Category: San Francisco

Service-Now Names Software Industry Veteran Frank Slootman as CEO

When I met in January with Service-now.com founding CEO Fred Luddy, he said the company that provides software-as-a-service for IT management has enough momentum to carry it through an IPO. Today, if I’m reading the tea leaves correctly, the San Diego company took an important preliminary step in that process by naming Bay Area software … Continue reading “Service-Now Names Software Industry Veteran Frank Slootman as CEO”

GOTO Metrics Lands $3,000,003 New Financing Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=94b62e6a-3f91-490e-8be8-8c3aae11767f&Preview=1 Date 4/26/2011 Company Name GOTO Metrics Mailing Address 411 Main Street Half Moon Bay, CA 94019 Company Description GOTO Metrics believes that its solution represents a paradigm shift from traditional data stores (Databases) by offering its customers an easy to use, highly scalable, flexible platform for aggregating, analyzing, and visualizing small … Continue reading “GOTO Metrics Lands $3,000,003 New Financing Round”

Evolv Obtains $15,000,000 Series C Funding Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=48783298-f41b-4b4e-9298-cd4648cba711&Preview=1 Date 4/26/2011 Company Name Evolv Mailing Address 455 Hickey Boulevard Daly City, CA 94015 Company Description Evolv offers a web-based Talent Intelligence platform that utilizes on-the-job data collected via our Evolv Network to help you make more profitable hiring decisions. Our science-based, proprietary approach better matches employees and employers. Website http://www.evolvondemand.com … Continue reading “Evolv Obtains $15,000,000 Series C Funding Round”

Milk Receives $1,500,000 New Financing Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=b3de6277-4756-4fc4-955c-3fff8b0d9b03&Preview=1 Date 4/26/2011 Company Name Milk Mailing Address Undisclosed San Francisco, CA 94123 Company Description The company develops mobile applications. Website http://www.milkinc.com Transaction Type Venture Equity Transaction Amount $1,500,000 Transaction Round Undisclosed Proceeds Purposes Proceeds purposes were not disclosed. M&A Terms Venture Investor SV Angel Venture Investor Floodgate Venture Investor Individual Investor … Continue reading “Milk Receives $1,500,000 New Financing Round”

VMWare Acquires SlideRocket for Undisclosed Sum

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=375be229-fe25-454a-8bc4-be1260db7d3a&Preview=1 Date 4/26/2011 Company Name SlideRocket Mailing Address 251 South Van Ness Avenue San Francisco, CA 94103 Company Description SlideRocket is a web application that provides everything you need to design professional quality presentations, manage and share libraries of slides and assets, and to deliver presentations in person or remotely over the … Continue reading “VMWare Acquires SlideRocket for Undisclosed Sum”

HealthTap, Qwiki, Bo.lt: The 1-Minute Version of Last Week’s Bay Area BizTech News

Last week saw an unusual number of acquisitions and several interesting company launches in the San Francisco / Silicon Valley corridor. —San Francisco-based HealthTap opened its health information site to the public. Focused initially on pregnant women and new moms, the site is designed to provide users with personalized health tips and background information on … Continue reading “HealthTap, Qwiki, Bo.lt: The 1-Minute Version of Last Week’s Bay Area BizTech News”

VCs Turn Up The Heat on FDA to Get Faster, More Predictable

The FDA felt the heat in the 1990s when AIDS activists marched in the streets, shouting about how bureaucratic foot-dragging meant that patients died while waiting for approvals of experimental drugs. The FDA listened. It started clearing more new drugs for sale, and completing safety and effectiveness reviews faster than before. Now it’s venture capitalists, … Continue reading “VCs Turn Up The Heat on FDA to Get Faster, More Predictable”

Pixelpipe Receives $2,330,339 New Financing Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=7700a8cd-22df-42af-8b9d-0580016ad8cf&Preview=1 Date 4/25/2011 Company Name Pixelpipe Mailing Address 1717 17th street San Francisco, CA 94103 Company Description Upload photos, video, and audio files once through the Pixelpipe Media Gateway and distribute your content across over 100+ social networks, photo/video sites, blogs, and other online services. Website http://www.Pixelpipe.com Transaction Type Venture Equity Transaction … Continue reading “Pixelpipe Receives $2,330,339 New Financing Round”

