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… 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… 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… 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… 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… 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… 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… 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… 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… 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,… Continue Reading
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… 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… 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… Continue Reading
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… 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… Continue Reading