|
Google Buzz Gets Uniformly Pooped On
|
|||
|
Earlier today, Google unveiled Buzz, a Facebook-like platform built into Gmail that allows users to see their contacts' status updates, media, and favorite links -- including via popular applications like Twitter, Picasa, and Flickr -- as well as to "like" them. The social media tool also allows users to let friends know where they are, a la the popular application Foursquare.
The announcement, which came at 10 a.m., was eagerly awaited. Reactions to it since have been downright ugly. Read more » |
NEWS |
|
||
|
DotNetNuke, a Seattle-based developer of an open-source application framework for the Microsoft tech platform, has raised $8 million in Series B funding. UV Partners led the round, and was joined by return backers August Capital and Sierra Ventures. The company previously raised $6 million. Read more » |
||
 |
|
“The Bachelor” Dumped by Facebook Employee
|
|||
 It was a devasting turn in the “journey” of limo-business-owning pilot, Jake Pavelka, who stars in the show’s seventh season. Fedotowsky was among the final four contestants chosen by Pavelka. In fact, she broke the news to him on the ... |
NEWS |
|
||
|
CytoSolv Inc., a wound healing startup initially focused on diabetic ulcers, has raised $500,000 in seed funding from The Slater Technology Fund. Read more » |
||
|
|||
|
Exar Corp. (Nasdaq: EXAR) has agreed to acquire Neterion, a Sunnyvale, Calif.-based provider of 10 Gigabit Ethernet network adapter solutions optimized for virtualized data centers. The deal is valued at between $10 million and $11 million. Neterion has raised around $65 million in VC funding, from Menlo Ventures, VenGrowth, BDC and JAFCO Ventures. Read more » |
|||
|
|||
|
MindBody Inc., a spa software provider that raised $5.6 million last year from Catalyst Investors, has acquired ClientMagic Software, a Folsom, Calif.-based provider of scheduling and business management software to salons and spas. No financial terms were disclosed. Read more » |
|||
|
|||
|
Nexamp, a North Andover, Mass.-based provider of advisory services and solutions to help implement clean energy projects, has raised $6.5 million in Series A funding. Backers include Good Energies, Point Judith Capital, RCG Ventures and individual angels. Last week, Nexamp announced that it had received $20 million in federal stimulus funding for use in solar power installations. Read more » |
|||
|
|||
|
Pursway (fka Datanetis), an Israel-based provider of influencer marketing solutions, has raised $6 million in Series A funding from Battery Ventures. Read more » |
|||
|
|||
|
TuneWiki Ltd., a Israel-based developer of social media music players and related applications, has raised an undisclosed amount of VC funding led by Motorola Ventures. Other participants included Intellect Capital Ventures, HillsVen Capital, Novel TMT and return backer Benchmark Israel. Read more » |
|||
|
|||
|
Searchmetrics, a Germany-based provider of SEO software and analytics, has raised an undisclosed amount of VC funding from Neuhaus Partners. Read more » |
|||
|
|||
|
In an email to friends and colleagues, Daniel wrote:
|
|||
|
|
|
LPs’ $400 Million Vote of Confidence: Redpoint Ventures Raises Fund IV
|
|||
 No one is complaining about Yang’s favorite pastime anymore. Tonight, Redpoint announced it has just closed a $400 million fund, reward in part for a number of the envy-inducing exits it saw last year, at the height of the worst recession in d... |
|
Afraid to Lose Money? Congratulations, You Have a Healthy Amygdala (or You’re a VC)
|
|||
 Published by scientists at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena and at University College of London, the research centered on two women with Urbach-Wiethe, a disease that damages the amygdala, an almond-shaped part of the brain linked to feelings of fear and aggression. While it’s generally the case that Read more » |
|
More on Obama’s Proposal To Eliminate Small Biz Cap Gains
|
|||
 Many of our readers wondered what those words meant, exactly. So we looked for answers from Steven Franklin, head of the tax and venture capital and private equity funds practice at Gunderson Dettmer in Silicon Valley: Read more » |
NEWS |
|
||
|
Aero Farm Systems LLC, an Ithica, N.Y.-based provider of aeroponic technology and solutions, has raised $500,000 in seed funding from The Quercus Trust and 21Ventures. Read more » |
||
|
|||
