Silicon Valley Wire

Alameda-Based Wind River Systems Acquires S.C. Comsys

Alameda, Calif. -- Wind River Systems, an Alameda-based maker of platforms designed to help companies develop, run and manage device software, said that it has acquired Romania's S.C. Comsys, a provider of device software services, for up to $1.4 million. Founded in 2000, Comsys currently has 52 employees. Wind River said that the acquisition will give it access to talent with hands-on device software experience in telecom, mobile and aerospace and defense. The two companies have worked together on projects for the past three years.
http://www.windriver.com/news/press/pr.html?ID=4981

EFF: RIAA Lawsuits Haven't Decreased Illegal File Sharing

San Francisco -- The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), a San Francisco-based digital civil liberties group, said that a four-year legal campaign against illegal file-sharing by the Recording Industry Association of America's (RIAA) hasn't decreased the amount of illegal file-sharing worldwide. In a 20-page report, the EFF said that, despite 20,000 lawsuits filed by the RIAA against individuals suspected of committing copyright infringement on file-sharing networks, U.S. file-sharing traffic has grown from 3.8 million users in August 2003 to 9.35 million this year. Instead of lawsuits, the organization is supporting a voluntary licensing system, in which the music industry would collect a monthly fee from file-swappers.
http://www.eff.org/IP/P2P/riaa_at_four.pdf   
http://www.eff.org/
http://www.riaa.com/

San Francisco-Based Mogad Gets $500,000 for Web Bookmarking Site

San Francisco - Mogad, the San Francisco-based developer of a web browser plug-in that lets users share interesting web site bookmarks, has raised $500,000 in its first round of funding, led by Felicis Ventures, PEHub.com reported. The company said that nits users share information such as links from aggregation sites like Reddit and Digg, media from YouTube and Flickr, and articles on Wikipedia and major news sites. Mogad's founders include Yanda Erlich, a former product manager at Google; Lucas Ryan, a former engineer at Voltage Security; and Blake Commagere, creator of the superviral Zombies, Vampires and Werewolves games on Facebook.
http://www.pehub.com/article/articledetail.php?articlepostid=7224
http://www.mogad.com

Palo Alto-Based Celebrity Voicemail Service SayNow Raises $7.5 Million

Palo Alto, Calif. -- SayNow, the Palo Alto-based developer of a service that allows ntertainers, politicians and community leaders to send personalized voicemails and text messages to fans, has secured $7.5 million in its first round of venture capital financing, led by Shasta Ventures, TechCrunch reported. Dave Whorton of Tugboat Ventures and Costella Kirsch also participated. SayNow's service lets fans send voice and text messages to celebrities, and in turn the celebrities can send messages en masse to their fans. Customers of the technology include labels Universal Music Group, EMI, Zomba Label Group and RCA, and artists such as Foo Fighters, Tila Tequila and Kenny Chesney.
http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/08/29/saynow-lands-75-million-series-a  http://www.saynow.com 

Sunnyvale-Based FlowCardia Raises $30 Million in Third Round

Sunnyvale, Calif. -- FlowCardia, a Sunnyvale-based medical device company developing endovascular devices, said on Thursday that it has raised $30 million in its third round of funding, led by Gilde Healthcare Partners. New investors Life Sciences Partners, Hambrecht & Quist Capital Management and New Science Ventures also joined several of the company's previous investors as participants. "This substantial round of funding will allow us to accelerate the commercialization of the FlowCardia CROSSER System in Europe and the U.S.," said Wick Goodspeed, the president and CEO of FlowCardia.
http://www.flowcardia.com
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/070830/aqth035.html?.v=28

Mountain View-Based Resilience Raises $5 Million in New Funding

Mountain View, Calif. -- Resilience, a Mountain View-based provider of software and appliances for applications like firewalls and content filtering said on Thursday that it has raised $5 million in new round of funding, with the majority coming from previous investors. The company said that it will use the new capital to expand its sales, distribution and product development activities. "This investment gives us plenty of capital to fund this growth," said Paul White, the CEO of Resilience. The 12-year-old company's appliances come pre-loaded with software from vendors like Check Point and Websense.
http://www.resilience.com/news_events/press_release/2007/20070822.html http://www.resilience.com/

