Silicon Valley Wire

Mountain View-Based Google Launches Venture Capital Fund

Mountain View, Calif. -- Joining the ranks of companies such as Amazon, Disney and Comcast, Mountain View-based Google has officially launched a new venture capital fund, known as Google Ventures. "This is Google's effort to take advantage of our resources to support innovation and encourage promising new technology companies," the company wrote in a blog post. "We think we can find young companies with truly awesome potential and encourage their development into successful businesses." The firm, led by managing partners Rich Miner and Bill Maris, plans to focus on early stage investments in industries such as consumer Internet, software, clean-tech, bio-tech and health care. "If anything, we think the current downturn is an ideal time to invest in nascent companies that have the chance to be the `next big thing,' and we'll be working hard to find them," said Google. 
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/03/googles-newest-venture.html
http://www.google.com/ventures

Palo Alto-Based Facebook Says CFO to Depart; Fuels IPO Speculation

Palo Alto, Calif. -- Fueling speculation that it is gearing up to go public, Palo Alto-based Facebook said on Tuesday that CFO Gideon Yu is departing the social networking company. A person familiar with the matter told The Wall Street Journal that Facebook is looking for a CFO with "public company experience" for his replacement. Yu had joined the company in mid-2007, following a stint as the CFO of YouTube. The Journal reported that Facebook is expecting a revenue increase of at least 70% this year.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123852657881174747.html (subscription required)
http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/03/31/confirmed-facebook-loses-cfo-gideon-yu/

San Francisco-Based LoopNet to Raise $50 Million

San Francisco -- LoopNet, the San Francisco-based developer of an online marketplace for commercial real estate and businesses for sale, said that it has struck a deal to raise $50 million through the sale of convertible preferred stock. The deal is being led by San Francisco-based Calera Capital, in conjunction with previous investors Trinity Ventures and Rustic Canyon Partners. "This financing will provide LoopNet with additional resources to pursue and accelerate our growth strategy in this unprecedented market environment," said Richard Boyle, the company's chairman and CEO. If converted, the investment would represent a nearly 18% stake in the company.
http://www.loopnet.com/
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/LoopNet-Announces-Private-bw-14780530.html

Cyberstates Report: Calif. Still Leads Nation's High-Tech Industry

Santa Clara, Calif. -- California's high-tech industry added 2,000 net jobs in 2007, only the third net increase in jobs since the tech bubble began to burst in 2000, according to TechAmerica's latest Cyberstates report, released on Tuesday. The state led the nation with 942,700 high-tech workers, a high-tech payroll of $101 billion and 41,600 high-tech establishments. To David Thomas, the executive director of TechAmerica Silicon Valley, the numbers fuel optimism that California can make a quick recovery from the current economic downturn. "California can recover from this recession, but to do so we call upon Governor Schwarzenegger and local officials to work to direct federal stimulus spending to California," said Thomas. "The stimulus includes significant technology infrastructure investments that can accelerate Northern California's recovery." The data shows that the tech industry has fared better than the rest of the U.S. economy in the midst of the recession. During the fourth quarter, tech employment dropped 0.6%, compared with a decline of 1.3%  in the overall private sector.
http://www.techamerica.org/Pressroom/CyberstatesCASV.cfm

San Jose-Based ePlanet Ventures Invests in Dutch Online Greeting Card Firm

San Jose, Calif. -- ePlanet Ventures, a San Jose-based venture capital firm focused on technology, said that it has made a "substantial" investment in Greetz, a Dutch developer of an online personalized greeting card service. Previous investor Prime Technology Ventures also participated. The company said that the new capital will allow it to expand its position in new markets like France, Germany and the U.K. Last year, Greetz sent more than 3.2 million greeting cards, and also acquired Kaartenhuis, the largest e-card site in the Netherlands.
http://www.greetz.nl 
http://www.eplanetventures.com
http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20090330006533/en

Google, Major Labels Debut Free Music Downloads in China

Mountain View, Calif. -- Google has launched a free, ad-supported music download service in China, with backing from the four major record labels, Reuters reported. At launch, the service offers around 350,000 songs, a library that will expand to 1.1 million in coming months, Gary Chen, the CEO of Top100.cn -- Google's music partner in China -- told Reuters. "This is the first serious attempt to start [monetizing] the online market in China. I can't overestimate how important this is," Lachie Rutherford, the president of Warner Music Asia Pacific and Asia chairman of the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), told Reuters. The IFPI claims that piracy accounted for 99% of all music files distributed in China last year.
http://uk.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUKTRE52T22P20090330  http://www.top100.cn 

