VentureBeat

Evernote raises $4.5M more for memory software

Evernote, the online productivity application that uses pictures, notes and other memory aids to ease information overload, has raised $4.5 million more for development and marketing of its product.

Although it began as a computer application, Evernote has been steadily expanding its support for other devices. However, its core functionality is the ability to organize life’s many tidbits of information.

For example, a user who took a picture of a restaurant receipt with his cell-phone could search… Continue Reading

The termite’s blessing: ZeaChem finds more support

Poor termites. They’ll have no part in the ZeaChem facilities that may someday pump out millions of gallons of cellulosic ethanol, even though it’s the humble bug’s legacy that allowed it all to happen. Lakewood, Colo.-based ZeaChem has raised $34 million more for its process, the most important step of which uses a microorganism from the termite’s digestive tract to break down wood and similar materials into fuel.

ZeaChem chief executive Jim Imbler thinks he’s starting… Continue Reading

If the New York Times dies, does the news die?

The death of an institution isn’t far off, writes the Atlantic in an article titled End Times, and with it an entire industry may be preparing to slip underwater. Low on cash, high in debt, the legendary New York Times is reeling from the recession. There’s no guarantee that it, or many others of our best newspapers, will survive the next year.

The immediate effect of the Times ending its storied run (or degrading to a… Continue Reading

Is network management growing? SolarWinds picks up Kiwi Enterprises

SolarWinds, an Austin, Tex. network management company that claims to be rapidly growing at the expense of larger rivals, has picked up the assets of a smaller company in the same business, New Zealand-based Kiwi Enterprises, for an undisclosed sum.

Despite a ten-year history, SolarWinds, which makes software to help operate and maintain corporate networks, got its big start two years ago with an investment from Bain Capital and Insight Venture Partners, according to chief product… Continue Reading

Roundup: Dell underperformance, Tesla’s tough times, FCC blues and more

Here’s a roundup of some of the last stories of the year:

Is it penance? Carbon-positive Dell fires execs — Yesterday the WSJ pointed out that Dell’s ballyhooed carbon neutrality is based more on creative accounting than reality. Today the company has announced a management shakeup outing several top executives.

Maybe they need some free massages — Search Engine Land’s Danny Sullivan finally nails down why Microsoft can’t compete with Google in the search market. The basic problem, Sullivan… Continue Reading

China is the biggest: Plans set for a gigawatt of solar panels

China gets a lot of flack for all the coal plants it builds. However, there’s been some evidence that the country could step out as a leader not just in pollution, but in renewable energy too. Two companies have unveiled a plan to build a power plant in the Qaidam Basin of  northwestern China containing a gigawatt of solar panels, or enough to light 20 million of your 50 watt lightbulbs at any given moment.

Some… Continue Reading

BARD raises $40M for Philadelphia biodiesel plant

Biodiesel Advanced Research and Development has raised $40 million toward construction of an algal biodiesel plant in Philadelphia, Penn., according to Clean Technology Insight.

The company needs about double that amount of money to complete construction of the 60 million gallon per year facility.

BARD has chosen a closed bioreactor system over the alternate open pond system. Closed reactors typically cost more but have a higher output by area (while neither design has proven cost-effective yet). The… Continue Reading

Suntulit adds intelligence to the home to bump up efficiency

Home heating and cooling has always been done by brute force. Vents blow regulated air throughout a house, and somewhere, a thermometer tells the entire system when to stop or start. But houses should be able to make smart decisions on when and how to run their heating or cooling systems, according to a company called Suntulit; they just need technology to sense humans and predict when to start changing the temperature.

The main barrier to… Continue Reading

Xunlight gets $7M loan to work on rooftop thin-film lines

Commercial rooftops sporting solar panels are becoming a familiar sight. But the technology used is still changing, with companies like thin-film panel maker Xunlight working to change the way big box retailers and others get their solar energy.

Xunlight has just received an additional $7 million in a loan from the state of Ohio, where the company is based, to speed work on a 25 megawatt production line in Toledo. The facility should be done next… Continue Reading

Motion Computing picks up $6M for tablet PCs

Just a day after the long-suffering smartphone and handheld maker Palm picked up a $100 million investment from Elevation Partners, mobile computing startup Motion Computing is announcing a smaller, $6 million investment of its own.

Motion Computing makes slate tablet PCs that are used within industries, especially health care and mobile service. The company has three main lines of tablets, ranging from semi-rugged to fully ruggedized.

