Author: Mark Boslet

HealthTap said it raised $24 million of Series B financing in a deal led by Khosla Ventures and joined by existing investors Mayfield Fund and Mohr Davidow Ventures. Keith Rabois will join HealthTap’s board, and Vinod Khosla will join the board as an advisor.

PRESS RELEASE

HealthTap Secures $24 Million Series B to Accelerate Growth of the World’s Most Trusted Digital Health Platform

Khosla Ventures Leads Round for Premier Mobile Health Service

PALO ALTO, CA–(Marketwired – May 8, 2013) – HealthTap, the popular mobile health platform that connects millions of people with a network of more than 38,000 top doctors for free, today announced it raised $24 million in Series B financing. Khosla Ventures led the round, in which prior investors Mayfield Fund and Mohr Davidow Ventures also participated. Keith Rabois will join HealthTap’s board of directors, and Vinod Khosla will join as an advisor to assist HealthTap as it redefines modern healthcare.

HealthTap’s new financing represents one of the most substantial series B investments to date in the digital health industry. HealthTap has grown rapidly over the past year, nearly quadrupling the number of doctors in its network, and serving tens of millions of people worldwide via its web and mobile apps. With the new capital, the company will focus on acquiring top talent, expanding its web and mobile offerings, and accelerating its rapid growth. These undertakings will expedite HealthTap’s progress in making healthcare accessible and affordable for all.

“HealthTap has become the largest digital platform of engaged doctors and users creating a massive shift in how people interact with doctors and access healthcare,” said Ron Gutman, HealthTap’s Founder and CEO. “The new investment and our relationship with Khosla Ventures will help us quickly build on and grow what has become the new paradigm in health information and care. With new top talent joining the HealthTap team from the many new jobs we’re creating, we will help even more people tap the vast data and information on HealthTap in ways that were previously unimaginable. The combination of top technical, design, and business talent, and a strong passion for helping others, will enhance our ability to spread health and wellness faster and save more lives every day.”

“Everyone will soon become the CEO of their own health,” said Keith Rabois, HealthTap’s newest board member and a partner at Khosla Ventures. “HealthTap, with its phenomenal growth in combination with its unique technology, has the potential to become the triaging platform for everyone’s health. I am excited to work with the HealthTap team as the company scales to provide people with unparalleled immediate access to the most trusted medical knowledge, doctors, and health services.”

“In its current state, our healthcare system is expensive, difficult to access, and error prone,” said Vinod Khosla, founder of Khosla Ventures. “On the brink of a massive reform in healthcare, dedicated, bright entrepreneurs and technologists can bring a great deal to the table by developing creative, forward thinking solutions that leverage health care professionals. HealthTap is at the forefront of this development, improving patient care by creating quick, easy, and affordable access to doctors everywhere. The future of healthcare is at the confluence of big data, smart algorithms, and simple-to-use interfaces that will provide amplification of our MD’s resources: HealthTap is breaking ground in all three, and we’re excited to help them make their compelling vision a transformative reality.”

About HealthTap
HealthTap is the best way to connect with the most trusted health information and best doctors. With top-rated web and mobile apps, HealthTap offers immediate and free access to personalized, reliable, and trusted health answers and tips from a network of more than 38,000 U.S.-licensed doctors. Sign up today and download HealthTap’s free app for iPhone, iPad or Android at www.healthtap.com.

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Google Ventures has added Ken Norton as a partner at its Startup Lab. Norton announced the news on Twitter. The new hire also was noted on The Next Web. Norton was a group product manager at parent company Google.

Here is a link to The Next Web post.

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Menlo Ventures has added Avery More as a venture partner and Alex Gorelik as an EIR, according to a blog post. More will source enterprise deals at the firm, and Gorelik will incubate a company and offer advice on the cloud and big data investments.

More founded and was CEO of CompuCom and is chairman of Aeroscout, a Menlo company bought by Stanley Healthcare Solutions last year. He also chairs Menlo company Vidyo as well as QualiSystems and BuzzStream.

Gorelik founded Exeros, acquired by IBM, and Acta Technology, acquired by Business Objects. He has held executive positions at Informatica and was a distinguished engineer for information integration at IBM.

See the Menlo blog post here.

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NewSpring Capital said it closed its third growth equity fund, NewSpring Growth Capital III, with total commitments of $250 million. The fund exceeded its target of $200 million and is larger than the firm’s $136 million first growth equity fund, NewSpring Growth Capital, and $163 million second fund, NewSpring Growth Capital II.  The firm has combined assets under management of over $950 million.

PRESS RELEASE

NewSpring Capital Raises $250 Million Growth Equity Fund

Radnor, PA – May 3, 2013 – NewSpring Capital (“NSC”), a leading U.S. private equity firm, announced today the closing of its third growth equity fund, NewSpring Growth Capital III, L.P. (“NSG III” or the “Fund”), with total commitments exceeding the Fund’s target of $200 million and reaching its hard cap of $250 million.  NSG III will seek to build upon the successes of its predecessor funds, NewSpring Growth Capital, L.P., a $136 million growth equity fund and NewSpring Growth Capital II, L.P., a $163 million growth equity fund.  Since its inception in 1999, NSC has raised seven funds across its growth, healthcare and mezzanine platforms, with combined assets under management of over $950 million.

“We are extremely pleased with the continued support we receive from our existing investor base and are excited to have attracted a well-diversified group of new highly regarded institutional investors,” said Michael DiPiano, co-founder and Managing General Partner of NewSpring Capital.  The Fund’s Limited Partners consist of leading asset management firms, endowments, entrepreneurs, family offices, foundations, fund-of-funds, insurance companies and public pension plans.

NSG III will maintain its unique approach of partnering with leading growth stage businesses in the information technology, enabling technology and business services sectors, with an emphasis on the Mid-Atlantic region.  The NSG III investment team will leverage well established industry sourcing networks to identify and partner with the Mid-Atlantic region’s top entrepreneurs, providing capital and guidance to assist them in turning their visions into reality.  Successful historical partnerships include: eCount, Inc. {sold to Citigroup (NYSE: C)}, a leading electronic payments platform company; NitroSecurity, Inc. {sold to Intel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC)}, a prominent provider of security information and event management solutions; Nutrisystem, Inc. (NASDAQ: NTRI), a leading ecommerce based weight loss provider and TMG Health, Inc. (sold to Health Care Service Corporation), a major business process outsourcing company focused on government sponsored health insurance plans.

Marc Lederman, co-founder of NSC and General Partner of NSG III stated, “Since our founding, we have strived to position NewSpring Capital as the preferred partner of the top management teams in the Mid-Atlantic region.  We are truly excited about the opportunities that lie ahead for NSG III and its investors.”

“Through our operational backgrounds, we strive to deliver value added insights and guidance while maintaining a consistent, long term view of each investment,” added Glenn Rieger, General Partner of NSG III. “We are looking forward to building out NSG III’s portfolio and rewarding the faith our LPs placed in us by providing them with strong returns.”

NSG III is led by a stable team with more than 80 years of combined operational and investment experience.  Along with the three General Partners, Messrs. DiPiano, Lederman and Rieger, the Fund team also includes Eric Jensen, Principal, and eight investment professionals.

Similar to its predecessor funds, NSG III’s investment criteria consists of: i) Growth Stage Businesses focusing on capital efficient, scalable and disruptive business models typically with revenue at the time of investment of between $5 and $50 million; ii) transaction size of $5 to $25 million in equity capital, typically with minority ownership, with the ability to syndicate larger investments and iii) investing in Business Services, Enabling Technologies and Information Technology industries.

NSG III completed its first portfolio company investment in the fourth quarter of 2012 with an $8.2 million investment in eXelate, Inc., a leading provider of offline and online data sets for digital advertisers.

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Scott Sandell and several of his New Enterprise Associates colleagues unveiled Innovate for America, a campaign to encourage American companies with at least one immigrant founder to publicize the number of people they have hired in the United States. So far, 38 companies are involved and more than 3,700 jobs recorded. Companies that participate can place an Innovate for America widget on their Web pages.

The start of the campaign was covered by The Economist here and described by an NEA blog post here. The effort, the brainchild of General Partner Sandell, has its own Website here.

 

 

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Salesforce.com and the European venture firms Notion Capital, Octopus Investments and MMC Ventures unveiled an Innovation Challenge for European start-ups building enterprise cloud apps on the Salesforce platform. The winning startups will have the opportunity to pitch for about $6.5 million of venture funding.

PRESS RELEASE

Salesforce.com Announces Euro 5 Million Innovation Challenge for European Start-ups Building on the Salesforce Platform

Winning start-ups will receive opportunity to pitch for a total of euro 5 million in funding from venture capital firms including Notion Capital, Octopus Investments and MMC Ventures

Eligible start-ups to present at Innovation Challenge pitch events to be held across Europe from September to November 2013

Demand for enterprise cloud apps in Europe expected to attract 159% more cloud developers by 2018 and generate 2.7 billion pounds Sterling in revenue, an increase of 206% over the next five years

LONDON, May 2, 2013 /PRNewswire/ – Salesforce.com [NYSE: CRM], the enterprise cloud computing company (http://www.salesforce.com/cloudcomputing/), and leading European venture capital firms including Notion Capital, Octopus Investments and MMC Ventures, today announced the €5 million Innovation Challenge—a new competition for European start-ups building enterprise cloud apps on the Salesforce Platform.

Innovation Challenge Launches Today

The €5 million Innovation Challenge is designed to inspire the next generation of start-ups in Europe to develop and deliver innovative new enterprise apps on the Salesforce Platform. Eligible start-ups will be invited to present their ideas to professional investors at a series of Innovation Challenge pitch events throughout Europe hosted by salesforce.com from September to November 2013.

