Category: San Francisco

RelayRides Secures $3,591,449 New Financing Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=76179417-d1c7-4512-a380-3c4352484478&Preview=1 Date 8/12/2011 Company Name RelayRides Mailing Address 463 Bryant St. San Francisco, CA 94107 Company Description The company operates a website and service that allows users to share automobiles. Website http://www.relayrides.com Transaction Type Venture Equity Transaction Amount $3,591,449 Transaction Round Undisclosed Proceeds Purposes Proceeds purposes were not disclosed. SEC regulatory filing. … Continue reading “RelayRides Secures $3,591,449 New Financing Round”

AliveCor Obtains $3,000,000 Series A Financing

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=ebeeb305-8560-43df-9bdf-46acb50a8cb5&Preview=1 Date 8/12/2011 Company Name AliveCor Mailing Address Undisclosed San Francisco, CA 94121 Company Description AliveCor Inc. develops and sells a wireless heart monitoring ECG device for the Apple iPhone. Website http://www.alivecor.com Transaction Type Venture Equity Transaction Amount $3,000,000 Transaction Round Series A Proceeds Purposes Proceeds purposes were not disclosed. M&A Terms … Continue reading “AliveCor Obtains $3,000,000 Series A Financing”

Roku Receives $8,000,000 Series D Funding Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=97c6bf46-983e-4265-86e6-7f05599108a5&Preview=1 Date 8/12/2011 Company Name Roku Mailing Address 12980 Saratoga Ave. Saratoga, CA 95070 Company Description Roku, Inc., is a privately held company located in Saratoga, Calif., and founded in 2002 by Anthony Wood, the inventor of the personal video recorder (PVR). Roku is a leading supplier of innovative and easy to … Continue reading “Roku Receives $8,000,000 Series D Funding Round”

ALTe, PG&E to Partner on Powertrain Development Project

ALTe, the Auburn Hills, MI-based developer of a extended-range electric powertrains used to power light commercial vehicles, last week announced it will collaborate with the San Francisco-based Pacific Gas & Electric Company (PG&E), one of the largest utilities in the United States, on a powertrain project for the fleet industry. ALTe will retrofit one of … Continue reading “ALTe, PG&E to Partner on Powertrain Development Project”

Born from NASA, Nebula Aims to “Disrupt and Democratize” Cloud Computing

If you’re a young Silicon Valley entrepreneur, you’d probably give your Prius and your iPad, and maybe throw in your X-Men comic collection, to hear Andy Bechtolsheim ask you the question he posed to Chris Kemp this spring: “What’s the name of your company? I want to write you a check right now.” If you … Continue reading “Born from NASA, Nebula Aims to “Disrupt and Democratize” Cloud Computing”

$16M for Link A Media

A Santa Clara, CA, maker of chips for storage systems called Link A Media said yesterday that it has closed a $16 million Series D funding round. Participating backers include Itochu Technology Ventures, Keynote Ventures, Lightspeed Venture Partners, SunAmerica Ventures, and “several strategic partners,” according to the startup. Link-A-Media makes controllers that handle error checking … Continue reading “$16M for Link A Media”

Rocket Lawyer Served $18.5M

Rocket Lawyer, a San Francisco-based provider of online legal documents and attorney-finding services, said today that has collected $18.5 million in Series D financing. The round was led by August Capital, with Google Ventures and Investor Growth Capital also participating. August Capital partner David Hornik has joined the company’s board. “We see a large market … Continue reading “Rocket Lawyer Served $18.5M”

Rocket Lawyer Lands $18,500,000 New Financing

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=8d5e84f7-f9df-4d3a-8a56-54f6743e79f8&Preview=1 Date 8/11/2011 Company Name Rocket Lawyer Mailing Address 220 Montgomery Street San Francisco, CA 94104 Company Description RocketLawyer.com is a service of Rocket Lawyer Incorporated. Our mission is to empower consumers, business professionals and lawyers to get and give legal help. Our comprehensive line of do it yourself legal assistance solutions … Continue reading “Rocket Lawyer Lands $18,500,000 New Financing”

Tioga Energy Lands $3,000,000 New Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=ae75e88e-8f63-4df7-a309-a2938b575c07&Preview=1 Date 8/11/2011 Company Name Tioga Energy Mailing Address 123 Mission Street 9th Floor San Francisco, CA 94105 Company Description Tioga Energy boosts the adoption of enterprise-scale renewable energy and fast-tracks the path to clean, dependable power. Our comprehensive Power Purchasing Agreements (PPAs) allow businesses and organizations to go green quickly without … Continue reading “Tioga Energy Lands $3,000,000 New Round”

