KPCB News & Events

Luvocracy Raises $11M to Master Ecommerce and Social Recommendations

2013-05-16T17:27:54Z

KPCB Announces First Design Fellows Class 2013

2013-05-16T15:57:48Z

Enterprise Business Intelligence and Analytics Startup EdgeSpring Raises $11M

2013-05-16T19:37:02Z

EdgeSpring Announces Series A Financing From Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (KPCB) and Lightspeed Ventures

EdgeSpring Unveils the World’s First Big Data Analytics Platform Built Expressly for the End User

SAN MATEO, CA– May 16, 2013 - EdgeSpring today announced general availability of its Business Intelligence and Analytics Platform designed from the ground up to empower users to rapidly derive business insights from data of any size or structure, without dependence on overburdened analysts and IT specialists. The company has raised a total of $11 million in financing including a $9 million series A from Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (KPCB) and Lightspeed Ventures.

EdgeSpring’s platform enables users to drive timely decisions by asking and easily answering first and second order questions across structured and semi-structured data, like never before.

“From day one, our vision was to democratize information access in the enterprise,” said Vijay Chakravarthy, founder and CEO of EdgeSpring. “We are thrilled to have a fast growing list of engaged customers, such as Equinix, Lithium, and Xactly, to name a few, validating our vision through their rapid adoption of EdgeSpring.”

“EdgeSpring is a dramatically disruptive Business Intelligence platform,” said Brian Lillie, CIO of Equinix. “They have enabled us to rapidly build easy-to-use analytic apps that our users love.”

To showcase the power of its platform, EdgeSpring has also developed CrunchEdge, a playground to explore Crunchbase, a crowdsourced data set of venture investments and startup company information. CrunchEdge will be made publicly available at the beginning of June.

“As enterprises face an explosion of new types of data and as business leaders strive to go from raw data to informed decisions, Big Data Analytics creates tremendous value,” said Ted Schlein, general partner at KPCB. “EdgeSpring is poised to capture a large slice of the Big Data Analytics market with its powerful platform.”

Flash Virtualization Startup PernixData Raises $20M Led By Kleiner Perkins

2013-05-15T16:26:52Z

Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers leads investment with Lightspeed Venture Partners to advance PernixData’s leadership in server flash virtualization.

SAN JOSE, Calif., May 15, 2013 – PernixData, Inc, the first company to build a scale-out, software-defined storage platform by virtualizing server-side flash, today announced the close of an over-subscribed $20 million Series B financing. The round was led by Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (KPCB) with additional support from existing investors Lightspeed Venture Partners and industry leaders Mark Leslie , John Thompson and Lane Bess . PernixData also announced that Matt Murphy , general partner at KPCB, will join its board of directors.

PernixData’s innovative Flash Virtualization Platform (FVP) disrupts the storage market by enabling virtualized datacenters to take advantage of an architecture that decouples storage performance from storage capacity. With PernixData’s FVP, companies no longer need to purchase capacity from storage vendors when they need storage performance. This radical design promises to not only solve the storage performance problem forever, but also ensures that enterprises can scale out their performance as easily as they scale their compute and memory, without any need to change applications or storage infrastructure.

With this additional investment, PernixData will grow its sales and marketing globally, continue its ambitious R&D roadmap, develop a channel eco-system and accelerate go-to-market plans with leading players in the server and storage industries. “We plan to use the latest round of financing to expand our footprint in the enterprise and give our customers a beautiful alternative to scale their storage performance independent of capacity,” said Poojan Kumar, CEO and Co-founder of PernixData.

“PernixData is solving one of the biggest outstanding issues in enterprise data centers: the cost and performance of storage,” said Matt Murphy of KPCB. “Pernix has the opportunity to do for storage what VMware did for compute. The technical team they’ve assembled for such an ambitious mission is unparalleled.”

“Customers and partners have been waiting for a long time for a solution such as FVP, which positions PernixData to capitalize on a huge market opportunity in storage,” said Bipul Sinha , Partner of Lightspeed Venture Partners.