The winning start-ups will have the opportunity to negotiate with the participating venture capital firms for seed funding to jump-start a new business or for a Series A investment to accelerate growth of an existing business. Winners will also be able to build, package and sell their apps on the Salesforce AppExchange, the world’s leading business apps marketplace.

Comments on the News

“London is brimming with tech talent which is breeding a wave of innovative start-ups with the potential to grow fast. Salesforce.com’s Innovation Challenge presents a fantastic opportunity for London’s silicon entrepreneurs to take their business to the next level of success,” The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, said.

“The explosion of growth in Europe’s enterprise app market is fueling innovation across the region. Salesforce.com is excited to join forces with leading European venture capital firms to launch the Innovation Challenge and reward Europe’s top entrepreneurs and enable them to accelerate their innovation and time to market,” salesforce.com EMEA Chairman, Dr. Steve Garnett, said.

“The European enterprise app market has reached a tipping point and we see the Salesforce Platform as a key enabler for start-ups with a great idea to build a revenue-generating business in record time,” said Chris Tottman, Partner, Notion Capital. “We are excited to see the potential investment opportunities within the vibrant European start-up community.”

“This is a unique opportunity for innovative start-ups in the enterprise app market here in Europe to receive commercial support to allow them to compete on a global stage,” said Luke Hakes, Principal, Octopus Investments. “The Salesforce Platform provides an unrivalled launch pad for innovative companies looking to tackle the enterprise market.”

“MMC is pleased to be supporting the Innovation Challenge. The Salesforce AppExchange is an increasingly important channel to market for enterprise app companies. As an investor, having direct access to the best of these new software companies is a very exciting opportunity,” MMC Ventures Investment Director, Jon Coker, said.

The Enterprise App Revolution in Europe

The demand for enterprise apps presents a lucrative opportunity for developers and entrepreneurs.  According to a new study conducted by the Centre of Economic Business Research (Cebr), the demand for enterprise cloud apps is expected to attract 159% more cloud developers in Europe over the next five years, with the enterprise cloud app economy projected to generate £2.6 billion in revenue, an increase of 206% by 2018.

Additional Information on the Innovation Challenge

Entrants’ business plans will be reviewed by a panel consisting of representatives from the venture capital firms and salesforce.com, along seven main criteria:
•    An existing product developed to beta or later stage
•    Demonstration of traction, customer success and user adoption
•    Market opportunity & go-to-market strategy
•    Track record and passion of the entrepreneurial team
•    Planned or existing adoption and innovative utilisation of the Salesforce Platform
•    Competitors
•    Financial plan

For more information, contest rules and to apply, please visit: www.salesforce.com/uk/challenge.
Salesforce Platform: The Cloud Platform of Choice for Customer Companies

The Salesforce Platform is the world’s most trusted cloud platform for building enterprise apps. It powers Salesforce CRM, 1,800 partner apps on the AppExchange, and more than three million custom apps built by customers. More than one million developers and business analysts use the Salesforce Platform to quickly build and deliver apps on any device.
Companies are turning to the Salesforce Platform to build and deliver cloud apps that are location-aware, accessible on any mobile device and connected to social graphs. Offering the same services, frameworks and ecosystem that are driving the explosion of consumer apps, the Salesforce Platform is bringing the app revolution to business and helping customer companies connect to customers, employees, partners and products in new ways.

Additional information:
•    Learn more about Salesforce Platform: www.salesforce.com/platform/overview
•    Like Developer Force on Facebook: www.facebook.com/forcedotcom
•    Follow @forcedotcom and @salesforce on Twitter

About Salesforce.com
Founded in 1999, salesforce.com is the enterprise cloud computing leader. Salesforce.com’s social and mobile cloud technologies enable companies to transform into customer companies by connecting with their customers, employees, partners and products in entirely new ways. Based on salesforce.com’s real-time, multitenant architecture, the company’s apps and platform revolutionize the way companies sell, service, market and innovate.
•    Grow your business with the #1 sales app, Salesforce Sales Cloud
•    Deliver amazing customer service with the #1 service app, Salesforce Service Cloud
•    Listen, publish and advertise with the #1 social marketing app, Salesforce Marketing Cloud
•    Build and deliver social and mobile apps with the Salesforce Platform, and extend success with the world’s leading enterprise app marketplace, the AppExchange

About Notion Capital
Notion is a venture capital firm focused on high potential businesses in the Cloud Computing and Software-as-as-Service (SaaS) markets. The Notion team has unique expertise and experience in the Cloud Computing market having founded, built and exited Star and MessageLabs, two highly successful businesses in the space. Companies within Notion’s portfolio include Brightpearl, eSellerPro, NewVoiceMedia, Shutl, The Currency Cloud and Tradeshift. For more information go to www.notioncapital.com.

About Octopus Investments
Founded in 2000, Octopus is one of the UK’s fastest growing investment management companies. We currently manage £3 billion assets on behalf of 50,000 customers.

The Ventures team at Octopus are straight talking human investors that back talented people rather than specific sectors. We focus on identifying fast growth businesses which can scale explosively to create, transform or dominate an industry.  We can invest from £250,000 to £5 million and prefer to partner teams based in the UK.

The work of our ventures team is supported by access to the Octopus Venture Partners, a network of approximately 100 outstanding business leaders, entrepreneurs and private investors providing an invaluable wealth of expertise and resource for our portfolio companies, as well as investing on a deal-by-deal basis alongside Octopus venture funds. This blend of knowledge and skill has allowed us to help many great companies across several sectors thrive in recent years including Zoopla; Graze.com; SwiftKey; and,Secret Escapes. For more information visit www.octopusinvestments.com.

About MMC Ventures
Founded in 2000, MMC Ventures is an active investor and award-winning venture fund manager, focused on technology-enabled sectors where the UK is a world leader -particularly financial and business services, business software, digital media and e-commerce.  With circa £100 million under management, MMC invests £10–15 million per annum in a combination of new investments and add-on capital for existing portfolio companies.  MMC specialises in fast-growth early-stage businesses, partnering with entrepreneurs and impressive management teams to achieve substantial scale and profitability.

MMC’s existing portfolio includes AlexandAlexa, Base79, Interactive Investor, Knowledge Mill, LoveHomeSwap, Reevoo, The Practice, NewVoiceMedia, Tyres on the Drive, Masabi, Consilium, Safeguard, Creativity, iJento, Neoss, Breathing Buildings and Small World. For further information about MMC Ventures please visit: www.mmcventures.com.
London & Partners

International firms are increasingly looking to London as the world’s capital for business, with unrivalled access to a talented workforce, technology and as a creative gateway to Europe where ideas and trends are born. Salesforce.com has been supported by the Mayor’s promotional organisation London & Partners which offers free and impartial advice to global businesses in the UK’s capital.

Legal Notice
This press release contains forward-looking statements about the Innovation Challenge, including without limitation details about its timing, the amount of investment funds available, its geographic scope, the eligibility criteria, the rules and procedure, the benefits to winners, and the participating venture capital firms.  The achievement or success of the matters covered by these forward-looking statements involves risks, uncertainties and assumptions. If any such risks or uncertainties materialize or if any of the assumptions prove incorrect, the  results of the Investment Challenge could differ materially from the results expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements we make.  These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, any failure by us to reach final agreement with the participating venture capital firms, any decision by such venture capital firms to discontinue their participation, any failure of one or more of the venture capital firms to come to agreement with the winning participant(s) on investment terms, compliance with financial and other regulatory requirements, and the suitability of start-ups applying to the Innovation Challenge. Salesforce.com assumes no obligation and does not intend to update these forward-looking statements, except as required by law.

Any unreleased services or features referenced in this or other press releases or public statements are not currently available and may not be delivered on time or at all. Customers who purchase salesforce.com applications should make their purchase decisions based upon features that are currently available. Salesforce.com has headquarters in San Francisco, with offices in Europe and Asia, and trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol “CRM.” The contents of this press release should not be viewed as promoting the products or services of any person other than salesforce.com. Nothing in this press release should be regarded as investment or other advice or as a recommendation of any kind. For more information please visit http://salesforce.com, or call 1-800-NO-SOFTWARE

© 2013 salesforce.com, inc.  All rights reserved.  Salesforce, Sales Cloud, Service Cloud, Marketing Cloud, AppExchange, Salesforce Platform, and others are trademarks of salesforce.com, inc.  Other brands featured herein may be trademarks of their respective owners

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FeedHenry said it raised $9 million in a round led by Intel Capital and joined by new investor ACT Venture Capital and existing investors Kernel Capital, VMware Inc. and Enterprise Ireland. Private investors also participated. The new funding will support the international expansion of the company’s mobile application platform.

PRESS RELEASE

Intel Capital leads $9M investment in FeedHenry to Power Growth in Cloud-Based Mobile Enterprise Solutions

BOSTON MA AND WATERFORD, IRELAND – May 2, 2013 – FeedHenry, a provider of cloud- based mobile enterprise application solutions, today announced that it has secured $9M (€7M) in a funding round led by Intel Capital. The funding includes a seven figure investment from existing investor Kernel Capital. Other existing investors VMware Inc., Enterprise Ireland and private investors also participated and were joined by new investment from ACT Venture Capital.  This new funding will provide FeedHenry with the capital to accelerate the international roll out of its mobile application platform that draws on critical cloud-based technology.

FeedHenry provides a next generation mobile application platform that helps businesses build mobile app solutions that integrate securely to their business through the cloud

“ Increasingly, enterprises are viewing mobile apps as transformative to their business operations” commented Cathal McGloin, CEO, FeedHenry “As organizations evolve towards more complex apps with connections to multiple backend systems, the need for a cloud- based mobile application platform is compelling. This new investment will give us the means to continue to innovate and expand the capabilities of our platform to better serve our growing customer base”

“FeedHenry has already gained significant momentum and credibility in the enterprise mobility market segment and we see this investment as a way to contribute to its  growth and international expansion” said Marcos Battisti, Managing Director for Intel Capital, Western Europe and Israel. “The mobile application market segment for enterprise is at a tipping point and those companies delivering a comprehensive solution that provide both an end to end mobile development strategy and a way to implement applications easily and securely will be at the forefront of the market segment.”

