GreenBeat2009: Still more Super Grid speakers!
We’re rounding out the agenda for GreenBat 2009, the seminal executive conference on the Super Grid taking place NEXT WEEK on Nov. 18-19. Today, we’re delighted to announce the addition of still more policy, IT and investment experts.
Before we introduce them, remember to register for your GreenBeat ticket today. With an all-star lineup including former vice president Al Gore, Cisco’s Smart Grid guru Laura Ipsen and PG&E’s Andy Tang, tickets are going fast. You can… Continue Reading
Renewable Funding takes $12.2M to urge conversion to solar
Renewable Funding, a company that helps building owners finance the purchase of solar equipment, has raised $12.2 million in a first round of funding. Based in Oakland, Calif., it is backed by Draper Fisher Jurvetson, NGEN Partners, New Cycle Capital and Wilson Sonsini Goodrich and Rosati.
Renewable Funding let’s you easily finance your solar panel investment
Renewable Funding, a company that makes it easier for homeowners to finance solar or other renewable funding projects with friendly terms, has raised $12.2 million in a first round of funding.
The Oakland, Calif., based company’s model is noteworthy because it lets you attach your financing to your property tax bill.
So if you sell your house after investing in an expensive solar paneled roof, the financing stays on your home’s property tax bill, even if you… Continue Reading
Tioga Energy captures $1M to broker solar power purchase agreements
Tioga Energy, a San Mateo, Calif. company that facilitates affordable power purchase agreements between solar energy generators and commercial, government and non-profit consumers, has raised $1 million in debt and rights, according to a filing with the SEC.
This type of power purchase agreement allows energy providers and consumers to agree to a rate that is compatible with or less than market rates. Tioga goes as far as to install and maintain rooftop solar panel systems… Continue Reading
D.light: Bringing light to the developing world
At first glance, the Kiran solar-powered lamp made by D.light is just plain cute — it would look right at home in an Apple store. But the real news is that it could save people in the developing world a substantial amount of money, and spare the atmosphere millions of tons of carbon dioxide by replacing kerosene lamps in countries where they are still the primary source of light.
The Kiran (the Sanskrit word for “ray… Continue Reading
Technorati raises $2M more
Blog search engine Technorati has raised $2 million in new funding from existing investors Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Mobius Venture Capital, and others. The San Francisco company has now raised more than $32 million.
The funding was first reported in TechCrunch, and Technorati has confirmed the news. The company just launched the revamped blog rankings that we wrote about earlier this month.
ViVu raises $3M for interactive video suite
ViVu, provider of a platform for producing and managing webcasts and other interactive videos for enterprises, announced today that it brought in $3 million in a first round of funding led by Inventus Capital Partners, and including Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Quest Ventures and well-known entrepreneur Bill Carrico. The Sunnyvale, Calif. company says it plans to use the money to commercialize its video service — which allows users to schedule video events, invite participants, host them… Continue Reading
Yardbarker takes $1.5M to connect fans with athlete blogs
Yardbarker, a site that connects sports fans with their favorite athletes via their blogs and other news, has raised $1.5 million in a third round of funding, according to paidContent. Based in Emeryville, Calif., the company allows users to define their preferences — which athletes they want to follow, which sports interest them most — and delivers the requisite aggregated content.
In the last 24 hours, Los Angeles Dodger Matt Kemp posted a video featuring Snoop… Continue Reading
Ooma dials up $18.3M for free landlines via VoIP
Ooma, provider of a voice-over-internet box that lets users make free land-line calls, brought in $18.3 million in a fourth round of venture financing, reports paidContent. It raised $14 million of this sum back in June.
Based in Palo Alto, Calif., the company says it now sells its box, priced at $249.99 a pop, through 5,000 retailers like BestBuy, Costco and others.
Ooma has now raised $61.0 million to date. The recent round came from Worldview Technology… Continue Reading
isocket raises $2M for self-serve advertising
isocket, which has created a commission-free platform for selling online ads, has raised $2 million in seed funding from a group of big-name investors. The round was led by Tim Draper at Draper Fisher Jurvetson, while the other VCs participating including David Blumberg of Blumberg Capital, Jeff Clavier of SoftTech VC, and Dave McClure of Founders Fund.
