VentureBeat |
- Advanced Power enters week-long rebranding cocoon
- Applied Materials grows solar business, buys Advent Solar
- McLaren F1 designer goes green with T.27
- Google to buy mobile advertising network AdMob for $750 million
- Cartilix, maker of tissue repair treatments, sells to Biomet
- Founder Collective fund rounds up Flickr, LiveOps co-founders and $40 million
- Semiconductor developer MaxLinear files for $100M IPO
- RPO lands $19.3 for optical touch tech
- Sunlink raises $1.8 to hook solar into large buildings
- Penguin Computing snaps up $1.5M for Linux cluster virtualization
- Unique search engine Kosmix raises $238K
- Trinity Biosystems raises $7.5M bridge to treat endocrine disorders
- Tethys picks up $25M for diabetes diagnostic
- Metabolex takes $8.6M to treat diabetes
- Shazam, the song-recognition app, launches $4.99 version with more features
| Advanced Power enters week-long rebranding cocoon Posted: 09 Nov 2009 11:08 AM PST
Based in Fremont, Calif., the company offers a wide array of equipment and services. For instance, it installs steam-injection systems in existing plants to increase capacity and reduce heat rates by 25 percent; it helps lower-emission gas-fired power plants with site selection, permitting, sales and engineering; it acquires underperforming gas-fired plants and retrofits them; and it manages construction. On the equipment supply side of the business, it offers products to integrate gas-fired efficiency with wind, solar, biomass and geothermal plants. It makes its gas turbines more efficient by recycling waste heat. But apparently the company’s shareholders didn’t like the direction it was headed, its CEO, Tom Mason, told VentureWire. With the price of natural gas coming down, there wasn’t enough revenue to depend solely on that business channel. To recruit new backers and secure a slot on the green energy bandwagon, Advanced Power will relaunch next week with a new strategy, including greater focus on solar, and other renewable sources of energy. A little over a year old, the company had raised $13 million in a first round of funding from Bay Partners, Redpoint Ventures, Sequoia Capital, and Chesapeake Energy co-founder Aubrey McClendon. Things aren’t looking good for Advanced’s rebirth. The remainder of its capital raised will be distributed to its investors. Where the money will come from for the new launch is uncertain. The company’s CEO, Mason, says he is confident it can land some contracts, which will give it enough of a boost to raise more venture funding. It has also sent several grant proposals to the U.S. Department of Energy. The one thing that it does have going for it is its licensed technology — the core of its heat-recycling process. Whether this will be enough to found a new enterprise, or if it will eventually be sold off for the money, remains to be seen. A one-week time horizon between closure and relaunch is pretty ambitious. We’re waiting to hear back from Bay Partners’ Atul Kapadia about what went wrong and what went right.
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| Applied Materials grows solar business, buys Advent Solar Posted: 09 Nov 2009 10:42 AM PST
The Sunnyvale, Calif. chip equipment maker has seen a lot of solar action recently. At the end of October, it opened its $250 million Solar Technology Center in China, home to more than 400,000 square-feet of laboratories, thin-film solar assembly space and the pilot plant for making crystalline silicon solar modules — not to mention its 56-kilowatt solar array in the parking lots. It is reportedly the largest non-government advanced solar research and development facility in the world. Applied Materials has a major advantage in the solar space right now, with many smaller players struggling to stay afloat in an environment of low prices, tight discretionary spending, and limited capital. Some companies that had ambitions to build large solar arrays and plants have had to downsize their plans, turning instead to solar equipment sales. But Applied Materials, buoyed by its revenue stream from other areas of its business, can pour millions into solar innovation and installation without blinking an eye. That said, solar may be the giant company’s salvation in the end. As the chip business remains on unsteady ground (the downturn really hit it where it hurts), it will be looking to solar to pull its weight and supplement revenue in a major way by next year. Advent’s manufacturing technology should help it reduce costs and jumpstart productivity within its solar arm to reach these goals. Once fully integrated, it could cut eventually costs of solar panel production by as much as $1 per watt — though that milestone may be three years away. Based in New Mexico, Advent Solar had raised an unreleased amount of angel funding from Angels with Attitude, LinkedIn Founder Reid Hoffman and Spring Ventures founder Sunil Paul.
