Skyrider investment suggests advertising on P2P might not be so easy, after all
It’s been over a year since we covered Skyrider, and for good reason: We hadn’t heard anything more since the company revealed its business plan, based around monetizing peer-to-peer networks with ads, in late 2006.
In the space of about three months, we’d reported that Skyrider raised first $8 million, then $12 million more from Sequoia Capital, Charles River Ventures and ComVentures. Hopes appeared to be high, but some recent digging suggests that the company may… Continue Reading
Velocity’s saga reveals the art of ripping up a VC partnership
Controversy has swirled around digital media-focused venture capital firm Velocity Interactive Group from its beginnings last year. Now, more details about the Silicon Valley-Los Angeles firm’s saga are being reported by PEHub.
The tale of Velocity shows how unnerving change is hitting the digital media investing market. Astronomic valuations for companies like Facebook have led to many other digital media companies raising their own valuations, as PEHub’s Dan Primack describes — throwing Velocity’s original investment plans… Continue Reading
Kotura raises $10M for silicon photonics
Silicon photonics product maker Kotura has raised $10 million in a third round of funding.
New investor Rockley Ventures led the round. Rockley is the private technology investment portfolio of Dr. Andrew Rickman, who is also the new chairman of Kotura’s board of directors. ComVentures, GF Private Equity, and the Viterbi Group also participated in the round.
VentureWire reports that Kotura will use the money to expand its manufacturing and for research and development, particularly in optical… Continue Reading
Pano Logic receives $12M to replace the desktop computer
Pano Logic makes a piece of hardware that allows several people to use a single computer as if each were on their own, private desktop, a strategy called “virtualization” that turned VMWare into a giant in the server market.
The strategy cuts down on the total number of computers needed in an organization, reduces electricity costs, and can make IT support cheaper. However, software licenses and hardware costs can bring the cost back up. In the… Continue Reading
Ad Infuse takes on $12M more, builds market share in mobile advertising
This may well be the year that the leaders in the mobile advertising space emerge, and startup Ad Infuse has taken on another $12 million to try to ensure its place at the table.
As we reported in an October story, Ad Infuse is distinguished by its focus on targeted user data. Stats like age, gender and geographical location are used to determine the best ad to serve to any particular mobile user, a method the… Continue Reading
Levinsohn to team up with ComVentures on media investments?
updated
We’re hearing Ross Levinsohn, the former News Corp. dealmaker considered responsible for the decision by that company to acquire MySpace in its relatively early days, may team up with ComVentures, a somewhat controversial Silicon Valley venture capital firm, to help invest in early stage investments.
Levinsohn made news recently when he launched Velocity Investment Group, together with Jonathan Miller, a former exec at AOL. (See our coverage) The two want to use the firm to start… Continue Reading
CloudShield, an IP services control and security co., raises $15M
CloudShield Technologies, a Sunnyvale provider of IP services control and security technology, said it has raised a $15 million financing round led by Tektronix, a publicly traded communications network management company.
Existing investors ComVentures, TPG Growth, Foundation Capital and Paladin Capital also participated in the funding.
CloudShield and Tektronix also announced a strategic partnership in which the two companies will jointly offer and blend service control and security technology from CloudShield.
This combination will better enable service provider… Continue Reading
Doppelganger launches its musical virtual world, vSide
Doppelganger, a virtual world site, has just expanded its offering aimed at teenagers and young adults– with an emphasis on music, dance, and chilling out at bars.
The new site, called vSide, finds itself competing against a number of other virtual worlds, from Second Life, IMVU and Habbo Hotel. While it will have to fight for an audience, the market is hot for these companies if they are successful. Disney recently acquired another site, Club Penguin,… Continue Reading
OnStor & the resurrection of the storage companies
OnStor, a Campbell, Calif. company offering data storage for large companies, is the latest hoping to exploit a turn in fortunes in this once-dead sector. It has just gotten $27 million in more funding from venture capitalists who now have pumped $105 million into the seven-year-old company.
Storage companies are once again filing to public, despite very questionable fundamentals for many of them — but their private investors see a window of opportunity to finally get… Continue Reading
Zantaz’s $375M payday, and its unfortunate back-story
Zantaz, an email archiving software firm, saw a $375 million happy ending this week, when it was purchased by Autonomy, a company that gives major companies a search engine for their Web sites. The details are here.