According to Forrester’s Enterprise Mobility Research Report, the mobile apps market segment is expected to reach $37 billion by 2015. Since FeedHenry’s inception, the company has seen significant traction of its cloud-based mobility platform with global customers in a wide range of industries including healthcare, travel and transportation, business services and utilities. Partnerships with mobile operators and cloud vendors have also extended FeedHenry’s international reach. The Company believes that the current mobile enterprise market segment combined with FeedHenry’s scalable technology platform and flexible engagement model, positions it well to grow the business.

About Intel Capital
Intel Capital, Intel’s global investment and M&A organization, makes equity investments in innovative technology start-ups and companies worldwide. Intel Capital invests in a broad range of companies offering hardware, software, and services targeting enterprise, mobility, health, consumer Internet, digital media and semiconductor manufacturing. Since 1991, Intel Capital has invested more than US$10.8 billion in over 1,276 companies in 54 countries. In that timeframe, 201 portfolio companies have gone public on various exchanges around the world and 317 were acquired or participated in a merger. In 2012, Intel Capital invested US$352 million in 150 investments with approximately 57 percent of funds invested outside North America. For more information on Intel Capital and its differentiated advantages, visit www.intelcapital.com or follow @Intelcapital.

About FeedHenry
FeedHenry provides next generation, cloud-based mobile enterprise application solutions that simplify the development, deployment and management of mobile apps for enterprise. The FeedHenry platform enables development of native, hybrid and HTML5 apps that securely connect to multiple backend systems and supports deployment of server-side code to private, public or hybrid cloud environments.  The solution offers IT departments the ability to create, control, measure, adapt and future-proof their mobile business strategies for employees, partners and customers in one place, increasing productivity, connectivity and engagement. Visit www.feedhenry.com and follow @FeedHenry.

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On Deck said it raised $17 million as an expansion of its Series D financing in a deal led by Google Ventures and joined by PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel and Industry Ventures. The Series D now totals $59 million, with $42 million having closed in February. The first tranche of Series D financing was led by Institutional Venture Partners and joined by RRE Ventures, SAP Ventures and First Round Capital.

PRESS RELEASE

On Deck Locks $17M In Expanded Series D Investment Funding Led By Google Ventures

Peter Thiel and Industry Ventures Round out Raise; Additional Capital Will Fuel Tech Powered Main Street Lender’s Rapid Growth

NEW YORK, May 1, 2013 /PRNewswire/ — On Deck (www.ondeckcapital.com), the technology-powered Main Street lender, announced today a $17M expansion to their Series D led by Google Ventures with participation from PayPal co-founder and venture capitalist Peter Thiel and Industry Ventures, bringing the Series D to $59 million total. In February 2013, On Deck previously closed a $42M Series D financing led by Institutional Venture Partners (IVP), with participation from RRE Ventures, SAP Ventures and First Round Capital.  The additional investment will further support On Deck’s rapid growth, enabling the company to continue to advance its fast and easy solution for accessing capital, build its stellar talent base and develop new products.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20130213/LA59048LOGO)

“Technology is changing the way lending is done for Main Street businesses, and today’s investment by Google Ventures, Peter Thiel , and Industry Ventures shows that On Deck is on the forefront of this transformation,” stated Noah Breslow , chief executive officer, On Deck.  “Our goal is to power every U.S. small business loan, making capital on demand a reality for this important sector of our economy, and we are steadily on our way to achieving that.”

On Deck’s innovative technology is addressing the void left by traditional lenders who have failed to meaningfully deploy small business financing.  To date, On Deck has funded over $450M in loans to Main Street, the backbone of the U.S. economy. The company’s proprietary platform is a transformative solution to America’s small business lending challenges. On Deck leverages big data generated by digital sources such as merchant processing, online banking and social networks to make loan decisions based on a robust assessment of a business’ operations. The company’s online application model can approve a loan within minutes and fund the same day, allowing business owners to take advantage of time-sensitive growth opportunities so they can run their businesses instead of spending time seeking financing.

“On Deck has found an efficient way to connect millions of small businesses around the country with the working capital they need to grow their companies,” said Karim Faris , general partner, Google Ventures. “We invested in On Deck because we believe in the team’s game-changing vision, strong talent and disruptive technology.”

On Deck’s proprietary platform is able to evaluate businesses based on actual performance data rather than relying solely on the business owner’s personal credit score. The typical On Deck customer is a “Main Street” business (retailer, restaurant, salon, dentist, florist, etc.) that has been in business more than one year and has revenue between $100,000 and $5,000,000.

To learn more about On Deck, please visit http://www.ondeckcapital.com.

On Deck
Launched in 2007, On Deck uses data aggregation and electronic payment technology to evaluate the financial health of small and medium sized businesses and efficiently deliver capital to a market underserved by banks.  Through the On Deck platform, millions of small businesses can obtain affordable loans with a fraction of the time and effort that it takes through traditional channels.  The company’s proprietary credit models look deeper into the health of businesses, focusing on overall business performance, rather than the owner’s personal credit history.  The On Deck system also provides a critically needed mechanism for financial institutions and other business service providers to efficiently reach the Main Street small business market.

On Deck is financed by some of the nation’s leading venture capital firms, including SAP Ventures, First Round Capital, RRE Ventures, Village Ventures and Institutional Venture Partners. For more information, please visit: www.ondeckcapital.com. For more information, follow On Deck capital on Twitter @OnDeckCapital

Google Ventures

Google Ventures provides seed, venture and growth stage funding to the most innovative and promising entrepreneurs across a variety of stages.  Founded in 2009, Google Ventures helps its entrepreneurs succeed by providing access to uniquely hands-on and dedicated resources such as its Design Studio, Marketing, Recruiting, and Engineering Teams, and Startup Lab.  The Google Ventures team has extensive entrepreneurial experience, deep technical knowledge and expertise in building high growth, scalable products and companies.  Among its 100+ investments are Nest, Kabam, HomeAway, ngmoco, DocuSign and WhaleShark Media.  Google Ventures is headquartered in Mountain View, Calif. with offices in Cambridge, Mass., Seattle, Wash. and New York, N.Y.  For more information, please visit www.googleventures.com/.

Industry Ventures, L.L.C

Industry Ventures is a leading investment firm focused on the venture capital market. The firm manages a family of funds that invest in secondary direct investments, limited partnership interests and other special situations. Founded in 2000, the firm manages over $1 billion of institutional capital and is headquartered in San Francisco with an office in Washington, D.C. For more information, please visit www.industryventures.com

Thiel Family Office

Peter Thiel is a technology entrepreneur and investor. He co-founded PayPal, was the first outside investor in Facebook, and works to accelerate innovation by identifying and funding promising technology ideas and by guiding successful companies to scale and dominate their industries.

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First Round Capital has expanded its Dorm Room Fund to the Silicon Valley and San Francisco Bay area. The fund will have $500,000 in capital and a 10-student investment team, according to a tweet from Josh Kopelman, First Round partner and founder. It invests in student-run startups. The news was reported by TechCrunch. The firm’s Dorm Room Fund initiative kicked off in September 2012 in Philadelphia and since expanded to New York.

Here is a link to a Silicon Valley fund. Here is a link to the original blog post. Here is a link to the TechCrunch story.

 

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Workspot said it raised $1.9 million of seed funding from Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Norwest Venture Partners, Redpoint Ventures, and angel investors, including Peter Wagner and Gaurav Garg. The company also launched a bring-your-own-mobile-device service for IT administrators, Workspot Control, and a mobile application for IPads, called Workspot.

PRESS RELEASE

Workspot Launches New Bring-Your-Own-Device Solution for IT Departments and End Users; Reveals Founding Team and Announces Seed Funding

Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers backed startup to Present at TechCrunch Disrupt NY

TechCrunch Disrupt, New York, NY and Menlo Park, CA – April 30, 2013 – Workspot launched a new bring-your-own-device solution for the mobile workplace.  Workspot has created both a SaaS service for IT administrators, Workspot Control, and a mobile application for IPads called Workspot.  Workspot also announced that it has raised $1.9 million in seed funding from Kleiner Perkins, Norwest, Redpoint, and angel investors including Peter Wagner and Gaurav Garg.

Workspot is a single app and secure mobile workplace that helps end-users and IT departments conveniently separate work-related content and personal information stored on the device. End-users can flip between applications inside Workspot with ease, in a single, contained workspace including Intranet, SharePoint, Email, and Microsoft Office documents.  Collaboration with co-workers is possible through applications that reside behind their organization’s firewall making full use of SaaS applications.

Workspot was founded by a trio of experienced San Francisco Bay Area technologists including CEO Amitabh Sinha, formerly of Citrix; CTO Puneet Chawla, formerly of VMWare; and Vice President Ty Wang, formerly of Oracle and Twilio.  Its team also includes experienced engineers from companies including Juniper Networks, Dell, F5, and Microsoft.

“Workspot is a cloud-based, BYOD solution that provides a secure, ‘no new infrastructure or server software’ implementation for IT Network professionals, and delights their end users who require a seamless, easy-to-use solution,” said Amitabh Sinha, CEO, Workspot.  “Our approach stands apart because IT departments can get critical business applications to their end-users typically in less than 30 minutes.”

The new app, also called Workspot, underwent pre-launch testing as part of Spiceworks’ SpicePanel program, an initiative that connects start-up and established technology companies with more than 2.4 million IT professionals. Workspot is comprised of Workspot Control, a software-as-a-service (SaaS) interface for BYOD configuration and analytics, and the Workspot mobile application for Apple iPad devices. Workspot intelligently connects to customers’ existing security infrastructure, embracing and extending the authentication schemes IT professionals have already implemented with SSL-VPN appliances. No credentials are stored in the cloud, and all authentication is done directly against existing security appliances.

