Roundup: Executives leave, hackers move in, robots invade
Microsoft’s Kevin Johnson moves to Juniper Networks — Microsoft’s lead on the failed Yahoo acquisition has called it quits, heading for the top post at software and device firm Juniper Networks. Johnson was the president of Platforms and Services, which meant he oversaw most of Microsoft’s web initiatives.
Xobni’s first employee heads to the Xobtuo — Gabor Cselle, a vice president and the first official employee at email startup Xobni, has resigned, stating that he wants to start… Continue Reading
Quickoffice, raises $3M to help deliver mobile office software — just in time for the upgraded iPhone
Quickoffice, a company that makes mobile office document software for smart phones, has raised $3 million to help it expands at a time when users are expected to start using their phones for more tasks.
With the full-screen iPhone about to launch with better browsing speed (enjoying a so-called 3G network), the Plano, Texas QuickOffice has been loading up on ammunition to exploit what could be a very large market. It already bought Dynoplex, a company… Continue Reading
Pathbreaking venture capitalist Kevin Fong departs from Mayfield
updated
Kevin Fong, partner at Silicon Valley’s Mayfield Fund, is leaving the firm, VentureBeat has learned.
The move is significant because Fong was one of the first high-profile Asian venture capitalists in the valley. He was considered a rising star in Silicon Valley two decades ago, when he was first groomed to lead the firm. The departure was formalized Friday, after a consultation with the firm’s limited partners.
Fong and his colleagues had some early hits (Redback, for… Continue Reading
Alfresco gets $9M for Web 2.0 content management
Alfresco Software is the latest player hoping to kill high-priced software for large companies.
It’s one of a number of vendors of “content management” software. But it’s open source, and dirt cheap relative to others in the so-called enterprise content management (ECM) sector: Filenet (IBM), Interwoven, Documentum, Vignette, and Microsoft’s Sharepoint. Many of these emerged from the last Web boom, but they’re looking less dynamic these days.
Alfresco lets companies manage their documents online, and also lets… Continue Reading
Jawbone gets big boost from Sequoia Capital
People wouldn’t stop telling me about Jawbone, the Bluetooth headset that shuts out incoming and outgoing noise with technology that has been tested in battlefield conditions.
So I picked one up over the holidays, for its standard price of $119. Here’s how good it is: After arriving back in San Francisco, I was on the noisy public transport system, BART, when my brother called. I answered with my Blackberry, but without the Jawbone. After exchanging a… Continue Reading
Monster buys community site, Affinity Labs, for significant $61M
updated with input from Affinity
Monster, the giant job listing company, has acquired Silicon Valley’s Affinity Labs, a company that runs several online community sites — including for police officer, healthcare employees, teachers, government employees and technologists. The purchase price was about $61 million.
This is an eyebrow raising price, because most of Affinity’s sites are just a few months old, and we’re told they have less than 500,000 visitors a month combined. In other words, the… Continue Reading
3Par, the latest money-losing storage company, files for IPO
There was struggling Classmates.com.
Now it’s more data storage companies. They’re all losing money, but running like lemmings to go public before the IPO window shuts. The window of IPO opportunity is still open, but precariously so, because the liquidity crisis hitting the markets is making investors very nervous.
The latest is 3Par, of Fremont, which has filed to raise $100 million even though its losses are widening ($4.7 million in the quarter ending June 30,… Continue Reading
Jawbone headset company raises $5M
Aliph, a San Francisco company that makes the Jawbone line of headsets for mobile phones, boasting noise cancellation technology tested in battlefield conditions, has raised more than $5 million in funding from Khosla Ventures, according to GigaOm.
The company has operated since 1999, and sells this latest bluetooth headset at the high price of $120. AT&T carries it in its stores, as does Apple and Best Buy. It says it has sold more than 100,000 Jawbone… Continue Reading
PacketHop, mesh networking co., in trouble
Mesh networking company PacketHop, of Redwood City, Calif., has cut half its staff, and has agreed to an investment from SRI that could lead to significant changes in its management, according to VentureWire (subscription required).
PacketHop develops software that turns mobile devices into virtual Wi-Fi access points, but it has faced competition from bigger players such as Cisco and Motorola.
U.S Venture Partners, GF Private Equity Group, Mayfield and ComVentures are all existing investors. The company has… Continue Reading
Podcast advertising company, Podbridge, raises about $8.5M
PodBridge, a Mountain View, Calif. provider of ad placement inside of podcasts, has raised around $8.5 million in a second round of funding, according to a regulatory filing cited by PE Week. Sutter Hill Ventures was joined by return backers Mayfield and Worldview Technology Partners.