DoubleDutch Garners $1,200,000 New Financing

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=2713e6d4-6b21-4539-958d-17f7d55baee5&Preview=1 Date 4/25/2011 Company Name DoubleDutch Mailing Address 2601 Mission St. San Francisco, CA 94110 Company Description The company develops mobile social business applications. Website http://www.DoubleDutch.me Transaction Type Venture Equity Transaction Amount $1,200,000 Transaction Round Undisclosed Proceeds Purposes Proceeds purposes were not disclosed. M&A Terms Venture Investor Charles River Ventures Venture Investor … Continue reading “DoubleDutch Garners $1,200,000 New Financing”

PowerVision Obtains $4,189,010 New Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=a8a061d3-a6df-4be4-9029-b0cd70bf5b25&Preview=1 Date 4/25/2011 Company Name PowerVision Mailing Address 298 Harbor Blvd. Belmont, CA 94002 Company Description The company develops and sells eye related medical devices. Website http://www.powervisionlens.com Transaction Type Venture Equity Transaction Amount $4,189,010 Transaction Round Undisclosed Proceeds Purposes Proceeds purposes were not disclosed. SEC regulatory filing. M&A Terms Venture Investor Undisclosed

ValueClick Acquires Greystripe for $70,000,000

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=87e2bd06-68e1-4585-b8bd-3d42f40d763c&Preview=1 Date 4/25/2011 Company Name Greystripe Mailing Address 333 Bryant St. San Francisco, CA 94107 Company Description Greystripe’s AdWRAP mobile in-game advertising network provides a platform for advertisers and publishers to engage mobile audiences of all ages anywhere, anytime, while offering free ad-supported mobile content. Website http://www.greystripe.com Transaction Type M&A Transaction Amount … Continue reading “ValueClick Acquires Greystripe for $70,000,000”

Yahoo! Acquires IntoNow for Undisclosed Sum

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=1a70d176-7475-48a2-b229-a20833baf721&Preview=1 Date 4/25/2011 Company Name IntoNow Mailing Address Undisclosed Palo Alto, CA 94301 Company Description IntoNow makes engaging with your friends around your favorite television shows easy and fun. Website http://www.IntoNow.com Transaction Type M&A Transaction Amount Undisclosed Transaction Round Proceeds Purposes M&A Terms Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Encoding.com Lands $2,000,000 Series B Funding Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=229d484f-3329-4eab-9b10-b43ce742be63&Preview=1 Date 4/24/2011 Company Name Encoding.com Mailing Address 250 Brannan Street San Francisco, CA 94107 Company Description At Encoding.com, our goal is to make professional video encoding accessible, affordable and scalable for everyone. With years of experience building high volume video sites, we were continually challenged with the lack of simple tools … Continue reading “Encoding.com Lands $2,000,000 Series B Funding Round”

Things Fall Apart: Amazon’s Epic Cloud Failure Reveals Shortsightedness by Some Other Well-Known Tech Companies

As this week’s massive failure of Amazon Web Services cloud-computing infrastructure continued to roil the Web today, a few things were sadly clear. Perhaps most striking of all: Major service providers and websites—companies with enough money and talent to avoid the problem—didn’t spend nearly enough energy planning for the inevitability of a breakdown. Yes, it’s … Continue reading “Things Fall Apart: Amazon’s Epic Cloud Failure Reveals Shortsightedness by Some Other Well-Known Tech Companies”

Responsys Shares Up After IPO

San Bruno, CA-based marketing software provider Responsys (NASDAQ: [[ticker:MKTG]]) finished its first day of trading Thursday at $15.40 per share, up 28 percent over Wednesday night’s initial offering price of $12 per share. Share prices were holding steady in early trading Friday. Early investor Entrepreneurs Fund cashed in some of its stake through the offering, … Continue reading “Responsys Shares Up After IPO”

Buysight Gets $4M

Palo Alto, CA-based Buysight, formerly known as Permuto, has raised $4 million in a round of equity-based financing that could eventually reach $6 million, according to a regulatory filing. Buysight, founded in 2008 by former Rhythm NewMedia chief technology officer Shaukat Shamim, is a pay-for-performance Web display advertising network that tailors its clients’ ads according … Continue reading “Buysight Gets $4M”

BayBio’s Annual Conference, Tweet by Tweet

Most biotechies haven’t yet embraced the whole Twitter thing like techies, but I’m starting to see more curiosity in life sciences. I saw it this week, as I experimented by writing about the BayBio annual conference entirely through tweeting. Twitter, for the skeptics out there, is actually a lot more than a silly place to … Continue reading “BayBio’s Annual Conference, Tweet by Tweet”

Could a Game Be the Answer to Your E-mail Woes?

