Venture Capital News
The Walt Disney Company, Cisco Systems and Intel Corporation Invest in MovieBeam, Inc.
Representatives of The Walt Disney Company, Cisco Systems and Intel Corporation, through its leading investment arm Intel Capital, announced Wednesday that they have invested in MovieBeam, Inc., a newly formed digital entertainment venture. The series A financing round, worth a total of US$48.5 million, includes additional investment from tier-one venture capital firms the Mayfield Fund, Norwest Venture Partners and VantagePoint Venture Partners.
MovieBeam is poised to dramatically improve consumers’ movie-rental experience with its movies-on-demand service that debuts today across most major metro areas in the U.S. (see today’s related announcement). MovieBeam’s unique mix of breakthrough content rights, technology, relationships and assets combined with the expected continued growth in the popularity of consumer electronics devices and alternative content distribution channels is compelling to the new investors.
In the $10 billion U.S. movie-rental industry, 30 million households rent four or more movies per month – 80 percent of them new releases. MovieBeam serves this market and provides a compelling alternative to other movie-rental options. The MovieBeam movies-on-demand service provides instant access to an ever-changing lineup of new releases and popular favorites from virtually every major Hollywood studio. There are always 100 movies available instantly, with up to 10 new titles automatically delivered digitally each week – including select movies in high definition (HD) – via MovieBeam’s exclusive, low-cost over-the-air datacasting technology.
MovieBeam was incubated within The Walt Disney Company for nearly four years. A first generation of this plug-and-play service was deployed and tested in three cities for more than a year, beginning in September 2003. The results of that test proved that the technology works, studios and retailers will help champion the platform, and consumers will pay for and adopt the convenience and quality inherent in this kind of service. For the past year, the organization has been focused on incorporating key learnings from that test, securing additional ground-breaking content rights, building new features and flexibility into the service and the technology platform, and rolling out the low-cost datacasting network infrastructure nationally.
The newly appointed MovieBeam, Inc. board of directors, which will help guide the strategic direction of the business, includes:
- Kevin Fong, managing director, Mayfield Fund
- Matthew Howard, partner, Norwest Venture Partners
- Salil Mehta, executive vice president, ESPN Enterprises (part of The Walt Disney Company)
- Tres Izzard, president and CEO, MovieBeam, Inc.
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picoChip Receives Strategic Investment from AT&T
picoChip, a leading supplier of wireless silicon solutions, has announced that AT&T Corp., a subsidiary of AT&T Inc., has made a strategic investment in the company. The amount of the investment is undisclosed. picoChip was already ranked as the best-funded private WiMAX company following the $20.5 million previously raised in its third round of funding, which was announced in June last year. Other third round investors were Scottish Equity Partners, Rothschild, Intel Capital, Pond Venture Partners and Atlas Venture.
picoChip has developed the world's highest performance DSP tuned for wireless, and is a supplier of complete reference designs for WiMAX and HSDPA. WiMAX systems using picoChip are available from Airspan, Intel, Ericsson, Nortel, Marconi and a number of other manufacturers. The company recently announced an extension of its products with the first solutions for 802.16e basestation and mobile stations, to make picoChip's WiMAX portfolio the most complete available. In addition, picoChip has a number of strategic customers and partners, including Tier One manufacturers, and is fast becoming the industry standard for next-generation wireless infrastructure.
The company was founded in September 2000 and is backed by AT&T, SEP, Rothschild, Intel Capital, Pond Venture Partners and Atlas Venture.
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Konarka Raises $20 Million in Venture Capital Financing Led by 3i
Konarka Technologies, Inc., an innovator in developing Power Plastic that converts light to energy, announced today it has raised US$20 million in venture capital financing. The financing was led by 3i, a world leading venture capital and private equity firm. Existing investors, including Draper Fisher Jurvetson, New Enterprise Associates, Good Energies, Vanguard Ventures, Partech International and Chevron Technology Ventures, also participated in the round. Konarka plans to use this round of funding to accelerate further growth, continue to execute on its global partnering strategy and to support ongoing research and development efforts.
