Loopt aims for that mobile, social and real-time sweet spot with Pulse
Mobile social network Loopt is getting into the real-time game with Pulse, which will bring recommendations for things to do to depending on where you are and what’s popular at the moment.
It pulls in data from content partners like Zagat, Daily Candy and Thrillist along… Continue Reading
Xceive takes in $378K for RFID circuits
Xceive, maker of RFID-based circuits used in a range of electronic devices, has brought in $378,000 in promissory notes, according to a filing with the SEC. Based in Santa Clara, Calif., it is backed by Sequoia Capital, Alliance Ventures, BA Venture Partners and Ignite Group.
Twilight of the venture gods: Is Sequoia spreading itself thin?
Along with Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers, Sequoia Capital is probably the most famous venture capital firm around, but it may have overreached in the last couple years, writes Adam Lashinsky in Fortune.
Lashinsky writes that Sequoia attempted to branch out from venture capital into a broader… Continue Reading
Jive’s Social Business Software gets another $12M from Sequoia
Jive Software, which uses social networking to help businesses collaborate internally and externally, has raised another $12 million from Sequoia Capital.
Portland, Ore.-based Jive’s products include sites where employees can collaborate, customer discussion forums, and company social networks. Despite being part of the flood of companies… Continue Reading
Barracuda gobbles up majority stake in Phion to beef up enterprise security
Barracuda Networks, a Campbell, Calif.-based maker of appliances to block spam and viruses transmitted over the web and email, announced that it bought a controlling interest in Austria-based Phion, a publicly-traded company that installs firewalls for enterprises, for about $18.7 million. Barracuda has been backed… Continue Reading
Financial reporting software maker HyperRoll sells off assets to Oracle
HyperRoll, developer of software for data aggregation and financial reporting, says it will sell off its intellectual and technology assets to Oracle. Based in Mountain View, HyperRoll was backed by Sequoia Capital and Greylock Partners. The deal continues Redwood Shores-based Oracle’s strategy of acquiring smaller… Continue Reading
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… Continue Reading
A123Systems is ready for its close up — preps for tomorrow’s IPO
A123Systems is the name on everyone’s lips today as the most gabbed-about IPO of the week — maybe even of the last few months — preps to go live on the Nasdaq tomorrow morning as AONE. The Watertown, Mass., company made news yesterday, hiking its… Continue Reading
Oorja nabs $500K for methanol fuel cells
Oorja, maker of methanol fuel cells used to charge batteries for forklifts, pallet loaders and other industrial vehicles, has landed $500,000 in convertible promissory notes, according to a filing with the SEC. Methanol is an alcohol-based fuel that produces zero greenhouse gas emissions. Based in… Continue Reading
Ruckus nabs $10.7M for Wi-Fi for internet TV
Ruckus Wireless, maker of Wi-Fi routers for internet television, has brought in $10.7 million of an anticipated $12 million sixth round of venture funding, according to a filing with the SEC. The Sunnyvale, Calif., company did not disclose investors in the round so far but… Continue Reading
fbFund’s dating site Thread raises $1.2 million from Sequoia, Founders Fund
Thread, a dating site that uses Facebook’s social graph to suggest potential matches, raised $1.2 million from Sequoia Capital, First Round Capital, Founders Fund and angel investor Ron Conway.
The site, founded by some of PayPal’s original product managers, helps people find dates through their Facebook… Continue Reading
Sequoia Capital investing in . . . Chinese vegetables and dairy?
Huh, well Silicon Valley’s most respected venture capital firm, Sequoia Capital, has taken an agrarian turn.
It has just invested $63 million into a publicly traded Chinese dairy company, American Dairy Inc., which distributes infant formula, milk powder and soybean, rice and walnut products in China.
Sequoia… Continue Reading
CalPERS commits $60M to Khosla’s new seed fund
The California Public Employees’ Retirement System announced today that it has committed $60 million dollars to Khosla Ventures for its new seed-stage fund. The firm, based in Menlo Park, Calif., and founded by former Kleiner Perkins higher-up Vinod Khosla, has invested in 70 early and… 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… Continue Reading
Quantenna adds new funds for wireless video chips
Quantenna, maker of chipsets used to improve video functionality in televisions and laptop, has added an unspecified amount to its third round of funding, which previously amounted to $13.8 million.
Based in Fremont, Calif., the company has now raised $44 million to date ($2 million more… Continue Reading
Voice messaging startup Bubble Motion confirms $6M in funding
Bubble Motion, a company that allows users to send voicemails as if they were SMS text messages, announced today that it has raised $6 million in a third round of funding. Based on a regulatory filing, we first covered the Mountain View, Calif. company’s funding… Continue Reading
eMeter takes $32M to help utilities switch to smart meters
eMeter, maker of software that helps utilities integrate data channeled from new smart meters in residential and commercial areas, has brought in $32 million in a third round of funding to meet rising demand.
While this financing, provided by Sequoia Capital and Foundation Capital, will help… Continue Reading
OpenDNS takes funds to prevent outages, block sites
OpenDNS, a Domain Name Service provider that helps users avoid ISP outages and block specific web domains, has raised an undisclosed amount of first-round funding from Sequoia Capital and Greylock Partners. Founded in 2006, the San Francisco-based service reported that it was handling 7 billion… Continue Reading
Sense Networks gets $6M in hotly contested deal for “tribe” advertising
Sense Networks, a company that can track “tribes” of people — such as those who like the same bars and same movies — to better target them with instant advertising, has raised $6 million in new venture financing in a hotly contested deal.
Semiconductor giant Intel… Continue Reading
Mahalo plans to pay users who add “topic pages” to search engine
Mahalo, the underdog search engine that depends on human-generated content for a spam-free experience, has decided to pay users who add more content to its network. Right now it only has 100,000 pages in its system and draws 5 million unique monthly users. The only… Continue Reading