Good news for Airspan

"Airspan Scores Ericsson OEM "

[Unstrung]

CMO Council to study active relationship networking

"The Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) Council has launched a new initiative it's calling 'Grow Who You Know: Scaling Active Relationship Management.' The new initiative is meant to identify strategies and best practices for marketers so they can use relationship networks to improve sales cycles, strengthen customer value, and retain and grow accounts, according to the organization."

[eChannelLive]

4D Inc. Integrates Yahoo!'s Flickr into MarketBlast

"4D Inc. Integrates Yahoo!'s Flickr into MarketBlast to enhance photo-hosting ability for new 4D eBay-selling tool"


[Press Release]

Next Estate Communications

Another Sequoia / Moritz deal. Sequoia funded them in Feb 03 but didn't participate in the latest round of financing, according to venturesource. Next Estate was founded in 1999 and there are only 5 employees. Company seems to compete with epassporte.com, which like Neteller and the other payment processing companies, has been getting tons of traction with the rise of online poker.

DVD Burning Kiosks

Haven't found a business that has entered this market yet, but speaking to some of the retail analysts in the space the idea seems to be a no brainer.

If anyone comes up with one of these businesses, let us know - techstartups@gmail.com

WeatherBug

Good company to track. Moritz is on the board and Sequoia plopped some money into the company (AWS Convergence Technologies; 185 employees; founded in 93) )- $113M post w/ a $23M raise last March 2004. They are based in MD of all places. The AOL deal that they inked last year was probably a reason for Sequoia to invest.

the first RSS focused VC fund is announced--$100m

"Jim Moore and John Palfrey have launched RSS Investors with $100m of capital. It is the first VC fund with a focus on Really Simple Syndication, (RSS), the syndication technology at the heart of media technologies such as blogging and corporate news communication."

[SiliconValleyWatcher]

More here. Check out Jim Moore's bio here.

Lots of skeptics around this fund specializing in RSS family of standards and services.

eMachineShop

The CEO blogs too.

China: Mobile data stats

* Mobile phone subscriptions in 2004: 340 million (15 percent growth year over year, 26 percent of the population in China)
* Total number of wired and wireless subscriptions in China: 650 million

* Mobile phone subscriptions by 2007: 500 million, 35 percent of the population

* China Mobile Communications profit: 20 percent on revenue for 2004

* Subscribers who use 300 minutes every month: 200 million (costs about 100 yuan renminbi?$12 US)

* SMS messages sent in 2004: 220 billion

* SMS messages sent during Chinese New Year holiday this year: 11 billion (three times normal usage)

* China telecom industry annual growth rate: 10-percent-per-year for wired, 15-percent-per-year for mobile

[Susan Mernit's Blog]

Rumours of potential CNET sale

Shares of CNET Networks Inc. surged more than 10 per cent Thursday based on a published report that the company is looking for a buyer.

[Canada.com]

Celebrity Pictures & Tags - CelebrityFlicker.com

Microsoft Prowling for Acquisitions?

"Maybe it's just because today marks the close of Microsoft's fiscal 2005 that there are so many rumblings out there about potential Microsoft acquisitions. Whatever the reason, the rumors are flying fast and furious. One rumor has Microsoft buying VoIP communication tools player Teleo. And then there's talk of Microsoft buying direct marketer/adware/spyware vendor Claria. As the folks over at TechDirt note, unless Microsoft was planning to buy Claria in order to shut it down, there'd be some serious backlash if Microsoft were to spend $500 million 'for one of the most hated companies in the world.'"

[Microsoft Watch]

Venture Capital Business is a Dud

"While a venture capital guy saying that the venture business is a dud is a little like a grocery store owner warning others against opening their own stores -- it's arguably self-serving -- the quotes from Greylock Partners' Bill Helman in this snippet from a longer piece about the venture industry's current fortunes are candid feeling"

[Infectious Greed]

It's a great time to be an entrepreneur

It may be a great time to be an entrepreneur as Joe Kraus states, but it was a better time to be an entrepreneur back in 99, 00. Exits for startups these days are much, much lower than in the heyday (e.g. 1-5x acquisition / rev multiples).

It may be cheaper, but it's still going to be tough to exit at an attractive valuation. More on cost of a launch from 37signals

Now playing on Google: 'Matrix,' 'Family Guy'

Google's new video search tool is turning out to be a little more expansive than the company planned, with users uploading copyrighted content ranging from the last "Matrix" movie to the "Family Guy" cartoons.

[CNET]

MSFT / Claria - $500M?

So says SearchViews.

Feds Target Unauthorized Online Exchange

"The Justice Department is waging a new attack on Internet pirates, targeting illegal trading in first-run movies, video games and other copyrighted materials. "

[Yahoo! News]

More on Intermix / Myspace Form 10-K

"In December 2004, the Company issued one million shares of common stock and a five-year warrant to purchase an additional 150,000 shares of common stock at $4 per share to entities affiliated with Redpoint Ventures (collectively Redpoint) for a total purchase price of $4 million. The Company and Redpoint also entered into a registration rights agreement applicable to the common stock and shares to be issued upon exercise of the warrant. "

That means Redpoint has doubled their money in a matter of 7 months. MIX is currently trading at $8.79.

Myspace vs. Friendster

According to the just released 10K, Intermix/Myspace reported nearly $79M for fiscal year ended 2005. 2004 revs were $52M. "The increase in revenues was attributable to growth in both business segments with the product marketing segment producing $48.5 million in revenues in fiscal year 2005 compared to $29.1 million in fiscal year 2004, and the network segment producing $30.5 million in revenues in fiscal year 2005 compared to $23.8 million in fiscal year 2004."

What are Friendster's revenues? Most likely under $79M - probably in the 10 - 30M range. And how about TheFaceBook? Most likely diminimus since they have not inserted too many ads into their site yet. Page views on the site pale in comparison to the other leading social networking sites. What was Accel thinking paying $90M pre for the company?



And myspace vs thefacebook? No comparison.

Adware Companies Not Breaking Law

" Adware companies do not break trademark laws when they use a retailer's Web address to trigger coupons and other ads for rivals' products, a federal appeals court has found. "

"The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals becomes the nation's highest court to rule on a fundamental practice of adware companies that serve up pop-up and other ads based on sites users visit. Lower courts around the country had issued conflicting opinions."

[AP]

This decision may be a reason for MSFT's bid for Claria.

Google Shares Mapping Technology

"Google Inc. is throwing the doors open on the technology used to power the search engine's mapping service, allowing developers to create Web sites and software applications that merge Google's mapping information with data elsewhere. "

[AP]

Grokster response from Cuban

The Microsoft-Claria deal: Read all about it

Wonder what Eliot Spitzer will think.

ReVolt Technology Draws VC Funds for Rechargeable Battery

"ReVolt Technology AS (Trondheim, Norway), a startup that has developed a rechargeable zinc-air battery, announced that it has received about $8.5 million in a first round of financing by Northzone Ventures, Sofinnova Partners, Techno Venture Management and Viking Ventures. ReVolt was formed as a spin-off from contract research institute Sintef in 2004, and is led by Chief Executive Officer Nils Kristian Nakstad."

[PowerPulse.Net]

Battery companies are trading in the 0.5 - 1.0x revenue multiples range. It'll be difficult for the VC's to make any money on Revolt unless their technology is revolutionary and/or the VCs got in at an attractive valuation.

Startup Blinkx Searches Podcasts, Video Blogs

"Blinkx, a startup company trying to build a name with video search, added Wednesday to its online service the ability to search podcasts and video blogs.
The San Francisco company, which launched its service about six months ago, uses voice-recognition software to search multimedia files, delivering what it claims are more accurate results than the major portals, such as Yahoo Inc., Microsoft Corp.'s MSN and Google Inc.
Blinkx's site focuses on TV video, which it searches and shows through partnerships with content providers, such as CNN and Fox News. In order to gain access to content not available for free over the web, Blinkx, like other video search engines, has to negotiate agreements with the content providers. "

[TechWeb]

ServiceSource - Profile

Dirt: Any business that can grow 100% year after year and get to double digit millions of dollars in revenues, based on a pay-for-performance model is bound to continue to grow like a weed. ServiceSource smartly does not state how exactly it is able to extract more cash for its clients - it's the secret sauce.

[Alarm Clock]

Good San Jose Mercury article on how Benchmark jumped at the opportunity.

Sequoia Capital raises $200m. for third Israeli fund

"Silicon Valley-based Sequoia Capital, one of the most successful venture capital firms in the world, has raised $200 million for its third Israeli fund, bringing the total amount of money under its management in the country to $390m. "

[Jerusalem Post]

Google sued over 'click fraud' in Web ads

"A seller of online marketing tools said on Wednesday it sued Google Inc., charging that the Web search giant has failed to protect users of its advertising program from 'click fraud,' costing them at least $5 million. Click Defense Inc. filed its lawsuit, which also seeks class action status, on June 24 in U.S. District Court in San Jose, California."

Scott Boyenger, chief executive of Colorado-based Click Defense, said in an e-mail that his company's tracking system has detected click fraud rates of as high as 38 percent. The company sells software to prevent click fraud.

[AP]

Etch-A-Sketch to Be on U.K. Cell Phones

"For doodlers who can't get enough etching and sketching at home, Etch-A-Sketch is coming to a cell phone. "

[AP]

Start Spreading the News

All three of Union Square's investments have been guided by these bullet points. There's Instant Information, a startup that's applying the open-source model of collaboration to Wall Street research. There's Tacoda, an online advertising outfit that's working on a system for behavioral ad targeting. And there's Del.icio.us, a startup that describes itself as a "social bookmark manager."

What all these investments reflect, as well, is Wilson's enduring passion for media, marketing, and finance -- three industries he thinks will be turned on their heads by the proliferation of Web services. "The Web is going to capture an increasing share of people's attention, and billions of dollars are going to flow in," Wilson says. "What Web 2.0 is about is harnessing those dollars in highly leverageable ways." Pointing to Google (GOOG) and Yahoo (YHOO) as examples, he says, "The potential profitability here is simply amazing."

