Serious Materials puts together $60M for green building supplies
Serious Materials, a developer and manufacturer of green building materials like windows and drywall, announced today that it has brought in $60 million in a third round of venture funding. The Sunnyvale, Calif. company didn’t say how it plans to use the money, though it… Continue Reading
Fulcrum BioEnergy squeezes fuel from garbage
Fulcrum BioEnergy claims it can derive commercial-scale ethanol from municipal waste — and it just ran the first demo that proves it, the Pleasanton, Calif. company says. Already, it’s moving on its planned Sierra BioFuels Plant, a facility that could turn 90,000 tons of garbage… Continue Reading
Document-sharing site DocStoc rebrands to keep up with rival Scribd
DocStoc , the site that lets you post, share and embed PDFs, documents and other files — much like its prime competitor Scribd — has emerged from beta with a new look and a new business model . While the site is growing rapidly —… Continue Reading
Youth media ad network GoFish reels in $22.5M
GoFish, a media-based advertising network targeting six to 17-year-olds (and moms), announced that it has brought in $22.5 million in private placement funding, which it will use to pay off its $14.5 million in debt and expand its sales and marketing staff. Backers Panorama Capital,… Continue Reading
Pentadyne Power raises $22M for flywheel energy storage
Pentadyne Power, a Chatsworth, Calif.-based developer of flywheel energy storage systems, has just closed a $22 million financing round, led by return investors. The company didn’t disclose the identity of its backers though it has previously received support from Rustic Canyon Partners, Loudwater Investment Partners,… Continue Reading
Geothermal engineering firm ThermaSource raises $41.5M
Just as in the oil industry, drilling and engineering for geothermal projects is an expensive proposition. To help buy drilling rigs and develop its services, ThermaSource has taken a hefty funding of $41.5 million.
The Santa Clara, Calif. company employs 210 people, but plans on doubling… Continue Reading
InSync Software raises $3M for RFID software
InSync Software, a startup that makes an application platform for use with RFID, GPD and sensor technologies, has raised $3 million in additional financing for its technology from previous investors Intel Capital, Rustic Canyon Partners and Girish Gaitonde Living Trust.
The San Jose, Calif. company is… Continue Reading
Docstoc raises $3.25M, starts running banner ads
Docstoc, a site that’s billed itself as the “YouTube for professional documents”, has raised $3.25 million in a second round of funding. It’s also rolling out a new plan that allows document providers to run banner ads.
The Beverly Hills startup competes against companies like Scribd… Continue Reading
Investment in the green building sector is booming
The green building sector has been awash with VC cash in recent months: Despite there only being a few dozen startups in the nascent field, investors have started paying close attention — helping several raise new rounds of funding.
Newark, California-based CalStar Cement has received $3.4… Continue Reading
Roundup: Ads up, AOL launches mobile social platform, and more
updated
1) Online advertising up 28 percent
2) Yahoo confirms $160M acquisition of Maven
3) AOL to launch mobile soc-net platform
4) Starbucks to offer somewhat-free WiFi
5) Topanga, next-gen lighting, funded by Khosla
6) Stealth division at EA making social games
7) Bored.com sells for exciting $4.5 million
DanceJam gets another $3.5… Continue Reading
Capella wires in $15M more for optical switches
Capella Intelligent Subsystems makes optical switches for traffic management in optical networks. Their switches have the ability to be wavelength-selective, allowing higher level monitoring and routing capabilities.
The company has been around for some time, having been started in 2000 and funded with $44 million. We… Continue Reading
PlayFirst, popular online gaming company, raises $16.5mm
PlayFirst, the publisher of the popular online game, Diner Dash, has raised an eye-opening $16.5 million in its third round of financing.
The company stands out because it’s one of the first mainstream American online game publishers to embed micro-transactions, small payments for access to new… Continue Reading
Citysearch, Merchantcircle connect their local business services
Citysearch, an online guide service about local US businesses, has partnered with MerchantCircle, in an effort to hold their own in the increasingly competitive area of local reviews.
The move comes as Citysearch is under attack from newer, fresher sites like Yelp, which offers reviews about… Continue Reading
MerchantCircle, helps small businesses market online — aggressively
Online advertising remains hot. But with Google, Microsoft and Yahoo fighting to serve advertising to large companies and publishers, smaller business clients are left neglected.
MerchantCircle, a controversial Silicon Valley company helping thousands of small businesses market themselves online, has raised $10 million in financing to… Continue Reading
Serious Materials raises a serious round of $50M for green building materials
Indoor building material-maker Serious Materials has taken on a large $50 million second round of financing to launch a line of environmentally friendly drywall, the most common indoor building material in the United States.
The funding will help the company cover the costs of a manufacturing… Continue Reading
Green building co., Serious Materials, raising $40M plus
Serious Materials, the Sunnyvale, Calif. company that says it makes buildings with environmentally friendly materials, is looking to raise $40 million to $50 million to finance construction of its third manufacturing facility, according to VentureWire (subscription required).
The company plans to launch its drywall product in… Continue Reading
Capella, optical switch company, restarts with $20M
Capella, a provider of optical switches for broadband networks, said it has raised $20 million of equity and debt financing in what amounts to a financial restarting of the company.
Capella sells wavelength selective switches (WSS) for use in reconfigurable optical add/drop multiplexers (ROADM) applications.
The funding… Continue Reading
Visto, Silicon Valley’s most controversial company
The mobile email company, Visto, has become one of the most controversial companies in Silicon Valley.
The Redwood City company has reportedly raised another $35 million in venture backing led by new investor Altitude Capital Partners, adding to the whopping $350 million the company has already… Continue Reading
Global warming, creating green entrepreneurs, and bribing by Exxon lobby?
Now we’re 90 percent sure global warming is caused by humans, according to a major UN report just released.
[Update: And Exxon is fighting back, reports the Guardian, which writes that the AEI, an Exxon Mobil-funded thinktank, offered payments of $10,000 to scientists for articles that… Continue Reading