CrimeReports: Tells me 10 people got mugged a block from my office
CrimeReports.com is your site if you want to know what police are doing in your neighborhood.
It’s incredibly useful: Want to know who got assaulted close to your home or office, and whether there were any car thefts, and when exactly all of that took place? CrimeReports has it. It overlays all of the police reports in your area on a local map, so you can see each crime — from robberies to sexual assaults —… Continue Reading
Jigsaw finds profitability by delivering sales contact data as a service
Jigsaw, a company whose 900,000 users have built a database of 14 million business contacts, says it has found a winning business model — by offering access to and services around that database, the company claims to have hit profitability for two consecutive quarters, and to have doubled its revenue for the fourth year in a row.
Chief executive Jim Fowler says San Mateo, Calif.-based Jigsaw is trying to build a new business model around the… Continue Reading
SolarWinds ends the long, IPO-less nightmare for venture-backed companies
SolarWinds, an Austin, Texas-based maker of network management technology, has ended a nine-month stretch where the market saw zero public offerings from venture-backed companies. The company just finished its first day of trading as SWI on the New York Stock Exchange, and while that probably won’t (and shouldn’t) end all the wailing about the IPO market, at least it shows that the door isn’t closed completely.
In the IPO last night, SolarWinds and its investors sold… Continue Reading
Slacker raises $9.6M for player that customizes radio on the go
Slacker, popular internet radio provider and maker of a customizable radio-listening device, has brought in $9.6 million of what it hopes will be a $10.2 million third round of funding. Based in San Diego, Calif., the company now offers the same radio stations and capabilities in the form of applications for the Blackberry and iPhone.
To put it simply, the device — called the Slacker G2 — seems to be the physical manifestation of Pandora Radio… Continue Reading
Active Network acquires online campsite booker ReserveAmerica
The Active Network, a network of sites targeting athletic and active-lifestyle users, announced today that it’s buying ReserveAmerica, an online service for booking campground space across the U.S., for an undisclosed amount.
It was formerly a subsidiary of IAC, a conglomerate of interactive web-based businesses (including CollegeHumor, Vimeo and eVite), which agreed to hand over 100 percent of its stock in Reserve America Holdings in exchange for 3.5 million shares of convertible preferred stock in Active…. Continue Reading
Mavenir lands $17.5 million for mobile convergence
Mavenir Systems, a company that helps telecom companies evolve their networks to handle new calling options (like VoIP) and rich-media messaging, has closed a $17.5 million third round of funding. It plans to use the round to grow its market presence and continue developing its software portfolio. Its goal is to make accessing broadband connections easier for cell phone users — in turn, giving operators the chance to push a wider range of applications and… Continue Reading
Semiconductor maker Alereon buys Stonestreet wireless assets
Fabless semiconductor company Alereon announced today that it purchased intellectual property and requisite engineering teams from software firm Stonestreet One. The sum Alereon paid hasn’t been disclosed. The acquisition will diversify Alereon’s portfolio to include more software offerings in addition to chips.
The Austin, Tex.-based company specializes in ultra wideband (UWB) coverage, a technology that competes with Bluetooth to provide wireless connections between computers and mobile devices.
In the past, Alereon has raised $54.5 million from investors… Continue Reading
Identity management startup SailPoint Technologies raises $6.5M
SailPoint Technologies, a company that helps corporations manage issues around identity, user access and regulatory compliance, has raised $6.5 million in a third round of funding. All of the company’s existing investors, including Austin Ventures, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Origin Partners and Silverton Partners, participated.
Austin, Tex.-based SailPoint licenses its software to corporations, and says its customers include five of the world’s top 12 banks and three of the largest insurance companies. The startup has now raised… Continue Reading
Innography raises $6.5M for patent management and research
Innography, a startup that helps companies manage their intellectual property, has raised $6.5 million in a first round of funding. Austin Ventures led the round, and Hunt Ventures (the initial seed investor) participated.
Austin, Tex.-based Innography says it matches patent and business data to generate sales leads, discover litigation risks, improve the marketability of patents and more.
Austin Ventures near closing tenth fund, to hit $900 million target
Austin Ventures invests in both on early-stage technology ventures in Texas as well as technology, financial and information-service companies across the country. The firm is nearly done raising its tenth fund at its target $900 million, VentureWire reports.
Austin Ventures drops $50 million to form Atcor Holdings
Austin Ventures, a VC firm managing around $3 billion across nine funds, has invested $50 million to try and create a new media franchise called Atcor Holdings. The firm has partnered with former Intermix chief operating officer Sherman Atkinson, who will lead the new company.
