Silicon Valley Wire

Take-Two Says Other Suitors Besides EA Interested in Deal

Redwood City, Calif. -- Just days after rejecting a $2 billion unsolicited takeover offer from Redwood City-based Electronic Arts, New York-based video game developer Take-Two Interactive said in a regulatory filing that it has since received "informal indications of interest" from other potential suitors. The company, however, said that it has received no other formal offers. Take-Two's board earlier this week said that EA's $26-a-share offer undervalues the company, and called it "highly opportunistic," given Take Two's pending release of "Grand Theft Auto IV." The New York Post reported on Wednesday that EA isn't ruling out a hostile takeover, saying that it is "keeping all options open."
http://www.nypost.com/seven/02272008/business/ea_could_become_hostile_in_takeover_99426.htm http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/946581/000104746908001935/a2183114zdef14a.htm

Milpitas-Based Intersil Opens Design Center in China

Milpitas, Calif. -- Intersil, a Milpitas-based designer and manufacturer of analog semiconductors, said on Friday that it has opened a new design center in China. The company said that it will use the facility to develop reference designs and provide system level application support for its growing customer base in the country. The move is part of Intersil's strategy to increase its investment and footprint in the Chinese market. Another focus of the center will be ongoing collaboration with the Joint Power Management Laboratory that Intersil established in late 2007 at Zhejiang University.
http://www.intersil.com
http://biz.yahoo.com/iw/080228/0368662.html

Investments in Clean Technology Jump 43% in 2007

San Francisco -- Venture capitalists invested a record $3 billion in clean technology companies in 2007, a 43% increase over the prior year, according to new figures from Dow Jones VentureSource. The U.S. accounted for 83% of that figure, with cleantech making up 8% of the nation's total venture capital investments. "With record-high fuel prices, ongoing debate over carbon emissions and the potential for favorable legislation following this fall's election, investors recognize that the time is ripe for innovation and investment in this area," said Jessica Canning, the director of global research for Dow Jones VentureSource. The largest U.S. cleantech deal of 2007 belonged to the Palo Alto-based Project Better Place, which raised $200 million in its first round of funding to develop a market-based transportation infrastructure for electric vehicles.
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/080229/nef027.html?.v=43
https://www.venturesource.com

Palo Alto-Based Facebook Debuts New Music Section

Palo Alto, Calif. -- Hoping to capitalize on the success of rival MySpace, where a reported 7 million musical acts have set up shop, Palo Alto-based online social network Facebook has introduced a new music section that allows bands to create profiles and post their songs, photos and music videos. According to Billboard, more than 80 artists have already set up profiles, including Alicia Keys, Bruce Springsteen, Coldplay, Justin Timberlake and the Decemberists. The section streams songs though a Facebook Music Player application, and provides links to purchase tracks at the iTunes Store. The company also has tapped Musictoday to fulfill merchandise sales.
http://www.facebook.com/Music 
http://www.billboard.biz/bbbiz/content_display/industry/e3i9c08e2d703b6c6d8d0280386ba060ce3

Mountain View-Based Helpstream Raises $8.6 Million in Funding

Mountain View, Calif. -- Helpstream, a Mountain View-based provider of web-based customer service and help desk software formerly known as Pathworks Software, said on Thursday that it has raised $8.6 million in a new round of funding, led by Mohr Davidow Ventures (MDV). Seed investor Foundation Capital and Roger Sippl, the founder and former CEO of Informix and co-founder of Vantive, also participated. The company said that it will use the proceeds to accelerate the development of its products and services, as well as to ramp up its marketing and sales activities. Helpstream currently has more than 70 customers.
http://www.helpstream.biz
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/080228/aqth023.html?.v=42

San Francisco-Based WideOrbit Raises New Funding Round

San Francisco -- WideOrbit, a San Francisco-based developer of software designed to help media companies simplify and automate the process of selling and billing  advertising, said on Thursday that it has raised an undisclosed amount in a new round of funding from Khosla Ventures, Greycroft Partners and Hearst Ventures. The company said that it will use the proceeds to develop new software products and expand both domestically and internationally. WideOrbit also named Steve Sommer as its chief marketing officer and Igor Tsyganskiy as its senior vice president of engineering. Sommer has more than 25 years of experience in marketing and business, most recently as the vice president of global marketing at SuccessFactors. Tsyganskiy, meanwhile, spent more than a decade at SAP, most recently serving as the head of that company's dvanced Technology Group. WideOrbit's core software product, WO Traffic, is currently implemented by more than 900 television stations, radio stations and cable networks, and also manages advertising for movie theaters, mobile devices and digital display networks.
http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20080228005186/en
http://www.wideorbit.com/ 