Milpitas-Based KLA-Tencor to Cut Workforce by Another 10%

Milpitas, Calif. -- Continuing to reel from a depressed market for its chi-making equipment, San Jose-based KLA-Tencor that it will cut its workforce by another 10%, or about 600 employees. The news comes in addition to planned cuts of around 900 workers, announced in November. KLA-Tencor said that those and other moves will help reduce its operating expenses to $140-$145 million a quarter by the end of 2009 -- down around $25 million from previous targets. "Although we have been successful in our efforts to reduce operating costs in late 2008 and early 2009, we must now further reduce our operating expenses in order to respond to the current demand environment," said Rick Wallace, the company's CEO. The company also is planning to consolidate several facilities, impose additional unpaid furloughs and reduce benefits to employee stock purchase plans.
http://www.kla-tencor.com
http://www.kla-tencor.com/corporate-releases/kla-tencor-announces-10-percent-reduction-in-global-workforce-and-other-cost-saving-actions.html

Milpitas-Based Pliant Technology Raises $15M in Third Round

Milpitas, Calif. -- Pliant Technology, a developer of specialized Flash drives for large organizations, said on Monday that it has raised $15 million in its third round of funding. Participants included new investor Menlo Ventures, as well as previous investors Lightspeed Venture Partners, Arcturus Capital and Divergent Ventures. The company plans to use the proceeds as working capital to support the volume production of its drives, as well as to develop new products. Pliant said that its Enterprise Flash Drives (EFDs) can sharply lower data center energy consumption, and can fit into existing storage infrastructure.
http://www.plianttechnology.com
http://blog.enterprisestoragesense.com/
http://www.plianttechnology.com/news/03302009.php

Oakland-Based Livescribe Raises $7.5 Million; Second Round in Month

Oakland -- Livescribe, the Oakland-based developer of a mobile computing "smartpen" that records and links audio to handwriting, said on Monday that it has raised $7.5 million in its second round of funding from Switzerland's Aeris Capital. The news comes just a month after the company also secured $11.1 million in its first round, co-led by Vantage Point Ventures Partners and Lionhart Investments. The company expects to use a large part of the capital to bolster the marketing efforts for its core Pulse smartpen producvt. "Our focus in 2009 is to increase awareness of Pulse and put it within reach of millions of online and retail shoppers," said Jim Marggraff, the company's founder and CEO. The company said that it also plans to launch an online application store; expand internationally through partnerships in Australia, Korea, Singapore, Malaysia and the U.K.; and increase its focus towards professionals in healthcare, law, journalism, education and sales.
http://www.livescribe.com
http://www.livescribe.com/press/releases/release_090330.html

Report: Facebook Looking to Secure $100M for New Servers

Palo Alto, Calif. -- Needing additional servers to support its growing online social network, Palo Alto-based Facebook is looking to secure up to $100 million in new debt financing, BusinessWeek reported. "Facebook always seeks to keep its costs of capital as low as possible, particularly in these uncertain economic times," the company told BusinessWeek. "Along with other Silicon Valley companies, we rely on a range of tools to do so, including equipment lease lines to acquire equipment." Bank of America, Facebook's primary lender, and TriplePoint Capital are among the institutions being approached, sources with knowledge of the matter and TriplePoint CEO Jim Labe told BusinessWeek. Facebook to date has raised more than $500 million in debt and equity.
http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/mar2009/tc20090326_604141.htm

Charles River Ventures Raises $320 Million for 14th Fund

Menlo Park, Calif. -- Charles River Ventures (CRV), a Massachusetts-based venture capital firm with West Coast offices in Menlo Park, announced on Monday that it has raised $320 million for its 14th investment fund. The firm said that the new fund, called CRP XIV, will continue to invest in early-stage information technology companies within the communications, Interne, and software segments, as well as emerging companies focused on energy and intellectual property. Founded in 1970, CRV now has about $2.1 billion under management.
http://www.crv.com
http://www.crv.com/article/465

San Jose-Based Quantum Lands $100M Term Loan from EMC

San Jose, Calif. -- Quantum, a San Jose-based developer of backup, recovery and archive technology, announced on Friday that it has secured a $100 million term loan from data storage giant EMC that the company plans to use to refinance its debt. Quantum said that the deal will allow it to "address a key challenge posed by its current capital structure and the very constrained credit environment -- the obligation to refinance a majority of its convertible debt by February 2010." EMC licenses Quantum's "deduplication" software for use in some of its networked storage products. Quantum said that it will use the money to launch a tender offer for up to $142 million in outstanding debt due next year. That offer is scheduled to close May 12.
http://www.quantum.com/
http://www.quantum.com/aboutus/PressReleases/index.aspx?FullStory=0
http://phx.corporate-ir.net/staging/phoenix.zhtml?c=69905&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=1270546&highlight=

Mountain View-Based Google Cuts 200 Jobs in Sales and Marketing

Mountain View, Calif. -- Needing to thin out its sales and marketing organization in the wake of the recession, Mountain View-based Google said that it has cut nearly 200 jobs globally. "We did look at a number of different options but ultimately concluded that we had to restructure our organizations in order to improve our effectiveness and efficiency as a business," wrote Omid Kordestani, the company's senior vice president of global sales and business development, in a blog post. Kordestani said that the moves are a bid to correct mistakes the company made when it "over-invested in some areas in preparation for the growth trends we were experiencing at the time." Laid off workers will receive outplacement support and severance packages, as well as priority for other jobs within the company.
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/03/changes-to-our-sales-and-marketing.html

