Alex Polvi is on the tech world’s express elevator. Just a few years ago, the 25-year-old computer science graduate from Oregon State University was a system administrator at Open Source Lab, the home of Linux, Apache, Drupal, and other huge open-source software projects. It’s the place developers around the world depend on to maintain and … Continue reading “Cloudkick Founder Alex Polvi on the Experience of Getting Acquired by Rackspace in Startup Year One”
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
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HelloFax Lets You Ditch Your Fax Machine and Sign Everything Electronically
This is the third in a series of profiles of Y Combinator Winter 2011 (YC W11) startups. You don’t run into many startups that are already planning for their own technology’s demise. But that’s the case at HelloFax, part of the Winter 2011 batch at the Y Combinator venture incubator. Ostensibly, the company’s service is … Continue reading “HelloFax Lets You Ditch Your Fax Machine and Sign Everything Electronically”
Citrusleaf Launches with $2M
Citrusleaf, a Mountain View, CA, company offering “NoSQL” database software intended for high-performance, data-intensive Web and mobile applications, came out of stealth mode today and said that it has collected $2 million in Series A venture funding from Alsop Louie Partners, Kalpathi Investments and Draper Associates. The money will be used “to enhance products, expand … Continue reading “Citrusleaf Launches with $2M”
Cisco to Acquire NewScale
Cisco Systems (Nasdaq: [[ticker:CSCO]]), the San Jose, CA-based networking equipment giant, said today that it intends to buy newScale, a San Mateo, CA-based company whose portal software helps IT departments in large organizations automate cloud services provisioning. “With the acquisition of newScale, Cisco will be able to accelerate the deployment of cloud services through a … Continue reading “Cisco to Acquire NewScale”
Salesforce.com Buys Radian6
Radian6, the social media monitoring company based in Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada, will become part of San Francisco-based Salesforce.com (NYSE: [[ticker:CRM]]) in a deal worth roughly $326 million in cash and stock, Salesforce.com announced today. Radian6’s technology helps companies see how they’re being described on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, and other channels, and lets them … Continue reading “Salesforce.com Buys Radian6”
Anyleaf—Putting an End to the Old Supermarket Circular
Having a computer-science background, an appetite for risk, and an eye for solvable problems put you in a decent position be an Internet entrepreneur in Silicon Valley. But there’s also a downside to these traits. You wind up seeing all the flaws and inefficiencies in everyday things and wondering how you could use Web tools … Continue reading “Anyleaf—Putting an End to the Old Supermarket Circular”
Aerohive Buzzes with $25M Series D
Sunnyvale, CA-based Aerohive said yesterday that it has collected $25 million in a Series D financing round let by new investor New Enterprise Associates (NEA). Existing investors Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Lightspeed Venture Partners, and Northern Light Venture Capital were also on board. The company makes wireless access points for local Wi-Fi networking in … Continue reading “Aerohive Buzzes with $25M Series D”
$20M for Adap.tv
San Mateo, CA-based Adap.tv, which offers server software supporting online video advertising campaigns as well as an online marketplace for advertisers and publishers, said today that it has raised $20 million from a group led by new investor Bessemer Venture Partners. Existing investors Gemini Israel Funds, Redpoint Ventures, and Spark Capital joined the round. The … Continue reading “$20M for Adap.tv”
Chegg, Inkling, Color, Y Combinator—The 1-Minute Version of Last Week’s Bay Area Biztech News
For followers of the Silicon Valley startup scene, 320 Pioneer Way in Mountain View, CA, was the place to be last week. The converted warehouse was the scene of Y Combinator’s Winter 2011 demo day, featuring pitches from 43 newly minted startups, 24 of which have already been publicly unveiled (the rest are still in … Continue reading “Chegg, Inkling, Color, Y Combinator—The 1-Minute Version of Last Week’s Bay Area Biztech News”
EBay Makes $2.4 Billion Bid for GSI Commerce, But Without RueLaLa
It looks like GSI Commerce (NASDAQ: [[ticker:GSIC]]), the parent company of Boston-based private sale website RueLaLa, is about to become part of eBay—but without RueLaLa attached. The San Jose, CA-based auction giant announced in a press release and conference call this morning that it has agreed to acquire King of Prussia, PA-based GSI for $29.25 … Continue reading “EBay Makes $2.4 Billion Bid for GSI Commerce, But Without RueLaLa”