San Mateo-Based Akimbo Raises Funds, Drops Set-Top Strategy

San Mateo, Calif. -- San Mateo-based Akimbo said that it has received an undisclosed amount of new funding from Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers and Zone Ventures. The funds will help the company shift its focus away from its video-on-demand set-top box strategy to one that instead lets content providers publish Internet video on their own web sites. Akimbo initially launched as a maker of set-top boxes that delivered video-on-demand programming to televisions over a broadband connection. The new service for content providers will offer multiple revenue models, including ad-supported, transactional, subscription, download-to-own, download-to-burn, pay-per-minute and gift cards.
http://www.akimbo.com
http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/02-27-2008/0004763529&EDATE=

San Francisco-Based Yelp Raises $15 Million in Fourth Round

San Francisco - Yelp, a San Francisco-based social media site where users can post reviews of local bars, restaurants and other businesses, has raised a $15 million fourth round of financing, TechCrunch reported. DAG Ventures led the round, which also included previous investors Benchmark Capital and Bessemer Ventures. The company, which was founded in 2004, said that it will use the proceeds to expand geographically, including opening an office in New York City. Yelp has attracted 8.3 million unique visitors in the past month and currently hosts 2.3 user-generated reviews, according to figures from Google Analytics.
http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/02/26/yelp-raises-15-million-fourth-round-valuation-200-million/
http://www.yelp.com 

San Jose-Based eBay Settles Patent Suit with MercExchange

San Jose, Calif. -- Following nearly seven years of litigation, San Jose-based eBay on Thursday agreed to settle a patent infringement suit brought by Virginia-based MercExchange related to technology behind the online auction giant's "Buy It Now" feature. Financial terms of the settlement were not disclosed, though eBay said that it won't affect either its 2007 results or its 2008 financial guidance. Under the deal, eBay will purchase all three patents involved in the lawsuit, as well as some additional related technology and a license to another search-related patent portfolio. "In addition to resolving the litigation, this settlement gives us access to additional intellectual property that will help improve and further secure our marketplaces," said Mike Jacobson, eBay's senior vice president and general counsel. In December, the U.S. District Court in Norfolk, Va. awarded MercExchange damages of $30 million as a result of the suit, which originally was filed in September 2001. eBay at the time said that it would appeal that ruling.
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/080228/20080228005871.html?.v=1
http://www.ebay.com

San Francisco-Based Crunchyroll Raises $4.05 Million

San Francisco -- Crunchyroll, a San Francisco-based video-sharing site featuring anime content, has raised $4.05 million in its first round of funding, led by Venrock, PEHub.com reported. CrunchyRoll is a community site where users share anime videos -- most of them copyrighted -- and post to forums on other topics like games, music and cars. TechCrunch reports that the company's three founders work out of the offices of social media site HotOrHot, and wish to remain anonymous.
http://www.crunchyroll.com/
http://www.pehub.com/article/articledetail.php?articlepostid=10551
http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/08/29/crunchyroll-pushes-the-envelope-on-video-copyright/

Los Gatos-Based Netflix Raises Earnings and Subscriber Forecasts

Los Gatos, Calif. - Shares of Los Gatos-based online DVD rental service Netflix rose nearly 12% on Wednesday after the company increased its first quarter and fiscal year earnings outlook, as well as its subscriber growth forecasts. The company now expects to see first quarter income of $0.15-$0.22 a share, up from an earlier forecast of $0.13-$0.21, and full-year revenue of as much as $1.385 billion. On the subscriber front, Netflix now expects to end the first quarter with 8.16-8.26 million subscribers, compared with an earlier projection of 7.85-8.05 million. The company said that it expects to have as many as 9.5 subscribers by year's end.
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/080227/aqw073.html?.v=37 
http://www.netflix.com

Fairfax County (Va.) EDA Moves Calif. Office to San Francisco

San Francisco -- The Fairfax County (Va.) Economic Development Authority (FCEDA) said on Tuesday that it will move its California marketing office from Palo Alto to San Francisco. The organization also said that it has named San Francisco-based marketers Vaughn Mulder and Neil Cohen as co-directors of its West Coast marketing efforts. Mulder and Cohen will assist Bay Area technology companies that want to establish or expand operations in the DC area, as well as venture capitalists seeking investment opportunities in Fairfax County.
http://www.FairfaxCountyEDA.org
http://www.fairfaxcountyeda.org/08releases/feb25-08.htm

Sunnyvale-Based Proofpoint Raises $28 Million in New Funding Round

Sunnyvale, Calif. -- Proofpoint, a Sunnyvale-based developer of email and data security products, said on Wednesday that it has raised $28 million in a new round of funding, led by new investor DAG Ventures. All of the company's previous investors, including Benchmark Capital; Bridgescale Partners; Inventures Group; JAFCO Ventures; Meritech Capital Partners; Mohr, Davidow Ventures and RRE Ventures, also participated. Proofpoint, which now has raised more than $86 million since its inception, said that it will use the proceeds for global expansion, customer acquisition and product development. Proofpoint's products are used by companies, universities and government organizations to help stop spam, protect against email viruses and prevent leaks of confidential information.
http://www.proofpoint.com
http://www.proofpoint.com/news-and-events/press-releases/pressdetail.php?PressReleaseID=192

