Joyent Secures Funding From Intel Capital

One of the deals I worked on while at Intel Capital:

November 17, 2009

Sausalito, CA, November 17, 2009 – Joyent, Inc., a pioneer in cloud computing technology, today announced that it received an infusion of funding from Intel Capital. Joyent will use the funding to accelerate its product development, sales & marketing and for increased global expansion.

“Cloud computing technologies play a crucial role in allowing companies to scale their data center infrastructure to meet performance and TCO requirements,” said Lisa Lambert, managing director of Intel Capital. “Joyent’s approach to flexible and cost-effective cloud control and cloud development set it apart and provides measureable performance advantages versus the competition in this fast growing sector.”

Industry analyst Gartner Group recently predicted that the market for cloud computing services will exceed $14 billion by 2014. Revenue growth in cloud computing topped 17% from 2008 to 2009.

“In architecting our solution, we took a unique approach,” said Joyent CEO David Young. “Joyent has developed its own data center virtualization technology that creates a flexible multi-tenant cloud. As a result, Joyent’s technology delivers more than 70 percent utilization, which is eight times more than industry averages, and produces unprecedented performance, security and savings. That’s why we have been growing so strongly and have achieved profitability.”

The value of Joyent’s solutions is reflected in the industry-leading cost savings reported by its customers.

“By deploying our infrastructure on Joyent, Gilt Groupe spends less than one percent of revenue on its total infrastructure investment,” said Mike Bryzek, Founder and Chief Technology Officer, Gilt Groupe. “We know based on Gartner findings that this is more than 70 percent better than the average company.”

Joyent’s growth can also be attributed to its strong performance metrics and security. In benchmarks published earlier this year, Joyent demonstrated that MySQL runs three times faster and Wordpress handles 20 times more requests per second on Joyent than on Amazon’s EC2. Joyent has also readily passed Fortune 500 InfoSec security reviews.

Commenting on the investment, David Young, CEO of Joyent stated, “Cloud computing is experiencing strong growth and market adoption. We are thrilled with Intel Capital’s investment. It allows us to build on the success we have generated in the last five years.”

About Intel Capital
Intel Capital, Intel’s global investment 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, home, mobility, health, consumer Internet, semiconductor manufacturing and cleantech. Since 1991, Intel Capital has invested more than US$9.5 billion in over 1,050 companies in 47 countries. In that timeframe, 175 portfolio companies have gone public on various exchanges around the world and 241 were acquired or participated in a merger. In 2008, Intel Capital invested about US$1.59 billion in 169 investments with approximately 62 percent of funds (excluding Clearwire) invested outside North America. For more information on Intel Capital and its differentiated advantages, visit www.intelcapital.com.

About Joyent, Inc.

Joyent provides the most comprehensive cloud solution available today. It starts with an enterprise class foundation of virtual appliances deployed in an ecosystem of the highest-grade networking, routing, load balancing and persistent storage. In addition, Joyent offers powerful software to manage your cloud (Cloud Control) and a dynamic software development platform that auto-scales. Joyent’s unique architecture and custom OS distribution supports high performance virtualization that produces significant cost-savings, improved performance, data center utilization (70%) and security. Companies running on Joyent have reported saving more than 70% when compared with Gartner’s industry averages. Joyent was founded in 2004 and supports thousands of customers worldwide including ABC Disney, CNN, The Gap, Facebook, LinkedIn and Yahoo. For more information, visit www.joyent.com.

Intel Capital Announces Five Cleantech Investments

Reinforces Commitment to Accelerate Adoption of Energy Efficiency Technologies

SAN FRANCISCO, July 29, 2009 – Today at the Technology Innovation Summit, Intel Capital, Intel Corporation's global investment organization, reaffirmed its dedication to foster clean technology innovation with the announcement of five cleantech investments. The deals, which total approximately $10 million and span two continents, include first-time investment in U.S.-based CPower (demand response and energy efficiency) as well as follow-on investments in Ireland-based Powervation (digital power control) and U.S.-based companies Convey Computer (energy efficient high performance computing), Grid Net (smart meter infrastructure) and iControl (home automation and monitoring).

"Intel Capital has made a significant commitment to invest in the cleantech sector in recognition of the increasing need for alternative energy production and advanced energy management and utilization solutions," said Arvind Sodhani, president of Intel Capital and Intel executive vice president. "The global nature of these five investments demonstrates our focus on accelerating cleantech innovation, emphasizing Intel Capital's unique strength as a global, stage agnostic investor."


"These investments share synergies focused on accelerating adoption of Smart Grid technologies, fostering energy efficiency and performance in ways that benefit consumers of electricity and power utilities as well as complement Intel's strategic objectives," said Steve Eichenlaub, managing director of platform technologies, cleantech and digital health, Intel Capital. "Each investment underlies Intel Capital's commitment to invest in cutting edge technologies and support our expanding portfolio of cleantech-related companies."

Details on the five new investments include:
CPower (New York) delivers targeted energy management services and solutions that enable companies to optimize their facilities and operations through energy reduction initiatives and earn market payments for those reductions. As an industry pioneer that has grown into one of the largest energy management and demand response firms in North America, CPower combines an understanding of energy management technologies, energy markets and the daily challenges of facility operators to maximize the value of energy sustainability. This is Intel Capital's initial funding of CPower.
Grid Net (San Francisco) is a pioneer in providing the network operating system and management control plane for the Smart Grid. PolicyNet*, Grid Net's standards-based management platform for all networked transmission, distribution and generation smart grid devices, provides cost-effective rapid deployment and management that leverages 4G broadband networks. Grid Net's Series C funding round includes Intel Capital's third investment.

