Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=50cf63a6-5e9c-478d-b648-8afc9b84b6ae&Preview=1 Date 2/1/2011 Company Name RentJuice Mailing Address 300 Brannan Street San Francisco, CA 94107 Company Description Our online platform that connects prospective renters, brokers and property managers to each other in real-time. Website http://www.RentJuice.com Transaction Type Venture Equity Transaction Amount $6,200,000 Transaction Round Undisclosed Proceeds Purposes The company will use the … Continue reading “RentJuice Secures $6,200,000 New Funding”
Category: San Francisco
Sonim Technologies Receives $4,000,000 New Funding Round
Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=085e2101-8c02-43b6-8d2b-d4faec58857c&Preview=1 Date 2/1/2011 Company Name Sonim Technologies Mailing Address 1875 S. Grant Street San Mateo, CA 94402 Company Description Sonim Technologies enables today’s GSM and CDMA wireless data networks to deliver high-margin voice services. Website http://www.sonimtech.com Transaction Type Venture Equity Transaction Amount $4,000,000 Transaction Round Undisclosed Proceeds Purposes Proceeds purposes were not … Continue reading “Sonim Technologies Receives $4,000,000 New Funding Round”
Path Obtains $8,500,000 Series A Funding Round
Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=1ce82d31-9eab-4c42-98e0-09e1e63097a5&Preview=1 Date 2/1/2011 Company Name Path Mailing Address 338 Spear Street San Francisco, CA 94105 Company Description The company provides a mobile social networking service. Website http://www.path.com Transaction Type Venture Equity Transaction Amount $8,500,000 Transaction Round Series A Proceeds Purposes Proceeds purposes were not disclosed. M&A Terms Venture Investor Kleiner Perkins Caufield … Continue reading “Path Obtains $8,500,000 Series A Funding Round”
Scripps President Richard Lerner To Step Down, Be Replaced by Berkeley Chemist, Sources Say
Richard Lerner, the president of one of San Diego’s leading research institutions for the past two decades, will soon step down from the top job at The Scripps Research Institute—and he is likely to be replaced by a top chemist and molecular biologist from UC Berkeley, Xconomy has learned. No formal announcement has been made, … Continue reading “Scripps President Richard Lerner To Step Down, Be Replaced by Berkeley Chemist, Sources Say”
Eventbrite Shares Scaling Lessons, Okta Emerges from the Cloud, IPOs Coming for LinkedIn, Epocrates, and RPX, & More Bay Area BizTech News
With all the news flying last week about IPOs, you might almost think that the public markets were opening up again as a capital-raising opportunity for startups and an exit opportunity for their early investors. —LinkedIn filed registration papers to go public, saying it hopes to raise $175 million in an offering on either the … Continue reading “Eventbrite Shares Scaling Lessons, Okta Emerges from the Cloud, IPOs Coming for LinkedIn, Epocrates, and RPX, & More Bay Area BizTech News”
Velti Prices US IPO
Velti (NASDAQ: [[ticker:VELT]]), a San Francisco- and Dublin, Ireland-based advertising technology conglomerate, began trading on the Nasdaq exchange on January 28, debuting at $12 per share and raising about $133 million in working capital. Velti—which acquired Palo Alto, CA-based mobile ad exchange Mobclix last October for an undisclosed sum—has been trading on the London Stock … Continue reading “Velti Prices US IPO”
Bodnick Leaves Elevation Partners
Marc Bodnick, co-founder and managing partner of Menlo Park, CA-based venture firm Elevation Partners, has left the parnership to take an executive position at Palo Alto, CA-based question-and-answer site Quora, according to numerous reports. Business Insider suggested in a story Friday that Bodnick’s departure was a sign of internal feuding over credit for the firm’s … Continue reading “Bodnick Leaves Elevation Partners”
Engine Yard: The Ruby on Rails Company Salesforce Didn’t Buy
