Mercantila lands $1M for retail site network
Mercantila, a San Francisco-based portal of related specialty retail web sites, has brought in $1 million in convertible notes from an undisclosed source. By “specialty” the company means niche — offering a springboard for e-commerce sites selling items like dog beds, massage tables, recumbent bikes,… Continue Reading
Solazyme wins big with $57M for renewable oil
Solazyme, producer of renewable oil derived from algae, just raised $57 million in third-round funding to bring its total capital to more than $76 million. In addition to producing so-called green fuels, the San Bruno, Calif., company is expanding its eco-friendly chemicals business — an… Continue Reading
MyBuys scores $7M for retail recommendation engine
MyBuys, provider of a software service that allows e-commerce sites to make recommendations to customers based on their past purchasing and browsing behavior, has landed $7 million in additional funding.
Based in Redwood City, Calif., the company had previously raised $10 million in 2007 from… Continue Reading
Outbrain, the news story recommendation service, gets $12M
Outbrain, a company that gives blog readers a way to rate and recommend news stories (see its widget at the bottom of this story), has raised another $12 million in a second round of funding.
VentureBeat first covered Outbrain in detail last year. It uses… Continue Reading
Delphix raises $8M for database management
Stealthy database management startup Delphix has raised $8 million in a first round of funding, according to Private Equity Hub. The Palo Alto, Calif. company’s website doesn’t offer many specifics, but boasts “the enterprise database ecosystem is about to change” and says Delphix’s databases reduce… Continue Reading
Interview with Peter Nieh on using the government to bridge cleantech financing gaps
Peter Nieh is a founder of Lightspeed Venture Partners. The venture capital firm manages over $2 billion in capital and just closed its most recent fund, Lightspeed VIII, worth $800 million, earlier this year. Some of Lightspeed’s hits include Brocade, Ciena, Informatica and Riverbed Technology…. Continue Reading
Kosmix’s new approach to search gets $20M
Kosmix, a search startup that automatically builds pages about any topic, has raised a $20 million in new funding led by Time Warner. That brings the Mountain View, Calif. startup’s total backing to $55 million — pretty impressive, especially for an ad-driven company. It’s also… Continue Reading
Aprius lands $20M for high-speed server interconnects
Aprius, a developer of high-speed bandwidth interconnect systems, brought in $20 million in second-round funding from Menlo Ventures, Lightspeed Venture Partners and New Enterprise Associates. Previously, the Sunnyvale, Calif. company had raised $11 million. Its technology lets companies pool their server resources for fast, communal… Continue Reading
Casual Collective aims to develop addictive casual games
You can credit Paul Preece and David Scott for wasting a lot of your time. They’re the creators of the hit games Desktop Tower Defense and Flash Element TD, two Flash-based games that have been played more than 210 million times.
Hobbyists no longer, the… Continue Reading
Shufflebrain launches Photograb game on Facebook to train your brain
I’m not a game designer. But imagine a game creation tool so simple and easy that even I can’t mess it up. Shufflebrain has created this tool as part of a game that transforms photo viewing into a fun experience. Within a few minutes, I… Continue Reading
Skyfire opens up its browser for a vastly improved web experience on Windows Mobile and Symbian devices
I’ve been spoiled by the iPhone. When I was using a Windows Mobile device today browsing the web with the mobile version of Internet Explorer, I was just about ready to throw the phone out the window. The experience was horrible. Then I opened the… Continue Reading
Somo Enterprises raises first round for mobile apps
Somo Enterprises has raised $1.55 million in a first round of funding, according to PEHub. The company is based in Palo Alto, Calif. and is working on mobile applications. Backers include The Hit Forge and Lightspeed Venture Partners. It isn’t clear what the company is… Continue Reading
Algal biofuel firm Solazyme scores $45M
Solazyme, a South San Francisco, Calif. company that makes biofuels and other products from algae, has raised $45 million or more toward its latest funding, according to VentureWire.Early this year, Solazyme entered into a partnership with Chevron to develop its fuels. The company has also… Continue Reading
Identity management startup SailPoint Technologies raises $6.5M
SailPoint Technologies, a company that helps corporations manage issues around identity, user access and regulatory compliance, has raised $6.5 million in a third round of funding. All of the company’s existing investors, including Austin Ventures, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Origin Partners and Silverton Partners, participated.
Austin,… Continue Reading
Mobile browser Skyfire comes to Symbian devices. We have 100 private beta invites
The iPhone’s Safari web browser has ignited interest in browsing the “real web” on mobile devices, but it’s not the only mobile browser out there. Skyfire lets you see the web just as you would on your home computer but on a number of Windows… Continue Reading
PSS Systems gets another $18M for legal document software
PSS Systems, which dubs itself as “the standard for legal hold and management software” (basically document policy software), has closed a fourth round of funding
The plan is to use the money to expand PSS Systems’ legal governance product portfolio and its presence in the… Continue Reading
Skyfire raises $13M to improve mobile web browsing
Skyfire has raised a $13 million second round of funding as it ramps up its campaign in the mobile browser wars.
The Mountain View, Calif. startup’s goal, says chief executive Nitin Bhandari, is to make a browser that makes the mobile web experience as close… Continue Reading
Lightspeed Venture Partners raises fresh $800M global fund, looking to China and India
Some venture firms are having difficulty raising new funds, but top firms are still getting money with ease — in part to invest in fast-growing places like China and India.
In the past month we’ve seen Foundation Capital take $750 million, Kleiner Perkins grab $700… Continue Reading
Friends For Sale creators raise financing, not for sale
In the often silly world of third-party Facebook applications, Friends For Sale is especially silly — and smart.
It’s a game where you and your Facebook friends compete to buy and sell each other as “pets,” with each person receiving a market-based virtual valuation.
The… Continue Reading
ScaleMP debuts aggregate virtualization with $8M funding
A new sort of virtualization is appearing in companies like ScaleMP, which turns the conventional notion of splitting one server into multiple virtual systems on its head. ScaleMP instead aggregates together multiple low-end systems to create a more powerful one. The technique can help with… Continue Reading