Wilson may be right about that, but he shouldn't get carried away. If what he's saying is true, the capacity of any firm to defend its position is likely to be vanishingly small. An explosion of Web services, cheaply and quickly produced and released, may prove a massive boon to consumers. But that doesn't mean that it will cough up a plethora of highly profitable companies -- or a slew of big scores for VCs. Moreover, none of Union Square's investments at this point exactly has "the next Google" written all over it.

[Business 2.0]
More tidbits:
Instant Information - founded by Multex.com founder and Multex.com CTO. Flatiron also invested in the fourth and mezzanine round of financing of Multex way back in 7/97 and 12/98.

Tacoda - Founded by David Morgan, a founder of 24/7 Media. Tacoda is backed by Masthead and Union Square. If anyone from the firm is reading this, your "About" page is broken

India's renaissance: The $100 computer

"In about three months, a little-known company called Novatium plans to offer a stripped-down home computer for about $70 or $75. That is about half the price of the standard 'thin clients' of this kind now sold in India, made possible in part by some novel engineering choices. Adding a monitor doubles the price to $150, but the company will offer used displays to keep the cost down. "

[CNET]

Michael Kanellos at CNet is calling the device the Holy Grail of home computing: "a desktop that will start to bring the Internet to the more than 5 billion people around the world who aren't on it yet."

Yahoo My Web 2.0 Beta Social Search Engine

As reported from Wendy Boswell who runs About's Web Search section. Guess they won't be buying a social bookmarking company - Del.icio.us - anytime soon.

Mixonic

"San Francisco based Mixonic is a combination of old and new media, helping to simplify the creation and production of customized CDs, DVDs and related custom packaging through technology. At our core, we develop DVD and CD duplication software and websites that enable the creation, purchase, sale, printing and distribution of customized CDs and DVDs. Our emphasis is on short run CD duplication and DVD duplication and printing, generally up to 1000 units, for customers who need high-quality product quickly. We operate a direct to consumer CD & DVD duplication site at www.mixonic.com and build custom-branded CD and DVD duplication services websites for our partners (learn more about our partner services). We produce and fulfill orders on-demand and serve the needs of customers throughout the US and 100 countries around the world. "

Just How Much Did VCs Pocket On Google?

Fascinating piece from Bill at Burnham's Beat

PubSub

"PubSub is a matching service that instantly notifies you when new content is created that matches your subscription. Using a proprietary Matching Engine, PubSub is able to read millions of data sources on your behalf and notify you instantly whenever a match is made."

Daypop

"Daypop is a current events search engine. Daypop crawls the living web at least once a day to bring you the latest information relevant to your searches."

Dan Chan of Daypop was listed in the Always On OpenMedia100

AlwaysOn Announces 100 Top Private Company Award Winners

"The AlwaysOn AO 100 Top Private Companies for 2005:
2Wire, 360 Commerce, Agitar, Airgo Networks, AmberPoint, Anagran, Application Security, Approva, Arbortext, ArcSight, Aruba Wireless Networks, AuctionDrop, AuthenTec, Axentis, BitFone, Blazent, Blue Arc, Blue Lithium, Bytemobile, Cafe Press, Cambridge Positioning Systems, Cavium Networks, CipherTrust, Colubris, Crossbow Technology, Danger, DataSynapse, DBS Communications, DemandTec, Digital Chocolate, DivX Networks, Dust Networks, eASIC, eCredit, Egenera, Elemental Security, Encover, Endeca, eSilicon, Everbee, Fios, Force10, Fortinet, Frontbridge, GeoTrust, Good Technology, GraceNote, HelloSoft, Ikanos, IMLogic, Impinj, Infinera, Infoblox, Ingenio, Inxight Software, IronPort, Isilon, Linden Lab, Linkedln, Massive Incorporated, Matrix Semiconductor, Mediabolic, Mellanox, Melodeo, MFORMA, Mobile 365, MontaVista Software, MySQL, Narus, NeoScale, Netezza, NetMotion Wireless, NexTag, Orb Networks, PhoneBites, Posit Science, Pronto Networks, Quova, Rackspace Managed Hosting, Reactivity, Reactrix, Securify, Seven, Skype, SourceFire, SS8, Technorati, Tellme, Unicru, UPEK, Veraz Networks, Virsa, Visto, Vocera Communications, Voltage Security, Vonage, Whole Security, Xfire, Zantaz, Zettacore."

Cleantech Brings the Green

"The color green has started to take on new meaning for Wall Street. Investing in clean technology, or cleantech products that reduce pollution and conserve energy has long been confined to investors concerned about the fate of the planet and the impact of fossil fuels on the environment. Today, cleantech has attracted new investors that realize the money-making potential of environmentally friendly technology. "

[Red Herring]

Who Will Google Buy Next?

Technorati, Buzznet, Koders, Gurunet, Del.icio.us, StumbleUpon, Propel, Newsgator, Swapthing, Browster, god? Kure5hin analyzes whom Google may acquire next.

India's renaissance: U.S.-style labor pains

"All of the VC funds want to go to India," said Dham, whose venture capital firm is based in Silicon Valley, "but most don't know how to do it."

Such cultural clashes reflect the rapidly changing nature of India's high-tech world, where an industrial renaissance has created not only an unprecedented economic boom, but also Western-style growing pains in employee recruitment and retention. Turnover in the software services industry runs at about 15 percent a year on average, and can exceed 30 percent at some companies, according to various sources.


[CNET]

Populicio.us

Del.icio.us popular sites.

Wired 7.08: Must Read

Here's a blast from the past article on Benchmark's Bill Gurley circa August 1999:

Bill Gurley, the newest partner at venture firm Benchmark Capital, may not have the star power of Morgan Stanley's Mary Meeker, his cohost at July's Internet Summit '99 conference. But just give the 33-year-old a few months.

Now at Benchmark - which he likens to the old Chicago Bulls - Gurley personifies the new breed of young investor-consultants who, so far at least, can do no wrong.

[Wired]

Read Bill's Above the Crowd column (now in blog form) here

Benchmark Capital Funds Profitable ServiceSource

"ServiceSource, an outsource sales organization focused exclusively on increasing support and maintenance revenue for technology companies, today announced $10M in funding from Silicon Valley-based Benchmark Capital. This recent funding is combined with existing investments from Housatonic Partners, high-tech executives and other notable individual investors. ServiceSource joins Benchmark Capital's prestigious list of successful portfolio companies, which includes eBay, Juniper Networks, and Red Hat. ServiceSource will use the recent funding to acquire new customers, scale operations and expand its global reach. "

[MarketWire]

Hiring Key to E-LOAN's Search Strategy

"Executives with consumer loan site E-LOAN say hiring people with analytical and math skills -- not just marketing prowess -- for the site's search marketing program is paying off.
The site has hired individuals with backgrounds in economics, computer science and investment banking for search management, rather than executives with marketing degrees, for the past few years.
'We realized pretty quickly that traditional marketers with soft skills would not be able to do the trick,' said Imran Khan, director of marketing for E-LOAN. 'We're dealing with a large number of keywords and data from search engines every day, where keywords are being bought and sold in an auction environment.' "

[DMNews]

VoIP provider CallWave offers mobile features

From Fierce VoIP:

"VoIP provider CallWave aims to help its subscribers never miss a call with its new Follow Me Home feature. The service allows cell phone users to route their cell phone calls to their residential VoIP phone. Follow Me Home will be available first as part of CallWave's new mobile prepaid phone plan. The offering provides several VoIP-enabled call features specifically developed to conserve cell minutes and improve call management, including Follow Me Home, Mobile Call Screening and Mobile Call Transfer. Monthly subscriptions start at $3.95, plus a one-time shipping and activation charge. Also included is a Nokia handset, nationwide long distance and 60 minutes of talk-time. Recharge minutes are available for as little as $0.15 per minute."

Read the News@2 Direct article here:

Sun to Acquire SeeBeyond for $387 Million

"Announcing its second major acquisition in less than a month, computer maker Sun Microsystems Inc. said Tuesday it will buy business-integration software provider SeeBeyond Technology Corp. for $387 million in cash."

[AP]

About a 2.3x acquisition / LTM rev multiple and nearly 30% premium to yesterday's stock closing price.

Cramer's 'Mad Money': Google's Not Done

"On the day that Internet-search company Google closed above $300 for the first time, Jim Cramer said on CNBC's 'Mad Money' that the stock has more room to rise. 'The bottom line is Google is not done,' Cramer said. He said Google had a 'weigh-station stop' at $300, but he believes the stock will reach $350 a share. 'Google is cheap,' he said. 'Stocks trade on growth. And there is no company that has the growth that Google has.'"

[TheStreet.com]

China's Internet Users Top 100 Million

"China's population of Internet users has surpassed 100 million, the government said Tuesday. China already has the world's second-largest population of people online after the United States, which has 135 million."

[Yahoo! News]

PartyGaming surges after biggest float in 5 yrs

Shares in online casino group PartyGaming (PRTY.L: Quote, Profile, Research) surged on Monday after it completed the biggest London flotation in five years, taking its market value to about 5 billion pounds.

Analysts said that PartyGaming was trading at around 13 times earnings, a significant discount to rival Sportingbet (SBT.L: Quote, Profile, Research), which trades on a 2006 PE ratio of 19.5, reflecting some of the risks it faces.

[Reuters UK]

CA Acquires Tiny Software

"Computer Associates International, Inc. today announced the acquisition of Tiny Software, Inc., a privately-held developer of endpoint security technology for Windows desktops and servers, including the Tiny Personal Firewall. Financial details of the all-cash transaction were not disclosed."

[Yahoo]

More from Tech Confidential

CNN searches for its identity

It's profitable and has the affluent viewers advertisers love, but some say the ever-changing news giant doesn't know what it is.


[Atlanta Business Chronicle]

Plug-in hybrid car would run on venture capital

"With oil prices hitting new highs, venture capitalists are considering a kind of car you can plug into your home power outlet at night. And one person they'll be hearing from soon is Palo Alto's Felix Kramer."

