Venture Capital

Nokia to invest in array camera start-up Pelican Imaging

Nokia's VC arm, Nokia Growth Partners, is set to invest in an imaging start-up.

According to Bloomberg, Nokia Growth Partners plans to put funds into array camera company Pelican Imaging. Based in Mountain View, Calif., Pelican Imaging created its first array camera for smartphones in 2011. Rather than using a single lens, array cameras are made up of a series of lenses and build up a picture from the images taken by each. As well as being thinner than a traditional smartphone camera, arrays open up the possibility of post-capture focusing -- similar to what Lytro does with traditional … Read more

Intel, Samsung invest in high-powered Siri alternative Expect Labs

Expect Labs, a company building a Siri-like platform on steroids, has just raised some extra cash from both Samsung and Intel.

Venture capital arms at both companies on Tuesday announced that they have dropped some money into Expect Labs to help it continue to build its Anticipatory Computing Engine, a service for companies that's "designed to analyze and understand conversations in real-time and proactively find related information." The Engine has eyes on anticipating what a person needs before they even realize it and then providing relevant information.

According to Expect Labs, which has also captured cash from … Read more

Choosing an investor: 5 tips from 5 entrepreneurs

Investors rarely make or break a startup, but they can make life a hell of a lot easier or harder for an entrepreneur. That's why entrepreneurs need to put some thought into who they want to add to their team, instead of taking the first money that's offered to them.

But how do you choose the right investors for your startup?

There are hundreds of factors to consider, but some stand out more than others. While anybody can give you money, only a few can give you the sage-like advice you need to succeed. And while adding a … Read more

Paul Allen's VC firm to open new office in Silicon Valley

Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen's venture-capital firm is opening an office in Silicon Valley.

Vulcan Capital, which has invested in a wide array of companies, including DreamWorks Animation and Redfin, has decided to open an office in Palo Alto, Calif., the company has confirmed to Reuters. The office, which will open at some point in the next few weeks, will focus on technology, Internet, and software companies. It will chiefly invest in middle- and late-stage startups, as well as pre-IPO deals.

"We are going to expand our footprint in broad tech investments, we'd like to get more resources, … Read more

VC Bill Gurley defends investment in money-losing Snapchat

Bill Gurley, a longtime Silicon Valley investor with Benchmark Capital, today defended his firm's investment in Snapchat, the social-media app designed to let users send pictures and videos that self-destruct after a set time.

Gurley, who spoke on a panel of venture capitalists at Goldman Sachs' annual Technology and Internet Conference in San Francisco, was asked why he'd invest in a startup with no revenue model. Benchmark led a $13.5 million investment in the app, valuing Snapchat at $60 million to $70 million, which was first reported by The New York Times.

"If you look at … Read more

Ron Conway steps back as Y Combinator cuts team funding

Superstar angel investor Ron Conway will no longer be part of the team of investors giving money to the dozens of startups taking part each year in Y Combinator, one of the world's most prestigious incubators.

Y Combinator said today that it is sharply reducing the amount of venture funding each startup coming through the program is given. For the last two years, each team was seeded with $150,000 in funding from Conway, of SV Angel, Yuri Milner, and Andreessen Horowitz. Starting today, that amount has been slashed to $80,000 per team, the incubator said, as it … Read more

YouTube programmer Maker Studios raises $40M -- report

Maker Studios, a company that delivers professional programming to YouTube, is getting a big cash infusion from Time Warner, according to a new report.

Time Warner Investments, the venture-capital division at the media conglomerate, is leading a $40 million round of financing for Maker, All Things Digital reported yesterday, citing people with knowledge of the deal. The round is expected to close by the end of the year.

Maker Studios stands with Machinima, a company that produces gaming videos, at the leading edge of what has become a more professional push on YouTube. Maker Studios offers what's called "… Read more

NYC's Silicon Alley badly trails Silicon Valley in startup influence

With the success of companies like Tumblr, Foursquare, and Kickstarter, New York's startup scene has gotten a lot of attention recently.

But despite the influence of those outfits and venture capitalists like Union Square Ventures' Fred Wilson, the Big Apple is a backwater when it comes to the world startup scene, according to a new report from the Startup Genome project.

In the study, New York City came in as just the fifth-ranked startup ecosystem in the world, trailing Silicon Valley, Israel's Tel Aviv, Los Angeles, and Seattle.

To come up with its rankings, the Startup Genome -- … Read more

Pet sitting site DogVacay fetches $6 million more in funding

DogVacay, the site that matches people who need a dog sitter with people who are interested in caring for dogs in their homes, is growing faster than a kibble-guzzling puppy.

The company, which launched in March and has about 8,000 hosts signed up on its network, recently hit $1 million in payments to its hosts. It's just received a $6 million investment from Benchmark Capital, co-founder and CEO Aaron Hirschhorn revealed today.

The site, which acts like an Airbnb for dogs, offers an affordable -- and more social -- alternative to kennels for dog owners, while giving hosts … Read more