“Virtualization deserves better from storage, and this is just the beginning of the disruption we have planned for the storage industry. Watch out for even more innovations in the future as we execute at an unprecedented pace,” said Satyam Vaghani , CTO and Co-founder of PernixData.

OK Glass, Mute the Children (#ParentingThroughGlass)

2013-05-03T23:58:51Z

I had a surprising revelation after my first weekend with Google’s Internet connected specs: Glass is perfect for parents. After all, who needs hands-free productivity more than a parent? Who has more need for a smart assistant? Who gets more joy from photos of surprising kid moments? Parents! And you could be next: If you have given up your self-respect for the pragmatism of a minivan (I confess I have), you are a prime candidate for Glass.

It is hard not to giggle a little when you put on Glass for the first time. Like many transformational ideas, this one definitely seems a bit odd at first. You will be self-conscious the first time you step outside as a Glass wearer. But just as you forgave your minivan the first time you volunteered to drive on a field trip full of rowdy kids, you will forgive Glass. I quickly got over my embarrassment and started focusing on the experience, and I have to say, I’m blown away.

The best feature of Glass is that it listens to everything you say. My fellow parents know how miraculous this is. The kids can be screaming and the radio blaring, but it does not matter. Glass has your back. When I put Glass sunglasses on, I transform into Super Mom, miraculously getting work done, appointments scheduled and messages returned while on-the-go.

The key to all of this magic is the hands-free nature of Glass. You can navigate, make calls, take pictures, shoot video or send messages, all without using your hands. Voice commands are easy and consistently accurate. Google officially discourages the use of Glass while driving, but I did not find it to be distracting. It feels natural: simply looking up at my visor, I can see the turn to take while subtle audio cues from a supportive assistant are literally whispered in my ear. I am able to do this while always keeping my eyes on the road. The only real distraction I experienced: a truck that kept trying to pull up next to me to get a closer look at Glass.

Using Glass is fairly intuitive. You simply give voice commands starting with the words “OK Glass.” Hands-free messaging and calling works surprisingly well. With Glass, I finally have a way to dictate an email while driving – that feature alone will boost my productivity while behind the wheel. Hands-free dialing is simple: “OK Glass, call Steve Vassallo.”

Sure, there are other systems for hands-free dialing. But only Glass can give you immediate hands-free access to all the world’s data. If I ask Glass “What’s going on in Boston,” I get succinct excerpts from key Web pages. While driving, I Googled my Toyota dealership to schedule a tune-up for my beloved minivan, toggled to “call” and phoned them – all with my eyes on the road and both hands on the wheel. In shop class with my daughter, we had to do some quick long division to make a correct cut on the band saw – hands-free calculation was a delightful discovery. Though I cannot bring myself to wear them in meetings (yet), I continue to experience “wish I had Glass on” moments every day.

The always-accessible camera is a real treat for a parent. I captured priceless candid moments playing volleyball with my daughter and jumping on a trampoline with my three kids. At the end of the weekend, I logged into Google+ and my entire weekend was there in pictures and video. I am now faced with the sinking feeling that my 80,000 pictures in iPhoto are going to grow dramatically.

Glass exceeds my expectations on fit and finish. The device is well-made, comfortable and balanced on your head. Glass held on tight even during my trampoline video. I have been wearing Glass mostly in sunglasses mode with a hat; it makes them look like sporty cycling glasses. The lenses are polarized, making the Glass display easier to read in bright sunlight, though it also makes my iPhone screen color slightly distorted.

Glass allows you to seamlessly interchange voice and touch commands. Using the touch interface – on the temple – is straightforward. Touch once to wake up, double tap to get to the command page, swipe down to go up/back. On the main screen, swipe left for weather, left once more for settings. Swiping right brings you to content including captured moments, Google searches, posts to Path and emails. Tap on any piece of content to see sharing options.