[The Seattle Times]

US Summit Partners closes $3bn PE fund and $300m VC fund

"Boston-based Summit Partners has closed two new funds, a $3bn private equity fund and a $300m venture capital fund. The funds will invest in late stage businesses across a range of sectors, predominantly in North America but with an increasing emphasis on Europe.

Summit Partners Private Equity Fund VII will make investments ranging in size from $25m to $400m per company, while Venture Fund II will invest from $5m to $25m per company.

The firm will take minority and majority positions in companies in a variety of emerging growth industries, including technology, healthcare, business and financial services, and consumer and industrial products.

Existing investors accounted for more than 85 per cent of the capital raised for the new funds. "

[AltAssets]

Cisco to acquire NetSift

"Network equipment maker Cisco Systems Inc. says it's buying privately held NetSift Inc. of San Diego for approximately $30 million in cash and options. Cisco of San Jose says the NetSift acquisition will help it accelerate integration of additional packet processing capabilities into future core Cisco platforms, such as modular switching."

[Bizjournals.com]

At Cingular, the Ogo is a no-go

"No. 1 U.S. cell phone operator Cingular Wireless has stopped selling the Ogo, a BlackBerry-like wireless handheld, but said on Thursday that it will continue to support the devices that have already been sold. "

"As a data-only device, the Ogo does not fit into Cingular's handset strategy" of offering devices capable of both data applications and phone calling, Cingular said in a statement."

[CNET News.com]

And the OGO pales in comparison to the Sidekick II.

Google To Launch Online Video Playback This Monday

"I've confirmed that Monday Google will launch an in-browser video playback feature based on the open source VLC media player. This is the logical next step for Google's video search and upload function, which began taking uploads from anyone who cared to submit back in April. "

[John Battelle's Searchblog]

Biometric payment systems beginning to catch on in US

The touch of a finger may replace the swipe of a credit card in a new payments systems that backers say is growing rapidly in the US and has potential around the world.
Some retailers and consumers are giving rave reviews for the new system, in which customers use a finger scan to authorize payments from bank accounts.

Rival Pay By Touch, based in San Francisco, has signed up major retailers including the Piggly Wiggly grocery chain and is in talks with 'the top 100' US retailers and Britain's Co-op retail group, said marketing director Shannon Riordan.

[Taipei Times]

From Staples to Shanghai

"Here's another sign that free enterprise has a huge future in China: Thomas G. Stemberg, the serial entrepreneur, was in Shanghai this month scouting for young companies to back with venture capital."

[New York Times]

Read Tom's bio here.

Future Windows Will Include RSS Support - Yahoo! News

"Microsoft Corp. said Friday that the next version of its Windows operating system will have built-in support for Internet data feeds, an increasingly popular way to get news and other information channeled straight to a computer. "

"Wilcox cited research that shows about 6 percent of consumers have an RSS reader on their computers, which makes him wonder if this move is going to be worth Microsoft's while."

[Yahoo]

Bad news for Newsgator

The CEO's Secret Handbook

It started decades ago as flashes of insight scribbled on loose scraps of paper. Then it morphed into a PowerPoint presentation that distilled years of business wisdom into a handful of easy-to-remember aphorisms. Last year it became a 76-page spiral-bound booklet clad in a plain gray cover. Eventually, Warren Buffett received a copy -- and liked it so much that he asked for dozens more to give to his CEOs, friends, and family.

[Business 2.0]

A must-read. Read the Business2 blog for access to the article (if you're not a subscriber)

Open Source Meets Venture Capital

"In late 2004 and early 2005, high-level matters dominated conversations and predictions about the open source market: the legal ramifications of using open source, how the community could establish an intellectual commons for germinating new technologies, and so on. In recent weeks, however, the discussion has taken a far more granular and competitive direction."

[IEEE]

Nanomech memory promises faster, less power hungry storage

[Engadget]

More from NewScientist.com

INVESTORS FLOCK TO CLEAN-TECH

"Ira Ehrenpreis may be a kind of prophet advocating investments in alternative energy companies, but don't accuse him of being noble.
In recent months Ehrenpreis, a venture capitalist at Technology Partners in Palo Alto, California, has been asked any number of times to speak to audiences about 'clean tech,' a term that encompasses things like solar energy, water purification systems and alternative automotive fuels. "

[SmallTimes.com]

RED HERRING | Baidu Plans July IPO

Baidu Plans July IPO
Heavy subscription expected for highly anticipated Nasdaq IPO.

RED HERRING | Women in Tech: Jennifer Fonstad

"The Riskmaster is a daffy rock anthem that plays while you're on hold at Draper Fisher Jurvetson. The high-profile VC firm in Menlo Park, California, is known for early-stage investing, hence the song, written by Tim Draper and performed by a rock star who prefers to remain anonymous. "

Why All That VC Cash Is Causing Jitters

"Five years after the internet bubble burst, institutional investors are once more lining up to put money into venture-capital funds. Last year pension funds, foundations, and endowments shoveled $17 billion into the coffers of North American venture firms -- up 67% from 2003, according to researcher Thomson Venture Economics (NYSE:TOC - News). Experts predict the number will surpass $20 billion this year. "

[BusinessWeek]

Naked Censorship?

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Overstock to pay $25M for online travel firm Ski West

"Overstock.com Inc., the Salt Lake City online closeout retailer, said it agreed to pay $25 million for Ski West Inc., a Park City, Utah, online travel firm. Overstock will pay additional funds depending on the performance of Ski West, which the company said is profitable. Ski West gives consumers access to lodging, vacation, cruise and transportation bargains. The offerings are primarily ski areas in the U.S. and Canada, with recent expansion into the Caribbean and Mexico. Ski West also offers cruises. Overstock expects to close the deal July 1."

[Marketwatch]

Interesting acquisition.

IBM expands on demand portfolio with Meiosys buy

"IBM has purchased privately held middleware company Meiosys, which specializes in application relocation software, Big Blue announced Thursday. The move will help IBM broaden the information on demand and virtualization capabilities of its existing Unix and Linux middleware, the company said in a release. "

[Infoworld]

Meiosys raised over $13M from Alven Capital, Cisco, Wellington, and others. Company was profitable when it raised a $7.5M round in September of 2004. Financial terms of the acquisition were undisclosed.

New Energy Capital Closes $30 Million Financing

At a major conference focused on investments in renewable energy, California Controller Steven Westly announced today that the California State Teachers' Retirement System (CalSTRS) - the nation's third largest public pension fund - and VantagePoint Venture Partners, one of the nation's largest and most active venture capital firms had co-invested $30 million in New Energy Capital Corp., a leading clean energy company. Westly sits on the Board of Directors of CalSTRS and has been instrumental in its efforts to increase the pension fund's investments in clean technology.

[LivePower News]

Searching for the next Salesforce

"Michael Gregoire sure hopes so, and he's not alone. Gregoire, a former PeopleSoft executive, recently took the helm at San Francisco start-up Taleo. It's one of a few dozen software start-ups emulating Salesforce, which is shaking up the $10 billion market for customer relationship management, or CRM, software and threatening industry leader Siebel Systems with a groundbreaking business model. "

[Cnet]

SugarCRM, Netsuite, Intacct, Enviance, BlueRoads are just a few others in the salesforce on-demand landscape.

The Bubble's New Home

YALE ECONOMIST ROBERT SHILLER delivers his forecast for U.S. housing with a scholarly diffidence that only slightly mutes his stark message: The market is in the throes of a bubble of unprecedented proportions that probably will end ugly.

In the real-estate market, Shiller contends, a price slide could begin at any time with the crescendo of what he describes simply as "talk" -- a word that he uses to cover everything from the recent Time magazine cover story on the vertiginous rise in home prices and the popularity of cable-television shows about rehabilitating and investing in real estate to the breathless newspaper stories of Miami condos being "flipped" for profit a half-dozen times before construction even begins.

[Barron's Online]

EBay Encourages Sellers to Build Web Sites

Eager to find new sources of income and keep its sellers from striking out on their own, eBay Inc. launched a new service Thursday that encourages small- and medium-sized sellers to build Web stores that operate independent of the e-commerce powerhouse.

[Yahoo]

Clear Channel expands radio content through podcasting

Clear Channel Radio said Thursday that it will make radio programming available through podcasts at 11 new radio stations. The company will launch 10 more stations later this week.

[San Antonio Biz Journals]

Compliments to Evan Harrison, EVP Clear Channel Radio and Head of the company's Onlin Music and Radio Unit for foreseeing the huge appetite for station-created, short-form content via multiple delivery formats.

New Energy Capital Closes $30 Million Financing

"At a major conference focused on investments in renewable energy, California Controller Steven Westly announced today that the California State Teachers' Retirement System (CalSTRS) - the nation's third largest public pension fund - and VantagePoint Venture Partners, one of the nation's largest and most active venture capital firms had co-invested $30 million in New Energy Capital Corp., a leading clean energy company. Westly sits on the Board of Directors of CalSTRS and has been instrumental in its efforts to increase the pension fund's investments in clean technology."

[LivepowerNews.com]

Intel Invests in Datallegro

"Aliso Viejo-based Datallegro Inc. added Intel Corp. to its $15 million second round of funding, the company said Thursday.
The maker of software for storing and searching data announced its second
round of funding last month. Intel joined in to help further product development, according to Datallegro.
Intel is the biggest name yet to kick in money to the startup."

[OC BJ]

A Housing Bust? Don't Hold Your Breath

"IF YOU'RE A SENTIENT BEING, you've no doubt read something about the 'housing bubble' this week.
And why not?"

1. Speculation's the problem, not housing demand.

2. All bubbles aren't created equal.

3. A catalyst goeth before a fall.

4. It's not Apocalypse Now or Armageddon Tomorrow.

[Barron's]

How many people really believe HOWARD R. GOLD's semi-bold predictions? Everyone and their mom who's buying real estate.

ProfitLine Closes $15 Million Round of Series B Funding

"ProfitLine, the premier provider of telecom expense management services, today announced it has completed a $15 million round of Series B financing. The round was led by FTVentures and included participation from current investor, Menlo Ventures."

[TMCNet]

Cmode

Cmode - Contactless payment in Japan.