 Craton Equity Partners and Espírito Santo Ventures co-led the round, and were joined by return backers Element Partners, Blue Run Ventures, OnPoint Technologies and Kuwait's National Technology Enterprises Company. Read more » |
|||
|
|||
|
3Play Media Inc., a Somerville, Mass.-based audio transcription technology startup, has secured $450,000 of a $600,000 seed funding round, according to a regulatory filing. The company was launched by a handful of MIT grads in 2007. www.3playmedia.com Read more » |
|||
|
|||
|
Areva did not disclose financial details about the deal to purchase the Silicon Valley company, which had raised $130 million in venture capital from high-profile firms including Kleiner Perkins and Khosla Ventures. The solar power industry has started to consolidate after struggling in 2009 wi |
|||
|
|||
|
Veracode Inc., a Burlington, Mass.-based provider of on-demand security analysis solutions, has raised $12.26 million in new VC funding, according to a regulatory filing. The only new board member listed is Laura Sachar, a general partner with StarVest Partners. Veracode previously raised over $22 million from .406 Ventures, Atlas Venture, Polaris Venture Partners, Macrovision Corp. and Symentec Corp. www.veracode.com Read more » |
|||
|
|||
|
OrthAlign Inc., an Irvine, Calif.-based developer of small single-use devices for knee and hip implants, has raised $5.16 million in Series A-2 funding. Return backers include California Technology Ventures was joined by return backers Okapi Venture Capital and Research Corporation Technologies Research. www.orth-align.com Read more » |
|||
|
|
|
Wharton PE Conference Notebooks
|
|||
 Get some thoughts from the conference organizers, thoughts on keynotes by John Megrue (Apax) and Dalip Pathak, notes on a panel about the future of private equity and notes from a pair of venture capital panels. Big thanks to Rohan Deuskar, Daniela Stefovska and Carmen Feliciano. Read more » |
NEWS |
|
||
|
Infinia Corp., a Kennewick, Wash.-based developer of solar thermal engine technology, has secured $11.5 million of a $75 million equity financing round, according to a regulatory filing. The company previously raised over $82 million, from firms like Foxconn Technology Group. GLG Partners, Wexford Capital, Vulcan Capital, Khosla Ventures, EQUUS Total Return Inc., Idealab and Power Play Energy LLC. www.infiniacorp.com Read more » |
||
|
|
|
Bain Capital Ventures Raises Fund, Hires Operating Partner
|
|||
|
Bain Capital Ventures has quietly closed its fourth fund with $525 million in capital commitments. The Boston-based firm also has hired John Connolly, former CEO of Institutional Shareholder Services, as an operating partner focused on portfolio company management. A few notes:
Fund: This vehicle comes in a bit larger than its $500 million predecessor (raised in 2007), but below the $750 million cap that BCV had listed in a regulatory filing last February. Unclear if BCV aimed for $750m and failed, or reevaluated due to: (a) The hellish fundraising environment, and (b) A realization that the current VC market has better early-stage opportunities than later-stage ones (BCV is stage-agnostic). Read more » |
NEWS |
|
||
|
Nautilus Neurosciences Inc., a Bridgewater, N.J.-based drug startup focused on neurology, has raised around $14.49 million in Series A funding led by Tailwind Capital Partners, according to a regulatory filing. www.nautilusneurosciences.com Read more » |
||
|
|||
|
PatientSafe Solutions, a San Diego-based provider of patient safety and workflow management solutions, has raised $30 million in new VC funding led by TPG Biotechnology Partners, according to VentureWire. The company previously raised over $40 million, from firms that include Menlo Ventures, Psilos Group, J.F. Shea & Co., American River Ventures and Shoreline Venture Management. www.patientsafesolutions.com UPDATE Here’s a press release:
|
|||
|
|||
|
Atacama Labs Oy, a Finnish specialty pharma company that has developed a pneumatic dry granulation method, has raised €2.3 million in new VC funding. No investor information was disclosed. Read more » |
|||
|
|||
|
Compliance11 Inc., a Chicago-based provider of regulatory compliance management solutions, has raised $6 million in Series B funding. Talon Capital Partners and KVG Partners co-led the round. Read more » |
|||
|
|||
|
Essex Woodlands Health Ventures has committed up to $50 million for the formation of White Pine Medical, a growth equity acquisition platform focused on the medical device sector. White Pine will be led by Dan Lemaitre, former president and CEO of CoreValve (acquired by Medtronic in April 2009). Read more » |