Campbell-Based Tela Innovations Lands Investment from Intel Capital

Campbell, Calif. -- Tela Innovations, a Campbell-based technology start-up developing technology for semiconductor design and manufacturing, said that it has received an investment from Intel Capital, the venture capital arm of Santa Clara-based chipmaker Intel, as part of its second round of funding. New investor AsiaTech Management and several of the company's previous investors also participated. The company did not disclose financial terms of the round, which it plans to use to bring to market its technology for the more efficient design and manufacturer of next-generation chips. Tela said that its approach uses pre-defined physical topologies to help overcome the limitations of current design and lithography techniques.
http://www.tela-inc.com
http://www.tela-inc.com/nr_022708_intel.php 

Borg Institute Names Winners of "Women of Vision" Awards

Palo Alto, Calif. -- The Palo Alto-based Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology on Wednesday announced the winners of its 2008 Women of Vision Awards, which annually honor women making "significant contributions" to technology in the areas of innovation, leadership and social impact. The organization said that it will honor Justine Cassell of Northwestern University, Helen Greiner of iRobot and Susan Landau of Sun Microsystems at its awards reception, scheduled for May 8 in San Jose. The three winners were selected from a field of more than 50 nominees. More information is available at the link below.
http://anitaborg.org/news/archive/anita-borg-institute-announces-2008-women-of-vision-award-winners/

CareerBuilder Launches New Site for Experienced and Retired Workers

Chicago -- Online recruiting giant CareerBuilder.com said on Wednesday that it has launched a new site dedicated to experienced and retired workers. The site, called PrimeCB.com, allows retirees and other experienced workers to search for part-time, full-time and contract positions from the company's database of more than 1.6 million jobs. "According to AARP, nearly one-in-three U.S. workers will be over 50 by the year 2012," said Rosemary Haefner, CareerBuilder's vice president of human resources. "The challenge now is to make sure we're connecting those retirees who want to continue working with the employers who want to preserve the value of having these experienced and skilled workers at their companies." CareerBuilder.com is owned by newspaper publisher Gannett, Tribune and McClatchy, as well as Microsoft.
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/080227/aqw048.html?.v=42
http://www.primecb.com

Campbell-Based Wisair Raises $24 Million in Funding

Campbell, Calif. -- Wisair, a Campbell-based developer of single-chip based ultra wideband (UWB) and wireless USB (WUSB) products, said on Tuesday that it has raised $24 million in a new round of funding, led by Susquehanna Growth Equity (SGE). New investors Advent Venture Partners, Bridge Capital Fund of Japan and Yasuda Ventures and previous investors Apax Partners, Broadcom, Intel Capital, Vertex and Zisapel brothers also participated. "This additional funding will enable Wisair to accelerate the release of products with integrated WUSB capabilities to satisfy the burgeoning demand for simple high-speed wireless connectivity in the consumer electronics industry," said Jonathan Klahr of SGE.
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/080226/aqtu074.html?.v=36
http://www.sgep.com.

Report: Internet Advertising Revenue Up 25% in 2007

New York -- Propelled by record sales in all four quarters, total Internet advertising revenue rose 25% to $21.1 billion last year, according to new figures data from the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) and PricewaterhouseCoopers. "The continued record growth evidences the importance and uniqueness of interactive media to both consumers and the marketers that are trying to reach them," said David Silverman, a partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers. The report estimates fourth quarter revenue as $5.9 billion -- a 13% increase over the previous quarter and 24% higher than the same period in 2006.
http://www.iab.net/about_the_iab/recent_press_releases/press_release_archive/press_release/195115 http://www.iab.net 

Apple Now 2nd Largest U.S. Music Retailer Behind Wal-Mart

Cupertino, Calif. -- Cupertino-based Apple said on Tuesday that its iTunes Store is now the second-largest music retailer in the U.S. behind Wal-Mart, having leapfrogged retail chain Best Buy in the latest figures from market research firm NPD Group. The company pulled ahead of then third-place U.S. music retailer Amazon.com last June, according to NPD's rankings. Apple also announced that there are now over 50 million iTunes Store customers, and that the company has now sold over 4 billion songs -- including 20 million sold on Christmas Day 2007 alone.
http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2008/02/26itunes

