Facebook Inc. made its first acquisition as a public company on Friday.
It bought social gifting app developer Karma for an undisclosed sum, picking up 16 employees.
The app site will continue to stay up and be functional, so it doesn’t appear this wa a simple acqusition of talent.
Karma was funded by Kleiner Perkins, Obvious Corporation, Sequoia Capital and Felicis Ventures.
05/18/2012
NADB closes on $65 million solar project loan
The North American Development Bank has closed on a $65 million loan agreement with SunEdison that will be used toward the construction of a 20-megawatt solar park in Picture Rocks, Ariz.
SunEdison will supply electricity to Tucson Electric Power over a 20-year period. The solar park will consist of hundreds of photovoltaic modules on a 250-acre lot owned by Tucson Water, a department of the City of Tucson.
San Antonio-based NADB is a financial institution established and capitalized in equal parts…
05/18/2012
AZTechBeat starts coverage for Arizona software industry
Hamid Shojaee is adding publisher to a bio that includes tech entrepreneur, software CEO and incubator developer.
Shojaee, CEO of Axosoft in Scottsdale, launched his latest creation, AZTechBeat.com, earlier this week as a way to provide more in-depth coverage of the state’s software and technology industry than what currently exists.
It’s not just the coverage that is lacking, but an overall sense that software isn’t a viable industry in Arizona, despite numerous startups, Shojaee said.
“Facebook…
05/18/2012
Facebook shares fall flat on IPO debut
Facebook Inc. barely moved the needle on its first day of trading, ending up essentially flat near its IPO price of $38 a share.
The stock jumped 12 percent in the opening minutes of trading on Friday before slipping back from $43 to close to the $38 price IPO investors paid on Thursday.
The Wall Street Journal cited an unnamed source who said that the underwriters on the deal stepped in to prevent it from dropping below the $38 a share price that was set for initial investors on Thursday.
Facebook’s…
05/18/2012
Meet 5 Kickstarter tech stars
Palo Alto-based Pebble raised $10 million on the crowd funding platform Kickstarter for a digital watch that interfaces with iPhones and Android-based phones — more than any other project.
Read more about Pebble here and in the San Francisco Business Times print edition.
Here’s a look at five more Bay Area projects that have found success on Kickstarter:
Hidden Radio & Bluetooth Speaker: $939,000
After working around the world for many tech companies, industrial Designers John Van Den Nieuwenhuizen…
05/18/2012
Expect more debate between A320neo and 737 Max as Boeing tries to catch up to Airbus in orders
Expect to see a brass-knuckle battle for orders in coming months as Boeing and Airbus vie for market share in the all-important narrow body jet market.
Here in Boeing country, people may take comfort in Boeing claims that the 737 Max will be more fuel efficient than the competing Airbus A320neo.
But the bottom line is aircraft sold, and at this moment, Boeing is still playing catch-up.
The tightness of the race is indicated by Boeing’s announcement Thursday that it plans to increase the fan size…
05/18/2012
ITC sides with Microsoft in Motorola patent infringement case
Motorola will have to modify its Android smartphones or pay Microsoft a licensing fee if it wants to continue selling them in the United States.
After postponing its decision several times, the U.S. International Trade Commission ruled Friday that Motorola’s Android phones violate a Microsoft patent, and ordered an import ban for the offending devices.
“Microsoft sued Motorola in the ITC only after Motorola chose to refuse Microsoft’s efforts to renew a patent license for well over a year,”…
05/18/2012
Ben Ertischek: Medium Private Companies Winner
Even before Ben Ertischek graduated from high school, he knew where he wanted his career to go.
After earning his MBA from New York University’s Stern School of Business, he spent the next decade and a half preparing, in a fashion, for his role as chief financial officer of Coaxis Inc., the holding company for Viewpoint Construction Software.
“That’s where my passion was,” said Ertischek. “I wanted to find a small to mid-sized company and help it achieve what it could from a growth standpoint.”
His…
05/18/2012
The Funded: Sureline Systems, Integrated Resource Recovery, AlephCloud Systems
Here are fundings from Silicon Valley companies, announced or filed recently with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
The Funded is a recurring feature where we post new fundings that cross our desks, as well as an archive of past fundings.
AlephCloud Systems Inc. raises $1.6M of $1.8M
The Saratoga-based company sold equity, options, warrants and securities to raise the funds.The related parties listed on the filing include: Roy D’souza, executive, director; Kumar Malavalli, director;…
05/18/2012
For tech companies, patents can be cash cows, huge legal expense
While most people’s eyes glaze over when you mention patents and intellectual property law, they can have a significant impact on a company’s bottom line — both in revenues and legal fees.
Microsoft, to name one Puget Sound-area company, is involved in more than 60 patent infringement lawsuits, according to recent Securities and Exchange Commission filings.
While the company wouldn’t tell me how much it spends on legal fees, a survey published by the American Intellectual Property Law Association…
