Silicon Valley Wire

Facebook Tops Google to Become Most-Visited U.S. Site

Palo Alto, Calif. -- Palo Alto-based Facebook topped Mountain View-based Google last week to become the most-visited web site in the U.S., according to new data from audience measurement firm Hitwise. Facebook claimed 7.07% of all U.S. Internet visits last week, eclipsing Google's 7.03%. Visits to Facebook were up 185% for the week, compared with the same week in 2009, while visits Google rose 9%. Facebook also has wrestled away the top U.S. site ranking from Google on several prior occasions, including Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and New Year's Day. Together, the two sites accounted for 14% of all U.S. Internet visits last week.
http://weblogs.hitwise.com/heather-dougherty/2010/03/facebook_reaches_top_ranking_i.html

Winners Selected in Annual Intel Science Talent Search

Washington, DC -- Intel, the Santa Clara-based chipmaker, and the Society for Science & the Public on Tuesday night announced the winners of their 69th annual Intel Science Talent Search, which held its final round in Washington, DC. Eighteen-year-old Erika DeBenedictis of Albuquerque, N.M. won the top award of $100,000 from the Intel Foundation for her project developing a software navigation system to help improve spacecraft travel through the solar system. Second place honors and $75,000 went to David Liu, 18, of Saratoga, Calif., for his work to develop a system to recognize and understand digital images. Each of the 40 finalists received at least $7,500 in prizes. More than 1,700 high school seniors originally entered the competition, with 300 semifinalists announced in January.
http://www.societyforscience.org
http://www.societyforscience.org/Document.Doc?id=180

AOL Launches Cooking Site KitchenDaily

New York -- Looking to further expand the reach of its lifestyle content, AOL on Wednesday launched a new food web site called KitchenDaily. The site, targeting home cooks, features a database that includes thousands of recipes tested by chefs, food magazines and cookbook publishers, as well as brands such as Campbell's. "KitchenDaily is designed to help busy home cooks, moms in particular, make smart, informed decisions about food and cooking while also helping to instill confidence in their abilities in the kitchen," said Stephanie Dolgins, the senior vice president of AOL Women's and Lifestyle Group. Cheryl Brown, formerly of Gourmet magazine and Wondertime magazine, will serve as editor-in-chief, and Megan Steintrager, formerly of Epicurious.com, will be senior editor. The site also features more than 250 original videos from expert chefs and the Culinary Institute of America.
http://www.kitchendaily.com
http://corp.aol.com/press-releases/2010/03/aol-launches-kitchendailycom

Study: Mobile Apps to Outsell CDs by 2012

San Mateo, Calif. -- Mobile apps will outsell CDs by 2012, according to a new study by Chetan Sharma Consulting for San Mateo-based GetJar. The study predicts that app downloads will increase from current annual levels of more than 7 billion to nearly 50 billion by 2012, when their revenue of $17.5 billion would eclipse that of CDs ($13.8 billion). "With the consumer appetite for mobile apps rocketing, the opportunities for developers are huge," sad Ilja Laurs, the CEO of GetJar. The number of app stores also increased from eight to 38 last year -- a trend Laurs believes soon will be reversed. "There is no way that this many app stores will survive in the long term and while the value of the global app economy is set to be astoundingly high by 2012, we think only a few app stores will share this revenue," he said.
http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20100316007140/en/GetJar-Reveals-Mobile-Apps-Outsell-CDs-2012 

San Mateo-Based BrightEdge Lands $6.5 Million in New Funding

San Mateo, Calif. -- BrightEdge a San Mateo-based developer of web-based software used for search engine marketing, said on Tuesday that it has raised $6.5 million in a new round of funding, led by Battery Ventures. Previous backers Altos Ventures and Illuminate Ventures also participated in the round, which the company will use to accelerate its entry into the market, as well as expand its engineering and operations activities. Satya Patel, a partner at Battery Ventures and former manager at Google, will join the company's board of directors.
http://www.brightedge.com/
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/SEO-Management-Leader-iw-2787763150.html?x=0&.v=1

San Bruno-Based Agile Energy Raises First Round of Funding

San Bruno, Calif. -- Agile Energy, a San Bruno-based developer of utility-scale solar power generating projects, said on Tuesday that it has raised its first round of venture capital from Good Energies, an investor in clean energy businesses. Financial terms of the investment were not disclosed. Agile was formed last December by Glen Davis and Robert Morgan, two former executives with Ausra, a venture capital-backed solar thermal technology company. Prior to that, the two worked together for many years at AES. Agile Energy is focused on developing grid-connected, ground-mounted solar projects located in North America with generating capacity over 5 megawatts. The company said that each of its projects will feature photovoltaic or concentrating photovoltaic technology, "with suppliers to be selected on a competitive basis." Agile said that its near-term pipeline consists of about 400 megawatts of solar projects.
http://www.agileenergy.com
http://www.goodenergies.com

