Silicon Valley Wire

Sunnyvale-Based 4Home Secures $4.3 Million in New Funding Round

Sunnyvale, Calif. -- 4Home, a Sunnyvale-based developer of software that enables users to remotely monitor and control devices in their homes, has raised $4.3 million in a new round of equity funding, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Identities of the investors were not disclosed. The company's platform can be used by hardware vendors and service providers to allow their customers to remotely monitor their home, get web-based TV content, track their home energy usage and control appliances from either the Internet or mobile phones. 4Home was founded in 2006 by CEO Leon Hounshell, who previously led the operations and development teams at Nearmedia, and CTO Jim Hunter, who founded Nearmedia. The company now has raised more than $9 million, all told.
http://www.4home.com
http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1448019/000144801910000001/xslFormDX01/primary_doc.xml

Kwedit Lands $3M for Virtual Goods Payment Services

Mountain View, Calif. -- Kwedit, a Mountain View-based developer of new payment services for digital content and virtual goods, said that it has raised $3 million in its first round of funding. Participants included True Ventures, Kapor Capital, Maples Investments, Endeavor Partners, Fenwick and West and angel investors. Founded in 2009, Moun Kwedit sells pre-paid cards at 7-Eleven stores that contain credits, which can be redeemed for virtual goods within online games. Another service, Kwedit Promise, functions more like Bill Me Later, allowing users to obtain virtual goods immediately in exchange for promises to pay for them later without using plastic. Each user is assigned a Kwedit Limit, a spending limit established by publishers and modified by previous payment histories. "Most teenagers and the 25% of American households that do not have a credit or debit card… have been locked out of the exploding virtual goods markets," said Danny Shader, the company's CEO. "With Kwedit, those consumers can safely participate in the digital content revolution." Kwedit-based payments are currently supported on more than 100 games.
http://www.kwedit.com
http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/kwedit-inc-launches-new-payment-services-for-digital-content-and-virtual-goods-83536352.html

S.F.-Based Scrapblog Raises $2.5 Million in Funding

San Francisco -- Scrapblog, the San Francisco-based developer of an online service that lets users upload photos and create web-based scrapbooks, has raised $2.5 million in a new round of funding, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The round included the sale of both equity and notes. Though specific investors were not named, previous backers include Longworth Venture Partners and Steamboat Ventures. Founded in 2006, Scrapblog now counts more than 2 million registered users, who have created more than 4.4 million Scrapblogs.
http://www.scrapblog.com
http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1387860/000138786010000004/xslFormDX01/primary_doc.xml

WSJ: AOL Looking to Bolster Presence in Silicon Valley

Mountain View, Calif. -- Looking to re-establish itself as a technology innovator, AOL is bolstering its presence in Silicon Valley, with plans to as much as double its area workforce of 300 by year's end, the Wall Street Journal reported. The New York-based company, which operates a campus in Mountain View, is looking to hire in areas such as sales and engineering, even after recently cutting about a third of its workforce. The move is part of an effort to find more solid financial footing following AOL's December spin-off from Time Warner. The company on Wednesday posted a fourth-quarter profit of $1.4 million, but also saw its ad revenue slip 8%. After one time employing as many as 2,500 in Mountain View, AOL recently began its renewed push in the area by hiring former Yahoo executive Brad Garlinghouse to run its local operations. "AOL is reinvesting in what has been, during my professional life, the center of gravity for innovation on the Internet," Garlinghouse told the Journal. Part of the company's plan will be to invest in local start-ups through a new investment arm.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703699204575017961980893710.html?mod=rss_Technology&utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

San Mateo-Based SuccessFactors to Acquire Inform Business Impact

San Mateo, Calif. -- SuccessFactors, a San Mateo-based developer of business execution software, said on Thursday that it will acquire Australia-based Inform Business Impact, a maker of analytics and workforce planning tools. Under the deal, expected to close after mid-year, SuccessFactors will pay $25.5 million in cash and approximately $15 million in stock for Inform, with the possibility of additional future payments based on growth targets. Inform boasts more than 130 clients, including Comcast, BHP Billiton, Starbucks, Nike and ANZ Bank. "This acquisition allows us to provide something none of our competitors can -- software specialized for business execution decisions based on people information that has a direct impact on how a company performs," said said Lars Dalgaard, the founder and CEO of SuccessFactors.
http://informimpact.com
http://www.successfactors.com
http://www.successfactors.com/press-releases/detail/?id=1383404

