venture

How to create a business in 48 hours

Businesses are hard to build and even harder to grow (just ask any successful entrepreneur), but they're easier to create than you might think. This is especially true if you have technical chops, access to a room full of investors, and a lot of caffeine.

I recently had the opportunity to be part of two hackathons--I was a judge for the Mobile App Olympics, a global mobile app competition, and the host of AngelHack, a bicoastal hackathon competition. Teams had one weekend to create a viable product that they had to present in front of a panel of investors, … Read more

Charles River Ventures raises $375 million startup fund

Charles River Ventures today announced that it's keyed in a $375 million fund to continue its investments in technologies.

CRV intends to focus investments from its latest fund on startups with, "disruptive technologies, teams and business models." Startups like Hubspot, Vlingo, Yammer and Zendesk, all count themselves among CRVs investments.

"CRV has seen consistent liquidity from our portfolio over the last decade, with 21 major liquidity events, IPOs and company acquisitions since the collapse of the bubble," said CRV general partner Izhar Armony.

In addition to its strong startup portfolio, CRV boasts a number of … Read more

Intellectual Ventures targets AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile on patents

Intellectual Ventures today filed a patent infringement complaint against three of largest cellular providers in the U.S.

The complaint, which targets AT&T, Sprint, and T-Mobile, cites violations to patent No. 5,790,793, the nebulously titled "Method and system to create, transmit, receive and process information, including an address to further information," in addition other equally wide-armed patents.

The chief litigation counsel for Intellectual Ventures, Melissa Finocchio stated:

The wireless communications networks of AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile use a variety of important technologies covered by Intellectual Ventures' patents. We previously attempted to discuss … Read more

Can BMW iVentures fix parking?

BMW iVentures officially opened the doors to its New York office this week, and inaugurated its new space with a panel discussion on digital technology and mobility.

The $100 million fund has already seeded U.K.-based Parkatmyhouse.com and MyCityWay, which will lease space in BMW's trendy West Village office. The firm plans to invest primarily in urban mobility technologies to solve the transportation needs of the future. But the hot topic of the evening was, of all things, parking.

Speaking in front of an audience made up mostly of VC groupies and techies angling for a free drink and an introduction to fund managers, panelists seemed to unanimously agree that the practice of finding a place to park your car was 20 years behind the times. In an industry where advanced technology is considered a gate or the capability to take a credit card, there is obviously a lot of room for improvement. … Read more

Andreessen on $1.5B fund: 'The opportunities seem very large'

The team of Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz, a duo since the go-go Netscape days of the mid-1990s, is on fire.

Today, their 3-year-old venture capital firm, Andreessen Horowitz, announced that it has closed its third fund--this one, $1.5 billion, brings the total amount they've raised to $2.7 billion, which isn't bad for a time when VC returns have been lackluster, at best.

Andreessen Horowitz now has stakes in 90 consumer and enterprise businesses, including some of the hottest names in tech: Zynga, Facebook, Twitter, Airbnb, Foursquare, Box, Groupon, Fab, Uber, and on and on. … Read more

Andreessen Horowitz raises $1.5 billion VC fund

One of the most prominent venture capital firms in the online world has raised a huge sum of cash.

Andreessen Horowitz (or a16z, as it's sometimes called) announced today that it has raised $1.5 billion for its Fund III. The venture capital firm has now raised a total of $2.7 billion since its founding in June 2009.

Last week, the New York Times reported that Andreessen Horowitz was looking to raise $1.5 billion to continue in its venture capital endeavors. At the time, the company declined to comment.

Today was the day to lay it all … Read more

Andreessen rumored to be looking for $1.5 billion in new funding

One of Silicon Valley's most successful venture capital firms could become quite a bit richer if rumors that its founder is trying raise $1.5 billion are true.

The New York Times reported today that one of tech's most influential investors, Marc Andreessen, is looking to raise $1.5 billion for his Andreessen Horowitz investment firm. According to the Times, if Andreessen comes up with the funds, it could more than double the firm's assets. Right now, Andreessen Horowitz has $1.2 billion distributed between three funds.

Since launching in 2009, Andreessen Horowitz has been one of … Read more

VC funding hits 10-year high, though mid-stage startups suffered

Venture capital funding was up last year to a 10-year high. So is it a bubble? And if so, is it still expanding or ready to burst? Read on.

During the fourth quarter of 2011, venture capitalists spent $7.6 billion investing in companies around the world, according to venture capital database CB Insights. All told, investors offered up $30.6 billion last year in over 3,000 deals, making it the biggest investment year in a decade. In 2010, venture capitalists plunked $23.7 billion into nearly 2,800 deals.

Investors dropped $2.5 billion into online companies last … Read more

What you should do in 2012: Start a company

It's the first day of 2012 and my 1,000th post on CNET and I'd like to encourage my dear readers to go out and raise their entrepreneurial flags.

Let's assume you have an idea and the desire to turn it into a commercial endeavor. Much is made of financings and investors but that all pales in relation to the fact that starting a company is hard. Keeping one going is even harder.

This should come as no surprise and yet a lot people still seem to believe the gushing reports of how easy it is to … Read more