GigaOm already stands out as one of the most heavily-funded sites in the tech news world — and today it nearly doubled that funding, announcing that it has raised another $6 million.

Back when the San Francisco-based company had “only” raised around $8 million, I already found the funding “kind of remarkable”. The new total, $14 million, isn’t a huge amount for a tech startup, but it certainly dwarfs the amount raised by most competing sites. (VentureBeat, for example, has raised less than $1 million, while Business Insider has raised more than $6 million.)

When I asked GigaOm chief executive Paul Walborsky about the decision to raise more money, he responded, “We are big believers in building out a big company.”

GigaOm is certainly one of the most-respected names in the field, but thus far, tech blogs haven’t been acquired for enough money to justify a higher level of funding — the biggest deal has probably been AOL buying TechCrunch for $40 million. Walborsky said that he and founder Om Malik (pictured above) are confident that they’ve figured out a model that works and can continue grow. Rather than limiting its monetization efforts on GigaOm sites (which include GigaOm itself, as well as sites like video-focused NewTeeVee and cleantech-focused Earth2Tech), it sounds like the company sees the blogs as a way to build its brand. The sites also draw in potential new customers for its conferences and the research and reports sold through GigaOm Pro. The new money will mostly go towards building out the technology infrastructure behind Pro, Walborsky added.

“We believe that the growth of GigaOm is going to be driven by our research platform and GigaOm Pro,” he said. “That does not minimize the importance of our online audience. What we write about on the blog is what brings people to read GigaOm on a daily basis.”

GigaOm now claims more than 4 million unique monthly visitors across its sites, a number that’s growing 30 percent annually. According to Walborsky, the company doubled its revenue in 2010, thanks largely to GigaOm Pro. It’s on-track to double that revenue yet again this year, and to become cash-flow positive by the end of 2011.

Tags: tech blogs

Companies: Alloy Partners, Gigaom, Reed Elsevier Ventures, True Ventures

People: Om Malik, Paul Walborsky

Article courtesy of VentureBeat » deals

Motorola Mobility (MMI) received two votes of confidence today as regards its undervalued prospects in smartphones and its opportunity for financial improvement.

Moto shares are up 23 cents, or 1%, this afternoon, at $24.18.

Macquarie Equities Research analyst Kevin Smitheon started coverage of the stock at Outperform, with a $29 price target, writing that the handset business, valued at just $2 per share currently, could add a lot to the stock price if things go well.

Smitheon estiamtes that most of the share price — $21 — is tied to the “steady” home set-top box business, the company’s $10.57 per share in cash, its net operating losses that shield future profits, and its patent portfolio. Moreover, the set-top business could be sold, if the company chose to.

In handsets, Smitheon poo-poos worries about how Motorola will differentiate from other vendors of phones based on Google‘s (GOOG) “Android” operating system.

We think MOTOBLUR [the user interface Moto builds on top of and Webtop software [the desktop running on its Atrix "lapdock" companion device], along with external keyboards, displays and docking stations, will provide MMI with a unique user experience now, and especially once its LTE devices are launched in Q3. Unlike several larger handset vendors, we believe MMI is on the cutting edge of the technology adoption cycle. MMI‟s issues are scale and execution, not innovation and leadership.

In a somewhat different vein, ThinkEquity’s Mark McKechnie started coverage today with a Buy rating and a $30 price target, arguing Moto is “a value play on Android smartphones and tablets.”

At the moment, “the stock is depressed due to the Verizon [Communications (VZ)] iPhone, the challenging positioning of the XOOM tablet versus the iPad2, and the Bionic delay,” writes McKechnie.

“At $25, the EV is just $3.9B or 0.3x CY12E sales. We view the stock as attractive based on our view of $2.50-plus of longer-term EPS power.”

The key is an increasing share of Android phones, which could lift the handset division from an operating profit of 2.7% that he currently projects to as much as 5% operating profit margin. That would generate $2.05 per share in profit on an annual basis. Currently, McKechnie models handsets making just 67 cents in profit next calendar year, and the entire company making just $1.50 per share, so an expansion of the handset margin would obviously have a substantial impact on the profit picture for Moto.