[Joi Ito flickr]

SAP Buys Lighthammer

"Enterprise software giant SAP acquired manufacturing industry software developer Lighthammer for an undisclosed amount, officials announced Wednesday. The purchase is intended to bridge the gap between the plant floor and the corporate network and deliver what officials at the Germany-based company call adaptive manufacturing, or the ability to dynamically replenish the supply chain given unpredictable changes."

[InternetNews.com]

Charlene Li's Blog: Google Wallet musings

The New Europe

"Danny Rimer of Index Ventures says the hottest up-and-coming region right now is Eastern Europe. "

[Dealflow / Busines Week Blog]

As BW Blog points out, Danny's made some interesting investments lately (and in the past), including Skype (led third round w/ DFJ), MySQL, Betfair, Dropshop (Auctiondrop Europe), Neoteris/Juniper, etc.

BroadWare's financing fuels its move into new markets

"BroadWare Technologies, a provider of distributed video surveillance, secured a new round of funding led by venture capital investor Kinetic Ventures in mid-June.

The round, valued at $7.2 million, includes new funding from corporate investor Cisco Systems, as well as additional investments from venture capital firms Dali Hook Partners, McKenna Ventures and Sigma Partners. The financing allows the company 'to expand more aggressively into new markets,' according Bill Stuntz, chief executive officer of BroadWare, and fuels new product development for that initiative."

[SecuritySystems.com]

Alabama Man Sets New World Record Cash-In of Largest Penny Collection

Coinstar, Inc. customer Edmond Knowles today broke the world's record of the largest-ever single cash-in of pennies, totaling 1,308,459 pennies (or $13,084.59). The cash-in took place at the Flomaton, Ala., Escambia County Bank's Coinstar machine.

"Coinstar estimates there is more than $10.5 billion in loose change sitting idle in American homes. To date, Coinstar has helped consumers in more than 290 million transactions convert their loose change into more than $10 billion in spendable cash. "

[Yahoo News]

BadFruit site smells suspicious

As yet, the programmers behind the BadFruit site remain anonymous, although several clues point to a corporate identity. Unlike most basement- hacker projects, the software comes with a sophisticated privacy policy and terms of use that may indicate bigger plans for the future.

[SFGate]

Miami's housing 'bubble' biggest in nation

Miami-Dade's unprecedented property boom has a new distinction: It is the fattest real estate ''bubble'' in the country, according to a recently released report.

The gap between prices and local incomes has grown faster in the Miami metropolitan area than in any other U.S. city, according to the report by Merrill Lynch. The study was prompted by Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan's observation this month that there are ``signs of froth in some local markets.''

[Miami Herald]

It's only a matter of time when the bubble will burst - read '99, tulips all ovah again.

Everything You Need to Know About Bonds

Good overview from the folks at Pimco. And read Bill Gross' investment outlook

Biometrics Making Inroads With Laptops

"Biometric technology is taking another leap toward widespread usage as Hewlett-Packard Co. ships new laptops with fingerprint readers.

The nx6125 notebook PC includes a fingerprint sensor made by AuthenTec Inc., which says HP is the biggest computer maker to offer a biometric reader as standard equipment. The computer, aimed at the business market, sells for $1,000 and up."

[AP]

Big win for Authentec. It is still unclear whether fingerprint sensors will become standard in laptops. It's a nice to have feature, and certainly not a need to have yet.

Speech Recognition a Reality?

"Speech recognition has arrived, quietly, and not at all in the way the science-fiction writers predicted. There’s no robotic voice and most of it isn’t in your home. The technology has turned up in reservation systems, banks, and other high-volume services. SR, as the industry calls itself, is a fast-growing, high-tech market that is nowhere near maturity—one that has achieved credibility with both consumers and financiers, and which may eventually become ubiquitous."

[RED HERRING]

Divergent Ventures

"A new early-stage venture capital firm is being created in Seattle by two former investment professionals from Paul Allen's Vulcan Ventures and a 10-year veteran of Microsoft Corp.
Kevin Doren and Kevin Ober, both of whom worked at Vulcan in the late '90s, have joined with Rob Shurtleff -- a former manager and software developer at Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard and Digital Equipment Corp. -- to create the new fund."

[SeattlePI.com]

Cybird Agrees to Pay $60 Million for Airborne Stake

What's happening at Airborne? Everyone there is now rich, rich rich.

"Cybird Co., a Japanese provider of games, ring tones and other content for mobile phones, agreed to pay $60 million for a majority stake in closely held Airborne Entertainment Inc. to expand in North America.
Cybird said it will set up a U.S. subsidiary to acquire 85 percent of Montreal, Canada-based Airborne, which provides services similar to its own. The Japanese company said the purchase is part of plans to focus on North America, where it estimates the mobile-phone content market will more than double to $2.6 billion in fiscal 2005 from the year before. "

[Bloomberg]

Very profitable deal for Insight VP, who invested in Airborne last July. Read it here

Cisco muscles into software (AON)

At its Cisco Networkers customer conference in Las Vegas on Tuesday, Cisco detailed the first products from its Application-Oriented Networking (AON) unit, a widely anticipated initiative meant to move the company beyond its core Internet routing business and into messaging middleware.

Partners, including SAP, Tibco Software and IBM, said they intend to build products tied to the AON gear.

[CNET News.com]

Cisco's Chambers outlines aggressive plans

"At a conference for Cisco customers here Tuesday, Chief Executive John Chambers said in a keynote speech that the company expects to announce it's designating a new 'advanced technology' about once every three to four months in the coming fiscal year, which begins in August. Cisco's advanced technologies are product areas that it believes have the potential to reach $1 billion in annual sales."

"Some people believe that Cisco's new "application-oriented networking" initiative, or AON, which will move the company beyond its core Internet routing business into messaging middleware, is a good candidate for the advanced technology label. Cisco announced details of AON and named new products associated with the initiative on Tuesday. But Chambers was reluctant to commit the new product category to the expectation of becoming a billion-dollar market in the next three to five years."
[CNET News.com]

Accidental invention boosts fortunes for bagel entrepreneur

Janet Dob found a better way to boil a bagel, by mistake.
Her accidental invention gave rise to a business, entangled her in red tape, left her morose in her pajamas, exposed her to the helping hands and hurdles of government and finally became her life's work.

[Marinij.com]

Blue Chipping

In 23 million years, Google will fall to the rebellion. And no, we don't mean 'Ask Jeeves'

"Google Will Eat Itself is the sort of Web-based conceptual art project that could only have been conceived somewhere between the second and third hits off somebody's brushed-steel, Bauhaus-inspired bong. Dig: Two European net.artists set up a faux blog whose sole purpose is to collect advertising dollars through Google's revenue-sharing AdSense program. "With this money," the artists explain, "we automatically buy Google shares via our Swiss e-banking account."

[Village Voice]

Green Tinge Is Attracting Seed Money to Ventures

"Top venture firms on Sand Hill Road in Menlo Park, Calif., are beginning to show serious interest in the alternative energy sector, though that typically means venturing outside their core expertise. They hope to capitalize on the growing worldwide demand for energy at a time of rising energy costs, and they see potential for huge profits in technology that can address challenges like climate change and dwindling natural resources. "

[NY Times]

Ping Identity Receives Investment from SAP Ventures

"Ping Identity Corporation, the leading provider of federated identity management software solutions, today announced the addition of SAP Ventures as the final participant in its over-subscribed Series B financing. Proceeds from SAP Ventures, a division of SAP AG, investment will be used to expand Ping's rapid growth into products and services that target business-to-business integration. "

[Press Release]

MTV Networks purchases Neopets Inc.

"Viacom's MTV Networks said Monday it acquired privately owned NeoPets Inc., owner of virtual pet Web site Neopets.com. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed, but media reports estimate the value at about $160 million. "

[LA Biz Journals]

Chinese Blogger Slams Microsoft

Twenty-eight floors above the traffic-choked streets of China's most wired city, blogger and tech entrepreneur Isaac Mao sums up his opinion of Microsoft and its treatment of the Chinese bloggers with one word. "Evil," says Mao. "Internet users know what's evil and what's not evil, and MSN Spaces is an evil thing to Chinese bloggers."

Mao, 33, knows something about the topic. In 2002, he was one of China's first bloggers, and since then his ideas on harnessing blogs, peer-to-peer and grass-roots technologies to empower the Chinese people have made him a respected voice in the global blogosphere.

[Wired News]

China gets its head into gear

"China is putting down roots for a domestic semiconductor and materials industry that could eventually go global, posing a potential threat to competitors and intellectual-property protections. No one thinks this will take place overnight, but many consider it inevitable. As part of China's wider strategy of self-reliance, building a semiconductor equipment and materials industry would allow Chinese companies to glean more benefit from the country's fast-growing semiconductor and electronics market."

[EETimes.com]

Ethernet start-up wants to be on every server

"Start-up Level 5 Networks Inc. believes it can solve the growing problem of inefficient Ethernet connectivity with its EtherFabric network card and software. Emerging from stealth mode Monday, executives at the 50-person company also talked up their ultimate ambition for EtherFabric to ship with every server sold worldwide, directly positioning their offering against current iWarp and InfiniBand interconnect technologies. "

[Computerworld]

Does Google Expect To Succeed Where Yahoo Stumbled?

"As Google reportedly prepares to launch an online payment service, the company might want to ponder Yahoo's experience.
Yahoo and others, such as Citibank, shut down their own online payment services after failing to gain market share."

[IBD]

Clean Economics

"The color green has started to take on new meaning for Wall Street. Investing in clean technology, or cleantech products that reduce pollution and conserve energy has long been confined to investors concerned about the fate of the planet and the impact of fossil fuels on the environment. Today, cleantech has attracted new investors that realize the money-making potential of environmentally friendly technology. "

[RED HERRING]


Cleantech is as hot as the social networking phenomena of years past. Cleantech investing though will continue for years to come.

