Silicon Valley Wire

San Francisco-Based Boombotix Raises First Round of Funding

San Francisco -- Boombotix, the San Francisco-based developer of wireless speakers compatible with a range of mobile devices, said on Thursday it has raised an unspecified amount in its first round of funding, led by Walden Venture Capital. "This round is just going to help us lay down the real foundation that we need to take things to the next level," said CEO Lief Storer. Launched in 2009, Boombotix currently has more than 140 U.S. distributors, including Best Buy, Backcountry.com and Amazon. Much of the company’s success so far has come from the bike, surf and skate market, but the company said its market recently has been expanding beyond its core teen demographic.
http://www.boombotix.com

San Francisco-Based Glu Mobile Acquires GameSpy Technology

San Francisco -- Glu Mobile, a San Francisco-based developer and publisher of freemium games for smartphone and tablet devices, said on Thursday it has acquired San Francisco-based GameSpy Technology from IGN Entertainment. GameSpy provides technologies and services for multiplayer and server-based gaming across a wide array of platforms. Its services power online features such as multiplayer matchmaking, player statistics, individual player profiles, in-game buddy lists, leaderboards and storage of game media, including screenshots, gameplay videos and playable content. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. "Our acquisition of GameSpy brings Glu industry-recognized leadership in online, cross-platform technology infrastructure," said Niccolo de Masi, the CEO of Glu.
http://www.glu.com
http://www.poweredbygamespy.com/
http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=207033&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=1721900&highlight=

Accel Partners Beefs Up Big Data Team in Palo Alto

Palo Alto, Calif. -- Venture capital firm Accel Partners on Thursday named Jake Flomenberg as a principal and Nick Mehta as entrepreneur-in-residence, both based in its Palo Alto office. Flomenberg previously served as director of product management at Splunk, while Mehta was the CEO of LiveOffice. The additions come as Accel looks to increase its footprint in the big data space. In November, Accel announced its $100 million Accel Big Data Fund, and the firm's portfolio of big data investments includes Cloudera, Code 42 Software, Fusion-io, Lookout, Nimble Storage, Qualtrics, QlikView and Vigilent.
http://www.accel.com
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/jake-flomenberg-and-nick-mehta-join-accel-partners-as-principal-and-eir-2012-08-02

New USA Today Tool Measures Twitter Sentiment Toward Candidates

McLean, Va. -- USA Today, the national newspaper of Gannett, said on Thursday it has launched a new online tool designed to measure the sentiment by Twitter users about President Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney. The tool, called the USA Today/Twitter Election Meter, is a graphic representation of the Twitter Political Index, a daily number produced by Twitter in partnership with Topsy labs and polling firms the Mellman Group and North Star Opinion Research. The Index aims to provide a daily snapshot of the sentiment of political conversation on Twitter.
http://twitterelectionmeter.usatoday.com

Milpitas-Based LSI to Buy Back Up to $500 Million in Stock

Milpitas, Calif. -- LSI, a Milpitas-based designer of semiconductors and software that accelerate storage and networking, said on Thursday that its board has authorized the company to repurchase up to $500 million of its stock. The new program is on top of the $75 million that remained available under the company's existing $750 million authorization as of the end of second quarter. "The new stock repurchase program reflects our confidence in our long-term prospects," said CFO Bryon Look. "As we demonstrated with our recent earnings results, we are generating solid operating cash flows and this new program reflects our goal of returning capital to our shareholders."
http://www.lsi.com
http://www.lsi.com/about/newsroom/Pages/20120802cr.aspx

Summit Partners Raises $520 Million for New Credit Fund

Palo Alto, Calif. -- Summit Partners, a Boston-based investment firm with West Coast offices in Palo Alto, said on Wednesday it has raised a $520 million credit fund to address the borrowing needs of growing middle-market companies. The fund will be run in Boston by Managing Directors Todd Hearle and Jamie Freeland, who joined the firm in 2010. The move increases Summit's total equity and credit capital base to nearly $15 billion. Credit investing has been an active component of Summit Partners’ investment platform since 1994, when it raised its first subordinated debt fund.
http://www.summitpartners.com
http://www.summitpartners.com/Summit-Partners-Raises-USD520-Million-Credit-Fund.aspx