Powervation (Limerick, Ireland) provides digital power controllers for server, desktop computing and communications platforms that deliver capabilities in automatic configuration and self stabilization. These devices speed design time and enable system stability as other power supply components age, leading to higher energy efficiency at the system level, faster time-to-market and lower overall system costs. Intel Capital co-led Powervation's Series A funding round and this is its second investment in the company.

Convey Computer (Richardson, Texas) offers high-performance computing (HPC) solutions which aim to dramatically reduce energy consumption and boost performance. Convey's HC-1* solution tightly integrates advanced existing off-the-shelf hardware – namely an Intel® Xeon® processor and Field Programmable Gate Arrays – with compiler technology that minimizes the programming challenges that have long withheld the potential of reconfigurable hardware. Convey's Series B funding round includes the second investment by Intel Capital.

iControl (Palo Alto, Calif.) provides an IP-based platform that delivers monitored home security, remote home monitoring and home and energy management capabilities to security and broadband providers, enabling them to deliver enhanced, value-added services to their new and existing customers. iControl's Series C funding round includes a follow-on investment by Intel Capital.
Intel Capital is focused on actively seeking and structuring investments in companies worldwide that are producing products and services in a variety of "green" areas such as energy efficiency, alternative power generation and storage, transportation and materials, with particular emphasis in support of Intel's Open Energy Initiative, helping foster standards-based, interoperable solutions.

These five investments all support efforts within Intel to drive energy-efficient performance across Intel's value chain. Intel Capital invested in and works with CPower, Grid Net and iControl as part of its Smart Energy efforts that focus on utilizing Intel® Architecture solutions and industry standards to improve performance, speed deployment and enhance security in large-scale deployments. Intel supports Powervation as part of its relentless efforts to improve the performance per watt of Intel Architecture platforms across multiple user segments. Additionally, Convey Computer complements Intel's HPC efforts, distinctively augmenting Intel Architecture platforms to further boost both performance and energy efficiency across multiple target industries such as energy, transportation, financial services and healthcare.

Intel Capital to Acquire $20 Million Stake in Telligent

Funding Gives Boost to Social Computing

SANTA CLARA, Calif., Sept. 23, 2008 – Intel Capital, Intel’s global investment organization, today announced an agreement to acquire a $20 million stake in Telligent Systems, makers of social computing solutions and business intelligence tools. Based in Dallas, Telligent will utilize the funds to expand its sales teams and territories, including growth in international markets, as well as increase its marketing and advertising initiatives and product development plans.

“Intel Capital makes strategic global investments to help provide enterprises with the latest tools they need for growth, innovation, productivity improvement and cost savings,” said Arvind Sodhani, president of Intel Capital and executive vice-president of Intel. “These social media applications offered by Telligent will help push the boundaries of online collaboration and communication allowing companies to be more efficient and productive.”

“The way people work together is changing and communication is happening in real-time at a much faster pace,” says Telligent CEO Rob Howard. “This significant investment from Intel Capital will allow us to grow our team, our capabilities and our reach during a time of market expansion.”

“Telligent's software solution brings the latest networking tools to the enterprise -- helping to advance teamwork and interaction between employers, employees and customers in a global landscape -- and will be a significant part of Intel Capital’s growing portfolio of Enterprise 2.0 investments,” said Lisa Lambert, managing director, Software & Solutions, Intel Capital.

Telligent’s flagship product, Community Server®, is an enterprise social computing platform with more than 3,000 customers and was among the first to offer a suite-based social collaboration solution. Community Server includes blogging, Web discussions, videos, Really Simple Syndication (RSS), wiki and rich user profiles.

Telligent has completed an initial closing with Intel Capital with the remainder of its stake to be acquired within twelve months subject to certain closing conditions.

About Intel Capital

Intel Capital, Intel's global investment 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, home, mobility, health, consumer Internet, semiconductor manufacturing, and cleantech. Since 1991, Intel Capital has invested more than US$7.5 billion in approximately 1,000 companies in 45 countries. In that timeframe, 168 portfolio companies have gone public on various exchanges around the world and 212 were acquired or participated in a merger. In 2007, Intel Capital invested about US$639 million in 166 deals with approximately 37 percent of funds invested outside the United States. For more information on Intel Capital and its differentiated advantages, visit www.intelcapital.com.

About Telligent

Telligent is a leader in enterprise ready, secure, scalable and fully supported solutions for online communities and social networks. Telligent’s flagship offering, Community Server, provides a fully integrated platform utilizing social media to enhance customer relationships, brand engagement, increased ROI and provide channels for valuable customer insight and feedback. With its software solutions and extensive development and customization service offerings, Telligent empowers digital marketing and Enterprise 2.0 collaboration for many of the world’s largest brands. Clients include: Associated Press, Conde Nast, Dell, Electronic Arts, GlaxoSmithKline. Honda, Intel, Mazda, Microsoft, MSNBC, MySpace.com, National Geographic, NFL, Visa. For more information, visit Telligent.com

Here's the direct link

Just finished my internship

Jeez, time flies :) May 2008 feels like yesterday, the month I started my internship at Intel Capital in the Software and Solutions Group; and yesterday it was my last day of internship. The experience was wonderful to say the least. It wasn't less than drinking water from a firehose. The team at Intel Capital is fantastic - I am privileged to work with and learn from the people who have been investing in companies of all stages for the last 15 years. They have seen the evolution of the VC industry as it passed through ups and downs Vis-a-vis the transformation of Intel Capital (from just a strategic investor to a full-fledged VC powerhouse). Which other VC firm can make more than 150 deals in an year and a single investment of $1B!

