Robot maker iRobot has long had two major lines of businesses: its famous disc-shaped vacuum cleaning robot called the Roomba; and another robot that, well, disposes of bombs. Cofounder Helen Greiner says iRobot — now a publicly traded company currently valued at $940 million — “wouldn’t been able to have struggle through” without both. No […]
Bessemer Venture Partners
VC David Cowan is Betting on Space (and Counting on Space Travel)
This morning, Spire, a nearly three-year-old, San Francisco-based maker of small, software-packed satellites, announced $40 million in fresh funding from investors, including Promus Ventures, which led the round, and Bessemer Venture Partners. (We wrote a piece for TechCrunch about the news here.)Late last week, we talked with Bessemer partner David Cowan about the deal, and why […]
Piazza, Backed By Sequoia and Others, Looks to Next Round
You might not be familiar with the 25-person, Palo Alto, Ca.-based startup Piazza, but plenty of engineering and other STEM students are aware of it. The online platform where students and instructors come together to learn and teach was first conceived by founder and CEO Pooja Sankar, who as a first-year student at the Stanford Graduate […]
As On-Demand Valet Battle Intensifies, Luxe CEO Shifts Gears
The battle to baby your car is heating up. This morning, Zirx, a year-old, San Francisco-based company that will park your car, wash it, fill up its gas tank, and rotate its tires, is announcing $30 million in new funding. The round comes roughly a month after Luxe, another San Francisco-based valet app, raised $20 […]
Mithril Capital Bets Big on Diabetes
Mithril Capital Management prides itself on funding unique “growth companies regardless of sector or geography,” says Ajay Royan, who founded the San Francisco-based venture firm with investor Peter Thiel in 2012. Last month, for example, it backed a Berlin-based, publicly traded company with an approved treatment for brain cancer. Fractyl, a company aiming to better control type […]
Foreign Firms Rule the Roost in Israel, Says Local VC
Israel’s startup scene has probably never looked quite so promising to investors. In 2013, five venture-backed companies headquartered in the country netted $2.7 billion at the time of their respective exits, says CB Insights. Within that group: Google acquired the social mapping service Waze for $1.1 billion; the Web development platform company Wix went public (its […]