However, Zantaz, of Pleasanton, Calif. has one of those depressing Silicon Valley back-stories too, where despite the founder’s hard work, he ends up with almost nothing. It includes ComVentures, a valley venture capital firm which has somehow managed to… Continue Reading
OpSource raises $15M for online software services, boasts potential IPO
OpSource, a Santa Clara, Calif. provider of application management and hosting services for online software companies, has raised a $15 million in a fourth round of financing.
The round was led by new investor Crosslink Capital, of San Francisco, with participation from existing investor Artiman Ventures, according to VentureWire (sub required).
OpSource Chief Executive Treb Ryan tells VentureWire the company may be able to go public in the next 12 to 18 months. OpSource potential risk, however… Continue Reading
Fabrik raises $24.9M more for file storage and sharing
Fabrik, a company that offer online storage and easy sharing of big files, has just closed a $24.9 million deal and added Ross Levinsohn, former President of Fox Interactive Media, to the board.
Its financing came primarily from 3i, with a small chunk from ComVentures.
As noted before, Fabrik competes in an increasingly crowded market, though their website reveals an effort to create a youthful brand (compare their site, for example, to YouSendIt, Box.net, and Omnidrive). Fabrik… Continue Reading
OpVista raises $15M more for optical data transport
OpVista, a Milpitas, Calif. company that lets cable providers boost the transmission of data over optical networks, has raised $15 million more in financing.
This is a bubble-era company. It launched in 2000, and suffered amid the downturn in the telecommunications market in late 2000. It has since been restructured, and investors keep pumping in money.
Here is the company’s announcement.
The latest round comes from existing investor ComVentures, a firm that has struggled lately after making mostly… Continue Reading
Sonopia, the private mobile phone network provider, raises $12.7M more
Sonopia, the company that lets anyone create their own mobile phone network, has raised $12.7 million more in a second round of funding, led by Cardinal Venture Capital.
We wrote about the Menlo Park, Calif company here, which it publicly launched its service last month. While it lets anyone create their own network, it has focused on building networks through trusted groups with loyal members. The National Wildlife Federation and the National Parks Conservation Association, for… Continue Reading
MDV throws down gauntlet for venture firm Web sites
Silicon Valley venture capital firms want to invest in the world’s most innovative technology companies, but you wouldn’t know it from looking at their stultifying Web sites.
Venture capital firm Web sites remain surprisingly similar, static and unimaginative.
Why are these VC firms such fossils? Flash technology, the stuff that lets you run a video with animation, is dead cheap to use, and paying someone to create a decent site doesn’t take much. Yet, look at the… Continue Reading
Vyatta, the open-source networking co., raises $11M more
Vyatta, a San Mateo, Ca. company that sells open-source networking products including routers, firewalls and virtual private networks, has raised $11 million more in a second round of financing.
The round was led by Comcast Interactive Capital, the company said in a statement.
Also participating in the round are existing investors JPMorgan Partners (Panorama), ComVentures, and ArrowPath Venture Partners. The company’s total funding is now $18.5 million.
Sequoia Capital vs. ComVentures
Updated
Sequoia Capital, the high-profile venture capital firm sued another firm, ComVentures, for ripping off aspects of its Web site design.
The two sides apparently have resolved the fight, although the settlement hasn’t shown up yet in online records.
This is one of the silliest squabbles we’ve seen in a while. Dan Primack has good coverage of the spat. However, looking at the sites at the source of the dispute, which Dan points us to for comparison (here… Continue Reading
Spectra Linear raises $14M for computer timing devices
Spectra Linear, a Santa Clara start-up that builds the internal timing devices for computers, said it has raised $14 million in a second round of financing.
The round was led by new investor ComVentures and included existing backers Norwest Venture Partners and Interwest Partners.
Last month, the company acquired Cypress’s PC clocks. The company wants to diversify from PCs to communications and consumer applications including DTV, HDTV, DSC, STB and camcorders, it said.
YouSendIt and MyFabrik add to file-sharing options
YouSendIt and MyFabrik are two of the many companies that let you easily share large files, such as videos or photos. They’ve raised venture capital recently, to help them survive the throng of competitors.
Have you ever had an outgoing or incoming email bounce because you were trying to send a giant attachment?
One trick is to use YouSendIt, a Mountain View start-up. You upload your large file to its site, type in an email address, and… Continue Reading
MonoSphere raises $11M for storage capacity planning software
MonoSphere, a Redwood City start-up that gives companies software to manage their storage capacity needs, has raised $11 million in a second round of funding.
Intel Capital led the deal, and was joined by existing backers ComVentures and Lightspeed Venture Partners.
This company overhauled its business strategy last year, moving away from storage virtualization. We’ll see if they can pull it off this time.