The intersection of the Internet and the greentech boom represents an incredible opportunity to apply the talent of the Internet industry to the most important cause to date: saving the planet. Green:Net 2010 will see top green entrepreneurs, technologists and market-leading companies convene on April 29 in San Francisco. Maximize the value of your time by meeting with thought leaders, technologists, investors, press, new startups and their future customers. One venue. One day. San Francisco.

VentureBeat readers can get a $75 discount — just click here and register now for Green:Net 2010. Hurry though. This event is almost sold out!

A selection from our speaker list includes:

* Jerry Brown, California Attorney General and Gubernatorial Candidate
* Vinod Khosla, Founder, Khosla Ventures
* Steve Jurvetson, Managing Director at Draper Fisher Jurvetson
* Bill Weihl, Google’s Green Energy Czar
* Dian Grueneich, Commissioner for the California Public Utilities Commission
* Laura Ipsen, SVP and GM, Smart Grid, Cisco
* Eric Dresselhuys, EVP, Silver Spring Networks

Companies represented include Google, Ford, Nissan, General Motors, IBM, Cisco, SAP, Reliant Energy, Microsoft, PG&E and many more.

Please find further details on the conference website.

Green:Net 2010 will explore topics including what’s next for the smart grid, how utilities can use IT to get ready for the influx of electric vehicles, how the web can be used to replace atoms with bits, what internet giants Google and Microsoft see in the energy industry — and how policy can spur it all. Don’t miss it.

Join us this Thursday, April 29 in San Francisco as we find new opportunities for technology entrepreneurs that will shape the future of greentech.

Green:Net 2010
April 29, 2010
San Francisco, California
Mission Bay Conference Center
www.greennetconf.com

Article courtesy of VentureBeat » Deals & More

These are very exciting times for the rapidly evolving social gaming space. The Social Gaming Summit will bring together leaders in free-to-play games, social networking, and payments infrastructure to explore the opportunities that exist at the intersection of games and the social web. The conference, produced by Charles Hudson and mediabistro.com, will take place May 6-7, 2010 at the San Francisco Marriott Marquis.

VentureBeat Readers save 15% – click here to register now.

Social gaming leaders speaking at SGS include:

• Jason Oberfest, ngmoco
• Mark Skaggs, Zynga
• Sebastien de Halleux, Playfish
• Keith Lee, Booyah, Inc.
• Geoff Cook, myYearbook
• Garrett Link, GameHouse Studios

Key sessions topics include:

• Social games across platforms
• Distribution lessons from leaders
• Alternative monetization and life after credits
• International perspectives on social games
• Casual games go social
• Measuring the health of your social game

For all speakers and sessions, visit the conference website.

Register today for the Social Gaming Summit, May 6-7 in San Francisco, and learn to build, grow, and monetize social games.

Article courtesy of VentureBeat » Deals & More

Less than six months after filing to go public, Codexis, one of several makers of microbes and catalysts used to generate green fuels and chemicals, debuted on the Nasdaq this morning under the symbol CDXS. But the news is bittersweet for the cleantech sector. Yes, the company made it to market — but it only fetched $78 million in what it expected to be a $100 million sale.

Based in Redwood City, Calif., Codexis sold 6 million shares to its existing investors for $13 each (instead of $15). Its most significant backer, Royal Dutch Shell, is holding on to its sizable stake. Today’s IPO is the culmination of a long journey for both the company and its investors, who had originally planned to take it public two years ago before the economic downturn set in.

While it may not have performed as hoped, Codexis still marks the first IPO of 2010 for the green sector, which could open the floodgates for more. And at least it beat biofuel competitor Amyris Biotechnologies, which just filed, to market. Both cylindrical solar module maker Solyndra and electric car darling Tesla Motors have filed to go public as well this year. And Smart Grid networking company Silver Spring Networks has retained underwriters for a prospective IPO.

There are concerns attached to all of these companies waiting in the wings. Solyndra has run into roadblocks as auditors have called attention to its avalanche of debt. Tesla Motors has yet to break into the black for any length of time, and Silver Spring Systems could be acquisition bait for bigger players like Cisco Systems. Codexis’ modest success today could be a bellwether for these deals to come.