S.F.-Based Twitter Planning to Offer Paid Commercial Accounts

San Francisco - Twitter, the popular, San Francisco-based microblogging service, plans to begin offering commercial accounts with expanded services as a means of generating revenue. "We think there will be opportunities to provide services to commercial entities that help them get even more value out of Twitter. If these services are valuable to companies, we think they may want to pay for them," Twitter co-founder Biz Stone told Reuters. The company Twitter claimed 7 million unique visitors in February, up from 475,000 a year ago, according to Nielsen Online. Stone told Reuters that Twitter plans to introduce its commercial accounts product sometime in 2009.
http://twitter.com/
http://tech.yahoo.com/news/nm/20090326/tc_nm/us_twitter_1

Oak Investment Partners to Invest Up to $50 Million in Clarient

Palo Alto, Calif.-- Oak Investment Partners, the Palo Alto-based technology venture capital firm, said that it will invest up to $50 million in Clarient, an Aliso Viejo-based developer of cancer diagnostics. Under the deal, Oak will purchase $40 million in preferred stock in two initial tranches, and potentially could buy another $10 million. Ron Andrews, the CEO of Clarient, said that the deal "will allow the retirement of most of the company's outstanding debt, avoid approximately $11.0 million in interest expense and fees for the remainder of 2009, provide added resources to fuel growth, and will move Clarient closer to the goal of sustained profitability."
http://www.clarientinc.com
http://www.oakinv.com
http://www.clarientinc.com/Default.aspx?tabid=239

Mountain View-Based Pixazza Lands $5.75 Million in First Round

Mountain View, Calif. -- Pixazza, the Mountain View-based developer of a new service that lets users roll their mice over static web images to learn more and see related products, said that it has raised $5.75 million in its first round of funding. Participants included August Capital, CMEA Capital, Google and individuals including angle investor Ron Conway, former eBay COO Maynard Web and Facebook CFO Gideon Yu. Founded in 2008, Pixazza is a tool that web publishers can install that lets users mouse over items in photos, to reveal information and pricing about products similar in look in style to the one that caught their eye, then click through to make purchases. "Pixazza hopes to do for images what Google's AdSense did for web pages," said CEO Bob Lisbonne.
http://www.pixazza.com 
http://www.prweb.com/releases/Pixazza/Monetize_Images/prweb2264384.htm 

Redwood City-Based Obopay Lands New Investment from Nokia

Redwood City, Calif. -- Obopay, the Redwood City-based developer of a service that lets users make payments through their mobile phones, said that it has landed a new minority investment from handset maker Nokia. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. The company said that it will use the new funding to "aggressively" build its product suite and enhance its global presence. "This investment reflects our belief in the global potential for mobile payments," said Teppo Paavola, Nokia's vice president and head of corporate business development. Paavola will join the company's board of directors. Founded in 2005, Obopay has developed a service that allows consumers to instantly get, send and spend money using their mobile handsets.
https://www.obopay.com/
https://www.obopay.com/corporate/press_releases/Funding_Release_Nokia_FINAL.shtml

Roche Completes Acquisition of South San Francisco-Based Genentech

South San Francisco -- Swiss pharmaceutical giant Roche said on Thursday that it has completed its $46.8 billion acquisition of South San Francisco-based biotech firm Genentech. Roche paid $95 a share fo the company through a tender offer, which it launched in mid-March. The combined company will be the seventh largest U.S. pharmaceuticals firm in terms of market share, generating approximately $17 billion in annual revenue and employing around 17,500 workers in the U.S. alone. Genentech will continue to operate as an independent unit of Roche from its existing facility, and retain its current employees. Roche also plans to move its Pharma commercial operations in the U.S. from New Jersey to South San Francisco. The acquisition builds on a partnership between the two companies that first began more than 18 years ago.
http://www.gene.com
http://www.gene.com/gene/news/press-releases/display.do?method=detail&id=12007

Blockbuster to Sell TiVo DVRs, Offer Movies on TiVo Service

Alviso, Calif. -- Video rental giant Blockbuster said that it has partnered with Alviso-based TiVo to sell the company's digital video recorders at its retail locations, as well as offer its movies for sale and rental through TiVo's service. The Blockbuster OnDemand service will be available on TiVo Series2, Series3, TiVo HD and TiVo HD XL set-tops beginning in the second half of 2009. Blockbuster said that it will sell TiVo boxes at "thousands" of its U.S. retail stores, as well as from its web site. "Ultimately, our vision is to work with TiVo so that their subscribers can access movies not only through our OnDemand service but also from our stores and through our by-mail service as well," said Jim Keyes, Blockbuster's chairman and CEO.
http://www.tivo.com/blockbuster
http://sev.prnewswire.com/computer-electronics/20090325/SF8870625032009-1.html