Take-Two Rejects Electronic Arts' $2 Billion Buyout Offer

Redwood City, Calif. -- Video game publisher Take-Two Interactive has rejected an unsolicited takeover offer worth about $2 billion from Redwood City-based competitor Electronic Arts. Take Two's board said that the $26-a-share offer undervalues the company, and called it "highly opportunistic," given Take Two's pending release of "Grand Theft Auto IV." "Electronic Arts' proposal provides insufficient value to our shareholders and comes at absolutely the wrong time given the crucial initiatives underway at the company," said Strauss Zelnick, Take-Two's executive chairman. In response, however, EA CEO John Riccitiello said, "There can be no certainty that in the future EA or any other buyer would pay the same high premium we are offering today." Take-Two shareholders ousted the company's management team last year, following a number of setbacks that included guilty pleas by several former executives to stock backdating charges and controversy surrounding violent and sexually explicit content in its titles.
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/080224/20080224005068.html?.v=1
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/080224/20080224005062.html?.v=1 
http://www.ea.com 
http://www.take2games.com 

Mountain View-Based FriendFeed Launches with $5 Million Funding Round

Mountain View, Calif. -- Following several months in beta testing, Mountain View-based FriendFeed said on Tuesday that it has raised $5 million in its first round of funding and officially launched its web site, which allows users to stay updated on the web pages, photos, videos and music that their friends and family are sharing. The financing came from company co-founders Paul Buchheit and Sanjeev Singh, as well as Benchmark Capital. The site initially was launched in a private beta late last year. "We've made a lot of improvements based on early user feedback, and we’re excited to open FriendFeed up to a larger audience," said Buchheit. FriendFeed currently supports more than 25 web services, including sites such as Flickr, YouTube and Yelp. The company said that its crawling technology automatically imports and updates what members are sharing on sites across the web, eliminating the need for its users to download software.
http://friendfeed.com/
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/080226/20080225006569.html?.v=1

Newt Gingrich's Grassroots Group Opens Tech Office in Palo Alto

Palo Alto, Calif. -- American Solutions for Winning the Future, a grassroots political organization chaired by former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, said on Tuesday that it has opened its technology headquarters in Palo Alto. "We're excited to be in Silicon Valley and to learn from the best of the private sector so we can utilize the latest technological breakthroughs to fundamentally transform government," said Gingrich. American Solutions said that one of its goals is to use technology to connect elected officials to millions of activists. To that end, Gingrich made an appearance in the virtual world of Second Life as part of a workshop in September.
http://www.youtube.com/americansolutions
http://www.AmericanSolutions.com 
http://news.yahoo.com/s/usnw/20080226/pl_usnw/newt_gingrich_announces_american_solutions__silicon_valley_office_in_a_youtube_video

Fremont-Based Gemfire Acquires Maryland-Based Covega

Fremont, Calif. -- Gemfire, the Fremont-based developer of a technology platform that enables wafer-scale processing to produce optical components, said that it has acquired Maryland-based Covega, a maker of opto-electronic components and subsystems, for an undisclosed sum. Covega will become a subsidiary of Gemfire and the active component division of the company's Planar Light Circuit (PLC) division. Gemfire's Covega CEO Joe Dixon, who will become the president and COO of Gemfire's Components unit, said that the deal will bolster the combined company's offerings for large systems integrators. 
http://www.covega.com/About_Us/News/Press_Release.asp?id=14
http://www.gemfire.com/

San Jose-Based eBay Names New CEOs for Skype, Shopping.com

San Jose, Calif. -- San Jose-based eBay on Monday named Josh Silverman as the new CEO of its Skype Internet telephone unit, taking over for Michael van Swaaij, who has served as the company's interim head since October. Silverman is currently the CEO of  comparison shopping site Shopping.com, another eBay unit. To fill that void, eBay also named Andre Haddad as the new CEO of Shopping.com.  Haddad joined the company in 2001, when eBay acquired iBazar, a European online marketplace that he co-founded. Founded in 2003 and acquired bvy eBay in 2005, Skype provides its voice and video calling services to more than 276 million registered users.
http://www.skype.com
http://www.shopping.com
http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20080225005892/en

Clarus Raises $660 Million for New Life Sciences Fund

South San Francisco -- Clarus Ventures, a South San Francisco-based venture capital firm focused on the life sciences sector, on Monday announced that it has raised $660 million for its second fund. The fund, known as Clarus Lifesciences II, will invest between $20-$60 million in biotechnology, specialty pharmaceutical and medical technology companies that are developing products to treat diseases. The firm's inaugural fund has committed 90% of its proceeds to date. Clarus was founded in 2005, and also has offices in Massachusetts.
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/080225/nym004.html?.v=101
http://www.clarusventures.com/

San Francisco-Based Radar Networks Raises $13M in Second Round

San Francisco -- Radar Networks, the San Francisco-based developer of a new web service designed to help users organize, share and discover information about their interests, said on Monday that it has raised $13 million in its second round of funding, led by Velocity Interactive Group. New investor Draper Fisher Jurvetson and previous investor Vulcan Capital also participated. The company said that it will use the proceeds to roll out and grow its service, known as Twine. which automatically organizes information, learns about users' interests and makes connections and recommendations. "It is now time to open up and scale the business to the broader consumer market," said Nova Spivack, the company's founder and CEO. "What you’ll see from us over the next year are a series of improvements, new features and new content." Radar Networks, which closed its initial round in April 2006, now has raised a total of $18 million in venture capital.
http://www.radarnetworks.com/press/release_20080225.html
http://www.radarnetworks.com
http://www.twine.com