Report: Google Enlists NSA for Help Following China Attacks

Mountain View, Calif. -- Plagued by a series of sophisticated hacking attacks in China, Mountain View-based Google has turned to the National Security Agency (NSA) for help, The Washington Post reported on Thursday. Under a deal still being finalized, the two organizations would share key information -- not including specific user searches or email accounts -- in an effort to analyze the attacks and build better defenses for the future, according to people familiar with the situation. Google announced last month that is was considering pulling out of China following what it called a "highly sophisticated and targeted" hack into the Gmail accounts of Chinese human rights activists. The company said that the accounts of dozens of activists had been "routinely" accessed by third parties, either through malware or phishing scams. The Post reported that Google approached the NSA shortly after the attacks, and has since been attempting to negotiate an agreement.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/02/03/AR2010020304057.html?hpid=topnews

Mountain View-Based LensVector Lands $30 Million in Third Round

Mountain View, Calif. -- LensVector, a Mountain View-based maker of solid-state optical components for camera phones, laptops and other consumer electronics, said on Thursday that it has raised $30 million in its third round of funding, led by Institutional Venture Partners (IVP). Previous investors Menlo Ventures, Samsung, Silicon Valley Bank, Mitsui and Kodak also contributed to the round, which increases the company's total backing to more than $50 million. LensVector said that it will use proceeds to scale its manufacturing capacity. LensVector is a developer of optical technology that the company said can shape, steer and focus light without mechanical movement. The technology addresses the need for autofocus and other advanced optical features in the miniature cameras embedded in mobile phones, laptops and pocket video camcorders.
http://www.lensvector.com
http://www.lensvector.com/news.php

San Francisco-Based BrightRoll Raises $10 Million in Third Round

San Francisco -- BrightRoll, the San Francisco-based operator of an online video advertising network, said that it has raised $10 million in its third round of funding, led by Scale Venture Partners. Previous backers True Ventures, Adams Street Capital and KPG Ventures also participated. The company said that it will use the proceeds to expand its technology platform, as well as its worldwide advertiser and publisher operations. BrightRoll also announced that it has been profitable for "nearly the entire last 12 months," and that its network recently passed Hulu in the number of unique users per month that it reaches. The company said that that three-quarters of the top 100 online media properties in the U.S. now use its services.
http://www.brightroll.com/
http://www.brightroll.com/2010/02/02/brightroll-funding

San Francisco-Based Yammer Raises $10 Million in Second Round

San Francisco -- Yammer, the San Francisco-based developer of a microblogging service for businesses, said that it has raised $10 million in its second round of venture capital financing, led by Emergence Capital. Other investors in the round included Ron Conway, and previous backers Charles River Ventures and Goldcrest Investments. Launched in 2008, Yammer said that its internal microblogging service is now being used by more than 60,000 organizations. The company offers both free and premium versions of the service. Yammer will use the new funds to accelerate product innovation and increase sales coverage.
http://www.yammer.com
http://www.prweb.com/releases/2010/02/prweb3553664.htm

Video Game Sales Drop 8% in 2009

New York -- Video game software sales fell 8% in 2009 across the key U.S., U.K. and Japanese markets, according to combined data from market research firms NPD Group, GfK Chart-Track and Enterbrain. The firms cited the recession, as well as the shrinking market for PlayStation 2 games. "While year-over-year comparisons show declines, the industry is still boasting significant volumes that were unseen before 2008," said NPD Group analyst Anita Frazier. "The year-end data from 2009 shows us that the number of titles entering the market is still growing with 778 new titles released in 2009, up from the 764 in 2008." Activision's "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2" was the top-selling game of 2009 across the three territories, with 11.86 million unit sales. Nintendo claimed all four of the remaining spots in the top five, with its "Wii Sports Resort" (7.57 million); "New Super Mario Bros. Wii" (7.41 million); "Wii Fit Plus" (5.8 million); and "Wii Fit" (5.44 million).
http://www.npd.com
http://www.chart-track.co.uk
http://www.enterbrain.co.jp

