Alastair Goldfisher

Peter Wagner is leaving Accel Partners after nearly 15 years with the firm, peHUB has learned. Wagner sent an email to friends on Wednesday (Feb. 23) announcing his departure, but he did not say where he is headed or whether he will continue to invest in tech companies. A peHUB reporter read the email. Wagner is no longer listed as a partner in the "Investment" section on Accel's website. Instead, he has been moved to a section called "Venture Development." PeHUB reached out to Wagner through a third party, but did not hear back. An Accel spokesperson told me Wednesday night that “in his time at Accel, Peter has made many great contributions to the firm, the entrepreneurs he’s backed, and the companies he’s helped to build. We wish him well in his future endeavors.”

From now on, every time a music-related tech company raises funding, it’ll probably be mentioned it’s as a result of ‘the Pandora effect.’ Such might be the case today, following the announcement of San Francisco-based TuneUp Media, a developer of an add-on tool for Apple’s iTunes and the Windows Media Player programs that helps clean […]

Securing the cloud is one of the main themes everyone is talking about this week in San Francisco at the annual RSA Conference. Asheem Chandna, a partner at Greylock Partners; Bob Ackerman, managing director at Allegis Capital, and George Hoyem, partner at In-Q-Tel, all discussed the challenges and opportunities of providing security to the cloud. […]

Mobile store operator GetJar announced late Monday that it raised $25 million in a third round of funding. The round was led by Tiger Global Management and included Accel Partners, which funded GetJar’s previous two rounds. San Mateo, Calif.-based GetJar raised an $11 million Series B round in June 2010 and a $6 million Series A round in 2007. At the time of its Series B round last year, a company exec told me that GetJar -- which was previously based in Lithuania, where founder and CEO Ilja Laurs started it and self-financed it during its early stages -- has been profitable since its first round of funding from Accel. Laurs (pictured) penned a column for the February issue of Venture Capital Journal in which he said that U.S.-based VCs understand that the parameters of the classic business model do not apply to the businesses they back, unlike their European counterparts.

VCs and cloud storage companies are picking up in 2011 where they left off in 2010. Today, San Jose, Calif.-based Cirtas Systems, a provider of cloud storage hardware, announced it has raised a $22.5 million Series B round that was co-led by Shasta Ventures and Bessemer Venture Partners and including previous investors New Enterprise Associates, […]

For Olivia Fox, the notion that “you never get a second chance to make a first impression” is no ordinary saying. It’s a way of life. And, she says, the saying is true. Fox is a self-described charisma coach, helping to provide leadership training skills to a number of large corporations, such as Deloitte and […]

Index Ventures, which is no stranger to U.S.-based startups, announced this morning on its blog it is coming to America to open a fourth office, but it’s first with a U.S. area code. The location is TBD, but Partners Danny Rimer (pictured) and Mike Volpi have their sights set somewhere on Silicon Valley. As the […]

You don’t have to like music to work at RootMusic. But it doesn’t hurt. The San Francisco-based company—which developed the BandPage Facebook application for musicians—announced today that it raised a $2.3 million Series A round led by Mohr Davidow Ventures. Founder and CEO J Sider told me yesterday the funding will be used to “hire […]

China-based, VC-backed companies dominated the IPO landscape in 2010 and it seems as if they’re ready to continue their pace this year. Last November, six venture-backed companies in China went public, raising more than $1 billion in proceeds. Last October, seven from Hong Kong or China launched an IPO, raising more than $1.2 billion. Last […]