[Updated 6/7/11 5:15 pm PDT] Sunnyvale, CA-based Liquid Robotics, maker of an autonomous, wave-powered robot that can glide on or below the sea’s surface, carrying industrial, scientific, or military instrumentation payloads, said today that it has raised $22 million in Series D funding. Vantage Point Capital Partners led the round, which was joined by Schlumberger, … Continue reading “Liquid Robotics Drinks in $22M”
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.
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$40M C Round for Violin Memory
Just this February, Mountain View, CA-based Violin Memory raised $35 million in Series B funding to scale up manufacturing of its Flash memory arrays for data centers. Today the company announced that it has collected another $40 million. The group of unnamed Series C participants includes “several of the largest public companies in the computer … Continue reading “$40M C Round for Violin Memory”
VigLink Aims to Turn Links Into Gold—But Will the Golden State Force the Company Out?
In the spring of 2009, when former Microsoft engineer Oliver Roup was finishing his second year at Harvard Business School, he entered the idea for his future company, VigLink, in the school’s annual business plan competition. During his live presentation to the judging panel, he showed off some code he’d written to help Web publishers … Continue reading “VigLink Aims to Turn Links Into Gold—But Will the Golden State Force the Company Out?”
Salesforce.com Shows Off Designs for Mission Bay Campus
The Mission Bay area of San Francisco really was a bay once, before it was filled in during the 19th and early 20th centuries to make room for railyards and slaughterhouses. It’s still one of the lowest-lying areas in the city—and barring the construction of huge levees or dikes, it will likely be inundated once … Continue reading “Salesforce.com Shows Off Designs for Mission Bay Campus”
Kno Launches iPad Textbook App
Kno, the Santa Clara, CA-based e-textbook startup founded by Chegg co-founder Osman Rashid, today announced the release of a beta version of Textbooks, an Apple iPad app that will serve as one platform for Kno’s library of digital textbooks. The app includes social commenting features, higlighting and sticky notes, and other study aids, and Kno … Continue reading “Kno Launches iPad Textbook App”
Rock Health, Say Media, Food Frenzy: The 1-Minute Version of Last Week’s Bay Area BizTech News
Memorial Day observances made last week shorter than usual, but there was enough news from the local information technology sector for any week twice its length. —San Francisco-based Rock Health, a new incubator for companies focused on using digital technologies to fix inefficiencies in the healthcare system, unveiled its first class of startups. They range … Continue reading “Rock Health, Say Media, Food Frenzy: The 1-Minute Version of Last Week’s Bay Area BizTech News”
$26M for Minerva Surgical
Cupertino, CA-based Minerva Surgical, which is developing a medical device for treating abnormal uterine bleeding in women, has raised $26.2 million in an offering of equity, options, and securities, according to a June 2 regulatory filing. Minerva’s investors are not identified in the filing, but board directors include Ali Behbahani and John Nehra of New … Continue reading “$26M for Minerva Surgical”
Infineta Collects $15M
Infineta Systems of San Jose, CA, said today it has closed a $15 million Series B funding round led by new investor Rembrandt Venture Partners. Existing investors Alloy Ventures and North Bridge Venture Partners also took part. Infineta makes switches that facilitate the movement of data within and between data centers; it has now raised … Continue reading “Infineta Collects $15M”
$6M for Juice in the City
A San Mateo startup called Juice in the City said this week that it has raised $6 million in a funding round led by Tandem Entrepreneurs and HU Investments. Juice in the City is a daily deals site focused on local businesses identified and promoted by teams of moms, including mommy bloggers. “We’re now ready … Continue reading “$6M for Juice in the City”
Zendesk to Precede Twitter in Downtown SF
Help desk automation startup Zendesk said today that it has outgrown its South of Market digs at 410 Townsend Street and that it will move this summer to new quarters downtown, not far from the San Francisco Mart building that Twitter plans to occupy next year. As a new tenant at 989 Market Street, Zendesk … Continue reading “Zendesk to Precede Twitter in Downtown SF”
Mindflash Collects $4M