Salesforce.com startled Silicon Valley techies last month by acquiring Heroku, a San Francisco startup born just three years earlier at Y Combinator, the venture incubator program. Heroku’s specialty is hosting Web-based applications written in Ruby, a programming language so powerful yet easy to use that it has become the tool of choice for developers building … Continue reading “Engine Yard: The Ruby on Rails Company Salesforce Didn’t Buy”
$3M for Solar Power Partners
Solar Power Partners, a Mill Valley, CA-based solar electricity producer that manages large solar installations and sells the power to utilities and commercial entities, has raised $3 million in debt and securities, according to a regulatory filing. The amount was small compared to previous fundraising rounds, including a $100 million round in 2008 led by … Continue reading “$3M for Solar Power Partners”
Startups—So Easy A 12-Year-Old Can Do It
Out of the mouths babes. Maybe because it’s a company town and everyone in Silicon Valley has a family connection to entrepreneurship. Or maybe I just encountered the most entrepreneurial 12-year-olds ever assembled under one roof. Or maybe we’re now teaching entrepreneurial thinking in middle schools. Either way I had an astounding evening as one … Continue reading “Startups—So Easy A 12-Year-Old Can Do It”
Encouraging Women in Industry to Apply for Faculty Jobs
Over the years, I noticed that we’d hired some terrific faculty at the University of Washington who came directly from industry. These faculty members have quickly gotten up to speed, and they’ve loved their new academic careers. It occurred to me that this would be a great way to get more women faculty in science, … Continue reading “Encouraging Women in Industry to Apply for Faculty Jobs”
Uncle Sam Hearts Drugs, Not Devices. Why?
WTF! You can forgive medical device investors and CEOs if they’ve uttered that not-so-family-friendly acronym during the last year or so. First, the Food and Drug Administration signals it will likely tighten restrictions on the popular 510(k) regulatory program, which allows device makers to quickly develop new products that are slightly better or different than … Continue reading “Uncle Sam Hearts Drugs, Not Devices. Why?”
Solar Power Partners Lands $3,000,000 New Funding Round
Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=ef3f3ffd-abf8-4bda-87c8-54ee1f685d15&Preview=1 Date 1/31/2011 Company Name Solar Power Partners Mailing Address 100 Shoreline Highway Mill Valley, CA 94941 Company Description Solar Power Partners, Inc. (SPP) is a developer, owner, and manager (DOM) of a distributed network of mid-size commercial Solar Energy Facilities (SEF) that we remotely manage from a central location. SPP provides … Continue reading “Solar Power Partners Lands $3,000,000 New Funding Round”
Project Frog Receives $6,500,000 New Financing Round
Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=7dd0b25d-a591-46bd-bcca-7ea6d64037e1&Preview=1 Date 1/31/2011 Company Name Project Frog Mailing Address 1500 Sansome Street 2nd Floor San Francisco, CA 94111 Company Description Project FROG is a pioneering firm that integrates sustainability and customization into quick-to-deploy, high performance building environments. Our mission is to provide a transformational landscape of sustainable, friendly, and affordable learning environments … Continue reading “Project Frog Receives $6,500,000 New Financing Round”
Xilinx Acquires AutoESL Design Technologies for Undisclosed Sum
Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=e12af239-a202-4e1a-bd8e-64592da11494&Preview=1 Date 1/31/2011 Company Name AutoESL Design Technologies Mailing Address 20245 Stevens Creek Blvd. Cupertino, CA 95014 Company Description AutoESL Design Technologies (AutoESL), Inc. is a privately held hi-tech company providing platform-based communication-centric Electronic System Level (ESL) synthesis tools in the field of Electronic Design Automation (EDA) for integrated circuits and systems. … Continue reading “Xilinx Acquires AutoESL Design Technologies for Undisclosed Sum”
