Ember lands $8M for a hefty slice of the smart grid
The Ember Corporation, a major vendor of ZigBee wireless networking technology, just brought in $8 million in capital to connect household devices and appliances to the smart grid. Like most other companies in the space, the bulk of its business comes from equipping smart meters with radio chips and software that allow utilities and homeowners to easily share energy-consumption data.
As the leading provider of ZigBee services, Ember is in prize position to take advantage of… 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
SendMe nabs another $12 million for mobile entertainment content
SendMe, the San Francisco company that sells direct-to-mobile entertainment content through several linked web sites, just landed $12 million in a fourth round of financing to fuel its acquisition strategy. Its web sites, SendMeMobile.com, SoLow.com and mBuzzy.com, each offer a different type of content and have gained substantial traction in their own right.
Users can find and download games, ringtones and mobile wallpapers on these sites, and participate in sweepstakes for a subscription fee of $10… Continue Reading
Vivox scores deals for voice-communication in online games for 38 Studios and Sony
Once considered an afterthought in games, voice communication is becoming a bigger part of the online gaming experience. Now players can use sound strategically in large games known as massively multiplayer online games (MMOs). You can engage in a high-quality group voice chat with a large team of players to coordinate play. You can disguise your voice so that you sound like a game character instead of a 12-year-old kid. And with 3-D directional sound,… Continue Reading
SendMe Mobile grabs $15 million for mobile media
SendMe Mobile, a provider of direct-to-consumer mobile entertainment has raised more funding to extend its market share for its core brands and to expand upon them.
The company not only operates SendMeMobile.com, but also in the past year launched SoLow.com, a mobile sweepstakes destination, and purchased mBuzzy.com, a mobile community site. This trifecta of sites helped bring in partners such as AEG Live, Interscope Records, MobiTV, and Universal Music Group, all of which want to extend… Continue Reading
Vivox, voice chat for virtual worlds, raises $7.8M
Vivox adds voice chat capabilities to online games and worlds like Second Life, where players otherwise must use text to communicate.
Many players prefer speaking directly to one another, but there are a number of problems that can pop up. Adding voice can slow down online games, for example, and badly-designed voice systems can confuse or overwhelm people with the babble of other players.
The Framingham, Mass. company got its start as part of FreeWorld Dialup, a… Continue Reading