Ubiquiti, the wireless technology provider, filed IPO paperwork with the SEC recently, following hot on the heels of the Boingo and Fusion-io IPOs. Though VCs, including Sequoia’s Michael Goguen, are bullish on the activity in infrastructure, it’s too soon to say how it will pan out. Read more »
Cleantech investing may not have produced many big exits and returns so far, yet it keeps attracting investors who believe they can do better. Here comes the Cleantech Syndicate, a group of 11 families that plan to invest $1.4 billion over the next five years. Read more »
Sequoia will be crowdsourcing its job application process through Talenthouse, a Palo Alto, Calif.-based startup that allows companies and artists to hold design contests for things like album art and logos. Sequoia isn’t an investor in Talenthouse– yet. Could this essentially be a public tire-kicking session? Read more »
More than 80 percent of venture capitalists surveyed for the 2011 Global Venture Capital Survey said current IPO activity levels in their home countries are still too low to support the health of the market. Read more »
Wildfire Interactive has had solid success with its flagship product, CEO Victoria Ransom tells me. Since the company’s public launch two years ago, Wildfire has attracted big name clients, grown its staff, and become profitable. But the Palo Alto, Calif.-based startup isn’t resting on its laurels. Read more »
It looks like rumors of display advertising’s death were greatly exaggerated. Nearly all the tech industry’s largest players are expected to report growth in their display ad businesses for 2011, with Facebook leading the pack. Why are display and banner ads on the upswing? Read more »
If you think downloading yet another mobile app featuring photo-sharing, geo-location, and social networking is crazy, prepare yourself for a moment of insanity. MeetTrover, a nifty new iPhone app launched in May that perfectly fills the gaps left by Instagram, Foursquare and Yelp. Read more »
UPDATED. Spotify, the European on-demand music service, has closed on about $100 million in a new funding round from DST, Kleiner Perkins and Accel Partners that values the company at $1 billion. The fresh funding will be put toward Spotify’s highly anticipated US launch. Read more »
Lot18, the membership-only daily deals website for high end wine, is set to expand into three new product categories: food, epicurean travel, and spirits. Lot18 will start rolling out the new verticals, starting with food, within the next several weeks, CEO Philip James tells me. Read more »
WayIn is a new startup being developed by Sun Microsystems’ co-founder Scott McNealy. But so far, the tech industry veteran is going about WayIn’s launch in a slightly unexpected way: entirely over Twitter. On Wednesday, McNealy took to Twitter to answer questions about his new company. Read more »
Apple’s iCloud and other consumer-focused cloud efforts represent a golden opportunity for startups to raise venture capital, but it might not be from jumping on the bandwagon. According to NEA’s Peter Sonsini, the key to getting VC investment is selling the infrastructure that underlies popular clouds. Read more »
In the web’s most popular marketplaces, such as eBay and Craigslist, anonymity is still the norm. A new San Francisco-based startup called Copious is looking to change that. Copious has built an online marketplace in which all buyers and sellers are linked to their Facebook identities. Read more »
Facebook’s S-1 could come as early as October of this year, CNBC reported on Monday. Facebook is said to be targeting the first quarter of 2012 for its IPO, which could value the social network at more than $100 billion, according to the report. Read more »
Bunchball, the social gaming software company, has raised $6.5 million in a new funding round. The San Jose, Calif.-based startup has recently received “knocks on the door” from potential acquirers, but opted to raise money instead to bet on growing more, CEO Jim Scullion told me. Read more »
Is this Bubble 2.0? This infographic, which Column Five Media did for Udemy, examines the state of startups. Though VCs are doing fewer deals than they were before the recession really took hold in late 2008, the amount of money invested is up to prerecession levels. Read more »
The Chinese tech scene is dominated by a small group of entrepreneurs who paid their dues in Silicon Valley before returning to create successful startups. But “returnees” are also laying the foundation for a startup culture that will allow grassroots entrepreneurs to flourish. Read more »
Interactive fashion website Polyvore has officially entered into inflection point territory. The Mountain View, Calif.-based startup, which is backed with $8.2 million in venture capital, has achieved profitable operations and is currently seeing record web traffic, co-founder Jess Lee told me in an interview this week. Read more »
Venture capitalists are feeling increasingly bullish despite all the bubble talk, according to a new survey from industry analysts at Fenwick & West. Meanwhile, angel investors continue to make their way up the food chain as internet and software companies become ever easier to invest in. Read more »
Online advertising platform startup Taykey officially launched out of stealth mode Thursday with the announcement of a $9 million funding round led by Sequoia Capital. The round officially serves as the two-year-old company’s series B funding and brings Taykey’s total investment to $11 million. Read more »
