Rackable Systems

At Last, a Hardware IPO

"Holy cow, it's an initial public offering by a computer hardware company! BusinessWeek Online has learned that Rackable Systems, a small server company based in Milpitas, Calif., plans to file the paperwork that preludes an IPO as early as the week of Jan. 24."

Company was founded in 1999. Parthenon Capital and PTI Ventures raised a $22M round of financing in December 2002.

Rackable is a provider of rack-mount servers for large-scale data center deployments. The company's servers in 1U, 2U, and 3U form factors are configured half-depth, "back-to-back" rack mounting. They compete directly with IBM, Dell. One of their marquee customers is Google.

Dolby Laboratories to offer 27.5 million shares

IPOhome - IPO News Update:

"Dolby Laboratories, a producer of digital audio and surround sound technology, released pricing terms for its upcoming IPO on Monday. A total of 27.5 million shares will be offered, which includes 17 million offered by selling shareholders, at a proposed price range of $13.50 to $15.50. If the deal prices at the midpoint of the proposed range, Dolby would have an initial market cap of $1.41 billion. Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan are the lead underwriters on the deal. The company has applied to be listed on the NYSE under the ticker DLB."

Dolby, founded in 1965, had revenues of $289M (net income: $55M) for CY 04. Read their S-1

TREND: Social Networking Sites Move Towards Specialization

"Venture capitalists invested heavily in online social networking in 2004 and have started pushing toward specialization of the business, by focusing on professional networking and complementary services sites. "

"The industry, which received a jolt from the creation of online community Web site Friendster Inc. in 2003, is likely to continue to attract VC interest and to become even more specialized in 2005."

[Venturewire Pro]

Startup Zetera Aims to Shake Up Storage

"With SAN and NAS, Fibre Channel and iSCSI, the last thing you’d think we’d need is yet another networked storage transport technology. The folks at startup Zetera aim to convince you otherwise. They noticed that all of these technologies employ controllers that allow the content of many drives to be formatted and sent out over some form of networking topology. That makes the controller a bottleneck and limits the amount of storage each controller can manage."

Rutberg: Wireless Industry Database

Rajeev Chand and team Rutberg have developed a comprehensive database of 2035 wireless companies (mainly private company, product, contact info) organized into 11 sectors and 431 subsectors.

Good taxonomy but there is limited company content. Their newsletters are more useful.

Actelis Networks Closes $23M Series D Round

"Actelis Networks, which makes platforms that enable high-bandwidth broadband services over existing copper wires, closed a $23 million Series D round, said President, Chief Executive and Co-Founder Tuvia Barlev."

"New investor ATA Ventures led the down round, which closed a week ago. Previous investors Innovacom, Carlyle Venture Partners and Vertex Management all increased their share in the company and new investor Dupont Capital also contributed. ATA and Dupont hold the biggest stakes in the company."

"Other investors include USVP, Walden International, Global Catalyst Partners, Vertex Management, Anschultz Investment Co., Salomon Smith Barney, meVC Draper Fisher Jurvetson Fund I and Innovacom."

"Significant revenue didn't come until the last quarter of 2003, since which time Actelis has installed platforms in over 1,000 systems for 20 to 30 telecom service providers."

Is ethernet over copper finally ready for primetime?

CSG Solar AG

CSG Solar AG, which is developing thin-film solar-module technologies for making solar electric panels, has raised EUR24 million ($31 million) in its first institutional round.

The round was co-led by new investors Apax Partners and Good Energies. All existing investors - Q-Cells AG, Renewable Energy Corp. and IBG Beteiligungsgesellschaft Sachsen-Anhalt mbH - also participated in the round.

Betfair expands with Yahoo deal

UK online betting exchange Betfair has signed a deal with Yahoo UK and Ireland, extending its betting platform to a mass market audience. Yahoo Betting, to be launched in March, will be built and managed by Betfair and customised for Yahoo users.

Betfair is privately held (for good reason) and based in London. Company is a huge cash cow. Look for Google and other players to make a similar play abroad.

