VentureBeat

Don’t throw away that used mobile phone just yet — chances are ReCellular, a Dexter, Mich.-based phone recycling firm, can help find it a new home. One of the world’s leading cell phone recyclers, it has just raised $15 million in first round funding from Investor Growth Capital.
ReCellular plans on using the proceeds to ramp [...]

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A stealthy content accelerator called Nokeena Networks has raised $8.7 million in a first round of funding, with an aim to sell a hardware appliance that will better process and transmit video across networks. The company is specifically directing its efforts toward high-quality video, according to a story in The Deal, which first reported [...]

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Excessive heat on semiconductors and other electronics has led the tech industry to adopt a number of clever but indirect work-arounds, but Nextreme Thermal says it can directly cool off specific areas that overheat. The Durman, N.C. company uses the Peltier Effect to cool down devices, which uses flowing electrons to achieve an effect [...]

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Verenium, a Cambridge, Mass. biofuel maker, has formed a partnership with oil giant British Petroleum and taken on a $90 million investment from the latter company to develop its cellulosic ethanol process. Under the deal, BP will have access to Verenium’s technology if it wishes to build its own production plants, and will also [...]

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Virtual world creator Six Degrees Games has taken $7 million to develop a world for six to 14 year old children with a sports theme. The funding is the company’s first. Six Degrees hasn’t given many specific details on the game, called Action AllStars, but the company’s executive roster includes two people from Jamdat [...]

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BPL (Better Power Lines) Global is a Pittsburgh, Penn. company that makes software and equipment for utilities in order to manage and monitor the grid, and help integrate in renewable energy sources. The company has partnerships with utilities both in the United States and overseas in Africa, Asia and South America, and reports that [...]

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Innolume, a diode laser manufacturer co-based in Santa Clara, Calif. and Dortmund, Germany, has raised $13.4 million (€8.6 million euros) in its third round of funding. The company makes lasers that can operate in a wavelength unattainable by other lasers, useful for applications in manufacturing, telecommunications and medicine. S-Group Capital Management led the [...]

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Xoft, a Sunnyvale, Calif. company with an X-ray radiation treatment used for breast cancer and endometrial cancer, has raised a fifth round totaling $25 million, according to VentureWire. The treatment uses targeting technology and tools to pinpoint the area being irradiated, limiting the damage done to the patient and allowing technicians to remain in [...]

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It’s been a busy time for cleantech IPOs. Several companies, including GT Solar, Noble Environmental Power and Real Goods Solar, have thrown their hats in the ring in recent weeks — though often with little success. The latest is First Wind, a Newton, Mass.-based wind power developer, which has just filed for a $450 [...]

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Versant Ventures, a Menlo Park, Calif. venture firm that specializes in biotechnology and pharmaceuticals, has raised $500 million for its fourth fund to date. The firm has some 75 companies under management. Some of its more prominent investments to date include Cadence Pharmaceuticals, Helicos Biosciences and Phenomix.
Total capital managed by Versant exceeds $1.6 billion. [...]

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Specialized Technology Resources (STR) Holdings, an Enfield, Conn.-based manufacturer of solar cell encapsulants, has filed for an IPO that could be worth as much as $300 million in common stock. It plans to trade on the NYSE under the ticker symbol “PVS”; Goldman Sachs and Credit Suisse will serve as its co-lead underwriters.
Founded in 1945, [...]

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Some plastics, like high grade steel or aluminum, are just too good to toss in the dump. But for years that has happened to them anyway, for lack of good recycling technology. MBA Polymers was started to separate out worthwhile plastics from waste streams to break down and re-form into new, high-quality plastics. The [...]

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FTL Solar, a New York-based maker of thin-film solar cells, has secured $250,000 from the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA). In total, the company has received over $450,000 in funding from NYSERDA for R&D efforts.
The well-capitalized firm, which recently closed its first round of funding, develops a variety of solar modules [...]

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H2scan, a Valencia, Calif.-based maker of hydrogen sensing devices, has received $4 million in fourth round funding from Chrysalix Energy Venture Capital, H5 Capital, Tri-Strip Associates, TGB Partners and Ravinia Venture Fund. Members of the Tech Coast and Pasadena Angels also joined the round; all but TGB Partners are returning investors.
H2scan will use the proceeds [...]

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