San Francisco-Based Tiny Pictures Secures $7.2 Million in Funding

San Francisco -- Tiny Pictures, the San Francisco-based provider of a service that lets users share camera phone pictures and videos in real-time, announced on Monday that it has secured $7.2 million in its second round of funding, led by Draper Fisher Jurvetson. Previous investor Mohr Davidow Ventures also participated in the round, which the company will use to drive international expansion of its Radar service and develop an ad platform. Founded in 2005, Tiny Pictures said that its service now serves more than 15 million pictures a month to mobile users. The company's mobile network partners include T-Mobile Germany, Bell Mobility, Danger and Research in Motion. Tiny Pictures also said that Black Eyed Peas frontman will.i.am has joined its advisory board, and will collaborate on mobile promotions. The company has sponsored promotions with 20th Century Fox and Warner Bros, as well.
http://sev.prnewswire.com/computer-electronics/20080225/CLM08625022008-1.html
http://www.tinypictures.us 
http://radar.net 

Pleasanton-Based Sellpoint Raises $7 Million in Second Round

Pleasanton, Calif. -- Sellpoint, a Pleasanton-based developer of online video product tours, has raised $7 million in its second round of funding, online magazine Internet retailer reported. Granite Ventures and Menlo Ventures participated in the round, which the company plans to use to expand its business. Sellpoint, which has raised a total of $17 million, including some under its previous name of Tentoe, reportedly provides video product demos for more than 50 manufacturers, including Brother, Canon, Epson, Hitachi and Panasonic. The videos shown on the web sites of retailers.
http://www.internetretailer.com/dailyNews.asp?id=25484
http://www.sellpoint.net

Macrovision Sells San Francisco-Based Trymedia to RealNetworks

San Francisco -- Nearly three years after acquiring the company for $34 million, Santa Clara-based copy-protection technology firm Macrovision said on Friday that it has sold San Francisco-based Trymedia Systems to RealNetworks for an undisclosed sum. Reuters, citing a person familiar with the situation, put the purchase price at $4 million. Trymedia's service allows game publishers, portals and other content providers to offer game downloads that consumers can try before they purchase. The company's 250 partners include AOL, Yahoo, Telstra, IGN and T-Online. "This acquisition doubles the scale of our syndication business," said Harold Zeitz, senior vice president of RealGames.
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/080222/aqf032.html?.v=33 
http://www.reuters.com/article/marketsNews/idUKN2227679520080222?rpc=44
http://www.macrovision.com 
http://www.trymedia.com 

Pleasanton-Based Sub-One Technology Raises $24M in Third Round

Pleasanton, Calif. -- Sub-One Technology, a Pleasanton-based developer of protective coatings for industrial applications, said that it has raised $24 million in its third round of funding, led by Nomura International. GE Energy Financial Services, Chevron Technology Ventures and Advanced Technology Ventures also participated. Sub-One said that its technology applies a hard-as-diamonds coating to the interiors of liquids and gas handling equipment and piping. The company raised $7 million in its second round, which closed in October 2006.
http://www.sub-one.com
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/080220/20080220006514.html?.v=1

San Jose-Based Cypress Semiconductor Doubles Size of Buyback Program

San Jose, Calif. -- Cypress Semiconductor, a San Jose-based maker of memory and other semiconductor products, said that its board has authorized the company to buy back an additional $300 million in stock. The move doubles the size of the company's repurchase program, announced in Jan. 2007. To date, Cypress has bought 12.2 million shares of stock at a cost of $269 million under the program, leaving $331 million available for additional purchases.
http://www.cypress.com 
http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20080222005129/en

Survey: Angel Investors Optimistic Despite Economic Conditions

Washington, DC -- Despite the recent slowdown in the U.S. economy, angel investors are optimistic about the climate for investments in early-stage companies during 2008, according to a new survey by the Angel Capital Association (ACA). Angel group leaders surveyed predicted that the quantity and quality of entrepreneurial investment proposals will increase this year, with the number of investments they make growing slightly. "These predictions may indicate that sophisticated angel groups and perhaps other private investors have different reactions to economic challenges than public markets," said John May, chairman of the ACA. "We have found that new entrepreneurial opportunities can arise in turbulent times like these." Currently, there are about 275 angel groups operating in the U.S. and Canada, up 65%  since 1999.
http://www.angelcapitalassociation.org
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/080222/20080222005430.html?.v=1