The sector is also tinged by the lackluster performance of last year’s big green IPO, A123Systems. Mere months after its blockbuster sale, the company’s net loss for 2009 reached $85.8 million, an increase over the $80.5 million lost in 2008. Yes, revenue is growing, fast, jumping 33 percent between 2008 and 2009, but it still has investors on the edge of their seats.

Compared to that, Codexis is doing reasonably well. It reported $82.9 million in revenue for 2009, a 64 percent spike from 2008. And it narrowed its losses by 55 percent, to $20.3 million. At this rate, it could hit profitability by 2011. This sounds harrowing, but green shareholders don’t seem to be deterred by long roads out of the red — at least so far. If A123 and Codexis fail to pull up on schedule, they could doom the cleantech companies following in their footsteps.

Codexis also benefits from a healthy green chemicals and pharmaceuticals business. Sure, its major investors Shell and Chevron have their eyes on the fuel opportunities, but the company also counts Pfizer as a big supporter, as well as CMEA Capital. The process the company uses to engineer microbes’ DNA can be applied to manufacture a variety of substances.

Codexis says it will use the funds generated by the sale to expand its production volume of biocatalysts. It also lists turning Shell into a major biofuel distributor as a primary goal.

Here’s a copy of the SEC filing for today’s CDXS debut.

Tags: biofuels

Companies: Amyris Biotechnologies, Codexis, Royal Dutch Shell, Silver Spring Networks, Solyndra, Tesla Motors

Article courtesy of VentureBeat » Deals & More

Groupon, the Chicago startup that offers group discounts, raised $135 million from Russian investment firm Digital Sky Technologies in a deal signifying that social buying has rapidly matured into a real business.

Part of the investment will go toward cashing out early-stage investors, on top of expanding the company. The round also drew in Battery Ventures.

The new funding marks the company’s explosive rise out of obscurity; Groupon is actually an outgrowth of a three-year old project that was focused on collective action for social change. After a year of trying to figure out a business model for this site, the company’s leadership started experimenting with group buying.

It was a very simple idea: offer people a discount if they sign up for a deal en masse.

And it worked. Groupon has since seen runaway success: It says it has saved consumers about $150 million and plans to be in 100 cities by the end of 2010. That’s not to mention the cohort of its copycats. The company raised a $30 million round in December led by Accel Partners. And now it’s been added to the list of red-hot startups the Russian investment firm DST has dipped its fingers into along with Facebook and Zynga.

Here’s the release:

GROUPON RECIEVES $135 MILLION FROM DST AND BATTERY VENTURES
Investment to Support Rapid Growth of Social Commerce Globally

Chicago/Moscow, April. 19, 2010–Groupon, the leading social commerce site, today announced that DST, a leading global internet investment group, will lead an investment round of $135 million in the Company. A portion of the investment will be used to fuel Groupon’s global expansion, and the rest will be used to facilitate liquidity for employees and early investors.

DST comprises the majority of the investment, with participation from Battery Ventures, which is also a new investor in Groupon.

Groupon leverages group buying and social media to provide its millions of customers big discounts on the best local businesses in more than 50 cities across the United States and in Canada. To date, customers have purchased over four million Groupons on deals ranging from spa treatments and golf outings to fine dining and skydiving and have collectively saved over $150 million on these deals.

“Our growth is a reflection of the positive impact Groupon is having on consumers and businesses at a very early stage of the market development,” said Andrew Mason, founder and CEO of Groupon. “We are very pleased and excited to welcome DST and Battery as shareholders and we look forward to benefiting from their vast knowledge and experience of the social media sector as we continue executing on our growth plans in North America and globally.”

“This investment underscores our view that social networking and community based activity will drive, shape and define the web’s evolution in the years ahead,” said Yuri Milner, Chief Executive of DST. “Groupon, with its strong management team, offering and vision, is pioneering social commerce and is redefining the local advertising space. We look forward to being long-term partners of a company that is on a path to becoming a global Internet leader.”

“We’ve followed the social commerce phenomenon for many years, and are thrilled to have the chance to back such a visionary management team,” said Roger Lee, General Partner, Battery Ventures. “They saw a massive opportunity very early, and have executed flawlessly to define it and take the leadership position. We think there is a lot of runway ahead, and are energized to support the team in their quest.”