Fusion Garage Seeks Dismissal of CrunchPad Lawsuit

Palo Alto, Calif. -- Fusion Garage, the one-time partner of Palo Alto-based technology blog TechCrunch in its "CrunchPad" tablet PC venture, has filed a motion to dismiss a lawsuit stemming from the severing of their business relationship, according to published reports. TechCrunch blogger Michael Arrington filed the suit upon learning that Singapore-based Fusion Garage planned to release the CrunchPad itself under the name JooJoo. The suit alleges fraud and deceit, misappropriation of business ideas, breach of fiduciary duty and unfair competition. Fusion Garage CEO Chandrasekar "Chandra" Rathakrishnan told VentureBeat that the JooJoo will be released by the end of February, adding that "pre-orders have exceeded our expectations." He added that the company is currently awaiting final approval of a deal with a manufacturer in Southeast Asia, which will produce the devices with Fusion Garage receiving a royalty on every JooJoo sold.
http://www.techcrunch.com
http://www.fusiongarage.com
https://thejoojoo.com
http://venturebeat.com/2010/02/01/joojoo-crunchpad-tablet/

Yahoo Sells HotJobs Unit to Monster for $225 Million

Sunnyvale, Calif. -- Nine months after it put the unit up for sale, Sunnyvale-based Yahoo said on Wednesday that it has sold its HotJobs online recruitment service to Monster Worldwide for $225 million in cash. As part of the deal, Monster will provide career and job content on Yahoo's home page for the next three years. "The transaction with Monster enables us to continue to provide an important service to our users through the traffic agreement," said Hilary Schneider, an executive vice president at Yahoo. "Yahoo remains focused on its core businesses." Monster said the addition of HotJobs' partnerships with 600 daily and weekly newspapers will grow its stable to around 1,000. The sale of HotJobs comes several weeks after Yahoo sold its Zimbra unit to VMWare.
http://www.hotjobs.com
http://www.monster.com
http://www.businesswire.com/portal/site/home/permalink/?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20100203006871&newsLang=en

Milpitas-Based Gigamon Raises $22.8 Million in First Round

Milpitas, Calif. -- Gigamon, a Milpitas-based developer of data access tools designed to enhance the monitoring of data centers, said on Wednesday that it has raised $22.8 million from Highland Capital Partners in its first institutional round of funding. Peter Bell and Corey Mulloy, general partners at Highland, will join the company's board of directors. Launched in 2004, profitable Gigamon currently boasts more than 500 clients in over 40 countries. The company said that its hardware helps ensure network performance, security and compliance by enabling monitoring tools to operate at maximum efficiency.
http://www.gigamon.com
http://www.gigamon.com/network_monitoring_leader.php

Mountain View-Based Synopsys Acquires VaST Systems Technology

Mountain View, Calif. -- Synopsys, a Mountain View-based provider of software and services for semiconductor design and manufacturing, said that it has acquired Sunnyvale-based VaST Systems Technology. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Synopsys said that the acquisition will add complementary virtual prototyping products that will allow it to expand into the automotive and consumer application space. "In order to meet the stringent development requirements associated with today's growing electronics and software content in automotive and consumer products, developers are virtualizing their electronic sub-systems to start software development earlier," said Joachim Kunkel, senior vice president and general manager of the solutions group at Synopsys. VaST previously had raised more than $34 million in venture capital.
http://www.synopsys.com
http://synopsys.mediaroom.com/index.php?s=43&item=772

San Ramon-Based Green Plug Lands Second Round of Funding

San Ramon, Calif. -- Green Plug, a San Ramon-based developer of energy efficiency  technology enabling electronic devices to communicate with their power sources, said on Wednesday that it has raised an undisclosed amount in its second round of funding. Herald Investments UK, Killik & Co. and Peninsula Venture Partners co-led the round, which came at a higher valuation than an earlier round that closed in Jan. 2008. "With this new investment round, look for Green Plug to become native within power management and other controller chips," said CEO Frank Paniagua Jr. The company's technology allows any device to communicate with Green Plug-enabled power supplies, either wirelessly or through a power cable. The devices then draw only the power they need to operate.
http://www.greenplug.us
http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20100203005729/en/Green-Plug-Announces-Series-Investment-Environmentally-Friendly-DC