Foster City-Based Entelos to Acquire Mountain View's Iconix Biosciences

Foster City, Calif. -- Entelos, a Foster City-based life sciences firm that utilizes predictive technologies to develop drugs, said that it will acquire Mountain View-based Iconix Biosciences. Under the terms of the deal, expected to close by the end of this week, Entelos initially will pay $14.1 million in stock, and could pay as much as $25 million more, depending on the performance of Iconix over the next year. Iconix integrates chemistry and genomics to develop toxicogenomics products and services. "Drug failures are often due to efficacy or toxicity issues, and while Entelos' predictive disease models address efficacy, Iconix's toxicology databases help to address toxicities," said James Karis, the president and CEO of Entelos. Iconix will become part of Entelos' Technology and Services division. Entelos said that it plans to consolidate certain administrative and operational positions.
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/070830/20070829006110.html?.v=1
http://www.entelos.com

Mountain View-Based NetLogic Acquires Products Portfolio from Cypress

Mountain View, Calif. -- NetLogic Microsystems, a Mountain View-based developer of processors for a variety of wireline and mobile wireless networking systems, said that it has paid $12 million in cash to acquire network search engine products targeting the desktop switching market from Cypress Semiconductor, a San Jose-based developer of programmable chips. "The sale of our network search engine assets is part of our overall strategy to focus on programmable products and solutions," said T.J. Rodgers, the president and CEO of Cypress. NetLogic said that the acquisition will strengthen its offerings for the enterprise, service-provider and datacenter markets.
http://www.netlogicmicro.com/4-news/pr/2007/07-08-29.htm
http://www.cypress.com/

Mountain View-Based TheFind Acquires Fashion Site Glimpse.com

Mountain View, Calif. -- Six weeks after raising $15 million in its third round of funding, Mountain View-based TheFind, developer of a shopping search engine for lifestyle goods, said that it has acquired high-fashion shopping web site Glimpse.com. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Glimpse.com launched earlier this year and has quickly gained popularity as a shopping destination for fashion-conscious women. TheFind.com said that the acquisition will broaden its offerings for female consumers. The company said that it plans to integrate its search technology into the site.
http://www.thefind.com
http://www.glimpse.com/
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/070829/aqw056.html?.v=21

Report: Mountain View-Based Google to Release Phone in Early '08

Mountain View, Calif. -- An "insider" at smartphone maker HTC told gadget blog CrunchGear that Mountain View-based Google plans to release a long-rumored cell phone in the first quarter of 2008. The source said that Google is finalizing the handset design with HTC, and that the phone will feature a special GPS-enabled version of Google Maps, Gmail, a calendar application and Google Talk, to enable Internet telephony. CrunchGear also said that there is "talk" that Samsung may also be releasing "gPhone" handsets as well.
http://crunchgear.com/2007/08/27/cg-exclusive-htc-insider-confirms-existence-of-the-google-phone/
http://www.htc.com

LRG Capital to Provide $16 Million to GlassHouse Through BayStar Fund

Larkspur, Calif. -- LRG Capital Group, a Larkspur-based merchant bank, said on Thursday that it will provide up to $16 million in convertible debt financing to GlassHouse Technologies, a Massachusetts-based provider of IT infrastructure consulting services, though its BayStar Capital III Investment Fund. Under the deal, BayStar advanced the company $6 million, with GlassHouse using the proceeds  to fund its acquisition of RapidApp, a Chicago-based server virtualization consulting company. GlassHouse is also backed by several venture capital firms, including Sigma Partners, Kodiak Venture Partners, Globespan Capital Partners, Grand Banks Capital and Paladin Capital Group.
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/070829/20070829005231.html?.v=1
http://www.glasshouse.com/

Corporate VC Investment Reaches Highest Levels Since 2001

New York -- Corporate venture capital units invested $1.3 billion in 390 deals in the first half of 2007 -- the highest percentage of corporate venture deals and dollars since 2001 -- according to a new report by PricewaterhouseCoopers and the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA). In the first two quarters of 2007, corporate funds participated in 21.4% of all venture capital deals and invested 9.2% of the total dollars, according to the report. That's up from the prior year, when accounting for 19.8% of all deals and 7.5% of total dollars.
https://www.pwcmoneytree.com/MTPublic/ns/index.jsp

Survey: People Relying More on Internet Than Doctors for Healthcare Information

Burlington, Mass. -- People now rely more on the Internet to find out health information than their own family doctors, according to a new report from Burst Media. In a survey conducted by the firm, four out of five Americans said they use the web to gather healthcare-related information, with 45% calling the Interne their primary source. A third of respondents said that they research health topics online before visiting a medical professional, most often looking up symptoms and treatments for particular ailments. The survey polled 3,759 web users 18 and older. "The Internet has transformed how people seek health information -- particularly when it comes to family healthcare," said Jarvis Coffin, the CEO of Burst Media. "Understanding the ways consumers research health topics can only help organizations better communicate… valuable medical information to very receptive audiences."
http://www.burstmedia.com
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/070829/20070829005059.html?.v=1