McKechnie also started coverage today of Moto competitor Research in Motion (RIMM), with a Hold rating.

Article courtesy of Tech Trader Daily

Probably no big deal, but if you’re a nervous flyer, please note that Phil Falcone’s LightSquared will be running some tests that might interfere with the technology on aircrafts flying near Vegas.

The Federal Aviation Administration is warning that navigation systems based on GPS technology may be “unreliable or unavailable” in about a 350 mile-radius that includes Las Vegas. LightSquared — a Reston, Va., company that plans to deploy an ultra-fast nationwide wireless broadband network of 40,000 transmitters and cell towers — is field testing its equipment in Nevada southeast of Las Vegas.

The tests are part of a deal LightSquared worked out with the Federal Communications Commission. The company has rights to frequencies located very close in the electromagnetic spectrum to those used for GPS. But the company’s signals will be stronger than GPS signals, raising concern that they’ll jam GPS in the vicinity of LightSquared transmitters…Dick Knapinski, a spokesman for the Experimental Aircraft Association, which represents 175,000 recreational pilots, said most pilots will see the FAA notice and plan to use something other than GPS to navigate. “It’s like if you are in your car or truck and you’ve been relying on GPS to get someplace, but you might want to make sure you still have a map in your car and get it out,” Knapinski said.

For anyone uncomfortable enough with this “get out a map” plan to pay for a last minute change, as an offer of gratitude, Falcone would like to invite you for an evening of cocktails and show tunes with Manhattan’s most popular singing pig.

[AP]

Article courtesy of Dealbreaker

Small-cap ($367 million) patent holder Mosaid Technologies, which is based in Kanata, Ontario, in Canada, this afternoon fired the latest salvo in an ongoing patent battle with Cisco Systems (CSCO), complaining to the U.S. International Trade Commission that Cisco infringed six of its patents on networking technology, including power-over-ethernet, DSL access points, and voice technology for cable modems.

Mosaid, whose shares trade on the Toronto stock exchange under the symbol “MSD,” requested that the ITC halt import of Cisco products to the U.S.

Last August, Mosaid said that Cisco had requested a declaratory judgment of non-infringement of its products in light of nine U.S. patents held by Mosaid and requested a jury trial. Mosaid, beginning in October of 2009, had sent notice to Cisco saying the company infringed some of Mosaid’s 300 patents on various networking technologies, and demanded  Cisco pay for a license.

Mosaid is also suing chip maker Nvidia (NVDA) in the Disctrict Court for the Eastern District of Texas, Tyler Division, accusing the company last month of infringing its patents on power management in integrated circuits. It sued Japanese memory chip maker Elpida Memory in the same jurisdiction a week ago, charging the company infringes its patent on “field effect transistors,” or FETs.

And Mosaid also has a mammoth suit down in Texas, in the Marshall division, filed in March, against numerous companies, including Intel (INTC), Dell (DELL), Research in Motion (RIMM), chip maker Marvell Technology Group (MRVL), and several others, charging them with infringing on six patents relating to wireless technology, in particular as it pertains to wireless area networking.

Mosaid has had some patent victories of late. In December of last year, it got IBM (IBM) to license its technology applicable to application-specific integrated circuits (ASIC).

The company’s fiscal Q2 report last November featured a 17% jump in revenue on the licensing of wireless patents.

Article courtesy of Tech Trader Daily

SanDisk (SNDK) this morning said it would spend $327 million in cash to purchase privately held Milpitas, California-based Pliant Technology, a privately held developer of enterprise-grade solid-state drives (SSD).

SanDisk said that Pliant, which sells SSDs of the “SAS” variety, already uses the “multi-level cell” (MLC) flash memory technology, which SanDisk has an expertise in producing.

That MLC technology is key to a rapid expansion of the enterprise SSD market, according to remarks that SanDisk quoted form a Gartner analyst.