YouTube Posts Video Interview with President Obama

San Bruno, Calif. -- YouTube has posted its video interview with President Barack Obama, which was conducted on Monday at the White House using questions submitted by users after last week's State of the Union address. The site that that it received more than 11,000 questions for Obama, as well as over 55,000 votes on which questions should be asked. "We hope this interview brings us one step closer to creating better access to your government through YouTube," Steve Grove, YouTube's head of news and politics, wrote on the company's blog. "We had many more questions on hand than we had time to deliver, so we're pleased that the White House has agreed to respond to more of the top-voted questions in their blog soon, at whitehouse.gov."
http://youtube-global.blogspot.com/2010/02/your-questions-for-president-obama.html

Study: Over 60 Million Americans Listen to Web Radio

Glendale, Calif. -- More than 60 million Americans listen to Internet radio each week, with that figure expected to reach 77 million by 2015, according to a new report from Bridge Ratings. Of the 60 million, 84% regularly listen to at least five minutes of AM/FM simulcast streams, while 62% regularly listen to at least five minutes of Internet-only streams, such as those offered by Pandora. "When questioning streamies who use both AM/FM simulcasts and Internet-only streams, there is a distinct difference in the reasons for use," said Dave Van Dyke, the president of Bridge Ratings. "Internet-only radio streams are perceived to be more 'adventurous' and are better sources of music specialization or discovery than what terrestrial radio streams provide. One recommendation for traditional radio coming from this study is to develop alternate streams and on-demand streams that offer content different from their simulcast versions." Bridge Ratings predicts that the percentage of streaming listeners for AM/FM simulcasts and Internet-only streams will reach parity by the end of 2016.
http://www.bridgeratings.com/press_02.01.10.StreamingTrends.html?utm_source=Subscribers&utm_campaign=946e9715cf-TRI_02-01-2010&utm_medium=email

Mountain View-Based Ustream Raises $75 Million in Second Round

Mountain View, Calif. -- In a testament to the growing popularity of video streaming, Mountain View-based Ustream, a provider of live video streaming services, said on Tuesday that it has raised $75 million in its second round of funding, led by Japan's Softbank. The company said that other U.S. and Asian investments are pending. It plans to use the proceeds to fuel growth opportunities in Japan, China, Korea and India. "Asia offers a significant, untapped market opportunity for streaming video," said John Ham, Ustream's founder and CEO. The company said that the live streaming market is growing rapidly, as evidenced by the more than 3.4 million viewers who watched the live pre-show of the American Music Awards last year and the more than 3.8 million who watched the inauguration of President Obama. Ustream's iPhone applications have been downloaded more than 1.5 million times.
http://www.ustream.tv/
http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20100201007471/en/Ustream-Secures-%2475-Million-Series-Funding-SOFTBANK

The Start Project Launches Tech Company Business Incubator

San Francisco -- The San Francisco-based Start Project has announced the launch of its new business incubator for technology firms, which will be backed by advisors including Twitter co-founder Biz Stone, WordPress co-founder Matt Mullenweg and angel investor Chris Sacca. "The start project is a collaborative effort to bring great ideas to market," the venture wrote on its web site. "While the founders have a history of successful exits (over half a billion dollars), they are now focused on the initial stages of business creation including: idea generation, software development, product vision, team building, and investment." All Things D notes that Polaris Venture Partners is also backing The Start Project, and will lend office space in San Francisco as well as receive a "first-look" option on investments.
http://thestartproject.com/#
http://kara.allthingsd.com/20100201/the-start-project-gets-startup-stars-as-advisers/?mod=ATD_rss

San Francisco-Based Linden Lab Acquires Avatars United

San Francisco -- Linden Lab, the San Francisco-based developer of the "Second Life" online virtual world, said that it has acquired Enemy Unknown, a Swedish company that runs community site Avatars United. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Linden Lab said that the acquisition will help enable those of its users who wish to share more of their offline identities with their virtual world friends. The Avatars United platform will among other things provide the ability to create a Second Life activity feed, which users can share with friends.
http://www.enemyunknown.net
http://www.avatarsunited.com
https://blogs.secondlife.com/community/features/blog/2010/01/29/avatars-unite

San Carlos-Based Tesla Motors to Raise $100 Million in IPO

San Carlos, Calif. -- Tesla Motors, the San Carlos-based builder of high-performance electric cars, has filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to raise up to $100 million in its initial public offering (IPO). Details such as the number of shares or their expected price range have yet to be announced. Founded in 2003, Tesla last year began selling its first model, the "Roadster," for just over $100,000. The car is capable of reaching 60 miles per hour in 3.8 seconds, with a range of 244 miles on a full battery charge. As of December 31, Tesla had sold 937 Roadsters. Tesla recently entered into a $465 million long-term loan under the Department of Energy's Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing Incentive Program, and two weeks ago the company announced a collaboration with Panasonic to develop new battery cells for electric vehicles.
http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1318605/000119312510017054/ds1.htm
http://www.teslamotors.com/

