“Web-based phone-calling company Jajah Inc. has won Intel Corp.’s backing for its bid to blur the distinction between phones and computers, the two companies said Wednesday. Jajah, which has more than 2 million users of its free or low-cost global calling service, said Intel has agreed to marketing, patent and distribution deals with it and Intel’s venture capital arm is leading a $20 million financing round. ‘Computers are becoming phones and phones are becoming computers,’ Jajah Chief Executive Trevor Healy said in an interview. The deal gives Jajah access to Intel’s sales channel of thousands of dealers, personal computer makers and software developers, and could lead to Jajah becoming a desktop icon on PCs later this year, Healy said, although no plans are set… Intel Capital’s undisclosed investment was one of six new investments totaling $31 million it announced Wednesday at its annual CEO Summit in Carlsbad, California. A second strategic Jajah investor will be revealed later. Other investments were in China’s largest social network company, 51.com, and Chinese chip designer Phoenix Microelectronics; two Israeli companies: Aternity, a maker of application management software, and portable computing firm Ceedo, and U.S.-based education network Tutor.com. Intel Capital President Arvind Sodhani said his venture firm invested $1.07 billion in 91 deals during 2006. Jajah was founded by two young Austrian entrepreneurs but relocated to Mountain View, California, in Silicon Valley, at the urging of its original outside investors, Sequoia Capital.”

The San Jose / Silicon Valley Business Journal reports that: “High tech venture capital firm Draper Fisher Jurvetson said Wednesday it is opening a Brazil-based affiliate in partnership with FIR Capital Partners. Menlo Park-based DFJ said it will enter the Brazilian market with an initial $40 million and focus on funding ‘extraordinary entrepreneurs with the vision to build leading global companies.’ As part of the agreement the two firms will launch a $100 million fund, DFJ FIR Brazil Fund II, targeting offshore investors, which will invest in innovative Brazilian companies in high-growth industries. A timeframe for that launch was not disclosed. FIR is a Brazil-based investment banking, private equity firm focused on investing in high growth industries in Brazil and Latin America.”

“Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, a leading Silicon Valley venture capital firm, has opened operations in China with offices in Beijing and Shanghai and formed a $360 million fund to invest in Chinese startup companies. Joe Zhou, formerly with Softbank Asia Infrastructure Fund (SAIF), and TDF Capital partners Tina Ju, David Su and Forrest Zhong are leading the KPCB China team. KPCB said its China team plans to invest its $360 million China Fund to assist Chinese entrepreneurs and to promote innovation in high-growth industries, including technology, Internet, media and wireless communications. The Fund will also invest in new consumer areas, healthcare and green technology. ‘By co-founding KPCB China, I can help entrepreneurs create new initiatives, take more risks and ultimately have a bigger impact on innovation, technology and business. I believe KPCB is the best firm to accelerate venture capital in China and will strive to make KPCB the best venture capital firm in the world,’ said Zhou, in a statement.”

“It’s official. Southern California has overtaken New England as the nation’s second largest center of start-up activity. Venture capitalists invested $1.122 billion into Southern California companies during the first quarter, compared to only $984 million into the Northeast companies centered around Boston, according to VentureOne/Ernst & Young. Several times over the years, venture capitalists have pumped more money into Southern California than New England companies, but these blips never lasted more than a quarter. This latest quarter (Q1, 2007) was the first time Southern California has remained steadfast in front for three quarters, which makes the trend. Sunny weather, a culture more compatible with experimentation and risk-taking, and general economic growth spurred by a more diverse and dynamic population drawn to the Los Angeles area (it is closer to Asia/Latin America) are all possible reasons.”

“Venrock today announced the formation of Venrock V and will invest $600 million in entrepreneurs with breakthrough ideas in technology, healthcare, media and energy. Drawing on the investing practices of its Rockefeller family founders, Venrock has delivered consistently superior performance since its inception in 1969. With the close of Venrock V, the firm holds approximately $2 billion under management. “With nearly 40 years in the venture business, Venrock is focused on the visionaries who want to build companies that shape the future,” said Tony Sun, managing general partner, Venrock. Venrock has invested in entrepreneurs charting new advancements in cancer and HIV treatments, powering semiconductors and the digital era, securing the nation’s information technology infrastructure, pioneering on-line advertising, and generating power through alternative means. “Venrock has always focused on people. We partner with entrepreneurs, sharing expertise and counsel and working hard throughout a company’s development, and this has allowed us to consistently create significant, enduring companies,” said Bryan Roberts, managing general partner. Venrock is a venture capital firm with offices in Menlo Park, New York, Cambridge, MA, and Israel that was originally established as the venture capital arm of the Rockefeller family.”

“The Central Valley moves closer to tapping the wellspring of economic growth that can flow from venture capital with what is one of the first major venture capital workshops planned by Valley leaders for the Valley. The inaugural San Joaquin Venture Funding and Entrepreneurship Conference is scheduled to occur on June 21 from 7:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at the Raymond Great Hall on the University of the Pacific campus in Stockton. … The conference will feature California Lt. Gov. John Garamendi, and venture capital legend Franklin “Pitch” Johnson, who is a founding partner with the Silicon Valley firm Asset Management Company.”