"Portal," "BioShock" Win Big at Game Developers Choice Awards

San Francisco -- Valve's "Portal" title took home Game of the Year honors at the Game Developers Choice Awards, held during the annual Game Developers Conference in San Francisco. The title also won awards for Innovation and Best Game Design. The other big winner was 2K Games' "BioShock," which won awards for Best Visual Art, Best Writing and Best Audio. Other awards were doled out to Nintendo's "The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass" (Best Handheld Game); Sony/thatgamecompany's "Flow" (Best Downloadable Game); and Crytek/Electronic Arts' "Crysis" (Best Technology). The Lifetime Achievement Award was presented to Sid Meier, co-founder of Firaxis Games and creator of strategy games including "Civilization." A full list of winners is available at a link below.
http://www.gamechoiceawards.com

Santa Clara-Based Teranetics Raises $25 Million in Funding

Santa Clara, Calif. -- Teranetics, a Santa Clara-based developer of mixed-signal chips used in 10 GB copper networks, said on Thursday that it has raised $25 million in a new round of funding, which included all of the company's previous investors, as well as partner LSI. The company said that the proceeds will fund it through the growth phase of its business plan. "We are excited about the market opportunities that lie ahead of us," said Matt Rhodes, the company's CEO. Teranetics said that it is the first company to ship 10GBASE-T transceiver silicon, which is designed for use in next generation networks.
http://www.teranetics.com
http://biz.yahoo.com/iw/080221/0365133.html

Mountain View-Based Google Debuts Video Ad Platform

Mountain View, Calif. -- Mountain View-based Google on Thursday launched a beta test of AdSense for Video, the anticipated addition to its online advertising platform that will allow advertisers to insert ads into videos seen on a range of partner sites. The service will let advertisers overlay either text or video ads on a small section of the video player, with the ability to target ads based on video content and where the clip is hosted. Google in August launched a test of overlay video ads on its YouTube service. The new AdSense for Video service initially will launch on the sites of about 20 partners, including BobVila.com, eHow, MyDamnChannel, ExpertVillage, PinkBike and TheNewsRoom, as well as with social video aggregators like Revver and blip.tv. Online video platform providers Brightcove, Yume, Tremor Media and Eyespot also have plugged Google's video ads into their platforms.
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2008/02/adsense-for-video-now-in-beta.html
http://www.google.com/ads/videoadsolutions

San Jose-Based KLA-Tencor to Launch Tender Offer for ICOS Vision Systems

San Jose, Calif. -- KLA-Tencor, a San Jose-based supplier of inspection and metrology systems to the semiconductor industry, said on Thursday that it will launch a $465.8 million cash tender offer to acquire Belgium's ICOS Vision Systems. The deal, if accepted by at least 85% of ICOS's shareholders, could close by mid-year. ICOS supplies packaging and interconnect inspection systems ot the semiconductor industry, specializing in the inspection of photovoltaic solar technologies and LED lighting products. ICOS's board said that it will recommend that its shareholders accept the offer, with board members already agreeing to tender their shares. "ICOS has exceptional synergy with KLA-Tencor in both markets and technologies, and would provide us with additional opportunities for both growth and diversification," said Rick Wallace, the CEO of KLA-Tencor.
http://www.kla-tencor.com 
http://www.icos.be
http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20080221005372/en

Redwood City-Based PDL Biopharma to Sell Minn. Manufacturing Facility

Redwood City, Calif. -- PDL Biopharma, a Redwood City-based biopharmaceutical firm, said on Thursday that it will sell its Minnesota manufacturing facility to Denmark-based biotech firm Genmab for $240 million. All 170 employees currently at the 215,000-square-foot facility have received offer letters from Genmab, and would transfer once the deal closes. Patrick Gage, the interim CEO of PDL, said that the sale will "maximize the value of PDL's assets for our stockholders," following the company's recent sale of its commercial assets. Genmab focuses on developing human antibody therapeutics targeting diseases such as leukemias, lymphomas, rheumatoid arthritis and head and neck cancer. The company has 10 products in clinical testing and three products in late-stage clinical trials. Products manufactured at the Brooklyn Park. Minn. plant currently are used only for clinical trials, though Genmab said that it would like to expand the use of the facility to include the commercial production of antibodies.
http://www.genmab.com
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/080221/20080221005763.html?.v=1
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/080221/ukth036.html?.v=1

Monterey-Based Firm Launches Telephone Interpreter Service on East Coast

Monterey, Calif. -- Monterey-based Language Line Services said on Thursday that it has launched a new toll-free telephone interpreter service in six East Coast cities, including New York and Washington, DC. The service, called "Your World. Your Language," allows limited English speakers to access a host of commercial, retail and entertainment businesses at no charge. The businesses, such as Ticketmaster and SuperShuttle, pay the company to remain on the line and help callers communicate with customer service representatives, The service is currently available in Cantonese, Japanese, Korean, Mandarin, Polish, Russian, Spanish, Tagalog and Vietnamese, and is expected to roll out nationwide by the end of 2008.
http://www.languageline.com/yourworldyourlanguage/
http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20080221005290/en