Obama Fields Questions on Economy During Online Town Hall

Washington, DC -- In a first-of-its-kind event, President Obama on Thursday answered questions from the public during an online town hall about the economy. Nearly 93,000 people had submitted about 104,000 questions prior to the 9:30 a.m. ET cut-off, and had cast 3.6 million votes either for or against questions submitted by others. The event, dubbed "Open for Questions," was streamed live on WhiteHouse.gov, and included an array of questions submitted through video or text on the Internet. Obama relied heavily on the Internet during his campaign, and called the experiment "an exciting opportunity for me to look at a computer and get a snapshot of what Americans across the country care about."  
http://www.whitehouse.gov/openforquestions/

Mountain View-Based Audience Raises $15 Million in Fourth Round

Mountain View, Calif. -- Audience, a Mountain View-based developer of noise suppression technology used in consumer products where voices needs to be intelligible in noisy environments, said on Wednesday that it has raised $15 million in its fourth round of funding. New Enterprise Associates (NEA), Tallwood Venture Capital, Vulcan Capital and VentureTech Alliance participated in the round, which increased the company's total backing to $60 million. Peter Santos, the president and CEO of Audience, said that his company will use the proceeds for "continued investment in R&D, extension of our voice processor product line and expansion of our global operations." The company's voice processors -- custom integrated circuits modeled after the human hearing system -- currently are deployed in handsets made by LG, Pantech and Sharp.
http://www.audience.com
http://audience.com/news_20090324.html

S.F.-Based OnLive to Stream Video Games Through New Service

San Francisco -- Following seven years in development, San Francisco-based OnLive has unveiled its on-demand video game console, which allows subscribers to stream the latest games by linking their TVs with a broadband connection. The company, which plans to begin offering its subscription service next winter, was founded by WebTV founder Steve Perlman and former Eidos CEO Mike McGarvey. OnLive promises to offer the many of the same first-run game titles available in retail stores through partnerships with Electronic Arts, Take-Two, THQ, Epic Games, Ubisoft and Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. "By putting the value back into the games themselves and removing the reliance on expensive, short-lived hardware, we are dramatically shifting the economics of the industry," said OnLive founder and CEO Steve Perlman.
http://www.onlive.com
http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20090324005479/en 

Menlo Park-Based LimeLife Acquires San Mateo's Taptap

Menlo Park, Calif. - LimeLife, the Menlo Park-based operator of a network of women-focused online and mobile sites, said that it has acquired San Mateo-based Taptap, a provider of mobile and web social communities. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Founded in 2007, Taptap has to date raised $2.5 million in venture capital for its service that enables user-generated content, brand-sponsored contests and a subscription-based virtual economy. LimeLife said it will integrate Taptap's community features into its network of sites, which last month claimed more than 1 million unique visitors.
http://www.taptap.com
http://www.limelife.com/info/press_releases/032309.html 

San Francisco-Based Xobni Lands Another $3 Million in Second Round

San Francisco -- More than two months after initially closing its second round of funding, San Francisco-based Xobni, developer of a popular plug-in for Microsoft Outlook, said that it has landed another $3 million from the BlackBerry Partners Fund, extending the round to more than $10 million. Cisco Systems led the initial tranche. The company, which now has officially emerged from beta mode, said that the additional financing will allow it to hasten the development of a premium version of its product, scheduled for release this summer. Launched in public beta in May 2008, Xobni's software allows users to more quickly search and organize their email inboxes, helping them better manage relationships and communications from various platforms.
http://www.xobni.com
http://www.xobni.com/press/03242009_launch
http://www.xobni.com/blog/2009/03/25/blackberry-partners-fund-invests-in-xobni-and-we%e2%80%99ve-launched-xobni-17-no-more-beta/

Women in Technology International Names 2009 Hall of Fame Class

Santa Clara, Calif. -- Women in Technology International (WITI), a trade association for professional women in the science and technology fields, said that it has selected four women for induction into its 2009 Hall of Fame class. Inductees will include Patricia Cowings, a research psychologist at NASA's Ames Research Center; Maxine Fassberg, a vice president of technology and general manager of Intel Israel; Sharon Nunes, the vice president of Big Green Innovations at IBM; and Carolyn Turbyfill, a founding member of WITI who has served on the advisory board of Astia, formerly the Women's Technology Cluster. Induction ceremonies will take place this June in Santa Clara. More information is available at the links below.
http://www.witi.com/halloffame 
http://easypr.marketwire.com/easyir/prssrel.do?easyirid=FCE16D9DF6EDE1AF&version=live&prid=484791&releasejsp=release_75

Mountain View-Based Axcient Raises $6 Million in First Round

Mountain View, Calif. -- Axcient, a Mountain View-based developer of web-based data protection software for small and medium-sized businesses, said on Tuesday that it has raised $6 million in its first round of funding from Allegis Capital and Peninsula Ventures. The company said that it will use the proceeds to enhance its platform, grow operations, expand sales and marketing activities and improve customer service. Axcient said that its services are geared toward companies managing anywhere from 1 to 500 workstations, laptops or servers, and 10 gigabytes to 10 terabytes of data.
http://www.axcient.com
http://www.marketwire.com/press-release/Axcient-Inc-965099.html

