Why Charles River Ventures sat out on Twitter’s latest round
When Twitter raised its most recent round of funding at $1 billion, a few players were conspicuously absent, including Union Square Ventures and Charles River Ventures.
Why did Charles River sit out? Size and strategy.
Charles River Ventures is focused on using a $325 million fund for… Continue Reading
Zendesk, the help desk that sits in the cloud, gets another boost
Zendesk, a maker of customer service software used by companies such as Twitter, MSNBC and IDEO, has raised $6 million in a second round of funding, led by Benchmark Capital.
There are plenty of companies offering competing help desk software, but Zendesk has drawn particular attention… Continue Reading
RPX raises funds to aggregate defensive patents
RPX Corporation, provider of a service that aggregates patents to prevent violations and subsequent litigation costs, has brought in an undisclosed amount of second-round funding from Index Ventures, Charles River Ventures and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers.
Based in San Francisco, the company charges companies fees… Continue Reading
Scribd to sell 5,000 e-books from Simon & Schuster
Scribd, the site that lets users upload, share and embed documents, first launched its e-books store back in May as a potential competitor to Amazon. Now it has inched closer to its goal with a deal to sell 5,000 titles from major publishing house Simon… Continue Reading
Silicon Clocks takes $7.1M for processor timing devices
Silicon Clocks, a Fremont, Calif. maker of smaller, cheaper chips with timing capabilities, has brought in $7.1 million of a targeted $10.7 million round of equity. The company says it will use the financing for working capital, reports VentureWire.
It last raised funds in 2007, adding… Continue Reading
Zendesk lands funds to provide help desk nirvana
Zendesk, maker of software that streamlines customer service operations while integrating it with Web 2.0 tools like Twitter and RSS, has raised an undisclosed amount of funding to recruit more clients and open a new headquarters in Boston.
Companies of all sizes, ranging from Fortune 500s… Continue Reading
Philanthropic fund of funds Legacy closes $276M
Legacy Venture, the Palo Alto, Calif. firm that holds a portfolio of other investment funds and distributes returns to charities, announced that it closed a new $276 million fund, its fifth, despite adverse economic conditions. Basically, Legacy takes money from limited partners who commit their… Continue Reading
CRV raises $320M — proves not all venture capital has dried up
Charles River Ventures, a venture capital firm that has invested in web companies like Twitter, but also software and networking companies such as BigBand Networks and Netezza, has raised $320 million in fresh money.
The new fund, CRV’s 14th, shows that some venture capital firms are… Continue Reading
Social ad network Social Media gets funding boost, after strong year
Updated
Social Media, a new-fangled advertising network for applications on Facebook and other “social media” sites, has raised a second round of $6 million from IDG Ventures and existing investor Charles River Ventures.
While some have been skeptical of the value of advertising within social networks, Social… Continue Reading
Carrier IQ rings in $20M to gather mobile intelligence
Carrier IQ, provider of software that collects data on cell phone use and performance from individual handsets, just brought in $20 million in a third round of funding to fuel product development and attract more clients. The Mountain View, Calif. company’s goal is to offer… Continue Reading
Jambool launches virtual goods platform for social network apps
Competition is heating up in the virtual goods economy on Facebook, because they actually appear to be making significant amounts of money. The latest entrant is Jambool, InsideFacebook reports. A long-time developer shop for Facebook applications, the company has retooled itself to provide virtual goods… 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… Continue Reading
OneSeason puts a market spin on fantasy sports
Hoping to attract stock market refugees benched by the downturn, web site OneSeason lets users buy and sell virtual shares in their favorite athletes — from SHAQ (at $15.69 a share) to AROD ($5.08). The concept, which combines fantasy sports with virtual goods sales, just… Continue Reading
Yammer ups bet on the “Twitter for business” market
This could be the year that micro-messaging makes it big with businesses, Yammer is betting. The company lets employees share 140-character messages about what they’re working on — a simple intranet to help communicate more quickly than through masses of emails and phone calls. It… Continue Reading
Sylantro and BroadSoft merge to form VoIP powerhouse
The voice-over-internet-protocol space just got less crowded. Big name BroadSoft has just acquired long-time competitor Sylantro Systems for an undisclosed sum. The merger may portend many to come for VoIP companies in 2009 as the recession encourages further consolidation, industry insiders predict.
BroadSoft and Sylantro are… Continue Reading
Scribd raises $9 million, hires new president for social publishing
Social publishing firm Scribd is announcing today that it has raised $9 million in a second round of funding and has hired George Consagra, former chief operating officer of Bebo, as its president.
The San Francisco-based company lets people share and publish original writings on its… Continue Reading
Pocket Communications stuffed with $100M for unlimited wireless
Youghiogheny Communications (much more conveniently dubbed Pocket Communications) is in the money today, closing a $100 million first round of financing led by Battery Ventures. The San Antonio, Tex.-based company will use the new funds to launch its flat-rate unlimited wireless plan in the northeastern region of the… Continue Reading
iSkoot gets $19M warchest to launch Web services platform for AT&T
ISkoot, the company that lets you make Skype Internet calls from your mobile phone, has raised $19 million in a third round of venture capital to build an ambitious mobile platform for AT&T.
The platform, to launch in testing Nov. 14, will let the giant operator… Continue Reading
Metaplace raises more funding to be the MySpace of virtual worlds
Metaplace, a company that will allow anybody to build their own virtual world and access it through through an ordinary web browser, has taken $6.7 million in funding as it nears a public release.
There hasn’t been much hype around Metaplace yet, probably because of the… Continue Reading
Samplify Systems — a rare semiconductor startup
Venture capitalists and entrepreneurs alike have been bemoaning the fact that nobody starts semiconductor companies anymore. It seems that it’s just too costly and too risky for entrepreneurs to challenge old world chip companies who have locked up the market.
But the folks who started Samplify… Continue Reading