oDesk Challenge gives startups a staffing kickstart
oDesk, a site that helps companies recruit and coordinate online workers, has launched the oDesk Challenge, a program to help young startups piece together teams of staffers quickly and efficiently. It is promoting it today at TechCrunch50, a conference in San Francisco.
The first 20 venture-backed startups to upload their job openings to oDesk will win free, premium services from the company — making it more of a challenge for oDesk than anyone else. Account managers… Continue Reading
How-to video site 5min scores $7.5M for wider syndication
5min, a site that syndicates instructional videos to a host of other web sites reaching 200 million viewers a month, has raised $7.5 million in a second round of funding.
The 5min site itself has built a library of more than 100,000 short, professional-quality videos sorted into different categories ranging from fashion to food to parenting to video games. Right now, users can view videos teaching them how to fix a leaky washing machine, how to… Continue Reading
Coskata looks to stimulus to finish commercial biofuel plant
Even though cellulosic ethanol maker Coskata just brought in $40 million in a third round of funding in November, it needs more to finish off its new commercial-scale plant — and the government stimulus package for biofuels looks like just the ticket.
Chief executive Bill Roe told VentureWire that Coskata is “very optimistic” about its chances of receiving the low-interest loans and loan guarantees from the Department of Energy soon. [Update: Previously, this post stated that… Continue Reading
CaliSolar shines with $60M for photovoltaic cells
CaliSolar, a Sunnyvale, Calif. maker of solar cells has brought in $60 million in equity, rights and securities, reports VentureWire. This is a good amount for a company that just landed $101.8 million in November. It plans to use the new financing for a plant that makes cells out of metallurgical-grade silicon — a much cheaper material than pure silicon.
Hudson Clean Energy Partners, Advanced Technology Ventures and Globespan Capital Partners provided the recent round.
Jajah holds strong, dials up $2.8M to expand VoIP services
Jajah, a voice over internet protocol (VoIP) communication service, has taken in $2.75 million of an anticipated $5 million fourth round of funding, peHUB reports. The Menlo Park, Calif.-based company provides service to millions of users, much like competitors mig33 and Jaxtr. Last April it scored a deal with Yahoo to provide phone-to-PC calling capabilities to the 90 million people who use the search giant’s messenger product.
Jajah has seen impressive growth over the three years… Continue Reading
Glasshouse IPO plans shatter
Glasshouse Technologies, an information technology consultancy specializing in data storage, just announced the withdrawal of its initial public offering due to poor market conditions — making it the third venture-backed startup to cancel an IPO in 2009. The Framingham, Mass. company originally filed in December 2007 and expected to rake in $100 million in the sale. It says it plans to refile once the economy rebounds.
Glasshouse provided management and customer support to companies integrating cloud… Continue Reading
Vehicle sharing service Zipcar brings plug-in hybrids on board
Zipcar, the Cambridge, Mass.-based company that allows users to rent cars online without ever speaking to an agent, has added plug-in hybrid vehicles to its San Francisco fleet. This is part of a national pilot program to increase public awarenss of new electric vehicle technology, says the service, which integrated hybrid vehicles in 2003.
Essentially, this pilot will allow one of the greenest cities in the country to test-drive the cars of the future, Zipcar executives… Continue Reading
Solar Power Partners takes on $32M for solar panel sales
Add another solar-as-a-service company to the list of those unfazed by the recession. Solar Power Partners, a Mill Valley, Calif. company that installs panels for commercial customers but retains ownership in order to sell the electricity from them, has taken on $32 million more in funding.
The money was reported this morning by peHUB. SPP also took money less than six months ago, which at the time was enough to put it over the $100 million… Continue Reading
NextMedium sells off product placement assets to Newport Coast
NextMedium, provider of an online platform that allowed advertisers to get their brands into TV shows, movies and web videos, has sold its technology and other intellectual property to Newport Coast Investments. It had been a while since the company raised money, last bringing in $6 million in second-round financing in July 2006.
NextMedium’s system, called Embed, brokered product placement deals and measured the the effectiveness of these advertising campaigns. It had a lot going for… Continue Reading
South Korea’s Nurien raises $10 million for fashion-oriented virtual world
Nurien Software has been making a splash with its demos of virtual characters dressed as fashion models striding down runways in virtual fashion shows. This strategy has helped the company raise $10 million in a second institutional round of funding.