San Francisco-Based PowerReviews Raises $6.1 Million

San Francisco -- PowerReviews, a San Francisco-based provider of customer review technology to online retailers, said on Tuesday that it has raised $6.1 million in a new round of funding, co-led by Menlo Ventures and Tenaya Capital. PowerReviews provide customer review and social merchandising tools to more than 800 clients, including Orbitz, Radio Shack, Toys R Us and Staples. The company, which now has raised nearly $30 million since its inception, also operates product review and recommendation site Buzzillions.com.
http://www.powerreviews.com/
http://www.powerreviews.com/press.php

FCC Delivers National Broadband Plan to Congress

Washington, DC -- The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on Tuesday delivered its long-awaited National Broadband Plan to Congress, with the goal of creating a nationwide communications network connecting more than 90% of U.S. households. Among the highlights, the plan aims to connect 100 million households with affordable broadband at speeds of 100 megabits per second, with 1 gigabit connections at anchor institutions such as schools, hospitals and military installations, and free up another 500 megahertz of wireless spectrum to meet the growing demand for mobile services. Another aspect aims to create a nationwide wireless public safety network for first responders. FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski called the plan "a 21st century roadmap to spur economic growth and investment, create jobs, educate our children, protect our citizens and engage in our democracy." Currently, nearly 100 million Americans lack broadband at home, while 14 million desire broadband but don't have access.  
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-296858A1.pdf (PDF)
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-296859A1.pdf (PDF)

Report: Yahoo to Buy San Francisco-Based Citizen Sports

Sunnyvale, Calif. -- Looking to further bolster its strong sports content business, Sunnyvale-based Yahoo is expected to acquire Citizen Sports, a San Francisco-based developer of sports apps and games for the iPhone and Facebook platforms, AllThingsD reported, citing several unnamed sources. The blog pegged the purchase price at upwards of $50 million. Officials from both companies have declined to comment. Founded in 2005 as ProTrade, Citizen Sports is the developer of the popular Sportacular iPhone app, as well as several other fantasy sports games and Facebook apps.
http://www.citizensportsinc.com/
http://kara.allthingsd.com/20100315/yahoo-is-teed-up-to-buy-a-sports-site-boomtown-is-betting-on-citizen-sports-for-the-score/

Ning CEO Exits; Joins VC Firm Andreessen Horowitz

Palo Alto, Calif. -- Ning, the Palo Alto-based developer of a platform used to create niche social networks, said that co-founder and CEO Gina Bianchini has stepped down to become an executive in residence at venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz. Fellow Ning co-founder Marc Andreessen, who will remain chaiman, made the announcement on the company's blog. Ning's COO, Jason Rosenthal, will become the company's new CEO. Ning counts 45 million registered users across its 2.3 million user-created social networks.
http://www.ning.com  
http://blog.ning.com/2010/03/an-update-from-ning-chairman-co-founder-marc-andreessen.html

Survey: 19% of Online News Consumers Willing to Pay

Washington, DC -- Only 19% of Americans who get their news online said that they would be willing to pay for that service, according to a new survey by the DC-based  Pew Research Center. Meanwhile, 82% said that they would look elsewhere if their news sites began to charge. Currently, only a handful of mainstream news sites, including those of The Wall Street Journal and Financial Times, require users to pay subscription fees to access content, though a growing number of news organizations plan to experiment with the model. Pew found that while more than half of all American adults get at least some of their news online, most tend to graze across multiple sites, without having a primary one that they rely on.
http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2010/The-economics-of-online-news/Media.aspx?r=1

Cupertino's MagnaChip Semiconductor Files for $250 Million IPO

Cupertino, Calif. -- MagnaChip Semiconductor, a Korea-based maker of analog and mixed-signal chips with U.S. headquarters in Cupertino, on Monday filed to raise up to $250 million in its initial public offering (IPO). The company, which emerged from Chapter 11 in November, plans to list its shares on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "MX." Details of the offering, such as the number of shares to be sold and their expected price range, have yet to be announced. MagnaChip's products include display drivers, which are used in flat panel displays and mobile multimedia devices, and chips used for power management in consumer products. The company also provides
specialty analog and mixed-signal foundry services for fabless semiconductor companies that serve the consumer, computing and wireless markets.
http://www.magnachip.com
http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1325702/000095012310024348/f54652orsv1.htm

San Francisco-Based ANTs to Sell Up to $10M in Stock to Fletcher

San Francisco -- ANTs software, a San Francisco-based developer of database migration tools, said on Monday that it has struck a deal to sell up to $10 million in tock to Fletcher International. The company plans to use the bulks of the proceeds for research and development, as well as to executive its go-to-market strategy. "We have a number of very significant corporate milestones on the horizon and this investment agreement allows us to move towards meeting our goals," said Joseph Kozak, the chairman and CEO of ANTs. George Ladner of Fletcher International said that his firm hopes to "find additional ways to support their growth."
http://www.ants.com
http://www.fletcher.com
http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20100315005576/en/ANTs-Software-Announces-10-Million-Investment-Agreement