San Jose-Based RAE Systems to Cut Jobs as Part of Restructuring

San Jose, Calif. -- RAE Systems, a San Jose-based maker of chemical and radiation detection monitors and networks, said on Wednesday that it will cut an undisclosed number of jobs is a bid to lower its operating expenses. The company also said that it will exit the markets for mobile and fixed digital video recording. "We are focused on returning to profitability and sustaining it for the long-term," said Robert Chen, RAE's president and CEO.. "We are concentrating our resources in our traditional sensing and safety markets and have stopped our current investment in digital video recording." The company, which earlier this month reported a net quarterly loss of $2.5 million, expects to save about $1.7 million annually as a result of the moves, which are expected to be completed by the end of September.
http://biz.yahoo.com/iw/070829/0296085.html
http://www.raesystems.com/

Sunnyvale-Based MoSys to Repurchase up to $19.5 Million in Stock

Sunnyvale, Calif. -- Shares of Sunnyvale-based MoSys rose nearly 4% on Wednesday after the developer of memory technologies for semiconductors, said that it plans to repurchase up to $19.5 million of its stock under a new buyback program. the company said that it will buy the shares from time to time on the open market over the next 12 months. As of June 30, MoSys had approximately 32 million shares outstanding, as well as cash, cash equivalents and investments of approximately $88 million.
http://www.mosys.com/
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/070828/20070828006066.html?.v=1

San Mateo-Based D2C Games Raises $6 Million in First Round

San Mateo, Calif. -- D2C Games, a San Mateo-based developer and publisher of downloadable video games, said that it has raised $6 million in its first round of venture capital financing, co-led by Rubicon Venture Partners and 755 Capital Partners. D2C develops titles for console, handheld and mobile platforms, and also provides direct-to-consumer game publishing services for independent studios. The company will use the funds to further its publishing efforts and to develop original intellectual properties for games and merchandising opportunities.
http://www.d2cgames.com 
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/content_page.php?aid=28121

San Mateo-Based D2C Games Raises $6 Million in First Round

San Mateo, Calif. -- D2C Games, a San Mateo-based developer and publisher of downloadable video games, said that it has raised $6 million in its first round of venture capital financing, co-led by Rubicon Venture Partners and 755 Capital Partners. D2C develops titles for console, handheld and mobile platforms, and also provides direct-to-consumer game publishing services for independent studios. The company will use the funds to further its publishing efforts and to develop original intellectual properties for games and merchandising opportunities.
http://www.d2cgames.com 
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/content_page.php?aid=28121

New Jersey Teen Trades Hacked iPhone for New Car

Cupertino, Calif. -- The New Jersey teen who found a way to crack Cupertino-based Apple's iPhone so that it will work with networks other than AT&T, has traded his modified iPhone to a Kentucky-based mobile phone repair firm for a new car and three new iPhones, the Associated Press reported. Seventeen-year-old George Hotz posted the news on the same blog where he posted the iPhone hack, which he worked on for about 500 hours with a team of three collaborators. Hotz told the AP he will keep the Nissan 350Z, and give the three new iPhones to his hacking partners. Terry Daidone, the co-founder of CertiCell, which acquired Hotz's hacked iPhone, told the AP that the company "does not have any plans on the table right now to commercialize Mr. Hotz' discovery."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070828/ap_on_hi_te/odd_iphone_unlocked_4
http://www.certicellusa.com 

San Jose-Based Secure Computing Names Daniel Ryan as President, COO

San Jose, Calif. -- Secure Computing, a San Jose-based developer of security technology designed to help clients protect critical web, email and network assets, on Wednesday named former Oracle executive Daniel Ryan as its new president and COO. Ryan most recently served as Oracle's senior vice president of enterprise content management products. In his new role, he will be responsible for Secure Computing's sales, marketing and product development activities. Earlier in his career, Ryan served as the COO of Stellent, prior to Oracle's $440 million acquisition of that company in Dec. 2006.
http://www.securecomputing.com/press_releases.cfm?p=irol-newsArticle&ID=1045444 
http://www.securecomputing.com/

