VentureBeat

Real Networks spinning off Rhapsody to focus on RealPlayer

Real Networks is spinning off digital music service Rhapsody by the end of the quarter. While it will still own a significant stake in the new, independent entity, it won’t have more power than the other major interest Viacom. (They didn’t specify their exact share except to say that it was below 50 percent.)

The move is intended to lighten the load on Real Networks while simultaneously freeing up room for more investors in Rhapsody.... Continue Reading

Fisker pulls out of Michigan just before stimulus payday

Fisker Automotive, maker of the luxury hybrid Karma, says it will probably receive its $529 million loan from the U.S. Department of Energy by the middle of March, according to Dow Jones VentureWire. This follows the company’s announcement that it will shutter its research and development center in Michigan (PDF) — bad news for a state that needs all of the automotive dollars it can cling to.

Even though the DOE gave the loan guarantee to... Continue Reading

Toyota loses green cred, recalls hybrids over faulty brakes

Toyota’s having a bad week. It is already recalling millions of cars to fix floor mats and gas pedals that have led to unintentional acceleration — a snafu costing the company more than $2 billion. Now it has announced that it will recall about 150,000 of its hybrid vehicles due to problems in the software controlling the anti-lock brake systems in its 2010 Prius and 2010 Lexus HS 250h models. The majority of the recalled... Continue Reading

Flixster continues rapid growth with new $12.5M

A little over a month after it gobbled up primary competitor Rotten Tomatoes, Flixster, a social-networking site for movie enthusiasts, has landed $12.5 million in a new round of equity and common stock, according to a filing with the SEC. The San Francisco company has already been growing fast, but the new money could kick it up another notch.

The January Rotten Tomatoes acquisition came at an opportune time. Flixster was looking to expand its... Continue Reading

Job network Doostang hangs tough with the competition, lands $1.25M

Part LinkedIn, part CareerBuilder, job site Doostang claims that its network includes 25 percent of recent graduates from the country’s top 30 universities. And now the Palo Alto, Calif., company has raised $1.25 million of an expected $2.1 million round of equity to expand even more, according to a filing with the SEC.

Doostang, which now claims 600,000 users, distinguishes itself from competitors as a career network for elite job candidates. Not only does it... Continue Reading

4Home gives you ultimate control over your electronics, appliances — snags $4.3M

4Home, maker of software that allows you to control all the appliances and electronics in your home from a central dashboard (spanning your television, computers and smart phones), has just raised $4.27 million in fourth-round equity, according to a filing with the SEC. Riding the trend toward greater household automation, the Sunnyvale, Calif. company is poised to become a Smart Grid contender as well as a major home media service.

Right now, its offerings are... Continue Reading

Biofuel leader LS9 buys demo plant to churn out renewable diesel

LS9, one of the biggest names in the burgeoning biofuels market, just took a giant step closer to making cost-effective renewable petroleum on a commercial scale. Armed with $25 million in capital raised in September, it has bought a demonstration-scale production plant in Florida for the bargain price of $2 million.

To give you a sense of how important LS9’s success is to the green fuel and chemicals movement, two of its biggest investors are... Continue Reading

EV maker Aptera in disarray as founders fade away

It’s official: Steve Fambro, co-founder of Aptera, the futuristic three-wheeled electric car company, has officially vacated his post along with his partner Chris Anthony. Both publicly took a hiatus starting in November and then failed to return, following disputes with the company’s current management. Could this shakeup delay Aptera’s release? And will it matter in a market dominated by Tesla, Fisker, Toyota, and General Motors?

The Aptera 2e has made its way onto many lists... Continue Reading

Recurrent Energy lands 50-MW solar contract with SoCal Edison

Recurrent Energy is celebrating a big victory today — landing a long-term power purchase contract for 50 megawatts with major utility Southern California Edison. All of this energy will be generated by the small-scale solar systems Recurrent has become known for.

The deal is important for two reasons. First, it furthers SoCal Edison’s goal of generating 33 percent of its power output from renewable sources, complying with the California state mandate. While no financial details... Continue Reading

Smith Electric, Proton Power join forces for hydrogen fuel-cell fleets

Smith Electric Vehicles, better known in the U.K., has failed to inspire much interest. Mostly because its flagship product, the “Newton,” is a fleet delivery truck with a 100-mile driving range and top speed of 50 miles per hour. With competitors exceeding both metrics, it seems to stand little chance in the global market. But a new deal with hydrogen fuel cell maker Proton Power Systems could change everything.