E-mail is the great savior and scourge of our time. We couldn’t get much done without it. Yet as regular readers know, I have an ongoing feud with my inbox. I’ve declared e-mail bankruptcy (twice), I’ve adopted tools like Taskforce that help turn e-mails into to-do list items, and I’ve tried filtering options like Gmail’s … Continue reading “Could a Game Be the Answer to Your E-mail Woes?”

GREE Acquires Aurora Feint for $104,000,000

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=be4f36e9-023c-46f3-a268-6a81e6913f6f&Preview=1 Date 4/22/2011 Company Name Aurora Feint Mailing Address 330 Primrose Rd. Burlingame, CA 94010 Company Description Aurora Feint Inc. develops mobile games and operates OpenFeint, a leading mobile social platform and application for smartphones. OpenFeint includes a set of online game services such as leaderboards and achievements running in a cloud … Continue reading “GREE Acquires Aurora Feint for $104,000,000”

GREE Buys OpenFeint for $104M

GREE, the Japanese mobile social gaming company, said today (PDF) that it has purchased all shares in OpenFeint, the Burlingame, CA-based maker social games for iOS and Android devices such as Tiny Wings, Pocket God, and Mega Jump. GREE said it spent $104 million on the acquisition, which will make it the world’s largest social applications … Continue reading “GREE Buys OpenFeint for $104M”

The Lean LaunchPad at Stanford—Class 6: Channel Hypotheses

The Stanford Lean LaunchPad class was an experiment with a new model of teaching startup entrepreneurship. With two weeks and two more updates to go, this post is part six. Parts one through five are here, Syllabus is here. While we’ve been pushing hard on the teams, this week the teaching team was about to … Continue reading “The Lean LaunchPad at Stanford—Class 6: Channel Hypotheses”

Bo.lt Lets Anyone Clone and Rewrite Web Pages; The Elephant in the Room is Copyright

From its beginning, the World Wide Web has been a deliberately transparent, copyable medium. I’m not just talking about the fact that it’s easy to copy and paste text or images from a website; in almost every browser since Mosaic, users have also had the ability to click the “view source” menu item to see … Continue reading “Bo.lt Lets Anyone Clone and Rewrite Web Pages; The Elephant in the Room is Copyright”

Amgen Passes Key Trial With “Son of Dmab” For Osteoporosis

The financial crowd who follows Amgen may be talking all about dividends or techniques to boost the stock through share buybacks, but the medical and scientific world will be chirping today about an interesting new finding the company has made for treating osteoporosis. Amgen (NASDAQ: [[ticker:AMGN]]), the Thousand Oaks, CA, biotech giant with R&D operations … Continue reading “Amgen Passes Key Trial With “Son of Dmab” For Osteoporosis”

Triangulating VC Activity: Third Survey Shows Q1 Increase in Invested Capital

Another survey on venture capital activity during the first quarter shows that venture investors put $6.4 billion into 661 startups nationwide. That’s a 35 percent increase in capital and a 5 percent rise in deals, according to the report from Dow Jones VentureSource. It’s the third survey to show a substantial increase in the amount … Continue reading “Triangulating VC Activity: Third Survey Shows Q1 Increase in Invested Capital”

EBay’s $135M Acquisition of Where Could Drive PayPal’s Mobile Future; Boston CEOs React to Another Silicon Valley Buyer

[Updated 4/24/11. See comment below] Chalk up another $100 million-plus purchase of a Boston-area mobile technology company. First there was m-Qube, then Third Screen Media, Enpocket, Starent Networks, Quattro Wireless, and now, Where. Their acquirers read like a who’s who of tech giants: VeriSign, AOL, Nokia, Cisco, Apple, and now, eBay. Indeed, Boston-based Where’s purchase … Continue reading “EBay’s $135M Acquisition of Where Could Drive PayPal’s Mobile Future; Boston CEOs React to Another Silicon Valley Buyer”

