Silicon Valley Wire

Pleasanton-Based Workday Lands $75 Million in Fifth Round

Pleasanton, Calif. -- Workday, a Pleasanton-based developer of web-based human resources and financial management software, said that it has raised $75 million in its fifth round of funding, led by New Enterprise Associates (NEA). Previous investors Greylock Partners and Workday CEO and co-founder Dave Duffield also participated in the round. Scott Sandell, a general partner at NEA, will join the company's board of directors. Workday, which currently has more than 80 clients, said that it will use part of the proceeds to expand its product portfolio. The company also has named Clark Newby as its vice president of marketing. Newby most recently served as the vice president of marketing at Fortify Software.
http://www.nea.com
http://www.workday.com
http://www.marketwire.com/press-release/Workday-Inc-981685.html

Report: Facebook in Talks on Funding, Seeking $5-$6B Valuation

Palo Alto, Calif. -- Facebook, the Palo Alto-based online social network with more than 200 million members, has held "valuation discussions" with a range of potential investors, including Providence Equity Partners, General Atlantic, Bain Capital and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, The New York Post reported. The paper, citing "multiple sources close to or involved in the situation," reported that the company is seeking funding at a valuation of $5-$6 billion, though the private equity firms it has been in talks with see it more in the range of $2-$3 billion. Facebook's existing investors -- who have to date pumped over $400 million into the company -- reportedly are not happy with the discussions, worried that a new round would dilute their investments.
http://www.nypost.com/seven/04302009/business/face_book__value_166873.htm

San Mateo-Based FreeWheel Lands $12 Million in Third Round

San Mateo, Calif. -- FreeWheel, a San Mateo-based developer of software designed to help content owners and publishers manage video ads across syndication relationships, said on Thursday that it has landed $12 million in its third round of funding, led by Foundation Capital. Previous backer Battery Ventures also participated. In the past year, FreeWheel said that it has signed more than 15 content providers, added 15 ad networks and distribution partners and grown to 70 employees in San Mateo, New York and Beijing. The company's monetization rights management platform enables online video content owners and distributors to manage their inventory allocation, revenue accounting and ad delivery.
http://www.freewheel.tv
http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20090430005514/en

AOL Names Former Google Executive as New Head of Ad Sales

Mountain View, Calif. -- Just weeks after taking the reigns at AOL, Tim Armstrong on Thursday named a former colleague at Mountain View-based Google as the unit's new head of advertising. Jeff Levick, most recently Google's vice president of industry development and marketing for the Americas, will become the new president of global advertising and strategy at AOL. In his new role, Levick primarily will be responsible for Platform-A, AOL's advertising arm. Greg Coleman, who had served as the president of Platform-A since February, will leave the company. "I've worked with Jeff for more than seven years at Google, and he is absolutely the right person to drive growth in our premium ad sales, dramatically scale our Advertising.com business, and further develop AOL's research initiatives and consumer insights," said Armstrong, a former senior vice president at Google who was named to replace Randy Falco as AOL's chairman and CEO in March. The news comes a day after parent Time Warner said that AOL's revenue dropped 23% in the first quarter, including a 20% drop in ad sales. Time Warner is currently looking into the possibility of spinning off all or part of AOL.
http://corp.aol.com/press-releases/2009/04/jeff-levick-named-head-aol-global-advertising-and-strategy

San Jose-Based IDT to Acquire Tundra, Sell Business to NetLogic

San Jose, Calif. -- Less than a week after making its initial offer for the company, San Jose-based Integrated Device Technology (IDT), a developer of mixed signal semiconductor used in digital media, said on Thursday that it has signed a definitive deal to acquire Canada's Tundra Semiconductor for $101.2 million. At the same time, IDT said that it will sell its network search engine business to Mountain View-based NetLogic Microsystems for $90 million, plus the cost of inventory on hand at closing. IDT said that the acquisition of Tundra will add  serial switching and bridging technologies to its current mixed-signal portfolio. The sale, the company said, "provides incremental sources of funds for IDT to make further investments to accelerate growth in our target markets."
http://www.tundra.com/ 
http://www.netlogicmicro.com/
http://www.IDT.com
http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20090430005813/en
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/NetLogic-Microsystems-to-bw-15092057.html?.v=1

Palo Alto-Based Games Start-Up Booyah Raises $4.5 Million

Palo Alto, Calif. -- Booyah, a Palo Alto-based start-up founded by games industry veterans Keith Lee, Brian Morrisroe and Sam Christiansen, said on Thursday that it has raised $4.5 million in its first round of funding from Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (KPCB). Following careers at Blizzard Entertainment, Activision and Insomniac Games, the founding trio has been working on an unspecified "entertainment product," to be revealed later this spring. While declining to give details on the project, Booyah said that it is creating a "playful life companion that combines the immersive experiences that draw consumers to massively multi-player online games, the interconnectedness of social media, and the power of the iPhone and iPod touch." Lee, who serves as CEO, previously was the lead producer for Blizzard Entertainment's Diablo III franchise, which has sold more than 20 million copies worldwide.
http://www.booyah.com
http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20090430005368/en