Zero Motorcycles Secures $2,000,000 New Funding
Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=4e034375-f88a-4d08-82b4-9e2faf0cf6d8&Preview=1 Date 1/29/2011 Company Name Zero Motorcycles Mailing Address 1 Victor Square Scotts Valley, CA 95066 Company Description Zero Motorcycles is the next step in motorcycle evolution and represents the ultimate electric motorcycle technology. Unencumbered by conventional thinking about how we design, manufacture, and sell high performance electric motorcycles, we’re on a … Continue reading “Zero Motorcycles Secures $2,000,000 New Funding”
How the Challenger Disaster Changed My Life
The space shuttle Challenger exploded shortly after liftoff on January 28, 1986—twenty-five years ago today. The disaster took the lives of six astronauts and one schoolteacher, and shook NASA to its core. Like other televised national traumas, it burned itself into the memories of millions of people. I was just a spectator to the catastrophe, … Continue reading “How the Challenger Disaster Changed My Life”
LinkedIn Files for $175 Million IPO, Reveals Financial and Membership Details
Nearly eight years after its founding, LinkedIn, the professional social networking site funded by Sequoia Capital, Greylock Partners, and Bessemer Venture Partners, today began the process of going public. The Mountain View, CA-based firm filed S-1 registration papers with the Securities and Exchange Commission, saying that it intends to raise up to $175 million in … Continue reading “LinkedIn Files for $175 Million IPO, Reveals Financial and Membership Details”
GE Loans XDx $12.5M
XDx, the Brisbane, CA-based molecular diagnostics company, said today that it has secured a $12.5 million loan from GE Capital, Healthcare Financial Services (technically it called the loan a “senior secured multi-draw term loan facility”). The company said the funds will give it enough runway to move forward with commercialization of its FDA-approved “AlloMap” test, … Continue reading “GE Loans XDx $12.5M”
Merck, Staring at a Biotech Future, Seeks to Get in the Game With New Protein Drugs, Biosimilars
Biotech drugs will soon dominate the pharmaceutical industry, according to analyst estimates of what are projected to be the world’s top 10 selling therapies in 2014. Eight of these brands on this list are products of genetic engineering, while only two are traditional oral pills made through chemical synthesis. One other thing jumps out. Not … Continue reading “Merck, Staring at a Biotech Future, Seeks to Get in the Game With New Protein Drugs, Biosimilars”
Personalized Medicine Regulation Needs More Than Band-Aids
Last week, New York State assemblyman J. Gary Pretlow introduced the descriptively named “act to amend the insurance law, in relation to requiring coverage for genetic testing in accident and health insurance polices.” While not accompanied by a press release, or widely covered by media outlets, the bill merits close attention. While the substance of … Continue reading “Personalized Medicine Regulation Needs More Than Band-Aids”
XDx Receives $12,500,000 New Financing Round
Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=c3205c99-c086-452e-aca0-27eec6da5f0a&Preview=1 Date 1/28/2011 Company Name XDx Mailing Address 3260 Bayshore Blvd Brisbane, CA 94005 Company Description XDx is a molecular diagnostics company, XDx is one of the first companies to develop and commercialize practical applications built on insights from the Human Genome Project. Website http://www.xdx.com Transaction Type Debt Transaction Amount $12,500,000 Transaction … Continue reading “XDx Receives $12,500,000 New Financing Round”
Shrinkage—Expanded Upon….
Poor investment returns have had a similar effect to cold water – the VC industry is shrinking. As a follow-up to comments I posted this past weekend, I wanted to look deeper into recent fundraising data and see what other implications one might draw. Since 1980 the VC industry has raised $495 billion across 4,333 … Continue reading “Shrinkage—Expanded Upon….”