Rivet Games Garners Series B Funding

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=85de6f77-3afb-4b93-a59e-a1f834c14c32&Preview=1 Date 4/21/2011 Company Name Rivet Games Mailing Address Undisclosed San Francisco, CA 94105 Company Description Our mission at Rivet Games is to produce fun, polished games that exceed your expectations. Games that you can be passionate about. We are a mix of traditional, casual, and social game industry veterans, obsessively working … Continue reading “Rivet Games Garners Series B Funding”

Intransa Secures $2,999,999 New Funding Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=3230cc66-f41f-484b-ac89-d961d69a5456&Preview=1 Date 4/21/2011 Company Name Intransa Mailing Address 10710 N. Tantau Avenue Cupertino, CA 95014 Company Description Intransa is an innovator of an enterprise class, intelligent IP storage products and software. Based on technology that leverages the low cost and maturity of Ethernet technology, Intransa’s IP SAN solutions dramatically reduce the cost … Continue reading “Intransa Secures $2,999,999 New Funding Round”

Join Xconomy and TechShop on April 27 for “The Maker Revolution: From Workbench to Business”

There’s something amazing happening in garages, basement workshops, and hackerspaces across the country. Generations raised on mass consumption, the local mall, and ordering products online from Amazon are rediscovering the joy of making stuff—and sometimes selling it. In fact, the twisty path from being a “maker” to being a full-blown entrepreneur is being traced by … Continue reading “Join Xconomy and TechShop on April 27 for “The Maker Revolution: From Workbench to Business””

Say Media Buys Dogster, Catster

San Francisco-based Say Media, which is building a network of advertising-supported niche publishing sites, said yesterday that it has acquired Dogster Inc., which runs the Dogster and Catster social networking sites for pet owners. Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed; Say Media CEO Matt Sanchez said Say Media intends to continue running the sites. “This … Continue reading “Say Media Buys Dogster, Catster”

Qwiki Hits the iPad

You haven’t used Qwiki, the multimedia reference service bankrolled by Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin, until you’ve tried it on the iPad. The San Francisco startup announced this morning that Apple has approved the new mobile version of its “rich media narrative” technology for distribution through the iTunes App Store. Owners of iPads can download the … Continue reading “Qwiki Hits the iPad”

Gilead Cuts Deal With MicroDose

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ: [[ticker:GILD]]) said today it has obtained a license from MicroDose Therapeutx to an inhalable small molecule drug for respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). Foster City-based Gilead agreed to make an upfront cash payment, research funding, milestone payments, and royalties on product sales to Monmouth Junction, NJ-based MicroDose. The dollar amount of the deal … Continue reading “Gilead Cuts Deal With MicroDose”

CrowdOptic Receives $1,000,000 Series A Funding

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=18dec4bc-fa20-4bec-abf0-208b06e0b64e&Preview=1 Date 4/20/2011 Company Name CrowdOptic Mailing Address 930 Montgomery St. San Francisco, CA 94133 Company Description CrowdOptic lets enterprises and photographers collaborate in real time by simply using an image. Website http://www.CrowdOptic.com Transaction Type Venture Equity Transaction Amount $1,000,000 Transaction Round Series A Proceeds Purposes Proceeds purposes were not disclosed. M&A … Continue reading “CrowdOptic Receives $1,000,000 Series A Funding”

TRIA Beauty Receives $21,000,000 New Financing

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=d6c9ae33-3b61-4e16-bd0d-4c76305a567a&Preview=1 Date 4/20/2011 Company Name TRIA Beauty Mailing Address 4160 Dublin Blvd. Dublin, CA 94568 Company Description The TRIA Skin Clarifying System, a 3-step system clinically proven to clear acne breakouts faster than any other leading acne treatment and featuring professional-strength blue light therapy, is launched in the U.S. Website http://www.triabeauty.com Transaction … Continue reading “TRIA Beauty Receives $21,000,000 New Financing”