Study: Most Twitter Users Abandon Service Within a Month

San Francisco -- More than 60% of people who sign up for San Francisco-based Twitter stop using the popular microblogging service within a month, according to a new report from Nielsen Online. "Twitter's audience retention rate, or the percentage of a given month's users who come back the following month, is currently about 40%," said David Martin, the vice president of primary research at Nielsen Online. "For most of the past 12 months, pre-Oprah, Twitter has languished below 30% retention." By comparison, Facebook and MySpace both count retention rates in the neighborhood of 70%. "Twitter has enjoyed a nice ride over the last few months, but it will not be able to sustain its meteoric rise without establishing a higher level of user loyalty," added Martin. Responding to criticism from Twitter users, Nielsen then updated its numbers by taking into account more than 30 sites and applications that feed into the Twitter community, such as TweetDeck, TwitPic, Twitstat, Hootsuite, EasyTweets and Tumblr. The results were much the same, with about 60% of users still abandoning the service after a month.
http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/online_mobile/twitter-quitters-post-roadblock-to-long-term-growth/
http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/online_mobile/update-return-of-the-twitter-quitters/

Wiki Operator OdioWorks Sues Apple Over Alleged Legal Threats

San Francisco -- The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), a San Francisco-based digital civil liberties group, said that it has filed suit against Cupertino-based Apple for allegedly demanding that the operator of a collaborative "wiki" site called BluWiki remove user-generated content about ways to make iPods and iPhones interoperate with software other than iTunes. The site's owner, OdioWorks, filed suit earlier this week in San Francisco, looking to restore the content. Apple argues that the discussions violated the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), which makes it a crime to circumvent copy-protection security measures. "Apple's legal threats against BluWiki are about censorship, not about protecting their legitimate copyright interests," said Fred von Lohmann, a senior staff attorney for the EFF. "It's legal to engage in reverse engineering in order to create a competing product, it's legal to talk about reverse engineering, and it's legal for a public wiki to host those discussions."
http://www.eff.org/press/archives/2009/04/27 
http://www.eff.org/files/filenode/odio_v_apple/Final%20Complaint.pdf (PDF)

GSA Signs Deals with Facebook, MySpace Others

Washington, DC -- In a move designed to make it far easier for government agencies to share information over the Internet, the General Services Administration (GSA) has signed agreements with a group of social media services including Facebook, MySpace, Blist, Vimeo and Slideshare and AddThis. The deals allow other federal agencies to legally use the web tools without negotiating their own terms of service. "We are working at a fevered pace to improve the public's experience when engaging with the  government," said Martha Dorris, acting associate administrator of the Office of Citizen Services and Communications. Facebook and MySpace dominate the U.S. social networking market, Blist provides a consumer focused service for publishing data on the web, Slideshare allows users to share PowerPoint, Word and PDF documents and AddThis is a bookmarking and sharing platform reaching more than a half billion users. The GSA also has signed agreements with Flickr, YouTube and blip.tv, and is in discussions with several others. The latest deal resolves the legal concerns found in many standard terms and conditions that pose problems for federal agencies, such as liability, endorsements, advertising, freedom of information and governing law.
http://www.gsa.gov
http://www.clearspring.com/about/press/gsa-takes-another-big-step-forward

Justice Dept. to Probe Google Book Settlement with Authors

Mountain View, Calif. -- The U.S. Justice Department has launched an antitrust probe into the settlement being negotiated between Mountain View-based Google and authors over the company's book-scanning service, The New York Times reported. Citing two people briefed on the matter, the paper reported that Justice Department lawyers have been in conversations in recent weeks with groups that oppose the deal, such as the Internet Archive and Consumer Watchdog. The probe comes as the federal court overseeing the Google Book Search copyright settlement extended by four months the deadline by which authors must decide whether to accept the terms or opt-out. Several groups had petitioned the court for additional time to review the settlement terms, which came out of a copyright infringement lawsuit filed against Google by the Authors Guild and Association of American Publishers. Authors who accept the settlement terms will give Google permission to scan their works digitally to appear in its search index, and share in any revenue generated with Google. Opponents say the settlement will give Google too much control over a nascent marketplace, particularly for "orphan" copyrighted works, where ownership is not clear.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/29/technology/internet/29google.html 
http://www.consumerwatchdog.org/corporateering/articles/?storyId=26117 
http://www.googlebooksettlement.com

Fremont-Based Quantenna Raises Nearly $14 Million in Funding

Fremont, Calif. -- Quantenna Communications, a Fremont-based developer of semiconductors for high-speed, multimedia wireless networking, said on Wednesday that it has raised $13.85 million in its third round of funding, led by new investor Southern Cross Venture Partners. Previous investors Grazia Equity, Sequoia Capital, Sigma Partners and Venrock Associates also participated in the round, which increased the total backing of the three-year-old company to more than $42 million. Quantenna said that it will use the proceeds to expand its sales and engineering activities, as well as increase production of its wireless networking products. Quantenna's chipsets are designed to deliver improved Wi-Fi performance.
http://www.quantenna.com
http://www.quantenna.com/pressrelease-04_29_09.html

San Francisco-Based Marin Software Raises $13 Million in Third Round

San Francisco -- Marin Software, a San Francisco-based developer of paid search management software for advertisers and agencies, said on Tuesday that it has raised $13 million in its third round of funding, led by DAG Ventures. New investor Focus Ventures, as well as previous investors Benchmark Capital and Amicus Capital also participated in the round, which increases the company's total backing to $25 million. "These new funds will accelerate our business growth across all areas of the company," said CEO Chris Lien. More than 100 clients, including Razorfish, ZipRealty and Trouve Media, currently use the company's Marin Search Marketer application. The tool is designed to help those who spend at least $100,000 monthly on paid search to save time and improve financial performance.
http://www.marinsoftware.com/
http://www.marinsoftware.com/newsandevents/seriesc_funding_us.html