BrightEdge Going Global
BrightEdge, a San Mateo, CA, company that introduced its Web-based search engine optimization platform for businesses last summer, said today that it has brought on Ming Lei, chief architect at leading Chinese search engine Baidu, as a strategic advisor. Lei is expected to help the company expand its platform so that customers can increase incoming … Continue reading “BrightEdge Going Global”
In Utah, Developing the Science of Entrepreneurship
Utah may be known for many things, but who would have thought that Utah, and particularly Brigham Young University (BYU), would be participating in the transformation of entrepreneurship? I spent last weekend in Utah at BYU as a guest of Professor Nathan Furr, (a former Ph.D. student of our MS&E department at Stanford,) where they … Continue reading “In Utah, Developing the Science of Entrepreneurship”
The Spirit of Entrepreneurship Lives in Silicon Valley—A Report from The MIT Sloan Tech Trek
The three asses of entrepreneurship—A smart-ass team with a kick-ass product in a big-ass market: Never before has entrepreneurship been so succinctly captured as in this line coined by Jeff Clavier of Softtech VC. I met Jeff during the Silicon Valley “tech trek” organized by the MIT Sloan School of Management earlier this month. As … Continue reading “The Spirit of Entrepreneurship Lives in Silicon Valley—A Report from The MIT Sloan Tech Trek”
Okta: Helping Companies Maintain Visibility Despite Cloud Cover
If you’re an active Internet user, you probably have enough trouble keeping track of the usernames and passwords you use for a couple dozen Web-based services: Gmail, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Amazon, iTunes, Flickr, and the like. Now imagine that you’re an IT administrator at a big company with hundreds or thousands of employees, each of … Continue reading “Okta: Helping Companies Maintain Visibility Despite Cloud Cover”
Cohuman Garners $600,000 New Funding
Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=8a72838f-331a-4785-8930-6089f3c40fcf&Preview=1 Date 1/27/2011 Company Name Cohuman Mailing Address 632 Commercial St., Third Floor San Francisco, CA 94111 Company Description The company provides a cloud-based task management service. Website http://www.cohuman.com Transaction Type Venture Equity Transaction Amount $600,000 Transaction Round Undisclosed Proceeds Purposes Proceeds purposes were not disclosed. M&A Terms Venture Investor Undisclosed
Plum District Garners $8,500,000 Series A Funding
Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=b3c58ef2-bcf9-49a9-ac77-b183b6d7202c&Preview=1 Date 1/27/2011 Company Name Plum District Mailing Address 609 Mission St. San Francisco, CA 94105 Company Description The site differentiates itself by catering its local deals–including day camps, groceries and spa treatments–to busy mothers. Website http://www.PlumDistrict.com Transaction Type Venture Equity Transaction Amount $8,500,000 Transaction Round Series A Proceeds Purposes Proceeds purposes … Continue reading “Plum District Garners $8,500,000 Series A Funding”
Fabless Chip Designer Sheds Stealth Cloak, Changes Name to Enerv
Pervasive was keeping a low profile last year, when I reported the fabless semiconductor design startup had raised $6 million in a round led by two Bay Area venture firms, New Enterprise Associates and Walden International. But that’s not true any more. Reza Mirkhani, the company’s San Diego-based founder and CEO, tells me the company … Continue reading “Fabless Chip Designer Sheds Stealth Cloak, Changes Name to Enerv”
CRV, Spark Invest in Sensr.net
Sensr.net, a video surveillance startup based in Incline Village, NV, said today that it has obtained $1.5 million in new financing. The round was led by Boston-based Spark Capital and the Menlo Park, CA, office of Waltham, MA-based Charles River Ventures. Sensr.net has built software that allows consumers to remotely monitor webcams for unusual activity; … Continue reading “CRV, Spark Invest in Sensr.net”
GM Leads $17M Envia Round
Envia Systems, a Newark, CA-based startup developing cathodes for high-capacity lithium ion batteries for electric and hybrid vehicles, said today (PDF) that it has raised $17 million in Series C financing. General Motors’ venture investment wing, GM Ventures, put $7 million into the deal; the rest came from new investors Asahi Kasei and Asahi Glass … Continue reading “GM Leads $17M Envia Round”
