3VR finds $12M for searchable surveillance

3VR Security, maker of video surveillance equipment with a built-in search engine and more detailed motion and facial recognition, has brought in $12 million in a fourth round of funding led by Menlo Ventures, according to PE Hub. Based in San Francisco, the company will… Continue Reading

Semprius absorbs $6M for cheaper, printed solar cells

Semprius is one of a few companies focused on thin, printed solar modules — a relatively new technology that could save a tremendous amount of solar cell waste if widely implemented. The modules are considered “printed” because they consist only of a very thin layer… Continue Reading

Forterra raises $1.2M for corporate virtual worlds

Forterra Systems, a Menlo Park, Calif. company that creates virtual environments for corporations, government agencies and health care organizations, has brought in $1.2 million of what it hopes will soon be a $2.7 million round of capital, reports VentureWire. This is a much lower amount… Continue Reading

Cloud provider Cassatt sells out to CA to avoid bankruptcy

Cassatt, the San Jose, Calif.-based provider of cloud computing environments, has sold its assets to public IT management firm CA for an undisclosed sum. The company has been in trouble for a while now, announcing its intentions to find a buyer back in April after… Continue Reading

The forest has…ears? CIA invests in ImageTree

The forest has…ears? CIA invests in ImageTree

updated
ImageTree, a company that says it can measure and track forests down to the species type of individual trees, said it has received an undisclosed strategic investment from In-Q-Tel, the investment firm founded by the Central Intelligence Agency.

Why would In-Q-Tel invest in a technology used… Continue Reading

Cloud provider Cassatt close to evaporating

Cassatt, one of the first companies in the cloud computing space, may have to shutter after spending its full $100 million in venture capital and failing to find an appropriate buyer, reports VentureWire. If one can’t be found, the San Jose, Calif. firm will be… Continue Reading

Infinite Power gears up with $13M for thin-film batteries

Infinite Power gears up with $13M for thin-film batteries

Infinite Power Solutions, a developer of rechargeable thin-film batteries, has announced that it took $13 million in second-round financing to scale production of its Thinergy line of cells — said to be thinner, more flexible and more energy-efficient than other solid-state batteries on the market.

The… Continue Reading

Gilman Louie on the great lies of venture capitalists and why it’s still a good time to start a company

Gilman Louie on the great lies of venture capitalists and why it’s still a good time to start a company

When times get bad, it pays to have a sense of humor.

That’s a hallmark of Gilman Louie, a celebrated video game geek and seasoned venture capitalist. He was chief executive of MicroProse, a seminal simulation game company that made flight simulations such as the Falcon… Continue Reading

T2 Biosystems brings in $10.8M for diagnostics

T2 Biosystems, a company working to develop new diagnostic methods, received $10.8 million in second-round financing from new investors In-Q-Tel (which also helps fund the CIA, incidentally) and Partners Healthcare, and existing investors Flagship Ventures, Flybridge Capital Partners and Polaris Venture Partners.

The Cambridge, Mass.-based company… Continue Reading

Nextreme Thermal raises $13M for chip cooling tech

Excessive heat on semiconductors and other electronics has led the tech industry to adopt a number of clever but indirect work-arounds, but Nextreme Thermal says it can directly cool off specific areas that overheat.

The Durman, N.C. company uses the Peltier Effect to cool down devices,… Continue Reading

The spy with the digital pen: Intelligence community invests in Adapx

The spy with the digital pen: Intelligence community invests in Adapx

Digital pen-and-paper maker Adapx has received an undisclosed strategic investment from In-Q-Tel, the independent investment firm founded by the Central Intelligence Agency. The purpose of the funding, says Adapx chief executive Ken Schneider, is to increase usage of Adapx’s Capturx platform (pronounced “adapts” and “captures,”… Continue Reading

QD Vision raises In-Q-Tel funding for nanoscale LED tech

Yet another funding has joined the recent flood of interest in LEDs, with a Watertown, Mass. company taking an undisclosed amount for a “quantum dot” technology that can be applied to LED manufacturing, according to Xconomy.

QD Vision is using nanotechnology licensed from the Massachusetts Institute… Continue Reading

IBM and Forterra teaming up on virtual world for spooks

IBM and Forterra teaming up on virtual world for spooks

Even spooks need their virtual worlds. Where else, after all, could they rehearse their training missions against the bad guys of the world?

Forterra Systems and IBM said today that they’re teaming up to create virtual worlds for U.S. intelligence-gathering agencies. The so-called “Babel Bridge” project… Continue Reading

PurpleYogi, the 1999 personalization company, finally hits pay dirt

PurpleYogi, the 1999 personalization company, finally hits pay dirt

PurpleYogi, one of the earliest Silicon Valley companies to focus on “extreme personalization of the Internet,” has finally been sold for $158 million after a dramatic series of twists in business strategy.

The Mountain View, Calif., company launched in 1999.

It later abandoned its initial model of… Continue Reading

Perpetuum pushes vibration energy, as does the CIA

Perpetuum pushes vibration energy, as does the CIA

Perpetuum is the the latest company hoping to harness an new kind of power source: Vibrations.

That’s right. Most vibrations caused by mechanical operations –caused in most places where equipment and people are at work — are wasted. Perpetuum, a London, UK company, transforms these vibrations… Continue Reading

Roundup: Forterra, Appfuel, AOL’s plans? and more

Roundup: Forterra, Appfuel, AOL’s plans? and more

Here’s a summary of the latest action. See below for more:
1) In-Q-Tel invests in Forterra Systems, a private virtual world creator
2) Appfuel, another Facebook ad network, but with better ad targeting
3) AOL to spin out advertising arm?
4) Project Playlist, for sharing music playlists on other… Continue Reading

CIA venture arm invests in video improvement company, MotionDSP

CIA venture arm invests in video improvement company, MotionDSP

In-Q-Tel, the investment arm of the nation’s intelligence services, has invested an undisclosed small amount of money into video enhancement company MotionDSP and also awarded it with contracts.

MotionDSP chief executive Sean Varah wouldn’t say what the CIA wants do with the technology. However, he said… Continue Reading

CIA venture arm In-Q-Tel invests in video camera chip company, Pixim

Updated

Pixim, a Mountain View, Calif. company that builds chips for videos cameras that improve color, and reduce blooming and smear in bad lighting conditions, has added more money to its second round of financing.

In-Q-Tel, the venture arm of the U.S. intelligence agencies, participated in the… Continue Reading

The investor chronicles: Mayfield, In-Q-Tel, Garnett-Helfrich, Alsop-Louie & Leapfrog

The investor chronicles: Mayfield, In-Q-Tel, Garnett-Helfrich, Alsop-Louie & Leapfrog

Updated

Here are the latest ups and downs of Silicon Valley’s venture capital/investor community:

Mayfield Fund — The well-known Silicon Valley venture firm with a good pedigree, but a rocky recent past, is on the upswing in China. Tomorrow (Friday), it announced its own China fund, merging with… Continue Reading

Bioscrypt acquires 3D facial recognition co., A4Vison, and gets more cash

Toronto, Canada’s Bioscrypt, a provider of technologies that help companies control access to their facilities, said it will acquire A4Vision, the Sunnyvale, Calif. provider of 3D facial imaging and recognition technology.

Concurrent with the completion of the merger, institutional investors associated with A4Vision have agreed… Continue Reading