Report: Microsoft, Verizon Working on Rival to iPhone

Cupertino, Calif. -- Hoping to rival the success of Apple's iPhone, Microsoft is in talks with Verizon Wireless to launch a competing device on the carrier's network by early 2010, The Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday. The news follows a report in Monday's USA Today, which said that Cupertino-based Apple has been in "high-level" talks with Verizon for several months on developing a new version of the iPhone compatible with the carrier's CDMA wireless network. AT&T has the exclusive carrier rights for the iPhone in the U.S. until 2010, and will likely try to extend that deal. Either winning rights to the iPhone or launching a rival, however, would be considered a coup for Verizon, which counts about 80 million customers in the U.S. and is owned in part by Vodafone, which sells the iPhone in Europe. The Journal reported that Microsoft's device would extend the company's Windows Mobile operating system.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124093915558664239.html#mod=testMod http://www.usatoday.com/tech/wireless/phones/2009-04-26-apple-verizon-iphone_N.htm?csp=34

Sverica Raises $265 Million for New Investment Fund

San Francisco -- Sverica, a Boston-based private equity firm with West Coast operations in San Francisco, announced on Tuesday that it has raised $265 million for a new investment fund, the firm's third. Founded in 1993, Sverica invests in private companies across various industries with a preference for service oriented businesses and light industrial manufacturers with proprietary technology. The new fund will target companies with business valuations under $100 million and pre-tax earnings greater than $3 million. Despite being "industry agnostic," Sverica has several current areas of investment interest, including for-profit post-secondary education, enterprise software, healthcare services, pet care services, wind energy services, and security and alarm monitoring.
http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20090428005298/en
http://www.sverica.com

Mountain View-Based ShotSpotter Acquires Rival Gunshot Detection System

Mountain View, Calif. -- ShotSpotter, a Mountain View-based developer of acoustic surveillance technology designed to determine the origin of gunshots, said on Tuesday that it has acquired a similar system developed by Virginia-based Planning Systems Inc. (PSI), a unit of QinetiQ North America (QNA). Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. PSI's Secures products is an acoustic gunshot detection system designed to help police and other first responders determine the origin of gunfire. The companies' systems are the only two to have been formally evaluated by the National Institute of Justice.  James Beldock, the president and CEO of ShotSpotter, said that the acquisition "extends ShotSpotter's reach into key customer markets," while also adding an "important" new partner in QNA.
http://www.shotspotter.com/
http://www.plansys.com/
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/ShotSpotter-Inc-to-Acquire-prnews-15055009.html?.v=1

Consumer Confidence in Technology, Electronics Climbs Sharply

San Francisco -- While consumer confidence in the overall economy dipped in April, confidence in technology and consumer electronics climbed sharply, according to new figures from the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) and San Francisco-based CNET. The organizations said that their CEA-CNET Index of Consumer Technology Expectations (ICTE) rose to 77.4, up more than 10 points from March to reach its highest level since December. The index also is up on a year-over-year basis for the first time since September. "The ICTE showed that consumers are more likely this month to buy consumer electronics and spend more on those products than last month," said Anne Claudio, the vice president of research at CBS Interactive, the parent of CNET. The CEA and CNET have been tracking index data since Jan. 2007.
http://www.ce.org
http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20090428005875/en

Facebook to Allow Users to Access Friend Stream on Other Sites

Palo Alto, Calif. -- Facebook, the Palo Alto-based online social network, on Monday said that it has released new technology to developers that will make it possible for Facebook users to access their friend streams on other web sites. "Starting today, you have the option to access that same stream outside of Facebook.com," the company wrote in its blog. "Now, you'll be able to view your stream and publish information into it from places you never could before -- like your desktop computer or your mobile phone." The company's Facebook Connect platform already allows users to take their online identities across a network of web sites, and publish actions taken on those sites in their Facebook streams. "Today's announcement is an extension of that by making it easy for you to interact with your stream from anywhere." Facebook said.
http://blog.facebook.com/blog.php?post=79988352130 
http://developers.facebook.com/news.php?blog=1&story=225 

San Jose-Based ISSI Acquires Enable Semiconductor

San Jose, Calif. -- Integrated Silicon Solution Inc. (ISSI), a San Jose-based chip designer, said on Monday that it has paid $3.5 million to acquire Taiwan- and Korea-based Enable Semiconductor from parent Nanoamp Solutions. The value of the deal could rise, based on the company's future operating results. ISSI said that the acquisition provides it with a range of ultra low power chips that provide longer battery life by using up to 50% less standby current than other low power memories used in products like cell phones, digital cameras and GPS devices. "Enable's products and technology fill a strategic need for ISSI in the ultra low power memory markets targeting consumer portables," said Scott Howarth, ISSI's president and CEO.
http://www.issi.com/
http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=68026&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=1280969&highlight=

