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The Daily Startup: VCs Buy In to Mobile Game Maker Supercell- Venture Capital Dispatch

Posted in Investments, Mobile, Mobile Applications, Technology, Venture Capital, Venture Capital Dispatch, Wireless on April 18, 2013| Leave a Comment »

Venture Capital Dispatch

An inside look from VentureWire at high-tech start-ups and their investors.

 

  • April 18, 2013, 10:02 AM

The Daily Startup: VCs Buy In to Mobile Game Maker Supercell

 

Top stories in today’s VentureWire:

 

dailystartup_D_20090806101628.jpgArt by Mike Lucas

 

Eager to own a slice of the wildly profitable Finnish mobile game maker Supercell, venture investors have purchased existing shares totaling $130 million at a $770 million valuation. Index Ventures led the deal with participation from Institutional Venture Partners and Atomico. Founded in 2011, SuperCell is currently the highest-grossing iOS game developer with “Clash of Clans” and “Hay Day” now bringing in $2.5 million of revenue daily.

 

Enlighted raised $20 million in Series C funding led by Rockport Capital for its lighting-controls technology, as it operates in a quickly changing market where the price for lighting emitting diodes is declining. The company makes sensors and software that is installed in commercial spaces and that helps decide when to dim lights. A newer application of the technology would also allow the sensors to measure temperature and occupancy, and control not just lighting but also air conditioning.

 

Also in today’s VentureWire, Reduxio Systems has raised a $9 million Series A round led by Jerusalem Venture Partners and Carmel Ventures. Reduxio is developing storage systems that make use of both flash memory and hard drives…Smart-home startup Zonoff has secured a $3.8 million Series A round for software that makes all kinds of smart-home devices work smoothly together and makes them easier to set up and control…and Crowdtilt has raised $12 million in Series A funding led by Andreessen Horowitz to bring a new twist to crowdfunding. Crowdtilt’s apps give groups an easy way to fund their own initiatives, rather than asking for money from strangers online.

 

(VentureWire is a daily newsletter with comprehensive analysis of all the investments, deals and personnel moves involving startups and their venture backers. For a two-week trial, visit our homepage, scroll to the bottom and click “try for free.”)

 

Elsewhere around the Web:

 

Launching mobile game apps is getting expensive. Case in point: ZeptoLab says it will spend about $1 million to launch “Cut the Rope: Time Travel” but it spent almost nothing to promote the first “Cut the Rope” game’s release in 2010, The Wall Street Journal reports. What has changed is the mobile games business, which is now so competitive that word-of-mouth marketing is no longer enough.

 

 Jon Flint, a founder of venture firm Polaris Partners, got into the hair-care business after his stylist suggested that he take a meeting with a colleague in New York who wanted to start a company. Flint and his partners turned to MIT”s Robert Langer to come up with innovative products. Flint talks with WSJ about the company that resulted, Living Proof, which is co-owned by actress Jennifer Aniston.

 

Silicon Valley startups are increasingly hiring testing companies to vet apps before releasing them to the public, WSJ reports.

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Zscaler finally accepts VC dollars — and gets $38M

Posted in Board Of Intellectual Capital, Internet Security, Investments, mobile 2.0, Startups, Strategy, Technology, Venture Capital, Venturebeat, Web 2.0, Wireless, Wireless 2.0, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , on August 30, 2012| Leave a Comment »

Article from GigaOm.

Zscaler a four-year-old startup that has bootstrapped its business by providing a new form of security designed for a mobile and cloud-dependent workforce, has raised $38 million in first-time financing. The round was led by Lightspeed Venture Partners and an unnamed strategic investor.

Zscaler has been fairly successful in its four years building a significant base of clients including Crutchfield Corporation, La-Z-Boy and Telefonica. The company’s software as a service is hosted in more than 100 data centers around the world and essentially protects a company’s web traffic. It does this by routing requests through Zscaler’s software. But there’s no software for users to download on their clients and there’s also no appliance for corporate IT to worry about.