Mountain View-Based TrialPay Lands $12.7 Million in Second Round

Mountain View, Calif. -- TrialPay, a Mountain View-based developer of alternative payment technology that offers consumers free products and services when they agree to accept advertising, said that it has raised $12.7 million in its second round of funding. Investors included Atomico Ventures, Index Ventures, Battery Ventures and former PayPal executives. TrialPay, which has raised $15.8 million since its inception, now claims 5.2 million registered users for its service, and works with over 3,000 merchants, including McAfee, The Wall Street Journal, Fandango and Skype. "If a customer isn't quite sold on a software title, he or she could get that software for free by sending flowers from FTD.com, signing up for Blockbuster Total Access or buying $50 worth of clothes at Gap.com," the company said in describing its service. TrialPay pays for the software using revenue from the advertiser, and the customer gets a free license.
http://www.trialpay.com
http://www.businesswire.com/news/google/20080220005210/en

"DVD Jon" Start-Up DoubleTwist Raises Funds, Launches Platform

San Francisco -- DoubleTwist, a San Francisco-based start-up launched by notorious Norwegian hacker Jon Lech Johansen (aka DVD Jon) and partner Monique Farantzos, said that it has launched its platform for media-sharing and closed its first round of funding. The company said that it has raised an undisclosed amount from Index Ventures and Northzone Ventures. DoubleTwist's technology includes a desktop application that purports to be able to strip the digital rights management (DRM) technology from most any media file, so that it can be synched with and easily transferred to various portable media players, or shared with other users. The company also is offering a social network application that allows users to share media directly from their profile pages. Johansen gained notoriety for his work hacking the DVD encryption code at age 15, as well as the DRM technology that limits usage of songs purchased from Apple's iTunes Store.
http://www.doubletwistventures.com
http://www.doubletwist.com/Content/pdf/Launch-PR.pdf (PDF)

San Jose-Based Sanmina-SCI to Sell Personal Computing Operations

San Jose, Calif. -- Sanmina-SCI, a San Jose-based provider of electronics contract manufacturing services, said on Thursday that it will exit the personal computing business, selling its PC manufacturing operations in Monterey, Mexico to Chinese computer company Lenovo. The company also said that it will sell its PC business and associated logistics services located in Hungary, Mexico and the U.S. to Foxconn Technology Group (Foxteq). The combined sales are expected to bring in about $200 million. "This announcement is in line with our previous statements that we would sell or otherwise exit the personal computing business because the business is no longer integral to the Company's long-term strategy," said Jure Sola, the chairman and CEO of Sanmina-SCI.
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/080219/aqtu115.html?.v=31
http://www.sanmina-sci.com

Agilysys Acquires Emeryville-Based Eatec for $23.2 Million

Emeryville, Calif. -- Agilysys, a Florida-based developer of IT and hospitality software, said that it has paid $23.2 million to acquire Emeryville-based Eatec, which provides back-office software and services to the foodservice and hospitality industries. Eatec's software helps clients, such as restaurants, hotels, stadiums and entertainment venues, carry out core functions such as purchasing, inventory, production and sales analysis. Agilysys said that it plans to offer Eatec's software as a stand-alone product, as well as integrating it with its own point-of-sale offerings. The McLean Group, a Virginia-based investment bank focused on middle-market companies, acted as a mergers and acquisitions advisor to Eastec in the sale. 
http://www.eatec.com 
http://www.agilysys.com 
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/080219/cltu093.html?.v=82

Sunnyvale's HCL Technologies Acquires Capital Stream

Sunnyvale, Calif. -- Indian IT services firm HCL Technologies, which has U.S. offices in Sunnyvale, said on Thursday that it has paid $40 million in cash to acquire Seattle-based Capital Stream, a developer of software used by banks and finance companies to help originate and manage commercial credit accounts. CapitalStream's flagship product, known as FinanceCenter, is a web-based application used to automate business and commercial lending institutions. Capital Stream said that the acquisition will enhance its ability to serve commercial and retail financial institutions.
http://www.hcltech.com
http://www.capitalstream.com
http://www.capitalstream.com/news/press/022008.asp

San Francisco-Based Peanut Labs Lands $3.2 Million in First Round

San Francisco -- Peanut Labs, a San Francisco-based developer of research tools designed to help online marketers tap into the 13-25-year-old audience, said on Tuesday that it has landed $3.2 million in its first round of funding, co-led by Leapfrog Ventures and BV Capital. The company, which said that it is profitable, said that it will use the proceeds to continue the development of its market research sampling technology, which taps the audiences of more than 70 social networks, including MySpace, Facebook and Google OpenSocial. Each time a member of the social network completes a survey, the publisher earns a sum of money.
http://www.peanutlabs.com
http://biz.yahoo.com/iw/080219/0362910.html