Palo Alto, CA-based Mindflash, which makes software that helps companies develop and administer online training courses, said this week that it has raised $4 million in new funding, bringing the total raised since December 2009 to $9 million. Previous backer The Investment Group of Santa Barbara led the round. The new capital will position Mindflash … Continue reading “Mindflash Collects $4M”
$35.8M for Miramar Labs
Sunnyvale, CA-based Miramar Labs, which has developed a laser-based device for treating “axillary hyperhidrosis” (excessive sweating), has raised $35.8 million in Series C financing, according to a report today from Dow Jones VentureWire. New investors Aisling Capital and Cross Creek Capital led the round, which was joined by existing investors Domain Associates and Morgenthaler Ventures. … Continue reading “$35.8M for Miramar Labs”
Pandora Sets IPO Terms
In a regulatory filing yesterday, Oakland, CA-based Pandora Media revealed the hoped-for terms of its upcoming public offering. The company intends to sell 5 million shares of common stock, while stockholders will sell another 8.7 million shares, at a price of $7 to $9 per share. That would bring in between $96 million and $123 … Continue reading “Pandora Sets IPO Terms”
Silicon Chef: A Half-Baked Guide to Food Startups
[Updated 12/06/12 with additional listings] When the ex-CEO of Pure Digital, maker of the famous Flip pocket camcorder, wins funding from Sequoia Capital to open a chain of grilled cheese sandwich shops, it may be time to abandon your own enterprise-cloud-marketing-analytics-automation venture or your social-mobile-deals-gamification startup and think about getting into the food business. I was … Continue reading “Silicon Chef: A Half-Baked Guide to Food Startups”
Join a Q&A with Tech Founders David Cancel, Joe Chung, Jules Pieri, and Ellen Rubin at XSITE 2011 on June 16
Founding a startup means facing so many hazards and unknowns that it can feel like establishing a new country. How are you going to encourage immigration to build up your population (i.e., customers)? How do you husband your natural resources (capital) and attract strong leaders (employees)? What if your constitution (your business plan) needs to … Continue reading “Join a Q&A with Tech Founders David Cancel, Joe Chung, Jules Pieri, and Ellen Rubin at XSITE 2011 on June 16”
Rock Health, A New Incubator for Healthcare IT Startups, Names Its First Class
The summer after her first year at Harvard Business School, Halle Tecco got an internship at Apple in Cupertino, CA, helping to evaluate mobile apps for the health and medical category of the iTunes App Store. “I was on the phone all day with big hospitals and healthcare organizations who didn’t put the love into … Continue reading “Rock Health, A New Incubator for Healthcare IT Startups, Names Its First Class”
PunchTab Raises $850K
PunchTab, a Silicon Valley startup offering an “instant loyalty program” allowing Web businesses to set up point systems that reward frequent customers, said yesterday that it had collected $850,000 in seed funding. The money came from Mohr Davidow Ventures, Embarcadero Ventures, and individual investors Venky Harinarayan, Anand Rajaraman, and Nick Sturiale. PunchTab was founded in … Continue reading “PunchTab Raises $850K”
Convore, Rebooting IRC, Brings Group Chat Into the Social Media Era
Eighth in a series of profiles of Y Combinator Winter 2011 startups. In an article last year called “10 Old Tech Ideas That Are New Again,” my colleague Greg Huang listed concepts such as group-buying sites and e-book readers that had their first tentative flowering back in the dot-com era or earlier and are now making … Continue reading “Convore, Rebooting IRC, Brings Group Chat Into the Social Media Era”
Heroku, Solazyme, Sparkbuy: The 1-Minute Version of Last Week’s Bay Area BizTech News
Cloud computing was my big theme last week, but we also covered stories about renewable energy, and we brought back a report from the future (the way the Churchill Club sees it, anyway). —I profiled Heroku, the Y Combinator-backed Ruby on Rails platform that was acquired by Salesforce.com last December for $212 million. Co-founder Adam … Continue reading “Heroku, Solazyme, Sparkbuy: The 1-Minute Version of Last Week’s Bay Area BizTech News”
$20M for SiTime
Sunnyvale, CA-based SiTime, which makes silicon-based MEMS timing devices, has raised $20 million in Series E funding, according to a report today in Dow Jones VentureWire. Jafco Ventures, Bosch Group, Camp Ventures, CID Group, Grazia Equity, Greylock Partners, New Enterprise Associates, and Northgate Capital participated in the round. SiTime is attempting to break into a market … Continue reading “$20M for SiTime”