TechCrunch

Good company profiling from the guys at Archimedes Ventures

More On Click Fraud

"The truth is probably, as always, somewhere in the middle. There is probably more fraud happening than the engines will admit, or find, and less than the advertisers claim. But it's maddening that we don't have a way of knowing for sure, because Google and Yahoo will not engage with the advertisers in a high level dialogue of trust, one where the two sides can compare notes. I hope that changes soon. "

[John Battelle's Searchblog]

Didn't anyone read this piece from CNN.com:

A top Google official said that growing abuse of the company's lucrative sponsored ad-search model jeopardizes the popular Internet search engine's business. "I think something has to be done about this really, really quickly, because I think, potentially, it threatens our business model," Google Chief Financial Officer George Reyes said Wednesday.

Microsoft Online Launches Search Feature

"Catching up with rivals Google Inc. and Yahoo Inc., Microsoft Corp. on Monday unveiled an improved search service that delivers results tuned to users' location. MSN Local Search delivers both the listings of local sites and a map that includes virtual pushpins indicating each for each location. It was expected to be available as a 'beta' service starting late Monday at http://search.msn.com."

[AP]

Don't bet on Web gambling crackdown, experts say

"Online-poker company PartyGaming has warned investors that the U.S. government could interfere with its operations, but observers say that's about as likely as drawing four aces in a game of five-card stud.
U.S. law enforcers are unlikely to directly pursue PartyGaming -- which plans a public stock offering in London next week -- or any other online-gambling company due to unresolved legal questions, several industry experts said. "

[Reuters]

Google vs. Yahoo: Clash of cultures

"As the two giants tussle for domination of online advertising dollars, it's increasingly clear that this tug-of-war is really a test of what kind of corporate culture an Internet company needs: Is it a by-the-numbers and increasingly Hollywood-savvy environment like Yahoo's? Or can an intellectual playground like Google continue to grow and thrive even as it approaches $4 billion in annual revenue?"

[CNET News.com]

USPS, eBay co-brand parcel service

"The U.S. Postal Service and Internet auction site eBay have teamed up to offer a co-branded Priority Mail shipping service. Special boxes with a flat rate of $7.70, regardless of weight or destination, can be used by those who buy or sell items through the eBay Web site, the firms said on Monday. The boxes come in different shapes and sizes and carry logos of both USPS and eBay. "

[CNET]

With Google's entry into ebay's space, (read G-bay / paypal), eBay will have to look for other ways to increase revenue (e.g. acquisition of Shopping.com, Rent.com, Kijiji, and the 25% Craigslist ownership stake). Perhaps an entry into the mobile payment processing arena makes sense for the company?

Azure secures $15M VC round - 2005-06-16

"Revenue assurance company Azure Solutions lined up $15 million in new financing. The round was led by Doughty Hanson Technology Ventures with participation from Intel Capital, New Venture Partners, AG Edwards, and Hexagon Investments. Azure has a number of carrier-grade revenue assurance and fraud prevention products, including Data Integrity, Wholesale and Interconnect Billing, International Settlements, Fraud Management, Mediation, Management, and Route Optimization. The company was spun out of BT in 2003."

[Fierce Wireless / Denver BJ]

mamma

Mamma.com Inc., (the "Company"), (NASDAQ:MAMA - News), a leader in Internet search and online advertising, today announced the beta release of its innovative Health Search, the first installment of several deep web search verticals for its industry-leading metasearch engine. The deep web search is powered by Mamma.com's search engine technology, and CloserLook Search Services, Inc develops the deep web technology. To visit Mamma.com's Health Search, please go to http://www.mammahealth.com .

More on Yahoo

Podcasts come early to iTunes via BadApple software

"BadFruit Inc. has released software that turns iTunes, the online music store run by Apple Computer Corp., into a podcast downloading machine. It adds a directory of thousands of podcasts with a few mouse clicks. The person behind the so-called BadApple software -- released even as Apple is working on its podcasting features for iTunes -- is unknown."

"A message on the BadFruit.com Web site explained the programmer's motive. "I'm worried that when and if Apple adds podcast support they will only list a few podcasts that they approve," he said. "Remember, this is a company that sues Web sites that say good things about their upcoming products -- bad Apple! BadApple gives you access to all podcasts -- even ones which Apple might disagree with and never list in iTunes software."


[CBS Marketwatch]

Israeli start-ups work on environmental technology

"Israeli entrepreneurs and venture capitalists, who traditionally have focused on software, electronics and medical devices, now see a growing opportunity to make money from technology to clean up the environment. "

"Nir Belzer, managing partner of the Millennium VC management firm, said he is setting up what will be Israel's first fund to support the cleantech industry."

[Yahoo! News]

Audoioscrobbler.com

"Sick of Friendster? Bored of MySpace? There's a new social networking site in town, and it's got a twist that will keep even the most jaded of Internet users interested--at least for a time.
Audioscrobbler.com is an online social network that rolls the concepts of Friendster and iTunes into one. Like Friendster or MySpace.com, users create profiles and make networks of friends by linking themselves to others. The fun part comes with no more effort than that. Audioscrobbler uses a plug-in to a computer's music player to track what songs a user is listening to. So at the end of the day, you can check to see what your friends have listened to most, ranked by most recently played, most-played artists and most-played tracks."

[CNET]

Logos Bible Software

"Since its inception in 1992, Logos Research Systems, Inc. has grown from a couple of programmers in a basement into the largest developer of Bible software and a worldwide leader in multilingual electronic publishing.

We partner with more than 100 publishers to make more than 4,000 electronic Bible study resources available to customers around the world. Our technology is used in more than 180 countries in a dozen languages.

Logos is headquartered in the friendly city of Bellingham, Washington, USA, and has a subsidiary in Johannesburg, South Africa."

LogoWorks Receives $9.3 Million in Equity Funding

"LogoWorks, the leader in custom graphic design services for small businesses, today announced it has received a $9.3 million round of equity funding in a round co-led by Benchmark Capital and Shasta Ventures.


LogoWorks also announced that Bob Kagle, general partner of Benchmark Capital, and Tod Francis, managing director of Shasta Ventures, have joined its board of directors. Kagle is best known as the lead venture investor in eBay. Kagle's other investments include AllPosters.com, Art.com, eBags, Friendster, Jamba Juice and zipRealty. Francis has also invested in several consumer-oriented investments, including BabyCenter, Blue Nile, FatBrain, Next Card and WeddingChannel.com"

[Press release]

Company competes with Branders.com, CafePress, Customink, and others in the custom graphic design services vertical.

More on Google's paypal

"Google's flagship search engine and its Froogle shopping service are significant sources of customers for Internet stores. But so far, Google's only way to profit from its presence in online shopping is by selling advertisements that appear next to its search results and on Froogle pages.
Google has long been rumored to be developing a classified advertising service, one that would compete with eBay and with the popular free site Craigslist. A payment system would help Google bring into its marketplace individuals and small businesses who are not authorized to accept credit cards online. "

[NY Times]

Inventor launches longer-lasting security cam

"An inventor says he has come up with a better way to keep tabs on children, homes and other property: a wireless security camera that can go months without a change of batteries.
Similar security cameras either need to be plugged into a power outlet or run continuously on batteries that last less than a day. The Mailbox Cam -- at $199.95, more expensive than many security cameras -- extends the life of its three AA batteries by letting users control the device remotely, turning it off and on at will. A built-in timer also ensures that the camera is not accidentally left on for extended periods."

[CNN]

Net Stocks: Will MySpace.com keep its lead?

"The big question is does one buy Intermix because of MySpace.com? MySpace accounts for about a quarter to a third of Intermix's sales, some investors estimated. If a stock movement is any guide, apparently the answer is yes."


[Bambi Francisco / Marketwatch]

Sorry Bambi. We wouldn't touch this stock given its 80+% appreciation since early May. We''d wait for a cool off before buying.

What TV's most popular dads earn

Today's TV dads average salaries of $195,000 after adjusting for inflation, according to Salary.com. By contrast, the favorite TV fathers of the 1950s made an average of about $75,000 a year in today's dollars.

A few salaries are bound to raise eyebrows, too. According to Salary.com, Sandy Cohen of "The OC" would only pull down $113,780 as a lawyer in one of the priciest areas of the country. By contrast, Andy Taylor of "The Andy Griffith Show" would make $84,019 in the quaint southern town of Mayberry, North Carolina.

Then there's everyone's favorite tall, square-jawed, neck-bolt-sporting father, Herman Munster. He's a gravedigger, but Salary.com gave him a promotion, listing him as an undertaker making just over $47,000.



[CNN / Money]

Cell Phones Now Playing Role of Wallet

"Already a device of multiple disguises, from camera to music player and mini-TV, the cell phone's next trick may be the disappearing wallet. After all, since more than a quarter of the people on the planet already carry around cell phones, and hundreds of millions are joining them every year, why should they bring along credit and debit cards when a mobile device can make payments just as well?"

[AP]

Xoom

Online to offline international money transfer services is a large and underserved market. For whatever reason the Paypal and Netellers of the world have yet to offer such a solution. Western Union does. They are Xoom's main competitor. Sequoia, an early investor in Paypal, and NEA are investors in Zoom, which is based in San Francisco. Last round ($12M) was done in March 2005. Peter Theil, former CEO of Paypal and Keith Rabois, former EVP of Paypal sit on the board.

Google plans pay service to rival PayPal

"Google Inc. this year plans to offer an electronic-payment service that could help the Internet-search company diversify its revenue and may heighten competition with eBay Inc.'s PayPal unit, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday. Exact details of the search company's planned service are not known, the report said, but quoted people familiar with the matter as saying it could have similarities with PayPal, which allows consumers to pay for purchases on Web sites by funding electronic-payment accounts from their credit cards or checking accounts."

[WSJ/ Reuters]

Interesting move by the search giant. Most of the companies revs are derived from advertising. "Depending on the exact details, Google's move could potentially threaten eBay's successful PayPal service, which generated $233.1 million, or 23 percent of eBay's revenue in the first quarter, the newspaper reported."

