Venture Capital News

Claremont Debuts $130 Million Fund

Representatives of Claremont Creek Ventures, a venture capital firm launched last year, said Wednesday it closed its first fund with US$130 million, or $30 million more than it planned, and is aiming to fill two underserved VC niches.

Based in Oakland, California, the firm plans to make early-stage investments of as little as $100,000, filling the capital needs of companies not yet big enough or far enough along to attract much venture capital interest.

It also intends to invest in companies based in the communities on the east side of the San Francisco Bay, an area it says attracts just one-tenth the venture capital investment of businesses just a few dozen miles away in Silicon Valley.

“There is abundant talent here, yet Claremont Creek is Oakland’s first and only venture firm,” said Nat Goldhaber, one of the firm’s three founding partners.

The firm also plans to invest elsewhere in California and in other states.

Goldhaber is a former entrepreneur and venture capitalist who ran for U.S. vice president on the Natural Law Party ticket in 2000. The firm’s other co-founders are John Steuart, who previously served as chief financial officer of MyPoints.com, and Randy Hawks, a former venture partner at Horizon Ventures and CEO of Captiva Software.

Goldhaber said he and Mr. Steuart, as they worked together over the course of a decade on various entrepreneurial and venture investing projects in the East Bay, identified a business opportunity.

Two national research laboratories—Lawrence Berkeley and Lawrence Livermore Labs—and a top-tier educational institution in the University of California, Berkeley, have created a deep and talented pool of researchers and entrepreneurs in the East Bay that Claremont can profitably tap, according to Goldhaber.

The firm also wants to bridge what some researchers call the “capital gap” for its portfolio companies.

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Intel Establishes $50 Million Venture Fund For Middle East and Turkey

Representatives of Intel Corporation announced the establishment of a US$50 million venture capital fund to invest in technology companies developing innovative hardware, software and services in the region covering the Middle East and Turkey. The announcement of the fund by Intel Chairman Craig Barrett in Riyadh comes on the heels of a broad range of Intel activities in the Middle East and Turkey, highlighted by a week-long tour of the region by the Intel executive.

The fund will seek to invest in companies that complement Intel’s technology and platform initiatives, and seeks to further build out the IT and Internet infrastructure in the region. With this fund, Intel Capital will focus on opportunities to invest in hardware, services (including broadband infrastructure and mobile wireless solutions using WiMAX technology), local content developers/providers, digital health solutions, IT service providers and software solutions.

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Judy’s Book Announces $8 Million Financing From Mobius Venture Capital, Ignition Partners and Ackerley Partners

Judy's Book, Inc., a free online community where people share valuable, real-life information about the best and worst services and products in their area, today announced that it has secured $8 million in Series B funding led by Mobius Venture Capital and including additional funds from Ignition Partners and Ackerley Partners.

Based on the idea that when it comes to making a decision about where to spend their time and money, people trust each other more than advertising, Judy's Book is full of real reviews of local businesses and products. At Judy's Book anyone can share their personal experiences with local businesses -- both good and bad. Since the beta launch of www.judysbook.com in February of 2005, tens of thousands of people around the U.S. have written hundreds of thousands of reviews of the services and goods in their communities. The Series B funding will be used to accelerate the company's product development efforts and to expand its marketing and sales programs.

The company which makes money by selling online word-of-mouth marketing services to businesses has developed a series of premium services for merchants including sponsored listings and pay-per-call service.

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Sensor Platforms Closes $6.6 Million Venture Funding

Sensor Platforms, Inc, a fabless semiconductor company providing standardized integrated circuits (“IC”) to the sensor industry, announced the closing of a US$6.6 million round of venture funding. The financing was led by ArrowPath Venture Partners and Newbury Ventures. The proceeds from the financing will be used for product development and market expansion. According to Intechno Consulting, the global sensor market is projected to exceed $50 billion by 2008. The Company is targeting sensor application developers in the wireless, automotive, consumer electronics, and other high volume markets where its products can dramatically accelerate time-to-market, reduce risk and help suppliers achieve the lowest possible price points. These markets, dominated by MEMS (micro electro-mechanical systems)- based sensor solutions, are now growing at double digit rates. Certain sensor applications within the consumer sector, such as those in the cell phone and gaming markets, are expected to grow at a sustained +20% compound annual growth rate for the foreseeable future.

Every single sensor that exists requires some form of electronics in order to enable its ability to make measurements. The Company’s IC products provide this invaluable function in a compact, single, and low cost platform that universally works across the vast majority of known sensors.

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Benchmark Names Gideon Barak as Venture Partner

Representatives of Benchmark Capital, a leading early-stage high-technology venture capital firm, announced that Gideon Barak has joined the firm as a venture partner in Israel. Gideon will leverage his extensive company-building experience to work with the firm’s portfolio, as well as assist the firm to invest in new opportunities.

Gideon brings more than 25 years of experience in consumer electronics and wireless technologies to his new role at Benchmark. Previously, he was co-founder and CEO of DSP Communications (NASDAQ: DSPC), a developer of chips for mobile phones, which was acquired by Intel for $1.6 billion. He also served as Chairman of Butterfly VLSI, a company which developed Bluetooth chipsets and became the short-range wireless division of Texas Instruments. He co-founded Envara, which developed wireless LAN networks and was acquired by Intel to become part of its WiMAX development group. He was also an investor and active board member in Modem Art, which was acquired by Agere Systems. Gideon currently serves as Chairman of IXI Mobile and Advasense.