funding

Here's an upbeat tidbit to end the year: 2011 is on track to the biggest year in venture capital deals in a decade.

Big years make for daring bets, and for this year I've chose a dozen influential investors to single out for their role in fueling startups of all sorts.

If the final quarter shapes up as it looks like it will, venture capital deals will total $30 billion for the year, a 25-percent jump from 2010, according to Anand Sanwal, whose firm, CB Insights, tracks investment activity among VCs and some big angel investors.

"I … Read more

TaskRabbit, the San Francisco-based startup that lets people outsource errands, announced today it has raised $17.8 million in Series B financing.

The new round was led by LightSpeed Venture Partners and included contributions from TaskRabbit's existing partners, as well as new investors Allen & Company and The Tornante Company, an investment firm led by former Disney CEO Michael Eisner.

The new round of financing comes seven months after TaskRabbit raised $5 million in Series A financing, bringing its total financing to date at $22.8 million. Since that round in May, the company says it has seen its … Read more

There's plenty of live video broadcasting platforms to choose on the Web these days, but today we're chatting with one of the pioneers.

Justin Kan is one of the co-founders of Justin.TV, and he drops by our studio today for a full episode about the origins of life streaming and how the site paved the road to Justin's new project for live video gaming, TwitchTV.

We'll also talk to Justin about his participation in Y Combinator, a start-up incubator that helps green entrepreneurs through the first three months of genesis.

The boot camp gives founders the seed funding they need for general living expenses, allowing them to focus on the business idea. YC also guides them through the media pitching process and how to grab the attention of venture capitalists and seed investors.

Some of the headline-grabbing companies to grow from Y Combinator include Scribd, Loopt, Grubwithus, and Justin.TV itself.

Tune in to hear about how TwitchTV is bringing competitive gaming to a much larger audience, not to mention a few tips on what it takes to earn a spot in the next Y Combinator batch!… Read more

Twilio, the maker of a platform for developing cloud-based communications apps, said today it has closed a $17 million C round of funding.

All told, Twilio has now raised $31.5 million. Its new round was led by Bessemer Venture Partners and Union Square Ventures, both of which had participated in its B round. Union Square also invested in Twilio's A round.

Twilio's platform is a favorite of developers interested in building cloud-based VoIP, text messaging and phone functionality into their existing applications. In 2011, the company said, its customer base exploded, expanding by 400 percent. To date, … Read more

PARIS--Uber, a service that lets people use their smartphones to order and pay for car transportation, has raised $32 million in funding and launched its service in Europe.

At the LeWeb conference here, Chief Executive Travis Kalanick announced that Paris is the first city in Europe where the service works. The company plans to extend to two new cities a month now, reaching "around 25 cities in the next 13 to 14 months."

Expansion costs money, and the company just got a lot more: $32 million in a new round of funding led by Menlo Ventures. Also … Read more

HealthTap now has $11.5 million to expand its social network of 6,000 physicians who answer patient health questions online--money it'll use to try to keep those doctors busy.

That's a lot of cash for a health tech startup to raise in its first formal round of funding. Even more impressive is HealthTap's list of VC investors: Mayfield Fund, Mohr Davidow, and Eric Schmidt's Innovation Endeavors.

"We're very fortunate, and I'm humbled to say that in our case the decision was more about choosing the right people to lead our round, rather … Read more

Intel will step in to help smaller companies build ultrabooks, as the chipmaker continues its push to make the new supper-skinny laptop category a success, CNET has learned.

With the goal of getting smaller PC makers to supply branded ultrabooks, Intel will hold a meeting Wednesday in Taipei as a "matchmaker" between large device manufacturers--so-called ODMs or original design manufacturers--like Foxconn, Pegatron, Compal, and Quanta and smaller brands, according to an industry source familiar with Intel's plans.

The list of prospective ultrabook brands will include companies like Epson, Onkyo, Viewsonic, Mustek, Motion Computing, WiPro, and Positivo, according … Read more

In the wake of a report this week that Intel is giving PC makers a $100 subsidy on ultrabooks--which Intel promptly denied--I asked longtime chip guru Nathan Brookwood how Intel's co-marketing works.

Brookwood is the principal analyst at Insight 64. Before becoming an analyst, he held marketing management positions at companies such as Micronics, Intergraph, and Digital Equipment Corporation.

Q: How does Intel's Market Development Fund work? Brookwood: When they do these MDF programs, it's not a cash subsidy. It's usually done in the form of some cooperative advertising and other promotions. It's … Read more

Clearwire is considering whether or not to make a major loan payment as the cash-strapped wireless provider looks for financing options.

The company is supposed to make a $237 million payment on December 1. With $698 million in cash and short-term investments as of September 30, it can certainly meet the obligation, but at the cost of a significant chunk of its remaining war chest. As a result, the company is debating whether to skip the payment, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Clearwire, which operates a 4G WiMax network used by Sprint Nextel and other wireless resellers, is at … Read more