Citrix Systems Acquires RingCube Technologies for Undisclosed Sum

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=06f76969-55ad-444a-9fca-03f1fc6a2a1c&Preview=1 Date 8/11/2011 Company Name RingCube Technologies Mailing Address 100 W Evelyn Ave Mountain View, CA 94041 Company Description RingCube is the creator of truly portable personal computing. The company’s software platform, MojoPac, enables users to take their complete personal computing experience with them wherever they go, on any USB device they … Continue reading “Citrix Systems Acquires RingCube Technologies for Undisclosed Sum”

Gazillion Lands $20,000,000 New Financing Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=1285ca79-91e1-4cba-903b-1ac77983b3b6&Preview=1 Date 8/11/2011 Company Name Gazillion Mailing Address 475 Concar Drive San Mateo, CA 94402 Company Description The company develops and publishes massively multiplayer online games. Website http://www.gazillion.com Transaction Type Venture Equity Transaction Amount $20,000,000 Transaction Round Undisclosed Proceeds Purposes Proceeds purposes were not disclosed. SEC regulatory filing. M&A Terms Venture Investor … Continue reading “Gazillion Lands $20,000,000 New Financing Round”

Gilead HIV Drug Gets FDA OK

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ: [[ticker:GILD]]), the world’s largest maker of HIV drugs, said today that the FDA has approved a new once-daily pill the company has developed for patients with HIV. The drug is a combination of three antivirals—emtricitabine/rilpivirine/tenofovir disoproxil fumarate—that will be marketed under the name Complera. This is the second once-daily HIV pill from … Continue reading “Gilead HIV Drug Gets FDA OK”

TIBCO’s Vivek Ranadivé on the “Death of Science,” the Rise of Pattern Recognition, and the Power of Data in Basketball

Vivek Ranadivé is one of those CEOs who was born with a silver quote in his mouth. He’s great on television, he gives entertaining speeches, and interviewing him is like bathing in a river of aphorisms and metaphors. I enjoy visiting Ranadivé at his company’s Palo Alto, CA, headquarters not just in order to catch … Continue reading “TIBCO’s Vivek Ranadivé on the “Death of Science,” the Rise of Pattern Recognition, and the Power of Data in Basketball”

Silicon Executive 2011

This full-day event focuses on the future of nanotechnology and will feature keynotes from the CEO of Sandisk, the mayor of San Jose, D. James Canton and many others. From the event description: “Insights from the industry leaders will help provide valuable perspectives on the road ahead. Upcoming strategic needs and solutions for the Equipment … Continue reading “Silicon Executive 2011”

Couchbase Lands $14M

NoSQL database software maker Couchbase, formed from the February merger of CouchOne and Membase, has collected $14 million in Series C financing from a group including new investor Ignition Partners and existing investors Accel Partners, Mayfield Fund, and North Bridge Venture Partners, according to an announcement today. The Mountain View, CA-based startup says it will … Continue reading “Couchbase Lands $14M”

$8M for BVI Networks

San Jose, CA-based BVI Networks, a maker of business intelligence visualization software for consumer retailers, said today that it has raised $8 million in a Series B funding round. New investor August Capital led the round, which was joined by the startup’s existing investors. “While physical stores generate over 95% of all retail business in … Continue reading “$8M for BVI Networks”

Xconomy Guide to Venture Incubators Back For A Third Year, Sixty-Four Programs Strong

You could say that the institution of the startup incubator has gotten its chance to shine this year. One way we can tell? Our third annual Xconomy Guide to Venture Incubators has nearly doubled in size from the 2010 version. The big boom wasn’t a total surprise, given that this year politicians and the like … Continue reading “Xconomy Guide to Venture Incubators Back For A Third Year, Sixty-Four Programs Strong”

Verinata Health Garners $48,500,000 Series C Financing

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=e03a5259-79aa-428e-8ac3-18b951275757&Preview=1 Date 8/10/2011 Company Name Verinata Health Mailing Address 1531 Industrial Road San Carlos, CA 94070 Company Description Verinata Health, Inc. is driven by a sole, extraordinary purpose – maternal and fetal health. Our initial focus is to develop and offer non-invasive tests for early identification of fetal chromosomal abnormalities through our … Continue reading “Verinata Health Garners $48,500,000 Series C Financing”