As the cloud and mobility do away with the perimeter model of security where a firewall may prevent harmful traffic from getting in and corporate secrets from getting out, Zscaler is one of several new companies trying to adapt security to a world where there is no perimeter. And even if the corporate IT thought it had a perimeter, the corporation may not own it or have a say in what runs on it. A perfect example of this might be the CEO’s iPad (a aapl).

Zscaler doesn’t solve all problems, but it’s certainly ahead of the pack in thinking about security in a forward-looking way. Other companies trying to address the changes in security required by BYOD and corporate access to the cloud applications are Bromium and CloudPassage. And by waiting to take on venture capital Zscaler’s CEO Jay Chaudhry has joined a select group of established companies who are finally succumbing to the lure of VC cash. For example Qualtrics, a ten-year-old company this year raised $70 million in its first round of outside investment. Another company, Code 42, avoided VC dollars for 11 years before this year raising $52.5 million.

Read more here.

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Gerbsman Partners – Maximizing Enterprise Value – Partial Client List

Posted in Board Of Intellectual Capital, Business models, Distressed Intellectual Property, Distressed IP, Gerbsman Partners, Inetellectual Property, Investments, Life Science, Medical Device, Mobile, NVCA, Technology, Venture Capital, Wireless, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on September 19, 2011| Leave a Comment »

Gerbsman Partners – Maximizing Enterprise Value

Gerbsman Partners focuses on maximizing enterprise value for stakeholders and shareholders in under-performing, under-capitalized and under-valued companies and their Intellectual Property. Since 2001, Gerbsman Partners has been involved in maximizing value for 68 technology, life science and medical device companies and their Intellectual Property and has restructured/terminated over $795 million of real estate executory contracts and equipment lease/sub-debt obligations. Since inception in 1980, Gerbsman Partners has been involved in over $2.3 billion of financings, restructurings and M&A Transactions.

Gerbsman Partners has offices and strategic alliances in San Francisco, New York, Alexandria, VA/DC, Orange County, Boston, Europe and Israel.

Technology – IP

Software

Emergent Game Technologies Inc – Licensed and supported 3D/game software.

Capital Thinking – Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) platform, a credit and risk management software solution for the financial services industry.

Cesura – Web and on demand business software.

Conformia Software Inc. – Software solutions for highly regulated process industries – Life Science.

deNovis – Enterprise software for government health and health insurance industry.

Gentiae Inc. – Real-time fully automated processing of cardiac safety input and core lab operations. The system offers a comprehensive, real time web portal for sponsor and site access.

Banquet – Interactive sports entertainment.

ID Engines Inc. – Role-based access control (RBAC) across enterprise networks.

InDplay Inc. – Online, B2B video content distribution (monetization) platform, deployed on enterprise-quality software components, served in the SaaS (software-as-a-service) model.

Metreo Inc. – Pricing software for manufacturers and distributors.

Neohapsis Inc. – IT management services platform.

Zone4Play – Interactive game technology.

Roots Web, Inc. – Geneology software.

StreamSearch, Inc. – Multimedia aggregator that has created a unique solution for indexing, locating, promoting, and distributing rich media on the Internet.

Technion University – Technology patents

Teranode Corporation – Business intelligence and lab automation solutions for the Life Science market.

USA Democracy, Inc. – Direct, verifiable, credible communications between elected representatives and their constituents through its non-partisan legislative-based website.

Utility.com, Inc. – Multi-utility eCommerce/eCRM technology, Web-based energy management technology.

Vcommerce, Inc. – Developed, deployed, and operated fully integrated, end-to-end supply chain execution systems and direct fulfillment infrastructure.

Intelectron, Inc. – Commercial lighting technology.

Skunk Technologies – Java based software

Telecom

Dialpad, Inc. – Web-to-phone service.