Los Altos-Based Box Raises $125 Million in New Funding

Los Altos, Calif. -- Box, the Los Altos-based developer of a popular content sharing platform, said it has raised $125 million in a new round of funding, which included a $100 million investment from General Atlantic (GA). Other participants included previous backers Bessemer Venture Partners, DFJ Growth, New Enterprise Associates (NEA), SAP Ventures and Scale Venture Partners, as well as new investor Social+Capital Partnership. The company said it will use the proceeds to fuel customer support, expansion and product development activities. "This new funding allows us to invest aggressively in the talent, technology and global expansion efforts required for Box to sit at the center of this shift and define the next generation of enterprise software," said CEO Aaron Levie. Gary Reiner, an operating partner at GA and former CIO of General Electric (GE), has joined the company's board of directors. Box's platform allows users to share content internally and externally through a range of devices and apps, and extends to partner apps such as Google Apps, NetSuite and Salesforce.
http://www.box.com
http://www.marketwire.com/press-release/box-announces-125-million-investment-to-fuel-enterprise-growth-1685556.htm

Mountain View-Based Synopsys Acquires Santa Clara's Ciranova

Mountain View, Calif. -- Synopsys, Inca Mountain View-based developer of software and IP used to make electronic components and systems, said it has acquired Santa Clara-based electronic design automation firm Ciranova. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Ciranova focuses on delivering productivity improvements in custom IC design by reducing the time and effort needed to develop transistor-level layout on advanced nodes. "Adding Ciranova's technology and engineering talent to the Synopsys custom IC solution team supports our goal to make continual gains in productivity for designers working on advanced custom IC designs," said Paul Lo, the senior vice president and general manager of Synopsys' Analog Mixed-Signal Group.
http://www.ciranova.com/
http://www.synopsys.com
http://synopsys.mediaroom.com/index.php?s=43&item=1050

Former Interim CEO Ross Levinsohn Leaves Yahoo

Sunnyvale, Calif. -- Two weeks after losing his bid to become Yahoo's new CEO, interim head Ross Levinsohn has left the Internet giant. In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Yahoo announced that Tuesday will be his final day with the company, and outlined a severance package worth several million dollars. Levinsohn, previously executive vice president of the company's Americas region, in May replaced former CEO Scott Thompson on an interim basis, after Thompson was forced to step down amid allegations that he misrepresented his academic credentials. Earlier this month, however, Yahoo replaced him with former Google executive Marissa Mayer. According to several published reports, Levinsohn had been negotiating his exit from the company for several days.
http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1011006/000119312512322824/d387980d8k.htm

S.F.-Based Lending Club Names John MacIlwaine as New CTO

San Francisco -- Lending Club, the San Francisco-based developer of an online peer lending service where people borrow and lend money among each other, on Tuesday named John MacIlwaine as its new CTO. MacIlwaine previously served as head of global development at Visa, and also has been CTO of the full-service brokerage arm of Morgan Stanley. In addition, he has held executive and senior-level management positions at Green Dot, Envestnet and SunGard Data Systems. "John's leadership of the technology products and teams at two of the most recognizable and relevant names in financial services, Visa and Morgan Stanley, represent an ideal fit for Lending Club," said CEO Renaud Laplanche. As of July 30, Lending Club has enabled more than $750 million in cumulative loan originations and is currently facilitating more than $50 million in new loan issuance a month. http://www.lendingclub.com http://www.marketwatch.com/story/lending-club-taps-former-visa-and-morgan-stanley-executive-as-chief-technology-office-2012-07-31

Redwood City-Based EA Names Blake Jorgensen as CFO

Redwood City, Calif. -- Electronic Arts (EA), the Redwood City-based developer and publisher of video games, on Tuesday named Blake Jorgensen as its new executive vice president and CFO. Jorgensen, who will be responsible for the company's global financial operations, is scheduled to start in early September. He most recently served as the executive vice president and CFO of Levi Strauss & Co., and previously was the CFO of Yahoo and COO and co-director of investment banking at Thomas Weisel Partners, which he co-founded in 1998. "His deep understanding of finance and experience in online commerce and entertainment will be instrumental to EA's transformation into digital distribution of game content and services," said CEO John Riccitiello.
http://news.ea.com/portal/site/ea/index.jsp?ndmViewId=news_view&ndmConfigId=1012492&newsId=20120731005344&newsLang=en