I worked on two of the most active and dynamic sectors in the software industry - Software as a Service (SaaS) and Software for Mobile Internet Devices. It was a great sojourn - wonderful learning opportunity intracting with people with diverse perspective and background - VCs, Business Unit heads, CEOs, investment bankers, research analysts, and consultants such as Jeff Kaplan from THINK IT Services - who have been envisioning and riding the SaaS Wave as it proliferates from just a new point based, low TCO solution for SMBs in early 2000 to challenging the incumbents in the Enterprise Software space at their own turf.

On the mobile side, the market is changing at a rapid pace. The convergence of smart phones and laptops is creating a new space for Mobile Internet Devices, providing greater mobility and Internet browsing capability to the millions of people across the globe. Several new business models and technological changes are accelerating the pace of innovation - open mobile development platforms(the likes of Moblin, Android, Symbian, etc), Open Source, WiMax & 3G deployments, new processors & platforms (Centrino Atom), dedicated VC funds for mobile investments (iPhone Fund, Blackberry Partners fund, etc.), and the successful launch of iPhone 3G and AppStore, to say the least.

So, as I look back at my experiences this summer, I will share my PERSONAL learning and opinion on the Mobile and SaaS sectors. You'll also see more coverage of the happenings in the Mobile and especially the SaaS sectors in my blog from now onwards.

Channel M Receives Investment from Intel Capital

Out-of-Home Video Advertising Market Estimated to Reach $2.25B by 20111

Channel M, a leading out-of-home video advertising company, today announced it has completed Series C financing from Intel Capital. Funding will be used to expand Channel M’s digital content distribution network, as well as expand the sales and marketing infrastructure.

“Retailers and advertisers are continually searching for better ways to connect with and influence consumers while they are shopping and Channel M’s out-of-home network of branded original content satisfies this demand,” said David Teichner, CEO of Channel M. “One of our national retailing clients has seen an average of 79 percent ad recall and brand recognition, leading to a 20 percent sales increase in stores that have adopted a Channel M network. With Intel Capital’s investment in Channel M, we will be able to enhance and expand our networks through digital distribution to help us continue to develop the most effective in-store programming for our retail clients and advertisers.”

“The out-of-home video industry has developed into a unique media category with growth potential,” said Gustavo Aray, senior investment manager, Intel Capital. “Intel Capital’s investment in Channel M will drive ongoing development of its digital distribution network as well as support program content development.”

Channel M is the nation’s largest in-store media company, working with more than 20,000 locations in the United States. Channel M’s national ad supported retail networks reach more than 100 million consumers each month, serving as key vehicles for retail branding as well as third party advertising to highly targeted demographics at more than 7,500 points of purchase around the country. The Company’s clients include national retailers such as Macy’s, Ashley Furniture and Blockbuster. Channel M pioneered out-of-home narrowcasting with its unique mix of custom-developed content and advertising that educates consumers, impacts sales, enhances the store environment and drives incremental revenue for retail partners.

1According to market analysts eMarketer and PQ Media, the out-of-home video industry is expected to grow to $2.25 billion and $3.22 billion, respectively, by 2011. To capitalize on the growth potential of the market, Channel M will use the Intel Capital funding to migrate its distribution network to a digital platform. Through digital distribution of its programming, Channel M will be able to offer advertisers the ability to customize delivery of ad content to localize ads or service campaigns nationwide. Digital delivery will also enhance metrics information for Channel M networks, helping to move the industry towards universal reporting standards.

Intel Capital Announces New US$500 Million China Technology Fund II

Here's the direct link to the press release

BEIJING, April 8, 2008 -- Intel Capital, Intel Corporation's global investment organization, today announced its second China investment fund, the Intel Capital China Technology Fund II. The new US$500 million fund will be used for Intel Capital investments in wireless broadband, technology, media, telecommunications and "clean tech" that complement Intel's corporate initiatives and help expand technology market segments in China.

"The establishment of our China Technology Fund II, which is more than double the size of the original China Fund, is the ideal way to celebrate 10 years of Intel Capital activity in China's vibrant economy," said Arvind Sodhani, president of Intel Capital. "Since 1998, Intel Capital has invested in more than 70 companies across China and Hong Kong. We aim to foster innovation and local entrepreneurship, while enriching the technical capabilities and global competitiveness of technology companies in the region."

Intel Capital's first US$200 million Intel Capital China Technology Fund has been fully invested in local Chinese companies. In connection with the announcement of the Intel Capital China Technology Fund II, which comes during Intel Corporation's 40th anniversary, Intel Capital announced two new Chinese investments with the fund:


Holdfast Online Technology Co. Ltd. provides a platform to host third-party operator LAN-based or console games so gamers can play against each other in a wide area network.
Newauto Video Technology Inc. manufactures and sells video equipment, network solutions and system integrations for TV stations across China. Newauto also provides digital content editing and sports program live-broadcasting services. Newauto is a service provider for the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

"Given the success of the original China Fund -- with investments in more than 28 companies -- it is time to renew our commitment," said Cadol Cheung, managing director, Intel Capital Asia Pacific. "Intel Capital expects to further increase our investment in China by pursuing business opportunities and participating in larger deals with an eye on leading rounds. As a stage-agnostic global technology investor, Intel Capital invests consistently across all economic landscapes and has a unique advantage in providing value-added benefits."

The Intel Capital China Technology Fund, established in 2005, was intended to help Chinese businesses nurture important technologies and develop innovative products. Examples of investments include: Neusoft Group, Supcon Group, A8 Music, Chinacache International, Chipsbank Microelectronics, DAC, HiSoft Technology International, Kingsoft, Legend Silicon, Montage Technology, and Palm Commerce. Notable liquidity events involving portfolio companies from the first fund include: Actions Semiconductor, Kingsoft and Neusoft Group.

The Intel Capital China Technology Fund and Fund II are part of Intel's overall presence and investment in the Chinese market.