If you are looking to invest money in a online gambling play, check out Sportingbet PLC. The Group's principal activity is the operation of interactive licensed betting operations over the internet and telephone.

Navmo

Navmo is a revolutionary product for delivering A to B route information to mobile phone users. Based on their development of a cross-platform car navigation software solution, Navmo is now focused on mass-market provision of usable navigation services to personal mobile devices.

Doesn't sound revolutionary, but does sound like a potential Webraska, Autodesk future competitor.

ZiXXo: new classified ads player

SiliconBeat: writes about ZiXXo, a craigslist clone.
Here's an exercpt:

"Even after building a strong base of users, the owners of free classified ads sites have to figure out to make money. (Craigslist makes virtually all its money off jobs listings.)"

"For ZiXXo's Chief Executive Mike Hogan, the answer is coupons."

"For less than $300 a year, local merchants can create online coupons that will appear in a special section above or below the free ads on ZiXXo. Users print out the coupons and redeem them. Hogan and his staff have devised a coupon-wizard system that he says makes it easy for merchants to create online coupons in minutes. Merchants can change the coupons whenever they want."

Business 2.0: Wireless Report :: A Shot of Intense Entertainment

News Corp.'s (NWS) decision to have its Twentieth Television division develop dramas exclusively for Verizon's upcoming third-generation service is a coup for the wireless company. Verizon will launch its VCast service early next week and is desperate for original content to Verizon users across the country.

Verizon seems to be marching to their own beat - wireless data wise - as they have launched video on demand content and programming. Others like Sprint PCS and Cingular are offering live streaming TV service through MobiTV and SmartVideo.

Buy.com to go public again

"With e-commerce regaining credibility, Buy.com Inc. is making another go at operating as a public company. "

Buy.com today is on the road to recovery. The company reported a loss of $15.4 million on revenues of $290.8 million in 2004, though its losses in the fourth quarter totaled only $1.4 million on revenues of $88.2 million. In 2000 its revenues were $787.7 million, but losses totaled $133 million. At the time the company spent $61.5 million for marketing, a number that was trimmed to $15.4 million in 2004.

Buy.com also is going public after online retailers reported strong sales in 2004. According to comScore Networks, retail spending online rose 26% in 2004 to $66.5 billion from $52.9 billion in 2003.

Mercent - smoothing out etailing kinks

"Startup Mercent helps retailers build and manage Amazon.com storefronts. Can it thrive, as its VC backers hope, or is it a dot-bomb in the making? "

Madrona led their Series A round of financing. Company lists over 30 customers including Liz Claiborne, Lucky Brand, Crabtree & Evelyn, etc. They compete with Channeladvisor and Truition. Money raised will last about 12 months according to the CEO. Mercent will start raising its Series B round of financing in Q4 '05.

AirMagnet

AirMagnet, the leader in wireless LAN (WLAN) security and performance solutions, today announced that it is receiving an investment from Intel Communications Fund.

Company has over 3000 customers in the carrier/telco, financial, education, government, tech, research, healthcare, retail markets.
They signed up 275 new customers in Q1 2004. Impressive.

Friendster

Interesting NY Times article featuring Friendster. The company has not lived up to its hype as the de-facto social networking site. "Friendster, which endured three CEO's (one of whom was Tim Koogle, former Yahoo! CEO) during 2004, has seen a spate of senior executives depart in recent weeks. Just as troubling, a younger, flashier rival called MySpace has eclipsed Friendster, at least in the United States, among those in the most highly coveted 18 to 29 demographic. And Friendster loyalists have groused that the company has done almost nothing to enliven its site."

Company has not grown to its hefty $53M valuation (est.). They should have taken the Google acquisition offer. Comps in the space are roughly 3 - 5x (e.g. Classmates.com acquisition)

Interestingly, when you surf on their site and click on a user profile, sometimes you are led directly to an advertisement, the intended URL you clicked on. Isn't this considered click fraud?

