time last week—I decided to follow Apple’s WWDC meeting via the Web and spend most of the week reporting on, you know, all the other innovation around Silicon Valley and San Francisco. That said… —At its annual World Wide Developers conference, Apple previewed the next versions of … Continue reading “Apple, Floodgate, VigLink: The 1-Minute Version of Last Week’s Bay Area BizTech News”

Cafepress to Go Public

San Mateo, CA-based Cafepress, one of the Web’s leading sellers of customized merchandise such as mugs and T-shirts, filed registration papers last week for an initial public offering. Cafepress hopes to raise $80 million in working capital in the offering. According to the filing, Cafepress’s largest shareholders include Sequoia Capital (20.4 percent), co-founder Fred Durham … Continue reading “Cafepress to Go Public”

$6.5M for Bunchball

San Jose, CA-based Bunchball, which offers gamification and loyalty features for the websites of large organizations such as NBC, Hearst, and Hasbro, said today that has raised $6.5 million in new financing. Triangle Peak Partners led the round, which was joined by Correlation Ventures, Northport Investments, and existing backers Adobe Ventures and Granite Ventures. “We’ve watched … Continue reading “$6.5M for Bunchball”

Mike Maples and Ann Miura-Ko on The Limits of Incubators, the Right Fund Size, and the True Meaning of “Pivot”

Last week we published the first half of an extended interview with Mike Maples Jr. and Ann Miura-Ko, the co-founding partners at Palo Alto, CA-based seed stage investing firm Floodgate. The focus in that part was on big issues like how Internet technologies are accelerating startup innovation, how investors have to adapt in response, and … Continue reading “Mike Maples and Ann Miura-Ko on The Limits of Incubators, the Right Fund Size, and the True Meaning of “Pivot””

Reports Say Google Wants to Buy Admeld

Sounds like Google, the Mountain View, CA-based search and advertising giant, is out to acquire another advertising-technology startup. This time it’s Admeld, the New York-based provider of software designed to help Web publishers earn more from advertisers. But there are conflicting media reports, all based on unnamed sources, about how far the deal has progressed. … Continue reading “Reports Say Google Wants to Buy Admeld”

Tyco Leads $15M Kovio Round

Milpitas, CA-based Kovio, which is developing silicon printing technologies that can be used to produce radio-readable barcodes for product tracking and retailing, said this week that it has obtained $15 million in new equity financing. Strategic investor Tyco Retail Solutions, a, division of Tyco International, led the round, which was joined by existing investors Kleiner Perkins … Continue reading “Tyco Leads $15M Kovio Round”

Agile Energy Picks Up $24M

Agile Energy, a San Bruno, CA-based developing utility-scale photovoltaic power projects, said this week that it has raised $24 million in additional capital from previous backer Good Energies Capital. “This investment will ensure Agile has access to the capital necessary to push forward with the development of its projects,” which have not been publicly identified, … Continue reading “Agile Energy Picks Up $24M”

Apple: The New Headquarters of Computing

You probably thought that the biggest news out of Apple this week was about iCloud, the new cloud data sharing service unveiled at the World Wide Developer Conference in San Francisco. Or maybe you’d point to iOS 5, the next version of Apple’s operating system for the iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch, or Lion, the … Continue reading “Apple: The New Headquarters of Computing”

NextDigest Raises $390K for Event Newsletters

NextDigest, the San Francisco-based parent company of StartupDigest, said yesterday that it has raised $390,000 in new financing to expand its network of weekly e-mail newsletters focusing on events in the Web and Internet startup sector. Equity investments from 500Startups, Charles Hudson, Tim Trampedach, Marco Magnocavallo, Joshua Baer, and Ron Gutman brought in $190,000 of … Continue reading “NextDigest Raises $390K for Event Newsletters”

Room 77 Reserves $10.5M

Room 77, the Sunnyvale, CA-based hotel room search startup profiled by Xconomy in February, said today that it has raised $10.5 million in Series B financing. The round was led by a new investor, Cambridge, MA-based General Catalyst Partners. Existing investors PAR Capital Management, Sutter Hill Ventures, Felicis Ventures, Expedia founder Rich Barton, and former … Continue reading “Room 77 Reserves $10.5M”

How Mike Maples and Ann Miura-Ko Are Opening the Floodgates on Early-Stage Tech Entrepreneurship

If you’re the founder of a new Internet or mobile startup and you’re looking for Silicon Valley investors who can contribute some star power and hands-on guidance along with their capital, sooner or later you’ll probably send your business plan to Floodgate Fund. Headed by Mike Maples Jr. and Ann Miura-Ko, the Palo Alto, CA-based … Continue reading “How Mike Maples and Ann Miura-Ko Are Opening the Floodgates on Early-Stage Tech Entrepreneurship”