AOL execs add oddly, allege examiners -- Eight AOL executives are facing fraud charges at the conclusion of a six-year long investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission into alleged revenue overstatement of $1 billion during the company's merger with Time Warner. Four of the men have already settled. Given the company's historic performance, it's surprising the remaining four haven't gotten away with pleading incompetence. More at the WSJ.
MetroFi municipal WiFi throws in the towel -- It's the end of the road for MetroFi, one of several startups that envisioned free municipal WiFi around the nation. The company is looking for a buyer in the nine cities in which it still operates networks. The company had raised some $15 million from August Capital, Sevin Rosen Funds, Western Technology and individual investors. Mobile fingerprint companies point fingers at each other -- Following a suit brought by AuthenTec (NASDAQ: AUTH) alleging patent infringement, Atrua Technologies has turned around and counter-sued, with one exec telling VentureWire, "Some information came to light that it was a frivolous suit, intended to harm our business." Mobile authentication is a rapidly growing business, which has led to plenty of in-fighting in the courts; just last month, AuthenTec won a judgement against Atmel, a third company in the space that had sued it. We also recently reported a $4 million funding for Atrua.
Bay Area tech immigrants headed home as conditions improve -- Bay Area Vietnamese American immigrants are returning to that country in growing numbers as the standard of living rises, as described in a pair of San Jose Merc articles here and here. As one happily remarks on suddenly being able to afford maid service six days a week, "You've got to have your first IPO in the U.S. before you get that." Though Vietnam is a relatively small source of immigrants, if the same happens down the road with Chinese and Indian transplants, the Bay Area may find its talent pool significantly drained. Advanced Equities set to pour $5B each year into late-stage venture -- Advanced Equities Financial has opened an online market for large-stage venture investors, according to VentureWire. The firm brings together groups of investors on a deal-by-deal basis to put money into companies already backed by high-profile, early-stage venture outfits. It says it's gearing up to put $5 billion yearly into the category.
DuPont and Schott wade into the thin-film game -- The thin-film solar cell game is already crowded with multiple well-funded startups, and still only accounts for a miniscule portion of the solar cells actually sold each year. That isn't preventing industry giants DuPont and Schott Solar from wading in. DuPont will have an R&D facility in Hong Kong and thin-film silicon plant in Shenzhen, China, while Schott is splitting off a separate production facility and business arm in Jena and Putzbrunn, Germany.
Thin-film solar startup Solyndra says goodbye to several founders -- Three high-level members of the original technical team of thin-film CIGS startup Solyndra have headed to greener pastures, according to Green Light. The departures may indicate that Solyndra, like other CIGS manufacturers, has run into some developmental difficulties. Trulia launches real estate ad network -- Real estate startup Trulia, which we reported last month is booming amid the housing bust, has launched the Trulia Ad Network to sell targeted ads across sites including Oodle, Homes & Land and The Savvy Source. The press release is here.