San Francisco-Based INgrooves Expands Into Film and Video

San Francisco -- INgrooves, a San Francisco-based independent digital music retailer, said that it has launched its INgrooves Film & Video division, which will initially offer a library of over 2,000 films and videos. Clients include IndiePix, Media Vision Entertainment Group, Pistol Digital and Capistrano Films. INgrooves said that it will distribute its video catalog through retail partners including Akimbo, IndiePix.net, Brightcove, Ruckus and VidZone, as well as through its existing music retail partners who also sell video, including iTunes, Rhapsody, Yahoo and AOL.
http://www.ingrooves.com
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/070828/aqtu061.html?.v=21

Bluepulse Moves to San Mateo, Lands $6 Million in Funding

San Mateo, Calif. -- Bluepulse, a provider of mobile social networking services, said on Tuesday that it has raised $6 million in its first round of funding from VantagePoint Venture Partners and relocated its headquarters from Australia to YouTube's former offices in San Mateo. The company, founded in 2002 by Ben Keighran, also said that its mobile social network, launched in beta version last December, is now approaching 100 million monthly page views. The company's network, which gives users multiple means of communication, content sharing, widget functionality, works on most Internet-enabled cell phones.
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/070828/20070828005406.html?.v=1
http://www.bluepulse.com/

EarthLink to Cut 900 Jobs, Close San Francisco Office

San Francisco -- EarthLink, one of the largest ISPs in the country, on Tuesday announced plans to cut 900 jobs as part of a larger restructuring plan, which also will include the closing of four office, including one in San Francisco. The company also said that it will substantially reduce its presence in Pasadena and Atlanta. EarthLink said that the moves will save it about $25-$35 million through the remainder of 2007. "Given current trends in the Internet access industry, management expects industry-wide gross subscriber additions to decelerate in 2008," thd company said. "Additionally, as subscriber growth slows, the company expects to realize fewer migrations from narrowband to broadband."
http://www.earthlink.net/about/press/pr_elnk_restructure/

George Reyes to Retire as the CFO of Mountain View-Based Google

Mountain View, Calif. -- George Reyes will retire as the CFO of Mountain View-based Google, the company said on Tuesday. Reyes, who joined Google in 2002 after serving as the interim CFO of ONI Systems, will remain at the company through its search for a replacement. Google expects the transition to be complete by year's end. Earlier in his career, Reyes spent 13 years at Sun Microsystems, where he worked with current Google Chairman and CEO Eric Schmidt. "He has done an excellent job in keeping us financially disciplined while protecting the best of our entrepreneurial culture," said Google co-founder Larry Page.
http://www.google.com/intl/en/press/pressrel/20070828_reyes.html
http://www.google.com/intl/en/corporate/execs.html#george

Santa Clara-Based Applied Materials to Acquire Business from BOC Edwards

Santa Clara, Calif. -- Applied Materials, a Santa Clara-based developer of nanomanufacturing technology, said on Tuesday that it will pay an undisclosed sum to acquire the Kachina semiconductor equipment parts cleaning and refurbishment business of BOC Edwards. Applied said that the deal, expected to close within 30 days, will expand its network of facilities that provide customers with technology and support for maintaining their chamber components. Included in the transaction are Kachina’s operations at facilities in Austin, Texas; Phoenix, Arizona; and Hillsboro, Oregon, as well as the company's on-site service operations at customer sites in Israel, Ireland and Virginia.
http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=112059&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=1045666&highlight=
http://www.appliedmaterials.com

Palo Alto-Based Jaxtr Raises $10 million in New Funding Round

Palo Alto, Calif. -- Jaxtr, a Palo Alto-based provider of Internet phone services for social networks and blogs, said on Tuesday that it has raised $10 million in its first round of funding, led by August Capital. Mayfield Fund, Draper Richards, Draper Fisher Jurvetson and Mangrove Capital also participated. The latter three also were early investors in Skype. Jaxtr, which launched its public beta in March, also said that its registered user base has doubled to more than 1 million over the past month. From the company's web site, users can click to add a jaxtr widget to their social networking pages on MySpace and Facebook. People visiting the profiles can then click on the widget and initiate a phone call. "Business professionals can add their jaxtr link to their LinkedIn profile and receive phone calls in the same manner," said CEO Konstantin Guericke, a co-founder of LinkedIn. "In addition to being able to receive phone calls without having to reveal one's number, users gain greater control over incoming calls by posting their jaxtr link instead of their phone numbers online."
http://www.jaxtr.com
http://www.americanventuremagazine.com/news.php?newsid=3370

