Gov’t shines on Solyndra with $535M loan guarantee
Vice president Joe Biden and Department of Energy Secretary Stephen Chu joined forces this morning to officially bestow the $535 million loan guarantee on Fremont, Calif.-based Solyndra, one of the leading makers of cylindrical solar panels. The company plans to build a photovoltaic equipment plant… Continue Reading
Heart drug co. Relypsa gets $10M more to complete trials
Pharmaceutical company Relypsa announced that its investors extended its first round of funding by $10 million to a total $43 million to help it finish phase-two clinical trials on its lead drug candidate, a treatment that could alleviate symptoms of heart failure and chronic kidney… Continue Reading
Pixazza nabs $3.1 to turn web images into e-commerce links
Pixazza, a company that lets web publishers turn their images into links where users can buy whatever is pictured, just brought in $3.1 million of an anticipated $5.22 million first round of funding from CMEA Ventures, August Capital and Foundation Capital, reports VentureWire. The Mountain… Continue Reading
CFX Battery stores away $11M for rechargeable tech
CFX Battery, a company that uses nanotechnology to develop primary and rechargeable battery technology, just took an $11 million tranche of an anticipated $15.18 million round of funding. Contributors included CMEA Ventures, Harris & Harris Group and US Venture Partners.
Based in Pasadena, Calif., CFX spun… Continue Reading
Intermolecular lands $20M to improve semiconductor manufacture
San Jose, Calif.-based Intermolecular, a company that streamlines the manufacture of semiconductor components, has raised $20 million of an expected $30 million fourth round of funding from CMEA Ventures, Redpoint Ventures, Symyx Technologies and US Venture Partners.
The company recently announced a collaboration with chipmaker AMD… Continue Reading
Solar co. Solyndra shines with $220M
Solar installation maker Solyndra has every reason to celebrate the new year, raising $219.2 million in fifth-round funding from a flock of 23 investors. This is the second largest investment received by any U.S. cleantech company in the last year, coming in behind the $300… Continue Reading
$3.6M grant rains on Arcadia for Indian agriculture
Arcadia Biosciences has secured a $3.6 million grant from the United States Agency for International Development to promote rice and wheat cultivation in India for the next three years. The Davis, Calif.-based company has developed strains of the two crops that take up nitrogen and… Continue Reading
Symwave raises $10.2M for “sync-and-go” apps
Chipmaker Symwave reeled in $10.18 million in third-round funding for technology that supports instant-syncing applications like external storage drives, cell phones, digital cameras and iPods. CMEA Ventures and Kodiak Venture Partners contributed the round. The Laguna Nigel, Calif.-based company has raised $25 million to date… Continue Reading
Evolution Robotics rolling toward an automated world
Banking on the idea that helper robots will be as ubiquitous in homes and offices as they are today in factories, Evolution Robotics has raised almost $14 million to continue developing both software and hardware for a variety of self-directed machines.
Evolution, an Idealab startup founded… Continue Reading
InSound raises $13 million more for hearing aids
Newark, Calif. hearing aid producer InSound Medical tacked $13 million more onto a fifth round of funding (now totaling $43 million). The tranche came from new investor Stanford Group, in addition to existing contributors, and is likely to be the company’s last fundraising effort, reports… Continue Reading
Arcadia snags $15M for heartier Safflower Oil
Arcadia Biosciences, a company that engineers crops for agricultural efficiency and human health qualities, raked in $15 million in a second round of funding led by Exeter Life Sciences and including BASF Venture Capital America, CMEA Ventures and Saints Capital.
The money will go toward the… Continue Reading
Phenomix cancels IPO, finds new lab partner
Biopharmaceuticals company Phenomix withdrew its filing to go public yesterday and right away announced a $340-million collaboration deal with Forest Laboratories. The IPO, intended to raise $86.3 million, had been pending since January.
Forest will aid the San Diego-based firm in the development of its diabetes… Continue Reading
Multigig confirms $12.5 million financing round for silicon clocks
Would you give a clock maker $12.5 million in venture capital?
Certainly, if you’re talking about the tiny timing clocks inside silicon chips. Multigig, a maker of a new generation of clocks for silicon chips, confirmed a previously reported second round of financing.
Multigig’s clocks replace the… Continue Reading
Untangle raises $8 million round to expand overseas for open-source security appliances
Untangle has raised $8 million in a second round of funding for an overseas expansion of its open-source networking and security business.
Investors include CMEA Ventures and Rustic Canyon Ventures, the same companies that invested $10.5 million Untangle’s first round of funding, according to VentureWire. (Our… Continue Reading
SpikeSource launches software platform, gets $10M from Intel
SpikeSource, a startup that helps companies build, test and integrate software, is partnering with Intel to launch the SpikeSource Solutions Factory Platform. For SpikeSource, it’s a big strategy change — instead of partnering with independent software vendors, the startup will now provide its technology to… Continue Reading
CMEA Ventures raises $400M fund, to target energy and other science start-ups
CMEA Ventures has finished raising its seventh fund, at a total of $400 million, and will invested the money in energy (including clean-tech), information technology, health care and materials companies.
The firm prides itself in investing in companies having deep science and intellectual property.
The firm said… Continue Reading
Luminus Devices raises $72M for LED manufacturing
In a sign of the maturation of the LED market, Luminus Devices has taken a meaty $72 million round to manufacture lights for a number of new consumer and commercial markets.
Luminus has made LEDs –which some say will be soon dominate lighting — for the… Continue Reading
InSound Medical takes in $11M for “invisible” hearing aids — albeit ones that have been on the shelf for a while
InSound Medical, a medical-device startup in Newark, Calif., wants to let people with hearing loss regain that sense without having to wear a conspicuous hearing aid. Instead of clipping around the ear or fitting precariously into the opening of the auditory canal, the company’s Lyric… Continue Reading
Jobvite raises $7.2M for on-demand recruitment
San Francisco, Calif.-based Jobvite offers on-demand recruitment through what it bills a Software as a Service suite that assists in cross-company hiring practices.
Primarily aimed at larger companies, Jobvite’s software offers social networking and collaboration tools to help integrate various human resources and management elements at… Continue Reading
Inovys, structural testing for semiconductors, acquired by Verigy
Inovys, a Pleasanton, Calif. company that makes software and hardware for structural testing of semiconductors, was founded in 1999.
The company picked up nearly $40 million in funding over the years, from venture investors including Storm Ventures, CMEA Ventures, Palomar Ventures, Techfarm, HIG Ventures and Hotung… Continue Reading