Open source database company 10gen raises $3.4M
10gen, a New York database company with some well-known customers and investors, has raised $3.4 million in a second round of funding.
The New York company developed MongoDB, an open source database for web applications that’s being used by open source repository SourceForge, commenting startup Disqus,… Read More
Broadband chip maker MaxLinear files for IPO
Broadband communications chip maker MaxLinear has filed to go public in another indicator that the good times are back for tech stocks and exits.
Carlsbad, Calif.-based MaxLinear makes analog or mixed-signal radio chips that can be manufactured in standard chip factories. The chips enable devices to… Read More
NXP’s sensors for smart Band-Aids, smart bottles, and pay-per-use cars
Forget about smart phones and smart computers. Cheap and plentiful sensor chips are making possible everything from smart Band-Aids to smart bottles.
NXP Semiconductors, a chip maker that spun out of Philips in 2006, showed off prototypes for these cool applications at its headquarters in San… Read More
Chip industry forecast not as dire as expected — down 11.6 percent for 2009
The chip industry has a brighter forecast than during the summer, but 2009 will still go down as a dismal year with a 11.6 percent decline in revenues, according to the semiconductor industry’s trade group.
Worldwide chip sales are expected to be $219.7 billion this year,… Read More
New York Attorney General sues Intel for antitrust violations
While Microsoft went down in flames on antitrust issues long ago, Intel had until recently escaped the ire of government regulators. But today, the New York Attorney General filed an antitrust suit against the world’s biggest chip maker.
The lawsuit echoes allegations made by the European… Read More
EmSense, the company that reads your brain’s reactions to ads, gets boost
EmSense — the San Francisco company that has created a device to read your mind to assess how you react to TV commercials and other media — has raised $9 million more in a third round of funding.
The company says it is trying to improve… Read More
Marvell’s new chips will bring cost of eBooks to under $100
The eBook readers from Amazon.com and Sony have been clunky. They turn pages slowly and don’t have many bells and whistles beyond wireless communications and black-and-white displays. Over time, that’s going to change as chip makers and others apply their talents to new electronic book… Read More
How to make 8x your money: Chinese IPOs
Enjoyor Technology Group, a new company that debuted on the Chinese Growth Enterprise Market, closed its first day up 81%. Intel, which had invested 20 million Renminbi or about $23.7 million, is looking at a paper profit of $162 million, roughly eight times what they… Read More
Greylock Partners recruits LinkedIn’s Reid Hoffman, raises $575M fund
Reid Hoffman, the founder and chairman of popular professional networking site LinkedIn, is joining venture firm Greylock Partners as an investing partner. The firm also announced today that it has raised a $575 million fund, its thirteenth.
Both Hoffman and Greylock partner David Sze said Hoffman’s… Read More
Link_A_Media takes $18M for data recovery
Link_A_Media Devices, maker of technology used to recover and transmit data on storage devices, has brought in $18 million in a first round of funding. The Santa Clara, Calif. company is backed by Lightspeed Venture Partners, Keynote Ventures, SunAmerica Ventures, and Itochu Technology Ventures.
Verdezyne raises $3M for organism-made biofuels
Verdezyne, a company that develops special microorganisms used to produce biofuels and biochemicals, has brought in $3 million of an expected $15.2 million round of equity, according to a filing with the SEC. Based in Carlsbad, Calif., the company is backed by Life Science Angels,… Read More
Scoopler gets seeded for real-time search
Scoopler, one of the newest companies providing real-time search capabilities, has brought in a seed round somewhere between $500,000 and $1 million. Based in San Francisco, the company was backed by Avalon Ventures, XG Ventures and high-profile individual investors Ron Conway and Michael Birch.
Scoopler, which… Read More
ASSIA takes $10M to manage, speed DSL service
Adaptive Spectrum and Signal Alignment (ASSIA), a company that manages DSL lines to provide faster and more reliable service, has raised $10 million of an expected $25 million round of funding. The Redwood City, Calif., company is backed by Mingly China Growth Fund, SFR Development,… Read More
Applied Quantum looks for $20M for thin-film solar
Applied Quantum Technology, maker of equipment to produce copper-indium-gallium diselenide thin-film solar cells, told Dow Jones Venturewire that it’s looking to raise a $20 million second round of funding to churn out a much cheaper product than its competitors. The Santa Clara, Calif.-based company says… Read More
GlobalFoundries chairman Hector Ruiz steps down after insider trading allegations
Hector Ruiz, one of the most respected statesmen in the chip industry, had his reputation tarnished last week after he was identified by unnamed sources for tipping off Galleon-related traders who used the information to make illegal insider trades.
Now he is stepping down as chairman… Read More
Worldwide chip sales show gains in third quarter
Worldwide chip sales were up 19.7 percent in the third quarter to $61.9 billion, compared to the second quarter. The increase shows that tech industry recovery is continuing, since chips are used in everything electronic.
Sales compared to the third quarter of 2008 were down 10.1… Read More
Intelleflex gets an engineering team from big chip maker and raises $8M
Silicon Valley has the rarest of things today: a silicon company with a new infusion of funding. Chip maker Maxim Integrated Products is spinning out one of its engineering teams into the chip startup Intelleflex in return for an equity stake. On top of that,… Read More
Bling Nation gets another $20M funding for its pay-by-cellphone system
Bling Nation, a Palo Alto-based company, has created a mobile payment service called Redi Pay that lets phone users pay for things in stores with their phones. I wrote about Bling Nation in July, when the company landed $8M in funding $from Lightspeed Venture Partners,… Read More
Box.net raises another $7.1M for collaboration tools
Collaboration company Box.net has raised another $7.1 million from its previous investors, Draper Fisher Jurvetson and US Venture Partners. PEHub first spotted the regulatory filing, and chief executive Aaron Levie confirmed the news to me.
The new money is an addition to the Palo Alto, Calif…. Read More
Renewable Funding takes $12.2M to urge conversion to solar
Renewable Funding, a company that helps building owners finance the purchase of solar equipment, has raised $12.2 million in a first round of funding. Based in Oakland, Calif., it is backed by Draper Fisher Jurvetson, NGEN Partners, New Cycle Capital and Wilson Sonsini Goodrich and Rosati.