The more I played with Glass, the more uses I found. Here are some excerpts from my weekend:

· “OK Glass, get directions to Burgess Park.” · “OK Glass, Google Toyota Redwood City.” · “OK Glass, take a picture” of my daughter driving the soccer ball down the field. · “OK Glass, take a video” of my son and I jumping and giggling on the trampoline. Swipe to share on Path. · “OK Glass, Google ‘48 divided by 3’” Hands-free math! · “OK Glass, send a message to Steve, ‘We’re running late see you soon, love you.’”

While adults often ignore it, everyone under 18 notices when I wear Glass. On a recent visit to my kids’ school, I was swamped by students who wanted to try them on. This is their future. In fact, my daughter keeps stealing my Glass. For her, using Glass is not awkward at all.

To be sure, Glass is still a work in progress. The GPS is buggy, for instance, and connecting to networks is not as automated as it could be. Most annoyingly, the audio tickles my head in an uncomfortable way. But like all the best products, Glass creates an emotional connection that continues to grow as I discover, with incredible delight, new features and uses. And it has Moore’s Law and Google engineering on its side: I have faith that Glass will improve quickly.

As a tech geek mom with three kids, I envision a future in which Glass will be as important to me as the minivan. “OK glass, mute the kids” does not quite work yet; now, there is something for the developers to work on.

I am looking forward to seeing all the new applications that develop on #Glass. And more importantly, to more #ParentingThroughGlass.

Trae Vassallo is a general partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, where she invests in a broad array of consumer, software and connected device ventures and helps lead the firm’s Glass Collective initiative. @Trae #ParentingThroughGlass #GeekyMom

A poem at VentureCrush 2013

2013-05-10T15:46:18Z

Having a Crush on Ventures

Ed, someone called you, not a lawyer, but a marketing machine… Congrats on this event, and keeping the language f#%#ing clean. You have helped build the New York tech scene, the network you brung, Now it’s a cool place to build companies, and the best place to be young.

Obviously, you excel as a Manhattan talent handler, The closest thing to Adam at Lowenstein Sandler. You got celeb VC’s onstage to bare teeth and soul, You’re more Chelsea Handler than Jimmy Fallon in the interviewer role.

For you, Leone competes and hustles like hell, Hard to believe he never spoke English that well. Fred is the preeminent thought leader among all VC’s, And if he uses your product, you want him invested, yes please.

Thanks for the invite today, hope it’s not a bother or a hassle But with Mike, I’d rather not arm wrestle, but get down and leg wrestle.

Bing Gordon, KPCB Partner VentureCrush 2013

Ouya Raises $15M In New Funding, KPCB Partner Bing Gordon Joins Board

2013-05-09T22:23:36Z

Funding from Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Mayfield Fund, and Others Will Support OUYA’s Video Game Developer Ecosystem and Expand Production

LOS ANGELES – May 09, 2013 – Video game startup OUYA today announced $15 million in new funding led by Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (KPCB), with participation from the Mayfield Fund, NVIDIA, Shasta Ventures, and Occam Partners. The company intends to use the additional funding to support OUYA’s growing game development community, and meet increased demand for the upcoming retail launch. KPCB General Partner Bing Gordon will join the company’s board of directors, which also includes Julie Uhrman, OUYA founder and CEO, and Roy Bahat, chairman of the Board.

OUYA’s vision for a new kind of game console, open to all game developers, was brought to life through the support of early backers who crowdfunded the initial product development on Kickstarter. The crowdfunding effort set Kickstarter records, and delivered $8.6 million –almost nine times the target raise – signaling strong consumer demand for the console. Venture funding validates the business strategy.

“We want OUYA to be here for a long time to come,” said Uhrman. “The message is clear: people want OUYA. We first heard this from Kickstarter backers who provided more than $8 million to help us build OUYA, then from over 12,000 developers who have registered to make an OUYA game, next from retailers who are carrying OUYA online and soon on store shelves, and now from top pioneering investors.”

Before joining KPCB where Gordon is focused on digital investments, he was a long-time executive at Electronic Arts, beginning with EA’s founding in 1982 which had initial funding from KPCB. As an OUYA board member, Gordon will advise the company as it scales its development community and executes its retail strategy and product development plans. Gordon also serves on the board of directors of Amazon, Klout, Lockerz, MEVIO, Zazzle and Zynga.