“The small-to-midsize business market represents an enormous opportunity for technology brands who can move quickly to address a specific need or pain point, such as BYOD management,” said Jay Hallberg, co-founder and VP of Marketing at Spiceworks. “Early access to the latest technologies, like Workspot, provides the Spiceworks Community with the opportunity to shape the products and services they purchase to do their jobs.”

“In the face of the BYOD explosion, this is a great method of helping users while still meeting compliance.” Scott Chille, IT Director, Mason City Clinic.  “My users are glad to have access to clinic applications and information on their iPads.  Before, they were hiking their laptops around with them and wouldn’t bring it into a meeting – now they can multitask.”
Workspot will be competing in TechCrunch Disrupt’s Startup Battlefield in New York City  Tuesday, April 30, as part of the ‘Mobile First’ category.

About Workspot
Workspot is a bring-your-own-device solution for the mobile workplace. It was created by a team of experienced San Francisco, Bay Area technologists with backgrounds from Citrix, Oracle, Juniper Networks, VMware, Symantec, Microsoft, and Cisco.  Workspot received a seed round of funding Summer of 2012 from Kleiner Perkins, Norwest, Redpoint, and angel investors.  Workspot is now available in the Apple App Store. To learn more, visit www.workspot.com or follow us on Twitter (@workspotinc).

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M-Files Inc. said it raised $7.7 million of Series A funding in a round led by DFJ Esprit and joined by the Finnish Industry Investment. The company said DFJ Esprit’s Mikko Suonenlahti joined the board along with Jim Geary and Bob Suh.

PRESS RELEASE

M-Files Secures $7.7M Series A Funding Led by DFJ Esprit
 to Fuel Global Expansion and Continued Growth

Metadata-Powered Enterprise Content Management Provider to Rapidly Accelerate US Market Growth for Quality-Intensive and Regulated Industries

DALLAS, TX, April 30, 2013: M-Files Inc., the developer of M-Files metadata-powered cloud, on-premise, and hybrid enterprise content management (ECM) solutions, today announced the closing of a $7.7 million round of Series A funding led by DFJ Esprit, with participation from Finnish Industry Investment.

As part of the transaction, M-Files also announced that Jim Geary and Bob Suh, proven technology leaders with backgrounds at companies such as Accenture, Perot Systems and Pedestal Software, as well as Mikko Suonenlahti of DFJ Esprit, have joined the company’s Board of Directors. EOC Partners, a technology investment banking firm, acted as the financial advisor to M-Files in the transaction.

M-Files is a uniquely flexible solution that puts an end to the outdated folder structure for enterprise-wide document management that dates back to the 1980s. M-Files technology is based on a unique metadata-based approach, which manages information based on what it is rather than where it is stored. This has enabled the company to successfully expand beyond its native Finland by acquiring leading customers including AstraZeneca, SAS, Pandora, United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), Northrop Grumman Corporation, Charles Schwab, Hecla Mining, Elekta, Hill + Knowlton and many others.

“One way to understand the M-Files metadata-powered approach is to look at the iPhone,” said Greg Milliken, president of M-Files Inc. “When you put music on the iPhone, you don’t put it in a music folder, the device just knows it is music and it shows up where and how you expect it, grouped by artist, genre, date, etc. This is what M-Files does for information management, and when companies experience it, the effect is a revolutionary change in their business. Think Enterprise Document Management 2.0, or the combined power of Dropbox AND Documentum but for enterprise scale businesses.”

The infusion of new capital will accelerate and further fuel M-Files’ rapid growth plans in the US market and bolster its sales and marketing footprint through a worldwide partner channel, while also deepening its focus on compliance in select vertical industries. M-Files is built upon a truly revolutionary metadata-powered platform that forms the basis of a variety of targeted solutions for document management, quality management, enterprise asset management, contract lifecycle management and more.

“We’re ecstatic to have earned the confidence of the team at DFJ Esprit, part of the DFJ global network,” continued Milliken. “The access to additional growth capital will give us the resources to take a big step toward our vision to become the global leader in information management for quality and compliance.”

DFJ Esprit Managing Partner, Stuart Chapman, said, “At DFJ Esprit, we’ve always been firm believers that world-class intellectual property exists in Europe – the kind that can easily succeed in the global market if given the right growth support from day one. Our partnership with Finnish Industry Investment is strong and Finland is a leading technology country that we are proud to invest in. We are looking forward to supporting M-Files continued growth and success in the global market with investment and solid experience on how to build out their international reach.”

M-Files spans the chasm between lightweight file sharing tools that are perceived as easy to use but lack important features, and large entrenched “dinosaurs” that have lots of features but are extremely expensive and complicated. By leveraging a more precise and configurable “folder-less” architecture with seamless support for on-premise, cloud and hybrid deployments, M-Files resonates with customers and partners. The recognition of M-Files as a player in the global ECM and document management markets has been further validated by the company’s inclusion in the 2012 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Enterprise Content Management.

About DFJ Esprit
DFJ Esprit is a leading cross-stage venture capital firm that invests from seed to late stage in European technology and media companies. Members of the DFJ Esprit team have experience of investing in over 200 companies and generating strong returns for investors through building valuable companies alongside the founders and management teams. DFJ Esprit is the exclusive European partner for the Silicon Valley-based DFJ Network with offices in over 30 cities around the world. www.dfjesprit.com

About M-Files Inc.
M-Files enterprise content management (ECM) solutions transform how businesses manage, secure and share information with a unique metadata-driven approach that organizes and processes content based on what it is, rather than where it resides. Thousands of businesses in over 100 countries use M-Files on-premise, in the cloud or in hybrid environments to improve productivity and quality, and to ensure compliance with industry regulations and standards, including companies such as AstraZeneca, SAS and EADS. For more information, visit www.m-files.com.

M-Files is a registered trademark of M-Files Inc. All other registered trademarks belong to their respective owners.

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Madison Color said it raised $4 million of Series A funding in a round led by True Ventures and joined by Maveron LLC and angel investors. The company added True Ventures partner Jon Callaghan to its board AND will debut this fall.

PRESS RELEASE

Madison Color Raises $4 Million Series A Funding to Reinvent Home Hair Color Market

True Ventures and Maveron provide financial and strategic support to accelerate growth of innovative approach to products and customer experience

SAN FRANCISCO – April 29, 2013 — Madison Color, a San Francisco-based company that is reinventing the home hair care market, focusing first on home hair color, through superior products and consumer-facing technology, today announced that it has closed a $4 million Series A funding round led by True Ventures, a premier early stage investment firm.  Maveron LLC, a leading consumer-only venture capital firm, and angel investors also participated in the round.  The company also announced the addition of True Ventures partner Jon Callaghan to its board of directors.  Madison Color will debut in the fall of this year.

“Millions of women – and more than a few men – color their hair every day with an in-home experience that is complicated, unpleasant and unhealthy.  We will introduce a new, innovative, convenient and healthy way to select, buy and apply products, completely transforming this experience from one of pain to delight,” said Madison Color co-founder and CEO Amy Errett.  “True Ventures and Maveron are the perfect financial partners, with incredible track records in helping early stage consumer and technology companies grow their brands and achieve rapid growth.  Together, they are in perfect synchrony with our vision of bringing technology to a market with high existing consumer demand that hasn’t changed in decades.”

“Amy Errett has the vision and experience to disrupt an enormous consumer industry that has never seen technological innovation. We believe Amy and her team have the power to create a consumer business that captures the imagination of customers who are ready for a healthier and more delightful hair coloring experience,” said Jon Callaghan, co-founder of True Ventures. “Amy’s energy and reputation as a leader are singular, and her history of excelling in consumer business is tremendous. True is thrilled to lead the Series A financing for Madison Color, and we are excited to welcome the entire Madison team to the True platform.”

Dan Levitan, co-founder of Maveron said, “As the General Partner who opened our San Francisco office in 2010 and led our Bay Area efforts, and as an operator prior to that, we know Amy well and could not be more excited to be backing her and the Madison Color team on its journey to re-invent the home hair color experience.”

Hair care represents a sizable market opportunity. The hair care business is a $48 billion annual market and hair color alone represents a market of $15 billion, with over 45 million U.S. women coloring their hair at home. Madison Color intends to reinvent every aspect of the business, starting with producing and delivering professional-grade products free of ammonia and other harmful chemicals, that are healthier for the consumer and their hair and delivered directly to their homes.  Madison Color will also incorporate cross-platform technology innovations, including web, mobile, tablet, social and content, that will revolutionize the home hair care experience and delight consumers.

Madison Color brings together a strong management team including Errett and three co-founders: Eric Hutchinson, Andrew Trader and Sabrina Riddle.

Errett brings deep experience and knowledge in consumer marketplaces, both on and offline, through a multifaceted career that spans significant business and operating expertise as a leading entrepreneur, senior executive, venture capitalist and social-mission visionary. Most recently, she was a Maveron General Partner and led the firm’s Bay Area office. Prior to Maveron, Amy was the chief executive officer and an owner of Olivia, repositioning the travel business as a complete lifestyle company. During her time at Olivia, she was named the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year for Northern California. Previously, she founded and served as chief executive officer of The Spectrem Group, a worldwide strategic consulting, information, and M&A advisory firm that was acquired by NFO Worldwide (NYSE:NFO), and was a member of the senior management team at E*Trade where she diversified the company’s business beyond brokerage and ran a $200 million unit that encompassed the management of E*Trade’s growth areas.

Hutchinson is a proven operator with rich experience in both product and quantitative marketing. Previously, he was co-founder of Home Value Protection (acquired by AmTrust), which developed an innovative insurance product that protected the value of people’s homes against declines in the real estate market.