Atkinson plans to use the money to build Atcor into some sort of new media empire that will expand through a combination of internal development and strategic acquisitions. It’s not yet… Continue Reading
Bazaarvoice raises $7.1 million to provide brands with consumer-generated content options
Bazaarvoice provides technology for brands to utilize consumer-generated content. Now the company will have more money to do so following its 4th round.
The service has quite a few big name clients including Dell, Petco, The Home Depot, Kmart and many others.
The $7.1 million round was participated in by Austin Ventures and Battery Ventures.
Bazaarvoice is headquartered in Austin, Texas.
NileGuide takes another $8 million to enrich travel experiences
NileGuide, the online service that aims to help with every part of a trip, has raised a second round of funding.
The company now offers comprehensive travel planning to over 75 destinations around the world and claims to be adding five new ones a month. This new funding will no doubt help that rapid expansion as part of NileGuide’s business is hiring local experts to help make sure that trips to different parts of the world… Continue Reading
Austin Ventures provides eyebrow-raising $50M to nascent enterprise social software company
Austin Ventures is pumping $50 million into a company, as yet without a name, that wants to somehow provide social software to enterprises. The founder, and apparently the reason for the large round, is Jeff Dachis, best known as the cofounder of 90’s era web consultancy company Razorfish, that lost billions in market value when the dot-com bubble burst. For a brutal but interesting recap of Dachis’ career, see Valleywag.
I’ve been hearing a lot enterprise… Continue Reading
Validity raises $20M for fingerprint scanners
Validity Sensors, based in San Jose, Calif., develops technology for fingerprint sensors used in laptops and other devices.
The company works with partners like Cogent Systems and Synaptics to develop and commercialize its products, which it began selling earlier this quarter.
Crosslink Capital led another $20 million round, alongside Qualcomm Ventures and TeleSoft Partners; all three firms had invested in Validity before. Past investors also include Austin Ventures and VentureTech Alliance, as well as a number of… Continue Reading
VeriSilicon raises $20M more for chip design technology
VeriSilicon Holdings, a provider of a “system-on-a-chip” design technology, said it has raised US$20 million in a fourth round of financing.
The company is based in Santa Clara, Calif, with operations in Shanghai, China.
The company has now raised US$58 million since it was founded in 2001.
From the release:
This round was led by China Investment Fund (CIF), a business alliance between IBM and Lehman Brothers, and joined by VantagePoint Venture Partners and existing investors including Austin Ventures,… Continue Reading
FiveRuns raises $6.2M as Rails development spreads
Ruby on Rails, a programming language useful for making web applications, has gained a strong following in the development community because it is much easier to code and maintain than competitors like Java and PHP.
Initially adopted by small and independent developers, Rails is now getting some attention from corporations. Popular sites like 37signals, which is also the company that developed Rails, have used Rails for their Web 2.0 projects since its release three years ago.
FiveRuns… Continue Reading
Life sciences briefing: Wednesday, Oct. 10, 2007
Featured companies: 20/20 GeneSystems, Bellicum Pharmaceuticals, Cumbre Pharmaceuticals, Dara BioSciences, Enterprise Partners Venture Capital, Fermentas, International, Iasis Medical, New Leaf Venture Partners, Point Therapeutics, Power Medical Interventions, Rules-Based Medicine, Spinal Restoration, Still River Systems, Targanta Therapeutics
(UPDATED: See below.)
[NOTE: In the interests of getting items up as quickly as possible, I’m going to begin posting linked headlines, which I’ll subsequently flesh out in many — but not all — cases. As the news gets heavier, the briefing is… Continue Reading
Nascentric, chip design and analysis co., raises $7.2M from Intel Capital, others
Nascentric, a San Jose, Calif., chip design company focused on providing “Fast-SPICE” analysis tools, said it has raised a $7.2 million third round of financing.
SPICE stands for “Simulation Program with Integrated Circuit Emphasis” and is used to verify whether an integrated circuit will function correctly before fabrication. Each IC fabrication attempt can be expensive, and it often takes multiple attempts to get it right, so companies use SPICE as much as possible.
The problem with SPICE… Continue Reading
Life sciences briefing: Thursday, Sept. 13, 2007
Featured companies: Aldagen, LDR, Lyten Endoscopy, MachLabs, Permatox, TeleMedicine Clinic, ThromboVision
Spinal-implant maker LDR raises $25M — Austin, Texas-based LDR, a maker of spinal implants, raised $25 million in a third funding round. Investors included Telegraph Hill Partners, Austin Ventures, Rothschild Private Equity and PTV Sciences.
LDR sells spinal-fusion devices, artificial disks and other spine-related devices in more than 30 countries, and plans to use the funds for further expansion.
Aldagen adds $9M for adult stem-cell work — Aldagen,… Continue Reading