$75M for Fulcrum BioEnergy
Pleasanton, CA-based Fulcrum BioEnergy, a developer of technology for converting municipal solid waste into ethanol, said yesterday (PDF) that it has collected $75 million in Series C financing. The company declined to name the investors in the round, though it told Dow Jones VentureWire that existing shareholders Rustic Canyon Partners and U.S. Renewables Group participated. … Continue reading “$75M for Fulcrum BioEnergy”
Facebook Buys Rel8tion
Rel8tion, a stealth-mode Seattle startup building a location-based mobile advertising system, has been acquired by Facebook, which is flush with cash from its recent $1.5 billion fundraising spree. The purchase was reported yesterday by AllThingsD and confirmed by Facebook. Rel8tion co-founder Peter Wilson, a Microsoft veteran who previously helped to set up Google’s Kirkland, WA, … Continue reading “Facebook Buys Rel8tion”
Liquid Robotics Soaks Up $18M
Liquid Robotics, headquartered in Sunnyvale, CA, has collected $18 million in equity-based financing in a round that could reach as high as $23.2 million, according to a regulatory filing. The four-year-old startup makes an “autonomous marine vehicle” called the Wave Glider that carries sensor payloads and moves by converting wave motion into thrust. The device … Continue reading “Liquid Robotics Soaks Up $18M”
Report: Layoffs Hit Elan
Elan, the Dublin, Ireland-based drugmaker that co-manufactures Biogen Idec’s (NASDAQ: [[ticker:BIIB]]) multiple sclerosis drug Tysabri and has a major R&D operation in South San Francisco, is cutting staff, according to a late-Tuesday report from Reuters. The news organization said Elan is laying off approximately 130 people, or 10 percent of its total workforce, with most of … Continue reading “Report: Layoffs Hit Elan”
Hipmunk Takes Off With $4.7M
San Francisco startup Hipmunk, a Y Combinator-backed company developing a new airfare search interface (as we explained in this August profile), has raised $4.7 million in new equity-based financing, in a round that could eventually reach $5.9 million, according to a regulatory filing. The company has said nothing so far about who’s investing or how … Continue reading “Hipmunk Takes Off With $4.7M”
Amgen’s R&D Chief, Roger Perlmutter, on Why BioVex’s Cancer-Fighting Virus Is Worth $1B
Roger Perlmutter, the guy who runs R&D at the largest biotech company in the world, is an immunologist by training. So it shouldn’t be any surprise that he’s fascinated by recent advances in which scientists have shown they can harness the immune system to fight tumors. Now he’s acting on that emerging knowledge of cancer … Continue reading “Amgen’s R&D Chief, Roger Perlmutter, on Why BioVex’s Cancer-Fighting Virus Is Worth $1B”
The New Normal for Biotech Startups
The structural changes roiling the pharmaceutical sector are driving innovation of biotech business models. With shrinking operating margins, patent expirations, a paucity of new product launches, significant reimbursement pressure, and an unpredictable regulatory environment—Big Pharma’s high risk bets on early stage biotechs of the past decade look cavalier through the lens of the current market … Continue reading “The New Normal for Biotech Startups”
Smaato Secures $7,000,000 New Round
Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=cd760e02-5a0e-4be3-9fef-3b8cb73b3efc&Preview=1 Date 1/26/2011 Company Name Smaato Mailing Address 3 Lagoon Drive Redwood Shores, CA 94065 Company Description Smaato Inc. is an ad-enabler for mobile phones, pioneering with its mobile advertising platform SOMA (Smaato Open Mobile Advertising) for the delivery of targeted mobile advertising. Smaato is partnering with international brands, advertising agencies, media … Continue reading “Smaato Secures $7,000,000 New Round”
Silicon Laboratories Acquires SpectraLinear for $40,000,000
Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=3724d3de-61aa-4a23-82db-1aea048177cf&Preview=1 Date 1/26/2011 Company Name SpectraLinear Mailing Address 2200 Laurelwood Road Santa Clara, CA 95054 Company Description SpectraLinear is a pure play integrated timing solutions company that focuses on consumer, computer, and communication markets using innovative, high performance fast time-to-market silicon platforms. Website http://www.spectra-ic.com Transaction Type M&A Transaction Amount $40,000,000 Transaction Round … Continue reading “Silicon Laboratories Acquires SpectraLinear for $40,000,000”
