BridgeWave lands $2.4M for wireless backhauling
BridgeWave Communications, a company that provides wireless backhauling services to free high-traffic networks from congestion, has raised $2.4 million of an anticipated $2.5 million round of equity, according to a filing with the SEC. Based in Santa Clara, Calif., the company is backed by Core Capital Partners, Intel Capital, Ampal-American Insrael, BreezeCOM, Cipio Partners, DRW Venture Partners, Jerusalem Venture Partners, MKS Ventures, Oak Investment Partners, Scientific-Atlanta, SDL Ventures, SeaPoint Ventures and West Steag Partners.
RazorGator gobbles $188K to resell event tickets
RazorGator, a web-based platform for reselling your tickets to sporting or entertainment events, has raised $188,000 in rights, according to a filing with the SEC. The Los Angeles-based company is backed by Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Hercules Technology Growth Capital and Oak Investment Partners.
Knowledge Networks buys Dimestore Media
Knowledge Networks, a Menlo Park, Calif.-based consulting firm that aids product development, announced that it acquired Dimestore Media, maker of an online survey platform that can question people about ad campaigns across the web. Dimestore supplies surveys before and after people are exposed to display ads to collect data and optimize their performance.
Knowledge Networks, backed by Alloy Ventures, Meritech Capital Partners, Oak Investment Partners, Maveron and Oak Hill Venture Partners, has raised almost $100 in… Continue Reading
Madison Dearborn buys majority stake in NextG Networks
Madison Dearborn Partners, a private equity firm in Chicago, has taken a majority stake in NextG Networks, a San Jose, Calif.-based provider of antenna systems used to carry wireless signals, according to a filing with the SEC. The deal will give the company, which had to withdraw its $150 million IPO filing in May, an influx of $360 million.
NextG has been on shaky ground since 2001, when it first plunged into the red. Without the… Continue Reading
Let there be light: eSolar switches on first U.S. solar thermal tower
The U.S. solar industry just took a great leap forward with eSolar’s announcement that its 5-megawatt Sierra SunTower is now fully operational. Located in Lancaster, Calif., the array uses 24,000 mirrors to concentrate sunlight on two 160-foot towers.
The facility is technically a solar thermal plant, meaning that instead of solar cells converting sunlight directly to energy, the light is used to heat water located at the top of the towers. The steam generated turns a… Continue Reading
Boston Power puts Massachusetts on the battery map with $9M
Boston Power, maker of advanced batteries for electric vehicles, has struck a deal with the Massachusetts state government for $9 million in matching funds to make its new manufacturing facility in Auburn, Mass. a reality. The funds will help get the ball rolling as the company waits for upwards of $100 million in stimulus grants it has applied for through the Department of Energy.
While Boston Power got its start making batteries for smaller applications, like… Continue Reading
Wireless networking co. NextG gives up on IPO
NextG Networks, a San Jose, Calif., provider of antenna systems used to carry mobile phone signals, has withdrawn its filing to go public due to unfavorable market conditions — even in the wake of successful SolarWinds and OpenTable IPOs earlier this week, reports VentureWire. It had planned to sell $150 million in common stock.
Not only has the company been in the red since 2001, it is starting to see wireless carriers implementing their own antenna… Continue Reading
Clarient closes $40M for cancer diagnostics
Clarient, an Aliso Viejo, Calif.-based provider of cancer diagnostic and identification tests, has brought in $40 million from Oak Investment Partners. The first $30 million chunk of financing came in March, and the company could score $10 million more from the firm depending on terms of the deal.
So far, Clarient has used the money to pay back shareholder Safeguard Scientifics. Things seem to be looking up, with the public company reporting $22.4 million in first… Continue Reading
Federated Media searching for a “new leader”
Federated Media, which sells ads for more than 100 blogs and websites (including VentureBeat), is looking for a new executive to run the company, founder and chief executive John Battelle said in a blog post today.
So is this a CEO search? Um, maybe. “The title will depend on the person,” Battelle says, but basically Federated is looking for someone who can manage the business while Battelle focuses on working with the major clients, and on… Continue Reading
The bizarre case of Oak Investment Partners
The venture capital industry is in a lot of pain, saddled with so much money, it can’t invest it properly. With the Internet boom over, and investors pulling back from supporting venture capital firms, we’ll see a lot of the mediocre VC firms finally die (see our list of the walking dead).
Which brings me to Oak Investment Partners.
Almost three years ago, I wrote how Oak Investment Partners had become the largest venture capital firm. Despite… Continue Reading
RazorGator raises $10M in debt for sold-out event ticketing
RazorGator, an online ticket vendor specializing in tickets to sold-out sporting and entertainment events, just brought in $10 million in debt financing from Hercules Technology Growth Capital. The Los Angeles-based company says it will use the money to aggressively scale up its operation.