IO Turbine Obtains $7,750,000 New Financing Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=b7d76a19-f85d-45a0-a32c-6e57f9b6503e&Preview=1 Date 4/20/2011 Company Name IO Turbine Mailing Address 3031 Tisch Way San Jose, CA 95128 Company Description Our approach makes the most of Flash storage to transparently and significantly accelerate virtualized application performance while lowering costs, complexity and providing outstanding ROI – without sacrificing the benefits that virtualization provides. Website http://www.ioturbine.com … Continue reading “IO Turbine Obtains $7,750,000 New Financing Round”

Aduro BioTech Secures $19,250,000 Series B Funding Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=3763e8dd-0a7b-445d-b5ae-bf25bf93d29b&Preview=1 Date 4/20/2011 Company Name Aduro BioTech Mailing Address 626 Bancroft Way Berkeley, CA 94710 Company Description Aduro BioTech is a clinical-stage immunotherapy company with a platform technology for therapeutic and prophylactic vaccines for cancer and infectious diseases. The platform of attenuated and targeted vaccines based on Listeria monocytogenes has been in … Continue reading “Aduro BioTech Secures $19,250,000 Series B Funding Round”

SAY Media Acquires Dogster for Undisclosed Sum

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=20ca39f2-20f7-4e00-966b-a6f791a06aae&Preview=1 Date 4/20/2011 Company Name Dogster Mailing Address 555 De Haro Street San Francisco, CA 94107 Company Description The company operates a network of websites for pet owners. Website http://www.dogster.com Transaction Type M&A Transaction Amount Undisclosed Transaction Round Proceeds Purposes M&A Terms Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

AngioScore Receives $12,000,000 New Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=b4f3d1c7-815d-4d8a-bdb5-59ba97a41b04&Preview=1 Date 4/20/2011 Company Name AngioScore Mailing Address 5055 Brandin Court Fremont, CA 94538 Company Description AngioScore, Inc. develops, makes and sells leading edge tools for endovascular therapy. Our first product, the AngioSculpt Scoring Balloon Catheter, has received CE mark approval and is available for sale in Europe. Clinical trials are underway … Continue reading “AngioScore Receives $12,000,000 New Round”

Humble Bundle Lands $4,475,547 Series A Financing

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=dc0839ac-68ee-4a18-8910-b03d369311c3&Preview=1 Date 4/20/2011 Company Name Humble Bundle Mailing Address 5 3rd Street San Francisco, CA 94103 Company Description The company operates a website and service that allows users to name their own price on video games. Website http://www.humblebundle.com Transaction Type Venture Equity Transaction Amount $4,475,547 Transaction Round Series A Proceeds Purposes Proceeds … Continue reading “Humble Bundle Lands $4,475,547 Series A Financing”

The Maker Revolution: From Workbench to Business

Join TechShop and Xconomy for an evening of discussion and presentations focused on putting makers on the pathway to entrepreneurship. In a keynote talk followed by a panel discussion moderated by Xconomy Chief Correspondent and San Francisco Editor Wade Roush, we’ll explore how greater access to tools, software, and other resources is fostering a vibrant creative community and … Continue reading “The Maker Revolution: From Workbench to Business”

Obsessive Lust & Longing on Facebook

The Commonwealth Club presents Ze Frank, Digital Media Visionary, in conversation with Martine Paris, Head of Video Monetization Platform at PlaySpan. From the event description: “When we look at the social habits of the 500 million Facebook users, do we see the obsessive lust and longing of the Puer aeternus—the adolescent narcissist with its primal need for … Continue reading “Obsessive Lust & Longing on Facebook”

Social-Loco

A sequel to last year’s Geo-Loco conference, Social-Loco is about the convergence of the social Web, mobile technology, and local businesses. In the words of the conference organizers, it “has been built from the ground up based on agency, investor, brands, the entrepreneurial community and your feedback. Social-Loco is for you and the buyers and … Continue reading “Social-Loco”

Order Your Next Burger on a Tablet Computer from E La Carte

If you’ve got a touchscreen-based tablet computer, odds are you’ve noticed the way it speeds up tasks like managing e-mail. Doctors and other professionals like them too, for browsing or entering information in the workplace. And now the devices are starting to show up in a more surprising setting—your local burger joint. E la Carte, … Continue reading “Order Your Next Burger on a Tablet Computer from E La Carte”