"2008 is of great significance for Intel in China, marking the 30th anniversary of China's reform and opening up policy, and witnessing the Beijing Olympic Games," said Ian Yang, vice president of Intel Corporation and general manager of Intel China. "Whether it is talent cultivation or industrial innovation, in cities or rural areas, Intel will continue to support and promote the development of China's IT industry."

About Intel Capital
Intel Capital, Intel's global investment 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, home, mobility, health, consumer Internet, semiconductor manufacturing and cleantech. Since 1991, Intel Capital has invested more than US$7.5 billion in approximately 1,000 companies in 45 countries. In that timeframe, 168 portfolio companies have gone public on various exchanges around the world and 212 were acquired or participated in a merger. In 2007, Intel Capital invested about US$639 million in 166 deals with approximately 37 percent of funds invested outside the United States. For more information on Intel Capital and its differentiated advantages, visit www.intelcapital.com.

Safend, a provider of endpoint data leakage prevention solutions for enterprise computers,raised $9M in Series C funding, Intel Capital reinvested

Safend, an international provider of endpoint Data Leakage Prevention (DLP) solutions for enterprise computers, today announced it has secured its Series C round of funding. The $9 million round is being funded by a leading multi-billion dollar European asset management firm, as well as Safend's existing investors, Elron (NASDAQ: ELRN) (TELAVIV: ELRN), Intel Capital and Walden Israel Venture Capital. The new funding enables Safend to accelerate development efforts of its core technology, new solution offerings, and fund continued growth through strategic partnerships and distribution channels worldwide.

"Safend is a very promising company that is already generating substantial revenues by having the best-of-breed detachable storage and device control solutions on the market," said Yair Cohen, Vice President at Elron. "With its established management team, industry proven and certified technology, and impressive customer base, Safend is well positioned for continued success."

"Safend's impressive technical development team is unquestionably among the best we have encountered," said Noga Kap, General Partner, Walden Israel Venture Capital. "Their continued dedication to their customers through product innovation, quality assurance, and new partnerships makes Safend a solid investment choice for Walden Israel."

Founded in 2003, Safend has grown to acquire more than 650 customers worldwide and continues to expand its customer base as more organizations increasingly recognize data security as a top priority and strategic asset. According to recent surveys, 79%of all organizations handle sensitive data, 55% of the data remains unprotected and according to the Ponemon Institute, a Michigan-based independent research firm, the average data loss incident will cost an organization $6.3 million.

Safend's award-winning software solutions, Safend Auditor and Safend Protector, enable organizations to reduce the risk of data loss, theft and misuse by monitoring and controlling access to sensitive data. The Safend solution protects confidential data stored on enterprise PCs and laptops by monitoring the transfer of sensitive data and controls access to removable storage devices and wireless communication ports. Safend has often been recognized for having innovative products and has recently received numerous industry awards including the Info Security Hot Company 2007 Award and the 2008 Global Excellence Award for Best Endpoint Security Solution.

"The fact that the original investors subscribed to this round is significant," said Gil Sever, Safend's Chief Executive Officer. "It validates Safend's strategy and execution performance, and demonstrates our investors' confidence in the market opportunity and demand for our evolving solution. Our investors have a proven track record of investing in successful start-ups. We are pleased to have attracted strong venture partners and look forward to working with them as we continue to address the pervasive problem of data leakage."

Daredevil Social Network Bragster Secures Intel Capital Venture Funding

LONDON, Feb. 13, 2008 – Bragster, a leading social network for dares and social bets, today announced it closed a $3.5 million Series A round of venture capital funding led by Intel Capital, the global investment arm of Intel Corp. The funds will be used to support future product launches, scale the team, accommodate new partners' requests and market the site.

The funding comes at a key moment for the year-old site, which has built an audience of 800,000 viewers in just 12 months. As social networking has spiralled upward to millions of users and $1.2 billion in advertising revenues last year, its success has a price: The leading social networks have become too large, unwieldy and homogenized for many users. Bragster founders Wim Vernaeve and Bertrand Bodson are leveraging the audience shift to connect with more targeted communities. They believe a site with higher-value content that targets a specific audience will create more engaged users and, by extension, a more attractive value proposition for advertisers.

"How many times have you told a friend 'I bet you can't do this?' That's the inspiration behind Bragster," said Vernaeve, who worked at Morgan Stanley in London before launching the site in 2007. "Bragster was founded to record all the crazy things our friends were bragging about but never seemed to happen. There's a competitive spirit in each of us and challenges everywhere, and Bragster is available to record and enrich them."

Bodson, who co-founded Bragster after working at Amazon.com, said the site is a unique entertainment channel. "Every story has its own build up and rich media content, created by our community of users. Intel Capital's role as an investor will help us write the next exciting chapter in our young company’s history."

"The social networking market segment is experiencing tremendous growth but has yet to find an optimal business model," said Alain-Gabriel Courtines, Investment Director at Intel Capital. "Bragster's understanding of social media along with its broad entertainment appeal positions it to capitalize on this opportunity and create a richer, deeper experience for both advertisers and users."

Intel Capital led the funding round, joined by David Frankel through Puressence Limited. Frankel previously invested in companies including GetMeIn and SiteAdvisor, sold to Ticketmaster and McAfee, respectively.

About Bragster
Bragster is the place to dare your friends online and brag about it after posting evidence. It combines the power of online communities with the fun of having dares, challenges and bets among friends. The company was founded by Wim Vernaeve and Bertrand Bodson in 2006 and the site launched in January 2007, reaching over 800,000 unique visitors from over 150 countries by the end of its first year. The largest markets by far are the United States, United Kingdom and Canada. More information can be found at www.bragster.com.