Emeryville's SeeqPod Reportedly Close to Announcing Sale

Emeryville, Calif. -- Emeryville-based SeeqPod, the bankrupt developer of a streaming MP3 search engine currently being sued for copyright infringement by several major labels, went offline over the weekend but reportedly is close to announcing a buyout by "a large media company" that is "a competitor to Apple," MP3Newswire reported. SeeqPod CEO Kasian Franks told MP3Newswire that the site is offline because it is "in the process of moving a few servers due to an acquisition by a media company." SeeqPod declared bankruptcy on March 31. Shortly prior, the company began offering its source code for a $5,000 fee, in the hopes that its technology would continue on even if it was forced to shut down through litigation. SeeqPod is still facing copyright infringement lawsuits brought by EMI and Warner Music Group.
http://www.mp3newswire.net/stories/9002/seeqpod_return.html

Apple Lays Off 1,600 Employees from Retail Stores

Cupertino, Calif. -- Despite the continuing popularity of devices such as the iPhone and iPod touch, Cupertino-based Apple laid off 1,600 employees from its retail stores during the second quarter, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The number represents more than 10% of the company's retail workforce. During the quarter, Apple saw the average revenues from its more than 200 retail stores fall to $5.9 million, down from $7.1 million in the same period a year ago. The company now employs some 14,000 workers.
http://www.apple.com/retail/
http://sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/320193/000119312509085781/d10q.htm

San Jose-Based IDT Offers $99.1 Million for Tundra Semiconductor

San Jose, Calif. -- Integrated Device Technology (IDT), a San Jose-based developer of mixed signal semiconductor used in digital media, said on Monday that it has offered $99.1 million in cash to acquire Canada's Tundra Semiconductor. The company said that its offer of $5.13 a share trumps a cash and stock offer from Gennum Corp. Tundra's board of directors also is backing the new offer. Ted Tewksbury, the president and CEO of IDT, said that the acquisition would add Tundra's serial switching and bridging technologies to IDT's mixed-signal portfolio, strengthening its interconnect offerings for the communication, computing, and embedded markets. Gennum has until midnight Friday to match the offer.
http://www.tundra.com/
http://www.IDT.com
http://www.idt.com/?id=5303

Accel-KKR to Acquire Mountain View-Based SumTotal Systems

Mountain View, Calif. -- SumTotal Systems, a Mountain View-based developer of talent and learning management software, said on Friday that technology venture capital firm Accel-KKR will acquire the company in a deal valued at $124 million. Under the terms of the deal, Menlo Park-based Accel-KKR will acquire SumTotal's shares for $3.80 each in cash, trumping an offer of $3.25 made earlier this month by shareholder Vista Equity Partners. "Our board has unanimously endorsed this transaction with Accel-KKR as being in the best interests of the company and our stockholders," said Jack Acosta, SumTotal's chairman. The agreement allows the company to solicit other offers during the next 30 days, and also must be approved by stockholders.
http://www.accel-kkr.com
http://www.sumtotalsystems.com
http://www.sumtotalsystems.com/press/index.html/2009/04/24/1

Yahoo to Shutter GeoCities Free Web Page Hosting Service

Sunnyvale, Calif. -- Yahoo plans to shutter its GeoCities free personal Web page hosting service later this year, and as of Thursday no longer was accepting new customers, Reuters reported. The company said that it would provide users with details on how to save data from their sites later this summer. Sunnyvale-based Yahoo acquired GeoCities in 1999, in a deal then valued at around $4.6 billion. At the time, the service hosted more than 3.5 million web pages. In recent years, however, such services have dwindled in popularity, with the advent of social networks and more user-friendly blogging platforms.
http://geocities.yahoo.com
http://tech.yahoo.com/news/nm/20090423/tc_nm/us_yahoo_1 

Apple's App Store Surpasses 1 Billion Application Downloads

Cupertino, Calif. -- Just nine months after launching its App Store, Cupertino-based Apple said on Friday that customers have now downloaded more than 1 billion applications for their iPhone and iPd touch devices. A 13-year-old boy, Connor Mulcahey of Weston, Conn., downloaded the milestone app, Bump Technologies' Bump contact information program. He will receive a $10,000 iTunes gift card, as well as other assorted prizes. The App Store currently has more than 35,000 applications available to consumers in 77 countries.
http://www.apple.com/itunes/billion-app-countdown/
http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2009/04/24appstore.html

Fremont-Based Ikanos to Raise Funds, Acquire Product Line from Conexant

Fremont, Calif. -- Ikanos Communications, a Fremont-based developer of broadband semiconductor and software products, said that it will raise $42 million through the sale of stock to Palo Alto-based Tallwood Venture Capital, using the proceeds to acquire the broadband access product line from Newport Beach-based Conexant Systems. Under the deal, Ikanos will sell 24 million shares to Tallwood, which will own a 45% stake in the company. The company then will pay $54 million in cash to make the acquisition, expected to close after mid-year. Ikanos said that the deal will more than double its revenue, while also improving its cost and spending structure. The two companies currently account for 330 million broadband access ports shipped. "With the number of home networks doubling to more than 400 million by 2013 according to analysts, there's a substantial opportunity for Ikanos to address the need for delivering bandwidth to and throughout the home," said Michael Gulett, the president and CEO of Ikanos.
http://www.tallwoodvc.com/
http://www.ikanos.com/news/press-releases/?i=900