“Cisco Systems is expanding its home networking efforts by participating in a US$7 million round of funding in Avega Systems, a maker of wireless home technology, the companies said Tuesday. Cisco joined two venture capital firms, Jafco Investment and Technology Venture Partners, in the start-up’s second round of funding, but it did not disclose its share in the investment. Avega, with employees in the United States and Australia, specializes in technology that can wirelessly connect home entertainment gear such as media center PCs, portable media players, cell phones, stereo equipment, networked storage and set-top boxes. “

“Venture capital fundraising in the first quarter was at the lowest levels for the first three months of the year since the first quarter of 2004. Venture firms raised $4.9 billion for 56 funds, according to figures released Monday by Thomson Financial and the National Venture Capital Association. ‘These lower fundraising levels relative to recent quarters are expected to remain steady in 2007 as many firms recently closed funds in the 2004-2006 cycle,’ said Mark Heesen, president of the NVCA. He sees some firms raising money in the ‘off-cycle,’ keeping quarterly fundraising in the $4 billion to $5 billion range.”

“Reunion.com, the leader in helping adults find, reconnect and keep in touch with their friends and family, today announced it has completed a $25M round of funding from Oak Investment Partners, a top-tier Silicon Valley Venture Capital firm with a 30-year history. This investment represents one of the largest in a social networking company to date. Reunion.com has been a profitable online business since its inception, with revenue growth of over 100% annually. Today the company boasts 28 million users and is adding nearly one million new members each month. With almost 8 million unique visitors conducting 60 million searches for people monthly, Reunion.com is now one of the top-ranked social networking sites according to Media Metrix, with others in the category including Friendster, Xanga, Bebo, LinkedIn, and Hi5.”

“Can venture capitalists spark an entire city? San Jose is about to find out. In December the city launched a $3 million venture capital fund to invest in local businesses. The fund will be managed by Pacific Community Ventures, the investment arm of a nonprofit aimed at helping low-income California communities, and will target businesses with annual revenues of $3 million to about $15 million. The idea, according to Jeff Ruster, deputy director of San Jose’s Office of Economic Development, is to create jobs and enhance the city’s tax base, and make money in the bargain. ‘This isn’t just about making a 16 to 20 percent profit, but also a social return on investment,’ he says. PCV will put up $5.70 – culled from its own funds and from other investors – for every dollar that San Jose invests. The city’s fund will make ten to 12 investments of as much as $500,000 each, says Eduardo Rallo, PCV’s managing director. At presstime, San Jose was about to make its first investment.”

“The California Clean Energy Fund (CalCEF) announced today that it has retained Susan Preston to implement its strategy to close the funding gap for promising seed and startup-stage clean energy companies. CalCEF is a $30 million nonprofit investment fund created to spur investment in California’s clean energy economy. Ms. Preston, an expert and author on angel financing, has a background and expertise that complements CalCEF’s focus on investments in seed-stage clean energy companies. Established in 2004 as a result of the PG&E bankruptcy settlement, CalCEF supports companies developing a wide range of clean energy technologies that will bring economic and environmental benefits to California and assist the state in meeting its aggressive clean energy goals.”

“Cisco Systems today announced a venture capital initiative targeting the technology industry in Russia. Cisco will pursue direct investment opportunities into technology-related start-ups as well as investments into local venture capital teams targeting the technology industry. Last year, in anticipation of this investment initiative, Cisco hired a full-time investment manager based in Moscow. To launch the initiative, Cisco also announced that it has made an investment in a leading Russian e-commerce site, Ozon. With tens of thousands of book, movie and music titles on offer, Ozon is helping to shape the future of consumer e-commerce in Russia. ‘While Russia has low Internet penetration in terms of percentage of its overall population, in absolute terms it has as many Internet users as some Western European countries,’ said Bob Agee, vice president, Cisco Russia. ‘The amount of technical talent in Russia shows that the country is ready to become more technologically advanced. Increased investment in communications infrastructure can help improve productivity, diversify the economy and increase the standard of living across the country.’

‘Our venture investment in Russia is a continuation of a global strategy that we’ve implemented in Europe, Israel, China and India, which is to invest in local start-ups and venture teams and help promote the growth of a local innovation economy,’ said Hilton Romanski, director, global corporate business development. ‘Ozon is the first in what we hope will be an expanding venture relationship between Cisco and Russian entrepreneurs and investment partners’.”

The Los Angeles Business Journal has reported that: “Leonard Green & Partners has closed its fifth buyout fund, tapping U.S. and foreign investors to raise more than $5.3 billion, the Los Angeles private equity firm said Thursday. The fund is more than three times as big as the firm’s most recent fund, which was raised five years ago and accessed to invest in Petco Animal Supplies Inc. and Neiman Marcus Group Inc. among other companies. Leonard Green, founded in 1989, has invested in 42 different companies. The firm specializes in retail investments with a value between $500 million and $2 billion. John Danhakl, Peter Nolan and Jonathan Sokoloff are the firm’s managing partners.”