About Intel Capital
Intel Capital, Intel's global investment 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, home, mobility, health, consumer Internet, semiconductor manufacturing, and cleantech. Since 1991, Intel Capital has invested more than US$6 billion in approximately 1,000 companies in more than 40 countries. In that timeframe, about 157 portfolio companies have gone public on various exchanges around the world and another 187 have been acquired by other companies. In 2007, Intel Capital invested about US$639 million in 166 deals with approximately 37 percent of funds invested outside the United States. For more information on Intel Capital and its differentiated advantages, visit www.intelcapital.com.

Intel Capital invests in FREEDOM4 to Accelerate the Deployment of WiMAX Networks in the U.K.

LONDON – Feb. 11, 2008 – Intel Capital, Intel Corporation's global investment organization, today announced that it has signed an agreement to make a substantial investment in U.K. based FREEDOM4 Limited ("FREEDOM4"), formerly known as Pipex Wireless Limited. Pipex Communications PLC will also join Intel Capital in this investment. Intel Corporation and Freedom4 will collaborate to accelerate the deployment of WiMAX networks in the U.K. in an effort to enable lower cost and truly mobile broadband technology. This latest investment from Intel Capital and Pipex Communications, a major U.K. based telecommunications provider, follows FREEDOM4's successful WiMAX trials in the U.K.

FREEDOM4 is a pioneer in WiMAX services with broad spectrum assets, which will enable the deployment of WiMAX across the U.K. WiMAX services provided by FREEDOM4 aim to make personal wireless broadband available to both businesses and consumers at affordable prices. WiMAX represents the future of mobile broadband and Intel Capital, along with tremendous support from a worldwide ecosystem, is a leading global investor in WiMAX technology.

"Intel Capital is a major investor in WiMAX technology and is committed to accelerating the deployment of open-standards mobile broadband around the world," said Arvind Sodhani, president of Intel Capital. "FREEDOM4 has built a top-notch management team and this is a strategic investment opportunity through which we can help facilitate the deployment of wireless broadband in the U.K market."

Mike Read, CEO, FREEDOM4 adds, “Following the success of the commercial launch of our services in Milton Keynes, we are in the next phase of our development: making FREEDOM4 the market leader in ‘personal’ wireless broadband access. The investment from Intel Capital and Pipex Communications will facilitate the roll out of a WiMAX network in other cities around the U.K., providing a truly flexible service to businesses and consumers."

Delivering Mobile WiMAX
Intel is a leader in driving the development and deployment of WiMAX, a new wireless broadband technology that delivers "broadband on the go." Mobile WiMAX, based on the IEEE 802.16e industry specification, is a mobile broadband wireless technology that provides low-cost, multi-megabit speed and increased throughput for accessing large amounts of data such as movies and multimedia content. Intel’s integrated Wi-Fi/WiMAX module (codenamed "Echo Peak") will debut in certain next-generation Intel® Centrino® processor-based laptops (codenamed "Montevina") beginning in the middle of the year. The company's low-power mobile WiMAX silicon specifically designed for mobile Internet and consumer electronic devices (codenamed "Baxter Peak") will also be available this year.

About FREEDOM4
FREEDOM4, a joint venture between Pipex Communications and Intel Capital, is a provider of personal wireless broadband services without boundaries. With a national license to deploy WiMAX services in the 3.6 GHz band, FREEDOM4 is working closely with businesses and local authorities to build the necessary infrastructure to provide broadband wireless internet access across the UK.

FREEDOM4 has partnerships with some of the leading names in wireless technologies and telecommunications, including Intel Corporation, Airspan Networks, Nokia Siemens Networks, Ericsson, and National Grid Wireless to provide WiMAX services to nomadic workers, businesses and SOHOs via a scalable and resilient network. For further information, visit www.freedom4.com.

Voxify, a provider of speech recognition technologies for automating customer call centers, raised $15M in 4th-round; Intel Capital lead the deal

PRESS RELEASE

Voxify�, the company that enables contact centers to offer self-service for customer phone calls, announced that it has closed a $15 million funding round. This additional capital allows Voxify to accelerate the expansion of its integrated industry solutions and aggressively scale through its rapidly expanding partner ecosystem. The financing was led by new investor Intel Capital, with continued participation from Voxify's existing investors, El Dorado Ventures, Palomar Ventures, and Sigma Partners.

"Our customers and partners have embraced the Voxify solutions because the rapid and successful deployments have led to game-changing enterprise capabilities," said John Gengarella, Voxify CEO. "2007 was an exceptional year of growth for Voxify and we plan to leverage this funding to continue to invest in the products and partnerships which enabled this growth."

Voxify provides speech self-service solutions built from industry-specific templates and offered as a managed service. Voxify's solutions range from informational responses to customer inquiries to fully transactional reservation systems to interactive outbound calls with secure transactional capabilities. Contact centers are offered flexibility in application customization, control in making changes to meet rapidly changing business needs, and options for hosted and premise-based deployments.

"We feel that self-service is a driver of growth throughout the global customer service industry," said Jon Kruse, investment manager, Intel Capital. "Voxify has earned industry-leading customers and an impressive partner ecosystem that allows a distinct advantage in this market segment."

"Voxify's success comes from its combination of high performing and evolving speech applications that meet critical business objectives," said Daniel Hong, lead analyst for Customer Interaction Technology at Datamonitor. "The company has shown forward thinking innovation with its new interactive outbound calling application and its embrace of new deployment paradigms for 'managed services' in the enterprise, which is a highly accepted service model and represents the fastest growing area of the enterprise network speech industry today."