Apple Profits Climb 15% in Q2; 3.8 Million iPhones Sold

Cupertino, Calif. -- Buoyed by a sharp increase in iPhone sales, Cupertino-based Apple reported a 15% jump in its profits for the fiscal second quarter, beating consensus Wall Street estimates. The company posted net income of $1.21 billion, up from $1.05 billion during the same period in 2008, with earnings of $1.33 per share beating estimates by $0.24, according to Reuters Estimates. Apple sold 3.79 million iPhones during the quarter, a 123% increase, 11 million iPods (up 3%) and 2.22 million Mac computers (down 3%)."We are extremely pleased to report the best non-holiday quarter revenue and earnings in our history," said CFO Peter Oppenheimer.
http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2009/04/22results.html 

San Francisco-Based Twitter More Than Doubles Audience in March

San Francisco -- Twitter, the San Francisco-based microblogging service, ranked as the top-gaining web property in March, drawing 9.3 million unique visitors, more than twice as many as the prior month, according to new figures from Internet audience measurement firm comScore. Following several months of double-digit growth, traffic to Twitter.com spiked 131% in the month, fueled in part by celebrity "tweeters" and substantial mainstream media attention. "Twitter has certainly become an Internet phenomenon over the past few months, but March represented an especially big gain for the site as it added more than 5 million visitors versus the previous month," said Jack Flanagan, the executive vice president of comScore Media Metrix. "With numerous celebrities and media personalities -- including Oprah -- recently jumping on the Twitter bandwagon, the site shows no signs of slowing."
http://www.comscore.com/press/release.asp?press=2788 
http://www.comscore.com/blog/2009/04/breaking_news_and_making_news.html   

Steve Jobs to Headline 2009 Inductees to CE Hall of Fame

Cupertino, Calif. -- Steve Jobs, the co-founder and CEO of Cupertino-based Apple, heads the newly announced 2009 class of inductees into the Consumer Electronics (CE) Hall of Fame, the Arlington-based Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) announced on Thursday. Jobs, who is expected to return from a five-month medical leave in June, will join a dozen other industry luminaries, all scheduled to enter the Hall during a ceremony in Phoenix this fall. Other new members include Irwin Jacobs, the co-founder of Qualcomm; Karl Hassel and Ralph Mathews, founders of the Chicago Radio Laboratory, which later became Zenith Radio; John Shalam, who founded Audiovox; the late Neil Terk, founder of Terk Technologies; Walton Stinson, the president and co-founder of specialty audio and video chain Listen Up; Norman, Maurice and Philip Cohen, owners of discount consumer electronics store Lechmere Sales; Richard Wiley, past chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC); Joseph Flaherty, who demonstrated HDTV to the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers in 1981; and Aaron Neretin, a consumer electronics journalist who wrote for Merchandising Week. The inductees were selected by an independent panel of industry judges.
http://www.ce.org/Press/CurrentNews/press_release_detail.asp?id=11720

Mountain View-Based Ausra Lands $25.5M in Equity Funding

Mountain View, Calif. -- Ausra, a Mountain View-based developer of solar thermal energy systems, said that it has raised $25.5 million in a new equity funding facility. Participants included previous investors Khosla Ventures and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, as well as new investors KERN Partners, Generation Investment Management and Starfish Ventures. The company, which also raised $60.6 million last fall, said that it will use the proceeds to expand its solar thermal energy equipment supply business. Ausra's solar concentrators are designed to boil water with focused sunlight, generating high-pressure steam that drives conventional turbine generators. The company also is developing thermal energy storage systems that will allow solar electric power to be generated on demand.
http://www.ausra.com/
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Ausra-Announces-255-Million-prnews-14991839.html?.v=1

San Jose-Based LogLogic to Acquire Mountain View's Exaprotect

San Jose, Calif. -- LogLogic, the San Jose-based developer of a platform for collecting, storing and reporting IT log data, said on Wednesday that it has signed a deal to acquire Mountain View-based partner Exaprotect. Financial terms of the deal, expected to close by mid-year, were not disclosed. Exaprotect's software is designed to automatically establish a link between business policies and specific network configurations, helping companies meet compliance requirements and remediate security threats. LogLogic said that the acquisition will significantly increase its market presence, increasing its customer base to more than 1,100, and add security configuration change management to its offerings. LogLogic initially partnered with Exaprotect to roll out its Security Event Manager.
http://www.loglogic.com
http://www.exaprotect.com
http://www.loglogic.com/news/news-releases/2009/04/loglogic-signs-agreement-to-acquire-exaprotect/

Sunnyvale-Based Yahoo Sells Blo.gs Ping Service to Automattic

Sunnyvale, Calif. -- Yahoo has sold Blo.gs, a provider of blog ping and trackback technology, to Automattic, developer of the WordPress blogging software platform, an executive at Automattic, wrote on his blog. Fianncial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Yahoo acquired Blo.gs in 2005. The service competes with other "ping" services like Ping-o-Matic, which let bloggers alert search engines and users when their content is updated. "We're looking forward to beefing up the service and giving it a refresh, while continuing its reputation for reliability," wrote Matt Mullenweg, founding developer of WordPress at Automattic. "I've been a long-time fan of the service, and it even inspired the early WordPress feature which reordered your blogroll based on update times."
http://ma.tt/2009/04/blogs-lives-on/ 
http://blo.gs 
http://automattic.com 

