RiseSmart lands $4.6M for online job search services
RiseSmart, a job search site geared toward employees who make over $100,000 a year, has raised $4.6 million in a first round of funding from Storm Ventures and Norwest Venture Partners. It has now raised about $9 million in funding, including the participation of several angel investors. Based in San Jose, Calif., the company touts its Job Concierge and Transition Concierge services, designed to help top-tier job seekers find the right fit for them.
Unisfair captures $3.2M to host virtual events
Unisfair, a firm that hosts virtual events, particularly job fairs that you don’t have to attend in person, has brought in $3.2 million of an anticipated $9.3 million round of equity, according to a filing with the SEC. The Menlo Park, Calif.-based company just bolstered its offerings by integrating Facebook and Twitter into its event experiences.
Unisfair’s platform allows you to create a digital character, or avatar, that you can navigate through a faux exhibition hall… Continue Reading
Avere Systems raises $15M to build cheaper, more powerful enterprise storage
As tech companies wrestle with ever-increasing amounts of data, a startup called Avere Systems is preparing to launch what investors are describing as a “new class” of storage technology. The Pittsburgh startup (yes, Pittsburgh) just raised $15 million in a first round of funding.
Avere plans to announce its first products in October, so it’s still a little coy about the details. Still, we know it’s going to be entering the network-attached storage (NAS) market, i.e.,… Continue Reading
Employee smartphone manager MobileIron raises $11M
MobileIron, a company that helps corporate IT departments manage employee smartphones, originally caught my eye because it had the backing of some impressive venture firms — Sequoia Capital, Norwest Venture Partners, and Storm Ventures. Now the Sunnyvale, Calif. company has raised an $11 million second round co-led by the same investors.
MobileIron launched officially just a couple of weeks ago. The company’s key technology involves the creation of a virtual version of each employee’s smartphone that… Continue Reading
MobileIron gives enterprise IT more control over employee smartphones
Smartphones continue to proliferate in large, “enterprise”-size companies, but those phones aren’t well-integrated into enterprise IT, says Bob Tinker, chief executive of a startup called MobileIron. He thinks MobileIron (which boasts several impressive venture backers) is going to change that.
The Sunnyvale, Calif., company is launching its Virtual SmartPhone Platform today, which purportedly creates a virtualized version of every employee’s smartphone that runs on the company’s data center. On the employee side, the phone works as… Continue Reading
Jigsaw finds profitability by delivering sales contact data as a service
Jigsaw, a company whose 900,000 users have built a database of 14 million business contacts, says it has found a winning business model — by offering access to and services around that database, the company claims to have hit profitability for two consecutive quarters, and to have doubled its revenue for the fourth year in a row.
Chief executive Jim Fowler says San Mateo, Calif.-based Jigsaw is trying to build a new business model around the… Continue Reading
TimeBridge raises $5M to make scheduling business meetings easier
TimeBridge, a startup that helps coordinate business meetings, announced it has raised $5 million in a second round of funding.
The company’s key idea is that it doesn’t want to replace the calendar you already use; instead it wants to connect your calendar with everyone else’s schedule, regardless of what software they’re using. TimeBridge integrates with products like Google Calendar, Microsoft Outlook, and Apple iCal. That should mean more schedule sharing and automatic calendar updates, with… Continue Reading
ShotSpotter refines gunshot sensors with QinetiQ buy
ShotSpotter, maker of sensory systems used to detect gunshots, has acquired technology from British defense firm QinetiQ for an undisclosed amount. The deal will extend ShotSpotter’s reach into new markets, including law enforcement and military combat.
The Mountain View, Calif., company provides equipment used to pinpoint the exact location of gunshots, allowing authorities to properly respond. Unsurprisingly, its roster of 40 customers includes city governments, police departments and military groups. Its sensors are currently active in… Continue Reading
Lending Club raises $12M more for peer-to-peer loans
Lending Club, a website where people looking to borrow money can connect with lenders, has raised $12 million in a second round of funding.
Given the extent to which credit has dried up, it’s not hard to see why borrowers would be interested in peer-to-peer lending sites, rather than going through a bank; The New York Times wrote about the phenomenon last fall. Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Lending Club says the number of loans made through the site… Continue Reading
Digital storage provider Omneon calls off IPO
Omneon, the Sunnyvale, Calif.-based provider of digital content storage and data processing services for media companies, announced that it has canceled its $115 million filing to go public due to poor market conditions. Its application had been in the hopper since December 2006.
The company has raised $105 million in capital to date from Norwest Venture Partners, Accel Partners, Advanced Technology Ventures, Meritech Capital Partners, Invesco Private Capital and Lucent Ventures.