About Voxify
Voxify enables contact centers to offer self-service for customer phone calls. Voxify Automated Agents� are speech applications that offer the lowest risk to deployment and a rapid return on investment. Built from industry-specific templates and patented conversational models, Voxify Automated Agents allow callers to speak naturally -- resulting in the best customer service. Voxify offers managed services for both hosted and premise-based deployments. Millions of callers around the globe speak daily to Voxify Automated Agents when calling such companies as Continental Airlines, Hammacher Schlemmer, and Wyndham International. For more information, call 510-545-5000 or visit www.voxify.com

Virtual IronSoftware raised 20M, Intel Capital coinvested

Virtual Iron Software (www.virtualiron.com), the leading provider of enterprise server virtualization made easy, today announced that it has secured $20 million in new venture equity financing. The funding, provided at an increased valuation, will be used to accelerate product development and expand global sales, marketing and distribution efforts. The investment brings Virtual Iron's total venture funding to $65 million in invested equity capital and includes Highland Capital Partners, Matrix Partners, Goldman Sachs, Intel Capital and SAP Ventures.

"This funding and the increased valuation are a reflection of Virtual Iron's strong market momentum. The server virtualization market is exploding and Virtual Iron is growing faster than the market itself," said Ed Walsh, CEO of Virtual Iron. "Virtual Iron is known for providing enterprise server virtualization made easy. Our clients and partners get all the advanced benefits of server virtualization without the cost and complexity. The company's market momentum is a direct result of the significant value our software delivers for our clients and partners."

Virtual Iron specializes in enterprise-class server virtualization and offers comparable capabilities to market leader VMware but in the industry's easiest-to-use package. The software is currently deployed in over 1,450 organizations worldwide. Recent highlights for the company include:

- Dramatic growth in revenue over the last 12 months
- Strong international expansion; over 40% of Virtual Iron's revenue and customers now come from outside North America
- Approximately 10X growth in the number of channel partners over the last 12 months
- Tier 1 distribution agreements with Tech Data Corporation, Avnet, and expansion of its distribution network in Asia-Pacific and EMEA
- Reseller agreements with Dell, HP and Arrow Electronics
- The December 2007 release of Version 4.2 of its server virtualization platform � the first Xen�-based solution to offer expanded high availability and disaster recovery capabilities to strengthen support for production use cases and workloads
- Broad expansion of its technology partner ecosystem including new and expanded agreements and collaboration with Compellent, Dell, EqualLogic, FalconStor, HP, IBM, Intel, LeftHand Networks, Microsoft, NetApp and PlateSpin, among others
- Participation in Microsoft's Virtualization Validation Program and Interoperability Alliance

"Virtual Iron is the only competitor to VMware in the market that has the features to support the high value use cases for virtualization such as dynamic workload management, fault tolerance, and disaster recovery," said David R. Skok, General Partner at Matrix Partners. "Virtual Iron's product is differentiated from VMware in several important ways including its ease of use, scalability and use of a standard storage architecture. There is a large and important segment of the market looking for an alternative to VMware, and uncomfortable ceding this market to EMC. This demand is allowing the company to grow at a fast rate. We're excited about the potential here, particularly given the talents of the new management team."

The server virtualization software market is growing at 60% per year according to IDC and is expected to reach over $9 billion by the year 2012, but user adoption, only at 6% today, has been hindered by the complexity and high price of established commercial solutions. Virtual Iron addresses this gap by providing customer�proven, enterprise server virtualization capabilities that are both easy to use and afford. The platform combines the Xen� open source hypervisor with robust virtualization services, policy-based management and transparent workload migration capabilities. The software takes full advantage of new hardware�assisted virtualization (Intel VT and AMD-V) to deliver near native performance. Unlike other virtualization solutions, Virtual Iron requires no installation or management of software on physical servers, further simplifying deployment and data center operations. Users leverage Virtual Iron to support a broad range of data center initiatives including server consolidation, development and test optimization, high availability, disaster recovery, capacity management and virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI).

About Virtual Iron Software, Inc. � Enterprise Server Virtualization Made Easy
Virtual Iron provides easy-to-use, enterprise-class server virtualization software solutions. The software enables organizations of all sizes to dramatically reduce the cost and complexity of managing and operating their data centers. Virtual Iron includes advanced capabilities that leverage industry standards, open source economics and built-in hardware-assisted acceleration. The software is available exclusively through Virtual Iron's Channel One partner network. Evaluation copies are available for free download at http://www.virtualiron.com/free. For more information, visit http://www.virtualiron.com or email info@virtualiron.com.

Intel Capital makes series A investment in REvolution Computing, creator of parallel computing open source software for computational statistics

Santa Clara, CA - January 22, 2008 - Intel Capital, the global investment arm of Intel Corporation, today announced that it has invested in the Series A financing of REvolution Computing, creator of parallel computing software for computational statistics. The funds will be used to advance REvolution's product offerings and expand into new markets.

REvolution Computing provides RPro and ParallelR, which deliver the open source ‘R’ statistical tool with commercial support and the power of parallelism. Already used throughout life sciences, financial services, manufacturing and energy, the R statistical packages are now being deployed and supported by REvolution Computing for production, commercial, and regulated environments.

"REvolution Computing’s innovative technology provides a much-needed solution for many industries, including financial services, health-care and retail,” said Arvind Sodhani, president of Intel Capital. “This approach to business-ready open source solutions aligns with Intel’s platform strategy and continues our commitment to investing in the open source community."

"Intel Capital has a long history of investment in open source enterprises, beginning in 1998 with our investment in Red Hat,” said Lisa Lambert, managing director, Software & Solutions Group, Intel Capital. “We also provided subsequent funding for innovators such as: SuSE Linux, JBoss, MySQL, Zend Technologies, Fonality, CollabNet, and Black Duck, among others. REvolution Computing’s involvement in Intel Capital’s Open Source Incubator Program is just the latest illustration of our ongoing commitment to fostering new business models and encouraging open source software solutions."