“Golden Capital Network (GCN), the Sacramento Area Regional Technology Alliance (SARTA) and UC Davis Office of Research today announced the “Top Presenting Companies” selected at last week’s 2007 Sacramento Region Venture Capital Conference El Dorado Hills. The eighth annual conference featured 28 emerging growth companies from the Life Sciences, Emerging Technologies, Software/IT and Communications Technology sectors that presented their ideas and companies to venture capitalists and angel investors. Of the 28 companies, nine were selected to present one more time before prospective investors in a “Finalist Showcase.” Pediatric Bioscience, of Sacramento, and Visicon Inspection Technologies, of Napa, were both selected as “Top Presenting Companies” by a panel of investors which included Roger Akers (Akers Capital), Steve Mills (DCA Capital), Max Shapiro (Keiretsu Forum), Harry Laswell (American River Ventures), and Jack Crawford (Velocity Venture Capital).”

“The investment firm run by former Walt Disney Co. Chief Executive Michael Eisner has launched a studio that will produce and distribute videos for the Internet, portable media devices and cell phones… Eisner founded the L.A.-based Tornante Co. after he left the entertainment giant in 2005. Tornante has also purchased… a San Diego studio named Vuguru, which will make the mobile movies. The first production will be called “Prom Queen” and will be a mystery comprised of 80 installments, each 90 seconds.”

That’s according to a brief report in San Francisco Business Times: “The new Private Equity Council, created last year to foster support among policymakers, says the industry is misunderstood. The group’s formation reflects the industry’s rising profile on both Wall Street and Capitol Hill. The Bay Area has long been a global center for venture capital and private equity. The group established by 10 of the largest private equity firms including TPG, formerly Texas Pacific Group, which maintains an investment arm in San Francisco. Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and the Blackstone Group also are founding members. “

“Argon Venture Partners, an early-stage venture capital investment firm, has announced the opening of its U.S. and Canada offices in Calgary, Alberta, and Silicon Valley, California. With two senior partner offices, Argon becomes the world’s first cross-border venture capital firm located in the U.S. and Western Canada. Argon will focus on early-stage opportunities in information technology, including semiconductors, systems, software infrastructure and related services. The firm has created unique relationships on both sides of the border. In Western Canada, Argon owns one of the top angel organizations, and has established unique relationships with technology transfer offices and government agencies.”

That’s what the NYT seems to be asking in an article, “For Internet Barons, Uncharted Investment Territory”:

There lies a conundrum for the Internet barons who have turned, of late and en masse, to investing in solar, wind, biofuel and other energy startups. Does their expertise with technology qualify them to take on the world of alternative fuel and power? When it comes to Energy 2.0, are some of the nation’s most successful investors in over their heads? … The key to success, they say, is the Silicon Valley investment vetting process. The venture capital model, they contend, pits great entrepreneurs against one another, invests in the best technologies and creates focused, streamlined companies and new industries.

But their certainty, which can spill into bravado, has stirred criticism even within their own ranks. ‘They’re completely wandering in with no clear idea’ of how the energy industry works, said Paul Kedrosky, a venture capitalist and the executive director of the von Liebig Center for Entrepreneurism and Technology Advancement at the University of California at San Diego.

He argued that the party line — that good investment strategists can apply their principles across industries — did not acknowledge the peculiarities and complexities of energy technology. “The downside? They’re going to blow up this sector before it has a chance to get established,” Mr. Kedrosky said.

It is not as unlikely a possibility as it may seem. Before the dot-com boom “business incubators” were sometimes used to help small business grow. This economic development approach was all but destroyed when the venture capital companies got a hold of it. Companies like idealab in Pasadena used it to pump up multi-millions in investor funding until the entire concept of “business incubation” meant something entirely different. In all likelyhood, the recent flood of VC money into alternative energy projects will be a good thing, but the danger does exist that they could ignore smaller, more innovative but less profitable technologies and companies in the never ending quest for the big bucks.

Napatech announced the investment of USD 7.5 million from existing investors Ferd Venture and Northzone Ventures. Napatech develops, produces and markets programmable and intelligent Ethernet adapters. Both investors are located in Nordic countries- Ferd Ventures is based in Oslo, Norway and and Northzone is based in Copenhagen, Denmark.

“Scale Venture Partners (formerly BA Venture Partners) announced today that it has completed a final close on Scale Venture Partners II, a $400 million fund. Foster City-based Scale, which was formerly BA Venture Partners, said that due to ‘a significant response to the offering,’ original limited partner Bank of America agreed to transfer its interest in Fund II entirely, allowing Scale Venture Partners to build a portfolio of 12 long-term limited partners. Bank of America continues to be the sole limited partner for Scale Venture Partners I, a $500 million fund… Limited Partners in Scale Venture Partners Fund II include Credit Suisse, Key Capital Corporation, Lexington Partners, Liberty Mutual, Macquarie Global Private Equity Fund, Montague Newhall, Pantheon Ventures and its affiliates, Paul Capital Partners, Storebrand, and several other domestic and international institutional investors. “