Silicon Valley Wire

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)