Do it yourself biology
When Time Magazine named You as the person of the year, they did it based on your ability to write encyclopedias, publish newspapers and create virtual world avatars. But you are capable of so much more. I doubt, that even in their wildest stretch of imagination, Time could not give you credit for your ability to isolate human epithelial amniotic stem cells from your placenta, all in the comfort of your own home. Surely I must be… Continue Reading
Roundup: YouTube, Intel’s breakthrough, sex toys and Bloggingheads.TV
Roundup of the latest in Silicon Valley:
YouTube is moving toward sharing revenue with video creators — See video at left of YouTube Chief Executive Chad Hurley’s statement at the Davos World Economic Forum. (Via Jeff Jarvis)
Silicon Valley jobs are back — And household income is climbing too, for first time since the dot-com wreck. See story here. The NYT writes a similar, and points to one economic driver: green technology investments. Unfortunately, the story calls solar power… Continue Reading
Showdown between VCs and oil industry
Silicon Valley venture capital firms like Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, and lone ranger investors like Vinod Khosla, continue to push for legislation that irks the oil industry.
The New York Times has the latest, citing Kleiner Perkins’ partner John Denniston (pictured here) arguing that renewable biofuel companies like Altra should get some of the subsidy for gas alternatives, and that it shouldn’t all go to the oil industry.
Mr. Denniston also wants to see a change… Continue Reading
Xcellerex, bio manufacturing co., raises $11M more
Xcellerex, a Marlborough, Mass. company that makes a manufacturing technology for vaccines and biotherapeutics, said it has raised $11 million more in its second round of funding.
That brings the total second round amount to $20 million.
SCG Group and Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers led the round. Kleiner Perkins’ Thomas Monath, M.D., has joined the Xcellerex board of directors.
From the company’s announcement:
Xcellerex is commercializing a highly innovative, modular and scalable manufacturing platform, FlexFactoryâ„¢, which combines single… Continue Reading
VC and private equity performance remains steady
Private equity performance held relatively steady for the quarter ending September 30, 2006, according to a survey by Thomson Financial and the National Venture Capital Association.
See graphic below. What is stands out is how tough it is to be an seed-stage investor. Basically, you’ll have lost your shirt if you have only been in this business five years or less. However, if you have been investing for ten years, you’ll have done better than… Continue Reading
InnerPulse, abnormal heart rhythms treatment co., raises $50M
InnerPulse, a North Carolina company developing treatments for abnormal heart rhythms, said it has raised $50 million in new equity financing.
The syndicate of investors included Johnson & Johnson Development Corporation, Medtronic, Inc., Synergy Life Science Partners, Ascent Biomedical Ventures, Delphi Ventures and Frazier Heathcare Ventures. Additonally, Boston Scientific and Greatbatch, Inc. remain significant stockholders of InnerPulse, the company said.
From the statement:
The Company’s products employ an innovative technology to simplify the implant utilizing a minimally… Continue Reading
Boston-Power raises $15.6M for lithium-ion technology
Westborough, Mass.’s Boston-Power, a lithium-ion battery technology developer, has raised $15.6 million in its latest round of funding.
PE Week first reported the news (sorry, can’t find link). New investor Granite Global Ventures led the round, which also included previous investors Venrock Associates and Gabriel Venture Partners.
Granite’s Thomas Ng joins company’s board.
Philotic, a secretive politics social networking site, raises about $1.2M
More details are leaking out about Sean Parker’s first investment on behalf of The Founders Fund. We mentioned the Berkeley company, called Philotic, here.
Today, Dan Primack writes that it appears “to be an evolution of a politically-focused social networking site launched last fall called Predict06.com (site has since been disabled). The founder is a fellow ex-Facebooker named Joseph Green, and a regulatory filing indicates that it has secured around $1.2 million of a $2.75 million… Continue Reading
Mayfield announces $200M China fund
See our story here, along with news about Garnett & Helfrich, In-Q-Tel, Leafrog and Alsop-Louie.
(Originally posted 1/26)
Music recognition service Midomi raises “multiple millions”
See our story here.
(Originally posted 1/26)
Oculus, which treats wound infections, prices IPO at $8, at low end
Petaluma, Calif.’s Oculus Innovative Sciences, which makes wound care and infection prevention products, priced its initial public offering of 3 million shares at $8 per share, the low end of its planned range of $8 to $10.
