venture

VC Bill Gurley defends investment in money-losing Snapchat

Bill Gurley, a longtime Silicon Valley investor with Benchmark Capital, today defended his firm's investment in Snapchat, the social-media app designed to let users send pictures and videos that self-destruct after a set time.

Gurley, who spoke on a panel of venture capitalists at Goldman Sachs' annual Technology and Internet Conference in San Francisco, was asked why he'd invest in a startup with no revenue model. Benchmark led a $13.5 million investment in the app, valuing Snapchat at $60 million to $70 million, which was first reported by The New York Times.

"If you look at … Read more

Samsung's Open Innovation Center seeks startup juice

Samsung yesterday announced the launch of a new Open Innovation Center in Silicon Valley with an aim of connecting the conglomerate with the latest and greatest software ideas.

David Eun, Samsung Electronics executive vice president and leader of the Open Innovation Center, announced its opening yesterday at the D: Dive Into Media event. He told All Things Digital's Kara Swisher that while the company's hardware efforts are going well, the Open Innovation Center is designed to deliver a "thoughtful integration" of hardware with software.

According to Eun, the Open Innovation Center is based on four ideas:… Read more

Nest raises $80 million for thermostat business -- report

Nest, the next-generation thermostat company focused on saving energy, has closed a major round of funding, according to a new report.

Nest has raised $80 million on a valuation of $800 million, GigaOm is reporting today, citing people who claim to have knowledge of the deal. Google Ventures led the funding round. Venrock, another venture-capital firm, also participated in the round, according to GigaOm.

The Nest Learning Thermostat has proven to be a huge hit. In October, CNET Reviews Editor-in-Chief Lindsey Turrentine reviewed the Nest and gave it a full five stars out of five, or "spectacular," rating. … Read more

Nokia injects $250 million into venture funding

Nokia has committed another $250 million to its venture funding arm, Nokia Growth Partners, the company announced today.

With that sum, Nokia Growth Partners members will be able to invest in "high potential businesses within the mobile ecosystem." The venture capitalists will focus their efforts in the U.S., Europe, and Asia.

China could be an important opportunity for Nokia, so the company has expanded its presence there by appointing former AMD China president David Tang as managing director. Lu Guo, former Keystone Ventures vice president, will act as principal in China.

Nokia's latest fund is its … Read more

Intellectual Ventures settles patent lawsuit with Microsemi

Patent holding company Intellectual Ventures announced today it had resolved its long-running patent infringement litigation with chipmaker Microsemi.

The settlement dispenses with all patent litigation between the two and makes Microsemi a licensee of segments of Intellectual Ventures' massive patent portfolio. Financial terms of the settlement were not revealed.

Microsemi was one of a handful of companies sued for patent infringement in 2010 by Intellectual Ventures, a patent holder co-founded by Nathan Myhrvold, Microsoft's former chief technology officer. Altera and Lattice Semiconductor, other makers of FPGA (field-programmable gate array) logic chips, were also accused of infringing up to five … Read more

Lawsuit alleges that stolen ideas underpin Pinterest

Pinterest and one of its early investors have been sued by a man who alleges that the investor nicked his ideas -- including the concept of boards -- and handed them to the now hugely popular Web site.

The suit alleges that the plaintiff, Theodore F. Schroeder, of Ocean City, N.J., developed a site called RendezVoo, which started as a place where users could share their locations but evolved into a site where people "meet to share opinions, views, items, and tastes on a variety of subjects -- product, services, events, politics, economics -- nearly anything of human … Read more

Kodak sells its imaging patents for $525M

Eastman Kodak has a buyer -- or better said, buyers -- for its coveted treasure trove of digital imaging patents.

Under the agreements announced today, Kodak is selling the bundle for approximately $525 million, part of which will be paid by 12 intellectual property licensees organized by Intellectual Ventures and RPX Corp. Each licensee will receive rights to the patent portfolio and certain other Kodak patents. Another portion of the money will be paid by Intellectual Ventures, which is acquiring the digital imaging patent portfolio subject to these new licenses, as well as previously existing licenses, Kodak said.

The deal … Read more

Andreessen explains how Steve Jobs, Tim Cook are different

Famed Silicon Valley venture capitalist Marc Andreessen believes there is one major difference between Tim Cook and Steve Jobs: a desire for market share.

Speaking last night at an event in New York City, Andreessen said that Jobs' "single playbook" was to "invent a new product category, start with 100 percent market share, and then every day that goes by, lose market share until some terminal outcome."

Andreessen pointed to the Macintosh computer, the iPod, the iPhone, and the iPad as examples of that strategy. He noted -- correctly so -- that while Apple might own … Read more

Condoleezza Rice, Robert Gates sign deal with Khosla Ventures

A consulting firm owned by former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates has inked a deal with venture capital firm Khosla Ventures.

RiceHadleyGates announced today that it will provide "strategic insight" to Khosla Ventures in an effort to help the venture-capital firm's portfolio companies "make critical business decisions around expanding to markets like China, India, and Brazil."

"We look forward to putting our network and experience to good use by helping the Khosla companies navigate the tricky waters of political, policy, and regulatory issues around the world," … Read more