Pliant, founded in 2006, was backed by Arcturus Capital, Divergent Ventures, Lightspeed Venture Partners, and Menlo Ventures. CEO Richard Wilmer is a veteran of various networking firms, including Aruba Networks and Procket Networks, but also had positions previously with Seagate (STX) and Maxtor.

SanDisk’s shares are down 10 cents at $47.85.

Article courtesy of Tech Trader Daily

Next Up: A Crackdown on Outside-Expert Firms (DealBook)
With the government securing a conviction against Raj Rajaratnam of the Galleon Group on Wednesday, federal prosecutors will shift their focus to expert networks — the intricate web of money managers, corporate executives and consultants at the center of another wave of insider trading cases.

Goldman Sachs Viewed Unfavorably by 54% (Bloomberg)
The company was viewed less favorably than other banks by the 1,263 poll respondents. While 54 percent said they had an unfavorable view of Goldman Sachs, 25 percent felt the same about JPMorgan, 49 percent for Citigroup Inc. (C) and 48 percent for Bank of America Corp. (BAC) Thirty-five percent had an unfavorable view of Frankfurt-based Deutsche Bank AG (DBK), which was also singled out in the U.S. Senate subcommittee report.

AIG Share Sale Starts But Could Be Pulled (WSJ)
The stock offering commenced Wednesday following lengthy discussions between Treasury and AIG’s management and directors about what they want to achieve from the share sales…Following the discussions, the Treasury and AIG are now in alignment about how to proceed with the offering, and they won’t sell shares if taxpayers don’t earn a profit now and in the future on the sales, according to people familiar with the matter. In other words, if they don’t get the price they want, Treasury will “pull the deal,” said one of the people.

Glencore Said to Gain Double Orders for IPO (Bloomberg)
Glencore International Plc received enough demand from investors for its $11 billion initial public offering to sell the shares more than twice over, according to three people with knowledge of the matter. Highbridge Capital Management LLC, a hedge fund owned by JPMorgan Chase & Co., proposed a $500 million investment, said one of the people, who declined to be identified because the information isn’t yet public. The last orders for the offer are due on May 18, with final pricing to be disclosed the following day, according to a term sheet for the sale.

Exit interview: Kobe Bryant says Lakers’ failed title run was a ‘wasted year of my life’ (LA Times)
Kobe Bryant is never much for sentimentality, and he’s not going to change any time soon. So when he reflected Wednesday on the Lakers’ underachieving 2010-2011 season, which included being swept in a Western Conference semifinal series, Bryant didn’t mince words on his disappointment.

China hikes reserve requirement ratio for banks (MarketWatch)
The People’s Bank of China lifted the ratio of funds domestic banks must set aside as reserves on Thursday, the fifth such hike this year amid persistent inflation concerns. From Monday the reserve requirement ratio will be increased 0.5-percentage point, bringing the rate to 21% for most big banks and 19% for smaller banks.

Copper tumbles to 5-month low on growth blues (Reuters)
Copper tumbled to a five-month through on Thursday as investors headed for the exit, fearing slower economic growth and demand from top consumers China and the United States. Also weighing on sentiment was the stronger dollar .DXY across a basket of currencies, which makes commodities priced in dollars more expensive for holders of other currencies.

SEC Investigating State Street Foreign Exchange (WSJ)
The Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating State Street Corp.’s foreign-exchange trading on behalf of pension funds in a sign that law-enforcement probes into how custody banks process tens of thousands of foreign-exchange trades are widening.

Draghi to Take Helm at ECB in November (Bloomberg)
[Italy’s Mario] Draghi, 63, will on Nov. 1 inherit an ECB that’s almost unrecognizable from the one Jean-Claude Trichet took charge of eight years ago. The bank’s balance sheet has more than doubled to 1.9 trillion euros ($2.7 trillion), mostly as a result of the extraordinary measures it used to battle the global financial crisis and now Europe’s sovereign debt woes…[German Chancellor Angela] Merkel made clear she’s backing the Bank of Italy governor in the expectation he will subscribe to the tight-money tradition of the Bundesbank, which provided the blueprint for the ECB when it was created 1998.