“OUYA’s open source platform creates a new world of opportunity for established and emerging independent game creators and gamers alike,” said Gordon. “There are some types of games that can only be experienced on a TV, and OUYA is squarely focused on bringing back the living room gaming experience. OUYA will allow game developers to unleash their most creative ideas and satisfy gamers craving a new kind of experience.”

OUYA’s appeal lies in its unique philosophy within the console market. On OUYA, every game is free to try, and any developer can publish a game. OUYA is powerful enough to run 3D games in beautiful 1080p HD with its NVIDIA Tegra-3 processor, and open enough to invite game developers to bring their most creative inventions back to the television. More than 12,000 game creators worldwide have registered to make an OUYA game, from AAA studios to new entrants, including Square Enix, Inc., Double Fine Productions, Tripwire Interactive, Vlambeer, Kim Swift’s Airtight Games, Mighty Rabbit Studios, nWay, Polytron Corporation, and many others.

OUYA is now shipping exclusively to early backers as part of a preview program. On June 25th, OUYA will be available for purchase in the U.S., Canada, and the U.K. through retailers Amazon, Best Buy, GAME, GameStop, and Target, and on OUYA.tv for $99.99. Additional controllers will retail for $49.99. Through these retailers, consumers can pre-order OUYA today.

Ionic Security Closes $9.4M to Secure Company Data in the Cloud

2013-04-19T15:48:52Z

Funding led by Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers with TechOperators, to expand the industry’s first unified cloud and mobility security platform; grow sales and engineering teams.

ATLANTA, April 19, 2013 – Ionic Security Inc., delivering the first unified cloud and mobility security platform for the enterprise, today announced the close of $9.4m Series A-1 investment round. Led by Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (KPCB), the round also included Atlanta-based TechOperators and increased participation by early investors such as famed security entrepreneurs Ken Levine and Dr. Paul Judge . The capital will be used to expand Ionic’s engineering team, accelerate enterprise sales and increase awareness of its Fusion platform. Ionic Security also announced that Ted Schlein , general partner at KPCB, and Tom Noonan , partner at TechOperators, will join the board of directors.

“Enterprises want to take advantage of the reduced costs and increased usability of cloud and mobile applications, but hesitate due to security concerns,” said Steve Abbott , Ionic Security CEO. “Our Fusion platform provides the security controls executives need to approve cloud migrations, especially in regulated environments. Customers see lower costs, higher employee satisfaction and increased security.” Founded in 2011, Ionic Security (formerly Social Fortress) combines identity and access management, data-centric policy enforcement and comprehensive usage auditing to provide enterprises with an unprecedented level of control of their data without the need for, or use of, gateways. Administrating Ionic Security’s Fusion platform is done through simple dashboards, tablet-oriented UI and a powerful correlation and policy engine while end-users see no change to their workflows.

“Security needs to change with the times,” said Ted Schlein , general partner of KPCB. “Enterprises have historically secured their data through network security, endpoint protections and central identity management offerings that are no match for the complex security challenges inherent in the combination of cloud services and the rise of bring-your-own-device policies. Ionic Security addresses this challenge head-on by providing enablement, not restriction and is poised to become standard in next-generation enterprise IT infrastructure.”

Companies of different sizes are required to control and secure their data as well as their partners’ data. Currently piloting its “Fusion” enterprise data security platform, Ionic Security has seen tremendous interest in its unified approach to data security and is working with progressive industry leaders in the financial services, healthcare, pharmaceutical, insurance, aerospace and federal markets in North America and Europe.

“Ionic Security fits perfectly with TechOperators’ focus: investing in great teams solving hard problems at the intersection of cloud, mobility and analytics,” said Tom Noonan , former CEO of Internet Security Systems and partner at TechOperators. “The Fusion platform has the opportunity to massively disrupt the IT security market, as many incumbents continue to focus on outdated assumptions about enterprise infrastructures. Today’s new reality requires new thinking about data security – and that’s exactly what Ionic Security brings.”