With xoJane Launch, Say Media Embarks on Transformation into a “Passion-Based Media Company”
When VideoEgg bought its San Francisco neighbor Six Apart last fall and renamed the combined company Say Media, the reaction from many media watchers was, “Say what?” It wasn’t clear why a rich-media advertising network needed to own a blogging company, or what plans it had for Moveable Type and Typepad, Six Apart’s once-pioneering publishing … Continue reading “With xoJane Launch, Say Media Embarks on Transformation into a “Passion-Based Media Company””
A Roundup of Summer Startup Competitions, from Healthcare IT to Dark Matter
You weren’t actually thinking about taking Memorial Day Weekend off, were you? If you’re an entrepreneur and you want some (relatively) easy money or fame, it’s time to get moving on your entry for one of the many startup-oriented competitions underway this summer. Here are just four that have hit my inbox this week. —Morgenthaler … Continue reading “A Roundup of Summer Startup Competitions, from Healthcare IT to Dark Matter”
$20M More for MobileIron
Mountain View, CA-based mobile security company MobileIron has raised $20 million in Series D financing, according to an announcement today. The money came from existing investors, inclding Foundation Capital, Norwest Venture Partners, Sequoia Capital, and Storm Ventures. The startup said the funding will be used “to drive rapid global growth, accelerate initiatives for existing and … Continue reading “$20M More for MobileIron”
RelayRides Picks Up $673K
RelayRides, the Google Ventures-backed car-sharing startup, has raised $672,500 in new working capital in an offering of debt and equity, according to a regulatory filing. The company moved its headquarters from the Boston area to San Francisco last year and subsequently raised at least $5.1 million from backers including Google Ventures and August Capital.
CrowdStar Collects $23M
Burlingame, CA-based CrowdStar has raised $23 million in first-round funding, a May 26 regulatory filing confirms. The social gaming company, known for Facebook games such as It Girl, Happy Pets, and Happy Aquarium, is being backed by Intel Capital, Time Warner, NVInvestments, and China’s The9.
Yes, Technology Is Taking Jobs Away, But Here’s How It Might Give Them Back
Back in March, I wrote a column arguing that smartphones, tablet computers, Internet TVs and other personal technologies are delivering an unexpected bonus. Rather than depreciating, the way most equipment does, these gadgets actually get more valuable over time thanks to the hundreds of new apps that debut every week, plus free upgrades for existing … Continue reading “Yes, Technology Is Taking Jobs Away, But Here’s How It Might Give Them Back”
Aneesh Chopra, Steve Jurvetson, Paul Saffo Debate Top Tech Trends, from Rosie the Robot to Augmented Reality
The Churchill Club, a networking group for Silicon Valley technology executives, hit the quarter-century mark in November, and for the last 13 of those 25 years, it’s organized an annual “Top 10 Tech Trends” dinner. The format is simple. A panelist or guest proposes a trend that will shape markets and define entrepreneurial opportunities over … Continue reading “Aneesh Chopra, Steve Jurvetson, Paul Saffo Debate Top Tech Trends, from Rosie the Robot to Augmented Reality”
Zozi Packs an Additional $7M
Zozi, the San Francisco startup that offers daily deals on unusual travel experiences (such as a deal today on fly fishing classes at Lake Tahoe), said it has raised $7 million in a Series B financing round. Launch Capital, 500 Startups, ZIG Capital, Thomas and Peter Lehrman, David Tisch, the Pritzker/Vlock Family Office, and other … Continue reading “Zozi Packs an Additional $7M”
BlueStacks Exits Stealth, Collects $7.6M
After three years in stealth mode, San Francisco-based BlueStacks debuted today with an announcement that it has collected $7.6 million in Series A funding from Andreessen Horowitz, Ignition Ventures, Helion Ventures, Radar Partners, and Redpoint Ventures. The startup, founded by former McAfee chief technology officer Rosen Sharma, is developing software that promises to allow owners … Continue reading “BlueStacks Exits Stealth, Collects $7.6M”
Tweetdeck Alights at Twitter
Tweetdeck founder Iain Dodsworth confirmed in a blog post today that his London-based company, maker of a popular desktop and mobile client for managing multiple Twitter feeds, has been purchased by Twitter itself. Despite speculation that San Francisco-based Twitter will kill the product—which some have viewed as competition for Twitter’s own Web and mobile clients—Dodsworth … Continue reading “Tweetdeck Alights at Twitter”