Bill Proposes Mortgage Shake-Up (WSJ)
Two lawmakers, a California Republican and a Michigan Democrat, are set to unveil legislation Thursday to replace mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac with at least five private companies that would issue mortgage-backed securities with explicit federal guarantees… Like Fannie and Freddie, the new entities would be restricted to buying loans that meet certain standards, including size caps. But the firms would have to hold much more capital than Fannie and Freddie.

Goldman, Beijing Launch Yuan Private-Equity Fund (WSJ)
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. has signed a deal with the Beijing government to launch a yuan-denominated private-equity fund that aims to raise 5 billion yuan ($769 million), according to a person familiar with the situation.

Morgan Stanley to Announce Private-Equity Yuan Fund (WSJ)
Morgan Stanley is expected to announce details of a yuan-denominated private equity fund in Hangzhou next week, according to a person familiar with the matter. The Wall Street firm will be running the fund in a partnership with Hangzhou Industrial & Commercial Trust Co., the person said. It wasn’t immediately clear how much the fund expected to raise.

China growth could slow to 8 percent: Goldman’s O’Neill says (Reuters)
“It is my judgment that the Chinese economy is probably slowing down more than people realize,” [O'Neill, Chairman of Goldman Sachs Asset Management] said, adding that as a result, he was not surprised that commodity prices are coming under pressure. As evidence, he cited the Goldman Sachs China Activity Index, the firm’s propriperary indicator of GDP, which shows that the momentum of Chinese growth has slowed, and that slowdown was supported by economic data reported this week. “And I suspect that China is going to slow down to around 8 pct GDP growth. If I’m right, that means sometime in the 2nd half this year, Chinese inflation will not be a problem, and will come back down to around 4 percent,” he said. “And the PBOC will be able to stop tightening monetary policy and we can all live happily ever after.”

UBS: Basel Rules Leave Banks Overcapitalized (WSJ)
Banks will likely have too much cash by 2019 as a result of the Basel III global banking rules, UBS AG Chief Executive Oswald Grübel said Thursday. “In the next 10 years, at the end of 2019, we will have overly liquid, overcapitalized banks,” said Mr. Grübel, who was addressing a business audience at a conference here. “However this also means we won’t have a lot of growth,” he said.

MIT sells $750m of century bonds (FT)

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is planning to sell 100-year bonds as the recent drop in interest rates draws a flood of bond issuance this week.

In Exquisite Detail, Donald Trump Describes How He Styles His Hair (Rolling Stone via Vanity Fair Daily)
“O.K., what I do is, wash it with Head and Shoulders. I don’t dry it, though. I let it dry by itself. It takes about an hour. O.K., so I’ve done all that. I then comb my hair. Yes, I do use a comb. Do I comb it forward? No, I don’t comb it forward. I actually don’t have a bad hairline. When you think about it, it’s not bad. I mean, I get a lot of credit for comb-overs. But it’s not really a comb-over. It’s sort of a little bit forward and back. I’ve combed it the same way for years. Same thing, every time.”

Article courtesy of Dealbreaker

Sterne Agee’s Shaw Wu this morning reiterates a Buy rating on Cisco, advising that investors underestimate the possibility of a turnaround.

Wu’s immediate focus, though, is not the turnaround but the fiscal third quarter due to be reported next Wednesday.

He thinks Cisco will turn in slightly less than the $10.8 billion the Street is modeling, but probably meet the consensus 37 cents per share. His “checks” of the supply chain indicate “relative strength in networking,” though the trends are a bit “mixed” for Cisco.

The switching business transition to the “Nexus” product line is going to take some more quarters before resellers and partners come up to speed on the technology, he writes. Routing’s healthier, he thinks, as are the new business products, and overall, North America, emerging markets, and Asia-Pac are doing better than Europe at the moment.

Cisco shares this morning are up 15 cents, or 0.9%, at $17.62.