Couchbase Receives $14,000,000 Series C Financing

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=047939b1-60e1-420e-9681-75975719a5db&Preview=1 Date 8/10/2011 Company Name Couchbase Mailing Address 200 W. Evelyn Ave. Mountain View, CA 94041 Company Description Couchbase provides products and services that enable customers to dramatically lower costs while simultaneously improving the scalability and performance of their interactive applications. Couchbase is behind some of the world’s busiest Web businesses, including … Continue reading “Couchbase Receives $14,000,000 Series C Financing”

Link_A_Media Devices Secures $16,000,000 Series D Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=d0149132-d12f-462f-bb42-79be5aff75c3&Preview=1 Date 8/10/2011 Company Name Link_A_Media Devices Mailing Address 2550 Walsh Avenue Santa Clara, CA 95051 Company Description Link_A_Media Devices was founded in March 2004 with a vision to develop custom, integrated system solutions on a chip for linking digital information within and across different media devices. Link_A_Media Devices is a leader … Continue reading “Link_A_Media Devices Secures $16,000,000 Series D Round”

Twitter Buys Bagcheck

Bagcheck, a site where consumers can list and discuss their favorite personal gear and other products, has been purchased by San Francisco-based social media giant Twitter, according to a blog post on the Bagcheck site. Bagcheck co-founder and Yahoo alum Sam Pullara has joined Twitter’s enginering team and will continue to maintain the Bagcheck site, … Continue reading “Twitter Buys Bagcheck”

Bloomspot Collects $40M

San Francisco-based Bloomspot, a Groupon-style daily-deals service featuring high-end restaurants, spas, boutiques, and other “experiential merchants,” said today that it has raised $35 million in Series B financing and $5 million in venture debt. Interwest Partners and Columbia Capital led the venture round, which was joined by Menlo Ventures, True Ventures, QED Investors, Harrison Metal, … Continue reading “Bloomspot Collects $40M”

Say Media Buys Remodelista

Continuing its strategy of rolling up niche publishing sites into a vertical media network, San Francisco-based Say Media said today that it has acquired Remodelista, a group blog and “sourcebook” on interior design and remodeling. “Remodelista has done an incredible job aligning its brand with clean, timeless and sophisticated style,” Say Media CEO Matt Sanchez … Continue reading “Say Media Buys Remodelista”

Downgrading America?

I don’t know how most Americans feel these days, but I haven’t felt like this since just before Richard Nixon left office in 1974. Our political leaders (think “jumbo shrimp” or “military intelligence”) have just completed a grand game of chicken. They ended up in just the same position Neville Chamberlain was when he negotiated … Continue reading “Downgrading America?”

Second Genome Pockets $5M to Uncover the Secrets of Bugs, Good and Bad, in Your Gut

There are trillions of bacteria living in everyone’s guts, and there’s an incredible diversity and delicate balance of species in there. What’s going on in the genetics of those bugs is mostly a mystery, but now a company, Second Genome, has come along to analyze the genomes of those microorganisms in a new angle on … Continue reading “Second Genome Pockets $5M to Uncover the Secrets of Bugs, Good and Bad, in Your Gut”

San Diego’s ServiceNow Driving Hard as Revenue Soars; Expands to Silicon Valley

[Updated 8/9/11, 7:20 am. See below.] ServiceNow co-founder Fred Luddy told me in January that the San Diego-based provider of Web-based IT management services was on a fast-growth track, and he saw a “clear path” to $1 billion in annual revenue. I wouldn’t say it looked clear to me then, but the company’s trajectory is … Continue reading “San Diego’s ServiceNow Driving Hard as Revenue Soars; Expands to Silicon Valley”

$10M for Hotlink

Sunnyvale, CA-based Hotlink, maker of a “virtual integration” system that allows enterprise data centers to use virtualization technology from multiple vendors including VMware, Microsoft, Citrix, and Red Hat, emerged from stealth mode today and announced that it has collected $10 million in Series A financing. Foundation Capital led the round, which was joined by Leapfrog … Continue reading “$10M for Hotlink”

Technology as a Change Agent for Social Development

The IT consulting and services company Taos sponsors a forum on “Technology as a Change Agent for Social Development.” From the event description: “The event will feature three esteemed nonprofit leaders from Jordan International Aid, Summit Public Schools, and the U.S. Fund for UNICEF, whose organizations have effectively leveraged technology to educate children, save lives … Continue reading “Technology as a Change Agent for Social Development”

