Verdezyne raises $3M for organism-made biofuels
Verdezyne, a company that develops special microorganisms used to produce biofuels and biochemicals, has brought in $3 million of an expected $15.2 million round of equity, according to a filing with the SEC. Based in Carlsbad, Calif., the company is backed by Life Science Angels, Monitor Ventures, OVP Venture Partners and Tech Coast Angels. It also received a $1.7 million grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
Meru Networks lands $87 million for virtual wireless service
Meru Networks, provider of a virtual wireless service that departs from typical hub-based services, has raised an additional $57 million to expand its fifth round of funding to $87 million (it closed $30 million from Vision Capital earlier this year), reports PE Hub. The recent financing came from existing backers Clearstone Venture Partners, NeoCarta Ventures, BlueStream Ventures, D.E. Shaw Group, Evercore Partners, Tenaya Capital and Monitor Ventures.
Based in Sunnyvale, Calif., the company has raised more… Continue Reading
Baby boomer social network TeeBeeDee implodes
TeeBeeDee, the online social network tailored to the over 40 set, is going out of business. But instead of blaming the poor economy like so many of his peers — CEO Robin Wolaner says the site’s business model wasn’t able to grow its userbase big enough and fast enough to survive, reports VentureWire.
Things began auspiciously enough, with the company raising $4.8 million in a first round of funding two years ago. But, as Wolaner says,… Continue Reading
Meru snags $30M for virtual wireless service
Meru Networks, provider of a virtual wireless service that departs from typical hub-based service, has raised $30 million in a fifth round of funding. Based in Sunnyvale, Calif., the company says it is able to deliver wireless solutions that are easier for businesses to adopt and scale according to their needs. It says the new funding will be used to meet demand the company is seeing especially from the health care and education sectors.
The round… Continue Reading
Greystripe raises $5.5M for mobile ads
Greystripe, maker of a software platform for developing ad-supported games for mobile phones, announced that it brought in $5.5 million in third-round funding from Incubic Venture Capital, Steamboat Ventures and Monitor Ventures.
The San Francisco, Calif. company has formed partnerships with several game developers in order to insert ads into their video games. Consumers can download these games for free, because ads provide the revenue, which is then split between Greystripe and its developers. It provides… Continue Reading
IVT launches yet another “YouTube for the Enterprise”
Following on the heels of Cisco and Google, IVT is launching its own version of “YouTube for the enterprise.” Google launched its “video for business” application just a couple of weeks ago, while Cisco hit the market in June with “Enterprise TV.”
IVT will challenge those players as well as start-ups Veodia and Brightcove with a portal-like media center that can aggregate not just videos but all rich media, such as recorded WebEx meetings, iTunes podcasts,… Continue Reading
Buzzd gets funding for location-based mobile services
Buzzd, a location-based mobile startup, has raised a first round of funding from Greycroft Partners and Monitor Ventures. The company isn’t disclosing the size of the round.
Buzzd and competing companies such as Loopt and Google’s Dodgeball allow mobile users to access information and contact friends based on their location. With Buzzd, you send out your address or zip code via SMS message, and the New York startup’s service connects you to listings for nearby events,… Continue Reading
Matisse Networks, the “optical burst” switching co., raises $45M
Matisse Networks, a network infrastructure company based in Mountain View, Calif., has raised $45M in a third round of funding.
Backers are Merrill Lynch (which invested $35M of the round) and existing investors, including Woodside Fund, Menlo Ventures, Monitor Ventures and Walden International. To date, Matisse Networks has raised total financing of $80M.
The company makes what it calls a an “optical burst” switch, which it says uses light waves to pass packets of data using Internet… Continue Reading
TeeBeeDee, the network for the 40+ generation
TeeBeeDee is the latest social network catering to a special demographic: those aged 40-plus.
MySpace has got the teens. Facebook has the 20-somethings. Friendster says it has bagged the 30-somethings. And on the other end, you have Eons, for the 50-plus generation.
So you knew this 40-plus angle was coming. The San Francisco company has just raised $4.8 million in a first round of funding led by Shasta Ventures, and joined by Monitor Ventures.
It’s a pretty… Continue Reading
Coda Genomics: Better proteins through engineering
Coda Genomics, a Laguna Hills, Calif., biotechnology company founded in 2005, concentrates on a thorny but little-realized challenge in biotechnology: Genetic engineering is easy. Protein manufacture is hard.
The biotech industry was founded on the science of recombinant DNA, which is essentially the trick of taking a gene from one species (such as a human) and inserting it into the genome of another (say, the microbe E. coli). Since many genes are essentially templates for… Continue Reading
Greystripe raises $8.9M for mobile games wrapped with ads
San Francisco’s Greystripe, a provider of a technology that can insert ads on the fly into mobile games, making it easier for game developers to monetize their creations, has raised $8.9 million in a second round of financing.
The round was led by Steamboat Ventures, a venture capital firm affiliated with The Walt Disney Company. Dan Beldy, managing director of Steamboat Ventures, has joined Greystripe’s board, the company said.
We wrote about Greystripe’s “Ad Wrap” technology here.
From… Continue Reading
Business performance software co., Adaptive Planning, raises $7.5M
Adaptive Planning, a Mountain View, Calif. company that sells a collaborative business performance management software, has raised $7.5 million in financing.
Cardinal Venture Capital led the round, which included previous investors ONSET Ventures and Monitor Ventures
The company sells its software to small and midsized companies. From the statement:
Adaptive Planning’s third round of financing brings its total outside investment to $19 million. As part of today’s news, the company announced that Eric Dunn, general partner of… Continue Reading
Water management company, HydroPoint, raises $19M
HydroPoint Data Systems, a Petaluma Calif. maker of water management systems for green areas, has raised $19 million more in a third round of funding.
This brings the company’s total funding to $36 million.
The latest round was led by RockPort Capital Partners, with support from Chrysalix Energy Venture Capital. Both invest in clean technology and energy related companies. Additional investors included Firelake Strategic Technology Fund, Monitor Ventures, Shea Ventures and The Toro Company.
From the company’s… Continue Reading
Greystripe, yet another mobile phone game co., raises $1.2M
Greystripe, a SF start-up developing free, ad-supported games for mobile phones, joins a large crowd of competitors, raising $1.2 million in a first round of funding, according to VentureWire today (sub required).
The money comes from Incubic Venture Fund, Monitor Ventures and WS Investment Company, the venture arm of law firm Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati P.C. The company is already thinking about raising another round, it said.