Transonic Combustion, a company focused on developing a high efficiency fuel injection system for internal combustion engines, has closed a $32 million Series D Round of funding. Founded in 2006, the company is backed by Venrock, Khosla Ventures, Rustic Canyon and Saints Capital. Transonic Combustion is headquartered in Camarillo, California.

Seed investing fell 56% in the recent third quarter to the lowest level of the past six years, according to the MoneyTree Report. The question is whether this accurately reflects the seemingly irrepressible seed market. One line of thinking is that the MoneyTree study may not entirely capture the continued ground swell of support for [...]

Gaikai said it raised a $30 million Series C round to continue the roll out of online gaming network. New Enterprise Associates led the round for the Los Angeles company and was joined by Qualcomm, Benchmark Capital, Rustic Canyon and Intel Capital. PRESS RELEASE Gaikai Raises $30M to Accelerate Availability of Interactive Cloud Gaming FOR [...]

Last night, we reported that two members of Rustic Canyon’s team have recently parted ways with the firm, partners Mark Mennell and Michael Song. Given the tough fundraising environment, combined with lackluster returns and the additional departure last December of partner Michael Kim, who is now raising a fund-of-funds firm called Cendana Capital, we wondered [...]

Michael Kim announced this morning that he is leaving VC firm Rustic Canyon Partners, in order to launch a fund-of-funds shop called Cendana Capital.

“I look at this as moving up the food chain,” says Kim, who helped launch Rustic Canyon ten years ago. “I’ve really enjoyed by time as a venture capitalist, but now I’ll be able to invest in the best managers across a wider spectrum of investment strategies.”

Cendana will begin raising its inaugural fund-of-funds early next year, with a $250 million target. It will be opportunistic in terms of investments, with no pre-determined allocations.

“There are plenty of funds-of-funds focused on VC or focused on distressed, but we plan to be flexible and allocate on where we think the best opportunities are,” Kim explains. “If that means international early-stage, then that’s what we’ll commit to.”

Procter & Gamble Co. (NYSE: PG) has sold Johnson Products Co., a provider of African-American haircare products, to an investor consortium that includes Rustic Canyon/Fontis Partners and St. Cloud Capital. No financial terms were disclosed.

Rustic Canyon Partners has sold its position in nineteen portfolio companies to Saints Capital. It also has sold 20% of its stakes in another eight companies.