Accenture Completes Acquisition of Lafayette-Based Maxamine

Lafayette, Calif. -- Accenture, a New York-based provider of management consulting, technology and outsourcing services, said that it has completed its acquisition of Maxamine, a Lafayette-based provider of digital marketing services. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Privately held and founded in 1997, Maxamine provides testing and optimization services to help companies improve the marketing effectiveness and financial returns from their web sites and other digital marketing investments.
http://newsroom.accenture.com/article_display.cfm?article_id=4647
http://accenture.com/Global/Consulting/Marketing_and_Sales_Effectiveness/maxamine

Sunnyvale-Based Ubicom Raises $18 Million in Fourth Round

Sunnyvale, Calif. -- Ubicom, a Sunnyvale-based developer of communications processors and software, said on Tuesday that it has raised $18 million in its fourth round of funding, co-led by Lehman Brothers Venture Partners and Samsung Venture Investment. Several of the company's previous investors also participated. "This new round of funding will allow us to scale in our engineering, sales and marketing efforts, as we continue our rapid revenue growth and expansion into new markets," said Cathal Phelan, the CEO of Ubicom. Ubicom supplies its processors and operating system to manufacturers of products such as wireless routers, access points and connected digital photo frames.
http://www.ubicom.com
http://www.ubicom.com/newsevents/pressarchive/2008/20080219_Series4_Financing.php

Milpitas-Based Pliant Technology Raises $8 Million in First Round

Milpitas, Calif. -- Pliant Technology, a Milpitas-based start-up developing a new class of solid state storage devices that it calls enterprise flash drives, said that it has raised $8 million in its first round of funding led by Lightspeed Venture Partners. The company said that it will use the proceeds to complete development of devices, which it said will be capable of higher levels of performance and increased energy efficiency. The devices, based on a new controller design and software architecture, are due out late this year. Pliant was founded by Mike Chenery (president), the former vice president of advanced product engineering at Fujitsu; Doug Prins (chief architect) a former consultant for Fujitsu, Emulex and Q-Logic; and Aaron Olbrich (CTO), who formerly spent time at both Fujitsu and IBM. Chairman Jim McCoy previously co-founded both Maxtor and Quantum, and CEO Amyl Ahola is the former CEO of TeraStor and a vice president at Seagate and Control Data.
http://www.plianttechnology.com
http://www.plianttechnology.com/news/02192008.php

Emeryville-Based Ravenflow Lands $5 Million, Names New CEO

Emeryville, Calif. -- Ravenflow, a developer of validation tools used by software developers, said on Tuesday that it has raised $5 million in funding and hired Susan Boers as its new president and CEO. Investors included Alloy Ventures, Palomar Ventures and the Roda Group. Boers, the former president of Telelogic North America, succeeds Joe Marasco, who will remain on the company's board of directors. All told, Boers spent more than 14 years with Telelogic. The news follows a year in which the company tripled its annual sales, compared with 2006.
http://www.ravenflow.com
http://www.ravenflow.com/news/pr_021908.php

San Francisco-Based Bleacher Report Launches After Raising Funds

San Francisco -- Following several months of beta testing, San Francisco-based Bleacher Report said on Tuesday that it has formally launched its community-driven online sports network after raising an undisclosed amount in its first round of funding. The round was led by Hillsven Capital, a partnership of Ariba co-founders Bobby Lent and Boris Putanec, and also included participation from Transcoast Capital, several Silicon Valley executives and Jakob Lodwick, the founder of College Humor and Vimeo. The company said that it will use the proceeds to add new features and capabilities to the site, including video and podcasting later this year. Bleacher Report was founded by Dave Finocchio, Alexander Freund, Bryan Goldberg and Dave Nemetz, who believed that the mainstream sports media didn't offer the range or depth of coverage to satisfy diehards of college and pro teams. Their site, which drew more than 400,000 unique monthly visitors and published more than 2,000 editorials a month while in beta, allows visitors to become fan-journalists, producing their own content and sharing it with readers. Much like Wikipedia, the site features a peer-editing system and automatic filters.
http://www.bleacherreport.com
http://biz.yahoo.com/iw/080219/0363246.html

Report: Local Productivity Stays Strong, But Workers Feel Pressure

San Jose, Calif. -- Though Silicon Valley experienced its sixth straight year of productivity gains in 2007, the growth was offset by economic instability, according to a new report released by the Silicon Valley Network and Silicon Valley Community Foundation. While the region saw significant growth in population, jobs, median income and investment capital, the report found that economic turbulence is bringing pressure to area workers and their families as they move between jobs and work for smaller firms that offer fewer benefits. "The Index reflects good news for some in Silicon Valley, rough patches for others and heart wrenching choices for many," said Emmett Carson, the president and CEO of the community foundation. "The research is a wake-up call to our community that we must work across sectors to address the intertwined challenges facing our region, especially for families with the fewest resources." The full report is available at the link below.
http://www.jointventure.org/publicatons/index/2008Index/index.html