Palo Alto-Based GigOptix to Reduce Salaries of All Employees

Palo Alto, Calif. -- Searching for ways to deal with the ongoing recession, Palo Alto-based GigOptix, a maker of high-speed optical chips, said on Tuesday that it has implemented a company-wide salary reduction plan. Under the plan, the salary of CEO Avi Katz will be reduced 18%, while other executives will see their pay reduced by 15% and all other employees will see theirs lowered by 10%. To help compensate for the loss, each employee will receive a special grant of stock options equal to 10% of their outstanding options. The company expects to save more than $900,000 a year as a result of the plan. "By preserving the personnel who are instrumental to our organization and asking everyone to take less, starting at the top, we can continue to focus on meeting our short- and long-term financial goals," said Katz.
http://www.GigOptix.com
http://ir.gigoptix.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=225697&p=RssLanding&cat=news&id=1269257

Palo Alto-Based HP Settles Inkjet Patent Dispute with Chinese Firm

Palo Alto, Calif. -- Hewlett-Packard (HP) said on Tuesday that it will receive an undisclosed sum as part of a patent infringement settlement with China-based Ninestar Image relating to inkjet cartridges. Ninestar also agreed to stop selling the cartridges in question in the U.S. and other countries where HP holds patent rights. "We are pleased with the timely resolution of this matter and will continue to monitor the marketplace for intellectual property infringements," said Stephen Nigro, a senior vice president at HP. This is Palo Alto-based HP's second patent violation issue with Ninestar since 2006. The parties reached a separate settlement in March 2007 regarding other inkjet patents.
http://www.hp.com/hpinfo/newsroom/press/2009/090324b.html

Survey: Consumer Confidence Rises, but Tech Spending Falls

San Francisco -- Although consumer confidence in the overall economy increased in March to its highest level in more than a year, technology spending continued to fall, according to new figures released on Tuesday by the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) and San Francisco-based CNET. The CEA-CNET Index of Consumer Expectations (ICE) -- which measures consumer expectations about the overall economy -- jumped nearly seven points from last month to end three straight months of decline. But while consumers are gaining confidence in the overall direction of the economy, confidence in consumer electronics and technology dropped for the fourth straight month. The CEA-CNET Index of Consumer Technology Expectations (ICTE) fell more than a point from last month, marking the lowest level since its inception in Jan. 2007. "With recent increases in the stock market and some signs of firming in the real estate market, consumers are beginning to indicate they'll be better off financially over the next year," said Shawn DuBravac, the CEA's economist and director of research. "Still, until consumers are more confident in an economic recovery, we expect consumer spending to remain muted."
http://www.ceacnetindexes.org/
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Consumer-Confidence-Highest-bw-14727405.html

RNC Names Former Microsoft Executive as Director of New Media

Washington, DC -- Looking to reinvigorate his party's use of technology, Michael Steele, the chairman of the Republican National Committee (RNC), has named former Microsoft executive Todd Herman as the RNC's director of new media. Most recently the founder of Seattle-based SpinSpotter, Herman previously held a number of senior leadership positions at Microsoft, including general manager of media strategy and monetization for MSN and streaming media evangelist at MSNBC.com. "Todd brings the kind of outside of the beltway, real-world experience to Washington DC and to our party that we need as we reclaim the lead in the use of digital media to communicate with America," said Steele. the move comes three weeks after the resignation of Cyrus Krohn as e-campaign director of the RNC. Upon his exit, Krohn vowed that the "tide will turn again in favor of the GOP, once we hone our message and harness emerging technologies."
http://www.gop.com/news/NewsRead.aspx?Guid=221dc437-e231-44db-a938-4bf24348fbbd
http://spinspotter.com/team#todd-herman

San Francisco-Based ngmoco Lands $10 Million in Second Round

San Francisco -- ngmoco, a San Francisco-based developer and publisher of games for the iPhone and iPod touch, said on Monday that it has raised $10 million in its second round of funding, led by Norwest Venture Partners. Previous investors Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and Maples Investments also participated in the round, which the company will use to expand its pipeline of games and accelerate the development of its new platform for connected gaming. Founded in 2008, ngmoco has developed iPhone and iPod touch games such as Rolando, MazeFinger, Topple, Topple 2, Dr. Awesome, Dropship and Word Fu. Its games have been installed over seven million times to date.
http://blog.ngmoco.com/
http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20090323005340/en

Report: Google Gearing Up to Launch Venture Capital Arm

Moutnain View, Calif. -- Reports have surfaced that Mountain View-based Google may be gearing up to officially launch a long-rumored venture capital arm, after someone was spotted at a conference last week with "Google Ventures" printed on his name tag. Reuters reported that Rich Miner, who joined Google in 2005 when the company acquired his mobile operating system firm Android, was wearing the name tag in question. "It's a project we're working on," a Google spokesman told Reuters when asked about a prospective venture capital unit. "But we're not able to discuss the details right now." The Wall Street Journal reported last year that a venture capital arm was in the works at Google. Other media firms that have active venture capital units include Amazon, Disney and Comcast.
http://www.reuters.com/article/rbssITServicesConsulting/idUSN1937691220090319  http://venturebeat.com/2009/03/20/google-ventures-ready-to-roll