Santa Clara-Based Beceem Lands $20 Million in New Funding

Santa Clara, Calif. -- Beceem Communications, a Santa Clara-based developer of mobile WiMAX chips, said on Wednesday that it has raised $20 million in a new round of funding, which included a new investment from Motorola. Previous investors Global Catalyst Partners, Khosla Ventures, KTB Ventures, Walden International, Intel Capital, NEC, Mitsui and Samsung also participated. The company said that it will use the proceeds to increase production and customer support for its chipsets, as demand for high-speed WiMAX products continues to accelerate. "The investment comes at a time when significant expansion of WiMAX deployments in regions around the world is driving a steep ramp of WiMAX device shipments," said Babu Mandava, the CEO of Beceem.
http://www.beceem.com
http://www.marketwire.com/press-release/Beceem-978073.html

Sunnyvale-Based Yahoo to Cut 5% of Workforce

Sunnyvale, Calif. -- Needing to deal with a 78% drop in first-quarter profits, Sunnyvale-based Yahoo late Tuesday announced plans to cut 5% of its global workforce, or about 680 employees. The company said that it will notify the majority of those affected over the next two weeks, and also plans to implement other cost reductions. The news comes as the company announced quarterly net income of $118 million, down from $537 million in the same quarter of 2008, on revenue that fell 13% to $1.58 billion. "Yahoo is not immune to the ongoing economic downturn, but careful cost management in the first quarter allowed our operating cash flow to come in near the high end of our outlook range," said CEO Carol Bartz.
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Yahoo-Reports-First-Quarter-bw-14989282.html?.v=1
http://yhoo.client.shareholder.com/press/releases.cfm

Menlo Park-Based iScience International Raises $20.5 Million

Menlo Park, Calif. -- iScience Interventional, a Menlo Park-based developer of microcatheter technology used to treat a range of sight-threatening diseases, said on Tuesday that it has raised $20.5 million in its sixth round of funding, led by Affinity Capital Management. New investors Johnson & Johnson Development Corp., L Capital Partners and Clarian Health Ventures and previous investors Prism VentureWorks, Three Arch Ventures, DeNovo Ventures and Asset Management also participated. The company has received FDA clearance for its iTrack Canaloplasty Microcatheter, which is used by glaucoma specialists for lowering intraocular pressure in patients with open angle glaucoma. Clinical studies also are underway in Europe to evaluate the company's microcatheter-based delivery of drugs for the treatment of wet-AMD.
http://www.iscienceinterventional.com 
http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20090421006114/en

Santa Clara-Based Stokes Raises $15 Million in Fourth Round

Santa Clara, Calif. -- Stoke, a Santa Clara-based developer of mobile broadband gateways for network operators, said on Tuesday that it has raised $15 million in its fourth round of funding, increasing the company's total backing to more than $65 million. New investor Net One Systems joined previous investors Reliance Technology Ventures, DAG Ventures, Integral Capital Partners, Pilot House Ventures, Sequoia Capital and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers in the round, which the company will use to support its installed base and commercial carrier trials with carriers. Stoke's technology is designed to helps mobile data carriers deal with large increases in traffic, without the need for a complete infrastructure upgrade. 
http://www.stoke.com
http://www.stoke.com/News/pr/pr042109.asp

Menlo Park-Based Spectrum Equity Leads Acquisition of SurveyMonkey

Menlo Park, Calif. -- An investment group led by Menlo Park-based Spectrum Equity Investors said that it has acquired a majority interest in SurveyMonkey, an Oregon-based provider of online survey services. Financial terms of the deal, which also included Bain Capital Ventures, were not disclosed. Founded in 1999, SurveyMonkey provides online subscription-based survey services that allow people to create surveys, collect responses and analyze survey results. In a related move, Dave Goldberg, an entrepreneur in residence with Benchmark Capital since 2007 and previously the heads of Sunnyvale-based Yahoo's music business, will become CEO of SurveyMonkey and a minority investor in the company. He will be based in Menlo Park, where SurveyMonkey plans to open an office in the next month.
http://www.spectrumequity.com/
http://www.surveymonkey.com/
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/SurveyMonkey-Announces-Group-bw-14972528.html?.v=1

San Jose-Based Lavante Lands $5 Million, Hires Executives

San Jose, Calif. -- Lavante, a San Jose-based developer of web-based tools designed to help large companies automate communications with vendors in an effort to eliminate transaction errors, said that it has landed $5 million in its second round of funding from Venrock and ATA Ventures. The company, which recently changed its name from AuditSolutions, said that it will use the financing to accelerate its business operations through additional management, sales and operational hires. To that end, Lavante has hired Bob Habig as its CFO and vice president of operations and Ryan Harmon as its vice president of sales. Habig most recently served as the CFO of Avistar Communications, while Harmon was the vice president of sales for the Western Americas at Coremetrics.
http://www.lavante.com/
http://www.lavante.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=95%3Aauditsolutionsisnowlavante&catid=46%3Anews&Itemid=84

S.F.-Based PlaySpan Acquires Cupertino-Based Spare Change

San Francisco -- PlaySpan, a San Francisco-based provider of micropayment processing for online games, virtual worlds and social networks, announced on Tuesday that it has acquired Cupertino-based Spare Change, a provider of micropayment services on social networks. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. PlaySpan, which in addition to in-game transactions also provides payment processing for over 1,000 games through its PayByCash unit and Ultimate Game Cards, available in 21,000 retail locations, said that the acquisition will allow it to over more than 80 payment methods covering 190 countries. The company raised $16.8 million in its second round of funding last November.
http://www.playspan.com 
http://www.sparechangeinc.com
http://corp.playspan.com/pdf/2009-0421-PlaySpan_Acquires_Spare_Change.pdf (PDF)