Bloomspot Lands $40,000,000 Series B Funding Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=cc1ad445-1409-481d-a732-5bfee25ff8c1&Preview=1 Date 8/9/2011 Company Name Bloomspot Mailing Address 345 Ritch Street San Francisco, CA 94107 Company Description Bloomspot provides limited quantity exclusive offers for weekend getaways and exceptional local experiences. Bloomspot’s mission is to help high quality local and travel brands attract and retain affluent customers. Website http://www.bloomspot.com Transaction Type Debt, Venture … Continue reading “Bloomspot Lands $40,000,000 Series B Funding Round”

Second Genome Garners $5,000,000 Series A Financing Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=e9bc60fd-3df7-4017-99d2-b0df68917daa&Preview=1 Date 8/9/2011 Company Name Second Genome Mailing Address 1700 Owens Street 5th Floor San Francisco, CA 94158 Company Description Second Genome, a venture-backed Bay Area based life sciences company, is committed to improving the quality of human health through microbiome-based personalized medicine. Founded in 2009 by leading experts in microbial research, … Continue reading “Second Genome Garners $5,000,000 Series A Financing Round”

SCI Solutions Obtains New Funding Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=b6ab06b7-2423-4d30-a11f-e4f71740ace2&Preview=1 Date 8/9/2011 Company Name SCI Solutions Mailing Address 655 Campbell Technology Parkway Campbell, CA 95008 Company Description SCI is committed to making sure everyone in your healthcare organization benefits from the advanced Access Management capabilities that result in improved physician loyalty, patient satisfaction and revenue acceleration. We make it our business—our … Continue reading “SCI Solutions Obtains New Funding Round”

Hotlink Garners $10,000,000 Series A Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=0bd73b5c-2722-40af-8296-e6efc9140bcd&Preview=1 Date 8/9/2011 Company Name Hotlink Mailing Address 440 N Wolfe Rd Sunnyvale, CA 94085 Company Description HotLink Corporation is a privately held, venture capital backed company based in Sunnyvale, California. Started in early 2010 by data center software veterans and the founders of FastScale Technology, Inc. (acquired by VMware), HotLink is … Continue reading “Hotlink Garners $10,000,000 Series A Round”

Zendesk Takes Customer Support Upscale, Adds Enterprise Version

San Francisco-based Zendesk, a maker of Web-based customer support software, is a company I’ve been following for a few years now. That’s partly for geographical reasons—like me, the startup was based in Boston for a while, then moved west to San Francisco—and partly because they’re simply nice people who really walk the walk when it … Continue reading “Zendesk Takes Customer Support Upscale, Adds Enterprise Version”

TokBox, Kiva, WalmartLabs: The 1-Minute Version of Last Week’s Bay Area BizTech News

As the eyes of the world focused on the debt debacle in Washington, D.C., business churned on as usual last week along the 101/280 axis between San Francisco and Silicon Valley. The brief summary: —I profiled TokBox, a San Francisco startup with technology that lets Web publishers and developers embed multi-way video chat features in … Continue reading “TokBox, Kiva, WalmartLabs: The 1-Minute Version of Last Week’s Bay Area BizTech News”

ParAccel Round Was $10M

Last month we reported that Campbell, CA- and San Diego-based high-performance database maker ParAccel had raised an undisclosed amount of funding from Amazon, Menlo Ventures, Mohr Davidow Ventures, Bay Partners, Walden International, Tao Venture Capital Partners, and Silicon Valley Bank. An August 4 regulatory filing now shows that the amount of ParAccel’s recent financing was … Continue reading “ParAccel Round Was $10M”

Okta Brings in $16.5M

San Francisco cloud services management startup Okta has collected $16.5 million in a Series B financing, according to an announcement today. New investors Greylock Partners and Khosla Ventures led the round, with existing investors Andreessen Horowitz and Floodgate Fund participating. Khosla Ventures’ David Weiden has become a board advisor. The funds, which come on top … Continue reading “Okta Brings in $16.5M”

Dendreon Wounds Are Self-Inflicted, Not the Start of a Biotech Industry Virus

Dendreon has made its share of mistakes before. But last week, the Seattle cancer drug developer achieved the biotech equivalent of fumbling the ball on the 1-yard line with time running out on the clock. The failure was so painful, so shocking, it erased two-thirds of the company’s stock value—about $3 billion. It even started … Continue reading “Dendreon Wounds Are Self-Inflicted, Not the Start of a Biotech Industry Virus”

Singulex Obtains $2,175,822 New Financing Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=f7fb558b-9346-409d-a092-3e5fa6cc9aa4&Preview=1 Date 8/8/2011 Company Name Singulex Mailing Address 1650 Harbor Bay Parkway Alameda, CA 94502 Company Description Singulex is an early stage biotechnology company with research and development laboratories in St. Louis and commercial operations in Hayward, California. Singulex has obtained exclusive license to all intellectual property around its core technology and … Continue reading “Singulex Obtains $2,175,822 New Financing Round”