Emergence Capital: The Sequoia of SaaS, aka the House that Salesforce.com Built
Even in Silicon Valley, where the profusion of venture firms means that there’s a lot of specialization, you don’t often run into a firm as focused as Emergence Capital Partners. Many firms confine themselves to investing in Web or software startups, but Emergence is far narrower than that: the four-partner firm restricts itself solely to … Continue reading “Emergence Capital: The Sequoia of SaaS, aka the House that Salesforce.com Built”
$3.7M for Revel Systems
San Francisco startup Revel Systems, which has developed an iPad-based point-of-sale system to help restaurants track sales, said today that it has raised $3.7 million in a funding round led by DCM, an early-stage venture firm with offices in Menlo Park, CA, Beijing, and Tokyo. DCM general partner Jason Krikorian has joined Revel’s board. The … Continue reading “$3.7M for Revel Systems”
Intel Capital Unveils $24.5M in Investments
Intel Capital, the venture investing wing of the giant Santa Clara, CA-based chipmaker Intel (NASDAQ: [[ticker:INTC]]), announced yesterday at an event in New York that it has invested $24.5 million in four information technology startups. The new Intel portfolio companies include Burlingame, CA-based CrowdStar, which makes social games for Facebook and mobile devices; Las Vegas-based … Continue reading “Intel Capital Unveils $24.5M in Investments”
Google Puts $55M into Terra-Gen
Mountain View, CA-based Google announced today on its Green Blog that it has made a $55 million investment in New York, NY-based Terra-Gen Power, which is building a wind turbine farm in Southern California’s Tehachapi Mountains that will eventually supply 1,550 megawatts of electricity. The Google investment, alongside money from Citibank, will support Phase IV … Continue reading “Google Puts $55M into Terra-Gen”
Adam Wiggins on Heroku’s Pivot, Building a “Washing Machine” for Web Developers, and Joining Salesforce.com
If you had to name a single company whose storyline weaves through most of the big trends defining Internet startup life in Silicon Valley over the last few years—cloud computing, agile software development, the rise of venture incubators, and the software-as-a-service and platform-as-a-service phenomena—you couldn’t find a much better example than Heroku. From its humble … Continue reading “Adam Wiggins on Heroku’s Pivot, Building a “Washing Machine” for Web Developers, and Joining Salesforce.com”
Jive Software Buys OffiSync
Jive Software, the San Francisco-based provider of social business software, said today that it has acquired Seattle-based OffiSync, whose software lets businesses integrate Microsoft Office documents with Google Docs and Google Apps. OffiSync’s largest development team is in Tel Aviv, Israel, where Jive said it will set up a new R&D center led by OffiSync … Continue reading “Jive Software Buys OffiSync”
LinkedIn, Eventbrite, Optimizely, Garageband: The 1-Minute Version of Last Week’s Bay Area BizTech News
Last week’s Xconomy event Beyond Mobile: Computing in 2021 (nicely summarized by freelancer David Needle) kept me pretty busy, but the news rolled on: —The biggest buzz of the week, of course, was over the initial public offering by Mountain View, CA-based LinkedIn (NYSE: [[ticker:LNKD]]), which brought the company some $352 million in new funds. … Continue reading “LinkedIn, Eventbrite, Optimizely, Garageband: The 1-Minute Version of Last Week’s Bay Area BizTech News”
VuClip Sees $8M
Milpitas, CA-based VuClip announced in a blog post that it has raised $8 million in Series C financing from New Enterprise Associates and Jafco Ventures. The company makes software that transcodes video clips for delivery to more than 5,000 types of mobile devices used around the world. The company said it will use the funds … Continue reading “VuClip Sees $8M”
GainSpan Gains $10.2M
GainSpan, a San Jose, CA-based maker of Wi-Fi modules embedded in a range of devices, has increased the size of a recent round of equity-based funding to $10.15 million, according to an amended regulatory document filed last week. The company reported in November 2010 that it had raised $5.1 million in the round, with part … Continue reading “GainSpan Gains $10.2M”
$3.3M for Everloop