Santa Clara-Based Rovi Acquires Recommendations Firm MediaUnbound

Santa Clara, Calif. -- Rovi, a Santa Clara-based developer of digital entertainment technologies formerly known as Macrovision, said on Monday that it has acquired Massachusetts-based media recommendation service MediaUnbound. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. MediaUnbound was founded in 2000 by undergraduates at Harvard University, and its clients have included Napster, MTV Networks, NTT DoCoMo and HMV. Rovi said that the deal will improve its recommendation capabilities while also decreasing its time to market for new products. Rovi operates the All Media Guide database of metadata on 1.8 million albums and 16 million tracks, in addition to 1.2 million TV episodes and 430,000 movie titles.
http://www.mediaunbound.com 
http://www.rovicorp.com

San Francisco-Based RMG Acquires Pharmacy TV

San Francisco -- RMG Networks, the San Francisco-based developer of a place-based network of entertainment and advertising screens, announced on Monday that it has acquired Pharmacy TV, a video network whose screens are deployed near pharmacist counters in major grocery and drug store chains. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. RMG said that its digital entertainment and ad network, which includes 60,000 screens across in-flight, fitness and other sectors, reaches 25 million consumers monthly. The company is backed by digital cinema network National CineMedia and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. RMG said that it plans to accelerate Pharmacy TV deployments in 2010.
http://www.pharmacytv.net 
http://www.rmgnetworks.com
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/RMG-Networks-Extends-into-bw-2942899067.html?x=0&.v=1

Menlo Park-Based Sequoia Backs Mobile Application Developer Snaptu

Menlo Park, Calif. -- Sequoia Capital, the Menlo Park-based venture capital firm, said that it has made an unspecified investment in Snaptu, an Israeli developer of mobile applications. Snaptu, formerly known as Moblica, offers a mobile service that incorporates social networking, news, information and sports applications into a single app that works on a wide range of mobile devices. The company said that its app has been downloaded to over four million phones worldwide. "We see huge value for consumers and mobile operators in Snaptu's unique approach to bringing mobile applications to virtually any phone," said Gili Raanan, a partner at Sequoia Capital.
http://www.snaptu.com
http://www.marketwire.com/press-release/Snaptu-Attracts-Investment-From-Sequoia-Capital-1131015.htm

Sunnyvale's Commtouch to Repurchase Another $5M in Stock

Sunnyvale, Calif. -- Commtouch, an Israel-based developer of messaging and web security technologies with U.S. headquarters in Sunnyvale, said on Monday that it plans to buyback an additional $5 million in company stock. The news follows a similar program in 2008 and 2009, in which the company repurchased $4.9 million of its stock. Commtouch reported $17.3 million in cash resources as of Dec. 31, with slightly less than 24 million shares outstanding. "With our strong cash position, the execution of this plan will not inhibit us from continuing to explore potential transactions aimed at accelerating the company's business expansion plans," said Gideon Mantel, the company's chairman and CEO.
http://www.commtouch.com
http://www.commtouch.com/press-releases/commtouch-board-directors-approves-additional-stock-repurchase-plan-5-million

Locals Proliferate New Forbes 400 List of World's Billionaires

San Francisco -- Larry Ellison, the founder of Redwood Shores-based Oracle, is the highest-ranked Bay Area technology executive on the newly released Forbes 400 list of the world's richest people. Ellison comes in at No. 6 with a net worth of $28 billion. Sergey Brin and Larry Page, the co-founders of Mountain View-based Google both rank No. 24 at $17.5 billion each. Mexican telecom tycoon Carlos Slim Helu tops the list with a net worth of approximately $53.5 billion, followed by Bill Gates ($53 billion) and Warren Buffett ($47 billion). The complete rankings are available at the link below.
http://www.forbes.com/lists/2010/10/billionaires-2010_The-Worlds-Billionaires_Rank.html

S.F.-Based Twitter Launches Location-Sharing Feature

San Francisco -- Twitter, the San Francisco-based microblogging service, said that it has introduced a new location-sharing feature, giving users the option to include the location from where they are sending their tweets. "A recent burst of interest in location sharing applications, games and services has many Twitter users excited about appending geographic data to some of their tweets," Twitter co-founder and CEO Biz Stone wrote on the company's blog. Stone added that "not everyone wants to add their current location to a tweet," so the company has turned the feature off by default, meaning users must activate location-sharing. The new feature currently only supports Firefox 3.5 and Chrome browsers for Windows.
http://blog.twitter.com/2010/03/whats-happeningand-where.html