San Francisco-Based Masala Raises $4.5 Million in First Round

San Francisco -- Masala, a San Francisco-based start-up developing an online social network, has raised $4.5 million in its first round of venture capital financing, led by VantagePoint Venture Partners, PEHub.com reported. The stealth-mode company is led by Amra Tareen, a former partner at venture capital firm Sevin Rosen Funds.
http://www.pehub.com/article/articledetail.php?articlepostid=7133
http://www.masala.com 

San Francisco-Based Vadver Lands $1.7 Million

San Francisco -- Vadver, a San Francisco-based developer of video search technology based on user recommendations, has raised $1.7 million in its first round of funding from Draper Fisher Jurvetson, NewTeeVee reported. Vadver was founded in January, and has yet to launch its video discovery service. The company was founded by Patrick Koppula, who previously worked on the development of social music recommendations service iLike.  Koppula told NewTeeVee that the company is working on a Vadver application for Facebook and TiVo.
http://newteevee.com/2007/08/23/vadver   
http://corp.vadver.com 

Redwood City-Based Rubicor Medical Receives $10 Million Loan

Redwood City, Calif. -- Rubicor Medical, a Redwood City-based medical device company that develops minimally invasive technologies for breast biopsy and tissue removal, said that it has landed a $10 million loan from Comerica Bank and Oxford Finance. The company said that it will use the venture debt credit facilities to support its ongoing working capital requirements, capital expenditures and other corporate growth needs. Founded in 1998, Rubicor currently markets three disposable devices for breast biopsy and surgery.
http://www.rubicor.com/
http://media.prnewswire.com/en/jsp/search.jsp?searchtype=full&option=headlines&criteriadisplay=show&resourceid=3543032

Mountain View-Based MIPS to Acquire Chipidea Microelectronica

Mountain View, Calif. -- MIPS Technologies, a Mountain View-based developer of processor architectures and cores, said on Monday that it will pay $147 million in cash to acquire Chipidea Microelectronica, an Argentina-based supplier of analog and mixed signal intellectual property for the wireless, digital consumer and connectivity markets. The deal also includes a performance-based milestone payment of 610,687 shares of MIPS, payable in 2009. The combined company will become the second largest semiconductor design IP company worldwide, as well as the largest analog IP company, according to Gartner. "Analog represents an essential component of our IP growth strategy and has become one of the key strategic considerations in customer designs today," said John Bourgoin, the president and CEO of MIPS Technologies.
http://www.mips.com/PressRoom/PressReleases/2007-08-27

San Francisco-Based IA Global Buys 25% Stake in Japan's GPlus Media

San Francisco -- IA Global, a San Francisco-based investor in consumer, technology, services, and health companies in the Pacific Rim region, said that it has paid $1.36 million for a 25% equity investment in Japan-based GPlus Media, a publisher of several English-Japanese web sites. The company's sites include GaijinPot.com and Ecentral.com, the official jobsite of the American Chamber of Commerce in Japan, as well as the CareerEngine.org network of job sites. IA Global has the option to increase its stake in the company to as much as 75%.
http://www.iaglobalinc.com/
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/070827/20070827005470.html?.v=1

Mountain View-Based Sonics to Raise up to $80 Million in IPO

Mountain View, Calif. -- Sonics, a Mountain View-based developer of interconnect technology that manages communications in System on Chip (SoC) devices, has filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission to raise up to $80 million in its initial public offering (IPO). The company, which plans to list its stock under the symbol "SNCS" on the Nasdaq National Market, has yet to disclose other details of the offering, such as the number of shares or their expected price range. Sonic's technology manages complex on-chip communications, such as those resulting from the convergence of video, voice and data processing on an SoC. As of June 30, Sonics clients had shipped over 250 million semiconductor devices incorporating the company's technology.
http://www.sonicsinc.com/
http://ipoportal.edgar-online.com/ipo/displayFundamentals.asp?cikid=755219&fnid=55876&IPO=1&coname=SONICS%2C+INC%2E

San Francisco-Based Federated Media Lands $4.5 Million

San Francisco -- Federated Media Publishing, a San Francisco-based online ad network for blogs and other conversational media web sites, has raised $4.5 million in its second round of funding, PEHub.com reported. Investors participating in the round included return backers New Enterprise Associates and Omidyar Network. Federated Media maintains "federations" of web sites for advertisers in categories like digital culture, media and entertainment, parenting and small businesses. The company was founded by entrepreneur and journalist John Battelle, who previously founded The Industry Standard publisher Standard Media International, and was a co-founding editor of Wired magazine.
http://www.pehub.com/wordpress/?p=1378
http://www.federatedmedia.net