Trader is a serial Internet and software entrepreneur with an extensive background in business operations, revenue management and marketing/user acquisition. Previously, he was part of the founding team at Zynga (Nasdaq: ZNGA), co-founder of Coremetrics (acquired by IBM) and chief executive officer of Tribe.net (platform acquired by Cisco).

Riddle brings multiple years experience in the successful creation and growth of consumer brands, both on and offline, fusing bold creative thinking with deep experience in strategy, analytics, social media and emotive consumer-centric experiences. Previously, she was chief executive officer of Swaylo (acquired by PeopleBrowsr), chief revenue officer of Threadsy (acquired by Facebook) and chief marketing, media and sales officer of Olivia.

About Madison Color

Madison Color (www.madisoncolor.com) is revolutionizing every aspect of the home hair care market through superior formulation of professional grade products that are healthier for you and your hair, reinventing the discovery and application experience, and delivering the products directly to your home. Headquartered in San Francisco, Madison Color is a privately held company backed by top-tier venture capital firms True Ventures and Maveron.

About True Ventures
Founded in 2006, True Ventures is a Silicon Valley-based venture capital firm that invests in early-stage technology startups. With three funds and approximately $600 million in capital under management, True provides seed and Series A funding to the most talented entrepreneurs in today’s fastest growing markets. With a mission to make the world a better place for entrepreneurs, True encourages each founder’s vision and has built resources to empower the employees, families and communities of its portfolio companies. The firm maintains a strong founder community and offers innovative educational opportunities to its portfolio, helping entrepreneurs achieve higher levels of success and impact. With more than 100 companies funded and multiple companies acquired, the True portfolio has created over 1,900 jobs. To learn more about True Ventures, visit www.trueventures.com.

About Maveron
Maveron is a venture capital firm that invests exclusively in consumer companies.  Founded in 1998 by Dan Levitan and Howard Schultz, the firm has offices in Seattle and San Francisco.  Representative Maveron investments include Altius Education, eBay, Capella Education, General Assembly, Julep, Shutterfly, Trupanion and zulily. For more information about Maveron, visit www.maveron.com.

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ClickTale said it raised $17 million in a Series B round led by Amadeus Capital Partners and joined by Goldrock Capital and Viola Credit. The money will go toward product development and global expansion.

PRESS RELEASE

In-Page Analytics Innovator ClickTale Secures $17M Growth Round

Investment will Fund Product Development and Company Expansion

Tel Aviv, April 30th, 2013 − ClickTale, the innovator of In-Page Analytics, today announced that European technology investor Amadeus Capital Partners has led a $17m Series B growth stage investment in the company.  Other investors include Goldrock Capital and Viola Credit, Israel’s leading venture lending fund. The investment proceeds will fund product development and accelerate global growth.

While traditional web analytics track only page-to-page navigation, ClickTale records and analyzes the True-to-Life User Experience™ inside the page helping businesses achieve their online goals such as converting more site visitors into buyers or increasing engagement with site content.  ClickTale’s premier product, ClickTale® Core, provides anonymous playback of user browsing sessions, aggregated heatmaps of in-page activity, as well as tools to increase form completion and optimize conversions.

Most companies recognize the importance of the user experience, but few have visibility into their users’ website activities.  A recent Baymard Institute review revealed that a full 67% of shopping carts are abandoned prior to checkout.  Since ClickTale provides full visibility by capturing the entire browsing session including every mouse move, click, hover and scroll, online marketing and ecommerce managers can finally discover and understand why customers abandon shopping carts, what errors they experience, and where poor user experience frustrates them.

While working with some of the world’s leading websites, ClickTale has created the Online Optimization Cycle™ to help them maximize the speed and effectiveness of site improvements. The Online Optimization Cycle is a best practice that combines traditional web analytics and A/B testing with ClickTale’s In-Page Analytics to iteratively improve the user experience resulting in better conversion rates, increased revenues and higher ROI from existing marketing activities.

“We are excited to have Amadeus and Goldrock join ClickTale as we continue to create more value for our customers by helping them achieve online success,” said Dr. Tal Schwartz, CEO and co-founder of ClickTale. “The support of our founding investor, YL Ventures, has been a major factor in our success to date.  This investment will enable us to broaden our product offerings, invest in R&D and expand our operations globally.”

Founded in 2006, ClickTale has more than 80,000 clients, including some of the world’s largest websites such as T-Mobile, CBS, and Lenovo.

About ClickTale
ClickTale is the leader in Customer Experience Analytics, the next advance in web analytics, optimizing usability and maximizing conversion rates of any website. Its patented Customer Experience Visualization™ technology allows companies to see their customers’ true-to-life online experience at all levels of detail, from aggregated views to playable videos of users’ browsing sessions. Unlike traditional analytics platforms that assess page-to-page navigation, ClickTale reveals the customer experience inside the page. ClickTale Core™, an enterprise-class SaaS solution, is fast to deploy and provides immediate ROI. Serving over 80,000 customers worldwide including many Fortune 500 companies, ClickTale is the fastest growing company in its space. For more information, please visit www.clicktale.com

About Amadeus
Amadeus Capital Partners is one of Europe’s leading technology investors. Since its inception in 1997, the firm has raised over £500m for investment and backed more than 85 companies in communications technology, cleantech, medtech, software, digital media and e-commerce. Major businesses built by Amadeus include CSR (LSE:CSR), the leading producer of single chip bluetooth radios for short range connections, Solexa, the developer of next generation genetic analysis systems, merged into Illumina (ILMN) to create the world-leader in gene-sequencing technology and Transmode (ST:TRMO), an optical networking solutions business. For more information, please visit www.amadeuscapital.com

About Goldrock Capital
Goldrock Capital has been investing in Israel innovation since 1998. Goldrock’s heritage goes back to the early 1980s with the founding of The Sage Group (LSE: SAGE) by the late David Goldman. Born out of a single family office, today Goldrock manages institutional funds for the Goldman family and others to invest in growth stage businesses leveraging Israeli technology to expand internationally.
For more information, please visit www.goldrockcap.com

About Viola Credit (formerly Plenus)
Viola Credit, founded in 2000, is Israel’s leading lending fund. Viola Credit offers equity based loans to growing companies in the technology, industrial & service sectors. Led by a team of credit, banking, operational, and technology experts, Viola Credit is poised to provide companies with tailor-made flexible financing solutions designed to meet their specific needs.
With over $320m under management, Viola Credit has completed over 100 lending transactions and has seen over 20 exits to date. Among portfolio companies are mythings, cVidya, Clarizen and Matomy.  For more information, please visit www.violacredit.com

About YL Ventures
YL Ventures is a global venture capital firm that was founded to address the changing venture capital financing landscape. The firm invests in high technology start-up companies, with particular focus on the Israeli market. The fund combines its capital with deep engineering and market expertise, thereby facilitating a highly efficient model for technological innovation. For more information, please visit www.YLVentures.com

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Assured Labor said it raised $5.5 million in a round led by Capital Indigo and joined by existing investors Great Oaks Venture Capital, Nexus Venture Partners, Kima Ventures, Enzyme Venture Capital, Fabrice Grinda and Jose Marin. The mobile recruitment company said the money will allow it to expand engineering and sales staff to handle emerging markets demand.

PRESS RELEASE

ASSURED LABOR CLOSES $5.5 MILLION FUNDING ROUND LED BY CAPITAL INDIGO

World leader in mobile recruitment poised to accelerate growth in emerging markets

NEW YORK – April 25, 2013 – Assured Labor (www.assuredlabor.com), the world leader in mobile recruitment, announced today that the company has closed a $5.5 million funding round led by Capital Indigo. Capital Indigo joins existing investors including, Great Oaks Venture Capital, Nexus Venture Partners, Kima Ventures, Enzyme Venture Capital, Fabrice Grinda and Jose Marin.

“Our digital recruitment platform is taking off in Mexico and Brazil and we couldn’t be happier to add such an accomplished partner,” said David Reich, Founder and CEO of Assured Labor.  “With over 1,000 employers joining Assured Labor each month, this investment will enable us to meet that demand by growing our engineering and sales teams while solidifying our market leadership position in the mid-to-low wage segment.”

“The recruitment market in Latin America is ripe for disruption and nothing comes close to Assured Labor’s offering for recruiting lower wage job seekers. We look forward to supporting the company’s growth in Latin America and beyond,” said Bernardo Paashe, Managing Partner, Capital Indigo, who will be joining Assured Labor’s Board of Directors along with Everardo Camacho, Managing Partner, Capital Indigo.

Assured Labor’s brands in Mexico (www.EmpleoListo.com.mx) and Brazil (www.TrabalhoJa.com.br) have grown to become Latin America’s premier services for recruiting mid-to-low wage full-time employees. By leveraging the Internet, SMS, Voice User Interface and Social Media, Assured Labor enables companies to rapidly identify and reach the best job seekers in their area. With 500,000 registered job seekers and 16,000 employers, Assured Labor has become the region’s top destination for mid-to-low wage digital recruitment.

About Assured Labor

Assured Labor revolutionizes hiring in emerging markets. The service leverages the power of mobile phones and the Internet to rapidly connect employers with the best mid-to-low wage candidates in their area. Founded at MIT, Assured Labor’s disruptive platform is optimized for the realities of the emerging markets where three of four Internet users access the Web sporadically and nearly everyone has a cell phone. The company’s Latin American brands, EmpleoListo & TrabalhoJá, are currently operating in Mexico and Brazil. For more information please visit www.AssuredLabor.com,www.EmpleoListo.com.mx and www.TrabalhoJa.com.br.