Everloop, a Danville, CA-based startup offering a protected online social network for “tweens” aged 8 to 13, has raised $3.27 million in equity-based financing in a round that could go as high as $3.58 million, according to a regulatory filing last week. The investors in the round have not been identified, but a report from … Continue reading “$3.3M for Everloop”
Innovalight Wins $3.4M from DOE
Sunnyvale, CA-based Innovalight, whose “silicon ink” material increases the efficiency of photovoltaic panels, said Friday that it has won a $3.4 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy to speed up production of silicon ink. The award is part of the DOE’s “SunShot” program, which aims to reduce the cost of residential and utility … Continue reading “Innovalight Wins $3.4M from DOE”
Garageband on the iPad Makes Amateur Musicians into Artists
Can you be a composer without being a musician? Thanks to the latest generation of music authoring software, the answer is yes. Take me, for example. I played the trombone in high school, and I can still read music (bass clef anyway), but I would be very hard pressed to strum a guitar chord, keep … Continue reading “Garageband on the iPad Makes Amateur Musicians into Artists”
Symantec Pays $390M for Clearwell
Mountain View, CA-based Symantec (NASDAQ: [[ticker:SYMD]]), the company best known for the Norton AntiVirus software line for PCs, said today that it has agreed to acquire Clearwell Systems, a maker of archiving and e-discovery software for litigation support. Symantec will pay $390 million in the transaction, net of Clearwell’s $20 million in cash. Clearwell, which … Continue reading “Symantec Pays $390M for Clearwell”
$3M for MongoLab
San Francisco-based MongoLab, a spinoff of ObjectLabs, has raised $3 million in a funding round led by Boulder, CO-based Foundry Group, according to an announcement yesterday from Foundry. MongoLab offers hosting and support for companies using the MongoDB database system developed by New York- and Redwood Shores, CA-based 10gen. Baseline Ventures, GRP Partners, Freestyle Capital, … Continue reading “$3M for MongoLab”
LinkedIn Raises $352M in IPO
The long-awaited initial public offering for Mountain View, CA-based professional networking company LinkedIn went forward last night, with the company selling 7.84 million shares of common stock at $45 per share, raising some $352 million altogether. The company is now trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol LNKD. A report this morning … Continue reading “LinkedIn Raises $352M in IPO”
Eventbrite Goes On a $50 Million E Ticket Ride
Nobody under 40 would remember this, but until 1982, Disney sold tickets in its theme parks by the ride rather than charging admission by the day. The newest, best rides required an E ticket, which was the most expensive denomination, hence the popular phrase “E Ticket Ride,” referring to “an unusually interesting, thrilling, or expensive … Continue reading “Eventbrite Goes On a $50 Million E Ticket Ride”
$9.25M for Datameer
San Mateo, CA-based Datameer, which offers data analytics and business intelligence software for companies using the open source Hadoop distributed computing framework, said today it has raised $9.25 million in a Series B financing round led by new investor Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. Existing investor Redpoint Ventures also chipped in. “We are impressed with … Continue reading “$9.25M for Datameer”
Parking App Expands to SF
Streetline Networks, a San Francisco startup profiled by Xconomy in December, said today that it has expanded Parker, its mobile parking spot finder for the Apple iPhone, beyond Hollywood to parts of the Marina District in San Francisco. The app can now guide drivers to blocks with open parking spots in Studio City, CA, as … Continue reading “Parking App Expands to SF”
WPP Digital Puts $5M into nPario
WPP Digital, the Dublin, Ireland-based communication services company, said today it has has purchased a minority stake in Redmond, WA- and Palo Alto, CA-based nPario for $5 million. As we explained in a September 2010 profile, nPario has developed cross-platform tracking software that can identify unique individuals as they move from PCs to tablet devices, … Continue reading “WPP Digital Puts $5M into nPario”
Jobvite Picks Up $15M
Jobvite, a Burlingame, CA-based maker of “social recruiting” software for companies looking to hire new workers, said today that it has raised $15 million in Series C financing. New investor Trident Capital led the round, which was joined by existing investors CMEA Capital and ATA Ventures. Jobvite said the funding would go to support continued … Continue reading “Jobvite Picks Up $15M”