Napa County Ranks Near Top of Digital Counties Survey

 
Napa County is one of the most digitally connected small counties in the nation, according to the Center for Digital Government's 10th annual Digital Counties Survey. The survey, conducted in partnership with the National Association of Counties, honors counties in four population categories for their use of information and communications technology. Napa ranked No. 5 in the category for populations of under 150,000. All told, four counties from California made the lists, which are available at the top link below.
http://www.digitalcommunities.com/survey/counties/ (Top 10 lists)
http://www.govtech.com/e-government/2012-Digital-Counties-Survey-Winners-Announced.html (Winning profiles)

Menlo Park-Based Sequoia Capital Leads $34.5M Round for Bit9

Menlo Park, Calif. -- Sequoia Capital, the Menlo Park-based venture capital firm, has led a new $34.5 million round of funding for Bit9, a Massachusetts-based developer of security tools designed to detect and prevent sophisticated malware and cyber threats. Previous backers Atlas Venture, Highland Capital Partners, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and .406 Ventures also participated in the company's fourth round, which it will use to fund new product development efforts and expand sales and marketing activities. The round is the largest in company history. "It places a bet squarely on our vision and technology," said Patrick Morley, the president and CEO of Bit9. "It's an exciting time as we are dramatically changing how organizations protect themselves from IP theft and advanced attacks by focusing on a trust-based approach." Currently, Bit9 protects more than 700 organizations across industry segments such as education, finance, government, healthcare, retail and utilities.
http://www.sequoiacap.com
http://www.bit9.com 
https://www.bit9.com/company/news-release-details.php?id=262

Redwood City-Based Shutterfly Names Brian Regan as CFO

Redwood City, Calif. -- Shutterfly, the Redwood City-based photo-sharing service, on Monday named Brian Regan as its CFO. Regan most recently served as the CFO of Wize Commerce/Nextag, and previously was the executive vice president and CFO of Ticketmaster Entertainment. Earlier, he held senior leadership positions at Expedia. In his new role, Regan will manage all of the company's financial activities, including strategic planning, financial planning and analysis, investor relations, customer insights and analysis, mergers and acquisitions, accounting and legal.
http://www.shutterfly.com
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/shutterfly-names-brian-regan-chief-170000362.html

Santa Clara-Based Citrix to Expand in North Carolina

Santa Clara, Calif. -- Citrix, the Santa Clara-based developer of cloud, collaboration, networking and virtualization technologies, said on Monday it will expand its North Carolina offices to a 130,000 square-foot space in the warehouse district of downtown Raleigh. The facility will become the new development center for the company's data sharing product group, which is expected to more than double in size over the next five years. Citrix said the move, expected to be completed in 2013, comes in response to rapidly increasing demand for its ShareFile file sharing service.
http://www.citrix.com
http://www.citrix.com/English/NE/news/news.asp?newsID=2327659

Report: VC Performance Continues Gradual Improvement in Q1

Arlington, Va. -- With the exception of a slight decline in the one-year return, venture capital performance improved across all time spans during the first quarter, according to a new report by Cambridge Associates for the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA). The organization said that moderate increases in returns reflect a gradually improving exit market, with double digit performance over spans of one, three, 15 and 20 years. The 10-year return hit its highest mark since the third quarter of 2009. "Venture capital returns continue to head in the right direction and we are encouraged by the stability of the gradual climb over the last year," said Mark Heesen, president of the NVCA. "The passage of the JOBS Act in April has resulted in many more companies registering confidentially for an IPO, building a stronger pipeline that could have a very positive impact once those offerings come to market. This potential, coupled with a healthier acquisitions market, could point to better returns over the next several quarters."
http://www.nvca.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=182&Itemid=616