Fring raises third round for cheap mobile phone calls
Fring, the maker of a free mobile application for activities like instant messaging and voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) phone calls, has raised a third round of funding.
The most compelling part of the London startup’s offering is its VoIP support. Basically, it means you can make phone calls through your phone’s data plan rather than using cell phone minutes. That, combined with the fact that the Fring app is free, can lead to big savings…. Continue Reading
Provigent takes $10M for wireless chips
Chip maker Provigent received $10 million in fifth-round funding, all from Lightspeed Venture Partners, to develop chips for 4G cellular base stations and wireless applications. The funds will also be used to extend sales efforts globally — the Santa Clara, Calif.-based company is already active in Europe and Asia.
Provigent has raised $51 million to date from the likes of Ascend Technology Ventures, Delta Ventures, Globespan Capital Partners, Magma Venture Partners, Pitango Venture Capital, Sequoia Capital,… Continue Reading
JinkoSolar takes $35M despite tight silicon supply
While solar companies seem to be above the economic fray these days, the silicon supply that keeps many of them in business is not. The shortage (which began around 2004) isn’t as bad as it used to be, but investors funding photovoltaic manufacturers still see it as somewhat of a gamble. Their most recent bet: Chinese silicon wafer maker JinkoSolar, which says it already has long-term silicon supply contracts in the bag. The company nabbed… Continue Reading
Iamba Networks raises $7 million for networking tech
Iamba Networks has raised $7 million in in funding to expand its business of making chips and software for telecommunications companies.
The Cupertino, Calif., company’s chips are used to enable telecommunications companies to implement gigabit passive optical network, or GPON, access. That’s a standard for enabling an optical fiber to be split into different streams to serve different parties.
Companies are using the technology to build wireless phone networks that can handle on-demand video, high-definition video, and… Continue Reading
FixYa, a site offering electronic device troubleshooting, raises $6M more
FixYa, an Israel-based company that operates a website to help with troubleshooting electronic devices, has raised $6 million in a second round of funding.
Investors are Mayfield Fund and Pitango Venture Capital. The company said it will use the money to expand its operations in the U.S. and Israel, as well as build new services. It claims 6 million visitors per month.
FixYa lets visitors search for answers about their product-related questions or post their own problem,… Continue Reading
Pythagoras Solar, another solar PV maker, raises $10M
Pythagoras Solar is an Israel-based maker of solar photovoltaics that was started within Precede Technologies, an incubator that also has offices in Silicon Valley.
The company hasn’t released specific details on its technology, but says it is working on changing some of the “basic principles” behind PV technology by combining “software models, optic design, semiconductor processes, materials science, and mass manufacturing techniques to build highly durable, cost effective solar energy products.”
The $10 million funding is the… Continue Reading
Dune Networks takes $12M for ethernet switching platforms
A Sunnyvale, Calif. company that manufactures networking devices used in data centers and carrier’s ethernet switching platforms, Dune Networks was founded in 2000 and began selling its products four years later.
The company is its own fabless semiconductor supplier, but also has partnerships with companies including Altera, Intel and Lattice Semiconductor. It is currently making a profit, thought it has not disclosed the numbers.
The $12 million investment was led by US Venture Partners. Existing investors Alta… Continue Reading
Life sciences briefing: Thursday, Aug. 23, 2007
(UPDATED at 6:30am PT on Friday: See below.)
Featured companies: DNA2.0, Globus Medical, Inotek Pharmaceuticals, Operon Biotechnologies, PleuraFlow
Globus Medical raises $110M for spinal implants — Globus Medical, an Audubon, Pa., developer of spinal implants, raised $110 million in a fifth financing round. Investors included Clarus Ventures, AIG SunAmerica and other large, institutional private-equity funds.
Some have called this the largest venture-capital funding of the year — by a grand total of $1.65. That’s one dollar and sixty-five cents. No… Continue Reading
VisionCare’s implantable microtelescope — a bionic eye for AMD-related blindness
An implantable and odd-looking microtelescope from a Saratoga, Calif., device maker could be one of the next big things in treating a common form of blindness — assuming that patients are willing to endure arduous surgery in order to obtain their new bionic eyes.
Age-related macular degeneration — a progressive loss of sight related to physical changes in the central retina, also called the macula — is the leading cause of blindness among elderly Americans, now… Continue Reading
Provigent raises $16M for broadband wireless chip
Provigent, a Santa Clara, Calif. system-on-a-chip provider for the broadband wireless transmission market, said it has raised a $16 million fourth round of financing.
Globespan Capital Partners joined existing investors in the round, including Sequoia Capital, Pitango Venture Capital, Magnum Communications Fund, Ascend Technology Ventures, Delta Ventures, and Dr. Andrew Viterbi, co-founder of Qualcomm.
Update: AeroScout raises $21M for WiFi asset-tracking technology
(Updated: Correcting amount raised, after official statement by company contradicts our original piece, dated 2/28, that relied on a PE Wire article)
AeroScout, a San Mateo, Calif. provider of WiFi networks to locate and manage assets and people (with Active RFID), has raised $11.4 of a $20.5 $21 million third round of financing, according to the companya regulatory filing cited by PE Wire.
Intel Capital and Menlo Ventures were joined by return backers like Pitango Venture Capital… Continue Reading
Brocade acquires Silverback for storage chips, the latest bubble-era co. to exit
Network storage company Brocade has acquired Silverback Systems, of Campbell, Calif. for its network acceleration processor technology.
The amount was undisclosed, and so is immaterial, or small enough so that it doesn’t have to be disclosed to investors. See the press release here.
This is just the latest in the long list of technology companies founded in the bubble era that have some how struggled through the downturn and managed to eke out a sale (though there’s… Continue Reading
Discretix, mobile device and flash memory security co., raises $20M
Discretix, a San Mateo company that sells security technology for mobile devices and flash memory, said it has raised $20 million in a third round of funding.
New investor Sequoia Capital joined existing investors, Accel Partners, Pitango Venture Capital, Genesis Partners, SFK, Poalim Ventures and Eurocom Group. Total raised is now $29.8 million.
Discretix’s hardware and software allows digital rights management, secure protocols and other encryption technology for ecommerce.
Here is the company’s statement.
(Story first published 1/9)
E-commerce search company, Mercado, raises $11M
Mercado Software, a Pleasanton company that provides e-commerce search technology, said it has raised $11.5 million in a third round of funding.
Investors include Israeli-based The Challenge Fund and British investment firm Consensus Group, and existing investors Pitango Venture Capital, Eucalyptus, Star Ventures and Valley Venture Capital (formerly Mofet). The financing includes a line of credit from Lighthouse Capital Partners.
The company, founded in Israel, but since headquartered in Pleasanton, said most of its sales are in… Continue Reading
3DV, a depth dimension video camera co., raises $15M — maybe
Tel Aviv company Elron Electronic Industries said that its 3DV Systems unit has reached an agreement with Kleiner Perkins and Pitango Venture Capital for a $15 investment into 3DV.
It is just the latest move by local valley firm Kleiner Perkins to expand its focus outside of Silicon Valley.
Elron’s statement is here.
Elron owns 62 percent of 3DV, a company that says it has developed video camera technology that captures the depth dimension of objects in real… Continue Reading