VentureWire
By Scott Denne
Enpirion Inc. has secured $16 million in Series E funding that it hopes will take it to profitability and keep it ahead of the competition for its power conversion chips.
New investor QuestMark Partners led the January round with participation from the company's existing investors, which include Canaan Partners, Columbia Capital, RRE Ventures, SAS Investors and Scale Venture Partners, said Charlie Mera, the company's vice president of marketing. He declined to disclose the company's valuation.
Enpirion makes switching DC-DC converter chips with all components on a single chip. Traditionally, these chips don't include an inductor, which stores power and releases the appropriate voltage when necessary. Including the inductor on the chip reduces the amount of real estate taken by the converter, Mera said.
This setup also enables the company to sell into markets that were previously served by linear converters, which are very inefficient but necessary for products that are sensitive to magnetic interference, such as audio and video equipment, Mera said.
Enpirion faces no shortage of competitors, including Texas Instruments Inc., Intersil Corp., Maxim Integrated Products Inc. and Volterra Semiconductor Corp.
"Clearly there's a number of larger players in the space, but [Enpirion has] been able to develop some impressive performance," said Tim Krongard, a partner with QuestMark, adding that Enpirion has been able to compete across several product categories, while its competition is focused on just one or two.
Though Mera said Enpirion's product development is ahead of those companies, its lead won't last forever. National Semiconductor Corp. recently released an integrated device, and several other competitors have started to run their chips at a higher frequency, the first step toward shrinking the inductor, he said.
The proceeds of the round will be used to expand Enpirion's development capabilities and expand its product portfolio, Mera said.
Enpirion has more than 300 customers and has had its products built into devices such as blade servers, network interface cards, cellular data cards and set-top boxes, Mera said, though he declined to disclose the company's revenue.
The company last raised financing with a $10 million Series D round in October 2007. It has now raised more than $70 million in venture capital. It expects this round to carry it to profitability, Mera said.
Enpirion has just under 60 employees. Krongard has joined the company's board of directors alongside Richard McGinn of RRE Ventures, Hemant Kanakia of Columbia Capital, Rob Herb of Scale Venture Partners and Eric Young of Canaan Partners.
San Francisco Chronicle
By Verne Kopytoff
Nine years ago today, Internet mania peaked when the Nasdaq reached an all-time high of 5,132.52.
But the heady days of initial public offerings, whimsical ad campaigns and big spending would soon end. Web sites once heralded as the wave of the future disappeared. Layoffs, bankruptcies and unhappy investors abounded.
The anniversary comes at a time of similar economic uncertainty. Slowdowns in online advertising, e-commerce spending and venture capital funding have prompted many Silicon Valley companies to cut jobs, curb perks and, in some cases, shut down.
We asked a few of the prominent players who lived through the original Internet bubble what they learned from the experience and how it informs what they're doing today.
Philip Kaplan
Dot-com era: Founder, F- Company
Shortly after the Internet industry began imploding in 2000, Kaplan built an irreverent, salty-titled Web site as a joke to chronicle its demise. F- Company quickly became the industry's must-read obituary, listing the daily body count of layoffs and bankruptcies, until the economy's rebound rendered the Web site obsolete.
Now: President, AdBrite, an online advertising company; working on a startup, Kaplan Index
Lessons learned: "The biggest thing I learned from that experience was that so many companies were keeping their employees in the dark. It seemed to be a shock every time something happened, good or bad. At AdBrite, each of our employees has access to all company information, including revenue numbers and bank account balance. I think everyone appreciates the transparency."
Meg Whitman
Dot-com era: CEO, eBay
Under Whitman, eBay glided through the dot-com downturn almost as if there were no economic hiccup. While others were contracting, the online marketplace expanded into online payments and fixed price sales, capitalizing on consumer zeal for e-commerce.
Now: Republican candidate for California governor
Lessons learned: "I remember news stories in 1999 about how the traditional rules of business had been suspended by the Net. Things got so crazy back then that I was occasionally criticized for running eBay too profitably. Imagine that.