Intel expands its Wi-Fi chip technology

"Intel on Friday unveiled chip technology designed to support all current and projected Wi-Fi standards, moving the chip giant closer to its vision of one chip for all radios.
The chip technology prototype will support Wi-Fi standards ranging from the current 802.11a to standards requirements expected for 802.11n. The all-CMOS direct conversion dual-band radio transceiver moves Intel closer toward its goal of offering one chip that can handle multiple radios in a single device. "

[Tech News on ZDNet]

Hologram coupon ads are here

"HoloDeem, Inc. of Kirkland, Wash., recently introduced the HoloDeem Coupon Machine, a three-sided kiosk about the size of a refrigerator. Shoppers walking by the front of the machine see 3-D holographic aerial images and video. The images appear to float in space. The company calls them holo-ads and holo-mercials. Computer touch screens mounted on both sides of the kiosk give shoppers an opportunity to learn more about the holo-advertised products and receive coupons. "

[al.com]

Venture Capital: Edmond leaves online porn far behind

"Andrew Edmond is running a new technology startup.

But this time, the Seattle entrepreneur said it has nothing to do with the online pornography business.

'I have washed my hands of that,' said Edmond, who co-founded Seattle adult Web hosting company Flying Crocodile and served as its chief executive until 2001. 'I am tired of it. I am done with it. And I will never get into that again.'

In 1997, Edmond co-founded Flying Crocodile -- a company that grew to prominence by hosting pornographic Web sites and tracking the number of visitors they attracted. It was big business, with the company at one time employing 180 people, generating more than $35 million in revenue and operating a data center with 80 racks of computer servers.
Edmond said he regrets many of the decisions that, young and immature, he made at Flying Crocodile. "

[Seattle PI]

Google Takes Search Mobile

"Google has rolled out a beta version of a search tool specifically designed for mobile phones. For some time, the company has had a portal through which wireless phone users can access the mammoth search engine.

Now, though, users can choose to receive in their results list only those sites that have versions specifically formatted for the small screens of mobile handsets."

[Yahoo! News]

Healthcare IPOs Swoon, Leading Some to M&A

"As the U.S. initial public offering market in general has sputtered this year-down 7% in volume from the same period last year-the healthcare sector has been hit especially hard, tumbling 76%. That has given rise to a couple of new developments. The healthcare IPOs that are making it to market these days are generally for companies with proven products-such as life-extending medical devices popular with baby boomers-rather than products or drugs still in development. What is more, several IPO-ready healthcare companies in recent weeks have pulled back from the very brink of going public, and opted instead to sell out to existing public companies. "

[IDD / Fierce Finance]

Clovis attracts $11 million in new venture capital

"Petaluma's Clovis Solutions was founded in the depths of the high-tech recession in 2002, when other Telecom Valley companies were shedding employees or closing their doors.

Three years later, the startup has an $11 million infusion of venture capital and is rolling out its first product, a new software platform for server giants Hewlett-Packard and IBM."
Clovis won $5.4 million in financing in 2003 from San Francisco-based Walden International and Palo Alto-based Sevin Rosen Funds, two venture capital companies.

[The Press Democra]

NetApp to buy security company | CNET News.com

"Network Appliance, a maker of storage devices and software, has agreed to acquire data security specialist Decru for about $272 million in cash and stock, NetApp said Thursday."

[CNET]

Great return for investors Ascend, Benchmark, Greylock, In-Q-Tel, NEA, Star and Sumitomo. Only $44M total raised with last institutional round raise of $27M in July 2002 .

Bringing Ellison's storage baby to market

"Four years of research later and the storage company financed by Oracle head honcho Larry Ellison is finally moving product out of the door and naming its first customers. San Jose, Calif.-based Pillar Data Systems is to launch the SAN (storage area network) version of its Axiom hardware, software combo in three to four weeks, while the NAS (network attached storage) release quietly slipped into the market in April. "

"Pillar is garnering plenty of attention thanks to Ellison, the company's sole investor to the tune of $150 million via his Tako Ventures LLC firm. The firm already employs 325 staff, 70 percent of them in research and development, and is expanding aggressively. Pillar is also aggressively pricing its products, which it claims are easy to install, are flexible and will simplify storage management. "

[Network World]

VeriWave Secures Series B Funding Led by Woodside Fund

"Woodside Fund, an early-stage venture capital firm, today announced that they recently led the Series B equity funding for VeriWave, Inc., a Portland, Oregon-based provider of wireless local area network (WLAN) test solutions. Existing investors U.S. Venture Partners (USVP) and TL Ventures also participated in the round. Woodside Fund Venture Partner Ashish Gupta joined the VeriWave Board of Directors in conjunction with the investment. Venture Partner Rick Shriner also attends Board meetings and supports the company on behalf of Woodside Fund.


The company will use the new capital primarily to support product development and sales and strengthen its operational capabilities for international growth as the company extends its leadership in the WLAN test solutions space. According to the Telecommunications Industry Association the market for WLAN-enabled products is growing dramatically, representing over $5 billion of revenue in 2005 and driving the need for comprehensive test solutions for WLAN development, QA, and manufacturing."

[BusinessWire]

Skype Users Can Now See Each Other While Talking

"New vSkype Plug-In Brings the Skype Community Together With Live Group
Visual Communications, Including Video, Audio, and Data Sharing Today Santa Cruz Networks launched vSkype Beta, the first in a series of plug-ins enabling IM users to engage in video, voice, and data sharing calls right from their IM client. With vSkype, Skype users can now see who they are talking to while sharing applications, spreadsheets or photos in real-time. Whether one-to-one, in groups of 10, or in large meetings -- face-to-face is better with vSkype."

[TMCNET]

PartyGaming founders rake

"Anurag Dikshit, group operations director, is the biggest shareholder with a stake worth $3.6 billion at the mid-point of the indicated range. Other co-founders Ruth Parasol and her husband Russ de Leon have a combined stake worth about $3.6 billion, and Vikrant Bhargava, its marketing director, has a stake worth $1.2 billion."

[Reuters]

Funny that they (2 IIT grads, 2 HLS grads) don't want any fame or press - ie. their pictures posted anywhere online.

PartyGaming raising $2 bln as poker booms

"PartyGaming, the world's biggest online poker company, said its backers will raise up to 1.14 billion pounds ($2.1 billion) in a London share listing, less than expected as concerns over the legal status of online gaming persist."

The move underscores a dramatic global boom in online poker playing. PartyGaming, formed in 1997, now reaps a profit of almost $1,000 every minute as it pulls in revenue of $100,000 every hour of the day.

[Reuters]

The only question is, as the article notes, the legality of providing a service to customers who could potentially be breaking the law in their own country. Other than that, there is almost nothing stopping the growth of online gambling especially poker.

Cisco Completes Acquisition of M. I. Secure Corporation

"Cisco Systems today announced it has completed the acquisition of privately-held M. I. Secure Corporation of San Jose, Calif. M. I. Secure is focused on the development of advanced features and functionality for security and VPN solutions. This purchase brings unique security technology expertise and a team of proven security architects to Cisco.
Under the terms of the agreement, Cisco will pay up to approximately $13 million in cash for M. I. Secure. M. I. Secure is now part of Cisco's Security Technology Group (STG). "

[Press Release]

I4U Photo Gallery: dead or alive 4 model

E3 2005 Booth Babes!

Dialpad Part of Yahoo?

More analysis on the Dialpad acquisition from Andy at VoIP Watch. Part of the reason for a Dialpad acquisition and not Skype acquisition is because of Brad Garlinghouse's close ties to Dialpad. Conflict of interest (e.g. Sequoia's startups / Cisco relationship)? Yes, but no. Or is it yes.

[VoIP Watch]

Digital Railroad Raises $5.2M

"Digital Railroad said Tuesday it has raised $5.2 million in a Series A round of funding from VC firms Morgenthaler Ventures and Venrock Associates.

The New York City-based company, which makes web-based applications targeting professional photographers, said it plans to use the money to expand its photo distribution, management, and archiving platform.

The company already offers photographers digital workspaces with tools to edit, display, and sell images. Earlier this year, the company introduced RSS feeds for photo buyers, which help them get customized streams of images that match their interests."

[RED HERRING]

FWD: MY DATE LAST NIGHT

MY DATE LAST NIGHT --- OMG GUYS READ THIS - 32
Reply to: anon-71676183@craigslist.org
Date: 2005-05-04, 5:49PM EDT

"When I did my taxes this year I found out that I spent over $14,000 on Dates last year. Most of that was spent on dinner and drinks in Manhattan. Now don't get me wrong, I had some very good times, some great sex, some good conversations. Hell, I even made a good friend along the way, but mainly I came away from the date feeling extremely disappointed and with a lighter wallet. Date by date it's not THAT much money but it all adds up fast!"

[Craigslist post]

Categorize this under funny.

Yahoo! Buys Dialpad - not Skype

Yahoo Inc. said Tuesday it had acquired DialPad Communications Inc., a 6-year-old company whose software lets people to place calls over the Internet for a fraction of the cost of regular telephone service.

The companies would not release financial details of the deal, which closed Monday.

[AP]

Dialpad, based in Milpitas, raised a 6M round in March 02 and another undisclosed round in July 04. Investors include Serome Tech, SS Soft, and individuals.

Skype was probably too expensive.

Coolidge Quotation

This happens to be Bill Kaiser's (Greylock) fave quote from a VCJ article in 02:

"'Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful people with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan press on' has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.' - Calvin Coolidge "

Yahoo May Be Buying Skype

"According to a number of credible blog postings, Yahoo! is currently in acquisition talks with Skype, the VOIP provider. If this deal happens, expect both Google and Microsoft to move fairly quickly into the VOIP market with acquisitions of their own."

[Ogadei blog]

$200M, $500M, $1B?

SiBEAM Raises $15 Million in Series A Funding

"SiBEAM, Inc., a developer of gigabit wireless technology, announced its launch today to meet the growing demand for high-bandwidth services over wireless networks. SiBEAM has secured $15 million in Series A funding from New Enterprise Associates, US Venture Partners, and Foundation Capital.
With years of academic research behind its core team, SiBEAM will utilize the Series A funding to further its development of wireless technology for the next level of wireless communications, enabling gigabit data rates. The founding executive team comprises world-leading experts in wireless technology and systems design. Dr. Bob Brodersen, chairman of SiBEAM, was involved in founding Atheros Communications, a leading developer of semiconductors for wireless communications products. Additionally, Dr. Brodersen is an established world authority on wireless communications and has been a UC Berkeley professor for 33 years and co-director of the Berkeley Wireless Research Center. "

[Press Release]

More in today's venturewire:

"The Fremont, Calif.-based company says it's aiming to meet the growing demand for high-bandwidth services over wireless networks. The company is still in what John Marshall, vice president of sales and marketing, calls "pseudo-stealth mode," saying only that it's developing wireless technology that can enable gigabit data rates for wireless communications. "We are envisioning that the technology can be used by a range of different companies - PC manufacturers, consumer electronics companies, peripheral manufacturers," Marshall said.