Cisco poised for a big buyout year

Cisco Systems chief John Chambers is expected to soon announce which technologies his company will target this year, which means acquisitions-as-usual for the networking giant. Network management, application and XML acceleration, security, Web services management, and bandwidth optimization are some of the hottest trends which Cisco could easily buy into, experts say. Cisco spent $800 million on acquisitions last year and still has more than $3 billion in the bank.

[Fierce Enterprise]

Wired News: Photo Sites Share and Share Alike

Wired article that features photo sharing sites: Flickr, Smugmug, HeyPix, Buzznet.

There seems to be an imminent blur (and ultimate consoldation) between these photo sites, moblog-related sites (textamerica, yafro), pure social networking sites (friendster, myspace, orkut), photo hosting/sharing sites (ofoto, shutterfly, yahoo briefcase), and photo editors/blog hosting (picasa 2 / blogspot). It's a large enough market and each site will create their own niche w/ their own community. Money will be generated through subscription or ads...but it will be interesting to see who ultimately wins (i.e. largest mkt share) in the space. My guess is Google.

Adbrite

AdBrite Inc., a San Francisco-based online advertising company founded by FuckedCompany.com founder Philip Kaplan, has received $4 million in venture funding from Sequoia Capital, according to the WSJ

Massive Inc.

Massive Inc. said it has closed a $10 million Series C round of financing to support fast growth since its online video game advertising network launched last October.

New investor NeoCarta Ventures led the round, with participation from returning investors DFJ Gotham, DFJ New England, RRE Ventures, Tobat Capital, and Newlight Associates.

RaySat

Introduces World's First Satellite Antenna for In-Motion High Speed Internet Access and Digital TV Reception

Announcing a breakthrough in mobile computing and communications, RaySat, Inc., a developer of mobile video receiving systems, today introduced the world's first vehicle-based satellite antenna providing in-motion, highspeed Internet access to motorists, including emergency personnel, riding in cars, trucks, or motor homes. The new SpeedRay 3000 is based on an enclosed lowprofile, roof-mounted antenna, which turns any vehicle into a rolling “hot spot,� enabling Internet access to laptops, PDAs, or other devices equipped with Wi-Fi wireless networking technology.

Benchmark is an investor in the company. Company will likely face similar customer acquisition challenges to the likes of XMSR, SIRI

Troux

"With $16 million in new funding to help it integrate recently-purchased Computas Technology, Troux Technologies Inc. is hoping to combine IT governance technology and business infrastructure information.

Troux customers include AT&T, IBM, 3M, Johnson & Johnson, and Cisco. The company posted revenues just south of $30 million this year, Weghorst confirmed."

Aruba - rumored acquisition by Juniper for $210M

"Aruba is being linked with networking giant Juniper Networks Inc. (Nasdaq: JNPR - message board) by some. One source even tells Unstrung that Juniper has made an offer of $210 million for the firm, but that Aruba is looking for more moolah than that."

Chelsio Communications raises $25M Series C

Chelsio Communications Inc., a provider of 10-gigabit Ethernet server adapters with protocol acceleration technology, said it has raised $25 million in its Series C round. The flat round, which closed in January, keeps the company's post-money valuation at between $60 and $75 million.

With this round, Chelsio has raised enough to take it to profitability, set for 2006

Jobster

Jobster, an online recruiting services that leverage social networking technology , has raised $8 million in Series A funding from Trinity Ventures and Ignition Partners. The company raised a seed round led by Ignition last June, and has now raised $10.5 million in total. It expects to launch its services later this spring. www.jobster.com

Company will compete directly with Linkedin.

mForma

Washington state tech companies may be ready to go public in coming year

Within a two-month period last summer, Kranzler of mForma pulled in $63 million in financing with a commitment for another $21 million. If all goes as planned, Kranzler said mForma sales could top more than $200 million in the next two years.

Do we really need another Jamdat (Nasdaq: JMDT) in the market?

The article also talks about IPO planning at the following companies: Clearwire, Corbis, Digeo, GiftCertificates.com.