Clever Machine Wraps $3.25M
San Francisco-based Clever Machine, the developer of a production management tool for film and video producers called Scenechronize, has raised $3.25 million in a round of equity-based financing that could eventually total as much as $6 million, according to a regulatory filing. The company is led by former Switchhouse chief technology officer Hunter Hancock and … Continue reading “Clever Machine Wraps $3.25M”
Tabula Raisa: $108M
In what’s being called the largest-ever fundraising round for a privately held semiconductor comopany, Santa-Clara, CA-based Tabula has collected $108 million in Series D funding from a group of investors including new investors Crosslink Capital and DAG Ventures and existing investors Balderton Capital, Benchmark Capital, Greylock Partners, Integral Capital, and NEA. The fabless company designs … Continue reading “Tabula Raisa: $108M”
In-App Billing Coming to Android
For some time, users of Apple’s iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad devices have had the ability to make purchases from within mobile apps (allowing them to buy individual issues of a digital magazine, for instance). Google announced on its Android Developers Blog yesterday that this same capability will soon be available for apps sold through … Continue reading “In-App Billing Coming to Android”
ServiceSource Raises $111M in IPO
San Francisco-based ServiceSource (Nasdaq: [[ticker:SREV]]), which helps technology companies renew maintenance, support, and subscription agreements, raised at least $111 million in an initial public offering on the Nasdaq exchange yesterday. The company sold at least 11.9 million shares at $10 each, somewhat above the expected range of $7.50 to $9.00 per share. Morgan Stanley and … Continue reading “ServiceSource Raises $111M in IPO”
“Consumer Surplus” from Personal Technology Is Soaring in the Age of Appreciation
It used to be that purchases began depreciating in value the moment you bought them. A new car, for example, might as well come with a little Kelley Blue Book countdown under the odometer showing its declining resale price. Indeed, the idea that property depreciates is so universal that it’s built into our accounting methods … Continue reading ““Consumer Surplus” from Personal Technology Is Soaring in the Age of Appreciation”
$41M for Color’s Photo App
Palo Alto, CA, startup Color, founded by Lala.com creator Bill Nguyen, has raised $41 million in venture financing from Sequoia Capital, Bain Capital, and Silicon Valley Bank for a new photo-sharing app for the Apple iPhone and Android phones. The Web has been ablaze with chatter over the startup and the size of the round since … Continue reading “$41M for Color’s Photo App”
InsideView Picks Up $12M
San Francisco-based InsideView, which helps companies gather sales intelligence from social media channels and other sources, said today that it has raised $12 million in Series C Funding from Foundation Capital, Emergence Capital Partners, Rembrandt Venture Partners, and Greenhouse Capital Partners. In a blog post, the company said it will use the new funds to … Continue reading “InsideView Picks Up $12M”
Y Combinator’s Winter 2011 Demo Day: The Definitive Debrief
The Y Combinator venture incubator program, now finishing its sixth year, seems intent on growing until it breaks. And in fact, it may be reaching that point already. There were 43 companies in the Y Combinator Winter 2011 (YC W11) batch; that’s nine more than the Summer 2010 class, and one side effect was that … Continue reading “Y Combinator’s Winter 2011 Demo Day: The Definitive Debrief”
Chegg, Fending Off Rivals, Overhauls Textbook Rental Site to Include Class Scheduling and Homework Help
Chegg, one of the first movers in the online textbook rental business, has attracted some tough competitors like BookRenter, so it can’t afford to stop innovating. And this week the company is out to show that it hasn’t. The Santa Clara, CA-based startup today unveiled an overhauled website that ties its rental business together with … Continue reading “Chegg, Fending Off Rivals, Overhauls Textbook Rental Site to Include Class Scheduling and Homework Help”
Motista Collects $4.5M, Relocates to Silicon Valley
Motista, which runs online market-research surveys for Fortune 1000 customers, said today that it has completed a $4.5 million Series A funding round. El Dorado Ventures was the sole funder in the round, and El Dorado general partner Tom Peterson has joined Motista’s board. At the same time, the company announced that it is relocating … Continue reading “Motista Collects $4.5M, Relocates to Silicon Valley”