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| McLaren F1 designer goes green with T.27 Posted: 09 Nov 2009 10:02 AM PST
Shockingly homely, the prototype for the T.27 has more in common with a Studebaker armored car or a Soviet light tank than the sleek beauties Murray has created before. But it does promise to be substantially greener than any electric vehicle in development. This isn’t the first time Murray has gone green. In July 2008, VentureBeat reported on his T.25 model — an all-gas car efficient enough to travel 70 miles per gallon. While the T.25 is still looking for a home with a manufacturer, Murray is hard at work on the next gas-free iteration. The key to the T.27’s smaller carbon footprint is its manufacturing process — how Murray actually designed it to be made. Instead of traditional sequences assembling the chassis, body and components, he designed everything to be installed on as bare a chassis as possible, even having pre-painted body parts bolted to the finished product (which streamlines the whole process and protects the paint). This lowers carbon emissions at the point of manufacturing, where current hybrids and plug-in vehicles are reportedly 20 percent dirtier than their internal-combustion cousins. “The iStream manufacturing process behind the T.25 and T.27 is all about sustainable, low energy process by design,” Murray has said. “An opportunity to start from a clean sheet of paper, combined with our disruptive manufacturing technology, will result in a product which truly pushes the boundaries of urban vehicle design.” Despite the reference to a clean sheet of paper, the T.27 will be very similar in size and layout to the T.25. A staggering $15 million (£9 million) will be spent to build four prototypes by 2011. Half of these funds have already been provided by the British government. It will be interesting to see if this will open the government up to the same criticism the U.S. Department of Energy has received for funding luxury cars made by Tesla Motors and Fisker Automotive. Murray Designs isn’t the only firm working on the T.27. It has partnered with Zytek, the British company working on the Smart EV and Mercedes F1 KERS. It could be very helpful in supplying the electric components needed to make the vehicle a reality. The McLaren F1, Murray’s most famous brainchild, was all hellfire and tire smoke with a BMW-sourced V12 engine, going from zero to 60 miles per hour in 3.2 seconds, 100 miles per hour in 6.3 seconds, and topping out at over 240 miles per hour. It was built in the mid-1990s and is still the fastest naturally-aspirated car ever made. The T.27, on the other hand, is designed to have a top speed of 60 miles per hour with acceleration times measurable by a sundial and range of 100 miles — it is certainly made for short-distance, urban driving. On the upside, you could fit three of them in a nose-in parking space. It would also slash carbon emissions, even when compared to the Prius, all along its supply chain. Every generation needs its own McLaren. Looks like the green movement just got its.
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| Google to buy mobile advertising network AdMob for $750 million Posted: 09 Nov 2009 09:43 AM PST
San Mateo-based AdMob (see our profile) is the biggest player in the mobile market, a market that has become particularly sexy now that smartphones such as the iPhone and other mobile-browser friendly devices are driving an explosion in mobile ads. Admob served at least 1o.2 billion ad impressions per month, up from 5.1 billion a year ago, and only 1.6 million two years ago. Accel Partners’ Richard Wong, who led Accel’s investment into Admob three years ago, said there had been multiple suitors of Admob, making the negotiations exhausting.