Sunnyvale-Based Yahoo Releases New Version of Web Email Service

Sunnyvale, Calif. -- Sunnyvale-based Yahoo on Monday released a new version of its popular web mail service, Yahoo Mail, which for the first time allows users to send free text messages to mobile phones, as well as send instant messages to users of Yahoo Messenger and Windows Live Messenger2. The version also includes speed and performance enhancements, as well as other small refinements. "During the beta testing period… we were able to incorporate a number of enhancements based on valuable feedback from our users," said John Kremer, the vice president of Yahoo Mail. “Now… we're creating a more social email experience." Yahoo said that it will continue to offer its "classic" email service, as well.
http://yhoo.client.shareholder.com/press/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=261649

Reports: Apple to Introduce New iPods Next Month

Cupertino Calif. -- Cupertino-based Apple plans to introduce a new line of iPods early next month, perhaps at an event on Sept. 5, according to Apple Insider and Ars Technica, which cited unnamed sources within the company. Apple Insider reported that most of the models will be flash memory-based iPod video and iPod nano models that will feature an operating system based on Apple's OS X. Also rumored are a full-screen video iPod, and possibly an "iPhone nano."
http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/07/08/23/apple_to_usher_in_era_of_mac_os_x_based_ipods.html
http://arstechnica.com/journals/apple.ars/2007/08/24/source-major-apple-event-on-september-5th

U.S. Video Game Sales Rise 37% in July to $925.5 Million

New York -- Buoyed by increased sales of the recently-discounted PlayStation 3, U.S. video game sales rose 37% in July, according to new data from market research firm NPD Group. Combined hardware and software sales totaled $925.5 million for the month, up from $676.6 million in the same month a year ago. Sales of game consoles soared 140%, led by the Nintendo Wii (425,000) and the Microsoft Xbox 360 (170,000). Sony's PlayStaion 3 -- which is now $100 cheaper -- sold 159,000 units during the period. Redwood Ctiy-based Electronic Arts had the hottest-selling game, with its "NCAA Football 08" selling 789,000 units across all platforms.
http://www.npd.com

Sunnyvale-Based IntraOp Medical Raises $5.4 Million, Names New CEO

Sunnyvale, Calif. -- IntraOp Medical, a Sunnyvale-based developer of technology for the treatment of cancer, said on Friday that it has raised $5.4 million in a new round of private equity funding as part of a capital restructuring that also includes the extinguishment of more than $8.7 million worth of notes and payables. The company also has named wireless industry veteran John Powers as its new president and CEO. Powers, who previously held executive posts at metroPCS, VelociTel, Inc., Crown Castle International and Motorola, takes over for Donald Goer, who has become the company's chief scientist. "The new capital and debt restructuring will provide IntraOp with the resources it needs to accelerate its growth strategy," said Goer. IntraOp's flagship product is a portable electron-beam linear accelerator designed for use in operating rooms. The system allows oncologists to pinpoint areas that requires radiation and immediately deliver high doses directly to the affected tissue during cancer surgery.
http://www.intraopmedical.com/
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/070824/20070824005073.html?.v=1 

Fremont-Based Vermillion to Raise $20.5 Million in Private Placement

Fremont, Calif. -- Vermillion, a Fremont-based developer of diagnostic tests used by physicians, said on Friday that it plans to raise $20.5 million through a private placement, selling 24.4 million of its shares to previous and new investors. The company, which earlier this week changed its name from Ciphergen Biosystems, said that the deal is expected to close on Aug. 29, with proceeds going toward working capital. Vermillion said that its stock will begin trading Monday under a new symbol, "VRML."
http://www.vermillion.com/
http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=121814&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=1043489&highlight=

San Jose-Based Tessera Technologies to Buy Back $100 Million in Stock

San Jose, Calif. -- Tessera Technologies, a San Jose-based developer of miniaturization technologies for the electronics industry, said on Friday that it will repurchase up to $100 million of its stock under a new buyback program. The company said that it will purchase the shares from time to time on the open market or through private transactions. "While we continue to see exciting long-term growth opportunities both through organic means as well as acquisitions, the management team and board of directors believe this stock buyback represents a good use of Tessera's funds," said Bruce McWilliams, the company's chairman, president and CEO.
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/070824/20070824005115.html?.v=1
http://www.tessera.com/