San Mateo-Based Lucid Imagination Lands $10 Million

San Mateo, Calif. -- Lucid Imagination, a San Mateo-based developer of software and services for the open source Apache Lucene and Solr search technology, said on Thursday that it has raised $10 million in its second round of funding. Participants included new investor Shasta Ventures and previous backers Granite Ventures and Walden International. "Companies want to find data as easily as consumers find stuff on the Internet every day," said Eric Gries, the CEO of Lucid Imagination. "With this investment, Lucid Imagination can continue to satisfy [that] appetite." Lucid, which last summer also landed an investment from In-Q-Tel, the venture fund backed by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), said that its goal is to serve as a central resource for the Lucene community and marketplace. Customers include AT&T, Nike, Sears, Ford, Verizon, Zappos, The Motley Fool, Macy's and Cisco.
http://www.lucidimagination.com/
http://www.lucidimagination.com/About/Company-News/Lucid-Imagination-Secures-10-Million-Series-B-Funding

Mountain View-Based Matrixx Software Raises $9M in Second Round

Mountain View, Calif. -- Matrixx Software, a Mountain View-based developer of software that helps service providers charge for their services and content in real time, said on Thursday that it has landed $9 million in its second round of funding from Greylock Partners and Tugboat Ventures. David Strohm of Greylock and Dafina Toncheva of Tugboat have been appointed to the company's board of directors. Founded in Feb. 2009 by Portal Software founders Dave Labuda, Luther Kitahata and Jennifer Kyriakakis, Matrixx has created a technology designed to reduce the cost-per-transaction for service providers to charge for their services.
http://www.matrixxsw.com
http://www.matrixxsw.com/news-events/press-releases/2010/0311.php

Menlo Park-Based USVP Leads $25M Round for LivingSocial

Menlo Park, Calif. -- U.S. Venture Partners, the Menlo Park-based venture capital firm focused on the technology sector, has led a new $25 million round of funding for LivingSocial, the Washington, DC-based developer of several popular social networking tools and a new social commerce service. Grotech Ventures and Steve Case's Revolution also contributed to the company's second round. The company said that it will use the funds to launch LivingSocial Deals -- its new group buying program that offers at least 50% off each day at various local restaurants and attractions -- in Chicago, Denver, Raleigh Durham and San Diego. The service now operates in 13 markets, including San Francisco. Users sign up to receive daily emails or iPhone notifications featuring one offer a day. When someone purchases the deal, they receive a unique link to share, and if three other people buy the deal using the link, their deal is free. "Online group buying is a movement that is clearly resonating with consumers," said Tim O'Shaughnessy, the CEO of LivingSocial. "This round of funding enables us to accelerate our growth throughout more cities." LivingSocial also is the creator of popular Facebook applications "Visual Bookshelf" and "Pick Your Five,"
https://livingsocial.com 
http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/social-commerce-leader-livingsocial-raises-25-million-series-b-round-led-by-us-venture-partners-87328387.html

Battery Ventures Raises $750 Million for Ninth Fund

Menlo Park, Calif. -- Battery Ventures, the Boston-based technology venture capital firm with West Coast offices in Menlo Park, said on Thursday that is has closed a new $750 million fund -- its ninth, overall. Battery said that it will continue with its strategy of investing from a few hundred thousand in seed money up to $100 million in companies across a wide range of technology industries. "With improving market fundamentals, we believe the next few years will be healthy ones to put money to work, and we're geared up to find the next generation of entrepreneurs and opportunities," said Tom Crotty, managing partner. Founded in 1983, the firm now managed nearly $4 billion of committed capital.
http://www.battery.com
http://vocuspr.vocus.com/VocusPR30/Newsroom/ViewAttachment.aspx?SiteName=Battery&Entity=PRAsset&AttachmentType=F&EntityID=113235&AttachmentID=deff06ad-b508-4432-9489-2b2957ea015d

San Francisco-Based Chomp Lands $2 Million in Funding

San Francisco -- Chomp, a San Francisco-based provider of reviews and recommendations of applications for Apple's iPhone, has raised $2 million in new funding, VentureBeat reported. Investors included Bluerun Ventures, Brian Pokorny and David Lee. Chomp has attracted 300,000 users who have posted 1.5 million reviews since the service launched two months ago. The service allows users to post simple "like" or "dislike" ratings of iPhone applications, along with a 60-character review, and creates recommendations based on past preferences.
http://chomp.com
http://deals.venturebeat.com/2010/03/11/chomp-raises-2m-for-iphone-app-recommendations-launches-new-site-and-features-at-chomp-com/

Evri Acquires S.F.-Based Radar Networks, Owner of Twine.com

San Francisco -- Evri, the Seattle-based developer of a semantic web search and discovery engine, said on Thursday that it has acquired San Francisco-based Radar Networks and its flagship property, Twine.com. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Twine.com is a site that allows people to collect online content, such as videos, articles and web pages, and organize it by topic. The site's semantic technology is designed to learn a user's interests, and make customized recommendations. Nova Spivack, the founder and CEO of Radar Networks, will remain with Evri in an advisory capacity. Radar's team will consolidate to Evri’s San Francisco offices.
http://www.evri.com
http://www.twine.com
http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20100311005440/en/Evri-Announces-Acquisition-Twine-Relaunches-Consumer-Site