“Ted and Tom bring unparalleled experience to our board,” said Adam Ghetti , Ionic Security founder, CTO and chairman. “Their advice and guidance will be invaluable as we scale quickly and broaden our reach to address the critical data security challenges facing enterprises today.”

Enlighted Raises $20M for Networked Smart Lighting Nodes, Software

2013-04-18T22:51:47Z

The Glass Collective: See More, and Farther

2013-04-09T19:09:16Z

A First look: John Doerr, Eric Schmidt and Sergey Brin experience Glass in September 2011.

Kleiner Perkins has been backing some of the world’s best entrepreneurs for more than four decades. Our entrepreneurs have created 700 companies, with nearly 200 IPOs, generating more than 375,000 jobs and $800 billion in market capitalization. They’ve pioneered whole new industries, from personal computing to the Internet, smartphones and tablets.

We’re in awe of entrepreneurs. They do more than anyone thinks possible with less than anyone thinks possible.

Today we’re unveiling our plan to fund entrepreneurs for a brand new platform – Glass. To do so, we’re forming the Glass Collective with long-time friends at Andreessen Horowitz and Google Ventures. The Collective is an initiative to invest together in startups creating new experiences on Glass.

Seeing Is Believing I saw a first prototype of Glass at a confidential briefing in September 2011. Back then it was – and today it still is – quintessential Google … a wildly creative vision from Sergey amplified by Larry’s and Eric’s bold resolve to change the world.

The experience was, well, eye-opening. Right away, I could see that Glass was not just a platform for applications. It also had the potential to create a brave new world of services and experiences. Since then, in rapid fire over just 20 months, Glass has been iterated, tested and refined. It has attracted some of Google’s best and brightest talent, and is drenched in advanced software, including Android, voice recognition, and an innovative user interface.

New platforms are rare, but can be transformational, when they’re based on great products with robust APIs, powerful distribution and outstanding entrepreneurs. That’s exactly the goal of Glass and the Glass Collective. At KPCB, we’ve done this before, with funds making early bets on new platforms for mobile devices, social networks and Java.

Glass blends real and digital experiences in your daily life. With Glass you can take pictures, get reminders, look up directions, send texts, and update social networks - all without a keyboard or touchscreen. What’s striking is how Glass responds to the most natural input of all: your voice.

Smart phones put the Web in our pockets. Glass puts the Web where we want it the most: right before our very eyes.

The Glass Collective In partnering with Google Ventures and Andreessen Horowitz, we are teaming up with old friends.

Almost 20 years ago, in 1994, we invested in a 22-year-old entrepreneur named Marc Andreessen. Marc’s startup, Mosaic Communications, became Netscape, and rocked the world with the first commercial Web browser.

Just five years later, in 1999, we backed the Stanford PhD students Sergey Brin and Larry Page as they dropped out of school and started Google.

We’re excited to join these iconic innovators in supporting Glass.

And importantly, we love working with Google Ventures and A/H. Bill Maris and the GV team have the same type of DNA as Glass – bold, imaginative and pioneering. Marc Andreessen and our friends at A/H bring great talent and vision to the Collective.

All of the partners at KPCB are jazzed about the Glass Collective, especially Mike Abbott, Megan Quinn, Trae Vassallo and me.

Pioneering Glass Experiences Some companies we’ve backed, such as Twitter and Path, are already working on experiences for Glass. So are Evernote and The New York Times.

Dave Morin, CEO of Path, says: “Glass represents a future of freedom. A future where you spend more time focused on the people you are with and the experiences you are having, rather than focused on your mobile device. Glass brings you the important information, context, and moments when you need them most.”

It’s early days, but we believe the potential for Glass exceeds what’s possible on today’s platforms. It goes well beyond the the world of websites, documents and mobile apps. In tomorrow’s brave new world with Glass we hope to see disruptive innovation in health care, education, entertainment, and really Big Data. And more.

We think Glass entrepreneurs will (literally) see more and farther than ever before. We can’t wait to see the new world they imagine with Glass.

If you have a brilliant idea, let us know: You can reach us at glasscollective@kpcb.com

John