Santa Clara-Based Xelerated Names Thomas Axelsson as New CEO

Santa Clara, Calif. -- Xelerated, a Santa Clara-based maker of processors for network equipment, has named Thomas Axelsson as its new CEO effective Sept. 1, replacing Johan Börje, who will become president. The news comes a little more than three months after the company, which also has offices in Sweden, raised $23 million in its fourth round of funding, led by the Sixth Swedish National Pension Fund. Now, the six-year-old company said that it is "reorganizing" to take the next step in its development. Axelsson has more than 25 years of senior management experience, most recently serving as the COO and CEO of Symsoft. he previously held management positions within the Ericsson Group in Sweden and Canada, where he managed large international organizations developing and producing cellular systems. Xelerated's clients include Atrica, Fujitsu, Huawei and ZTE.
http://www.xelerated.com/templates/page.aspx?page_id=315

San Francisco-Based Ecast Partners with The Orchard

San Francisco -- Ecast, a San Francisco-based maker of digital jukeboxes found in bars and restaurants, said that it has partnered with independent digital music distributor The Orchard to license tracks from The Orchard's catalog for play on its over 10,000 Internet-connected jukeboxes. Ecast said that in addition to making The Orchard's tracks available on-demand, it will draw from the company's catalog to program its Indie Expansion playlist.
http://www.theorchard.com 
http://www.ecastnetwork.com 

Two Bay Area Tech Firms Crack Top 12 of New Inc. 500 List

Campbell, Calif. -- Groupware Technology, a Campbell-based IT consulting firm, is the highest-ranked Bay Area company on the 2007 Inc. 500 list of the fastest growing companies in America, released on Thursday. The company, which has 29 employees, saw three-year revenue growth of 7,579%. Another local company, Fremont-based telecommunications technology firm Santur,  came in at No. 12 with growth of 5,995%. All told, California led all states with 81 companies on the list, up from 66 last year, and San Francisco ranked as the third most-prominent metro area with 26 companies, behind only Washington and New York. Other local tech firms near the top of the list include Fremont-based ISTS Worldwide (No. 25), Oakland-based WineCommune (No. 35), San Mateo-based Glu Mobile (No. 44), Pleasanton-based FunMobility (No. 71), Palo Alto-based SolutionSet (No. 95) and Sunnyvale-based InnoPath Software (No. 102). The complete list, available at the link below, will be published in the September issue of Inc., available on newsstands Aug. 28.
http://www.inc.com/inc5000/2007/the-full-list.html

San Mateo-Based TradeBeam Raises $29 Million in Third Round

San Mateo, Calif. -- TradeBeam Holdings, a San Mateo-based developer of web-based software designed to streamline global trading processes, said on Thursday that it has raised $29 million in its third round of funding, co-led by new investors Camden Partners Strategic Fund III and Torch Hill Investment Partners. All of the company's previous investors, including The Carlyle Group, Enterprise Partners, Sigma Partners and The Sprout Group, also participated. The company has now raised $57.5 million since its launch in 2001. It plans to use the latest funds to expand its operations in Europe and expedite product development.
http://www.tradebeam.com/
http://biz.yahoo.com/iw/070823/0294058.html

WSJ: Facebook Developing Targeted Advertising System

Palo Alto, Calif. -- Facebook, the Palo Alto-based online social network, is "quietly working" on a new advertising system that would let marketers target users based on the personal information they provide about themselves on the site, The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday. The system reportedly would let advertisers target Facebook users based on age, gender and location, as well as more personal information like favorite activities and preferred music. Ads would appear within a user's "news feed," the automatically generated list of updates on their friends' activities, as well as on Facebook pages that feature services from other companies. The ad system is reportedly in the early stages of development, with a basic version schedule to launch late this fall. Facebook attracted 30.6 million unique visitors in July, according to comScore.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB118783296519606151.html (subscription required)
http://www.facebook.com

Sunnyvale-Based Lending Club Lands $10.3 Million to Move Beyond Facebook

Sunnyvale, Calif. -- Lending Club, a Sunnyvale-based online lending service where people borrow and lend money among each other, said on Thursday that it has secured $10.26 million in its first round of funding, co-led by Canaan Partners and Norwest Venture Partners. The company said that it will use the proceeds to expand its person-to-person lending community beyond its initial Facebook application. Since its launch in May, the Lending Club community has reached more than 13,000 Facebook users, who have barrowed and loaned a total of $750,000. The service, available to individual borrowers with credit scores of at least 640, allows people to apply for personal loans of $500 to $25,000 to be funded by individual lenders. To date lenders have funded 80 percent of all loan requests. Lending Club handles user authentication, bank account verification, credit checking, credit reporting, funds transfers and collections.
http://www.lendingclub.com
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/070823/aqth038.html?.v=21