Simpler Networks, Inc./Hercules Technology Growth Capital – Telco software – a matrix switch platform that sits within the Telco’s central office (CO) or street cabinets. Developed to allow for universal access to any service, the system’s protocol-transparent design allows it to be placed in front of any existing or future access gear that delivers services over the local loop

Storage

Cornice Inc. – Storage and flash controllers.

PhaseMetrics Inc. – Storage systems manufacturer.

Plasmon, Inc. – Data archival storage technology
Networking/Optical Networking

CipherMax, Inc. – Storage networking.

Private Networks, Inc. – Broadband multicast delivery system utilizing digital satellite technology. The technology has universal applicability to many industries for distribution of high-band data and video.

Teak Technologies Inc. – Internet switching and gateway networking products.

Zeus Communications, Inc. – Hardware architecture of 10 Gbps IPSec VPN and firewall in a single board.

Optivia, Inc & Hercules Technology Growth Capital – Optical transport systems.

Princeton Lightwave, Inc. – Optical networking technology

T-Networks, Inc. – Optical networking components.

Transparent Networks, Inc. – Wavelength Selective Switch, a high performance large scale Photonic cross-connect functional prototype, detailed design and simulation validation of a Light Path Exchange with integrated DWDM, an HDTV display mirror array high level design and simulation, proprietary and unique MEMS design and validation engineering tools.

Network Photonics, Inc.

Mobile

eBiz mobility – Mobile business payment

YPS Software – ASP and software vendor for the PC and mobile phone industries, Mobile Entertainment Centre.

Teleflip – Mobile messaging.

Media/Advertising/Internet

Active Response Group Inc. – On line marketing company.

Akimbo Inc. – Monitizing on line media.

Competition Accessories, Inc. – Online direct marketing.

Gallery Player Inc. – Provider and distributor of high-value, rights managed high definition imagery for high definition televisions.

MeMedia Inc. – Online advertising solutions provider and ad network that delivers contextually and behaviorally targeted advertisements across a multi-modal network of websites and desktop applications.

MyWire Inc. – Paid content and advertising.

NebuAd, Inc. – Online advertising model. Next-generation digital media technology and solutions.

Holographic & Biometric Technology

Aprilis, Inc./Dow Corning – Holographic Data Storage Drives and Biometric Secuirty Systems
Security

NeoScale Inc. – Storage encryption and key management solution for organizations securing information stored on tape and disk media.

Oviso Inc. – Semi conductor manufacturing equipment.

SciCortex, Inc. – Manufacturer of high performance computers.

Medical Device

Cardiovascular, Vascular, Endoscopy

Cardiomind inc. – Stent delivery platform.

OmniSonics Medical Technologies Inc. – Vascular disease IP.

InnerPulse Inc. – Cardiac rhythm management (CRM) medical device company.

Myocor Inc. – Developing innovative cardiac reshaping devices to treat functional mitral regurgitation (FMR) and left ventricular (LV) dysfunction, both of which are significant in the progression of congestive heart failure (CHF).

NDO Surgical, Inc. – Flexible endoscopy technologies that enable surgical procedures through the bodys natural openings.

Viacor Inc. – Cardiac implant device for the treatment of functional mitral regurgitation.

XTENT Inc. – Customizable drug eluting stent systems for the treatment of cardiovascular disease.

Spine

Applied Spine Technologies Inc – Screw based dynamic stabilization system validated with Class 1 clinical data

Emphasis Medical Inc. – Endobronchial valves for the treatment of heterogeneous emphysema.
Orthopeadics

NovaLign Orthopedic Inc. – Long bone fracture, intramedullary nail technology.
Opthomology

Optobionics – Retinal degeneration.

Refractec, Inc – Radiofrequency (RF) device called ViewPoint CK System, used to perform NearVisionSM CK (Conductive Keratoplasty) treatment

Obesity

Satiety Inc. – Obesity product

Life Science

Pluristem, Inc. – Stem cell research – Israel company

Barnev Inc. – Monitoring Systems, Labor Israel company.