"Well, of course, the rules of business had not been suspended. If you want to run a successful online business, you need to know how you're going to make money. You need to have a plan for delivering the financial results. That sounds obvious enough, but I'm surprised by how often Net entrepreneurs forget that part of the equation, even today."
Jerry Kaplan
Dot-com era: CEO, Egghead.com
Merging his online auctioneer, OnSale, with electronics store Egghead.com in 1999 didn't bring the success Kaplan hoped for. As losses mounted and bigger Web sites grabbed market share, Kaplan stepped aside.
Now: CEO, Winster.com, a Web site aimed at women to play games and win prizes
Lessons learned: "The first lesson of the Internet bubble is that too much investment can kill industries just as easily as too little investment. Companies that are fundamentally sound can be driven out of business by less efficient but better funded competitors, who take the profit out by driving down prices before going out of business themselves. At the height of the boom, it was a common practice to lose money on each sale just to attract an audience.
"The second lesson is that business strategies are driven by the financial community, not by entrepreneurs. You can't raise money with a conservative low-risk plan if investors are rewarding wild spending to drive growth. Conversely, you can't fund a get-big-fast strategy if investors want to see near-term profits. Unfortunately, the sentiment of the investment community can change much more quickly than companies can change strategies, so everyone loses. We're currently witnessing the sequel of this movie with the 'Web 2.0' companies, most of whom won't be around in another year or two."
Payam Zamani
Dot-com era: CEO, Autoweb
Zamani led online car seller Autoweb for two years, stepping down just prior to its IPO. In keeping with the frenzy of the times, its shares tripled in value on their first day of trading. But business realities - Autoweb hemorrhaged money following its public premiere - eventually intervened, prompting a merger with a rival. Later, Zamani founded PurpleTie, an online dry cleaning service that he shut down after the economy soured and new funding dried up.
Now: CEO, Reply.com, an online advertising company
Lessons learned: "I learned a lot about online marketing, not about how to make it work for us, but to make it work for the advertisers. I started that in 1994, and here we are in 2009, and carmakers are finally dealing with so much pain that they are coming to us and asking us for help.
"I also learned a lot about how to deal with VCs. It's really important to surround yourself with the right people. This time around I was really focused on finding the right VC who I could work with and look up to and get assistance."
VentureBeat
By Camille Ricketts
Siimpel, manufacturer of precise low-power mobile and digital cameras, announced an undisclosed round of strategic funding from LG Innotek. The Arcadia, Calif. company previously raised $75 million from backers Motorola Ventures, DOCOMO Capital, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Global Catalyst Partners, Portage Venture Partners, Scale Venture Partners, Sun America Ventures and Zone Venture Fund.
In the fall, Siimpel said that it was going to start developing micro-elecro-mechanical-systems (MEMS) technology ideal for cell phones.
VentureWire
By Staff Reporters
Siimpel Corp., maker of micro-electronic mechanical systems for cellphone cameras, has raised new funding from Korean electronics company LG Innotek Co. Ltd.
As with the company's latest funding round last November, the amount was not disclosed.
Based in Arcadia, Calif., and founded in 2000 under the name SiWave, Siimpel has raised more than $60 million in venture backing, VentureWire records show.
The company could not immediately be reached for comment.
The optics technology the company develops enables the various components of a cellphone camera to align with each other and function together, even as the cameras get smaller with each generation of mobile devices, company materials said.
The new funding will enable the company to ramp up production of its products, according to a statement from the company.
Siimpel has raised about seven previous rounds, according to VentureWire records. Investors in the company include Draper Fisher Jurvetson, NTT Docomo Inc., Portage Venture Partners, Scale Venture Partners, SunAmerica Ventures and Zone Ventures.
PeHub
by Joanna Glasner
Siimpel Inc., an Arcadia, Calif.-based maker of integrated optical microsystems, has raised an undisclosed amount of strategic funding from LG Innotek Co. Ltd. (South Korea). The company previously raised over $75 million from firms like Motorola Ventures, NTT DOCOMO, DFJ, Global Catalyst Partners, Portage Venture Partners, Scale Venture Partners, Sun America Ventures and Zone Venture Partners.