Google says AdMob patches up holes in its mobile advertising offerings: Google specializes in search ads, and only recently started building out its display network aggressively, with things like mobile adsense, which allows advertisers to place ads by relevant content just as they do for laptops and desktops. AdMob brings mobile display ads to the table in a very big way. It has, in contrast to Google, built a network that began by serving lower-end phones but then more recently started targeting the iPhone. Google hadn’t focused much on the iPhone, in part because it had built a competing mobile phone system to the iPhone, called the Android operating system, which is now the basis of dozens of smartphones. With AdMob’s exclusive focus on mobile, and in particular the iPhone and its exploding application ecosystem, its biggest treasure for Google is its key people and know-how in terms of dealing with app publishers and advertisers. Admob employs 140 people. Its business is “exploding 200 to 300 percent a year,” Wong said. It is serving ads in 160 countries, and on 15,000 mobile web sites and iPhone and Android applications. Recently, Admob acquired AdWhirl, another company that had tried to build a mobile ad network that aggregated other networks. Google had remained remarkably quiet in this sector, and rumors began to build that it would either launch a major effort in this area, or acquire a player like Admob. AdMob was backed by Accel Partners, Sequoia Capital, Draper Fisher Jurvetson’s Growth Fund and Northzone, with more than $47 million in funding, so $750 million represents a nice exit for AdMob’s investors. It’s a particularly lucrative day for Accel, which also saw another company it had backed, Playfish, sold for as much as $400 million to Electronic Arts. A year ago, VentureBeat wrote a story about how AdMob was poised to “mint money,” and outlined the promise of the budding companies business, and some critics weighed in, and suggested AdMob’s business wasn’t as solid as we’d suggested. Turns out, even despite the recession, Admob came out ahead.
Founder Omar Hamoui struggled for a breakthrough in mobile advertising for several years, which was difficult until the iPhone came along. Even then, the result is remarkable considering the company was founded in 2006. He wrote today:
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| Cartilix, maker of tissue repair treatments, sells to Biomet Posted: 09 Nov 2009 09:32 AM PST Cartilix, a Foster City, Calif.-based biotech firm that makes substances capable of repairing human tissues in joints, has sold to Biomet, an Indiana-based seller of tools and products used to help surgeons, according to PE Hub. Neither company disclosed financial terms. Cartilix had previously received $6.5 million in first-round venture funding from De Novo Ventures.
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| Founder Collective fund rounds up Flickr, LiveOps co-founders and $40 million Posted: 09 Nov 2009 09:29 AM PST It’s become a cliche: Internet start-ups are inexpensive to launch, and you don’t need multi-million dollars from venture capitalists to back you anymore. As a result, more successful startup founders are adding a new hat, and becoming investors. Founder Collective, the New York City-based fund started by Hunch co-founder Chris Dixon, along with Eric Paley and Dave Frankel has rounded up a number of high-profile serial entrepreneurs including Flickr co-founder Caterina Fake, Vimeo co-founder Zach Klein and LiveOps co-founder Bill Trenchard. The $40 million fund will also include Mark Gerson, who started Gerson Lehrman Group and Micah Rosenbloom, who started Brontes.
The fund will focus on seed investments, and won’t take options on future financing rounds. Partners in the fund are generally entrepreneurs as well and Founder Collective will focus on companies in New York and Boston. Dixon said the new fund was not just a group of angel investors — the partners share in the profits and take leads in investments.
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| Semiconductor developer MaxLinear files for $100M IPO Posted: 09 Nov 2009 09:27 AM PST MaxLinear, a company that makes high-performance, low-power chips for broadband communication applications, has filed for a $100 million IPO, according to the SEC. Based in Carlsbad, Calif., the company took about $35 million in venture funding from U.S. Venture Partners (21.6 percent stake), Battery Ventures (13.75 percent), Mission Ventures (13.03 percent), UMC Capital (7.09 percent).
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| RPO lands $19.3 for optical touch tech Posted: 09 Nov 2009 09:20 AM PST RPO, maker of optical touch technology used to track finger movements for computing applications, has raised $19.3 million in a third round of funding. Based in San Jose, Calif., the company is backed by Jolimont Capital, Allen & Buckeridge and Neo Technology Ventures.