This is the second investment made under the Intel Capital Open Source Incubator Program. Founded in January 2006, the program was created specifically to drive investments in open source projects and accelerate the adoption of open source on Intel platforms. Intel Capital’s first investment under this program was WS02, a web services platform company with primary operations in Sri Lanka. The program provides seed capital, computing resources, office facilities, and solution services through Intel’s global network of IT Innovation Centers where developers work directly with Intel engineers to develop, test, and performance tune software for the latest Intel platforms.

"The use of 'R' has been growing steadily since 1995 and 'R' is now the standard computational statistics package for an estimated one million users of statistical software worldwide,” said Richard Schultz, CEO REvolution Computing. “Our products for computational statistics are fully supported, easy to use, with commercial features and automatic parallel processing. We’re excited about this investment from Intel Capital and value their vision and commitment in this emerging segment of the market."

In conjunction with Intel Capital's investment, REvolution Computing’s Board of Directors has been expanded to include: Andre M. Boisvert, former Oracle executive, former President and COO of SAS Institute Inc., and now Chairman of several open source companies including Pentaho, an open source business intelligence (BI) suite; and Michael P. Haydock, former President and CEO of Cray Research and now VP in HP’s Business Intelligence (BI) Division. Additionally, Dr. Martin Schultz, one of the leading researchers in parallel computation over the past 30 years at Scientific Computing Associates has joined the company as Chief Science Officer.

"R has become the de-facto statistical language and REvolution Computing's R-based solutions provide the necessary scale and support for its growing commercial usage,” said Andre M. Boisvert, Revolution Computing board member. “With this investment, Revolution Computing can deliver the type of performance that has been missing in existing computational statistics offerings."

Direct link to Intel Capial site

Endeca gets $15M from Intel Capital, SAP

In a bid to align itself with two technology titans, enterprise search firm Endeca said Wednesday it received a $15 million investment from Intel and SAP.

The cash infusion into Endeca, whose clients include Ford, Wal-Mart, and the super-secret Defense Intelligence Agency, comes about two weeks after Microsoft acquired rival Fast Search & Transfer for $1.2 billion.

Endeca Chief Executive Steve Papa said the company, which in November reported its 19th consecutive quarter of year-over-year revenue growth, had no pressing need for the funding but is seeking closer ties to business software maker SAP and its 43,000 customers and semiconductor giant Intel and its dual-core technology.

"It's not just that they're giants, but what they do that's so important for information access," he said, citing the impact of Intel's dual-core technology on complex data searches.

Lisa Lambert, managing director for Intel Capital's software and solutions group, said Endeca is a good fit from a financial and strategic perspective.

"They've made tremendous progress on a [profit and loss] basis," she said. "People want to know where the data sits to make decisions."

On the strategic side, she noted that Endeca's multi-threaded application can serve as a showcase as Intel goes beyond the current quad-core architecture on the semiconductors that power servers.

"This s a processor intensive application," Ms. Lambert said. "On the whole, this is a good marriage. They need more cores and we have more cores to give it."

The new relationships, however, don't preclude Endeca from hammering out similar bonds with a company like Oracle, which competes in the business software marketplace against SAP.

"We're absolutely open to Oracle in a similar relationship," Mr. Papa added. Endeca also is backed by investors including Bessemer Venture Partners, Venrock Associates, and In-Q-Tel, the venture arm of the Central Intelligence Agency,

In addition to Fast, Endeca competes with enterprise specialists like Autonomy as well as consumer search king Google. Unlike the advertising-supported consumer model, Endeca charges from $100,000 to more than $10 million per installation.


Mr. Papa said enterprise information access is a different and far more interpretive process than consumer search.

Rather than "dump information on you," information access seeks to uncover and present relationships in the disparate forms of structured and unstructured data found in an enterprise. In September, the company also added functions that allow user-generated content to enhance search for retail and online media customers.

In a podcast, AMR Research Chief Research Officer Bruce Richardson called Endeca one of Boston's hot tech stories that went from one customer, Fidelity Investments, in 2001 to 500 as of early 2008.

In one instance, Mr. Richardson noted, Endeca set up a search system for a government client whose data set had 10 million records each with 22,000 attributes.

Mr. Papa said that Microsoft's acquisition of Fast was a function of the target company's weakness.

"They were able to buy Fast because the company was trying to sell itself," he said, noting that Microsoft plans to mesh Fast with its SharePoint content management software, linking both products to Windows rather than the Linux operating system more widely used in search applications.

Here's the direct link to RedhErring.com

Intel Capital leads Series A investment in 123Greetings.com

Here'sthe link to the press release

New York, USA & Mumbai, India – 17 January 2008 - Intel Capital and 123Greetings, a leading provider of online e-card services, today announced the first closing of a Series A investment in IntraSoft Technologies Ltd, the owner of 123Greetings, led by Intel Capital. The proceeds from the investment are intended to support future product launches, sales and marketing, infrastructure and expansion both in India and internationally.

"Online greeting cards have become a standard form of modern socialization around the world,” said Arvind Sodhani, president, Intel Capital. "Intel Capital looks forward to working with 123Greetings as they advance to the next stage of their growth and expansion."

"We are pleased to receive this support from Intel Capital," said Arvind Kajaria, founder, 123Greetings.com. "Their investment provides us with the opportunity to further our strong position in the online expressions space and take full advantage of growth opportunities."

"Our investment in Intrasoft/123Greetings highlights Intel Capital's interest in India’s technology industry," said Sudheer Kuppam, Intel Capital's managing director for India, Japan, Australasia and South-East Asia. "123Greetings is well established in this market segment. This, combined with their strong content development team, attracted our attention."