Pegasus Biologics Inc. – Developed and is commercializing a revolutionary bioscaffold comprised of highly organized collagen, sourced from equine pericardium that encourages the healing process by addressing the demands of a challenging biological environment.

Radiant Medical, Inc. – Endovascular therapeutic cooling.

Valentis, Inc. – Biotechnology company with small molecule, antibody, protein, gene and manufacturing assets.

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AT&T deal with T-Mobile – pros and cons

Posted in Board Of Intellectual Capital, boic, Business models, Investments, Market research, Strategy, Technology, Wireless, tagged , , , , on March 22, 2011| Leave a Comment »

Article from SFGate.

“AT&T Inc.’s $39 billion deal for T-Mobile USA could improve the company’s cell service in San Francisco, but it may also mean the end to low-cost phone and data plans.

Acquiring T-Mobile’s infrastructure will increase the number of AT&T cell towers in San Francisco by 30 percent, according to spokesman John Britton.

That’s a significant increase to a network known for its dropped calls.

“We’ve got the same network, so they’re very compatible,” Britton said. “They can easily come together and be integrated. It’s going to be good news for customers.”

Both companies’ networks use a technology known as GSM. AT&T said customers of T-Mobile, which is owned by Deutsche Telekom, would be able to continue using their existing handsets if the merger is approved.

The company would not say how many cell towers it now has, or how many T-Mobile has in the Bay Area. But it said the acquisition would be crucial in helping it meet the exploding consumer demand for wireless spectrum.

In the past four years, AT&T’s mobile data traffic grew 8,000 percent, the company said. By 2015, it is expected to increase by up to 10 times more.

But AT&T’s expanded network will come at a cost to consumers, advocacy groups warned. T-Mobile’s disappearance from the marketplace would mean that three companies – AT&T, Verizon and Sprint – would own roughly three-quarters of the U.S. mobile market.

And the low-cost plans for which T-Mobile is known will probably disappear if the merger is completed, advocates said.

“This transaction would create a vastly more concentrated market,” said Andrew Jay Schwartzman, policy director at Media Access Project. “What that translates to is higher prices, less consumer choice and less innovation.”

The proposed acquisition, which would bring AT&T’s U.S. subscriber base to 130 million, is likely to take a year to complete. In a conference call with investors Monday, AT&T executives said they expected the deal would win approval from the Federal Communications Commission and the Department of Justice.

U.S. Rep. Anna Eshoo of Palo Alto, the ranking Democrat on the Energy and Commerce Committee’s Communications and Technology Subcommittee, called for oversight hearings on the proposal.

“Competition is essential to promoting a vibrant wireless market, where consumers have a choice in the innovative services and devices available to them,” Eshoo said in a statement.

Customers will not notice any changes in their service until after the merger is completed, AT&T said.

A combined AT&T and T-Mobile would also make the next-generation communication standard, known as LTE, available to 95 percent of American households, or 46.5 million more than were eligible to receive it otherwise, the company said.”

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Apple, Google’s mobile rivals must play catch-up

Posted in Board Of Intellectual Capital, Business models, FaceBook, google, internet, Investments, Java, Market research, Microsoft, Mobile, mobile 2.0, Mobile Phone Usage, Social Networks, Strategy, Technology, Venture Capital, Web 2.0, Wireless, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on February 27, 2011| Leave a Comment »

Article from SFGate.

“It’s been a big couple of weeks in mobile. Verizon Wireless finally got the iPhone. Hewlett-Packard unveiled the first fruits of its Palm purchase last year. Nokia, the world’s biggest maker of handsets, abandoned its once-dominant Symbian mobile software system and demoted itself to a kind of glorified contract manufacturer of Microsoft-powered devices.

The struggle for mobile dominance has entered a new phase. Why would Nokia throw out Symbian, with its 37 percent market share, in favor of software with less than one-seventh of that? Because recently hired Chief Executive Officer Stephen Elop is convinced that Microsoft has better odds of going up against the four other mobile powers – Apple, Google, Research In Motion, and HP – and making its new Windows Phone 7 software a center of gravity for the world’s programmers, manufacturers, and consumers.

