Fwix sorts out $2.75M to aggregate local news
Fwix, a site that allows users to find news impacting their local areas, has brought in $2.75 million in a first round of funding from BlueRun Ventures, among others. At the same time, it announced the launch of its API platform, allowing online publishers to add feeds of local news to their sites and widgets, enriching their own content for their local viewers, and helping to monetize their offerings.
Based in San Francisco, Fwix doesn’t just… Continue Reading
Satmetrix takes $1M for customer loyalty software
Satmetrix Systems, a Foster City, Calf. company that rovides customer loyalty software, has raised $1 million in debt financing, according to a regulatory filing. VentureBeat last covered it when it acquired its rival Informative in 2007. It has raised about $30 million from Aspen Ventures, Sutter Hill Ventures, Stanford University and Siebel Systems (since acquired by Oracle), and $75 million from New Enterprise Associates, Walden International, Apex Venture Partners, Sevin Rosen Funds, Crystal Internet Venture… Continue Reading
Coupa catches $7.5M for business procurement software
Coupa Software, maker of software that helps businesses keep track of what they are buying and how much they are spending, has remained buoyant through the economic downturn, now raising $7.5 million in a third round of funding. Based in San Mateo, Calif., the company has actually benefited from the recession, allowing its clients to curtail purchasing and save money.
That’s also how it was able to raise $6 million from Battery Ventures and BlueRun Ventures… Continue Reading
Motally to deliver reliable mobile analytics
Existing techniques for measuring mobile traffic to Web sites are pretty awful.
Motally, provider of an analytics platform for mobile phones, has emerged from stealth with $1 million raised from BlueRun Ventures and well-known Silicon Valley angel Ron Conway. The company says it wants to establish analytics standards for the mobile space like those that Google, comScore and Nielsen use to measure web site traffic and data on the internet.
The San Francisco company is one of… Continue Reading
LAN security provider Nevis short circuits, sells assets
Nevis Networks, provider of products used to secure local-area networks, has filed for bankruptcy after a drop in demand. Based in Mountain View, Calif., the company has also come up against tough competition from Microsoft and Cisco Systems. It will offload $500,000 in assets, but it owed $50 million to 49 creditors, reports VentureWire.
Nevis had raised $32 million in capital from BlueRun Ventures, New Enterprise Associates and NewPath Ventures. It isn’t the only network control… Continue Reading
Deeya closes $30M for long-term electrical storage
Deeya Energy, provider of a unique battery for long-term electrical storage, has raised $30 million in a third round of funding to offer renewable and more efficient energy options. Based in Fremont, Calif., the company says it is poised to take advantage of a $46 billion energy storage market — especially now when cutting energy costs is a prime concern for businesses and consumers alike.
The recent round of financing was led by Technology Partners and… Continue Reading
VC crunch continues: BlueRun Ventures falls short of $300M target
BlueRun Ventures, a venture capital fund that focuses heavily on mobile, consumer and enterprise investments, is just the latest venture firm to fall short of its fund-raising goal. It has raised a little more than $240 million for its fourth fund, short of its original $300 million target.
The firm, whose partners have backed companies from PayPal, to Slide and Zivity, said the fund-raising experience last year coincided with a review of its priorities, and that… Continue Reading
SiliconBlue takes $24M for low-power mobile chips
SiliconBlue, a company that provides programmable logic chips for use in mobile devices, has landed $24 million in a second round of funding led by New Enterprise Associates and including BlueRun Ventures and Crosslink Capital.
The Sunnyvale, Calif.-based company plans to sink its new funds into scaling its operations. It has raised a total of $40 million in venture capital since it spun off from semiconductor company Kilopass Technology in 2006.
The chips it produces, called field-programmable… Continue Reading
Chip maker SliceX raises $15M, gets new CEO
SliceX, a maker of analog and mixed-signal chips, has raised $15 million in a second round of funding. The round was led by Crosslink Capital, with participation from existing investors Global Catalyst Partners and BlueRun Ventures, and brings SliceX’s total funding to $25 million.
The San Jose, Calif. company also named Yusuf Haque, a semiconductor industry veteran, as its new chief executive. SliceX says its chips will target everything from video imaging to industrial equipment to… Continue Reading
Coupa raises $6M to manage business spending
Updated
Even though a recession is looming (and venture investment has slowed) not everyone is doing badly. In fact, the tough times may benefit some companies, such as electronic procurement startup Coupa Software, which just raised $6 million in a second round of funding.