Article courtesy of Tech Trader Daily

Today’s funding announcements include companies that develop cameras, distribute customer reviews and manage APIs:

GoPro brings in funding for action video recorders: The developer of the HD HERO line of wearable and gear mountable cameras has raised has raised an undisclosed yet “substantial” round of funding from Riverwood Capital, Steamboat Ventures, U.S. Venture Partners, Sageview Capital and Walden International. The company, based in Half Moon Bay, Calif., is popular among pro athletes, pro video producers and consumers alike for its cameras and accessories, which will now be sold in all Best Buy stores nationwide.

PowerReviews raises $10M to generate customer feedback: The customer review service has raised a new round of funding led by Four Rivers Group with participation from Woodside Fund, Menlo Ventures and Tenaya Capital. Based in San Francisco, the company provides the technology for user-generated reviews to more than 5,000 retailers including Brookstone, Drugstore.com and Diapers.com.

Mashery gets $11M to manage APIs: The provider of tools and services for API (application programming interface) management has raised a fourth round of funding led by OpenView Venture Partners with participation from existing investors Cisco, Formative Ventures, First Round Capital and .406 Ventures. The San Francisco company, which was founded in 2006, today has a network of more than 100,000 developers and has more than 100 clients including Netflix, The New York Times and CNET.

Newtopia grabs seed funding to whip you into shape: The personalized health coaching service has raised an undisclosed amount of seed funding from BDC Venture Capital and Canadian angel investors, peHUB reports. Founded in 2008, the company provides lifestyle management advice to users in the form of individualized health plans, coaching support and exercise help.

Companies: .406 Ventures, Cisco, First Round Capital, Formative Ventures, Four Rivers Group, GoPro, Mashery, Menlo Ventures, Newtopia, OpenView Venture Partners, powerreviews, Riverwood Capital, Sageview Capital, Steamboat Ventures, Tenaya Capital, U.s. Venture Partners, Walden International, Woodside Fund

Article courtesy of VentureBeat » deals

Shares of IT outsourcing firm Cognizant Technology Solutions (CTSH) are off $6.11, or 7.4%, at $76.10 after the company this morning despite beating Q1 estimates and forecasting the current quarter and the year above estimates. 

The drop is likely part of the broad-based weakness in IT Offshore names following India’s central bank’s announcement this morning it is raising its key lending rate a half a point. Infosys (INFY) shares, for example, are down $1.85, or 3%, at $63.57. 

However, analysts on the call also seemed surprised at growth of just 1.5%, which some referred to in the Q&A as being “weak.”

Cognizant’s Q1 rose 43%, year over year, to $1.37 billion, in line with estimates. EPS of 71 cents beat the average 63-cent estimate. 

For the current quarter, the company sees revenue of $1.45 billion and EPS of 70 cents, ahead of the average estimate of $1.43 billion and 66 cents. 

CEO Francisco D’Souza called the quarter’s growth “solid” and said that demand was “strong.”

Operating margin, on a non-GAAP basis, was 20.5%, and the company said that it expected to maintain its target for operating margin of 19% to 20% for the full year. 

For the year, the company raised its revenue projection from a prior view of “at least $5.8 billion,” to an estimate of at least $5.93, slightly ahead of the average $5.9 billion estimate. 

Article courtesy of Tech Trader Daily

US Weighs Summer Sale Of GM Stock (WSJ)
To break even, the U.S. Treasury would need to sell its remaining stake—about 500 million shares—at $53 apiece. GM closed off 27 cents a share at $29.97 in 4 p.m. trading Monday on the New York Stock Exchange, hitting a new low since its $33-a-share November initial public offering. “Planning for the sale of our remaining GM stock is still at an early stage, and the IPO lock-up does not expire until late May,” a Treasury spokesperson said. “At that point, we will consider all of our options, based on our twin goals of protecting taxpayers’ interests and exiting as soon as practicable.”

Obama administration officials tried to keep S&P rating at ‘stable’ (WP)
Treasury officials told S&P analysts that they were underestimating the ability of politicians in Washington to fashion a compromise to curb deficits, a Treasury official said. They argued a change in ratings was not needed at this time because the debt was manageable and the administration had a viable plan in the works, the official said.

