investing

Twitter's Costolo: We have a 'truckload of money in the bank'

When Facebook finally announced its initial public offering, many believed that Twitter would be close behind. But on yet another occasion, the company's chief executive, Dick Costolo, says it won't be happening.

"We are going to remain private as long as we want," Costolo told the Los Angeles Times in an interview published yesterday. "I like being private for all sorts of reasons. It allows us to think about the business and the way we want to grow it in the small boardroom as opposed to being beholden to a particular way of growing the … Read more

Facebook foibles failed to fend off fund managers

Facebook's stock plummet in May wasn't enough to push away fund managers, according to a new report.

The Wall Street Journal said yesterday that it commissioned Morningstar to compile information on purchases made by U.S.-based mutual funds and exchange-traded funds in May. Among the findings was the revelation that "at least" 160 of those funds bought Facebook shares in May.

According to the Journal, some of the funds that acquired Facebook shares during the month were so enamored of the social network that they disregarded their focus and went after a risky bet. In … Read more

Microsoft readies Bing Fund angel investment incubator

For the past few weeks, there've been some tweets showing up in my timeline from something called the Bing Fund.

ZDNet (and Techie-Buzz) blogger Manan Kakkar has noticed these, too. The tweets lead to a BingFund.com Web page that tease "We're working on something fun and will have more to share soon." (Kakkar noted in one tweet, there was an indication that Microsoft would peel back the covers on the Bing fund in mid-July.)

The head of the new Bing Fund is Rahul Sood, the founder of VoodooPC (purchased by HP), who most recently was … Read more

Corporate VCs still have love for the Golden State

Corporate venture capital investments are down from last year but more than half of that money has stayed in California, according to an investment trends study released last night by CB Insights.

The report -- which tracked more than 220 corporate VCs, including Google Ventures, Intel Capital and Dow Venture Capital -- found that corporate VCs contributed to 11 percent of all venture deals in the first quarter of this year, but the $1.09 billion total invested is the lowest amount in the last five years.

The money was spread over 84 deals, the number is down from last … Read more

Sony to dump $996 million into CMOS imaging production

Sony sees an opportunity in CMOS image sensors and is investing serious cash into them to prove it.

The company today announced that it plans to invest about 80 billion yen ($996 million) into the Sony Semiconductor Corp.'s Nagasaki Technology Center. The funds will start flowing in the first half of the fiscal year that ends March 31, 2013 and will be cut off in the first half of its next fiscal year.

Sony's investment is designed to increase total production capacity for CCD and CMOS image sensors to approximately 60,000 wafers per month by the end … Read more

Codecademy raises $10 million in second financing round

Codecademy, a site that helps users learn how to code for free, has raised $10 million in a second round of financing.

The company announced today that the round was led by Index Ventures and Kleiner Perkins. Those investment firms now join Unique Square Ventures and Virgin Group founder Richard Branson among the company's investors. Codecademy raised $2.5 million in its first financing round.

"With this new funding, we're going to keep doing what we've been doing," Codecademy wrote on its blog today. "We've reached millions of students in more than 100 … Read more

Index Ventures raises 350M euro early-stage fund

Venture capital firm Index Ventures announced today it has closed a new 350 million euro ($442 million) fund to invest in early-stage technology companies.

The new fund, the firm's sixth that focuses on early-stage technology investments, will concentrate its resources heavily on Europe, while also making investments in Israel and the U.S.

The new fund is very similar to the firm's fifth early-stage fund, which it raised in the summer of 2009, with some small differences.

"One surprise on our last fund was that we did a much higher percentage of deals in the U.S. … Read more

Writefit Software Suite

Writefit Software Suite offers you four programs combined in one package, but we weren't all that impressed with the individual programs or the overall design. And users should be prepared for quite a bit of data entry to get the suite set up.

The application's initial interface is very plain but easily understood. You're presented with four large buttons, one for each of the programs: Web Address Book, Data Confidential, ChequeWealth, and TimeWatch. There's also a smaller button to help you get started that guides you through each program. Understanding how to use the program shouldn'… Read more

Threadflip poised to expand after raising $6.5M

Threadflip, an online marketplace where fashionistas can sell and buy clothing, just got a $6.5 million infusion from investors, the company announced today.

The company offers a quick and easy way for users to sell used items from their wardrobe and purchase other stylish hand-me-downs. It said it plans to use the funds to expand its services.

Threadflip, which started in 2011 after the cofounders' wives shared a pair of boots, is like eBay. Except way prettier.

Users upload photos, set prices and write descriptions. Once a transaction is made, the company will send a prepaid shipping box out … Read more

Former Google exec Megan Quinn joins Kleiner Perkins

Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers announced today that former Google and Square executive Megan Quinn is joining the firm as an investment partner.

Quinn will focus on consumer Internet ventures as part of the venture capital firm's digital team, according to a press release.

Quinn, who oversaw strategy and development of products at Square for the last year, starts late next month.

Prior to Square, the Stanford University graduate was at Google for seven years. She led the development of some of Google's most successful products, including Google Maps.

"Joining Kleiner Perkins is an incredible opportunity at … Read more