Intel Science Talent Search Kicks Off Finals in Washington, DC

Washington, DC -- The top 40 finalists in the annual Intel Science Talent Search arrived in Washington, DC on Thursday to begin competing for more than $630,000 in awards from the Santa Clara-based Intel Foundation. All research projects will be on display Sunday at the National Academy of Sciences, with the top 10 winners announced at a ceremony on Tuesday. The grand prize winner receives $100,000. The pre-college science competition, now in its 69th year, has produced winners of the Nobel Prize, the Fields Medal, the National Medal of Science and the MacArthur Foundation Fellowship. Some of this year's projects include measuring indoor air pollution caused by paraffin and soy candles, building a new, clearer hearing assistance device that can be replicated for cell phones and radios and assessing inequalities in how high schools compete in national science competitions.
http://www.intel.com/education/sts/index.htm 
http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20100311005324/en/Promising-Young-American-Scientists-Compete-100000-Intel

Mountain View-Based Apprion Lands $8 Million in Third Round

Mountain View, Calif. -- Apprion, a Mountain View-based provider of wireless application networks and services to the process manufacturing industry, said on Wednesday that it has raised $8 million in its third round of funding. Participants included new investor PEI Funds and previous backers Allegis Capital, Motorola Ventures, CTTV Investments and Anvil Investment Associates. Apprion's ION System is designed to let industrial facilities deploy and manage multiple wireless applications as one unified system. The company has clients in the oil and gas, chemical, pulp and paper and power and utilities markets.
http://www.apprion.com/
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Industrial-Wireless-Leader-iw-3332608313.html?x=0&.v=1

San Francisco-Based RainStor Raises $7.5 Million in Second Round

San Francisco -- RainStor, a San Francisco-based developer of infrastructure software designed to provide a repository for historical structured data, said on Wednesday that it has secured $7.5 million in its second round of funding. Participants included new investors Storm Ventures and Informatica, and well as previous backers Doughty Hanson Technology Ventures and Dow Chemical. The company said that it will use the funding to expand into new markets, grow its partner base and invest in product development and R&D. RainStor's data management and storage technology allows clients to store massive amounts of structured data for regulatory or business purposes. The company said that it has more than 50 clients, as well as partners such as Informatica, Adaptive Mobile and OnPoint Technologies.
http://www.rainstor.com
http://rainstor.com/news-blog/news/rainstor-raises-75-million-in-series-b-funding

Incubator for Irish Tech Startups to Open in San Jose

San Jose, Calif. -- A new incubator slated to open in San Jose will provide a base of operations for up to 30 Irish technology startups. The Irish Innovation Center (IIC) will officially open next month, following its dedication this weekend by Ireland Prime Minister, Brian Cowen. The center, to be led by Gordon Ciochon, the former head of global operations at Symantec, will provide flexible office space for the startups, as well as access to venture capital firms, banking and legal services. It will be closely affiliated with the Campbell-based Irish Technology Leadership Group (ITLG), which late last year announced plans for a $100 million venture capital fund, focused on high-potential Irish startups. The ITLG is chaired by Craig Barrett, the former chairman and CEO of Intel.
http://www.itlg.org
http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20100309007273/en/Innovation-Center-Irish-Startup-Companies-Opens-Silicon

Google Adds Bike-Specific Directions to Google Maps

Washington, DC -- Appearing at the National Bike Summit in Washington, DC, Mountain View-based Google on Wednesday unveiled a new addition to Google Maps that features step-by-step biking directions. The feature, still in beta testing, provides routes optimized for cycling, highlighting bike trails, bike lanes and bike-friendly roads. The directions provide time estimates for trips based on an algorithm that takes into account the length of the route, the number of hills, fatigue over time and other variables. The Rails-to-Trails Conservancy, a nonprofit that creates networks of trails from former rail lines, provided information on bike trails in more than 150 cities. Google said that bike-specific directions have been the most requested feature on Google Maps. A mobile version of the tools is also planned.
http://maps.google.com/biking
http://www.google.com/intl/en/press/annc/20100310_biking-directions.html

Survey: More Than Half of Workers Check Devices While Driving

Chicago -- More than half of workers who own smart phones said that they check their devices while driving a vehicle, according to a new survey by CareerBuilder. Sales professionals (66%) admitted to being the biggest offenders. Twenty-one percent of workers said that they check their devices each time they vibrate or beep, and 18% said that they are required by their companies to be accessible beyond office hours. "The lines between work and life can be very blurry these days," said Rosemary Haefner, the vice president of human resources at CareerBuilder. "Seventeen percent of workers said they feel like their work day never ends because of technology connecting them to the office." Haefner said that workers need to allot technology-free time when away from the office, to both reduce the potential for burnout and avoid risky behavior.
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/More-Than-Half-of-Workers-prnews-1633051897.html?x=0&.v=1

