In
Private Capital
We Trust!
From Super Angels to Buyout Titans, Harvard's VC
& PE Conference showcased the industry's biggest
players.
"It's
never too early to
fire the CEO," so proclaimed Morris Miller, quoting
an unnamed, top tier Venture Capitalist. Morris,
an Angel Investor, and no fan of institutional VCs,
regaled the audience with interesting, and sometimes
shocking anecdotes at Harvard Business School's
18th Venture Capital & Private Equity Conference.
Attending a number of the wide ranging panel discussions
and keynotes, VC News Daily Editor, Michael Stern,
soaked up comments from some of private capital's
heaviest hitters.
What
do Red Bull and
algae tablets have in common? They're both popular
consumer items in Japan - and if Catharine Arnston
has her way, they'll both be billion-dollar markets
in America. Arnston formed Naughtybits to sell bite-sized,
algae dietary supplements, and was recently profiled
in a PBS program on America's nutrition crisis.
The Cambridge, MA entrepreneur talked with VC News
Daily to explain how Naughtybits seeks to change
the way Americans eat.
Yes,
there's WebInno, MassInnovation Nights,
128ICG, Capital Network and legions more local tech-entrepreneur-startup-VC
networking events. But Christian Perry, a local
entrepreneur with a long history of founding short-lived
startups, believes more socializing, mixed with
business, is just the right cocktail for the entrepreneurial
scene.
For nearly 15 years Scott Kirsner has
been Boston's leading Technology columnist. With
a Rolodex fatter than a Souvlaki sandwich, Kirsner
keeps tabs on the region's entrepreneurial and venture
capital community. Very little escapes his purview,
and he is eminently adept at distilling esoteric
tech topics into prose accessible for the layman
and not just the geek. For this interview, Kirsner
sat down with VC News Daily's publisher and provided
pithy insights into the Route 128 area's Tech scene.
No stone went unturned as Kirsner tackled the Non-Funding
of Facebook, complacent suburban VCs, and the viability
of "Frat houses for Geeks."
Hello
Lover!
Open Runway Seeks Shoe Lovers of the World
Forget
Manolo Blahnik! Monika Desai thinks Carrie
Bradhsaw*-like Fashionistas can create scintillating
foot couture on their own. Targeting a slice of
the $30 billion women spend every year on handbags
and shoes, Desai is imminently launching a technology
driven, fashion design platform called Open Runway.
VC News Daily reporter Dennis Mayer caught up with
the would-be fashion mogul for a preview of the
startup. *(Sex and the City shoe-obsessed
character)
If
you Like Donald Trump
on Facebook, give him some real love at Fantourage.
The Boston startup's Facebook game turns celebrity
obsessed fans into revenue producing buzz makers.
By tracking fans' activity on various social media
platforms, Fantourage awards points for every wall
post, tweet, blog entry, "like", link,
and more that fans devote to their favorite singer,
athlete, or reality TV star. VC News Daily reporter,
Dennis Mayer, spoke with Fantouage Co-Founder &
COO, Mathew Focht, about the company's quest to
monetize Facebook fan fixations.
MUNDELEIN, IL, Leader in enterprise data management solutions, announced the closing of a $50 million round of growth capital. The investment was led by FTV Capital and included Liberty Mutual Insurance. more...
SAN FRANCISCO, CA, Maker of crowd-driven mobile applications, announced today it has closed a special round of new debt financing from Silicon Valley Bank. more...
MARLBOROUGH, MA, Firm's product enables customers to centralize more desktops on data center servers and realize the full potential of Virtual Desktop Infrastructure. more...
SAN FRANCISCO, CA, Leading distributed energy company, today announced it has received investment funds and business development support from Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. more...
RESTON, VA, Provider of advanced enterprise mobile application management (MAM) services, today announced the completion of its $750,000 second-round funding. Investors include Valhalla Partners. more...
AUSTIN, TX, Pioneer in I/O consolidation and next-generation networking solutions, today announced it has closed a Series F funding round of $12.3 million. more...
MANCHESTER, NH, Provider of High Speed Internet Access solutions, today announced the receipt of $10 million in funding from Boston-based Tudor Growth Equity. more...
MINNEAPOLIS, MN, Zyga Technology announced that it has raised $25 million in a Series C financing led by new investor Versant Ventures of Menlo Park, California. more...
PALO ALTO, CA, Rakuten, one of the world's largest online marketplaces, today announced that it is leading a $100M investment in Pinterest, with participation from existing investors more...
CLEVELAND, OH, Edison Ventures announced a $7.5 million investment in Cleveland, OH-based Vox Mobile. Edison led the financing, with limited partner Permal Capital participating. more...
NEW ORLEANS, LA, Biotechnology company developing evidence-based cobiotic products that modify the bacteria that live in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract to support health and well-being, today announced that it has closed a $1.5 million Series A financing. more...
PHILADELPHIA, PA, Leading monitoring and analytics platform for socially curated sites announces seed funding round of $750,000 from NEA, First Round Capital and MentorTech. more...
SAN MATEO, CA, Medical device company that manufactures the world's first non-surgical and removable hearing device to transmit sound via the teeth, today announced that it has closed a $25 million Series D round. more...
TEWKSBURY, MA, Cardiac device company leading the way in percutaneous mitral valve repair, today announced the closing of a $35 million Series D round of funding. more...
CHICAGO, IL, Keating Capital announced that it has made a $5 million investment in the Series C Convertible Preferred Stock round of SilkRoad Technology Holdings. more...
TEL AVIV, ISRAEL, Provider of advanced water treatment solutions and technology, announced today that it has secured an equity investment led by Liberation Capital. more...
MILTON KEYNES, ENGLAND, New online shopping experience has secured 2 million pounds of new investment in a funding round led by specialist investment manager Oxford Capital. more...
PROVO, UT, Accel and Sequoia will provide a range of services and $70 million to help Qualtrics expand its SaaS product offerings beyond market research. more...
CINCINNATI, OH, Alternative borrowing software-as-a-service lending platform focused on the social, mobile and local aspects of the loan market, has closed a $1.17 million seed-stage investment round. more...
STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN, Online eye tracking technology developer, announced today that it has closed its first institutional round of funding of $3 million more...
PALO ALTO, CA, Firm with product helping users take control of healthcare expenses, raised $6 million in a Series A round of venture capital funding led by The Social+Capital Partnership. The round also includes existing seed investor Greylock Partners. more...
SAN FRANCISCO, CA, Online retailer of independently designed fashion and decor, has closed a $25 million round of funding led by Norwest Venture Partners (NVP). more...
SAN FRANCISCO, CA, Auster Capital Partners, a private equity and investment advisory firm, announced today that it has completed a Series A investment in BinWise, the leading provider of cloud-based beverage management solutions. more...
In
Private Capital 
