January 2008

GreenRoad gets $14.5M to promote fuel efficient driving [Posted on January 31, 2008 - 5:26 PM]

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The practice of greenwashing as a publicity stunt for startup companies has advantages for investors as well -- otherwise it's hard to imagine how billionaire Richard Branson's Virgin Green... Continue Reading

Social media, Enterprise 2.0 and UGC tools dominate at Demo [Posted on January 30, 2008 - 6:26 PM]

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Palm Desert, Calif.-While it might seem difficult to classify 77 presenting companies into a few broad buckets, most of the startups presenting at Demo this week can be placed into... Continue Reading

Northern Light gets $350M for China investment [Posted on January 30, 2008 - 2:57 PM]

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The drive into the Middle Kingdom by American venture firms is showing no signs of abating as China-focused VC shop Northern Light Venture Capital put the finishing touches on its... Continue Reading

MocoSpace: Adult content for anyone at least 14 years of age [Posted on January 30, 2008 - 2:49 PM]

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Earlier this week, I wrote a short post about MocoSpace, yet another social networking site that is trying -- and having some success -- entering the space dominated by... Continue Reading

Etsy lands $27M, and Accel's Jim Breyer, in new funding for online crafts startup [Posted on January 30, 2008 - 2:01 PM]

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Rob Kalin, the young founder of online craft market Esty Inc., has once again set aside his inherent suspicion of venture capitalists, announcing a $27 million Series D round.... Continue Reading

WonderHowTo seeks edge in crowded video field by uniting content from around the Web [Posted on January 30, 2008 - 12:39 PM]

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The wraps have come off WonderHowTo.com, the latest online instructional video startup to make the scene, with the company also announcing an undisclosed Series A round led by General Catalyst... Continue Reading

Crosslink Capital closes $400M private-public fund [Posted on January 30, 2008 - 12:15 PM]

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Crosslink Capital on Wednesday announced its new $400 million Crossover Fund V LP to capitalize on the 13-year-old firm's history of multistage venture investing combined with public equity holdings... Continue Reading

Cotsakos' Moli.com raises another $30 million, bucks convention [Posted on January 29, 2008 - 10:21 PM]

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Palm Desert, Calif.--Moli.com, a social networking startup that announced the closing of a $29.25 million second round of funding this week, worries me for two reason. First, it's raised a... Continue Reading

The best Demo coverage from around the Web [Posted on January 29, 2008 - 7:22 PM]

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Palm Desert, Calif.--Demo is filled with bloggers who are combining to provide comprehensive coverage of the event. Here are some of the highlights:Megan McCarthy documents Taktumi's presentation problemsMarshall Kirkpatrick on... Continue Reading

Biz school's indices reveal VC pessimism in U.S. and China markets [Posted on January 29, 2008 - 4:54 PM]

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The University of San Francisco's quarterly study of the relative optimism of startup investors falls right in line with other measures of the health of the economy, reflecting a... Continue Reading

VC roll call at Demo goes 30 deep [Posted on January 29, 2008 - 1:50 PM]

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Palm Desert, Calif--There's debate among investors whether good deals can be sourced at conferences such as Demo. Over the years, there is no doubt that a relatively high percentage of... Continue Reading

Oates to participate (sans Hall) in iVideoSong's Demo presentation [Posted on January 29, 2008 - 12:05 PM]

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Palm Desert, Calif--Last year, it was Barry Bonds. This year, John Oates, one half of the 1980s pop band Hall & Oates, is expected to be the celebrity sighting at... Continue Reading

VMware misses numbers, shares plunge [Posted on January 28, 2008 - 5:55 PM]

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Ah, the joys of operating as a public company. Shares of VMware Inc. [VMW] the virtualization software leader whose initial public offering lit up the IPO market last year, fell... Continue Reading

Virtual Iron sticks with insiders in cooling virtualization sector [Posted on January 28, 2008 - 5:00 PM]

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Investor demand for virtualization tech may have cooled somewhat, as Virtual Iron Software opted to stick with insiders in a new $20 million venture round, bringing total investment in the... Continue Reading

Mobile social networker MocoSpace raises new round [Posted on January 28, 2008 - 4:21 PM]

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MocoSpace, a social networking site targeting mobile communications, on Monday announced it has secured $4 million in a Series B round, which follows close on the heels of an initial... Continue Reading

Landing fat new round, Intrisity pushes ahead with 'chipless chip' tech [Posted on January 28, 2008 - 11:03 AM]

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The costs and time it takes to commercialize new telecommunications devices and other sophisticated high-speed electronics have fallen dramatically in recent years because of the availability of increasingly powerful programmable... Continue Reading

Intel Capital pushes into cleantech investing [Posted on January 25, 2008 - 4:19 PM]

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Like so many investors, Intel Capital is taking a keen interest in cleantech startups.  At a cleantech panel discussion hosted by the Silicon Valley Association of Startup Entrepreneurs, Intel Capital... Continue Reading

Annual Forbes VC list has few surprises [Posted on January 25, 2008 - 2:54 PM]