The Mountain View, Calif. company (the two-man team recently moved out here from the Midwest) says its technology automates… Continue Reading
Power Assure charges up with $2.5M for data center energy management
Power Assure, maker of software that reduces the amount of energy used by data centers, has raised $2.5 million in a first round of funding from Draper Fisher Jurvetson and a handful of angel investors. Based in Santa Clara, Calif., the company distinguished itself by managing power capacity proportionally to application load.
RichRelevance snags $12.5M for e-commerce recommendations
RichRelevance, a company that provides consumers with e-commerce recommendations tailored to their preferences and interests, has brought in $12.5 million in second-round funding from Greylock Partners, Tugboat Ventures, Draper Fisher Jurvetson and Draper Richards, reports VentureWire.
Ooma raises $14M more amid tough round
updated
Ooma, the much-hyped company that sells an expensive VoIP box ($249) that you can install in your homes to make free land-line calls, has raised another $14 million in venture capital, we’ve confirmed.
TechCrunch reported the story earlier, but loosely reported that financing “wiped out” earlier investors who chose not to participate in the round. However, we’re hearing it was not a wipe out. Rather, existing investors that did not participate were converted into common, so… Continue Reading
Yardbarker scores $634K to connect pro athletes with fans
Yardbarker, the blog aggregation site that allows fans to connect with their favorite professional athletes, has raised $634,000 of a targeted $660,000 round of securities. Based in San Francisco, the company allows readers to define preferences for the types of blogs and sports news they would be interested in — providing them with a customized digest of information every day from both athletes and popular sports writers.
It last raised money in April 2008, capturing $6… Continue Reading
Apieron inhales funds for asthma monitor
Apieron, maker of a device that monitors asthmatic conditions, has brought in an undisclosed sum in a fourth round of financing from existing investors Alliance Technology Ventures, Canaan Partners, Draper Fisher Jurvetson and Onset Ventures. Based in Menlo Park, Calif., the company says its lead product, which measures lung inflammation, has already earned requisite approval. It says the new funds will go toward marketing and further product development.
In 2003, Apieron brought in $4.6 million from… Continue Reading
Plug and Play startup incubator eyes $20M for seed fund
The Plug and Play Tech Center, a Palo Alto, Calif., accelerator program that provides office space, mentorship and a fundraising springboard for about 200 startups in the Silicon Valley, says it plans to raise $20 million for its own seed investment fund, to be called Plug and Play LLC. And it’s looking to its partners and several other capital firms — Draper Fisher Jurvetson and Sequoia Capital among them — to make it happen.
It seems… 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
Posit Science raises $5.6M for brain fitness software
Posit Science, one of several companies offering software to strengthen cognitive function and prevent brain deterioration, has raised $5.6 million in a third round of funding to continue product development and ramp up marketing efforts, reports VentureWire (subscription). The San Francisco-based company is coming off its strongest sales quarter yet, but faces a surprisingly crowded field of competition.
Companies like Dakim, Vivity Labs, Lumos Labs and Cognifit have all raised substantial capital in the last year… Continue Reading
Opscode raises $2.5M to manage cloud applications
Opscode, a company that automates the management of applications in the Internet cloud, has raised $2.5 million in funding from Draper Fisher Jurvetson.
Seattle-based Opscode has released an open source system called Chef which it says is already used by Engine Yard, 37Signals, Wikia, and others. With Chef, companies can run their applications on cloud computing platforms like Amazon’s Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2), then write code to automatically scale applications and resources up and down as… Continue Reading
Fotomoto lets photographers sell work direct on their sites
Fotomoto lets photographers sell their photos directly to customers through their own web sites. E-commerce capabilities can now be added to an artist’s photo gallery with only a few lines of JavaScript code, the company claims.
An offering like this could turn the industry on its head. Previously, most photographers had to go through a middleman like iStockPhoto to sell their work online. In turn, they had to sacrifice control over how their images were sold,… Continue Reading