S.F.-Based Industry Ventures Closes New $265 Million Fund

San Francisco -- Industry Ventures, a San Francisco-based investment firm focused on acquiring venture portfolios, limited partnership interests and other private equity investments, said on Monday that it has closed a new $265 million fund. The firm said that the fund, known as Industry Ventures Fund V, came from more than 20 institutional investors. "The strength of the secondary market is one of the few bright spots in these challenging economic times," said Hans Swildens, principal and founder of Industry Ventures. "This increased deal flow coupled with the secondary market's unique ability to steadily deploy capital resulted in significant investor demand and an oversubscribed fund that was larger than originally intended." Industry Ventures completed over 40 acquisitions last year, up from 27 in 2007. The firm plans to invest the fund over two-three years, with investments typically ranging from $1-$25 million.
http://www.industryventures.com
http://www.industryventures.com/Industry_Ventures_Closes_265_Million_Fund_V.html

Redwood Shores-Based Oracle to Buy Relsys International

Redwood Shores, Calif. -- Oracle, the Redwood Shores-based maker of back-office business software, said on Monday that it will acquire Irvine-based Relsys International, a developer of drug safety and risk management software for the health sciences industry. Financial terms of the deal, expected to close by mid-year, were not disclosed. Oracle said that the acquisition will allow it to offer software supporting drug safety processes across clinical development, post-market surveillance and patient care. "The health sciences industry is increasing investments in software that provide greater transparency into drug safety and help improve the overall safety of therapies," said Neil de Crescenzo, the senior vice president and general manager of Oracle Health Sciences. Relsys will become part of Oracle's Health Sciences Global unit.
http://www.relsys.net/
http://www.oracle.com/us/corporate/press/018053_EN

Palo Alto-Based Focus Ventures Invests in Buzz Media

Palo Alto, Calif. -- A trio of local venture capital firms, Palo Alto-based Focus Ventures and Sutter Hill Ventures and Menlo Park-based Redpoint Ventures, have made new investments in Los Angeles-based Buzz Media as part of that company's new $12.5 million funding round. Buzz Media, formerly known as Buzznet, operates a large community of pop culture web sites with an audience of 40 million unique monthly visitors. New Enterprise Associates (NEA) and Anthem Ventures also participated. The company's sites include Celebuzz, Buzznet, the Superficial, SocialiteLife, What Would Tyler Durden Do, Stereogum, Idolator, Just Jared and Absolute Punk.
http://www.buzz-media.com
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/090319/20090319005384.html?.v=1

San Jose-Based Immersion Sells CyberGlove Business

San Jose, Calif. -- Immersion, a San Jose-based developer of touch feedback technology used in video games, medical training simulators, driver controls and mobile phones, said on Friday that it has sold its CyberGlove business to Beverly Hills-based private equity firm Shackleton Advisors. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Immersion called the move part of a plan to divest its 3D product line and focus on its Medical and Touch lines of business. The CyberGlove family of products is used to capture hand and finger motion and manipulate objects in virtual reality. The product family includes VirtualHand software and four data glove models. The resulting San Jose-based company, known as CyberGlove Systems, will be led by Faisal Yazadi, who has headed sales for the division for the past 10 years.
http://www.cyberglovesystems.com
http://www.immersion.com
http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20090320005122/en

Campbell-Based AOptix Raises $12.9 Million in Funding

Campbell, Calif. -- AOptix Technologies, a Campbell-based developer of iris recognition systems and ultra-high bandwidth wireless optical communication systems, said on Friday that it has raised $12.9 million in a new round of funding, led by Danville-based Northgate Capital. Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Clearstone Venture Partners, DAG Ventures, W Capital Partners and Lehman Brothers also participated. Founded in 2000, AOptix is currently producing its first commercial product release for the iris biometrics market, the InSight 2 Meter Iris Recognition System. the company also raised $15 million in a round that closed in May 2007.
http://www.aoptix.com  
http://www.aoptix.com/press_release/031909Funding.pdf (PDF)

San Jose-Based Cisco to Pay $590 Million for Maker of Flip Video Cameras

San Jose, Calif. -- Cisco, the San Jose-based network equipment giant, said on Thursday that it will pay $590 million in stock to acquire San Francisco-based Pure Digital Technologies, a developer of digital camcorders that have become wildly popular for their ease in uploading video to the Internet. In addition, Cisco will pay up to $15 million to retain key employees. The deal is expected to close by late July, when Pure Digital will become part of Cisco's Consumer Business Group, which also includes Linksys home networking, audio and media-storage products. "The acquisition of Pure Digital is key to Cisco's strategy to expand our momentum in the media-enabled home and to capture the consumer market transition to visual networking," said Ned Hooper, the senior vice president of Cisco's Corporate Development and Consumer Groups. Pure Digital has sold more than 2 million of its Flip Video products, which come with software designed to make it easy for users to organize and edit videos, then share them instantly  sites like YouTube and MySpace.
http://www.theflip.com/
http://newsroom.cisco.com/dlls/2009/corp_031909.html