Sunnyvale-Based SiBeam Lands $36.5 Million in Fourth Round

Sunnyvale, Calif. -- SiBeam, a Sunnyvale-based high-speed wireless communication platforms, said on Tuesday that I thas raised $36.5 million in its fourth round of funding, led by Foundation Capital. Previous investors U.S. Ventures Partners (USVP) and New Enterprise Associates, and new backers Lux Capital, Hatteras Funds. Best Buy and Cisco also contributed. "With these funds, we can grow our business toward profitability in the burgeoning wireless A/V market,” said John LeMoncheck, the president and CEO of SiBeam. Founded in 2004, SiBeam has developed 60 GHz semiconductor technology for the wireless transmission of high-definition (HD) video, audio and data.
http://www.sibeam.com
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/SiBEAM-Inc-Secures-365-bw-1493615205.html?x=0&.v=1

San Francisco-based Posterous Raises $4.4 Million

San Francisco -- Posterous, the San Francisco-based developer of a simple blogging platform that lets publishers upload new content through email, said that it has raised $4.4 million in its first round of funding. Investors included Redpoint Ventures, Trinity Ventures and angels including SV Angel, Founder Collective, Lowercase Capital, Brian Pokorny, Aydin Senkut and XG Ventures. Founded in 2008 as a Y Combinator company, Posterous offers a free web publishing platform, designed for ease of use, that counts 12 million unique monthly visitors and 25 million page views. The company also plans to release a premium version of the platform later this year.
http://posterous.com/
http://blog.posterous.com/posterous-raises-44m-from-redpoint-ventures-t

San Francisco's eXo Raises $6 Million to Expand U.S. Expansion

San Francisco -- eXo, a French provider of Java middleware for cloud services, with U.S. headquarters in San Francisco, said that it has raised $6 million in its first round of funding. Auriga Partners and XAnge Capital participated in the round, which the company will use to accelerate its U.S. operations, including ramping up marketing and sales. In addition, eXo has created a new board of directors, naming Bob Bickel -- former vice president of strategy at JBoss and general manager of HP Middleware -- as chairman. eXo's platform is designed to make Java web sites and applications faster to build and easier to deploy. The company  opened its first U.S. office in October following a partnership with Red Hat.
http://exoplatform.com
http://blog.exoplatform.org/2010/03/08/exo-accelerates-u-s-operations-with-6-million-in-financing/

Global Network Initiative Names Susan Morgan as Executive Director

London, England -- The Global Network Initiative (GNI), a year-old organization pushing for Internet privacy rights and the prevention of Internet censorship, on Tuesday named former British Telecommunications (BT) executive Susan Morgan as its first executive director. Morgan expects to join GNI in May, following her role at BT as the head of corporate responsibility strategy, policy and business planning. Still in its infancy, London-based GNI, which is partially supported by companies such as Google, Yahoo and Microsoft, currently is focused on increasing its membership and advancing its agenda. "Technology has the potential to dramatically increase access to information and protect personal privacy," said Morgan. "However, increasing demands from governments to limit content, restrict freedom of expression and monitor users represent a worrying threat to human rights." 
http://www.globalnetworkinitiative.org
http://www.globalnetworkinitiative.org/newsandevents/ED_release.php

San Jose-Based Tilera Raises $25 Million in Third Round

San Jose, Calif. -- Tilera, a San Jose-based developer of multicore processors, said on Monday that it has raised $25 million in its third round of funding, from new investors Broadcom, Quanta Computer and NTT Financing. The company, which has raised $64 million since its inception in 2004, plans to use the proceeds to broaden its product portfolio and expand sales activities. Tilera has two product families, the TILE and TILEPro, currently shipping to customers in the networking, wireless infrastructure, communications and cloud computing markets. A third line is due out late this year.
http://www.tilera.com/
http://www.marketwire.com/press-release/Tilera-Closes-C-Round-Financing-With-25-Million-1127916.htm
http://www.marketwire.com/press-release/Tilera-Receives-Investment-From-Broadcom-NASDAQ-BRCM-1127897.htm

Mountain View-Based Google Acquires DocVerse

Mountain View, Calif. -- Google said that it has acquired Seattle-based DocVerse, a provider of technology that lets users collaborate on Microsoft Word documents online. The Wall Street Journal pegged the purchase price at around $25 million. Founded in 2007 by two Microsoft veterans, DocVerse lets users upload Word documents to the web and jointly edit them. Mountain View-based Google reportedly plans to combine DocVerse with Google Apps, creating a link between the Microsoft Office and Google Apps platforms.
http://blog.docverse.com/2010/03/05/googled/ 
http://www.docverse.com
http://googleenterprise.blogspot.com/2010/03/google-docs-welcomes-docverse.html 

