oDesk Challenge gives startups a staffing kickstart

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… Continue Reading

How-to video site 5min scores $7.5M for wider syndication

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… Continue Reading

Coskata looks to stimulus to finish commercial biofuel plant

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… 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… Continue Reading

Jajah holds strong, dials up $2.8M to expand VoIP services

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… 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… Continue Reading

Vehicle sharing service Zipcar brings plug-in hybrids on board

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,… Continue Reading

Solar Power Partners takes on $32M for solar panel sales

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… 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… Continue Reading

South Korea’s Nurien raises $10 million for fashion-oriented virtual world

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… Continue Reading

The termite’s blessing: ZeaChem finds more support

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,… Continue Reading

SundaySky wants to turn web content into instant video

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… 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… Continue Reading

CaliSolar raises over $100M for planned “dirty” silicon cell factory

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… 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… Continue Reading

Solar Power Partners reaches $100M in funding for renewable power sales

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… Continue Reading

Palo Alto Networks raises $27 million for next-generation firewalls

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… Continue Reading

ODesk raises $15M to manage remote employees

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… Continue Reading

Blackwave, says it has major storage improvement for video

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… 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… Continue Reading