Fremont-Based Asyst Technologies Files for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy

Fremont, Calif. -- Reeling from a dramatic drop in demand for its semiconductor manufacturing equipment, Fremont-based Asyst Technologies on Monday filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The company's Japanese unit's also made similar moves in that country. Asyst said that it has sharply reduced its break-even point in recent months through cost and workforce reductions, and continued to explore a possible sale of the company. "However, recent delays in customer projects and related cash collections, a constriction in available borrowing from lenders, acceleration of vendor payment obligations and inability to generate sufficient cash flow or identify new sources of liquidity have caused the company to seek bankruptcy protection in order to be better able to manage its operations through a restructuring process," the company said. Last summer, Asyst received an unsolicited takeover offer from Sunnyvale's Aquest Systems worth about $326.3 million, but talks between the companies fizzled by fall. Then, weeks ago, the company received a default notice on its credit facility with KeyBank, with an outstanding balance of $76.5 million.
http://www.asyst.com/
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Asyst-Technologies-to-File-bw-14969400.html?.v=1

Bay Area Tech Firms Dominate Newly Released Fortune 500

Bay Area technology companies dominate the newly released Fortune 500 list of America's largest corporations (based on revenue), led by Palo Alto-based Hewlett-Packard (No. 9), San Francisco-based McKesson (No. 15), San Jose-based Cisco Systems (No. 57), Santa Clara-based Intel (No. 61) and Cupertino-based Apple (No. 71). Other local tech companies among the top 200 include Redwood City-based Oracle (No. 113), Mountain View-based Google (No. 117) and Santa Clara-based Sun Microsystems (No. 187), with San Jose-based Sanmina-SCI (No. 292), San Jose-based eBay (No. 303) and Santa Clara-based Applied Materials (No. 315) among other notables. The complete list is at the link below.
http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune500/2009/full_list/

Local VC Investments in Q1 Plummet to 12-Year Low

San Jose, Calif. -- Silicon Valley companies received just $1.16 billion in venture capital during the first quarter, the smallest amount since the second quarter of 1997, according to the latest MoneyTree Report from PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) and the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA). The region saw just 173 VC deals during the period, the lowest total in nearly 13 years. "These numbers clearly demonstrate that the venture capital industry is not immune from the current economic downturn," said Mark Heesen, president of the NVCA. "Venture capitalists have slowed their investment pace in order to work with existing companies that are not able to exit the venture portfolio due to the shuttered IPO window and the weakening acquisitions market." The local numbers reflected a national trend, in which venture capitalists invested just $3 billion, down 47% from the prior year. 
http://www.pwcmoneytree.com
http://www.nvca.org

Sunnyvale-Based Meru Networks Raises $30 Million in New Funding

Sunnyvale, Calif. -- Meru Networks, a Sunnyvale-based maker of wireless infrastructure products, said on Monday that it has raised $30 million in a new round of funding, led by a new investor managed by Vision Capital Advisors. Previous investors Clearstone Venture Partners, NeoCarta Ventures, BlueStream Ventures, The D. E. Shaw Group, Evercore Partners, Tenaya Capital and Monitor Ventures also participated. Founded in 2002, Meru makes wireless local area networking (WLAN) infrastructure products that use virtualization to deliver wireless service for voice, video and data applications.  The company, which launched its virtual cell wireless architecture in 2003, also raised $37.6 million in 2007 and $25 million in 2006.
http://www.merunetworks.com
http://www.merunetworks.com/news/press_releases/index.php?articleID=042009

Oracle to Acquire Sun Microsystems in a Deal Worth $7.4 Billion

Redwood Shores, Calif. -- In a move considered a surprise by most analysts, Oracle, the Redwood Shores-based business software giant, said on Monday that it will acquire Sun Microsystems, the struggling Santa Clara-based server maker, in a deal worth $7.4 billion. IBM had long been considered the frontrunner to acquire Sun until last week, when talks reportedly broke down. Under the deal, expected to close this summer, Oracle will pay $9.50 a share, or $5.6 billion in cash, not including Sun's cash and debt. The two companies have been partners for more than two decades, with Oracle using Sun's Java language and software and Solaris operating system as the basis of some of its core products. Oracle called the software the "most important [it] has ever acquired." "Oracle will be the only company that can engineer an integrated system -- applications to disk -- where all the pieces fit and work together so customers do not have to do it themselves," said CEO Larry Ellison. Oracle had been searching for a buyer for several months, with the recession taking a toll on its server sales. The company has posted losses in three of its past four quarters. Earlier this month, IBM reportedly withdrew its $7 billion takeover bid for Sun after the company deemed the price too low. Through Sun reportedly attempted to reopen negotiations, sources close to IBM last week told CNBC that the company, fearful of a lengthy government review, no longer would consider a deal at any price.
http://www.oracle.com
http://www.sun.com
http://www.oracle.com/us/corporate/press/index.htm
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Oracle-Buys-prnews-14969049.html?.v=1

Shareholders Clear Way for SCM to Acquire Hirsch Electronics

Fremont, Calif. -- SCM Microsystems, a Fremont-based developer of smart card reader technology used to authenticate individuals, said on Friday that its stockholders have approved a measure clearing the way for the company to acquire Santa Ana-based Hirsch Electronics, a maker of IP physical security systems. More than 99% of shareholders voted in favor of the deal, which was green-lighted by Hirsch's shareholders in March. SCM called the acquisition "a key step forward in executing our growth strategy," giving it "the size and scale we need to expand in our existing markets and to penetrate new ones." Hirsch, which will become a unit of SCM, already had been its distribution partner.
http://www.hirschelectronics.com/
http://media.prnewswire.com/en/jsp/myPRNJ.jsp?profileid=1140076&resourceid=3964134