The company already has an impressive roster of partners, including major athletic teams like the San Francisco 49ers, Buffalo Bills, Pittsburgh Pirates, Carolina Panthers, Baltimore Ravens, Seattle Seahawks and Minnesota Vikings. It also… Continue Reading
eSolar nabs $30M licensing deal for Indian plants
eSolar has been focusing increasingly on building large-scale plants in the U.S., and shedding plans to do the same overseas. Just last week, it announced that it sold its rights to build 500 megawatts worth of solar-thermal plants to NRG Energy for $10 million in equity. Now it’s licensing its technology to Indian power company Acme Group, which will use it to build solar-thermal plants in India capable of producing 1,000 megawatts. In exchange, Acme… Continue Reading
Stretch raises $15 million for surveillance camera chips
Stretch, provider of fabless semiconductor components, has raised $15 million to continue making chips for surveillance cameras. The Sunnyvale, Calif.-based company plans to use the funding to expand its customer base around the world. It currently makes three different types of processors to support digital video in the latest security cameras.
The company’s processors run alongside image sensors (which capture pictures) made by Pixim, another chip company that has had success raising money as it targets… Continue Reading
Boston Power juices up with $55M for lithium-ion batteries
Boston Power, maker of eco-friendly, long-lasting lithium-ion batteries, just landed $55 million in fourth-round funding to grow its manufacturing, sales and marketing operations. Its flagship product, the Sonata Lithium-ion battery, is slated to launch in the next several months as the primary power source for Hewlett-Packard notebook computers. The model is also currently being adapted for use in other electronic devices and electric vehicles, the company says.
According to CNET, Sonata batteries can be charged 1,000… Continue Reading
Video game league Major League Gaming raises $7.5M
Professional video game league Major League Gaming has raised another $7.5 million, an addition to its second venture round from 2006. The new financing will presumably help the New York company weather the economic downturn, although it’s reporting impressive growth for 2008.
Major League Gaming says it’s the largest organized video game league around and also the largest international “sanctioning body.” (Other leagues include the Global Gaming League and World Cyber Games.) Players can compete against… Continue Reading
Trapeze acquires Newbury for wireless location pinpointing
Trapeze Networks, a Pleasanton, Calif.-based provider of wireless network equipment and management systems, announced that it has bought Newbury Networks, a firm that specializes in wireless asset tracking. Trapeze hopes the acquisition will help it expand its product portfolio.
Newbury, headquarted in Pasadena, Calif., will remain an independent entity within Trapeze and retain all 16 of its employees. In the past, it has helped manage the transport of health care equipment, as well as supply chain… Continue Reading
The Huffington Post confirms $25M third round
Political news site The Huffington Post announced today that it has raised $25 million from Oak Investment Partners — significantly higher than the $15 million that was reported by the Times UK in late November. Kara Swisher of All Things Digital says the valuation was slightly less than $100 million.
This basically confirms what VentureBeat writer Eric Eldon guessed last month when the funding rumors surfaced: “Like PaidContent said, the funding isn’t closed and the amount… Continue Reading
Kineto Wireless raises $15.5M for mobile base station technology
Kineto Wireless Inc., developer of software that lets mobile phones work on both cellular and Wi-Fi networks, brought in $15.5 million in fourth-round funding to advance the technology of wireless base stations — known as femtocells — which would expand home broadband coverage.
The new 3G and 4G femtocells would connect to customers’ existing broadband service to infuse home zone coverage for smart phones, and could even bridge gaps between coverage areas.
The investment round included contributions… Continue Reading
Concentrating solar firm GreenVolts nabs $30M, working on utility project
GreenVolts, a San Francisco company taking the approach of focusing large amounts of sunlight onto small, high-efficiency solar cells — called concentrating solar photovoltaic (CPV) — has raised a significant $30 million funding from the giant venture firm Oak Investment Partners.
Other recent solar fundings we’ve seen have been much larger, but for notably different technologies. Nanosolar, Ava Solar and SoloPower raised over half a billion dollars combined for thin film, which tries to make low-efficiency… Continue Reading
NanoH2O secures $15M for desalination
It’s a testament to how much traction the once dormant water sector has gained that desalination, not long ago considered a risky, prohibitively expensive technology, is getting second looks from some high-profile investors. NanoH2O, a Los Angeles, Calif.-based developer of reverse-osmosis membranes, is the latest beneficiary of this trend, announcing earlier this week that it had raised $15.05 million in second round funding from Oak Investment Partners and Khosla Ventures.
The company, which was spun off… Continue Reading