Chief Executive Tim A. Williams added, "It is not for Wi-Max, not for ultra-wideband." Forest Baskett, general partner at New Enterprise Associates and SiBeam board member, called it "a new category of wireless." Arati Prabhakar, partner at U.S. Venture Partners, said her firm is "very excited about the potential of the technology, which is fundamentally going to take wireless capabilities at a completely new level." Prabhakar, who is a SiBeam board member, said the objective is "to take it to first product."

Company's website is still stealth. Company will likely need another 20 - 50M of funding to launch product and grow sales down the road.

Intel sets up venture capital fund for China

"The fund will initially invest in companies concentrating on cellular communications, broadband applications for consumers and semiconductor design, but the focus will broaden over time. The companies, Intel hopes, will both increase the adoption of technology inside China and become exporters.
Intel Capital, now one of the largest VC firms in the world, seeks to get a return on its investments, but its primary objective is to jump-start companies that could help expand the number of places and ways computers are used. In the past, Intel has created specialized funds to help companies focusing on applications for its Itanium processor and consumer electronics. "

[Tech News on ZDNet]

Data Domain reduces data storage requirements by 20:1

"With data storage requirements growing astronomically, backup windows shrinking dramatically and the cost and administrative problems of tape management getting out of hand, users are looking for ways to ensure data protection in new, more cost-effective ways.
With the availability of less expensive disk, it has become feasible to implement new backup strategies using disk-to-disk (D2D) technology, with tape used largely or only for archiving and off-site backup. "
[Computerworld]

Agere sells rest of LDMOS product line

"Peak Devices Inc., a radio-frequency (RF) transistor manufacturer, has acquired certain assets related to Agere Systems Inc.'s RF power LDMOS portfolio.
This includes the production wafers, die, packages, lids and select specialized assembly equipment for the manufacture and support of transistors that produce more than 10 watts of RF power.
'The resulting portfolio will be one of the industry's broadest, covering power levels of one-quarter watt to over 500 watts, and operating voltages of 3v to 50v for bands between 1-MHz and 4-GHz,' commented William McCalpin, chief executive of Peak Devices (Boulder, Colo.). "

[CommDesign]

Blogger Mobile

Google's answer to Flickr.

Online music firm Snocap goes indie route

"Snocap, the content management system for music distributed via peer-to-peer networks, is set to open its digital registry Monday.

Chief strategy officer Shawn Fanning described Snocap as a music registry that would serve as a clearinghouse for files that consumers are trading among themselves."

[Yahoo! News]

Gannett Acquires PointRoll Inc. - $100M

"The Gannett Co. announced on Friday the acquisition of the stock of PointRoll Inc., a company that provides technology for rich media ads. Merrill Lynch estimates the deal at $100 million, according to a note released today. PointRoll was represented by The Jordan, Edmiston Group and will initially report to USA Today.

The rich media company offers a way for advertisers to expand ads through mouse roll-overs that can temporary inflate banners or bring up additional windows within a given ad space. PointRoll also provides floating ads.

'We believe that [PointRoll's] clever and popular approach to interactive advertising, along with their continuous innovation, will be a nice fit,' USA Today President and Publisher Craig Moon said in a statement.

PointRoll COO Chris Saridakis will become CEO. Jules Gardner, PointRoll's founder and CEO, announced he is leaving the company.

PointRoll is profitable with a fast growth rate, according to Merrill Lynch. The research firm suggested that 40% of its revenues comes from consumer brands like P&G, Kraft, Kellogg, and Nestle. Gannett will most likely roll out the technology to the rest of its Web properties. Merrill Lynch called the acquisition a nice non-traditional fit though it will have a small net impact on Gannett. "

[E&P]

Jackson Acquitted But Money Woes Persist

Facing a debt load of about $340 million and dwindling prospects for generating new sources of income, Jackson is expected in the coming weeks to work on restructuring his finances. The debt, which was recently purchased from Bank of America (nyse: BAC - news - people ) by a hedge fund, Fortress Investment Group, comes due later this year.

Jackson's primary objective, according to a source close to the singer, is to restructure the debt and avoid being forced to sell his valuable music publishing businesses, which together are worth over $650 million.

[Forbes.com]


Need I say more?

Rustic Canyon Funds Newspapers

"A Texas-based Latino newspaper group has received an $18-million investment from a pair of venture and equity firms including Rustic Canyon Partners of Los Angeles.

The funding, announced Sunday, is to be used by Meximerica Media, publisher of the Rumbo chain of Spanish-language newspapers, to complete development of papers serving the Austin, Houston, San Antonio and Rio Grande Valley regions of Texas and to launch additional Rumbo papers in that state. "

[LA Times]

Geobloggers - the map is the territory

Cool new site. CNN reports of "Google tinkerers making data come alive". The article references two other sites that use google to make "data come alive": floridasexualpredator.com, housingmaps.com.

Online Ad Spending Seen Growing 29% In 2005

"Merrill Lynch reiterated its forecast for U.S. online advertising spending this year. 'We continue to estimate a 29% increase in U.S. online spending this year to $12.4 billion,' Merrill said. The research firm expects a 21% compound annual growth rate through 2009, with spending reaching $25 billion. Merrill raised its estimates on Google, saying the new valuation makes the company 'more palatable, but not compelling.' The research firm raised the 2006 revenue estimate on Google to $5.2 billion from $5.1 billion, and increased the earnings growth rate for 2005 to 2009 to 22% from 18%. Elsewhere in the sector, Merrill said broadband access price cuts could accelerate broadband penetration."

[Forbes.com]

Are all ad and ad related companies tracking well? Valueclick one of the recent high flying ad companies today announced acquisition of an ink and toner product online retailer, E-Babylon (in addition to its acquisition of Web Marketing Holdings for $141M). Read the story here. Not sure why an ad company would want to get into the ink and toner business unless its own ad business was struggling for the 29% growth. Wall street seems to think there's value in the acquisition though, driving up VCLK's stock price 5% post announcement.

Check out VCLK's 1 year chart vs. GOOG:

T-Mobile: 450,000 People Paid to Use Wi-Fi

"T-Mobile USA disclosed user statistics from its Wi-Fi business for the first time Monday, reporting that 450,000 customers have paid to access the wireless Internet service in the past three months.

The cell phone company declined to provide a year-ago customer tally for comparison, but did release figures showing a sharp increase in usage for the service, which provides high-speed Internet access for laptops at locations such as Starbucks coffee shops, airports and hotels.

For example, T-Mobile Hotspot users are staying online an average of 64 minutes per login in 2005, up from 45 minutes last year and 23 minutes in 2003. The total number of log-ins has totaled 3 million in the past three months, vs. about 8 million in all of 2004."

[Orlando Sentinel]

According to T-Mobile's Hot site, a pay as you go data plan for 60 minutes of usage will cost you $6. If all 450k users signed up for the $6 pay as you go plan (some probably opt for the $29.99 / month national plan), that's only a $2.7M business and that's a money losing proposition for T-Mobile for all the capital and marketing that has been invested into the hotspot launch.

Proxim Sells Out

"Beleaguered wireless equipment provider Proxim (Quote, Chart), stung last year by losing a $22.75 million dollar lawsuit to Symbol, announced this weekend that it would 'sell substantially all assets' to Moseley Associates of Santa Barbara, Calif., for $21 million to become a wholly-owned subsidiary. Moseley is planning to 'preserve most of Proxim operations,' according to a statement. This acquisition gives it a portfolio of wireless products running from 200MHz to 38GHz radio spectrum."

[InternetNews]

Miasole Closes $5.4 Million in Funding

"Miasole, a manufacturer of thin-film solar cells for the direct conversion of sunlight to electricity, today announced the closing of $5.4 million in venture funding. VantagePoint Venture Partners, one of the largest venture capital firms in the United States with more than $2.5 billion in capital under management led the financing. VantagePoint was joined by Firelake Strategic Technology Fund, Garage Technology Ventures and Nippon Kouatsu Electric Company. Venture Banking Group also participated in the round. "

[Freshnews.com]

This round was announced back in May. Siliconbeat reports a $16M round led by Kleiner Perkins.

Bloglines Plumber

Hi,
I'm the Bloglines Plumber. Bloglines is down for a little fixer upper. We'll now be back at 1 Am Pacific Time. Bloglines will be all better when I'm done with it.

Thanks,
The Bloglines Plumber

[Bloglines home page]

Looks like Jeeves' long lost brother.



Or the guy that owns them both. Barry Diller.

Playboy Files Registration Statement

"Playboy Enterprises, Inc. ('Playboy') announced that it has filed a shelf registration statement on Form S-3 with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The shelf registration statement, which has not yet become effective, relates to the resale by holders of the $115 million outstanding aggregate principal amount of Playboy's 3.00% convertible senior subordinated notes due 2025 of the notes and the underlying shares of Playboy's Class B common stock issuable upon conversion of the notes. Playboy issued the notes in March 2005. Playboy will not sell any securities pursuant to the shelf registration statement."

Aruba edges Cisco for Microsoft Wi-Fi deal

"Aruba Networks has won a major wireless contract with Microsoft, beating out Cisco Systems.
Microsoft plans to use Aruba's wireless switches and roughly 5,000 Wi-Fi access points to replace its 6-year-old wireless gear from Cisco, Aruba plans to announce Monday.
The new deployment is considered one of the biggest of its kind in the world, serving more than 25,000 simultaneous users each day across more than 60 countries around the world. Microsoft will deploy the gear in 277 buildings covering more than 17 million square feet. Financial terms of the contract have not been disclosed."