Palo Alto-Based Facebook Now Top Social Net in Much of Europe

Palo Alto, Calif. -- Facebook now ranks as the top social networking site in a majority of European countries, having seen a 314% increase to nearly 100 million unique monthly visitors, according to a new report from comScore. Of the 17 European countries covered by comScore's rankings, Facebook now holds the top spot among social networks in 11 of them, including the U.K., France, Spain, Italy, Sweden and Turkey. "Facebook has very quickly taken a leading position across most of the European social networking market despite having a strong foothold in just a few European countries one year ago," said Mike Read, comScore's managing director for Europe. "Over the course of the past year, it has climbed the rankings in virtually every market and taken over the top position in several." Facebook is the sixth-largest Web property worldwide, posting 275 million visitors in February -- a 175% increase from the same period a year ago.
http://www.facebook.com
http://www.prnewswire.co.uk/cgi/news/release?id=254183 

CTIA Names Winners of Annual Emerging Technology Awards

Las Vegas -- CTIA, the membership organization representing the wireless telecommunications industry, has named the winners of its 4th Annual Emerging Technology (E-Tech) Awards, honoring the best wireless products and services of the past year. Nearly 300 applications were submitted in 18 categories and reviewed by a panel of 30 members of the media, industry analysts and executives. Products were judged on innovation, functionality, technological importance, implementation and overall "wow" factor. Lake Forest-based Top Global took "Best in Show" for its 3G UFO Personal Hotspot, which provides instant mobile access to the Internet. A complete list of the top three finishers in each category is available at the link below.
http://www.ctia.org/media/press/body.cfm/prid/1815

Report: Palo Alto-Based Facebook Rejects Funding at $4B Valuation

Palo Alto, Calif. -- Facebook, the Palo Alto-based online social network, has turned down a funding offer that would have valued the company at $4 billion, VentureBeat reported. The blog, citing sources close to the company, said that the company rejected the money because "it doesn't need it," with more than $200 million in cash on hand. That contradicts a recent report in BusinessWeek that said Facebook needed to raise $100 million to pay for new equipment. Silicon Alley Insider, in fact, reported that the company values itself at closer to $5 billion, that its revenue is up 70% from a year ago and that it expects to cross over to cash-flow positive sometime next year.
http://venturebeat.com/2009/04/15/facebook-rejects-funding-at-4-billion-valuation-may-not-raise-more/
http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/siliconalley/big-tech/eyeing_ipo_facebook_board_rejects_funding_at_4_billion_valuation_2009_4.html

CNBC: IBM May No Longer Be Interested in Sun at Any Price

Santa Clara, Calif. -- Wary of the potential for a "deep and intense" government review, IBM appears no longer to be interested in a takeover of Santa Clara-based server maker Sun Microsystems, CNBC reported on Thursday. The network reported that while an acquisition would give IBM around 60% of the market for high-end servers, it also would likely spark regulatory reviews in the U.S. and Europe that could last nine months.  "That's attention that IBM wouldn't want at any price," one source told CNBC. That would leave Sun, which has been seeking an acquisition for several months, without any serious suitors, though the network called EMC a "long shot." Earlier this month, IBM reportedly withdraw its $7 billion takeover bid for Sun after the company deemed the price too low.
http://www.cnbc.com/id/30245898
http://www.reuters.com/article/marketsNews/idINN1626153820090416?rpc=44

San Francisco-Based TRUSTe Acquires Haute Secure

San Francisco, Calif. -- TRUSTe, a San Francisco-based provider of services designed to help users ensure online privacy, said on Thursday that it has acquired Haute Secure, a Seattle-based developer of web site scanning and anti-malware technology. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. The company said that the acquisition will expand its technology capabilities to provide more extensive site scanning and monitoring. It now plans to offer reputation and anti-malware scanning services directly to browsers, online communities and other web sites. The move comes nine months after TRUSTe raised $10.5 million in its first round of funding from Accel Partners. The company currently monitors and validates privacy practices on 3,500 web sites, helping consumers identify trustworthy online organizations through its various seals and programs.
http://www.truste.com
http://truste.org/about/press_release/04_16_09.php

San Jose-Based eBay to Acquire Korean Site Gmarket

San Jose, Calif. -- Hoping to sharply boost its business in Korea, San Jose-based online auction giant eBay said that it will pay up to $1.2 billion to acquire Korean e-commerce site Gmarket. Under the deal, eBay will pay $24 a share through a cash tender offer, then combine Gmarket with its existing online marketplace in Korea, known as Internet Auction Co. (IAC). eBay will hold at least a 67% stake in the company under agreements already signed with members of the company's management and other investors. John Donahoe, eBay's president and CEO, said that the combination "creates strong operational synergies between the two market leaders… and enhances our ability to serve complementary consumer segments." Gmarket primarily focuses on fashion-oriented categories, while IAC focuses on computers, electronics and sports.
http://www.gmarket.co.kr
http://www.auction.co.kr
http://www.marketwire.com/press-release/Gmarket-NASDAQ-GMKT-975208.html