Greg Sands of SHV will join the PodBridge board of directors.
See our previous coverage of PodBridge. It previously raised $10 million.
Arcwave, supposedly one of Silicon Valley’s hottest companies, goes under
Arcwave Wireless, a Los Gatos, Ca. provider of wireless networks for small businesses has shuttered, just four months after being named one of Silicon Valley’s hottest companies.
Chief Executive Bill Sickler announces the demise on the company’s Web site, saying cable operators (its targeted customers) weren’t responding to the company’s sales efforts.
Investors Comcast Interactive Capital, Lucent Venture Partners, Mayfield, SBV Venture Partners, Venrock Associates and Vulcan Capital had invested more than $11.5 million into the… Continue Reading
MovieBeam’s failure surprisingly swift
MovieBeam, the service that tried to deliver movies over a set-top box, has been sold for less than $10 million, a major loss for investors and sign of how quickly the movie industry is changing — and consolidating.
Movie Gallery, a major video rental company, is the buyer.
MovieBeam had tried to deliver its movies over a box costing between $100 and $200. People then had to download the movies. But few people want pay for such… Continue Reading
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 Chinese firm GSR Ventures with a new $200 million fund. Mayfield partner Kevin Fong (pictured here) is a full managing partner of the fund. Mayfield was earlier an investor in… Continue Reading
West Coast vs. East Coast — West is drubbing East, in modesty too
Here’s another story (Mercury News) about the differences between the venture and start-up communities on the East and West coasts.
Separately, note that the most ridiculous examples of self-absorbtion do not necessarily hail from Silicon Valley, as some might assume.
The start-up that filmed itself during the boom era of 2000, Govworks.com (the company of Kaleil Tuzman’s, pictured top, which became the documentary Startup.com) was based in New York City. And this year’s self-absorbed company,… Continue Reading
Timebridge raises $6M for calendar-scheduling product
Mayfield and Norwest are the backers of Timebridge.
See our story on Timebridge here.
Skipping the ads? BlackArrow raises $14.75M to defy you
(Updated with Web site URL)
San Mateo start-up BlackArrow has raised $14.75 million to develop a way to insert advertisements in TV and Internet video programming, and it shows the ads even if people try to skip over ads with their DVRs.
It has been secret until now. But this is pretty serious cash for an unknown company. It is, after all, a pretty serious proposition.
Here’s how it works: Take ABC, a network that sells 30-second advertising… Continue Reading
Google acquires wiki company JotSpot; Kraus vindicated
Filling out its portfolio of online office applications, Google has acquired wiki company JotSpot for an undisclosed amount.
Co-founder Joe Kraus (pictured here) says he “couldn’t be more excited,” and we can understand, given his rocky ride several years ago at search engine Excite.
Kraus had been badly burned, and we could sense in Joe an intense, but quiet determination while building Jot that he was going to do this one right.
Way back in 1993, Kraus… Continue Reading
Cisco acquires “quadruple play” company, Orative, for $31M
Cisco Systems, the Internet communications giant, said it has agreed to acquire privately held San Jose company Orative Corp for $31 million — as part of its effort to offer the so-called quadruple play: voice, video, data and mobility to businesses.
Earlier this year, Cisco Cisco launched what it called the “Unified Communications system,” which enables businesses of all sizes to integrate all of their communications systems with their IT infrastructure.
Orative’s technology allows Cisco to… Continue Reading
Adobe acquires Serious Magic to push Flash video
Updated
San Jose’s Adobe Systems said it has acquired Serious Magic, maker of video software and communications tools.
Serious Magic is a privately held Folsom, Calif.-based company which sells products like DV Rack, which Adobe said allows “direct-to-disk” recording and monitoring into the field, and Visual Communicator and Vlog It, which extends video communication to general business users and casual bloggers.
Serious Magic’s chief executive, Mark Randall, a twenty-year video industry veteran, will join Adobe as chief… Continue Reading
Networking co., Packet Design, raises $7.5M
Packet Design, a Palo Alto maker of networking appliances originally spun out of Packet Design LLC, has raised $7.5 million in Series C funding, according to VentureWire (sub required):
The new round, which closed Sept. 20, came entirely from existing investors including Mayfield Fund, Advanced Technology Ventures, Allegis Capital, Masthead Venture Partners and Packet Design LLC, according to Packet Design Chief Executive Officer Jack Bradley.