[CNET]

Gracenote gets nod of recognition

"Japan's KDDI mobile phone service is launching a new subscription music service, using Gracenote's automatic music-recognition technology as a front end. Subscribers can hold up a phone and let it recognize a song being played on the radio or bar jukebox, and then download that song to the phone.
This kind of music recognition tool is becoming more common on phones around the world, but this may be the first time it's been integrated so deeply into a major carrier's music subscription service. "

[CNET]

Think of Gracenote as the Google of music search. In April 05 the company announced that it is used in over 200million applications and devices and by over 1.6M people per day. Read here. Sequioa and Bessemer are investors.

Flickr: Photos tagged with transparentscreen

Careless keystrokes: More firms to monitor staff email - silicon.com

"A new study has found that 63 per cent of corporations with 1,000 or more employees either employ or plan to employ staff to read or otherwise analyse outbound email.

The report, released on Monday by email security specialist Proofpoint, said 36.1 per cent of companies employ staff to monitor email today, with another 26.5 per cent saying they intend to employ such staff in the future. "

[Silicon.com]

Interview, Part I: Jason Ford, Sprint General Manager (Games)

Sprint was one of the first US operators to offer games when it launched a series of text-based games in 2000. Since then, the Overland Park-based carrier has been one of the most successful purveyors of games. Its Game Lobby community—launched late last year—has more than half a million users who have posted 6 million scores, 40,000 reviews spanning more than 65 different titles. Sprint General Manager Jason Ford has been there since day one—when he acted as Sprint’s one-person gaming department. MobilePlaya chatted with Ford recently about what games are popular, how they get the greenlight, and the gradual evolution of the mobile market.

[Mobile Playa]

Protonex grows VC round to $11M

"Fuel cell power system manufacturer Protonex Technology Corp. announced that its second round of funding has increased to $11 million from $9 million, with the extra $2 million coming from three investors. "

Nokia and Intel push to get WiMAX out this year

"Mobile phone and network company Nokia (NOK1V.HE) and chip giant Intel (INTC - news) said on Friday they would step up their efforts and collaboration to make WiMAX a new standard in mobile broadband Internet access. Intel has been the driving force behind WiMAX, touting it as the long-distance broadband Internet sibling of Wi-Fi which it turned into a success with its Centrino chipsets for laptops."

[Yahoo! News]

Polyfuel confirms plans to go public

"Polyfuel, a Mountain View, California-based fuel cell company, on Thursday confirmed reports that it plans to go public this month on the Alternative Investment Market of the London Stock Exchange.
The AIM is considered a halfway house to a main stock market listing for small and growing companies. Under British regulations, Polyfuel cannot talk widely about its IPO plans. However, the company is reportedly hoping to raise 12 million ($21.8 million) from the offering, which will bring its value to 40 million ($72.8 million). "

Deal Flow Is Dead, Long Live Thesis Driven Investing

"Deal flow has long been regarded as the lifeblood of venture capital and the primary point of competitive differentiation between venture firms. To this end, its not uncommon to hear venture firms publicly boast about this or that proprietary source of deal flow or to hear limited partners studiously inquire about which firm has the highest quality deal flow. While deal flow undoubtedly remains an important part of venture capital, changes in the venture industry are making deal flow far less important and rapidly making deal flow-centric business models unsustainable for all but a few venture firms."

[Burnham's Beat]

The Rehabilitation Of Consumer Internet VCs

"Just a short time ago any VC that mentioned consumer internet would have been summarily executed and had their body left in a box by the side of Sand Hill Road a la Ned from Unforgiven. Faced with such a reception, most consumer internet VCs either laid low somewhere in the Santa Cruz Mountains or entered the internet VC protection program, otherwise known as software investing. Ah, what a difference a couple of years make."

[Bill Burnham]

TiVo mobile video service now on Microsoft devices

"TiVo ... on Wednesday said it extended its TiVoToGo portable video service to pocket computers and mobile phones running Microsoft software, as the television recording company beefed up its offerings in an effort to differentiate from rivals. TiVo said TiVoToGo is now available on Microsoft Corp.'s ... Windows Mobile-based Portable Media Centers -- paperback-sized devices that can play digital music and videos -- as well as certain Windows Mobile-based Smartphones and PocketPC handheld computers."

[Technology360]

BOdog

"In the June 2005 issue of Fast Company, Bodog.com is running a four-page advertisement plus an eight-page 'Gentleman's Guide to Playing Poker' removable insert (found online here). The ad is formidable, and is found as pages 33-36. The spot was pointed out to me by a friend last night who thought it might be of interest, and it's not hard to see why.

Bodog is making a hardline effort to attract an upscale audience, not that they're turning away all comers. But what does it all mean?"

[pPlayer]

Metconnex Closes $7.5M Round

"Metconnex, a leader in the supply of wavelength selective switch (WSS) modules for use in reconfigurable optical add/drop multiplexers (ROADMs), today announced the closing of a CDN$7.5 million (US$5.8) equity and operating capital financing round. The investment will enable Metconnex to deepen its relationships with strategic suppliers and contract manufacturers, continue to grow its marketing and sales team, and further expand the company�s WSS portfolio. Participants in the round include the existing international syndicate: Skypoint Capital, Vesbridge Partners, Innovacom and BDC Venture Capital as well as a new member; Comerica. "

[Light Reading]

JBoss Planning Acquisitions

"After a hectic week during which it added two high-profile resellers and launched its first comprehensive channel program, open-source pioneer JBoss is now in the market to acquire other open-source software companies.

Atlanta-based JBoss announced earlier this week that it had signed Japanese systems integrator NEC and European outsourcing firm Capgemini Nederland to reseller contracts. The company also announced a new reseller certification program to put a more traditional structure around its untraditional channel. On Thursday, one of its key investors said the company is likely to make some small acquisitions of vendors with complementary products."

[Red Herring]

Nanosolar Raises Funding

"Nano-based solar company Nanosolar announced Thursday that it has closed a $20-million Series B round of funding.

Mohr Davidow Ventures (MDV) led the round for Nanosolar. Additional investors include Mitsui, OnPoint Technologies, Benchmark Capital, and others."

[Red Herring]

Sprint to offer enhanced Yahoo e-mail for a fee

"Sprint has teamed up with Yahoo to offer an enhanced e-mail service for mobile devices--for a fee.
The companies said the premium service, which costs $2.99 a month, is faster and easier to access and sports a PC-like interface. An optional instant-messaging feature is available at standard text-messaging rates. "

[CNET News.com]

Sprint's Yahoo mail service is good enough. No need to upgrade to the $2.99 / month plan. Trust me on this one.

'Neural-mapping' chip and sensor startup emerges

"Startup NeuroSky Inc. is in the midst of raising venture capital funding to develop its first product a 'neural-mapping' sensor and chip solution designed for consumer, industrial and medical applications. NeuroSky (Santa Clara, Calif.), a fabless design house that consists of U.S. chip designers and neuroscience experts from Moscow National University, is developing a dry sensor product, a signal processing chipset, and intellectual property (IP). The company also claims to have an exclusive license to brainwave interpretation algorithms, which were developed in Russia."

[EETimes.com]

Securing an Exit

Most security startups focus on niche plays for high-end users. Fortinet gambled on a more lucrative market, and could take its winnings all the way to the public markets.

If Fortinet’s rapid growth continues, it could take in over $100 million this year, which would put its valuation at or around half a billion dollars. When the company raised its $50-million mezzanine round, it reported a $350-million post-money valuation. But the security market has been hot.

[Red Herring]

Fortinet had revenues of $56M in 04 and $22M in the previous year.

PortAuthority Technologies Raises $13.4 Million

"PortAuthority Technologies(TM), formerly Vidius, the leader in Information Leak Prevention, today announced that it has raised Series C financing of $13.4 million. Greylock Partners and Sequoia Capital led this round with existing investor Lexington Ventures also participating. The expansion of its leadership team and its board of directors, including the appointment of security industry veteran Pete Foley as president and chief executive officer, positions PortAuthority Technologies to capitalize on the rapidly growing Information Leak Prevention market. "

[Press Release]

Voltaire secures $15 million in VC funding

"Voltaire, which makes interconnecting products for high-performance computing, said it has closed on $15 million in fifth-round venture capital. The company, which employs about 30 people at its 6 Fortune Drive headquarters and some 90 worldwide, has now raised $65 million over the past five years. New investors include Baker Capital, Pitango Venture Capital and Vertex Venture Capital. Previous investors who contributed to this round include Platinum Venture Capital, Tamir Fishman Ventures and The Challenge Fund. "

[Lowellsun.com]

Voltaire's technology - infiniband for the HPC market - may be ahead of its time. Only time will tell if Baker, Pitango and Vertex have made the right investment decision in this niche market.

CEO Claims Vonage Will Hit 1 Million Subscribers By Year's End

"VoIP provider Vonage will have move than one million subscribers by year's end, Chief Executive Officer Jeffrey Citron has told the Reuters news agency. Citron claims that Vonage currently has more than 700,000 subscribers, and adds approximately 15,000 new subscribers a week. "

[CommWeb]

Coaxsys, Alloptic team on IP-based video for home fiber networks

"Coaxsys Inc. has established a partnership with Alloptic to improve IP-based video, voice, and data deployment in fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) environments.
Alloptic (Livermore, Calif.) develops Gigabit Ethernet Passive Optical Network solutions that allow delivery of video, voice and data services to a subscriber's premise. It leverages a standard ITU PON architecture while delivering a gigabit of bandwidth."

[EE Times]

Senforce Partners With iPass on Remote Security

Senforce Technologies(TM) Inc., a provider of location-aware enterprise endpoint security enforcement, today announced a technology partner agreement that combines Senforce Endpoint Security Suite(TM) with iPass' secure global connectivity service, iPass Corporate Access(TM). The resulting solution enforces the use of the iPassConnect(TM) universal client for all remote connections.

[America's Network]

Senforce, based in Utah, has raised over $20M in venture capital including a restart round in March 2004 from American River Ventures and Thomas Weisel VP.