vc

Camera+ boasts 8M copies sold in two years

Camera+ gets the bonus of selling its 8 millionth app on the same day as its second birthday. Quite an achievement in the face of other popular apps like Instagram and Hipstamatic, especially when the company has publicly refused VC funding and offers of acquisition.

The company's founder John Casasanta wrote in a blog post today that over the past two years, Camera+ has been approached by several companies looking to buy, including Adobe, Zynga, Google, and Twitter. Camera+ declined every time because of the company's goal to retain its independence. It also turned down its first round … Read more

Kleiner Perkins closes $525M early stage fund

Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers has closed its 15th traditional fund at $525 million, the Silicon Valley venture capital firm announced this evening.

Best known for backing companies such as Google and Amazon, Kleiner Perkins said the fund will focus on investing in digital consumer, digital enterprise, green tech, and life sciences startups. The fund, dubbed Fund XV, will be led by 10 of Kleiner Perkins' partners, the company said.

"Portfolio companies in KPCB 15 will benefit from the firm's holistic approach to company building that we pioneered more than a decade ago," Ted Schlein, a partner … Read more

Andreessen Horowitz banks 312-times return on Instagram

Andreessen Horowitz stands to make about $78 million off an initial investment of $250,000 in Instagram, a partner in the investment firm revealed today in a blog responding to criticism that the investment firm "fumbled" its involvement in the photo-sharing app.

The New York Times ignited controversy earlier this week when it published a story that profiled how the VC firm "fumbled" its investment in Instagram, which was just purchased by Facebook for $1 billion, by investing in rival photo-sharing app PicPlz. The investment in PicPlz "was a calculated bet against Instagram and it … Read more

Mama Bear conference sees money in moms

"Too many single white kids are getting funded," 500 Startups founder Dave McClure says. "We're missing a big f---ing market."

McClure is kicking off the MamaBear Family Tech Conference today in Mountain View, Calif., to attack that market. At the same time, he wants angel investing to open up. It's overrun by men, he says.

"There's no lack of female founders anymore," according to McClure. He says that about 20 percent of his portfolio companies are run by women. Many are addressing family markets, he says. There are also a number … Read more

Path, Instagram, and the Greater Fool Theory

Now we know why Facebook didn't build a good mobile app. It didn't have to. It could afford to pay $1 billion for a 14-person company, Instagram, that managed to figure out the secret sauce for winning over smartphone picture-takers. So, clearly, Path is next, right?

Not exactly. Path has a lot going for it, but it's lacking some key elements. It's a valuable company, but arguably over-valued given its recent funding news: A $40 million funding round from Redpoint Ventures (source: AllThingsD). Update 5:24 p.m.: Path said it has raised $30 million in … Read more

Reporters' Roundtable: JOBS Act makes crowdfunding the law

Crowdfunding is one step from becoming the law of the land. The JOBS Act, which has passed the House and the Senate in slightly different versions, is soon to be voted on again in the House for final approval, before it goes to the President, who has indicated he will sign it. This new law will make it possible for entrepreneurs to raise money from anyone they want to. It will also make it easier for new companies to go public, or to delay going public if they wish.

When JOBS becomes law, the landscape for technology startups will change dramatically. If you want to know how, and why it's happening, and what could go wrong when it does, watch this episode of the Roundtable.

Our guests today are:

George Zachary, partner at the VC firm Charles River Ventures Chance Barnett, CEO of the crowdfunding marketplace, Crowdfunder Tim Rowe, CEO of the Cambridge Innovation Center

… Read more

JOBS Act debates getting more focused in Senate

The JOBS Act, a collection of regulatory changes that would make crowdfunding legal and make it easier for companies to become publicly traded, has been wending its way through congressional proceedings this week.

Today, two Democrat-sponsored Senate amendments to the House version of the bill--one to increase consumer protections in the crowdfunding section, and another unrelated amendment to reauthorize funding of the export/import bank--failed to win necessary votes in the Senate to be attached to the act.

The JOBS Act passed the House easily on March 8 by a 390-23 vote, and its supporters hoped that it would sail … Read more

Battle over crowdfunding slows JOBS Act passage

Crowdfunding will likely become the new law of the land, but not as soon as its advocates had hoped.

The JOBS Act passed the House easily on March 8 by a 390-23 vote, and its supporters hoped it would sail through the Senate. But today the Act has been delayed in the Senate by new arguments and amendments.

Senate Democrats created an amendment to the Act, S.AMDT. 1833, designed to improve transparency and consumer protections around the crowdfunding portion of the act. It would replace H.R. 2930, the Crowdfunding bill that is incorporated into the JOBS Act. Today, … Read more

JOBS Act to rewrite rules of Silicon Valley investing

This week, possibly as soon as tomorrow, the Senate is likely to pass the JOBS (Jumpstart Our Business Startups) Act. It has already passed the House, and most of the influencers in Silicon Valley are in favor of the bill. It will certainly change the way the Valley works. But not for the reasons many people think.

The JOBS Act is a collection of bills that were rolled up into one act in the House: H.R. 3606. The Senate was working on variations of some of the components included in 3606, but sources say that the most likely outcome … Read more