“The game has changed from a battle of devices to a war of ecosystems,” Elop told investors at a recent London news conference.

Actually, it’s the same game that created the most valuable franchises in tech history, from IBM to Microsoft to Facebook. All successfully established themselves as “platforms,” in which countless entrepreneurs and programmers developed products and applications that gave value to customers and profitability to shareholders – sucking oxygen away from rivals all the while.

Platform leaders

In the 1960s, IBM trounced Sperry and other mainframe manufacturers by creating a soup-to-nuts stack of hardware, software and services.

In PCs, Microsoft erased Apple’s early lead by signing up hardwaremakers to create cheap machines, and software companies to develop Windows versions of everything from word processors to Tetris.

Facebook vanquished social networks such as MySpace by repositioning itself as a platform – a decision that led to the creation of gamemaker Zynga and other app companies that keep Facebook’s 500 million users hanging around.

What’s different this time is scale.

“Mobile is the biggest platform war ever,” said Bill Whyman, an analyst with International Strategy & Investment. More smart phones were sold than PCs in the fourth quarter, and sales should reach $120 billion this year. That doesn’t count billions more in mobile services, ads, and e-commerce.

This war will probably last for some time, too. Unlike with PCs, where the unquestioned victor – Microsoft – quickly emerged and enjoyed years of near monopoly, no one has a divine right to dominance in mobile. Microsoft crushed its competition by forcing people to make a choice. There were far more software applications for PCs, and most didn’t work on Macs. The more Microsoft-powered machines out there, the more people wrote software for them, the more people bought them, and the bigger the whole system became. Economists have a name for that phenomenon: “network effects.”

Appealing products

All cell phones can talk to each other and handle the same websites and e-mail systems, so winning means making products that function more effectively and appealingly. That sums up Apple’s success.

Steve Jobs figured out long ago that when people spend their own money, they’ll pay for something a lot nicer than the unsexy gear the cheapskates in corporate procurement choose. While others competed on price, Apple focused on making its products reliable and easy to use. Once customers buy an iPhone and start investing in iTunes songs and apps, they tend to stick with the system and keep buying – even though there’s no proprietary lock on the proverbial door.

Apple’s huge sales volume makes carriers and suppliers more likely to agree to its terms. The software that powers everything Apple makes – all variations of the Mac operating system OS X – is as intuitive to developers as Angry Birds is to app shoppers.

The result is economic leverage of staggering power. To create a blockbuster, Apple doesn’t need to spend billions on a start-from-scratch moon-shot of a development project. It just needs to tweak a previous hit.

Take the iPad, which is in many ways a large iPod touch. Apple won’t say how much the iPad cost to develop. Consider these numbers, though: In the year that ended Sept. 30, during which Apple introduced the iPad and the iPhone 4, the company spent $1.8 billion on research and development. Over the same period, Apple’s revenue increased by $22.3 billion. Nokia spent three times as much as Apple on R&D – $5.86 billion – and increased revenue by just $1.5 billion. No wonder that Apple, whose share of total global mobile-phone sales is only 4.2 percent, gets more than half the profit generated by the industry, according to research firm Asymco.

Fast-growing Android

Even Google, Apple’s mightiest rival, got only a $5 billion increase in sales on its $3.4 billion R&D budget. It does have plenty to show for its efforts, though: Its Android platform is growing at a blistering pace. In the fourth quarter, according to research firm Canalys, twice as many Android devices shipped as iPhones.

“Google is being far more aggressive in building its platform than Microsoft ever was,” says Bill Gurley, a partner at Benchmark Capital.

Barring big surprises, the other contenders – RIM, HP, and Microsoft – are in for a slog: too dependent on mobile devices to give up, yet lacking the tools to make much progress. All lost market share in 2010 and have far fewer apps available for their devices.”

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