About Capital Indigo

Capital Indigo is a Private Equity firm based in Mexico City that is focused on mid-market private equity and mezzanine debt investments in Latin America. As an early-mover in the region’s Private Equity markets, Capital Indigo’s “Fund Indigo 1” invests in high-growth mid-sized enterprises.  The fund’s managers share over 30 years of operational, investment and startup experience in Latin America and the United States and play an active role in each of their investments. More information is available at: www.capitalindigo.com.

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EV Connect said it raised an initial round of financing from 37 Technology Ventures, Jackrel Ventures, Tech Coast Angels, Maverick Angels, Keiretsu Forum and individual investors. The integrator of electric vehicle charging stations offered no additional detail on the financing.

PRESS RELEASE

EV Connect Closes Initial Round of Funding for Sales and Cloud-Based Technology Development

EV Connect’s combination of services allows it to offer corporate and governmental customers their own centrally-managed electric vehicle charge station networks

LOS ANGELES, California, April 25, 2013— EV Connect, the leading full-service provider, manager, and integrator of electric vehicle (EV) charge stations for commercial and government locations, today announced  closure of its initial round of financing.  Funding came from 37 Technology Ventures, Jackrel Ventures, Tech Coast Angels, Maverick Angels, Keiretsu Forum, and other key individual investors that recognize EV Connect for its huge growth potential, well-established market position, strong customer demand, and unique combination of partners, technology, and operating and support programs.

Progressive companies, government and transit agencies, property owners, and leading hotel brands,  select  EV Connect to help define, install, operate, and maintain their network of electric vehicle charge stations.  With this funding, EV Connect will expand its sales, marketing, and software development to capitalize on increasing customer demand.  EV Connect will also build out its already-successful partnership program and fast-track strategic alliances with charge station manufacturers and network system providers.

“From 2011 to 2012, plug-in vehicle sales grew nearly 200 percent.  I’m impressed with EV Connect’s market opportunity,” said Yuri Pikover, Tech Coast Angels.  “EV Connect doesn’t make car charging hardware, rather, it focuses on its differentiated and defensible charge station deployment, management services, and proprietary cloud-based software platform.  This unique combination of services allows EV Connect to offer customers their own branded or centrally-managed charge station network at all of their parking lots.”

“Our goal is to make EV infrastructure more accessible than ever for all companies and organizations,” said Jordan Ramer, CEO, EV Connect.  “We believe in the future, all parking spaces will offer EV charging–and EV Connect will be there to integrate, operate and maintain them, as well as customize their customer-facing features.”

About EV Connect, Inc.
Businesses and governmental organizations turn to EV Connect for a simple and cost-effective way to provide turn-key, customer-owned EV charging programs for their electric-vehicle-driving employees and constituents.  EV Connect offers program design, hardware, deployment, network management, driver support, maintenance, and a software platform to allow for advanced customer-specific features. Collectively, EV Connect’s team has over thirty-five years of EV charging experience and has deployed and managed thousands of charge stations. For more information visit www.EVConnect.com.

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3scale said it raised $4.2 million of new funding in a round from Javelin Venture Partners and Costanoa Venture Capital. The new money will expand the API management company’s service offerings and help it reach a global audience.

PRESS RELEASE

3scale Raises $4.2 Million To Broaden API Adoption

3scale enables any company to easily distribute, manage and monetize their APIs via its Freemium API Management offering

SAN FRANCISO, CA – April 24, 2013 – 3scale (http://www.3scale.net), the San Francisco and Barcelona-based API Management solutions provider, today announced  $4.2 million of new funding in a round from Javelin Venture Partners and Costanoa Venture Capital.

APIs are a key infrastructure component for online businesses – powering mobile applications, partnership programs and innovation. Increasingly, as many businesses become more software driven, having a well-managed API available to customers and partners is becoming key to success in the marketplace. The growth of the number of APIs is exponential and forecasted to reach into the millions over the next 5 years.
In order to meet this need, during the past two years 3scale has grown into one of the leading solution providers in the sector. The company’s API Management solution provides infrastructure to manage the technical and business operations required to run a successful API program simply and at scale.

In contrast to other solutions, 3scale’s flexible platform is immediate, self-service and no cost to adopt, enabling any size business to run an API program and scale from free entry-level services all the way to Enterprise grade APIs on a single platform. The solution platform lets businesses build a solid foundation for their API program and scale confidently to serving 10’s and 100’s of Millions of API transactions per day.

The 3scale API Management solution already powers APIs for over 200 customers serving over 85,000 Application Developers, with API traffic monitored and managed by 3scale more than doubling in the last 6 months. Customers range from Fortune 500 companies to small businesses and technology start-ups, including: Skype, FlightStats, Wine.com, 1WorldSync, SITA, PagesJaunes.fr(French YellowPages), FullContact and Yummly.

“As products and services we rely on for our daily lives—from travel info to e-commerce, thermostats to elevators—increasingly connect to internet applications through machine-to-machine interfaces, the need for robustly managed API’s becomes critical,” noted Noah Doyle, Managing Director of Javelin Venture Partners.  “We are proud to lead this new round of funding for 3scale because it will bring high grade solutions to a wide market, which no provider has done before.”

The new investment will help broaden 3scale’s set of services and bring it to a global audience, enabling even more valuable APIs and API delivery by its customers.

More information about 3scale can be found at http://www.3scale.net/. The company is also looking to fill new positions in both its San Francisco and Barcelona offices.

About 3scale:
Founded in 2007, 3scale provides a Plug & Play SaaS API Management platform and infrastructure enabling developers and companies to securely open, control, manage, operate and monetize their API to 3rd parties (e.g. developers, business partners, etc). 3scale’s API Management solution is flexible, secure and web scalable enabling the distribution of a company’s data, content or services to multiple devices or mobile/web applications as well as the productization of its APIs. For more information visit www.3scale.net

About Javelin Venture Partners
With $200 million under management, Javelin Venture Partners is an early stage venture capital firm specializing in technology-based start-ups that leverage key innovations to create scalable, high-growth companies. Javelin Venture Partners’ investment professionals are proven new-technology entrepreneurs who focus on identifying exceptional businesses and management teams, and helping them achieve great success. The firm operates with the culture of a start-up and with an emphasis on being a true partner to entrepreneurs. Javelin Ventures Partners is located in San Francisco, CA., but invests in start-ups throughout the world. For a list of active portfolio companies, or to submit a business plan, visit Javelin’s website: http://www.javelinvp.com.

About Costanoa Venture Capital

Costanoa Venture Capital is an early stage investor focused on cloud-based services solving real problems for businesses and consumers by leveraging data and analytics. The firm’s name originates from the first inhabitants of Silicon Valley, the Costanoans, and harkens back to the origins of entrepreneurship and venture capital in Silicon Valley. Costanoa provides early stage entrepreneurs with a combination of “right-sized” amounts of capital and value-added support from a high-quality institutional partner.  Current investments include: Datalogix, DemandBase, Guardian Analytics, Inflection, Intacct, iSocket, Lex Machina, LinkSmart, Return Path, and Risk I/O.  The firm is headquartered in Palo Alto, Ca. For more information, visit http://costanoavc.com/
read our blog and follow us @costanoavc and @gsands.

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Wellington Partners said it is the lead investor in a $23.7 million Series C financing round for Genticel which was closed this week. Wellington Partners committed about $5 million and the remaining came from existing shareholders, including EdRIP, IDInvest, InnoBio, IRDI and Amundi. The funds will be used primarily to finance a phase II program for the Toulouse, France-based HPV- vaccine developer’s lead product ProCervix.

PRESS RELEASE

Wellington Partners leads € 18.2 million financing round at Genticel

  First investment of new Wellington Partners IV Life Science Fund

  Financing for phase II program of ProCervix, a therapeutic HPV 16/18 vaccine

  Dr. Rainer Strohmenger will join Genticel Board

Munich, April 24, 2013. Wellington Partners today announced that it acted as lead investor in a € 18.2 million series C financing round at Toulouse/France-based therapeutic HPV- vaccine developer Genticel which was closed earlier this week. Wellington Partners committed € 4 million to this financing, the remaining € 14.2 million were provided by the existing shareholders including EdRIP, IDInvest, InnoBio, IRDI and Amundi. The funds will be used primarily to finance a phase II program for Genticel’s lead product ProCervix. Dr. Rainer Strohmenger, General Partner at Wellington Partners, will join the Supervisory Board of Genticel.

Genticel is developing therapeutic vaccines against HPV infection with high-risk types, which in case of persistent infection may lead to cervical cancer, the second most frequent type of cancer in women. About 250,000-300,000 women die from cervical cancer every year, typically at a relatively young age. It is assumed that 80% of all women become infected with HPV once in their lives and more than 300 million women at the age of 25 years and over carry an HPV infection, thereof approx. 50% with a high-risk type. The most predominant high-risk types are HPV 16 and 18, which are the cause for 70% of all cervical cancers. 
With more than 140 million

Pap tests and a quickly increasing, double-digit million number of HPV tests performed every year in the developed countries, the diagnostic market in cervical cancer screening is already well established. In 2006 the first preventive vaccines against HPV 16/18 infections were introduced into the global markets and became commercially very successful products. However, there is still no effective treatment available against established infection with high-risk HPV types. 
ProCervix, Genticel’s lead product, is a proprietary, first in class therapeutic vaccine for the treatment of women infected with HPV types 16 or 18 who have not yet developed high-grade cervical lesions or cancer. The Phase Ib trial (47 patients) displayed no dose limiting toxicity and no patient drop-out. ProCervix induced a dose-dependent immune response as well as viral clearance in a substantially larger percentage of patients as compared to placebo. 
“The field of cervical cancer screening and treatment is an area in medicine that we know very well from our involvement in mtm laboratories AG, which we successfully sold to Roche 20 months ago”, commented Dr. Rainer Strohmenger.