HealthTap Raises $2.35M
Palo Alto, CA-based HealthTap said today that it has collected $2.35 million in convertible-note seed financing from Mohr Davidow Ventures and a collection of individual investors including Esther Dyson, Stanford professor and former Veritas CEO Mark Leslie, and Mint.com founder Aaron Patzer. Founded by Ron Gutman, who previously founded health information portal Wellsphere, HealthTap is building … Continue reading “HealthTap Raises $2.35M”
Inkling Snags Investments from McGraw-Hill and Pearson to Scale Up iPad Textbook Operation
McGraw-Hill and Pearson, the world’s two largest educational publishers, have both pitched in for a Series B financing round at Inkling, the San Francisco company founded by a former Apple manager to build interactive textbooks for the iPad. As with Inkling’s Series A round last August, the amount of the investment wasn’t disclosed, but in … Continue reading “Inkling Snags Investments from McGraw-Hill and Pearson to Scale Up iPad Textbook Operation”
$7M Blooms for CrowdFlower
San Francisco-based CrowdFlower, which helps big companies crowdsource tasks such as correcting business listings and categorizing e-commerce products to a globally distributed workforce, has collected $7 million in new venture financing, according to an announcement today. Harmony Partners led the Series B round, which was joined by existing investors Trinity Ventures and Bessemer Venture Partners … Continue reading “$7M Blooms for CrowdFlower”
DotCloud Raises $10M
DotCloud, a Y Combinator-backed startup that offers managed database and server hosting services to other Web companies, has raised $10 million in new venture cash from Benchmark Capital and Trinity Ventures, according to a report today from Dow Jones VentureWire. The money comes on the heels of an $800,000 seed investment in February from individual … Continue reading “DotCloud Raises $10M”
Shutterfly Orders Tiny Prints
Shutterfly (Nasdaq: [[ticker:SFLY]]), the Redwood City, CA-based photo sharing giant, said yesterday that it has agreed to acquire Tiny Prints, a Sunnyvale, CA, startup offering personalized greeting cards, invitations, announcements, and stationery. The cash-and-stock transaction, valued at $333 million overall, includes a $141 million cash payment and 3.9 million shares of Shutterfly common stock. “Shutterfly … Continue reading “Shutterfly Orders Tiny Prints”
Noteleaf Seeks to Sync Up Online Calendars, Contacts, For Meeting Prep On-The-Go
This is the second in a series of profiles of Y Combinator Winters 2011 (YC W11) startups. Whatever your thoughts about modern technology and whether it’s making life better or just busier, you can’t say that no one feels your pain. In fact, hundreds of new startups pop up every year to fix perceived pain … Continue reading “Noteleaf Seeks to Sync Up Online Calendars, Contacts, For Meeting Prep On-The-Go”
Taskforce—the Y Combinator Startup With a Solution for E-mail Overload
This is the first in a series of profiles of Y Combinator Winter 2011 (YC W11) startups. E-mail: it’s both a blessing and a curse. It’s become the central tool for business and personal communication, yet for exactly that reason it gets more and more difficult every year to keep up with the growing number … Continue reading “Taskforce—the Y Combinator Startup With a Solution for E-mail Overload”
Facebook Acquires Snaptu
Moblica, an Israeli startup that makes a multi-purpose social media mobile app called Snaptu, said in a blog post Sunday that it has agreed to be purchased by Palo Alto, CA-based Facebook. Snaptu, designed for Java-enabled feature phones, allows users to connect to Twitter, Facebook, Picasa, RSS Feeds, Accuweather, and a catalogue of other information … Continue reading “Facebook Acquires Snaptu”
Jumio, Zediva, Enphase, Android: The 1-Minute Version of Last Week’s Bay Area Biztech News
And now for something completely different: Jumio’s mock-shock video playing up the sanitary hazards of cash didn’t amuse some Huffington Post readers, but I got the company and its PR firm to talk about why they made the video and why they aren’t worried about a backlash. Animoto’s system for making slide shows from your … Continue reading “Jumio, Zediva, Enphase, Android: The 1-Minute Version of Last Week’s Bay Area Biztech News”
Jumio and the “Anti-Cash League”: Adventures in Viral Video
“It’s dirty, covered in microbacteria and traces of cocaine … [it] fuels criminal activity … it may be green in color, but it certainly is not good for the environment.” What is this nefarious threat? It’s cash money, at least according to Sebastian Cole of the Anti-Cash League. Cole is the British expert featured in … Continue reading “Jumio and the “Anti-Cash League”: Adventures in Viral Video”
