Ad network Ecast raises funds to the tune of $17M
Ecast Network, a San Francisco-based company that disseminates advertising through digital juke boxes, has brought in $17 million in a round of equity, according to a filing with the SEC. It is backed by Crosslink Capital, DCM, El Dorado Ventures, LG Electronics, Foundry Group, Focus Ventures and Mobius Venture Capital. It raised $12.3 million last May, and $20 million in 2006.
E-Cast snags $17M for bar and club entertainment
E-Cast Media, a company that provides interactive media in the form of music, videos and games to display monitors located in bars, clubs and other entertainment venues, has brought in $17 million in equity, according to a filing with the SEC.
Based in San Francisco, the company is backed by Crosslink Capital, DCM, El Dorado Ventures, Focus Ventures, Doll Capital Management, Mobius Venture Capital, LG Electronics, Escalante Capital Partners and Foundry Group. It has raised $29.3… Continue Reading
Coupa catches $7.5M for business procurement software
Coupa Software, maker of software that helps businesses keep track of what they are buying and how much they are spending, has remained buoyant through the economic downturn, now raising $7.5 million in a third round of funding. Based in San Mateo, Calif., the company has actually benefited from the recession, allowing its clients to curtail purchasing and save money.
That’s also how it was able to raise $6 million from Battery Ventures and BlueRun Ventures… Continue Reading
Jigsaw finds profitability by delivering sales contact data as a service
Jigsaw, a company whose 900,000 users have built a database of 14 million business contacts, says it has found a winning business model — by offering access to and services around that database, the company claims to have hit profitability for two consecutive quarters, and to have doubled its revenue for the fourth year in a row.
Chief executive Jim Fowler says San Mateo, Calif.-based Jigsaw is trying to build a new business model around the… Continue Reading
Coghead shutters, sells assets to SAP
Coghead, a startup that let users create web applications without advanced coding knowledge, has finally sold its intellectual property to shareholder SAP AG after a month of hunting for a buyer. The deal officially closed last week, but no financial terms have been disclosed. According to software giant SAP, Coghead’s technology will be used internally and not marketed as a product of its own.
Redwood City, Calif.-based Coghead started looking to be acquired at the start… Continue Reading
Cree settles patent suit with LED co. Bridgelux
Efficient lighting company Cree has settled its patent infringement lawsuit with Sunnyvale, Calif. LED maker Bridgelux after two years of litigation. Not only must Bridgelux pay to license the technology from Cree — technology that increases the efficiency of LED lighting systems — but it also signed an agreement to make Cree one of its major suppliers.
The suit encompassed six different patents concerning LEDs (long-lasting lighting systems that cut energy use up to 85 percent… Continue Reading
Strix strings together funds for wi-fi expansion
Strix Systems, a Calabasas, Calif. provider of wi-fi equipment, announced that it raised an undisclosed round of strategic investments to fuel expansion of its mesh-like wireless networks nationwide and overseas. To this end, it has already established a toehold in Africa with six networks of connected hot-spots, as well as a wireless video surveillance system installed along the route of the Boston Marathon, reports VentureWire.
Specializing in the public safety field, the company has a handful… Continue Reading
BlueRoads raises $6M for vendor management
BlueRoads, the maker of software to help businesses manage their vendors and resellers, has raised $6 million in a fifth round of venture funding. The round was led by ZenShin Capital Partners, with participation from ArrowPath Venture Capital, Cardinal Venture Capital and El Dorado Ventures.
The San Mateo, Calif. startup says its software is used by customers like Xerox and NetApp to help them participate in the sales and marketing of their vendors. BlueRoads raised $9… Continue Reading
BridgeLux, a high-efficiency LED maker, adds on $40M
BridgeLux has secured a hefty $40 million round to use for product development and expansion, despite facing ongoing patent litigation from giant LED maker Cree.
BridgeLux, like Cree, makes the chip that is the light-emitting part of LEDs, which it then sells to other firms. The company’s chips are predominantly in electronics and automotive applications, but are also being delivered for use in general lighting for homes and businesses.
The funding is notable because it’s one of… Continue Reading
Big Bear Entertainment, animated music video creator, raises $550,000
Big Bear Entertainment raised $550,000 in its first round of funding from El Dorado Ventures and Optix Pty Ltd., according to a regulatory filing.
