Roundup: Walking robot, MySpace News, Dot-Watt boom and more
Here’s the latest action:
Dexter, the first robot that “walks like we do” — Entrepreneur Trevor Blackwell started a robot company in Mountain View, Calif. called Anybots a few years ago (we wrote about it). He built a robot called Dexter, and had real trouble getting him… Continue Reading
Messaging company IP Unity wins backing, buys Glenayre for $25M in restructuring
IP Unity, a private Milpitas company that offers fixed and wireless messaging and other media services, has gone through a major restructuring.
New Enterprise Associates and Anschutz Investment led the investment of more money into the company, injecting it with $25 million so that it can… Continue Reading
Wireless email co., Seven, says it raises $42M, and changes chief executive
See our story here. Seven has now raised at least $135 million from investors.
E-commerce search company, Mercado, raises $11M
Mercado Software, a Pleasanton company that provides e-commerce search technology, said it has raised $11.5 million in a third round of funding.
Investors include Israeli-based The Challenge Fund and British investment firm Consensus Group, and existing investors Pitango Venture Capital, Eucalyptus, Star Ventures and Valley Venture… Continue Reading
Water and food cleaning co., Novazone, raises $7M
Novazone, a Livermore start-up that provides a way to clean and disinfect food and water using ozone technology, has raised $7 million in a second round of financing.
Chrysalix Energy led the round with participation from existing investors, Foundation Capital and Grauer Capital. In addition,… Continue Reading
Trialplay, an online platform for sales offers, raises $3M
TrialPay, a San Jose developer of a payment platform that allows a company’s customers to access premium content and services by participating in relevant offers, has raised $3.1 million in a first round of funding led by Battery Ventures, according to a regulatory filing cited… Continue Reading
Kidaro raises $10M for virtual desktop product for companies
Kidaro (www.kidaro.com), an Israeli company that sells a virtual desktop computing product for enterprises (enabling remote workers to access their files securely) has raised $10 million in venture capital.
This is a hot area right now. We’ve witten about “virtualization” technology here.
The latest round was led… Continue Reading
Carbonite raises $3.5 million more for PC backup over Internet
Carbonite, a Boston company, that provides a way to back up your PC over the Internet, raised $3.5 million more in venture backing from 3i and Common Angels.
This is a very competitive sector.
But Carbonite is a useful product, so see below for full press release,… Continue Reading
Accelergy, advanced catalytic materials co., raises undisclosed round
Accelergy Corporation, a Palo Alto company which says it offers “high throughput solutions for accelerated discovery, development and commercialization of advanced catalytic materials,” has said it raised a second round of financing from Goldman Sachs (which led the round), Sequoia Capital China and Lux Capital…. Continue Reading
Realtime Worlds, new gaming company, raises $31M
Realtime Worlds, a Dundee, Scotland video game developer led by David Jones creator of the popular Grand Theft Auto game, has raised $31 million in financing.
The funding comes from New Enterprise Associates, a Silicon Valley venture capital firm that continues to make huge bets like… Continue Reading
Pay By Touch buys parent of Green Stamps for more than $100M, but why?
updated
Pay By Touch, a San Francisco start-up seeking to allow shoppers to pay with their fingerprint at the register, has bought the company behind S&H Green Stamps.
Pay By Touch will pay more than $100 million in cash and stock to acquire S&H Solutions of Delray… Continue Reading
Theranos raises $28.5M for device tracking effects of drugs on patients
Theranos, a Menlo Park company developing devices that enable healthcare professionals and pharmaceutical companies to track patients’ responses to drugs, has raised $28.5 million of a $30 million planned third round, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission cited by VentureWire (sub… Continue Reading
Mobile Complete, a handset testing service, raises around $10M
Mobile Complete, a San Mateo start-up that lets mobile game and other application developers test their software virtually, has raised around $10 million.
The developers connect to real handsets via emulation software, which gives them a way out of the alternative, which is to buy up… Continue Reading
Quanlight, a LED chip company for lighting, raises $1M
San Diego’s Quanlight, a company using LED (light-emitting diode) technology to introduce more efficient lighting to the signal, automotive and architectural industries, has raised a $1 million first round of funding from Blackbird Ventures.
Quanlight, founded this year by two UC San Diego specialists in material… Continue Reading
Replay, a co. that fixes software bugs, raises around $4.2M
Replay Solutions, a Redwood City provider of technology that tests software for bugs, said it has raised around $4.2 million in a first round of financing.
Here is the company’s statement.
The round was led by Hummer Winblad Venture Partners and Partech International. Replay Solutions’ technology was… Continue Reading
Kyphon to buy St. Francis for $525M, boosting struggling venture firm USVP
See our story here.
Mapbar, Chinese maping company, raises $10M
Mapbar, a Beijing mapping and local search company, has raised a total of about $10 million from venture capital firms IDG Ventures and WI Harper in two rounds.
The news was first reported by China Web2.0Review.
WI Harper led the second round of $5 million, with existing… Continue Reading
NextHop raises $4.8M more for network software
NextHop Technologies, a Mountain View network software company, has raised $4.8 million in a third round of funding.
The funding came from previous investors New Enterprise Associates, Duchossois Technology Partners, Labrador Ventures, and Parker Price Venture Capital, the company said, raising its total funding so… Continue Reading
Syndero raises $7M for direct response marketing
Syndero, a direct response marketing company in San Francisco, said it has raised $7 million in a first round of financing.
Trident Capital led the investment.
According to the company’s press release, it is already profitable (or at least was, until it raised this latest… Continue Reading
Haggin Marketing acquires Chicago Catalog Group
Haggin Marketing, a Sausalito, Calif. direct marketing agency, has acquired The Chicago Catalog Group, a designer and producer of catalogs and other marketing applications, according to PE Week.