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
Rave Wireless snags $7M to up campus safety
Rave Wireless, developer of mobile applications tailored to university campuses, raked in $7 million in a fourth round of funding to continue work on software to heighten student security. Bain Capital Ventures, Sigma Partners and RRE Ventures contributed to the round.
The Framingham, Mass.-based company already has a portfolio of apps for use by students. The Rave Guardian allows them to transmit their location and safety status to campus police at any time from anywhere. On… Continue Reading
Online TV network Blip.tv snags funds, touts growth
Blip.tv, a web television network that hosts shows, series and video blogs, announced today that it raised an undisclosed amount in a second round of financing led by Bain Capital Ventures. It also said it has seen a 250 percent jump in video views over the past year, hitting 51 million views in September.
The New York-based company plans to use the new money to beef up its advertising platform and forge more syndication relationships, it… Continue Reading
When TokBox talks browser-based video chat, Bain Capital and Sequoia listen
In the first years of the 1990s, the attempt to push video chat to the masses got off to an ignoble start when AT&T released its VideoPhone 2500. For the low cost of $1500, you, too, could have choppy, grainy and essentially unwatchable video conversations with other similarly-equipped clueless people around the globe.
More than 15 years later, San Francisco’s TokBox has reduced the price of video chat to the cost of a webcam and a… Continue Reading
Lala, a used CD trading site, raises $5.7M more
Lala Media, a Palo Alto, Calif. company that lets you trade used CDs for 99 cents, has raised $5.7 million more in a second round of funding, according to a regulatory filing cited by PE Week.
Return backers include Bain Capital Ventures and Ignition Partners. This comes after the company raised $9 million last year.
The company operates sort of like a marketplace where you can list the CDs you have and the ones you want,… Continue Reading