Foster City, Calif.-based Coupa may be one of the few companies that actually does better in the tough economic times ahead — as businesses tighten their belts, Coupa’s services will become even more… Continue Reading
Nudity-friendly site Zivity gets $7 million to compete with MySpace, sort of
Zivity, the start-up featuring semi and fully nude women in different poses, has a simple model: Make a social network similar to Facebook or MySpace, but with two separate user bases — one being subscription-paying members, and the other being models and photographers who post (artistically) nude photo-sets on the site.
Zivity has proven itself something of an anomaly by raising $8 million to date from some well known venture firms. The first million came last… Continue Reading
Kilopass, maker of non-volatile memory technology, raises $17.9M
Kilopass Technologies, a Santa Clara, Calif. developer of non-volatile memory technology, has raised $17.9 million as part of an extension of its third round, according to a regulatory filing cited by PEWire. Return backers include BlueRun Ventures, Pitango Ventures and U.S. Venture Partners, according to the report. The company has previously raised around $22 million since 2002.
Bluerun Ventures raises initial $200M fund for consumer and mobile investments
BlueRun Ventures, the Silicon Valley venture capital firm that used to be backed by Nokia but which is now independent from that company, has raised an initial $200 million for its fourth fund.
This comes after having targeted a $350 million total (see our previous coverage of its plans).
The funding was provided by existing limited partners, and the firm hopes to get other investors, John Malloy, a partner at BlueRun told VentureWire, which first reported the… Continue Reading
C3L3B raises $3M for casual games
C3L3B is a Simi Valley, Calif. gaming startup that is currently in stealth mode, but may be developing TV-based games.
The company’s CEO, Joey Carson, formerly led a company called Bunim Murray Productions, which developed games based on MTV reality TV shows, according to Video Game Venture Capital.
BlueRun Ventures led the $3 million funding, which is part of a first round that totals $4 million. The funding was first reported by peHUB.
Widget-maker Slide raises $50 million at $550 million valuation
Updated
Widget-maker Slide has raised nearly $50 million at a $550 million valuation from two private equity funds, Fidelity and T-Rowe Price, according to the New York Times, with the two firms buying a total of around a nine percent stake in the company.
San Francisco-based Slide has more than 144 million users of its widgets on Myspace and other social networks, and another more than 50 million total (not necessarily active) users of its Facebook applications,… Continue Reading
BlueRun Ventures trying to raise more money for early-stage investments
BlueRun Ventures, a Menlo Park, Calif., venture capital firm that invests in early stage companies, is trying to raise $350 million for its fourth fund, according to PE Wire.
The firm was previously known as Nokia Venture Partners. However, it has since become independent of the phone company.
Among it investments is Slide, the online photo widget company.
Customer loyalty company Satmetrix Systems buys Informative
Satmetrix Systems, a Foster City, Calif. company that provides a customer loyalty service software, has acquired Informative, a South San Francisco online customer loyalty company, according to PE Wire.
No financial terms were disclosed. Satmetrix has raised around $30 million in VC funding from firms like Aspen Ventures, Sutter Hill Ventures, Stanford University and Siebel Systems.
Informative had raised around $75 million from firms like New Enterprise Associates, Walden International, Apex Venture Partners, Sevin Rosen Funds, Crystal… Continue Reading
PPLive, Chinese P2P video site, raises $21M
PPLive, a Shanghai based operator of a P2P video site, has raised $21 million in second round of funding. Draper Fisher Jurveston led the round, which also included DFJ’s China affiliate DFJ Dragon and previous investor BlueRun Ventures.
PPLive raised about $6 million last year.
News of the deal first appeared here.
Zmanda raises $8 million for open source backup and recovery
Zmanda, Sunnyvale, Calif. company that offers open source backup and recovery software, said it has raised $8 million in a second round of funding.
The backing is the latest in a string of investments in open source we’ve covered lately, including in SnapLogic and Mulesource.
The round was led by Helion Venture Partners, and existing investors BlueRun Ventures and Canaan Partners.
The company sells a general corporate version of its backup and recovery software, as well as… Continue Reading
Hyperia, online gaming network, raises $3M more
Hyperpia, a Fremont, Calif. online gaming company, has raised around $3 million in third round of funding, according to a regulatory filing cited by PE Wire. BlueRun Ventures led the deal, with John Malloy taking a board seat.