Dan Primack
What follows are five VC deals culled from recent Regulation D filings with the SEC. None of them has been otherwise disclosed:
* Siri Inc., a San Jose, Calif.-based developer a Web-based personal assistant, has raised $15.5 million in Series B funding. Return backers include Menlo Ventures and Morgenthaler Ventures. Siri previously raised $8.5 million, and lists INQ Mobile CEO Frank Meehan as a new board member. www.siri.com
Forbes will not publish its annual Midas List next year, peHUB has learned.
A company spokeswoman confirmed the decision, saying that there are no current plans to revisit it. Really a shame, given that 2010 would have been the year in which Google's IPO would have no longer factored into the rankings.
For the uninitiated, Forbes' Midas List is designed to "identify venture capitalists who generate profits for their investors and assist in building valuable, long-lived technology and life sciences companies." It's considered the bible for VC bragging rights, with firms quick to send out indulgent press releases when one of their partners makes the cut.
Earlier this year, Connie wrote about how TL Ventures was in the midst of litigation with three of its former staffers, including ex-partner Bob Fabbio. At issue was more than $2.3 million in clawbacks that TL claims is owed by Fabbio, former managing director Stan Tims and former principal Stephen Andriole.
There is some dispute as to whether the clawbacks can even be requested before the funds are officially dissolved, but the larger issue is whether or not remaining TL Ventures partners used management fees to pay off part, or all, of their own clawback liabilities.
As the trio’s attorney Cindy Olson Bourland told me: “I believe the evidence will show that certain partners… engaged in self-dealing by stashing away money for clawback instead of running TL Ventures in accordance with its investment strategies.”
Earlier this week, Google agreed to buy mobile advertising network AdMob for $750 million in stock. Huge deal, but not actually the year's largest sale of a VC-backed company (it's third).
That's right, it's time for a list of the 15 largest VC-backed M&A exits of 2009. A deal needn't have closed yet to qualify, but the rankings only include up-front payments (e.g., EA deal for Playfish is considered $300m instead of $400m). Get them after the jump...
Yesterday we wrote about August Ventures, a new cleantech investment shop based in Boise, Idaho. If the name sounds familiar, that may be because it's awfully close to that of August Capital, the Silicon Valley firm that's been making venture capital investments for the past 15 years.
Not sure why everyone is hankering for the August moniker -- perhaps the double meaning -- but August Capital has no plans to share. Instead, it plans to ring up the Boise boys and request that they order new stationary.
"I'm not sure why they think they can use it, but they can't," says David Hornik, an August Capital partner who currently teaches IP law at Stanford.
Highland Capital Partners today will announce that it has closed its eighth fund with $400 million in capital commitments, which matches its original target. And I couldn’t be happier. Not because I hold any particular candle for Highland, but because this particular fundraise has bedeviled me for months. You see, Highland began fundraising in early spring with […]
Our next Internship Rodeo begins tomorrow, so this is the last call for firms that want to hire first-year MBA candidates for summer internships. This is a free service open to most any type of peHUB-related firm, including VC, LBO, LP, I-bank, Mezzanine, Consulting, Funds-of-Funds, etc. We also accept listings from portfolio companies.
If you are interested in posting an available position, please do so today by emailing me at daniel.primack@thomsonreuters.com.
Please include your firm name, job location and type of business (i.e., VC/LBO/etc.). Also include any additional information you would like posted, including a contact email address for applicants. If you would prefer me to create an anonymous email account for you, just say so. Your firm name can be kept confidential upon request. There is no requirement that participating firms hire via the program.
The listings will be posted tomorrow in the peHUB MBA Forum, an online message-board only accessible to MBA candidates. We've placed over 450 summer interns via this program over the years, and many have gone on to fulltime employment at their internship site following graduation. Suffice to say, this year is a "buyer's" market... I hope that you participate.
Earlier this year, Atlas Venture thinned its personnel roster after raising far less than it had hoped for its eighth fund ($293m compared to $500m target). Four partners either left or were demoted, while some younger staffers began to consider other options. So where are the departed?
Martin Gibson: A London-based partner who focused on IT investments for Atlas, Gibson just recently reemerged as a venture partner with Accel Partners. Not bad timing, given that the firm's London office today is celebrating its agreement to sell Playfish to EA for up to $400 million.
Gibson's Atlas portfolio companies had included DisplayLink, Phyworks and Zinwave. He also worked closely with Azea Networks, Icera Semiconductor, Orthogon Systems, RadioScape, Ubiquisys and xelerated. He does not yet appear to have done an Accel investment.
New York AG Andrew Cuomo just announced a settlement with controversial social network Tagged.com, which he had previously accused of "deceptive e-mail marketing practices and invasion of privacy."
The company will pay $500,000 in penalties and costs, and "adopt industry-leading measures regarding the access and use of its members’ personal information."
Tagged CEO Greg Tseng had denied the charges back when the suit was originally filed, arguing that there had simply been confusion regarding an "invite your friends" feature that was disabled after numerous complaints (and bad press).
As you might remember, Connie had written a few posts on the spammy nature of Tagged prior to Cuomo's suit:
Mandelbrot Project Inc., a stealth-mode startup founded by former Daily Candy CEO Pete Sheinbaum, has raised $500,000 in first-round funding from Foundry Group, according to a regulatory filing. Seth Levine, the Foundry partner on Mandelbrot’s board of directors, declined to comment. Mandelbrot is based in Boulder, Colorado. www.themandelbrotproject.com