S.F.-Based Mochi Media Launches $10 Million Game Developer Fund

San Francisco - Mochi Media, a San Francisco-based publisher of online game, announced on Monday the creation of a $10 million fund for game developers. A joint effort between Mochi and Chinese parent company Shanda Games, the Mochi GAME Developer Fund will support third-party developers through sponsorship, licensing and publishing deals, with initial investments reaching up to $100,000 per game title. "We're putting substantive muscle behind encouraging creativity in Flash and social gaming," said Justin Wong, general manager of the fund and head of business development for Mochi Media. "We are committed to working with developers all around the world." Mochi's own network includes 15,000 games on nearly 40,000 publisher web sites, and counts more than 150 million monthly active users. 
http://www.mochimedia.com
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Mochi-Media-Announces-Global-iw-836355319.html?x=0&.v=1

Applied Materials Raises Dividend, Announces $2B Stock Buyback

Santa Clara, Calif. -- Applied Materials, a Santa Clara-based developer of equipment, services and software used to make semiconductors, said on Monday that its board has approved a $2 billion stock repurchase program over the next three years. The company also has increased its quarterly cash dividend by a penny to $0.07 a share. Mike Splinter, Applied's chairman and CEO, said that the dividend increase "reflects our confidence in the company's near and long-term prospects for growth and profitability," while the buyback program "provides a flexible means to return excess cash to shareholders." The company had approximately 1.34 billion shares of stock outstanding as of Jan. 31.
http://www.appliedmaterials.com/
http://www.businesswire.com/portal/site/appliedmaterials/permalink/?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20100308005822&newsLang=en

S.F.-Based Banks.com Secured Credit Facility, Pays Off Notes

San Francisco -- Banks.com, a San Francisco-based provider of targeted online advertising and services in the financial services sector, said on Monday that it has secured a $2.5 million working capital facility from Silicon Valley Bank. The company also said that it has paid off the remaining balance on its mezzanine debt notes held by CapitalSouth Partners and Harbert Management. "Reestablishing our credit facility with Silicon Valley Bank allows us to pay off the balance of our mezzanine debt, remove the overhang of the balloon payment we had coming due in June and provides us with greater working capital flexibility for growth," said Dan O'Donnell, the president and CEO of Banks.com.
http://www.banks.com
http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20100308005465/en/Banks.com-Pays-Mezzanine-Debt-Full-Secures-2.5

IT Employment Continues Recovery in February

Alexandria, Va. -- U.S. information technology employment continued to grow in February, according to new figures from the TechServe Alliance. The organization said that there were 3.8 million IT jobs last month, up 0.37% from January. Despite steady growth over the past two months, however, IT employment remains about 3% lower than it was in Feb. 2009. "Following January's encouraging IT employment report, February's accelerating growth strongly suggests last month's positive numbers were not an anomaly" said Mark Roberts, CEO of the TechServe Alliance. "Posting an increase of over 25,000 IT jobs during the first two months of the year is both heartening and a positive harbinger for the future."
http://www.techservealliance.org/
http://www.techservealliance.org/documents/Indexreleasefeb2010.pdf (PDF)

Apple's New iPad Tablet Computer to be Available April 3

Cupertino, Calif. -- The iPad, Cupertino-based Apple's highly anticipated new tablet computer, will officially hit store shelves next month, the company announced on Friday. The company said that basic Wi-Fi models will be available on April 3, while enhanced Wi-Fi and 3G models will be available in late April.  Customers will be able to pre-order both versions from Apple's web site beginning next Friday. The news comes five weeks after Apple first unveiled the product, which resembles a larger version of the iPod touch, featuring a 9.7-inch touch screen and an iPhone operating system. The device, which will sell for $499-$829, allows users to wirelessly browse the web, download apps, watch video and, in a step up from Amazon's Kindle, download and view print publications in full color. The half-inch thick device, which weighs 1.5 pounds, also boasts a 10-hour battery and up to 64 GB of storage.
http://www.apple.com/ipad
http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2010/03/05ipad.html

Hayward-Based Anthera Raises $53.8M Between IPO, Placement

Hayward, Calif. -- Anthera Pharmaceuticals, a Hayward-based biopharmaceutical firm developing anti-inflammatory drugs, said that it has raised $53.8 million between its initial public offering and a subsequent private placement. Through the IPO, the company sold 6 million shares at $7 each, generating proceeds after expenses of $36.7 million. It then sold another 2.6 million shares for $6.58 each to previous investors, raising $17.1 million more. Shares of Anthera, trading on the Nasdaq under the symbol "ANTH," closed at $7 on Friday.
http://www.anthera.com/
http://www.anthera.com/press_mar042010.asp

Redwood City-Based BigBand Names Chairman, Loses COO

Redwood City, Calif. -- BigBand Networks, a Redwood City-based developer of video-networking platforms used by broadband service providers, has named Mike Pohl as its non-executive chairman, and announced the resignation of COO David Heard. Pohl, a 25-year telecommunications and cable veteran, has been a board member since last April. The company said that his appointment will separate the roles of CEO and chairman. Amir Bassan-Eskenazi will continue in his role as CEO. Heard will remain a consultant to BigBand through June 30. In other moves, Sean Rooney has resigned as senior vice president of worldwide sales, and the company has promoted Ray Fitzgerald to vice president of worldwide cable sales.
http://www.bigbandnet.com/index.php/news-releases/release_id/176.html