Concurrent with the funding, Marko Maschek, partner with 3i, and Michael Ware, managing director at Advanced Capital Markets representing Good Energies, have joined Konarka's Board of Directors.
Founded in 2001, Konarka has steadily expanded its presence. Previous funding in Konarka—$60 million since 2001—has allowed the company to make considerable advances in its photovoltaic technology, while continuing to strengthen its intellectual property (IP) position. In 2004, Konarka acquired Siemens AG's organic photovoltaic research activities, as well as its renowned scientific team. The Company also expanded and strengthened its European presence with the opening of a new center of operations, including research labs in Germany, and through a scale-up partnership with LEONARD KURZ GmbH & CO. KG. KURZ is a recognized leader in printing technology, with nine plant locations in Europe, the U.S. and the Pacific.
Based on its significant contributions to the energy market and the nanotechnology field,Konarka has been named a Red Herring Top 100 Company and was most recently awarded the Popular Mechanics Breakthrough Award for 2005. In addition, the Company has been honored for its innovation from Fast Company, the World Economic Forum, Small Times, Always On, Innovation World and Mass High Tech.
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Applied NanoWorks Secures $2.0 Million to Expand Nano-Materials Manufacturing
Applied NanoWorks CEO Eric Burnett announced a US$2.0 million Series A round of funding to expand Applied NanoWorks nano-materials manufacturing operations and bring its high performance nano-particles to market. The funding was co-led by High Peaks Ventures and FA Technology Ventures and will enable the company to expand manufacturing capacity, hire technical and marketing staff, and commercialize its innovative technology.
Founded in 2003, Applied NanoWorks, Inc. has developed proprietary manufacturing technologies for the production of advanced nano-scale materials that deliver unmatched physical performance and cost dynamics. The products include nano-oxides and nano-phosphors produced in 2nm to 50nm sizes and are available in a variety of form factors.
The company's manufacturing technology controls materials at the molecular level enabling the tuning of particle size and the delivery of well suspended particles, which is an important feature to manufacturers. The engineered materials provide new and valuable properties including luminescence for lighting applications, UV blocking for building materials and electronics, and the required hardness and size for fine abrasive applications in the semiconductor manufacturing industry.
The funding was co-led by FA Technology Ventures, an Albany, NY investment company that provides growth capital to early and expansion stage technology companies, and High Peaks Venture Partners, a Troy, NY venture capital firm that invests in early stage New York State technology companies. Co-investors in the funding were Fresh Tracks Capital, a Vermont based venture capital firm that invests in early stage private companies in Vermont and northern NY, and an industry based angel investor.
The investment included $883,000 from the New York State Common Retirement Fund. The New York Common Retirement Fund (CRF) is a large investor in both High Peaks Venture Partners and FA Technology Ventures.
Applied NanoWorks has exclusive world-wide licenses for two fabrication technologies from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and has three technology patents pending. The Company was founded by CEO Eric Burnett, a successful entrepreneur on his third technology start-up, and CTO Partha Dutta, a world renowned expert in nano-crystal and nano-particle fabrication, associate professor with Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and inventor of the company's patented technologies.
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National Venture Capital Association Endorses Bi-Partisan Efforts On U.S. Competitiveness
The National Venture Capital Association (NVCA) today voiced support for bi-partisan efforts that would solidify the United States' global economic leadership. According to the NVCA, improving math and science education, supporting basic research and development, and continuing to attract the best and brightest talent from all over the world to the United States are all critical to our country's ability to win in an increasingly competitive market.
The NVCA has consistently supported increased funding for federal research and development programs as such projects are paramount to fueling the innovation pipeline. Additionally, NVCA continues to back a streamlining of the immigration process to allow foreign-born students to study and remain in the US as innovators and entrepreneurs.
The National Venture Capital Association (NVCA) represents more than 450 venture capital and private equity firms. NVCA's mission is to foster greater understanding of the importance of venture capital to the U.S. economy, and support entrepreneurial activity and innovation. According to a 2004 Global Insight study, venture-backed companies accounted for 10.1 million jobs and $1.8 trillion in revenue in the United States in 2003.