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| Sunlink raises $1.8 to hook solar into large buildings Posted: 09 Nov 2009 09:13 AM PST Sunlink, maker of rooftop solar panel mounting systems that help integrate solar power into large building grids, has brought in $1.8 million in equity and securities, according to a filing with the SEC. Based in San Rafael, Calif., the company is backed by Clean Pacific Ventures and the Angeleno Group. In July, it raised $1.1 of an anticipated $1.5 million round of debt.
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| Penguin Computing snaps up $1.5M for Linux cluster virtualization Posted: 09 Nov 2009 09:04 AM PST Penguin Computing, a San Francisco-based provider of Linux cluster virtualization, has just raised $1.5 million of an expected $2 million round of convertible promissory notes and securities, according to a filing with the SEC. It is backed by San Francisco Equity Partners, Convergence Partners, vSpring Capital and Weber Capital.
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| Unique search engine Kosmix raises $238K Posted: 09 Nov 2009 09:01 AM PST Kosmix, a search startup that builds comprehensive pages of information to answer your search queries, has brought in $238,000 in new equity, according to a filing with the SEC. Based in Mountain View, Calif., the company is backed by Accel Partners, DAG Ventures, Lightspeed Venture Partners and Time Warner. It raised $20 million in funding last December.
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| Trinity Biosystems raises $7.5M bridge to treat endocrine disorders Posted: 09 Nov 2009 08:56 AM PST Trinity Biosystems, maker of a drug that can treat certain endocrine disorders, has brought in $7.5 million in bridge funding from Amgen Ventures, Life Science Partners, Lilly Ventures, Sanderling Ventures and SR One, according to Dow Jones VentureWire. Based in Menlo Park, Calif., has raised about $33.75 million since its first round of financing in 2004.
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| Tethys picks up $25M for diabetes diagnostic Posted: 09 Nov 2009 08:53 AM PST Tethys Bioscience, maker of a diagnostic test that indicates which patients are at the highest risk for developing Type 2 diabetes, has raised $25 million in a fourth round of funding. Based in Emeryville, Calif., the company is backed by Aeris Capital, Wasatch Advisors, Intel Capital, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and Mohr Davidow Ventures. It has raised about $80 million to date.
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| Metabolex takes $8.6M to treat diabetes Posted: 09 Nov 2009 08:49 AM PST Metabolex, maker of treatments for Type 2 diabetes, has raised $8.6 million in a fifth round of funding to fund trials on its newest product. Based in Hayward, Calif., the company is backed by Alta Partners, Bay City Capital, Birchmere Ventures, Charter Ventures, Merlin Biomed, Novo Ventures, Next Chapter Holdings, VantagePoint Venture Partners, Venrock and Versant Ventures.
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| Shazam, the song-recognition app, launches $4.99 version with more features Posted: 09 Nov 2009 08:14 AM PST
The move is part of the company’s efforts to make serious dough, now that it has a massive base of 50 million users — but it is also part of the company’s efforts to make its offerings fairer to users across multiple phones. (Shazam and the phone carriers it partnered with used to charge for its service on many phones, but Shazam decided to move to free when it launched on the iPhone. This meant that some users of other phones on the AT&T network were paying $2.99 a month, while iPhone users were getting it for free. Just not fair. Thus the scramble to realign offerings.) It also is an attempt to expands upon Shazam’s profitable business model. Unlike many music companies, it isn’t losing money, and now that it has taken on serious backers, it wants to make a whole lot more. Called Shazam Encore, the new Shazam iphone app costs $4.99 in the U.S., and offers the following:
The free app, which limits new users to five tags per month (existing users can tag without limits), will remain, but it also gets some more features:
The company is seeing tremendous traction, saying it has 10 million users on the iPhone and the rest distributed across other phones such as Blackberries, Nokias and Androids. Notably, the only platform Shazam hasn’t built an application for is the Palm. The Palm users just aren’t there yet, chief executive Andrew Fisher told us. The existing free version of Shazam seeks to make money off of ads, and things like affiliate fees from sales of iTunes. I wrote more about the company’s background here.
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Advanced Power Projects
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Applied Materials
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