EchoStar to Appeal Court Loss in Ongoing TiVo Patent Case

Alviso, Calif. -- TiVo, the Alviso-based provider of digital video recorders and services, said that the U.S. Court of Appeals has upheld a lower court's ruling that found DISH Network operator EchoStar guilty of continued infringement of the company's digital video recorder patent. "This ruling paves the way for TiVo to receive the approximately $300 million in damages and contempt sanctions awarded to us for EchoStar's continued infringement through July 1, 2009," TiVo said in a statement. "We will also seek further damages and contempt sanctions for the period of continued infringement thereafter." EchoStar said in a statement that it plans to file for a review of the ruling by the full Federal Circuit. "We are disappointed in the Federal Circuit's split decision, but are pleased that Judge Rader agreed with our position," EchoStar said.
http://pr.tivo.com/easyir/customrel.do?easyirid=CA934452BA6418EF&version=live&prid=593321&releasejsp=custom_150
http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/dish-network-and-echostar-statement-regarding-tivo-86366137.html

Morgan Hill-Based Alien Technology Raises $10.9 Million

Morgan Hill, Calif. -- Alien Technology, a Morgan Hill-based maker of radio-frequency identification chips, tags and readers, said that it has raised $10.9 million in a new round of funding. Investors included previous backers Advanced Equities, New Enterprise Associates (NEA) and Sunbridge Partners. The company did not outline its plans for the proceeds. Founded in 1994, Alien provides its products to clients in industries such as retail, consumer goods, manufacturing, defense, transportation and logistics. The company also raised $38 million in a round that closed in late 2008.
http://www.alientechnology.com
http://www.alientechnology.com/newsevents/2010/press030310.php

Mountain View-Based Playdom Acquires Offbeat Creations

Mountain View, Calif. -- Playdom, a Mountain View-based developer of social games, said that it has acquired Offbeat Creations, a Bellevue, Wash.-based developer of games for Facebook. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Playdome said that the acquisition significantly expands its studio capabilities and game pipeline. Offbeat Creations, whose titles include the dice game "Super Farkle," said that its gaming applications are attracting 1 million active monthly users. Offbeat's development team will join the company's existing team in Seattle. The news comes four months after Playdom announced a $43 million funding round, led by New Enterprise Associates (NEA), as well as the acquisitions of Palo Alto-based Green Patch and Menlo Park-based Trippert Labs.
http://www.playdom.com 
http://offbeat-creations.com
http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/playdom-announces-acquisition-of-offbeat-creations-inc-86254917.html

Former MySpace CEO, Austin Ventures Buy S.F.-Based MindJolt

San Francisco -- Former MySpace CEO Chris DeWolfe, along with fellow MySpace co-founders Colin Digiaro and Aber Whitcomb, on Thursday announced that they have teamed with venture capital firm Austin Ventures to acquire MindJolt, the San Francisco-based developer of an online social gaming platform. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. MindJolt's catalog aggregates more than 1,300 casual online game titles, and its portal counts more than 20 million unique users. The company's new executive will include CEO DeWolfe, COO Digiaro, CTO Whitcomb and Richard Fields, the founder of MindJolt, who will serve as head of product strategy. "We're building out the company to become the next generation platform for game developers," said DeWolfe. "Our goal is to make it even easier for developers to get their games noticed and make more money from their work."
http://www.mindjolt.com
http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20100303006941/en/MySpace-Founders-Partner-Austin-Ventures-Acquire-MindJolt

Adrian Dillon Resigns as CFO of Agilent for Role at Skype

Santa Clara, Calif. -- Agilent Technologies, the Santa Clara-based developer of communications, electronics, life sciences and chemical analysis technology, said that Adrian Dillon will resign his roles as CFO and executive vice president of finance and administration, effective April 1. Dillon, who has been with the company since 2001, will become the chief financial and administration officer at Skype. Agilent has named Didier Hirsch, its vice president of corporate controllership and tax, as acting CFO. Hirsch is the former CFO of HP's Europe, Middle East and Africa operations.
http://www.agilent.com
http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20100303007119/en/Agilent-Technologies%E2%80%99-Executive-Vice-President-CFO-Adrian

Menlo Park VC Firms Leads $36M Investment in TransMedics

Menlo Park, Calif. -- A pair of Menlo Park-based venture capital firms, Foundation Capital and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, have co-led a new $36 million round of funding for Massachusetts-based TransMedics, a developer of medical devices for solid organ transplantation. The deal also included investments by Flagship Ventures and several previous backers. Founded in 1998, TransMedics is working on technology for patients suffering from end-stage organ failure.
http://www.transmedics.com/
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/TransMedics-Inc-Secures-36-prnews-2437992767.html?x=0&.v=1