Saverin Invests in Jumio
Jumio, a Mountain View, CA-based stealth startup developing a digital alternative to paying with cash, said in a blog post yesterday that it has raised $6.5 million in a Series A round led by Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin. The company said it raised the entire Series A round from “ultra high net worth individuals” rather … Continue reading “Saverin Invests in Jumio”
Zero Motorcycles Zooms to $17M
Zero Motorcycles in Santa Cruz, CA, has picked up $17 million in new funding from a group led by private equity firm Invus, the company announced yesterday. The round could grow by $9 million in the coming months, according to the startup, which sells street and sport motorcycles powered by lithium-ion batteries. “Zero Motorcycles is … Continue reading “Zero Motorcycles Zooms to $17M”
How to Enchant Your Way to Tech Success, Kawasaki Style
You’re a technology entrepreneur—more power to you. You’ve built a great product that solves a real problem—congratulations. Unfortunately, that’s only half the battle. Maybe even less than half. Now you have to make the world believe in you and your product. That’s the part of entrepreneurship that many innovators and startup founders aren’t prepared for. … Continue reading “How to Enchant Your Way to Tech Success, Kawasaki Style”
Google Invests in CoolPlanetBioFuels
CoolPlanetBioFuels of Camarillo, CA, said today that it has collected a Series B financing round from Google Ventures, the investing wing of the Mountain View, CA, search giant. The amount of the investment was not specified. CoolPlanetBioFuels says it’s developing a “thermal/mechanical” fractionation technology that extracts hydrocarbons from stripped corncobs, corn stalks, wood chips, and … Continue reading “Google Invests in CoolPlanetBioFuels”
$10.8M for Doximity
Emergence Capital Partners and InterWest Partners have put $10.8 million into a Series A financing round for San Mateo, CA-based Doximity, the company announced yesterday. Started by Epocrates founder Jeff Tangney, Doximity is developing smartphone and tablet software that allows doctors to consult with colleagues securely and share text messages, high-resolution images, and other patient-care … Continue reading “$10.8M for Doximity”
Jawbone Gets $49M
Venture firm Andreessen Horowitz has invested $49 million in Jawbone, the San Francisco-based maker of noise-canceling Bluetooth mobile headsets and other audio technology, according to a report that first appeared in All Things D. Andreessen Horowitz partner Ben Horowitz has joined Jawbone’s board. The company, formerly known as Aliph, was founded in 1999 and has … Continue reading “Jawbone Gets $49M”
Intel Buys NVP-backed Silicon Hive
Santa Clara, CA-based Intel has acquired Silicon Hive, a developer of programmable parallel processor technology based in Eindhoven, The Netherlands, according to an announcement today. Silicon Hive was spun out by Philips Electronics in 2007 with help from San Mateo, CA-based New Venture Partners. The company already had a close technology collaboration with Intel, which … Continue reading “Intel Buys NVP-backed Silicon Hive”
Android Smartphone Web Browser Is 52 Percent Faster than iPhone Browser, Study Finds
As if the smartphone wars weren’t fierce enough already, now comes an additional piece of ammunition for defenders of Google’s Android mobile operating system. On average, the Web browser pre-installed on Android phones loads Web pages 52 percent faster than the Safari browser on Apple’s iPhone, according to a study released today. In other words, … Continue reading “Android Smartphone Web Browser Is 52 Percent Faster than iPhone Browser, Study Finds”
Zediva Launches Online DVD Viewing
Sunnyvale, CA-based Zediva today launched a service aimed at disrupting the DVD rental market currently dominated by companies like Netflix and Coinstar’s Redbox. For $1.99 per DVD, Zediva members can watch a movie that’s physically playing on a DVD player at Zediva’s data center and streaming remotely over the Internet to a computer, tablet, smartphone, … Continue reading “Zediva Launches Online DVD Viewing”
Pricelock Locks In $12M
Redwood City, CA-based Pricelock, an online service that helps businesses buy fuel and carbon credits at guaranteed prices, said yesterday that it has raised $12 million in Series B financing. New investors Barclays, RenaissanceRe Ventures, and Travelers Insurance joined existing investor Artiman Ventures in the round. The company also has backing from Goldman Sachs. “This … Continue reading “Pricelock Locks In $12M”