Sunnyvale-Based LendingClub.com Lands $12 Million in Second Round

Sunnyvale, Calif. -- LendingClub.com, a Sunnyvale-based peer lending network designed to unite investors and creditworthy borrowers over the Internet, said on Thursday that it has raised $12 million in its second round of funding, led by Morgenthaler Ventures. Previous backers Norwest Venture Partners and Canaan Partners also participated. "This additional capital will allow us to continue to expand our capabilities and accelerate the growth of our customer base," said Renaud Laplanche, the firm's founder and CEO. Lending Club also has named Pamela Kramer as its CMO. Kramer most recently served as the CMO of MarketTools. and previously held leadership roles at E*Trade Financial. LendingClub.com allows borrowers with good credit to get personal loans at lower interest rates than available conventional funding sources. Lenders, meanwhile, can fund specific borrowers by investing in notes issued by the company that correspond to specific loans.
http://www.lendingclub.com/
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/090319/20090319005371.html?.v=1

San Bruno-Based Numerate Raises $5.5 Million in Second Round

San Bruno, Calif. -- Numerate, a San Bruno-based biotechnology firm that has developed its own drug engineering process, said that it has raised $5.5 million in its second round of funding. Foundation Capital led the round, which also included participation from Lanza techVentures, another previous investor. "This investment will help support our business model of partnering with biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies while building on our drug design platform that provides compounds with the best chance of succeeding in the lab, clinic and marketplace," said Guido Lanza, Numerate's president and CEO. The company's drug engineering process uses computer science, statistics and molecular modeling to address the factors that determine the success and failure of a drug.
http://www.numerate.com
http://www.numerate.com/newsFinancing2.php

Facebook Co-Founder Joins VC Firm General Catalyst Partners

Palo Alto, Calif. -- General Catalyst Partners, a Massachusetts-based venture capital firm, announced that Chris Hughes, a founder of Palo Alto-based Facebook, has joined the firm as an entrepreneur in residence. Hughes most recently served as director of online organizing for President Barack Obama's presidential campaign, and directed online campaigning through the political social networking site My.BarackObama.com. "His intelligence and passion combined to launch two technology platforms that have changed our society socially and politically," said Neil Sequeira, managing director at General Catalyst Partners. General Catalyst was founded in 2000, and currently has $1.8 billion under management.
http://www.generalcatalyst.com
http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20090318005282/en 

IBM Reportedly in Talks to Acquire Santa Clara-Based Sun Micro

Santa Clara, Calif. -- IBM is in talks to acquire Santa Clara-based server maker Sun Microsystems in a potential deal that could be worth more than $6.5 billion, The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday. If consummated, it would mark the largest acquisition in IBM's history, helping to strengthen its position against Palo Alto-based rival HP. IBM currently leads the world's server market with a 31.4% market share, according to IDC. HP is second (29.5%), Dell third (11.6%) and Sun fourth (10.6). The news sent shares of Sun soaring more than 60% by midday Wednesday.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123735124997967063.html (subscription required)
http://www.sun.com

Y Combinator Raises $2 Million, Will Fund More Start-ups

Mountain View, Calif. -- Y Combinator, a Mountain View-based provider of seed funding for start-up companies, said that it has raised $2 million in new funding from Sequoia Capital and angel investors, and will increase the number of companies it funds annually from 40 to 60. Y Combinator makes small investments of usually no more than $20,000 in early-stage companies -- mainly web-based application developers -- and in return usually receives stakes of 2-10%. In addition to financing, the firm also offers hands-on advice to the companies it funds in a range of areas. Past Y Combinator-funded start-ups include Reddit, Loopt, Scribd, Justin.TV and Anywhere.FM. The firm said that applications for its current funding cycle must be submitted by March 25.
http://ycombinator.com/party.html

AOL Eschews DoubleClick for In-House Ad-Serving System

Mountain View, Calif. -- In what many consider a major milestone in its evolution to an advertising business model, AOL said that it no longer will rely on ad serving technology from Mountain View-based Google's DoubleClick, instead switching to an in-house system developed by AdTech, which the company acquired two years ago as part of its Platform-A business. AOL had been among DoubleClick's largest clients, and the move is expected to save the company millions of dollars. "Bringing our ad serving technology in-house was one of the most complex technological challenges we've undertaken, and now that our project is complete, our systems can deliver ad campaigns faster than our former DoubleClick solution," said AdTech CEO Dirk Freytag, who has been promoted to senior vice president of Platform-A. AOL will utilitze AdTech to deliver display, video and mobile ads across its MediaGlow properties and third-party networks.
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/090317/20090317005298.html?.v=1

Redwood City-Based Omidyar Invests $4M in Sunlight Foundation

Redwood City, Calif. -- Omidyar Network, a Redwood City-based philanthropic investment firm started by eBay founder Pierre Omidyar and his wife Pam, said on Wednesday that it has invested $4 million in the Sunlight Foundation, a Washington, DC-based non-profit organization promoting greater government openness and transparency through the Internet. Omidyar now has committed $8 million to the organization since 2007. Sunlight said that the funds will further its efforts to improve access to existing government information, digitize new information, and create online tools to foster greater government transparency. Sunlight's projects include The Open Senate Project, Capitol Words and OpenCongress.
http://sunlightfoundation.com/
http://www.omidyar.com/about_us/news/2009/03/17/sunlight-foundation-announces-4-million-invesment-omidyar-network

The news sent shares of Sun soaring more than 60% by midday Wednesday.