Today, the two companies announced they... Continue Reading

Obama’s 2011 budget gives $28.4B to the Energy Dept., scraps fossil fuel subsidies

President Barack Obama has released his $3.8 trillion 2011 budget request, including $28.4 billion for the U.S. Department of Energy to jumpstart green technologies and build a requisite job force. Surprisingly, nuclear would get a big boost. Not so surprisingly, oil and gas companies would have to kiss some of their tax credits goodbye.

The most interesting this about the energy budget request is just how hard hit the fossil fuel industry would be. About... Continue Reading

San Francisco to funnel $171M into green transit center

San Francisco has long had plans to extend the Bay Area’s Caltrain line into the heart of its Financial District. Now, recent designs show that the transit facility could be extremely (and uniquely) green — which makes it even better news that the project just landed a $171 million loan from the federal government under the banner of the Transportation Infrastructure and Innovation Act.

The new building, which got approval for construction almost two years... Continue Reading

EV infrastructure on a roll — Coulomb bags $14M for charging stations

Companies working on ideas for charging and fueling green cars have been on a roll lately. The streak kicked off last Sunday with Better Place landing $350 million in equity, and continued with SunHydro touting plans to dot east coast highways with hydrogen fueling stations. Now Coulomb Technologies, provider of electric charging stations for plug-in vehicles, has gotten its turn, raising $14 million in a second round of venture funding.

All of these companies have... Continue Reading

Tesla Motors files for $100M public offering

Big news for late on a Friday afternoon: Tesla Motors, the darling of the burgeoning electric car market, has filed for an initial public offering worth $100 million. If it pulls it off, electric vehicles will have officially gone mainstream.

Tesla was one of several companies in the cleantech sector named as likely IPO candidates at the start of the year, along with Silver Spring Networks in the Smart Grid space. With solar system maker... Continue Reading

U.S. gov. pledges to cut its own greenhouse gas emissions by 28 percent

President Barack Obama announced today that — in accordance with his ambitious plans to battle climate change — the federal government will reduce its own greenhouse gas emissions by 28 percent by 2020. The cuts should save money (off its nearly $24.5 billion electric and fuel bills), improve efficiency and even create jobs, he said.

The first step toward making significant reductions will be to measure how much various government departments and agencies are currently... Continue Reading

Tora gobbles $36.4 million to provide electronic trading platform for Asian markets

Tora Trading Services, provider of a portfolio of tools investors can use to make well-informed trades on markets in Asia, has brought in $36.4 million in equity and options, according to a filing with the SEC. Based in San Francisco, the company offers five different products to keep track of hedge funds, mutual funds and other investment opportunities with algorithmic precision.

Apisphere channels $4.6M to serve location-based mobile apps

Apisphere, provider of a platform that powers mobile applications to serve content based on where you are geographically, has raised $4.58 million in equity, according to a filing with the SEC. Based in Redwood City, the company provides a plug-in for Microsoft Outlook and for Salesforce.com’s customer relations management system.

Nicira takes $3.9M to virtualize enterprise networks

Nicira Networks, developer of software used to transition data centers to cloud infrastructure by virtualizing computing networks, has brought in $3.89 million of an anticipated $4 million round of equity, according to a filing with the SEC. Based in Palo Alto, Calif., the company is backed by Andreessen Horowitz and several private investors. Earlier this month, it raised $9 million in equity.

New bin Laden tape blames the U.S., developed world for climate change

The green movement just got a very unwelcome supporter. In a recording appearing today on the al-Jazeera network, terrorist leader Osama bin Laden sharply criticized the U.S. and industrial nations for continuing to damage the environment.

Unsurprisingly, the news immediately prompted conservative responses from media sources like Fox News, the Examiner and Drudge Report drawing parallels between bin Laden and American green activist and former Vice President Al Gore. Already it looks like this tape... Continue Reading

China beats U.S. in gov. Smart Grid funding with $7.3B

The Chinese government will be sinking $7.3 billion into the creation of a cleaner, more energy efficient Smart Grid in 2010, actually beating out the U.S.’s investment in the same area by more than $200 million, and rising to the top of the global list of Smart Grid leaders.

The news indicates how Asia’s largest country is getting serious about distributed energy generation, renewable sources like solar and wind, and transmission inefficiencies — all of... Continue Reading