The Austin, Tex. company last raised $25 million in 2004, and… Continue Reading

Virgin Galactic gets one flight closer to spaceflight success

Looking more like a bizarre Siamese twin (or beer-goggle double) than a real plane, the WhiteKnightTwo launch “mothership” took its maiden flight yesterday, and moved the world a little closer to a future in which the wealthy can soar far, far away from our little problems here on the ground.

For those who aren’t familiar with Virgin Galactic or the startup building the craft, Scaled Composites, WhiteKnightTwo is only half the equation needed to put someone… Continue Reading

KaloBios tacks on $12M more for engineered antibodies

South San Francisco, Calif.-based KaloBios, a biotech company that raised $20 million just five months ago, has added another $12 million in a second close of its fourth round of venture capital.

KaloBios has three antibody products in development, each of which targets a specific set of diseases. Two of the candidates, KB001 and KB002, have made it to Phase 2 clinical testing.

The new funding was led by Baxter International, one of the world’s largest healthcare… Continue Reading

Latest undersea cable cuts affecting billions

Three undersea data cables linking parts of the Middle East and Indian subcontinent to Europe have been damaged or entirely cut, a problem that will cause serious connectivity issues for several countries, and sporadic problems for a handful of others, for a week or more.

The cables, which run under the Mediterannean eastward to Egypt, are FLAG FEA, SMW3 and SMW4. The three carry most of the data moving between the regions, and it appears that… Continue Reading

Interconnectivity developer Oxford Semiconductor acquired

Oxford Semiconductor, a fabless developer of connectivity devices, has been acquired by PLX Technology, a similar company that specializes in PCI Express, an expansion card standard commercialized by Intel.

OxSemi was working with several interconnect standards to make devices for the home and small office storage markets. It was founded in 1992 and raised over $30 million in venture funding during its lifetime.

The acquisition is valued at slightly over $14 million, plus shares of PLX. OxSemi… Continue Reading

Roundup: Yahoo cuts data retention, Sprint pushing WiMax and more

Here’s the latest action:

Yahoo cuts data retention to 90 days — The search company’s new policy will likely push Google and Microsoft toward similar reductions in the amount of time they keep user data.

Sprint plans first WiMax device for Dec. 21 — The first device that will work both on Clearwire’s growing WiMax network and Sprint’s existing network infrastructure will go on sale in time for Christmas. Clearwire previously released cards that worked only with WiMax.

California pushes… Continue Reading

Solar Red hopes to put solar installation through another transformation

A few short years ago, most solar installers just sold their panels and plunked them onto the roofs in fairly standard configurations. The market has since blossomed to include a number of different, highly successful business models. A company called Solar Red hopes wants to offer the latest.

The reason that the solar installation business has been open to so much innovation is that both the panels and the act of attaching them to a roof… Continue Reading

For governments, no easy energy choices ahead

A developing situation in South Africa may hint at what lies ahead for the world’s nations, a future holding no easy choices when it comes to making and using electricity.

State-owned utility Eskom has abandoned a plan for an $11.5 billion nuclear generator that would have boosted the country’s electrical capacity by about 10 percent. Eskom says the price was too high, in part because the global recession has made financing more difficult.

Unfortunately, the cancellation leaves… Continue Reading

Strengthened by partnerships, cellulosic ethanol maker Coskata raises more money

The cellulosic ethanol company Coskata has managed to pull in a $40 million third investment round despite the recession. The amount is a significant boost for the company, which last took money early this year.

Coskata is becoming something of a standout among the newest generation of ethanol makers, by virtue of its ability to draw attention from larger corporations. Whether because of its technology or simply having excellent connections (or both), it has scored both… Continue Reading

The Water Initiative offers a business plan to help the world’s poor

Finding clean water has always been difficult in remote areas and developing countries. Yet despite a long-standing knowledge of the problems, progress has been slow for many years. A new venture called The Water Initiative hopes to try a new approach that could be helpful to billions.

The theory is that one of the main barriers to universal clean water is the lack of one-size-fits-all solutions. The world map presents a fragmented jigsaw of problems, from… Continue Reading

Africa joining the electric car craze, with Optimal Energy’s Joule

The entire world hopes to start driving electric cars soon, and Africa, despite its reputation for poor economies, is no exception. Luckily, a South African company called Optimal Energy is working to release a vehicle in 2010.

And unlike the many attempts to make electric cars as small and cheap as possible, the vehicle, called the Joule, will be a highway-speed, multi-passenger model aimed at the same people that buy full-priced four door vehicles, making it… Continue Reading