Nodality Obtains $9,999,999 New Financing Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=67283ca6-5417-40ed-b850-a7cd3ed6189a&Preview=1 Date 8/8/2011 Company Name Nodality Mailing Address 201 Gateway Blvd. South San Francisco, CA 94080 Company Description Nodality Inc. is a privately held emerging biotechnology company focused on developing mechanistic and patient-specific classification of disease. Website http://www.nodalityinc.com Transaction Type Debt Transaction Amount $9,999,999 Transaction Round Undisclosed Proceeds Purposes Proceeds purposes were … Continue reading “Nodality Obtains $9,999,999 New Financing Round”

Okta Obtains $16,500,000 Series B Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=7c8497dd-33d5-43ee-ba44-d9b37ac52bad&Preview=1 Date 8/8/2011 Company Name Okta Mailing Address 400 2nd St. San Francisco, CA 94107 Company Description Your cloud applications are no longer tactical point solutions, they are the backbone of your business. Now there’s a way to quickly and easily transform these applications from independent silos into a secure, flexible and … Continue reading “Okta Obtains $16,500,000 Series B Round”

An Open Letter to Dendreon’s Chairman

[Editor’s Note: This letter was sent today to Dendreon chairman Richard Brewer.] Dear Mr. Brewer: Just over five months ago I wrote to you expressing serious concerns about the composition of the board of directors and its oversight of Dendreon’s management. I appreciated the opportunity to discuss these views in person with management at company … Continue reading “An Open Letter to Dendreon’s Chairman”

IO Turbine Acquired by Fusion-io for $95M

San Jose-based IO Turbine, which makes software that speeds up input/output operations in virtualized computer systems using flash storage, has been acquired by memory systems maker Fusion-io (NYSE: [[ticker:FIO]]) for $95 million in cash and stock, the Salt Lake City, UT, company announced today. “IO Turbine’s software is uniquely architected to take advantage of flash … Continue reading “IO Turbine Acquired by Fusion-io for $95M”

6waves Lolapps Raise $35M

6waves Lolapps—the entity formed from the July merger of San Francisco-based social game developer Lolapps and Hong Kong-based game publisher Six Waves—has raised $35 million in an offering of equity and options, according to a regulatory filing. The investors included Tokyo-based Nexon, a maker of microtransaction-based online games, and Insight Venture Partners of New York, … Continue reading “6waves Lolapps Raise $35M”

Bonfire of the Vanities: The Difference Between Marketing and Sales in Tech

When I was in my 20s, I was taught the relationship between marketing and sales over a bonfire. — Over 30 years ago, before the arrival of the personal computer, there were desktop computers called office workstations. Designed around the first generation of microprocessors, these computers ran business applications like word processing, spreadsheets, and accounting. … Continue reading “Bonfire of the Vanities: The Difference Between Marketing and Sales in Tech”

Radio Without Radios, Books Without Bookstores: Welcome to the Era of Unbound Media

Last weekend I decided to get serious about the fact that I live in an earthquake zone, and started putting together a kit with all the food, water, and equipment I’d need to survive for a few days if local services broke down. One of the items that turns up on all of the standard … Continue reading “Radio Without Radios, Books Without Bookstores: Welcome to the Era of Unbound Media”

Nuvosun Receives $8,600,000 New Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=bdb70a53-ffc2-442f-91eb-998de300d1a6&Preview=1 Date 8/5/2011 Company Name Nuvosun Mailing Address 1565 Barber Lane Milpitas, CA 95035 Company Description NuvoSun is a second generation innovator of thin-film photovoltaic (PV) cells and modules based on flexible Copper Indium/Gallium di- Selenide (CIGS) technology. NuvoSun’s mission is to redefine the cost point for PV cells and modules and … Continue reading “Nuvosun Receives $8,600,000 New Round”

Gild Secures $2,400,000 New Financing

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=a6f6257d-134f-4fb6-b495-3ea7db62d0e0&Preview=1 Date 8/5/2011 Company Name Gild Mailing Address 660 Third Street San Francisco, CA 94107 Company Description Gild exists to map the world’s talent. By doing so, we are enabling students and professionals to earn opportunities based on merit. Website http://www.gild.com Transaction Type Venture Equity Transaction Amount $2,400,000 Transaction Round Undisclosed Proceeds … Continue reading “Gild Secures $2,400,000 New Financing”