Founded in November 2008, Groupon has been aggressively expanding to cities throughout the United States, with plans to be in 100 cities by the end of 2010. Earlier today Groupon announced that it has launched its service in Orlando, Fort Worth, Tucson and Toronto, its Canadian city.

Tags: social buying

Companies: Battery Ventures, Digital Sky Technologies, Groupon

Article courtesy of VentureBeat » Deals & More

Tencent, the Chinese social gaming company worth $38 billion, invested $300 million in Russia’s Digital Sky Technologies, the firm best known for helping Facebook and Zynga put off initial public offerings through its capital infusions.

Talk about a role reversal. We’re used to seeing the Russian firm, run by Yuri Milner, grab pieces of American companies. This time a Chinese company has turned around and grabbed a piece of DST instead. Tencent took a 10.26 percent stake in the company, but with limited voting rights: It will get about 0.51 percent of the firm’s total voting power. It will also have the right to nominate one observer to the DST Board.

In Tencent, DST gains an investor who could broker introductions into China’s blossoming consumer technology scene. In return, Tencent broadens its holdings internationally and indirectly gains a stake in Facebook and Zynga.

Tencent owns a widely adopted instant-messaging service in China, QQ, as well as a PayPal-like payments system and social games similar to Zynga’s offerings.

“This investment is a vote of confidence in DST from the market leader in China and one of the world’s most successful and dynamic Internet companies overall,” Milner said in a statement. “We look forward to working together with Tencentand benefiting from their expertise as we both push forward with our plans to capitalize on this immense growth in our markets.”

DST is well-known as a late stage investor that has bought pieces of Silicon Valley’s most-talked about companies. It invested $180 million in Zynga in December, allowing the social gaming to grow without going public and letting some of its employees cash out their stock options. It played a similar role for Facebook, investing $200 million directly and buying $100 million in shares from employees.

Companies: Digital Sky Technologies, Facebook, Tencent, Zynga

People: Yuri Milner

Article courtesy of VentureBeat » Deals & More

The smart grid community saw a major meeting of the minds today: the ZigBee Alliance and Wi-Fi Alliance have teamed up to develop applications for home energy management and networking.

Both ZigBee and Wi-Fi are wireless protocols that allow electronic devices, smart meters and utilities to wirelessly send data back and forth. This is the foundation of the burgeoning smart grid: the ability of utilities to receive data directly from their customers’ meters and for consumers to have access to the same data so they can conserve energy and save money off their monthly bills.

So far, ZigBee, which draws less power and uses less bandwidth, has been the big name for utilities and meter makers. It was around for years, lurking in the shadows with few applications, before it caught the smart grid wave. Wi-Fi, on the other hand, has become widely known for providing internet to laptops and service to mobile phones — but it’s only just now becoming a force in the smart grid and energy management space.

There’s not a lot of room for multiple wireless protocols in this industry. Appliance makers like General Electric and Whirlpool, looking to come out with dishwashers, refrigerators and the like that transmit data about how much energy they are using, don’t want to have to choose among many different protocols. And the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), the agency drawing up guidelines for Smart Grid development, would like there to be only a few main protocols, in order to prevent confusion and promote open standards.

This means that there will soon be a purge of protocols with less traction. So it looks as though the the partnership between Wi-Fi and ZigBee may be more of a survival pact than anything else. Appliance makers can now outfit their products with both Wi-Fi and ZigBee radios, so that they comply with the NIST-backed Smart Energy 2.0 open standard for smart grid devices. The upshot: consumers won’t have to worry that they chose the wrong appliance, or that their Wi-Fi thermostat won’t communicate with their ZigBee meter, etc.

This opens up a new range of possibilities for home energy management companies like Tendril, OpenPeak, People Power, Google Powermeter and more. These services are built on the idea that energy consumption data can be drawn from individual appliances, and that their operations can be automated or controlled remotely from people’s computers or mobile phones. Now these companies don’t have to worry about being shut out of either ZigBee or Wi-Fi, opening the field for more, and faster innovation.

Companies: Wi Fi Alliance, ZigBee Alliance

Article courtesy of VentureBeat » Deals & More