funds

Open-source venture funding down 12 percent...or is it?

The 451 Group's latest venture capital report shows open source funding taking a 12-percent slide in Q3 2008.

The 451 Group's Matt Aslett offers several explanations, but here's one that he missed:

Perhaps the data was faulty.

The report leaves out a range of companies that are open source but don't appear to have made it into The 451 Group's calculations. Some of these investments simply haven't been announced yet (I know of several), while others (like CloudEra) have, but don't seem to have made it into the data.

It's hard to … Read more

VC confidence level takes third-quarter hit

Venture capitalists' confidence level took another hit in the third quarter, marking the sixth-consecutive quarterly decline for the Silicon Valley Venture Capitalist Confidence Index, which was released Wednesday.

The index fell to 2.89 points, nearing the midway point of a 5-point scale, with 5 ranking the highest confidence level.

According to Mark Cannice, associate professor of entrepreneurship and the founder of the University of San Francisco's Entrepreneurship program and author of the index, the faltering confidence level stems from several factors:

The unprecedented deterioration of macro economic conditions and the resulting impact on the venture capital business model … Read more

BillShrink raises $8 million in Series B funding

BillShrink on Tuesday announced that it raised $8 million in Series B funding in a round that was led by Trinity Ventures and Bessemer Venture Partners.

According to BillShrink, its service helps visitors find savings of more than $300 per year on wireless plans and $1,000 per year on credit cards. To further help users save money on bills, the company also announced Tuesday that it has launched a "My Account" feature, which will let them track the progress of their savings and view a personalized activity log that analyzes changes in the market.

BillShrink initially launched … Read more

VCs throw cold water on portfolio companies

One after another, venture capitalists are stating the obvious to the companies they've invested in: Now would be a very good time to keep your money under lock and key.

From Sequoia Capital, which has had parts of its dire economic presentation to its portfolio companies aired out in the press, as reported in VentureBeat and GigaOm, to angel investor Ron Conway in his letter to his portfolio companies, the message is clear and persistent: prepare for the worst.

And that preparation, as Conway noted in his letter to portfolio companies, includes cutting marketing costs, general and administrative expenses … Read more

Solar start-up scores with series of tubes

Solyndra, a start-up making thin-film photovoltaic systems, has secured $600 million in funding.

It's additionally secured $1.2 billion in contracts from clients in the U.S. and Europe, the Fremont, Calif.-based company revealed Tuesday.

What start-up gets that kind of funding and client promise? Basically, one that's invented thin-film solar panels shaped like old-school fluorescent lightbulbs.

Since 2005, Solyndra has quietly been developing a proprietary CIGS-based thin film photovoltaic (PV) system and a staff of more than 500 employees.

CIGS is a material that includes a combination of copper, indium, gallium, and selenide. It's now … Read more

Industrial Origami snaps up $17 million

In its third round of funding, Industrial Origami secured $17 million on Monday toward commercializing its fold-up sheet metal technologies for building cars and household appliances.

The company says its patented system can slash manufacturing costs by 70 percent. Touted environmental benefits include less scrap waste at a factory as well as more efficient industrial shipping and storage.

The London-based Environmental Technologies Fund led the round.

"Industrial Origami profoundly changes the way products are designed and manufactured," said Patrick Sheehan, a partner at the fund, said in a statement.

Washing-machine maker Whirlpool is producing goods using the technology, … Read more

Ausra rakes in $60.6 million for solar thermal tech

Solar thermal equipment maker Ausra raised $60.6 million Wednesday from an international group of investors including KERN Partners of Canada, Starfish Ventures of Australia, and Generation Investment Management of London, whose chairman is Al Gore.

They are joined by the high-profile Khosla Ventures and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, which in August raised $24.5 million for Ausra. The solar start-up secured $30 million in February.

Ausra aims to use the latest funds for research and development, as well as to finish a 5-megawatt solar thermal installation near Bakersfield, Calif.

"This round of technology will enable us to … Read more

AT&T, Nokia, Navteq fund local-search site Zvents

AT&T has made a strategic investment in Zvents, a site that lets people search for local events and that delivers ads along with the results.

"The AT&T investment supports the ongoing development of Zvents' search platform and unique local-advertising opportunity," Zvents said in a statement. The companies didn't disclose the size of AT&T's investment.

Zvents lets people and businesses promote events, restaurants, and special deals, and the technology is used in a Yellowpages.com application called YPmobile for Apple iPhones, the company said.

Update at 9:10 a.m. PDT: … Read more

SpaceX orbits success with Falcon 1

A privately developed rocket is now orbiting the Earth.

Space Exploration Technologies' Falcon 1 launched into orbit at 4:15 p.m. PDT Sunday from Omelek Island, which is in the Kwajalein Atoll, about 2,500 miles southwest of Hawaii. Just over nine minutes later, the Falcon 1 reached orbit, the company said.

The successful launch comes after the company, better known as SpaceX, had suffered three unsuccessful attempts over the past two years.

Elon Musk, the company's founder and CEO, called the launch a "great day for SpaceX."

"The data shows we achieved a super … Read more