Forbes.com: Cisco's Airespace Buy May End Alcatel, Nortel Links

Forbes.com: Cisco's Airespace Buy May End Alcatel, Nortel Links: "Standard & Poor's Equity Research the purchase of Airespace by Cisco Systems (nasdaq: CSCO - news - people ) would likely end Airespace's product alliances with Cisco rivals Alcatel (nyse: ALA - news - people ) and Nortel Networks (nyse: NT - news - people ). Cisco will pay $450 million in stock to acquire Airespace, a provider of wireless local area networking (WLAN) systems. S&P Equity Research said, 'While the price, which we estimate is eight times 2004 sales, seems to us rich, we note that Airespace's revenue is ramping quickly.' The research firm said Airespace would fill Cisco's need for an internal WLAN switching solution. "

Nortel, Alcatel will likely go with other WLAN vendors (Aruba, Trapeze, Meru..) or build internally (unlikely).

Cisco may acquire Airdefense Inc.

Cisco Snaps Up WLAN Switch Startup Airespace

From eweek:

Cisco chief technology officer Charlie Giancarlo recently told eWEEK that he was looking to acquire security companies; the wireless industry also is buzzing with rumors that Cisco may acquire Airdefense Inc.

"All the various companies in that market are potential acquisition targets," said Eric Janszen, a venture consultant at Trident Capital in Westport, Conn., and the former CEO of wireless LAN security hardware vendor Bluesocket Inc.

Cisco Systems to Acquire Airespace - $450 stock

Cisco Systems to Acquire Airespace

After much speculation, it's official...about a 9x multiple on 04 revs.

NETEZZA SECURES $15 MILLION IN FOURTH ROUND FINANCING

NETEZZA SECURES $15 MILLION IN FOURTH ROUND FINANCING

Netezza Corporation today announced that it has secured $15 million in a competitive fourth round of equity financing with the opportunity to obtain an additional $5 million as needed. Led by premier late-stage venture capital firm Meritech Capital Partners, the injection of capital also reflected strong support from Netezza’s previous investors, and resulted in a more than threefold increase in the valuation of the company. Since its founding in 2000, Netezza has raised more than $68M from leading venture capital firms, including Matrix Partners, Charles River Ventures, Battery Ventures, Orange Ventures, Sequoia Capital and Meritech Capital Partners.

Look for the company to go IPO later this or next year.

VeriSign to Acquire LightSurf

VeriSign to Acquire LightSurf

VeriSign, Inc. , the leading provider of intelligent infrastructure services for the Internet and telecommunications networks, today announced it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Santa Cruz, California-based LightSurf for $270 million in VeriSign stock.

LightSurf is a global leader in multimedia messaging and interoperability solutions for the wireless market. The company's industry-leading technology platform enables mobile subscribers to exchange pictures, video, and other forms of multimedia content. LightSurf supports a broad range of mobile devices and wireless networks, and its services are currently being used by millions of subscribers worldwide. Operators and service providers offering the LightSurf solution today include Sprint, Bell Mobility, Kodak, mm02, Rogers Wireless, Microcell, Telecom New Zealand, Iusacell, and Qwest. Additionally, the company works closely with leading handset manufacturers such as Samsung Electronics, Motorola, Sanyo, LG International Corp, and Toshiba to develop and deploy easy to use multimedia messaging services.

No VC backing on this company. Founder and angels made a killing on this deal. Transaction was about a 9x TTM rev multiple

Sirna Therapeutics Raises $6.8 Million - PIPE

Sirna Therapeutics Raises $6.8 Million in Warrant Exercise in Support of New RNAi Product Development Opportunities

Sirna Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq: RNAI - News) announced today that it raised $6.8 million from some of its largest stockholders, Sprout Group, Venrock Associates, Oxford Bioscience Partners and Granite Global Ventures through the exercise of 2.7 million warrants.

