Nanochip Gets Additional $14 mill

Nanochip received $14 million in Series C funding.  This is about the stage where BerkeleyVC, led by Arthur Trueger, would look to invest in a start up.

Nanochip, Inc., a developer of advanced microelectro-mechanical systems (MEMS) silicon data storage chips, today announced the completion of a $14 million financing round. In conjunction with Intel Capital and JK&B Capital, both investors in earlier rounds, this round was led by an additional world-class investment company. The financing round will allow Nanochip to complete development of its first prototypes later this year to support design verification testing and limited customer sampling in 2009.

Click here to read more about this story.  Arthur Trueger has been in the venture capital business for over twenty years.

VC Investment in Europe Fell in 2007

In 2007 VC investment into European firms  has gone down slightly.  Arthur Trueger and his VC company BerkeleyVC are located in the always flourishing VC haven, the Silicon Valley.

Venture capital investment into European companies during the fourth quarter of 2007 was Euros 1.21 billion, down from Euros 1.36 billion last quarter and Euros 1.52 billion for the corresponding quarter last year, representing a 6.6 percent decline for the year, according to research group Library House (Cambridge, England).

Even taking into account any future late reporting of Q4 deals, 2007 investment levels are more than 5 percent down on those seen in 2006, dropping from Euros 5.64 billion in 2006 to Euros 5.27 billion last year, Library House maintains.

To read more about this story, click here.  The chairman of BerkeleyVC is Arthur Trueger.

Arcion Therapeutics Secures $8.8 mill in “A” Round Financing

A group of venture capital firms, similar to Arthur Trueger and his BerkeleyVC, helped rais close to $9 million for Arcion Therapeutics.

Arcion Therapeutics, a venture backed clinical biotechnology company that develops pain therapies, announced it has raised $8.8 million in a Series A round of financing, led by CMEA Ventures and InterWest Partners. The funding will help the company continue its breakthrough work with ARC-4558 (topical clonidine gel), a treatment for alleviating moderate and severe pain associated with diabetic neuropathy.

To read more about this story, click here.  To view Arthur Trueger’s profile visit Naymz.

Benchmark Invests in RoR Provider

Ruby on Rails application deployment and support provider Engine Yard announced on Friday it has closed a $3.5 million Series A investment from Benchmark Capital.  Engine Yard will use the funds to expand its global operations, strengthen its customer service organization worldwide and enhance the core technologies that power Ruby on Rails applications. Benchmark general partners Mitch Lasky and Peter Fenton will join the Engine Yard’s board of directors.

BerkeleyVC, led by Arthur Trueger, focuses more on later stage funding for start up companies; companies that are close to going public, in many cases.  To read more on the above story, click here.

Great Second Round Funding for Primera Biosystems

Primera Biosystems received $21 million in second round funding from venture capital companies, not too different from Arthur Trueger’s BerkeleyVC.

Molecular diagnostics company Primera Biosystems Inc. has closed on a $21 million Series B financing led by a British investment firm

The venture capital round was led by U.K.-based Abingworth LLP and included Interwest Partners LLC of Menlo Park, Calif.

To read more, click here.  Post was written by Arthur Trueger.

Starbucks Roasts CEO

Post by Arthur Trueger. Starbucks Coffee Co. said Monday it is bringing its chairman and former chief executive, Howard Schultz, back to lead a major restructuring initiative, replacing CEO Jim Donald.Starbucks said the leadership shuffle is part of a series of initiatives to increase shareholder value, which also include closing underperforming U.S. stores and slowing the pace of store openings.

To read more about this developing story, click here.

News Nobody Likes to Hear

Economists are speculating that fears of recession will weaken the job market in 2008.

he labor market is expected to end 2007 with a whimper, but even that modest forecast could be seen as “the good old days,” since monthly job losses may become common in the year ahead, according to economists.

The December employment report due at 8:30 a.m. ET Friday should see a net gain of 70,000 jobs in the month, according to economists surveyed by Briefing.com, down from the 94,000 gain reported in November.

To read more, click here.

10 High-Flying Mistakes

Here are the top ten PR nightmares in the airline industry.  It seems that some of these airlines may need a little extra managemnt from a venture capital firm.

1.   Southwest Airlines – The low-cost carrier told a 23-year-old college student she was dressed to provacatively and initially told her she couldn’t board the plane.  She goes public, appearing on the Today show.

2.   Sinagpore Airlines – inaugurates the Airbus A380, the world’s largest jet, with a seven-hour flight from Singapore to Sydney. To the chagrin of those who forked out $15,000 for one of 12 private, double-bed-equipped suites, the airline asks its passengers to refrain from having sex.

3.   SkyWest Airlines – SkyWest Airlines apologizes to passenger James Whipple after he is barred from using the plane’s restroom during a one-hour flight from Boise to Salt Lake City. Whipple, who says he had two “really big beers” before takeoff, winds up urinating into his airsickness bag and is questioned by airport police upon landing.

4.   Doug Parker (US Airways) -  Just hours after US Airways comes up short in its $9.8 billion bid to acquire Delta, CEO Doug Parker is pulled over by police in Scottsdale, and arrested for drunken driving.

To see the other blunders, click here.

Top Dumbest Business Blunders

Business blunders are not good for anyone, especially the investors below are some of the top business mishaps of 2007.  For the entire list vist CNN.

1.   China – Millions of items manufactured in China need to be recalled due to some malfunction; everything from Mattel’s barbies, to Nike football helmets.

2.    Merrill Lynch – In the first quarter of 2007, thanks to its $1.3 billion purchase of First Franklin Financial, Merrill Lynch becomes the world’s top underwriter of subprime-mortgage-backed securities.  After the subprime meltdown, Merrill announces a quarterly loss of 2.24 billion dollars

3.   Chunk Prince – CEO of Citigroup resigns after an $11 billion write-down.

4.   KFC/Taco Bell – A video clip released on YouTube shows packs of rats in a closed-for-the-night KFC/Taco Bell in NYC.

5.   Rapper Jay-Z – the founder of the Rocawear clothing line, runs into trouble after the Humane Society finds that the ‘faux fur’ on its jackets is actually dog fur.

Juice Wireless Secures $6 Million in VC

Juice Wireless is a pioneer in the emerging mobile social networking industry, and just closed $6M from venture capital funding.  21Ventures led the investement for the company’s third funding round.

“We were able to raise money at a great valuation in a short time,” says Nick Desai, CEO of Juice Wireless. “Our fund-raising success is a testament to our market leadership. The investment will be used to further the development of the JuiceCaster product and expand its user base. Juice Wireless will accelerate its recruitment drive, with a focus on building the marketing and engineering teams as well as a focus on direct user acquisition.”

To read more about this VC investment, click here, for more information on Juice Wireless, go here.