Intel Capital's investment comes from the US$250M Intel Capital India Technology Fund which was founded in December 2005. This fund invests in Indian technology companies to help stimulate local technological innovation and the continued growth of India's Information Technology industry. Intel Capital has invested in more than 40 companies across eight cities in India since 1998.

About Intel Capital
Intel Capital, Intel's global investment 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, home, mobility, health, consumer Internet, semiconductor manufacturing, and cleantech. Since 1991, Intel Capital has invested more than US$6 billion in approximately 1,000 companies in more than 40 countries. In that timeframe, about 157 portfolio companies have gone public on various exchanges around the world and another 187 have been acquired by other companies. In 2007, Intel Capital invested about US$639 million in 166 deals with approximately 37 percent of funds invested outside the United States. For more information on Intel Capital and its differentiated advantages, visit www.intel.com/capital.

About 123Greetings.com
123Greetings is the world's leading online destination for human expressions reaching over 200 million people annually. Drawing from its tag line "Giving Life to your Expressions" the service inculcates a sense of personalization that relates to the users on an emotional level. Its offering of over 20,000 greeting cards covers a mix of 2,500 special events and everyday celebrations. Its applications & widgets for social networks & blogs allow users ubiquitous access across multiple devices and platforms. For more information on the company, visit www.123greetings.com/info/.

Sun acquires Open Source Software MySQL

Some open source software [OSS] purists on the blogosphere–and some outright double-dipping conflicted for-profit OSS company executives–have been beating the drum for over a year about the upcoming parade of IPOs that we would see from the OSS movement. But reality happened, market forces intervened, Yahoo (YHOO) bought Zimbra, Citrix (CTXS) bought Xensource (paying way too much), and the OSS IPO marching band kept getting smaller and smaller. Wednesday Sun (JAVA) acquired MySQL, pulling the lead trombone of the OSS IPO parade, out of the line of march. The marching band is about to become a quintet.


Here are the links to the posts:

Buying MySQL Could Save Sun

Sun Rains on the Open Source Software IPO Parade

Five Questions Facing Sun Micro's MySQL Acquisition

LogMeIn Files for $86M IPO; Gets Money from Intel

Here's the link to original post

Remote computer access service provider LogMeIn has filed to raise up to $86.3 million through an initial public offering, according to a filing late last week with the SEC. The Woburn, Mass.-based company reported a loss of $6.5 million on sales of a mere $18.1 million for the nine months ending Sept. 2007, but its growth is strong, with sales increasing 151 percent in the same time period.

As it uses a peer-to-peer data transfer model after it makes the connection between the home computer and the remote user, LogMeIn faces less of an infrastructure burden as it grows. It has filed to trade on the Nasdaq under the symbol LOGM.

The company sells primarily to enterprises, so the IPO may also be an effort to gain some credibility with corporate buyers. Some of that credibility may also come from a deal LogMeIn signed with Intel in December. The previously undisclosed deal involves Intel investing $10 million in LogMeIn and an agreement to tightly integrate LogMeIn’s services with Intel hardware. The chipmaker will also market and sell LogMeIn’s service to its customers and share that revenue with LogMeIn. Polaris Venture Partners, Prism Venture Partners, Integral Capital Partners and Intel Capital are backing the five-year-old company.

Intel Capital invests in Nirvanix

Intel Capital invests in Nirvanix
Intel Capital is the venture-capital division of the microprocessor giant Intel.

The company has now revealed that they have invested in Nirvanix.

Nirvanix is based in San Diego and offer scalable online storage solutions.

Intel did not reveal the amount they have invested in this company. They are expected to benefit from their Nirvanix Web Services.

Nirvanix Web Services provide third party developers with solutions to incorporate the online storage service in their applications.

Nirvanix has some other high profile investors including Mission Ventures, Valhalla Partners, and Windward Ventures.

Venture Beat Says
Nirvanix, a San Diego, Calif. storage startup, has received an investment for an amount in the “mid-single digit millions” from Intel Capital, according to the company’s CEO.

That follows an investment of $12 million two months ago, at which point the company said it had signed on 40 customers. Nirvanix directly competes with Amazon’s S3, a remote storage and delivery service for online applications like video.

For a point-by-point comparison of some features Nirvanix offers in its effort to differentiate itself from Amazon, check out the company’s own list, located here.

Intel Capital Invests In In-Store TV Network Tag Media - reports VC Circle

Here's the link to the below post:


Intel Capital has invested an undisclosed amount in Tag Media Network, an in-store television network. The funding will help “accelerate Tag Media Network’s expansion, secure new staff and strengthen its sales and marketing initiatives”, according to a release. Details of the investment were not disclosed.

According to Dan Ginsburg, CEO of TAG Media Network, since launching one year ago, Tag Media Network has a reach of over 10 million shoppers across 250 stores. It works with retailers like Spencers, Trinethra, Foodworld, and Trumart.
“The Indian in-store television market has grown exponentially in the last year and Tag Media Network has been at the forefront of that expansion,” said Arvind Sodhani, president of Intel Capital.

Sudheer Kuppam, Managing Director for India, Japan, Australasia and South-East Asia, Intel Capital, said: “We believe in-store television advertising is at an inflection point, with organised retail set to take off and hope that our investment will help Tag Media Network to capitalise on this growth opportunity.”

Digital Music India or vJive is another Indian company in this space. It received $4.5 million funding from Matrix Partners India. Future Group (Pantaloon) has also launched a mall media company. Besides, there are startups like LiveMedia, founded by ex Nortel India chief Rajan Mehta. In-Store media space is probably getting crowded.