The Tiburon, California-based company makes video mods — animated music videos — and produced a series for MTV2. The video mods are based on the convergence of animation for games and animation for television.
Nzone has an interview with Big Bear’s Tony Shiff, for those interested in the technical specs behind video mods.
FusionOne raises $6M for mobile content backup services
San Jose-based FusionOne has raised $6 million in a Series A-1 preferred stock round for its mobile content backup services.
The company was founded a decade ago to create applications and services for mobile device users.
It started out with a synchronization technology platform. It allowed users to securely sync files such as e-mail, calendar, browser settings and music between their computers and mobile phones. In 2001, it added wireless support and has helped the industry create… Continue Reading
Voxify raises $15M for voice recognition systems
Voxify is an Alameda, Calif. company that creates self-servicing systems for call centers based off templates of question-and-response menus that are specific to particular industries.
Automated systems like Voxify’s have gradually become better, and the company’s products can handle relatively complex transactions like making reservations and addressing inquiries.
The company has been in close competition over the past couple years with Tellme Networks, which has a slightly different offering. We’ve written more about the complexities of building… Continue Reading
CrossLoop — free desktop sharing
CrossLoop, a company that lets two people easily share their desktops while working in different locations, has raised $3 million in a first round of capital.
We’ve covered CrossLoop before (see our coverage). This is great for giving tutorials, for example. CrossLoop lets you reach virtually into your student’s screen, even though they’re working miles away from you, and control their cursor, open their files, and do anything they can do on their own computer. That’s… Continue Reading
BlueRoads, provider of online software to manage vendors raises $9M
BlueRoads, a San Mateo, Calif. company that sells online software to large businesses to help manage their resellers and other third-party vendors, has raised $9 million in a third round of funding, according to Tech Confidential.
The funding comes from previous investors ArrowPath Venture Capital, Cardinal Venture Capital and El Dorado Ventures. That brings the total funding raised by the software provider, launched in 2001, to $25 million.
It is another company launched by Shinya Akamine, who… Continue Reading
BridgeLux, another clean-light company — but faces lawsuit
BridgeLux, maker of chips for “light emitting diodes” that are environmentally cleaner lighting sources than standard lightbulbs, has raised a $23 million third round of funding, according to VentureWire (subscription required).
It joins the rush of other LED companies, including D.lightdesign (coverage), Quanlight (coverage), Intematix (raised $25 million from DFJ and Crosslink), Group IV Semiconductor ($8.2M from Khosla Ventures and BDC Capital). Yet another company, publicly traded Cree, has sued BridgeLux for patent infringement.
The BridgeLux round… Continue Reading
Sana raises $12 million for consumer security software
Sana Security, a San Mateo, Ca. seller of software that helps consumers detect and removes things like comptuer viruses and worms, said it has raised $12 million more in venture capital.
Don Listwin, a former Cisco exec, has also taken over as chief executive.
This is the company’s fifth round of investment, and was led by El Dorado Ventures and Listwin himself.
The company has already raised at least $29 million from investors since 2000, including Bay Partners,… Continue Reading
Coghead, a Web-based application builder for tech-savvy, raises $8M more
Coghead, a Redwood City, Ca. start-up that lets tech-savvy people create applications from an online service with visually simple forms, a database, and business logic, has raised $8 million in a second round of venture backing.
Here is its statement.
Coghead launched a test version of its offering in Oct., and says it has attracted more than 16,000 developers who are creating customized web-based applications for a wide variety of needs, “from managing sales pipelines to tracking… Continue Reading
Blaze DFM, a semiconductor manufacturing software co., raises $10M
Blaze DFM, a Sunnyvale, Calif. maker of software for fabless semiconductor companies to give them greater control over manufacturing design and efficiency, has raised $10 million in venture capital.
It has also completed an acquisition of Aprio, a Santa Clara, Calif. company with operations in Japan and Taiwan that also provides semiconductor manufacturing design software.
From the announcement:
The combined company will continue on as Blaze DFM, Inc. New to the ranks of Blaze investors are El Dorado… Continue Reading