GamesBeat 09 preview: Veteran VC Tim Chang on what’s hot, what’s not in game investments
Game and virtual world investments soared to $885 million in 2008, but the picture is likely to be a mixed one this year. Games are one of the few industries still growing at retail (13 percent in January), and online games are still a hotbed of entrepreneurial activity.
But will the industry hold up in 2009? And will big investments in game companies still make sense this year? We talked about the state of game investments… Continue Reading
GamesBeat 09: More great speakers lined up
As the March 24 GamesBeat 2009 games conference draws near, we’re unveiling a new list of speakers. We’re proud to say that some of the biggest names in the gaming world are joining us for the program. Tickets are still available.
Chris Taylor (right), founder of Gas Powered Games, will share the stage with me as co-emcee of the event. We picked Taylor because he has been an advocate for creativity in games and because he’s one… Continue Reading
M-Factor raises new funding for profit optimization
M-Factor, which sells web-based software to improve profit and revenue, has raised an undisclosed round of funding led by UV Partners. The San Mateo, Calif. company’s solution looks at marketing investments, trade spending, and portfolio pricing for consumer goods companies and fast-food restaurants.
US Venture Partners, Norwest Venture Partners, and Bay Partners also participated in the round.
Appnomic snags $4.2M for application management
Information technology software provider Appnomic Systems (formerly Vitage Technologies) announced today that it brought in $4.2 million from Norwest Venture Partners to gain traction in the U.S. and advance product development. Based in Bangalore, India, it already has an office in Palo Alto, Calif.
In particular, Appnomic gives its client companies tools to gauge how their applications are performing and being used, and alerts users to any deviation from the norm. It says it already has… Continue Reading
SpectraLinear nabs $9.8M for computing timers
SpectraLiner, a company that provides internal clocking devices used in computing and internet communications systems, has raised $9.84 million in third-round funding, according to peHUB. It hasn’t disclosed plans for the new money but currently has six products on the market.
The Santa Clara, Calif. firm had previously raised $28 million and a $3 million bridge loan. Its investors include Horizon Ventures, Cypress Semiconductor, InterWest Partners, Norwest Venture Partners and Velocity Interactive Group.
Microsoft social app co. Wallop rebrands as Coveroo
Wallop, the social app startup that broke out of Microsoft in 2006, has changed its name to Coveroo and plans to refocus its efforts on mobile phone accessories. Its first order of business was to buy laser-engraving firm Etchstar, which specializes in customizing laptops and phones.
Based in San Francisco, the new entity will inherit 10 employees and what’s left of $13 million in capital from Wallop. Its investors include Norwest Venture Partners and Bay Partners…. Continue Reading
RiseSmart raises money to help find you high profile jobs
In this economy, a lot of people need help finding work. That includes plenty of workers who make over $100,000 a year. That’s the field RiseSmart specializes in — and a $3 million round of funding will help it continue its work.
While you may know TheLadders as a site to go to when you’re looking for $100K+ jobs, RiseSmart differentiates itself in that its human resource team searches for job matches on your behalf. Some… Continue Reading
New iStorez site gives users the scoop on Black Friday
iStorez, the web site that aggregates specials, newsletters and coupons from online stores to help its users hunt for deals, recently unveiled its new swanky look — and could prove a prime resource for Black Friday (and subsequent holiday) shoppers.
A simple search for “black friday” on the site yields a crop of sale announcements and discounts for Home Depot, Kenneth Cole, and online electronics shop Newegg among others. Searches for holiday coupons and sales call… Continue Reading
iStorez snags $2.3M to help online shoppers find deals
Kriyari, the company that owns shopping website iStorez, announced today that it pulled in $2.3 million in first-round funding from Norwest Venture Partners, reports VentureWire.
The San Jose, Calif. operation aggregates specials, newsletters, and coupons from other online stores to help its users hunt for deals and reduce clutter in their email inboxes.
Launched in January of this year, the young site currently features material from hundreds of online stores, including Old Navy, ShoeBuy, Guess and BlueNile…. Continue Reading
Sonoa lands $10M for cloud hosting
Software provider Sonoa Systems announced that it raked in $10 million in third-round funding to expand its sale and marketing operations. The Santa Clara, Calif.-based company hosts computing platforms for businesses. This means they provide storage, security, and traffic management and measurement services for their clients’ websites and applications.
In particular, Sonoa hosts cloud computing environments, which generally allow users to run their scalable systems faster and cheaper. The 60-employee company counts Pfizer and the Warner… Continue Reading