San Mateo, Calif. -- Gazillion Entertainment, a newly launched, San Mateo-based publisher of   multiplayer game, said that it has signed a multi-year agreement with Marvel Enterprises to develop massively multiplayer online games based on comic superheroes like Iron Man, Wolverine and Captain America. Venture-backed Gazillion, which until now has conducted business in stealth mode under the name NR2B Research, said that it has assembled four development studios staffed with team members from Apple, Blizzard, Microsoft Game Studios and Pixar. The company's first game in development is "Super Hero Squad," a casual multiplayer title aimed at younger audiences. It also is working on "Marvel Universe," a multiplayer online game for PC and consoles. "Despite the tough economy, the video game industry continues to grow, and MMO games for mass audiences represent the next big opportunity for the upcoming decade," said Rob Hutter, the president and CEO of Gazillion.
http://www.gazillion.com
http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20090317005505/en 

Apple to Deliver Several New Features in iPhone 3.0 Software

Cupertino, Calif. -- Apple on Tuesday provided a sneak-peek at the upgrades coming this summer in its iPhone 3.0 software release, which will bring long-desired features like the ability to copy and paste text, multimedia messaging and a search function that can works across all applications. A bevy of other new features also will be added, such as turn-by-turn directions, a new voice memo application and support for landscape keyboards and stereo Bluetooth. Cupertino-based Apple said that it sold a total of 30 million iPhones and iPod touch devices through 2008 -- including 13.7 million iPhones.
http://www.apple.com/iphone/preview-iphone-os/

Burlingame-Based Cloudera Raises $5 Million in First Round

Burlingame, Calif. -- Cloudera, a Burlingame-based provider of services and support for Hadoop open source data processing software, said that it has raised $5 million in its first round of funding, led by Accel Partners. A number of individuals also participated, including Mike Abbott, a senior vice president at Palm; Flickr co-founder Caterina Fake; Diane Greene, the former CEO of VMware; Qi Lu, the president of Microsoft's Online Services Group, former MySQL CEO Marten Mickos; Loudcloud founder In Sik Rhee; VMware founder Mendel Rosenblum; LinkedIn President Jeff Weiner; Illustra CEO Dick Williams and Facebook CFO Gideon Yu. Founded in late 2008, Cloudera is aiming to bring Hadoop technology, currently in use by large Internet companies like Facebook, Google and Yahoo, into average corporate data centers. The company just released its open source Cloudera Distribution for Hadoop product, used to store and process large amounts of data.
http://www.cloudera.com/
http://biz.yahoo.com/iw/090316/0482141.html

San Mateo-Based Apture Lands $4.1 Million in First Round

San Mateo, Calif. -- Apture, a San Mateo-based developer of a rich communications platform for bloggers and publishers, said on Tuesday that it has landed $4.1 million in its first round of funding, led by Clearstone Venture Partners. Silicon Valley angel investors Beau Vrolyk, the former managing director at Warburg Pincus; Paul Maritz. the CEO of VMWare; and Steve Taylor, former executive vice president of the Boston Globe, also participated. Apture has developed a platform that allows users to more easily integrate rich media into their articles and syndicate their content across the web. The company was founded by Stanford alumni Tristan Harris (CEO), Can Sar (CTO) and Jesse Young (chief engineer).
http://www.apture.com
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/090317/sf84267.html?.v=1

Bankrupt Spansion Names Turnaround Specialist as Chief Restructuring Officer

Sunnyvale, Calif. -- Looking to find a solution to its mounting red ink, Sunnyvale-based Spansion, a maker of Flash memory products that recently filed for Chapter 11, said that it has hired John Brincko, the head of turnaround firm Brincko Associates, as its chief restructuring officer. Brincko will oversee negotiations with Spansion's creditors, including debt-holders, to restructure the company's approximately $1.5 billion in secured and unsecured debt. The company filed for bankruptcy protection on March 1. "John has a tremendous track record and we are expecting him to play a key role in revitalizing Spansion," said John Kispert, the company's president and CEO. Brincko previously has served as the CEO of CalComp Technology, president and COO of Barneys New York, CEO of Mossimo, CEO of Knudsen Foods and Foremost Dairies and CEO of Consolidated Freightways.
http://www.spansion.com
http://investor.spansion.com/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=371088