|||
|
|||
|
Johan Reynaert has joined Capricorn Venture Partners as an investment manager on the firm's cleantech team. He previously was with Belgium-based VC firm GIMV. Read more » |
|||
|
|
|
peHUB First Read
|
|||
 * A private equity firm is majority owner of the Connecticut power plant that exploded yesterday, killing five workers. * The SEC is rethinking its proposed ban on PE placement agents. As it should. I'm all for rooting out corruption in PE fundraising -- hell, I've written about little else for the past year -- but the SEC's original language is the regulatory equivalent of using an anvil to swat a fly. * Morning Call: U.S. futures point higher, London rises early, European shares fall on banks, the Nikkei hits 2-month closing low and both China and Hong Kong shares keep slipping. * Q&A with Blackstone Group's Tony James * Economists, crises & cartoon (h/t Kedrosky) * James Surowiecki: The perils of economic populism * New white paper from BCG on how PE firms add operational value, and where LPs believe they still fall short. Read more » |
NEWS |
|
||
|
AMEE, developer of a platform for aggregating energy consumption data, has raised $5.5 million in Series B funding. Amadeus Capital Partners led the round, and was joined by return backers O’Reilly AlphaTech Ventures and Union Square Ventures. Read more » |
||
|
|||
|
NEW YORK (Reuters) - The fact that Frank Quattrone is working alongside Credit Suisse to bring Internet marketing company QuinStreet Inc’s initial public offering to market next week might help QuinStreet, despite the duo’s rocky history. “In a world when there are so many investment opportunities, I think quite frankly it’s a positive to have Quattrone involved because I think it’s going to cause people to look twice at the offering,” said David Dietze, Chief Investment Strategist at Point View Financial Services in Summit, New Jersey. Quattrone is known for his hot tech deals — he helped bring Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O) and C |
|||
|
|
|
Make Your Meetings Suck Less: Here’s How
|
|||
 To help my managers and yours, earlier today, I called Boston-based communications consultant Nick Morgan -- author of “Running Meetings: Expert Solutions to Everyday Challenges” -- for constructive ways on how to structure a meeting, as well as how to politely escape one. Read more » |
NEWS |
|
||
|
BioMarin Pharmaceutical Inc. (Nasdaq: BMRN) has agreed to acquire LEAD Therapeutics Inc., a San Bruno, Calif.-based drug company whose lead product is for patients with rare, genetically-defined cancers. The deal could be worth upwards of $97 million, including an $18 million up-front payment. LEAD has raised around $22 million in VC funding from ProQuest Investments, Pappas Ventures and Mustang Ventures. Read more » |
||
|
|||
|
Gigamon, a Milpitas, Calif.-based provider of data access networking solutions, has raised $22.8 million from Highland Capital Partners. It is the company's first round of institutional funding. Read more » |
|||
|
|||
|
Layered Technologies Inc., a Plano, Texas-based provider of on-demand and cloud computing IT infrastructure, has raised $20 million in growth equity funding. Accel-KKR led the round, and was joined by return backers Enhanced Equity Fund and Pangloss International. Read more » |
|||
|
|
|
peHUB First Read
|
|||
|
* Tim Geithner says he will "fight" to change the tax treatment of carried interest. * Apollo' Management's Eric Zinterhofer spent much of last year reorganizing Chater Communications. Now he gets to run it. * Morning Call: U.S. futures point lower, London falls early, European shares hit 10-week low, the Nikkei falls over 3% and the news isn't any better for China or Hong Kong shares. * Jerry Colonna: Board meetings that suck * Jay-Z sues Highland Capital Management over a hotel loan * A TechCrunch intern admits to being bribed to write about certain startups. He's a TechCrunch intern no more. Arrington obviously did the right thing here, but a follow-up question: Shouldn't he identify the shady startups? * Rob Day on the underwhelming financials of recent cleantech IPO filers: "I believe these companies are IPOing now because they raised their LAST money under the argument that it would be the 'last money before the IPO,' and now that the window for IPOs has opened even just a slight bit, they feel compelled to race out there and make it happen. Come hell or high water, this is the promise they've made." Read more » |
 |
 |