Santa Clara-Based SpiderCloud Wireless Raises $25M in Second Round

Santa Clara, Calif. -- SpiderCloud Wireless, a Santa Clara-based developer of wireless technology for mobile operators, said on Monday that it has raised $25 million in its second round of funding, led by Opus Capital. New investor Shasta Ventures and previous backers Charles River Ventures and Matrix Partners also participated. The company, which now has raised $40 million since its inception, also named Behrooz Parsay as its new senior vice president of engineering and operations. He previously held RF engineering and management positions with Aperto Networks, Ericsson, DIVA, Kestrel and Lantern Communications. SpiderCloud is developer of the Enterprise Radio Access Network (E-RAN) platform, which the company said combines the functionality and security of cellular networks with the utility and economics of Wi-Fi data networks.
http://www.spidercloud.com/
http://www.spidercloud.com/news-events/news/020110

Campbell-Based Coulomb Raises $14 Million in Venture Capital

Campbell, Calif. -- Coulomb Technologies, a Campbell-based developer of electric vehicle charging stations, said that it has raised $14 million in its second round of funding, co-led by Voyager Capital and Rho Ventures. Siemens Venture Capital and Hartford Ventures also participated. Founded in 2007, the company installed its first network of charging stations in San Jose in 2008 and most recently installed stations in Honolulu. Coulomb said that it is "poised for massive growth to install thousands of charging stations in 2010." Its expansion will include further penetration into Asia and South America.
http://www.coulombtech.com/
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Coulomb-Technologies-Secures-bw-4009742135.html?x=0&.v=1

SAIC Acquires Virtual World Technology from San Mateo-Based Forterra

San Mateo, Calif. -- Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC), the large government technology contractor, said on Monday that it has paid an undisclosed amount to acquire the On-Line Interactive Virtual Environment (OLIVE) product line from San Mateo-based Forterra Systems. Twelve employees will join SAIC'a Analysis, Simulations, Systems Engineering & Training business as part of the deal. OLIVE is a software platform that allows clients to create their own 3D virtual worlds where users can collaborate over networks. Clients currently include Lockheed Martin, the National Institutes of Health, Northrop Grumman and the University of Maryland's Center for Advanced Transportation Technology Lab. "We see virtual worlds as the direction of the future in modeling and simulation," said Bev Seay, SAIC's senior vice president and business unit general manager.
http://www.forterrainc.com/
http://investors.saic.com/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=441633

Shareholders Approve Equinix Acquisition of Switch & Data

Foster City, Calif. -- Equinix, a Foster City-based operator of data centers, said on Monday that shareholders of Florida-based counterpart Switch & Data Facilities have approved the company's acquisition. The $689 million cash and stock deal, first announced in October, is now expected to close by mid-year. Switch & Data operates 34 data centers in 22 markets across the U.S. and Canada. Equinix said that the move will extend its presence to 16 new markets across North America, including Atlanta, Denver, Miami, Seattle and Toronto.
http://www.switchanddata.com
http://www.equinix.com/news/press/na/2010/Equinix-Announces-Preliminary-Results-of-Switch-and-Data-Stockholder-Elections/

Report: Venture Capital Industry Seeing Mixed Results

Arlington, Va. -- Venture capital performance had mixed results for the period ending Sept. 30, with short- and long-term investments showing slight improvement, but those in the five- to 10-year range continuing to deteriorate, according to a new report from the National Venture Capital Association. Though exit markets have shown signs of life in recent months, the NVCA and partner Cambridge Associates said that a healthy venture capital environment won't return until exits capture more sustainable momentum. "It has taken a full decade after the technology bubble burst for the venture industry to fully realize the impact of that era and its aftermath," said Mark Heesen, president of the NVCA. "There are still healthy returns to be made in venture capital, but until the venture community sees a more vibrant exit market we do not expect marked improvement overall."
http://www.marketwire.com/press-release/Venture-Capital-Industry-Sees-Further-Deterioration-of-10-Year-Returns-1109843.htm