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The rich get richer, as familiar names top Forbes Magazine's annual Midas List of the top 100 investors and other luminaries. Kleiner Perkins' John Doerr and Sequoia's Michael Moritz landed... Continue Reading

Abu Dhabi to sink oil billions into cleantech [Posted on January 24, 2008 - 5:18 PM]

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Abu Dhabi-based Masdar Clean Tech Fund's investment in NanoGram Inc., announced last week was unusual, coming from a place known more for oil and wealth than high-technology. But Cleantech Media... Continue Reading

Digg's form of social media is the worst ... except for the others that have been tried [Posted on January 24, 2008 - 1:27 PM]

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Ain't democracy a bitch? Digg Inc. is taking it on the chin Thursday after announcing yesterday that it would change its algorithm for regulating which stories are most highly... Continue Reading

Alt energy lawyer joins bank to pioneer new energy finance [Posted on January 23, 2008 - 5:35 PM]

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Corporate lawyer Ted Bernhard is taking his alternative energy dealmaking skills and heading for the investment banking world. The sustainability advocate announced he is leaving the Portland, Ore. law... Continue Reading

Airbiquity scores $25M for GPS technology in cars [Posted on January 22, 2008 - 2:43 PM]

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Global positioning system plays are all the rage these days, fueled by major acquisitions in the sector. Combine that with the burgeoning market for in-car wireless services, and presto... Continue Reading

Startup CEOs: Face expansion round challenges with an open mind [Posted on January 22, 2008 - 7:58 AM]

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Raising capital to expand a company is difficult, time consuming and fraught with danger, as three entrepreneurs expressed at a Houston Technology Center seminar last week. Kemal Farid, founder and... Continue Reading

Wharton Private Equity and Venture Capital conference: Protesters storm as Rubenstein speaks [Posted on January 18, 2008 - 3:26 PM]

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Wharton's Private Equity and Venture Capital conference opened Friday morning with a keynote speech from Carlyle Group's David Rubenstein. Before he could finish a sentence, protesters -- with a... Continue Reading

European exits drive Wellington Partners to easily close $392M fund [Posted on January 17, 2008 - 2:21 PM]

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It wasn't obvious that Wellington Partners would emerge as one of Europe's best venture capital firms when I visited them at their Munich offices seven years ago. At the time, their... Continue Reading

Cleantech Group: VC investment in renewable energy companies up 44% in 2007 [Posted on January 17, 2008 - 12:23 PM]

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In a report issued Thursday, Cleantech Group LLC  says that venture capital investment in renewable energy companies in North America and Europe totaled $5.2 billion in 2007, up 44% from... Continue Reading

DuPont looking beyond corn in biofuels [Posted on January 16, 2008 - 4:07 PM]

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The biggest obstacle to development of truly innovative biofuels is likely to be the entrenched agriculture industry and the system of subsidies that have been reinforced in the new... Continue Reading

Tesla's long and bumpy road [Posted on January 16, 2008 - 2:47 PM]

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Interesting profile of Tesla Motors Inc. in the latest issue of Stanford Magazine. It's a neat look at the Stanford University-bred technology that went into building the electric roadster, but... Continue Reading

Mercent gets $6.5M to boost online marketing technology [Posted on January 16, 2008 - 12:53 PM]

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Mercent Corp. announced Wednesday it has received a $6.5 million Series B led by TVC Capital. The round, which included previous investors Madrona Venture Group and an affiliate of Pittsburgh,... Continue Reading

Rising cleantech startup NanoGram hedges bet between licensing, internal R&D [Posted on January 15, 2008 - 5:41 PM]

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Alternative energy and environmental technology developers are getting strong support from early-stage venture investors. Still, it's not yet clear whether the public markets will support capital-intensive projects to put... Continue Reading

Oversee.net lands $150M private equity funding [Posted on January 15, 2008 - 11:31 AM]

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Oversee.net, an online marketing services provider, announced Tuesday that it received a $150 million investment from Oak Hill Capital Partners. Oversee didn't divulge many details about the financing, the... Continue Reading

Sequoia, Francisco Partners invest in telecom gear vendor Data Connection [Posted on January 14, 2008 - 2:19 PM]

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Sequoia Capital and Francisco Partners have invested in telecom equipment maker Data Connection Ltd. The deal, whose terms were undisclosed, means the British company, which ranked No. 5 on the... Continue Reading

VCs raise $34.7B in 2007, highest since since dot-com years [Posted on January 14, 2008 - 11:41 AM]

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Venture capitalists will have plenty of dough to invest over the next three to five years. New stats from the National Venture Capital Association and Thomson Financial show that... Continue Reading

VCs disappointed with CES, not that excited about 2008 [Posted on January 11, 2008 - 2:19 PM]

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If you were to listen to the venture capitalists speaking at last night's panel discussion on "Where the Hot Money Will Be Going in 2008", you would have no idea... Continue Reading

Benchmark stakes Ruby on Rails support startup Engine Yard [Posted on January 11, 2008 - 10:55 AM]

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