The company will be traded under the ticker “OCLS” on the Nasdaq.
(Originally posted 1/25)
Wellsphere, for those striving to be fit and healthy
updated
Wellsphere is a Web site worth looking at, if you’re into eating healthy and sports. It launches Monday morning.
We at VentureBeat are constantly surprised by how difficult it is to find yummy, healthy restaurants in say, Fremont, which is a large city in the Bay Area, filled with a relatively wealthy, diverse group of residents.
Wellsphere, based in San Francisco, lets you find such places • by letting like-minded people submit information about these places •… Continue Reading
LinkedIn raises $12.8M to build out professional network
LinkedIn, the networking site for professionals connect, has raised $12.8 million in venture funding.
The venture capitalists, Silicon Valley’s Bessemer Venture Partners and the European Founders Fund (EFF), an internet focused firm, placed a value of more than $250 million on the Palo Alto company, after the investment.
This catapults LinkedIn to the rarified group of networks that are actually worth something • though granted, this worth is still on paper • held on the books… Continue Reading
Why assemble an advisory board?
(Editor’s note: Chase is busy building Pixsy, a company in the competitive video search industry. This is his first installment, of what we hope will be several about how to build a start-up from scratch.)
Building a start-up company from scratch, for the first time, presents some interesting challenges. There are typical questions that you would expect; like how to secure investments, how to make money, how to find an office, etc. And, then there are… Continue Reading
The Forbes Midas List — more info at VentureBeat
updated
Forbes has just released its annual Midas List, its ranking of the top 100 deal-makers.
The list is controversial, because these mighty venture capitalists don’t like being ranked, and every year we hear from some complaining about the methods used.
So we’ve decided to pitch in. We at VentureBeat have talked with Erika Brown, the venture capital reporter who helps put the list together, and we believe that, while any ranking system can never be… Continue Reading
Hum along, and Midomi recognizes your song
Midomi, a new company in Silicon Valley (Sunnyvale), has just launched an impressive musical search service.
If you hum, or sing a song, Midomi will likely recognize what you’re singing. So if you get a song in your head, and you don’t know what it is, go to Midomi. It will show you the most likely results, based on the signatures of songs it has in its database, and lets you go to a store to… Continue Reading
The investor chronicles: Mayfield, In-Q-Tel, Garnett-Helfrich, Alsop-Louie & Leapfrog
Updated
Here are the latest ups and downs of Silicon Valley’s venture capital/investor community:
Mayfield Fund — The well-known Silicon Valley venture firm with a good pedigree, but a rocky recent past, is on the upswing in China. Tomorrow (Friday), it announced its own China fund, merging with Chinese firm GSR Ventures with a new $200 million fund. Mayfield partner Kevin Fong (pictured here) is a full managing partner of the fund. Mayfield was earlier an investor in… Continue Reading
Google’s virtual world, the blog filter rush & more
(Updated) Round-up in Silicon Valley:
Google working on a Google Earth version of Second Life? — So says venture capitalist Michael Eisenberg, a partner at Benchmark capital, the firm that invested in Second Life, citing a rumor from the “PhD grapevine.” [Update: Google spokesman Daniel Pastor says: "We're continually exploring opportunities to expand our offerings, but we don't have anything to announce at this time."] Google co-founders have always been about having “impact.” This would give… Continue Reading
Green technology rages
Investments into new green technology companies tripled last year, and the trend continues unabated.
The President is pushing for alternative energy investments, and Al Gore’s Inconvenient Truth gets nominated for two Oscars, which will only add fuel to the fire. The spigot is fully open. We’ve seen more green-related fundings today than ever before. Here are the latest:
–See our story today about A123Systems, the lithium-ion battery company that wants to make better electric cars. It just got… Continue Reading
NEA adds Richard Whitney as venture partner
New Enterprise Associates, the venture capital firm based in Menlo Park, has added Richard K. Whitney to its healthcare and life sciences group as a venture partner.
Whitney will work from Menlo Park, the firm said in a statement. A venture partner is someone who helps a firm find companies to invest in, though they typically don’t have the same full management responsibilities that a firm’s other members have.
Whitney founded Whitney Capital LLC, a private equity… Continue Reading