Digital coupon company Coupons.com has closed on a $200 million funding round. About half of this round will be used to provide liquidity to early investors and employees at the 13-year-old company, and the rest will be put toward meeting growing demand, CEO Steven Boal said. Read more »
Even under the best of circumstances– standing desks, ergonomic keyboards, customized chairs– typing can be a major pain. Voice recognition technology startup SoundHound hopes to eventually be a part of the solution by allowing people to simply talk to our computers rather than type. Read more »
The biggest difference between the simply good VCs and the absolutely fabulous ones lies in how each group assesses startups. According to the research in the Startup Genome Project, those tried-and-true metrics may be sending VCs down a less-profitable path. Read more »
Airbnb, the peer-to-peer apartment and house rental website, is rumored to be raising $100 million in new funding at a whopping $1 billion valuation. But based on the company’s revenue and growth prospects, that number may not be as shocking as it seems. Read more »
Kayak kicked off 2011 with major sales growth in the run-up to its planned IPO, according to a regulatory filing. The travel search company made $52.6 million in the first three months of 2011, representing a 43.4 percent increase over the same period in 2010 Read more »
When teenage country singer Scotty McCreery won American Idol Tuesday night, it took lots of people by surprise — but the folks at Seattle-based startup Likester weren’t among them. That’s because Likester predicted that McCreery would win Season 10 of American Idol back on April 13th. Read more »
Airbnb has added Ashton Kutcher — comedic heartthrob, coveted angel investor and Twitter-master extraordinaire — to its team of investors, the San Francisco based startup announced in its blog this evening. Read more »
Resilient Network Systems, a San Francisco-based security and networking startup targeted at healthcare industry, has secured more than $5 million in Series A funding. Resilient’s technology is targeted at enabling the transfer of health records and other related information safely and securely over the Internet. Read more »
Online children’s clothing swap website ThredUP has attracted a user base that, for the most part, lives their lives well outside of the tech industry echo chamber. And according to CEO James Reinhart, that’s a big reason why his company has been so successful. Read more »
Twitter’s decision to send users more email notifications could be a red flag that Twitter is trying to remedy a major stickiness problem, potentially reflecting a major concession for the company: People aren’t engaging with Twitter in the way the founders initially hoped. Read more »
In the run-up to Thinking Digital, one of Britain’s top technology conferences, the entrepreneur behind the event says it is time for local startups to stop thinking that innovation and success can only happen in Silicon Valley. Herb Kim explains how to go beyond basic boosterism. Read more »
Depending on who you ask, social stock market Empire Avenue is either an empowering personal branding tool or another sign of the downfall of modern society. But according to the startup’s CEO, the company is based on a much deeper philosophy than meets the eye. Read more »
LinkedIn made its NYSE debut Thursday morning with a bang, with an IPO that made $352.8 million for the company. The question now is: What will LinkedIn buy with its new cash? Here’s a short list of startups that could make it onto LinkedIn’s shopping list. Read more »
Silicon Valley is abuzz once again with “bubble” talk, claiming that the tech industry is ripe for a big fall. But the latest bubble warnings miss the mark. Overall, a healthy amount of the companies that make up the web scene today are built to last. Read more »
At a panel on angel funding, several prominent VCs seemed to agree that early-stage investing is more art than science. But they had very different approaches to what they looked for in startups: anything from a lean executive team to just the tiniest bit of cash. Read more »
Hoping to get funding for your startup? You’ll have better luck if you aren’t going it alone, according to several venture capital investors on a panel session at this week’s Google I/O Conference. Two to three co-founders is a “sweet spot” for investors. Read more »
Shutterfly CEO Jeff Housenbold is aware of new photo sharing and printing startups like Instagram, Sincerely, and Keepsy. But according to him, new competition from “three kids in a garage with $3 million in venture funding” doesn’t exactly keep him up at night. Read more »
Startups in the long-simmering QR code market are hoping that the change in season, along with what they say is a “critical mass” of smart phones, will finally bring QR codes, barcodes that lead to URLs or information when scanned, into the mainstream. Read more »
TaskRabbit has raised $5 million in a Series A funding round led by Shasta Ventures. The three-year-old startup, which currently brokers tasks in San Francisco and Boston, will use the money to expand its reach to other metro areas nationwide. Read more »
This week, tech insiders and observers are abuzz with estimates of how much Facebook is really worth. What set off the latest round of chatter was a Sunday morning Wall Street Journal report that Facebook could have a valuation of $100 billion after an IPO. Read more »
There are half as many venture firms in existence today as there were in 2000 and venture capital fundraising has taken a nose dive from its pre-recession levels. But venture capital veteran William Quigely says it;s all good news for VCs and startups alike. Read more »