The funding suggests that investors are still excited about virtual worlds. According to market researcher In-stat, virtual worlds are expected to hit 1 billion registered users and $3 billion in revenues by 2012. And since Nurien… Continue Reading
The termite’s blessing: ZeaChem finds more support
Poor termites. They’ll have no part in the ZeaChem facilities that may someday pump out millions of gallons of cellulosic ethanol, even though it’s the humble bug’s legacy that allowed it all to happen. Lakewood, Colo.-based ZeaChem has raised $34 million more for its process, the most important step of which uses a microorganism from the termite’s digestive tract to break down wood and similar materials into fuel.
ZeaChem chief executive Jim Imbler thinks he’s starting… Continue Reading
SundaySky wants to turn web content into instant video
Israeli video production company SundaySky wants to help web sites repackage their content as video — whether as a means to promote sales, build out their communities, or communicate better with their audience. SundaySky says that turning site content into videos can be time consuming and expensive for web sites, and that its service is not only a cost effective alternative but also allows for automatic and real time updates to videos. That is to… Continue Reading
Provigent takes $10M for wireless chips
Chip maker Provigent received $10 million in fifth-round funding, all from Lightspeed Venture Partners, to develop chips for 4G cellular base stations and wireless applications. The funds will also be used to extend sales efforts globally — the Santa Clara, Calif.-based company is already active in Europe and Asia.
Provigent has raised $51 million to date from the likes of Ascend Technology Ventures, Delta Ventures, Globespan Capital Partners, Magma Venture Partners, Pitango Venture Capital, Sequoia Capital,… Continue Reading
CaliSolar raises over $100M for planned “dirty” silicon cell factory
There’s a shortage of the pure silicon used to make solar cells, but Sunnyvale, Calif-based CaliSolar doesn’t care. There’s plenty of the less refined stuff — what’s called metallurgical grade silicon — that the company says it can use in its own proprietary cells to generate electricity.
Using metallurgical silicon has more than one advantage. Not only will CaliSolar be able to get around the supply bottlenecks that every traditional photovoltaics manufacturer in the world is… Continue Reading
Applied Identity raises $10M for enterprise IT
Applied Identity, a San Francisco startup that improves enterprise IT security, has raised $10 million of a projected $15.3 million third round, according to Private Equity Hub, citing a regulatory filing. New investor ABS Ventures joined existing backers Bay Partners, Globespan Capital Partners, OVP Ventures and Sigma Partners.
Solar Power Partners reaches $100M in funding for renewable power sales
Another solar-as-a-service company, part of a growing industry that helps to install and operate solar panels, is ballooning in size. Solar Power Partners, a Mill Valley, Calif. startup that only had $6 million in funding a year ago, is announcing that it has reached $100 million in funding with some $60 million more available for project financing.
Solar Power Partners specializes in power purchase agreements (PPA), which mean that the beneficiary of the solar panels doesn’t… Continue Reading
Palo Alto Networks raises $27 million for next-generation firewalls
Palo Alto Networks is announcing today it has raised $27 million in a third round of funding for its firewall appliance business.
Lehman Brothers Venture Partners led the round while other investors included Globespan Capital Partners, Greylock Partners, and Sequoia Capital. The Sunnyvale, Calif.-based company will use the money to expand its sales, marketing and customer services functions in North America as well as extend its business into Europe and Asia.
The size of the round is… Continue Reading
ODesk raises $15M to manage remote employees
Updated
Outsourcing technology startup oDesk has raised a $15 million third round of funding led by DAG Ventures.
Menlo Park, Calif.-based oDesk allows companies to hire technology “providers” like programmers and web designers, and it provides companies with the technology to monitor those remote employees. Chief executive Gary Swart says the need for such a site is growing, as the number of companies looking to outsource some tech work and the number of workers tempted by the… Continue Reading
Blackwave, says it has major storage improvement for video
updated
Blackwave, a video storage company that says it can store video seven to ten times more efficiently than other technologies, has raised $16 million more in a second round of financing. The company’s bold technology claims, however, can’t be verified just yet: It plans to roll out its video product in the first quarter of next year.
The market for video storage is large and increasing, because online video quality is increasing and there are more… Continue Reading
Fortisphere, raises $10M for virtualization software
Fortisphere, a Glendwood, Maryland provider of software to manage virtualization of hardware in large companies, has raised $10 million in first round funding.
The round was co-led by Fairhaven Capital Partners and Globespan Capital Partners.
From the release:
“IDC predicts that the virtualization market will reach $11.7 billion over the next four years and that by the end of this year, about half of the world’s 4.2 million servers will be virtualized,” said Paul L. Ciriello, managing partner,… Continue Reading