“We are highly excited about Genticel’s lead project ProCervix, which has demonstrated in the phase I clinical trial that it can cure infections with high-risk HPV types 16 and 18 in 3 out of 4 treated patients, thus effectively preventing progression to high-grade cervical disease. There are more than 90 million women in the world infected with HPV types 16 and 18 who could benefit from this treatment, making this market a clear blockbuster opportunity.”

Benedikt Timmerman, founder and CEO of Genticel, added: “The commitment from Wellington Partners, one of the most reputable life science investors in Europe, is further endorsement of Genticel’s therapeutic HPV vaccine development. The Wellington life science team members are bringing outstanding clinical development and medical expertise to our shareholder base, both from therapeutic vaccines and from cervical cancer screening. They have immediately understood the unique properties of our lead product ProCervix. This investment will allow us to take ProCervix through a multi-center multi-national phase II program. It will further strengthen our database supporting the efficacy and safety of this highly novel, curative treatment for high-risk HPV-infections.”

About Wellington Partners
Wellington Partners is among the most successful pan-European Venture Capital firms. With more than € 800 million under management and offices in Munich, London and Zurich, Wellington Partners invests in start-up companies throughout Europe that have the potential to become global leaders in the areas of digital media, resource efficiency and life sciences.

Since 1998, Wellington Partners has invested in more than 100 companies, including publicly listed firms like Actelion, Evolva, Wavelight (acquired by Alcon) and Xing as well as privately held companies like AyoxxA, Grandis (acquired by Novartis), immatics, implanet, invendo medical, mtm laboratories (acquired by Roche), Oxagen, Oxford Immunotec, Quanta, Sapiens, Sensimed, Supersonic Imagine, Symetis and Spotify. For further information, please visit www.wellington-partners.com.

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VoloMetrix said it raised $3.3 million in a Series A financing led by Shasta Ventures. The company raised a seed round of $1.6 million from Shasta Ventures in April 2012. The new money will allow the company to expand the development of its Social Enterprise Intelligence applications and pursue new markets.

PRESS RELEASE

VoloMetrix Secures $3.3 Million to Capture New Markets for Social Enterprise Intelligence

Series A funding allows VoloMetrix to help more organizations manage costs and align resources with their strategic business priorities

Seattle, WA—April, 24 2013—Today, VoloMetrix  – an enterprise SaaS company providing Social Enterprise Intelligence applications to improve organizational responsiveness and drive productivity – announced it raised $3.3 million in a Series A financing round led by Shasta Ventures. This builds upon the initial seed investment of $1.6 million from Shasta Ventures in April 2012. The latest infusion of capital will allow the company to expand development of its Social Enterprise Intelligence platform, pursue new markets, and expand further into organizational functions – including IT departments – to grow the company’s existing customer base.

“Across many of their corporate functions, large organizations are looking for tools to help them better align people resources with their most important business priorities,” said VoloMetrix CEO and co-founder Ryan Fuller. “This round of funding will allow us to expand the functionality of our core platform, respond to growing customer demand, and optimize SaaS modules designed to specifically address the needs of sales, engineering, and IT functions.”

VoloMetrix has already been deployed by several Global 1000 companies, helping them diagnose inefficiencies and align their most valuable assets – their people – with their business goals. The Social Enterprise Intelligence platform extracts and analyzes anonymous data from collaboration applications including email, calendars, instant messaging and enterprise social networks. Highly visual, easy-to-use reports enable enterprises to understand and manage where people and teams are focused, allowing them to reduce costs and achieve their business goals more effectively than ever before.  Expanding on their core platform, VoloMetrix will deliver an application specifically designed for IT departments to better align and cost their IT services.

“VoloMetrix sits at the intersection of two mega trends in technology:  Big Data and social analytics,” said Ravi Mohan, Managing Director of Shasta Ventures and VoloMetrix board member. “By exposing new data and applying innovative algorithms, they are enabling their customer organizations to reduce cost, improve productivity, and deliver better results.”

As part of their growth plan, VoloMetrix is hiring for positions in engineering, data science, sales and marketing.  For more information, interested candidates can visit www.volometrix.com/careers .

For more information about VoloMetrix, please visit www.volometrix.com.

About VoloMetrix:
VoloMetrix is an enterprise SaaS company focused on providing applications to improve strategic alignment and execution. VoloMetrix analyzes anonymous, real-time information from a company’s email, calendar, instant messaging, and social platforms to provide deep insight into how teams are allocating time, where collaboration can improve across the organization, and which important business topics need a response. VoloMetrix results are delivered in quick, easy-to-digest views through its Enterprise Sociograph, Alignment Indexing and Realtime dashboards. The founding team and board have more than 50 years of experience helping the world’s largest companies solve strategic and organizational problems. For more information, visit www.volometrix.com.

About Shasta Ventures:
Shasta Ventures is a boutique, early-stage venture firm investing its third fund in consumer technology and enterprise start-ups. Shasta aims to partner with bold, creative entrepreneurs who have exceptional instincts and insights into the needs, desires and behaviors of the people who use their products. The firm is based in Menlo Park, California. Shasta Ventures has supported the founders of dozens of successful companies, including Apptio, Demdex, Lithium, Makara, Mint, Nest, Nextdoor, TaskRabbit, Turn, Zenprise and Zuora. For more information, please visit www.shastaventures.com, or follow us on Twitter at @shasta.

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The  Silicon Valley Venture Capitalist Confidence Index rose in the first quarter for the third quarter in a row, University of San Francisco Professor Mark V. Cannice said Wednesday. The index of 3.73 (5 indicates high confidence and 1 indicates low confidence) increased from 3.63 in the fourth quarter. The index is meant to measure business sentiment in the entrepreneurial environment of the San Francisco Bay area and Silicon Valley.

More stable macro-economic conditions provided a favorable back drop for venture capitalists who continue to have faith in the outcomes of their portfolio companies. Below is the confidence report without included tables, which didn’t transfer well to this blog.

PRESS RELEASE

Silicon Valley Venture Capitalist Confidence Index® (Bloomberg ticker symbol: SVVCCI)
First Quarter – 2013

(Release date: April 24, 2013)
Mark V. Cannice, Ph.D. University of San Francisco

The quarterly Silicon Valley Venture Capitalist Confidence Index® (Bloomberg ticker symbol: SVVCCI) is based on an on-going survey of San Francisco Bay Area/Silicon Valley venture capitalists. The Index measures and reports the opinions of professional venture capitalists in their estimation of the high- growth venture entrepreneurial environment in the San Francisco Bay Area over the next 6 – 18 months.1 The Silicon Valley Venture Capitalist Confidence Index® for the first quarter of 2013, based on a March 2013 survey of 30 San Francisco Bay Area venture capitalists, registered 3.73 on a 5 point scale (with 5 indicating high confidence and 1 indicating low confidence). This quarter’s index rose from the previous quarter’s confidence reading of 3.63. Please see Graph 1 for trend data.

Confidence Index

A depressed exit market for venture-backed firms in the first quarter of 20132 was not enough to reverse the positive trend in confidence of Silicon Valley venture capitalists. The Index of Silicon Valley Venture Capitalists’ confidence in the future high-growth entrepreneurial environment in the San Francisco Bay Area rose again in the first quarter of 2013. The increase in Q1 confidence made for three consecutive quarters of increasing sentiment among the responding venture capitalists to this quarterly survey and research report. In Q1 venture capitalists credited a stabilizing macro-environment that exhibited less political and economic uncertainty than recent quarters. The passage of time from recent poor experiences with the performance of some social media businesses was also noted as a positive factor. In this less uncertain environment, favorable technology trends were in greater focus and had a larger impact on confidence.

While concern over the moribund exit market, fundraising challenges, and structural shifts in the venture industry persisted, sentiment tends to be a function of future expectations rather than current circumstances, particularly in the forward-looking venture capital industry. And in the first quarter of 2013 a strong belief in the eventual outcomes of extensive entrepreneurial talent focused on emerging opportunities hosted in a welcoming Silicon Valley ecosystem remained evident. In the following, I provide many of the comments of the participating venture capitalist respondents along with my analysis. Additionally, all of the Index respondents’ names and firms are listed in Table 1, save those who provided their comments confidentially.

Macro pressures on the entrepreneurial environment appear to be easing. Interpreting a more munificent macro political and economic environment, Dag Syrrist of Vision Capital reasoned that the “US economy is continuing to pick up speed and Congress is deciding that a sub 10% approval rating actually does not help them; therefore, we may get some semblance of predictability. And, while in the category of a ‘man can dream’, it’s quite possible that we’ll have a period of continued easy money supply and gradual but steady economic expansion within the US relative to alternative markets – all of which will bode well for the industry.” Jon Soberg of Blumberg Capital added “I’m bullish on the trends in technology and innovation, and the macroeconomic trends are also generally positive.” Debra Guerin Beresini of invencor also expressed cautious optimism, noting “Job growth is climbing, IPO’s are increasing and confidence is growing! However, there is still an abundance of caution in the investment world. While many economic factors are positive, investors are still guarded.”

An expectation that industry level pressures on the venture capital business model will moderate somewhat is allowing positive sentiment to persist. More optimistic on the future than on the recent past, Bill Reichert of Garage Technology Ventures shared “We’ve waited through the chilling effect of the troubled IPOs of Zynga and Groupon. There is less frothiness in social/local/mobile/gaming. Calmer heads seem to be prevailing, and the overall market is up.” And Mark Platshon of Birchmere Ventures struck an optimistic chord, saying “The Valley will always reinvent itself or change to build new approaches.” And John Malloy of BlueRun Ventures added that he “still remains optimistic for the medium to long term outlook for the Valley as the single best market for entrepreneurship.”

More specifically, exit opportunities are expected to improve. Kurt Keilhacker of TechFund indicated “The rising M&A activity increases the confidence in exits for venture funds and raises overall investment optimism.” Similarly, Alain Harrus pointed out “continued momentum driven by large exits in software.”
Technology trends and portfolio firm performance are also supporting the venture business model.