Envia Systems Receives $17,000,000 Series C Round
Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=ac41ab3c-7773-4135-8bfd-71ce9f1c1a80&Preview=1 Date 1/26/2011 Company Name Envia Systems Mailing Address 26138 Research Road Hayward, CA 94545 Company Description Envia Systems is a technology leader in high performance, low cost energy storage solutions using lithium ion batteries. Our disruptive products will enable widespread adoption of clean energy applications such as electric vehicles, hybrid electric … Continue reading “Envia Systems Receives $17,000,000 Series C Round”
How to Launch Your Startup at SXSW for $460
Originally, I wanted to call this article “How to Launch at SXSW on a Shoestring Budget,” but it wasn’t specific enough. “How to Launch @ SXSW for $460” has a tactical, granular sound that resonates with what my mentor (see his book cover picture here) taught me about promotion at a real world event. It’s … Continue reading “How to Launch Your Startup at SXSW for $460”
Startup Suicide—Rewriting the Code
The benefits of customer and agile development and minimum features set are continuous customer feedback, rapid iteration and little wasted code. But over time if developers aren’t careful, code written to find early customers can become unwieldy, difficult to maintain and incapable of scaling. Ironically it becomes the antithesis of agile. And the magnitude of … Continue reading “Startup Suicide—Rewriting the Code”
Cirtas Raises $22.5M, Names CEO
San Jose, CA-based Cirtas, which makes storage controllers that connect enterprise data centers to cloud-based storage services such as Amazon S3, said today that it has raised $22.5 million in Series B financing. New investors Shasta Ventures and Bessemer Venture Partners led the round, which was joined by existing investors NEA, Lightspeed Venture Partners, and … Continue reading “Cirtas Raises $22.5M, Names CEO”
$7M Shines on Solar Universe
Livermore, CA-based Solar Universe, a network of owner-operated companies specializing in the design, installation, and finance of residential solar power systems, said today that it has raised $7 million in Series B financing. Rockport Capital Partners led the round, which also included returning Series A investors. Solar Universe founder and CEO Joe Bono said the … Continue reading “$7M Shines on Solar Universe”
Appcelerator Collects $1.3M
Lost in the news today about an Appcelerator-sponsored study of business mobile application development trends was a regulatory filing indicating that the Mountain View, CA-based company has raised $1.3 million in new equity-based financing, in a round that could total as much as $3 million. Previous Appcelerator investors, who most recently contributed $9 million in … Continue reading “Appcelerator Collects $1.3M”
The 20-Year Outlook for Bay Area Life Sciences, Coming March 16
Biotechnology was born in the San Francisco Bay Area about 35 years ago, and by most ways of keeping score, it remains the most vibrant cluster in the world for life sciences innovation. But will that still be true 20 years from now? These are the kinds of deep questions we love to ask at … Continue reading “The 20-Year Outlook for Bay Area Life Sciences, Coming March 16”
Epocrates, Mobile App Developer Since Palm Days, Preps for IPO-And for Push Into Electronic Medical Records
If you’re a young software engineer today, you’ve got to be in mobile. That’s why San Francisco and Silicon Valley are crawling with twenty-something developers building games and other diversions for the iTunes App Store and the Android Marketplace. But there’s one local company that started building mobile apps before most of these people even … Continue reading “Epocrates, Mobile App Developer Since Palm Days, Preps for IPO-And for Push Into Electronic Medical Records”
Appcelerator Lands $1,160,598 New Funding
Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=f1356845-8c55-41cb-9056-4183faa829b1&Preview=1 Date 1/25/2011 Company Name Appcelerator Mailing Address 444 Castro Street Mountain View, CA 94041 Company Description Appcelerator is an open source platform for building rich web applications. Appcelerator, Inc. is a silicon valley venture funded company located in Mountain View, California. Appcelerator was started in 2006 by software veterans Jeff Haynie … Continue reading “Appcelerator Lands $1,160,598 New Funding”