Santa Clara-Based Applied Materials Completes Deal for HCT Shaping Systems

Santa Clara, Calif. -- Applied Materials, a Santa Clara-based provider of nano-manufacturing equipment, service and software products to the electronics industry, said on Thursday that it has completed its $483 million cash acquisition of Switzerland's HCT Shaping Systems, a supplier of wafering systems used to manufacture crystalline silicon (c-Si) substrates for the solar industry. Applied said that the acquisition, first announced in June, expands its offerings designed to help solar customers reduce the costs of manufacturing photovoltaic (PV) cells, making solar energy more competitive with grid electricity. HCT is now part of Applied's new Precision Wafering Systems division, operating under the company's Solar Business Group.
http://www.appliedmaterials.com/
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/070823/20070823005282.html?.v=1

San Francisco-Based AKQA Acquires Palo Alto-Based SearchRev

San Francisco -- AKQA, a San Francisco-based digital marketing agency, said on Wednesday that it has acquired SearchRev, a Palo Alto-based developer of search engine marketing technologies. financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. SearchRev manages search engine marketing campaigns for clients such as Yahoo, Shutterfly and Coca-Cola. SearchRev will continue to operate as a stand-alone unit, with co-founders David Kandasamy and Eduardo Llach continuing to lead the company. Tom Bedecarre, the CEO of AKQA, said that the acquisition will allow his firm to support online and mobile campaigns, as well as traditional media. AKQA has more than 600 employees in six offices.
http://www.searchrev.com/NewsEvents_Press_joinsAKQA_22_08_2007.aspx http://www.akqa.com/

YouTube Launches "Overlay" Ads on Bottom of Selected Videos

Mountain View, Calif. -- Trying to further capitalize on its status as one of the most heavily trafficked sites on the Internet, YouTube, the video sharing site owned by Mountain View-based Google, on Wednesday launched semi-transparent overlay ads, that appear for several seconds on  the bottom fifth of select videos. Viewers can either click on the ads -- which launch in about 15 seconds -- to pause the video and get more information, or do nothing and continue to watch. The new format eschews the "pre-roll" format that must be viewed before a chosen video plays, and has proven unpopular with web audiences. "What we have come up with is a user-controlled ad format that is engaging," Eileen Naughton, Google's director for media platforms, told The New York Times. "We want our users to be able to accept and choose what type of advertising they engage in." Google said thtat it plans to charge advertisers $20 for every 1,000 impressions.
http://www.youtube.com/
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/22/technology/22google.html

San Francisco-Based BluBet Launches Social Wagering Site

San Francisco -- BluBet, a San Francisco-based start-up developing online communities, said on Wednesday that it has launched BluBet.com, a web site that encourages users to bet on topics to win virtual currency. The company, founded earlier this year, is backed by YouTube co-founder Jawed Karim, Xoom co-founder Kevin Hartz, Flixster co-founder Joe Greenstein and Keith Rabois, an executive at Slide. "Currently, our main priority is to continue to build a fun, engaging experience," said CEO Song Kim. "Ultimately, we believe BluBet will be the place to go to gain insights on any major event, whether in sports, entertainment, finance, or current events. A simple user-experience makes BluBet the prediction market for the rest of us."
http://www.blubet.com
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/070822/20070822005246.html?.v=1

Report: Apple Signs with 3 Wireless Carriers for European iPhone Launch

Cupertino, Calif. -- According to published reports, Cupertino-based Apple has secured deals with three wireless carriers for the European launch of its iPhone. The Financial Times reported that the deals require the carriers -- T-Mobile in Germany, Orange in France and O2 in the U.K., to share 10% of revenues from calls and data with the company. Apple plans to launch the iPhone in those countries in the fall, with plans to launch in other European countires and Asia next year. .
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/17aa89d0-500b-11dc-a6b0-0000779fd2ac.html
http://www.apple.com/iphone 

Wal-Mart Launches DRM-Free MP3 Song Download Store

Brisbane, Calif. -- Retail giant Wal-Mart said that it has launched digital rights management (DRM)-free MP3 downloads from its online store, featuring hundreds of thousands of tracks from Universal Music and EMI Music. The format allows customers to play music on nearly any device, including iPod and Zune portable media players. The tracks will sell for $0.94 each and $9.22 an album. Brisbane-based WalMart.com said that it also will continue to offer WMA-format downloads for $0.88 each.
http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/08-21-2007/0004648806&EDATE=
http://downloads.walmart.com/swap/