The Apple of Solar Energy? Enphase Applies Silicon Valley Smarts to Solar’s Neglected Plumbing
When the sun shines, free electrons pour out of rooftop solar panels in the form of direct current (DC). But every light bulb, fan, and appliance in a house needs alternating current (AC), which reverses direction 60 times per second. And therein lies a huge headache for installers and owners of photovoltaic systems. The central … Continue reading “The Apple of Solar Energy? Enphase Applies Silicon Valley Smarts to Solar’s Neglected Plumbing”
Animoto Opens Slide Show Creation Tools to Kodak Gallery and More Partners
There’s a slew of tools like Apple’s iMovie for turning your raw photos and videos into fun multimedia slide shows that you can share with friends and family. The problem is that none of them are drop-dead simple—except perhaps Animoto’s. The startup, which is based in San Francisco and New York and backed mainly by … Continue reading “Animoto Opens Slide Show Creation Tools to Kodak Gallery and More Partners”
Google Funds HubSpot, AdGrok Emerges from Beta, Steve Blank Calls for “E-Schools,” & More Bay Area BizTech News
Our infotech coverage at Xconomy San Francisco was on the thin side last week, mainly because I spent the week in Boston organizing and emceeing Xconomy’s annual mobile technology conference, Mobile Madness. Here’s the brief rundown: —Three Bay Area organizations—Google Ventures, Sequoia Capital, and Salesforce.com—led a large Series D financing round for Cambridge, MA-based HubSpot, … Continue reading “Google Funds HubSpot, AdGrok Emerges from Beta, Steve Blank Calls for “E-Schools,” & More Bay Area BizTech News”
Chronix Biomedical Raises $2.8M
San Jose, CA-based Chronix Biomedical, a developer of tests that can detect cancer and neurologic diseases from DNA circulating in the blood, has raised $2.8 million in a sale of equity and options, according to a regulatory filing. The round’s 11 investors are not identified, but the company’s previous backers include Prairie Gold Venture Partners … Continue reading “Chronix Biomedical Raises $2.8M”
Another $13.5M for Solopower
A March 11 regulatory filing shows that San Jose, CA-based flexible photovoltaic maker Solopower has collected an additional $13.5 million in an apparent extension of its $51.6 million January Series E financing round. Solopower’s past backers include Hudson Clean Energy Partners. In February the company received a conditional $197 million loan guarantee from the Department … Continue reading “Another $13.5M for Solopower”
StumbleUpon Stumbles Upon $17M
San Francisco-based StumbleUpon, the Web and mobile service that helps users discover new sites, said this week that it has raised $17 million in Series B venture financing. The round included new investors DAG Ventures and First Round Capital as well as returning investors Accel Partners, August Capital, and Sherpalo Ventures, who financed StumbleUpon’s spinout … Continue reading “StumbleUpon Stumbles Upon $17M”
Babson Awards $75K to SF Entrepreneurs
Babson College this week announced the results of its first “rocket pitch” competition for students entering the Babson Fast Track MBA program at the college’s SoMa campus in San Francisco. Contestants had three minutes and three slides to explain how they meet Babson’s definition of entrepreneurship as “thinking or acting in a manner that is … Continue reading “Babson Awards $75K to SF Entrepreneurs”
VigLink Raises $5.4 Million
VigLink, a San Francisco startup that helps website owners track outgoing traffic—that is, “outclicks” that can drive affiliate commissions—announced yesterday that it has collected $5.4 million in a Series B financing round led by Emergence Capital. Existing backers Google Ventures and First Round Capital also participated. Emergence Capital partner Kevin Spain has joined VigLink’s board. … Continue reading “VigLink Raises $5.4 Million”
Mobile Madness 2011: The Photo Gallery
Thanks again to everyone who joined us for Mobile Madness 2011: Getting Down to Business on Wednesday at Microsoft’s New England Research & Development Center in Cambridge, MA. As I mentioned yesterday in my post-event recap, the capacity crowd was in lean-forward, close-listening mode as leaders of the mobile scene in New England and beyond … Continue reading “Mobile Madness 2011: The Photo Gallery”
RadiumOne Absorbs $21M
Crosslink Capital is the lead investor in a $21 million Series B financing round for RadiumOne, the San Francisco startup announced today. The company uses information about consumers’ social connections online (but outside of Facebook) to aim online advertisements at the users most likely to engage. Also participating in the round was DFJ Esprit, a … Continue reading “RadiumOne Absorbs $21M”