Visto, Silicon Valley's most controversial company

February 14, 2007 | Matt Marshall

The mobile email company, Visto, has become one of the most controversial companies in Silicon Valley.

The Redwood City company has reportedly raised another $35 million in venture backing led by new investor Altitude Capital Partners, adding to the whopping $350 million the company has already raised. It is in the red, after ten years, and hasn’t announced a major customer in several months. Its penchant to file lawsuits is also worrying, and we’ve said before that is a reason why bias has crept into our reporting about this company.

Valley gossip site, Valleywag, says the company is on the rocks, but has no facts to back it up. PE Hub’s Dan Primack says the $35 million in cash, raised in December, would seem to contradict that, however there is no one on the record explaining the terms of that cash — and it is somewhat odd it wasn’t announced. Moreover, the company has a large cash burn rate, as Dan points out, caused by service contracts it pledged to.

Now we’re hearing its investors are spreading word that a 2007 acquisition is better than 50-50 odds. Yet we’re skeptical too, given that the company had said it planned to go public last year — and nothing happened (indeed, read that previous link for notes about the company’s questionable marketing). Indeed, with its huge cash burn, it may have to be sold.

Has this company hit the wall? We’ve contacted the company, and will report back if we hear anything.

Investors include Allegis Capital, Blueprint Ventures, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, ePlanet Ventures, GKM Ventures, Meritech Capital Partners, Oak Investment Partners and Rustic Canyon Partners.

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Tags: ePlanet Ventures, GKM Ventures, Meritech Capital Partners, Oak INvestment Partners

About the Author, Matt Marshall

Matt launched VentureBeat in September of 2006, with the realization that no one else was covering the entrepreneurial and tech innovation scene with the velocity or depth that he was. Prior to founding VentureBeat, he covered venture capital for the San Jose Mercury News from 2001 to 2006. In 2002, Matt was awarded "Journalist of the Year" by the Northern California Society of Professional Journalists. Prior to working at the Merc, he was a correspondent for the Wall Street Journal in Bonn, Germany from 1995 to 1998, and a writer for the Washington Post in 1994. Matt holds a PhD in Government and an MA in German and European Studies from Georgetown University. In addition to VentureBeat, Matt is also the Executive Producer of DEMO, the leading launchpad event for emerging technologies.

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[...] trolling companies. Visto, the mobile messaging company, is among the companies it backed. We once called Visto the most controversial company in Silicon Valley, because of its bullying tactics. In 2009, Visto acquired Good Technology, and changed its name to [...]
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[...] trolling companies. Visto, the mobile messaging company, is among the companies it backed. We once called Visto the most controversial company in Silicon Valley, because of its bullying tactics. In 2009, Visto acquired Good Technology, and changed its name to [...]
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[...] trolling companies. Visto, the mobile messaging company, is among the companies it backed. We once called Visto the most controversial company in Silicon Valley, because of its bullying tactics. In 2009, Visto acquired Good Technology, and changed its name to [...]
http://marketers-network.com/apple-partners-with-patent-troll-digitude-innovations-%e2%80%94-and-wow-what-a-deal/ Apple partners with patent troll Digitude Innovations — and wow, what a deal : Marketers-Network

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[...] trolling companies. Visto, the mobile messaging company, is among the companies it backed. We once called Visto the most controversial company in Silicon Valley, because of its bullying tactics. In 2009, Visto acquired Good Technology, and changed its name to [...]