IMF’s Blanchard Says US Lacks Deficit Plan (Reuters)
“There are reasons to be worried. The United States lacks a credible plan, for the medium term, to reduce its budget deficit,” Blanchard said.

Justice Department Seeks Data In Nasdaq-NYSE Anti-Trust Review (Bloomberg)
Antitrust review is emerging as a key test in the battle for the 219-year-old market, which Nasdaq OMX Chief Executive Officer Robert Greifeld tried to snatch away from Deutsche Boerse with an $11.3 billion offer on April 1. Giving Nasdaq control would create a monopoly in listings, a prospect that may create undue risk the takeover will be blocked, according to NYSE CEO Duncan Niederauer.

Congress Mulls Budget Deal Forcing More Taxes, Spending Cuts (Bloomberg)
Proposals being circulated among the bipartisan “Gang of Six” Senate negotiators, and about 20 other lawmakers in both chambers, would set deficit-cutting targets, according to people familiar with the plan. They would impose automatic, across-the- board spending reductions and higher taxes if Congress failed to meet the goals.

Freshman Republican’s bind: Vote convictions or help economy by rising debt limit? (WaPo)
“I desperately want to vote ‘no,’ ” Rep. David Schweikert said at the town hall. “I also desperately don’t want [the economy] to crash.”

Bank of America Merrill Lynch to Exit Private Equity Business (CNBC)
The unit, BAML Capital, has not been particularly active in recent months, having made its last investment in the fall of 2010. Bank of America, under pressure to conserve capital, has apparently decided it could no longer provide capital to the unit, which has roughly 35 professionals. A Bank of America spokesperson said BAML Capital is being spun off, and will be run by the current management team. The team will continue to manage the $5 billion in assets owned by BofA. Those assets will remain on the bank’s books, with expecations they will be monetized.

London Skyscraper Boom Ends as City Goes ‘From Vanity to Sanity’ (Bloomberg)
“The age of bling is over,” said Shuttleworth, who led the team at Norman Foster’s firm that designed the seven-year- old tower in the City of London financial district. He said it would never get off the ground today. “Money now drives everything, so if you can build something for half the price, you will,” he said.

Mubarak clinically depressed in hospital, officials say (NYP)
Doctors said the ousted leader spends all day in bed and is eating very little with his wife Suzanne by his side, the official added.

Facebook Seeks Friends In Beltway (WSJ)
Until lately, Facebook has spent very little money in Washington, even by Silicon Valley’s frugal standards. The company’s outlays on lobbying totaled $351,000 last year, federal records show. That’s a fraction of the amount spent by other technology giants, including Google Inc.’s $5.2 million and Microsoft Corp.’s $6.9 million. Facebook’s new Washington office, designed to look like a hacker’s lair, with walls of faux construction rubble, is a work in progress. People familiar with the company’s plans said talks to hire former Obama press secretary Robert Gibbs to guide the company’s communications strategy, including with Washington, have fallen apart in the wake of a leak to the media that made a deal for him to join the company sound imminent.

China Speed Yuan Push (WSJ)
A senior Hong Kong monetary official told The Wall Street Journal on Tuesday that China’s central bank is “actively considering” new rules that would make it easier to bring yuan funds raised offshore back onto the Chinese mainland.

Leader of Big Mortgage Lender Guilty of $2.9 Billion Fraud (NYT)
After more than a day of deliberations, a federal jury in Virginia found Lee B. Farkas, the former chairman of Taylor, Bean & Whitaker, guilty on 14 counts of securities, bank and wire fraud and conspiracy to commit fraud. Mr. Farkas, 58, faces decades in prison for his role in the $2.9 billion plot, which prosecutors say was one of the largest and longest bank fraud schemes in American history and led to the 2009 collapse of Colonial Bank.

Goldman Luster Fades On Revenue Worries (NYP)
“There’s a possibility that at least over the next six months the bank will have weak earnings,” said Rochdale Securities bank analyst Dick Bove, who cut the firm’s shares to “neutral” from “buy.”

Article courtesy of Dealbreaker