Warrant holders were issued 1.1 new warrants with a five-year term. These additional new warrants are exercisable in cash or by net exercise and have an exercise price of $3.85 per share, subject to downward adjustment to the price, if lower, of any qualifying capital-raising private placement on or before June 30, 2005 or, in the absence of a qualifying private placement, to the Nasdaq closing selling price, if lower, of company common stock for the 15 trading days as of June 30, 2005.

Might take a position in this company given the attractive price and the tier 1 VC investors, who are not traditional PIPE investors.

DivXNetworks

DivXNetworks Gets Strategic Investment From Samsung Ventures America (undisclosed amount)

DivXNetworks is developing compression and decompression technology for video. The company's technology is being licensed to consumer electronic devices, including Samsung's DVD players.

Blinkx

Blinkx launches desktop search for Mac | CNET News.com

Developer Blinkx has announced Mac compatibility for its Blinkx search engine. Blinkx examines the open documents, Web pages and other files on your computer and provides links to relevant content both local and on the Internet. Those links, which are generated within the context of what you are viewing, can lead to Web pages or files on your computer, complete with thumbnail previews that help you determine whether they're worthwhile.

There appears to be no VC funding in the company yet.

JiWire lands $2.35 million from DFJ - Series B

Business - Folsom Wi-Fi firm gets more aid - sacbee.com

A Folsom startup has landed $2.35 million in second-round funding to expand its vision of being a portal to the Wi-Fi world.

The new funding for JiWire Inc. illustrates the growing clout of Wi-Fi, the technology that lets electronic devices such as notebook computers connect wirelessly to the Internet. And it suggests that investors are warming to funding dot-com companies, which fell out of favor during the tech meltdown of 2000.

Digital Fuel Receives $20 Million Investment

Digital Fuel Receives $20 Million Investment

Digital Fuel Technologies Inc., a provider of governance software for outsourced IT and business services, has raised $20 million in fourth-round funding. Apax Partners led the deal, and was joined by return backers Benchmark Capital, Israel Seed Partners and Sigma Partners. The company has raised over $35 million in total VC funding since its 2000 inception.

Good list of customers - Procter & Gamble, General Electric, Siemens, CSC, O2, and Atos-Origin. CEO passed away earlier this year.

Airespace - to be purchased by Cisco $400 - $425M

www.unstrung.com: "Wireless LAN behemoth Cisco Systems Inc. (Nasdaq: CSCO - message board) is finalizing a deal to acquire switch startup Airespace Inc. for between $400 million and $425 million, according to sources."

About a 7x multiple on Airespaces revenues of $60M in 2004 (as reported by news.com)

Six Apart, TypePad Buy Danga Interactive

Six Apart, TypePad Buy Danga Interactive (LiveJournal)

Yahoo needs to make a foray into the blogging space. Why not buy Xanga...

Shake-up to continue in the WLAN sector

The WLAN sector is maturing, and one aspect of maturation is what farmers call the thinning of the herd: As a technology shows promise, many companies and investors flock to it, hoping to make a profit. This process, however, soon creates a glut: there are too many companies competing for a growing but not-growing-fast-enough market. Bermai and Legra were but two promising start-ups which closed their doors in 2004. ReefEdge is teetering on the brink: in late November it announced a round of layoffs as it was trying to reorient its corporate focus. The company may well entertain being acquired in 2005. Wireless switch maker Aruba lost its CFO just as the company prepares for an IPO. The loss of its CFO follows Aruba losing a central regional manager and investor, Walter Foss. Earlier in 2004, Aruba's cofounder and former CEO left the company. The company says that these changes are part of Aruba's plan to become more Wall Street-friendly. We expect more companies to close their doors in 2005 -- either go belly up, or be acquired (whole, or their IP) by larger competitors as the industry consolidates.

[Fierce Wireless]

Orb Networks

Start-up beams TV to your hand | CNET News.com

If you're the kind of person who goes through withdrawal when separated from your TV for too long, Orb Networks wants to talk to you.

Company competes with TivoToGo, Sling Media, and Sony