SFERS, with $13 billion in net assets at the end of fiscal 2010 and 3.8% of its holdings in venture capital, has committed about $899 million to the asset class since the start of 2000, according to a peHUB analysis of its recent public portfolio report. That’s meant investing in 45 funds, the analysis found.

Solar Junction, the California-based developer of solar cells, bagged another $19.2 million from current investors with an additional investment from strategic IQE. Other investors include New Enterprise Associates, Advanced Technology Ventures, and Draper Fisher Jurvetson. PRESS RELEASE: SAN JOSE, Calif., Feb 13, 2012 — Solar Junction, a developer of high efficiency multi-junction cells for the [...]

Draper Fisher Jurvetson said Heidi Roizen has joined the firm as a venture partner. Roizen will provide portfolio companies strategic advice and identify new investment opportunities. She is a former managing director at Mobius Venture Capital, where she served on the boards of more than 20 private and public companies. PRESS RELEASE Heidi Roizen joins [...]

Global venture capital firm Draper Fisher Jurvetson has appointed Silicon Valley veteran Heidi Roizen as a venture partner. Roizen will work closely with DFJ’s portfolio companies providing strategic advice and will help identify new investment opportunities. PRESS RELEASE Global venture capital firm Draper Fisher Jurvetson (DFJ) announced today that Silicon Valley veteran Heidi Roizen has [...]

Medical neurotechnology company BrainScope has added Daniel J. Moore, president and CEO of Cyberonics as a member of its board of directors, and Bill Koppes, vice president, commercial product development and manufacturing, to its management team. BrainScope is backed by Revolution (created by AOL co-founder Steve Case), Brain Trust Accelerator Fund, Maryland Venture Fund, Alafi [...]

We at peHUB have written about emerging biofuels companies on a number of occasions in the past year, chronicling the rush of these still formative companies to the IPO window. Here is a useful “cheat sheet” courtesy of Lux Research on who the ultimate winners and losers could be. The biofuels and biochemical industries are [...]

The Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development has made an initial investment of $250,000 through the Maryland Venture Fund in BrainScope Company, a Bethesda-based medical neurotechnology company that is developing non-invasive instruments to assess brain function. BrainScope has also been awarded a contract by the United States Department of Defense. This contract is valued [...]

Ithaca-based BinOptics Corp., a maker of lasers and monolithically integrated optoelectronic components, has raised $13.3 million in new funding. New investors Advantage Capital Partners, Enhanced Capital Partners, Gefinor Ventures, Onondaga Venture Capital Fund and Rand Capital participated in the round, as did existing shareholders ArrowPath Venture Partners, Cayuga Venture Fund, Draper Fisher Jurvetson and FA Technology Ventures. The new funding will go toward development and expansion efforts.

(Reuters) – Glam Media, the women’s lifestyle online publishing and advertising company, is close to selecting bankers to lead an initial stock offering slated for 2012, according to people familiar with the matter. Investment banks Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley are in the running to lead Glam Media’s IPO, the people said, following a selection [...]

Lately, there’s been a whole lot of bemoaning of this and that to explain why VCs are abandoning the biotech and device space and why strategics are slowing early-stage funding. Lawmakers and regulators have made it too tough to IPO. Lawmakers and regulators have made it too tough to get anything approved at the FDA. [...]