Meru Networks lands $87 million for virtual wireless service

Meru Networks, provider of a virtual wireless service that departs from typical hub-based services, has raised an additional $57 million to expand its fifth round of funding to $87 million (it closed $30 million from Vision Capital earlier this year), reports PE Hub. The recent financing came from existing backers Clearstone Venture Partners, NeoCarta Ventures, BlueStream Ventures, D.E. Shaw Group, Evercore Partners, Tenaya Capital and Monitor Ventures.

Based in Sunnyvale, Calif., the company has raised more… Continue Reading

Meru snags $30M for virtual wireless service

Meru Networks, provider of a virtual wireless service that departs from typical hub-based service, has raised $30 million in a fifth round of funding. Based in Sunnyvale, Calif., the company says it is able to deliver wireless solutions that are easier for businesses to adopt and scale according to their needs. It says the new funding will be used to meet demand the company is seeing especially from the health care and education sectors.

The round… Continue Reading

Emotive lands $6.25M, acquires mobile gaming co. Sennari

Mobile entertainment provider Emotive Communications raked in $6.25 million in second-round financing earlier this week, giving it the bump it needed to buy Sennari Entertainment, a developer of cell phone gaming and micro-payment services. The purchase price was undisclosed, but Sennari had raised about $17 million to date, reports VentureWire.

Based in Encino, Calif., Emotive had previously raised $7.7 million. Its investors include Mayfield Fund, D.E. Shaw Group and Bertelsmann Digital Media Investments.

RocketOn partners with Animax to create a different kind of virtual world

RocketOn partners with Animax to create a different kind of virtual world

RocketOn and Animax Entertainment are announcing today a partnership that will make it easy for groups of friends to visit web sites together — and then scribble all over them.

RocketOn’s technology allows you to create virtual characters, or avatars, that can walk and scrawl all over sites on the real web. In essence, RocketOn turns the whole web into a backdrop for a virtual environment.

The partnership with Animax, a creative agency, is significant since it… Continue Reading

Hi-def video company Veodia raises $8.3M

Veodia, which helps businesses create high-quality video content, has raised $8.3 million in a first round of funding.

I last spoke to Veodia chief executive Guillaume Cohen in March when he announced that in addition to Quicktime, Veodia would also support Flash content. At the time, Cohen said Veodia had raised funding, but he couldn’t provide any details. Well, those details are here: The money comes from Clearstone Venture Partners, the D.E. Shaw Group and a… Continue Reading

Updated: Altierre lets retailers change prices on the fly

Updated: Altierre lets retailers change prices on the fly

Retailers are still in the dark ages when it comes to changing prices on items on store shelves. San Jose, Calif.-based Altierre allows them to join the 21st century by enabling retailers to change store-aisle prices on the fly.

The company sells product shelves lined with RFID (radio frequency identification) tags with liquid crystal displays. Store owners can use it to make pricing changes in just one store, regionally, or across a whole chain. The company… Continue Reading

RocketOn raises $5M for widgetized virtual kid’s world

RocketOn’s idea is to have a virtual world in a widget — so as long as it’s seeded liberally across the Internet, users will be able to continue playing on whatever website they’re visiting.

The two-dimensional game is more or less a kid-themed chat room at the moment, according to TechCrunch, which also reported the funding. Future versions will include social networking features, items and unlockable “worlds”.

The D.E. Shaw Group provided the $5 million investment, the… Continue Reading

Desi Hits gets $5M more for South Asia entertainment portal

Desi Hits, a company that delivers online entertainment in South Asia featuring celebrity interviews, music videos, podcasts and blogs, said it has raised $5 million in its second round of financing, from Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Trident Capital and D.E. Shaw Group.

The two-year-old company is based in San Francisco, but targets the South Asian (India) or “Desi” youth culture, and says it has more than 10 million hits per month.

“In one short year we have also… Continue Reading

Life sciences briefing: Wednesday, Dec. 26, 2007

Life sciences briefing: Wednesday, Dec. 26, 2007

TODAY’S HEADLINES:

Romark Labs raises $18M for hepatitis drugs (release)
Cubist buys Illumigen Bio, a hepatitis-drug biotech, for $9M (release)
MedCap voices opposition to VaxGen-Raven Bio reverse merger (release)
NeuroMetrix acquires EyeTel Imaging assets for $10M (release)
Solstice Neurosciences appoints Dennis Smith as CEO (release)
LeMaitre Vascular snaps up graft maker Biomateriali for €4M (release)
Bosch Group acquires remote health-monitoring co. Health Hero Network (release)

Romark Labs raises $18M for hepatitis drugs – Tampa, Fla.-based Romark Laboratories, a biotech developing drugs for hepatitis and… Continue Reading

Winery Exchange gets $5M more for private-label alcohol

Winery Exchange, a Novato, Calif. maker of private-label wine and beer for retailers, has raised $5 million in a second round of financing.

Hedge fund D.E. Shaw Group made the investment in the company, which has now raised a significant $31 million since 2000. It’s the latest wine-focused company that soaked up a lot of money before getting to profitability. Wine.com, for one, soaked through hundreds of millions of dollars from VCs before almost going out… Continue Reading

Pandora Networks raises $6M for integrated communications network for businesses

Pandora Networks, an Emeryville, Calif. provider of a service that unifies wired, wireless, email and other communications in a single networked service for businesses, has raised $6 million in financing.

D.E. Shaw Group. was the investor.

See the announcement here.

With the funding, Pandora has now raised $8 million since 2004.

MAP Pharma raises $50M for respiratory and CNS disease treatments

MAP Pharmaceuticals, a Mountain View, Calif, developer of treatments for respiratory and central-nervous-system diseases, said it raised $50 million in a fourth round of venture funding.

See statement here.

New investor, the D.E. Shaw group, joined previous investors, including Perseus-Soros Biopharmaceutical Fund, Pequot Ventures, Brookside Capital, Bay City Capital and Skyline Ventures.

MAP recently completed the second phases of clinical trials for its treatments for pediatric asthma and migraine. The company plans to use the new funds… Continue Reading

Reactrix raises cash for interactive advertising in malls

Reactrix raises cash for interactive advertising in malls

Updated

Reactrix, a Redwood City company that beams interactive advertising onto the floors of malls and theaters, has raised a very large $45 million to allow it to expand and attract new advertisers.

In malls, Reactrix’s product beams light down on to a rectangle mat on the floor. This lets people kick virtual footballs or other objects around on it, among other things. Big brands, such as Coca-Cola, Dockers and Hilton can place their virtual products in… Continue Reading