For instance, Sandy Miller of Institutional Venture Partners explained that “There are a number of favorable tailwinds for technology venture capital including the resurgence of the enterprise sector and the revival of interest in technology IPOs. I think it will be a strong year for exits, both IPOs and M&A transactions of scale.” And Deepak Kamra of Canaan Partners reported “expanding consumer and enterprise spending, coupled with major technology shifts to mobile and cloud computing.” Likewise, Bill Byun of 7 Capital affirmed “Portfolio companies are showing significant growth in revenue as well as outlook for the next 6+ months.” And Bob Bozeman of Eastlake Ventures described the entrepreneurial environment as “‘less smoke and more fire’ – meaning that opportunities seemed better grounded and less trivial – attracting better quality investment.”

The availability of seed financing coupled with positive technology trends is also supporting the venture ecosystem. Jeb Miller of Jafco Venture concluded “Its an awesome time to launch a startup in the Bay Area with massive market opportunities riding the platform shifts to cloud and mobile, tremendous talent availability as legacy companies atrophy, and an abundance of early stage capital available to fund new projects. Exit markets continue to improve and with it the energy and enthusiasm of the startup economy.” A venture capitalist respondent who provided comments confidentially agreed, noting a “large number of startups with a number of angel investors and seed funds…” Furthermore, Dan Lankford of Wavepoint Ventures indicated he is “seeing a lot of seed stage deals, many of which have been self funded up to this point.” Lankford continued, saying there “seems to be a second wave of smaller, more capital efficient cleantech deals.”

Finding opportunity within the venture industry restructuring, Elton Sherwin of Ridgewood Capital stated “There appears to be over 400 venture capital firms that are either inactive (stopped investing) or have quietly gone out of business. Despite this there are new companies springing up everywhere. This seems to be driven by three trends: increased angel activity, increased corporate venture investing, and continuing lowering of the cost to start a software or SAS business. The movie, “The Social Network” may also have helped.”

However, not all venture capitalists who responded to the Q1 survey agreed with the view of a more munificent environment. For example, Igor Sill of Geneva Venture Management argued that “Despite signs of an improving economy and new found stock market optimism, I sense considerable concern over the impact of governmental policy on the venture capital industry. While public market valuations have more than doubled since 2009, the economic and political uncertainty of private equity continues to hinder venture capital rounds and values. Having said that, cloud based, web centric software innovations with global market access remain the single largest venture growth segment with a 10% increase over 2011 levels to $8.3 billion. This represents the highest level of venture investments since 2001 levels, per the PWC/NVCA MoneyTreeTM Report. So, I would have to say that I am cautiously keen on all things software and less so on cleantech, bio sciences, computer hardware and medical devices.”

And Bob Ackerman of Allegis Capital added that “While innovation is alive and well, costs are up, staffing is a major challenge, and early-stage capital formation is clearly under pressure in some sectors of the market. Continued macro economic uncertainty certainly does not help on the capital formation side of the ledger.” Another VC contributor observed a “tepid M&A environment.”

Some sectors for investment (e.g. cleantech and life sciences) continue to be under pressure. Bryant Tong of Nth Power stated that “The market continues to be difficult for companies in the cleantech space to get funding.” And Lisa Suennen of Psilos explained “…that while the venture capital world is still frothy and accessible to some, for those in the healthcare business it is a very mixed bag. It is easy to get funding for the next great Internet technology but there is little appetite for deals that address the crisis of the US healthcare system and thus solve extremely meaningful economic problems.” These sentiments are consistent with the findings of the recent MoneyTree Report which reported decreases in total capital
invested as well as a decrease in the number of deals for life sciences and cleantech in Q1.3

A VC respondent who provided comment in confidence acknowledged that the “medical device centric view of the venture world and things in healthcare have not evolved towards any positive sentiments.” Another respondent also in the life science arena and requesting anonymity elaborated “Available venture capital is shrinking given traditional limited partner concerns about venture capital returns over the last decade (as LPs) are cutting back on their allocations to venture capital. Lack of capital availability is hurting both startup and follow-on financing activity, particularly in healthcare. We are in the down part of the cycle, and will be here for a few years until we can start driving better returns for our limited partners. The good news is that, at least in healthcare, valuations are down and entrepreneurs have a new- found focus on capital efficiency, both of which should enhance returns over the next 3-5 years.”

While opinions varied as to the overall impact of the macro environment on the venture business model in Q1, and challenges continue in some sectors, venture capitalists’ confidence on average continued to rise. In fact, Q1 marked the third consecutive increase in confidence in this quarterly survey. Still, pressures on the overall model continue with funding in some areas becoming more difficult to attain. Thomson Reuters and the National Venture Capital Association reported that despite an increase in the total capital raised, the number of funds launched in Q1 2013 decreased by about one- third from the year earlier quarter, marking the lowest number of funds raised since Q3 of 2003.4 The concentration of available financing among fewer firms is changing the structural dynamics of the venture industry and will necessarily impact the investment strategy of some venture firms (e.g. necessitating larger investments rounds and fewer seed stage deals). Whether less formal modes of seed-stage venture financing will be accompanied by the strategic insight and services typically associated with venture capital firms and what this means for the long term dynamics of the high-growth entrepreneurial environment is unclear at this point.

While the forces of creative destruction (Schumpeter 1934, 1942) apply to the industries that finance innovation and new venture creation as well as to the enterprises that are financed, the impact of these structural shifts on the overall productivity and competitiveness of wide swaths of American business is difficult to predict. However, a more certain macro political and economic environment would go far in supporting the entrepreneurial ecosystem that has nurtured successive generations of world-class enterprises.

Mark V. Cannice, Ph.D. is Department Chair and Professor of Entrepreneurship and Innovation with the University of San Francisco School of Management. The author wishes to thank the participating venture capitalists who generously provided their expert commentary. Thanks also to the attorneys of Greenberg Traurig for their on-going support of this research, as well as to Jack Cannice for his copy-edit assistance. When citing the index, please refer to it as: The Silicon Valley Venture Capitalist Confidence Index®, and include the associated Quarter/Year, as well as the name and title of the author.
The Silicon Valley Venture Capitalist Confidence Index® is a registered trademark of Mark V. Cannice. Copyright © 2004 – 2013: Mark V. Cannice, Ph.D. All rights reserved.

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A report by Silicon Valley Bank finds 87% of technology startups plan to hire in 2013. The Startup Outlook report is based on a survey of more than 750 startup executives in the United States and 125 in the United Kingdom. In the U.S., hiring intentions are up 14% from four years ago, when the annual survey began.

PRESS RELEASE

Looking For a Job? Try a Tech Startup

Tech Businesses Put Out a Call for Talent in Silicon Valley Bank’s Annual
Startup Outlook Survey

SANTA CLARA, CA and LONDON —April 23, 2013 —Eighty seven percent of technology startups plan to hire new employees in 2013, according to an interactive report by Silicon Valley Bank, financial partner to technology, life science and cleantech companies and their investors worldwide. In the US, this is up 14% from four years ago when the annual survey began. SVB’s Startup Outlook study, conducted in the US and the UK, also reveals that software companies plan to do the most hiring, with 90% planning to increase the size of their workforces this year.

The Startup Outlook report is based on a survey of more than 750 startup executives across the US and 125 in the UK.

See Interactive Report and additional Startup Outlook reports here.

The interactive report details the technology sectors and geographies in the US and the UK that are looking for employees with both STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) and general business skills. Job seekers will find locations with the greatest need and job types in particularly high demand. Eighty-two percent of startups in the US, and 77% in the UK, said that they are looking for people with STEM skills.

“Tech companies are a bright spot in the economy worldwide, which is evident from the significant number of startups in the US and the UK that expect to grow and hire this year,”said Greg Becker, president and CEO of Silicon Valley Bank. “There is a lot of opportunity to put people to work at startups, which is particularly welcome news since jobs in general are recovering slowly. Investments in STEM education and policies that support tech businesses will help people take advantage of jobs, and benefit economic growth overall.”

Yet nine in 10 reported difficulty finding workers with the skills they need. For more detail on the hiring challenges startups face, visit Startup Outlook: The Issue of Talent.  In the US, startups in major technology hubs nationwide reported challenges finding workers with the skills they need and those numbers were highest in Texas (94%), followed by Washington (91%). In the UK, 69% of startups reported trouble finding qualified engineers.

Silicon Valley Bank conducted its fourth annual Startup Outlook survey in the US and its first survey in the UK in December 2012. For the purposes of this study, startups are primarily defined as companies in the innovation sector with less than $100 million in annual revenue and fewer than 500 employees (US) or less than £25 million in annual revenue and fewer than 100 employees (UK). Just over 40% of the startups that are hiring in both the US and the UK had fewer than 10 employees at the time of the survey.

Results of the survey are being released in a series of reports, which are available athttp://www.svb.com/startup-outlook-report/ or www.svb.com/uk . Follow the conversation on Twitter at @SVB_Financial and @SVB_UK #StartupOutlook.

About Silicon Valley Bank
Silicon Valley Bank is the premier bank for technology, life science, cleantech, venture capital, private equity and premium wine businesses. SVB provides industry knowledge and connections, financing, treasury management, corporate investment and international banking services to its clients worldwide through 28 U.S. offices and six international operations.  (Nasdaq: SIVB) www.svb.com.

Silicon Valley Bank is registered in England and Wales at 41 Lothbury, London, EC2R 7HF, UK under No. FC029579. Silicon Valley Bank is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority, FSA reference number 577295. Silicon Valley Bank is the California bank subsidiary and the commercial banking operation of SVB Financial Group. Banking services are provided by Silicon Valley Bank, a member of the FDIC and the Federal Reserve System. SVB Financial Group is also a member of the Federal Reserve System.
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