Portfolio News: Automated Trucking Startup Peloton Drafts $60 Million in Funding

Peloton Technology, an automated vehicle technology company focused on trucking, is on the verge of closing a $60 million Series B funding round led by Omnitracs, a fleet services company that spun out of Qualcomm.

The round includes existing investors Intel Capital, DENSO International America, Castrol innoVentures, Lockheed Martin, Nokia Growth Partners, UPS Strategic Enterprise Fund, Volvo Group Capital, Sandhill Angels, Band of Angels and Birchmere Ventures, Peloton Technology CEO and co-founder Josh Switkes confirmed to Fortune on Wednesday.

Read the full article on Fortune.com

Portfolio News: Revcontent Acquires Rover for Better Content Recommendation Tech

Revcontent, a self-funded company powering content recommendations for publishers like Forbes and The Atlantic, has acquired Rover.

That’s not Rover the pet-sitting marketplace, but rather the content discovery app formerly known as Flipora and Infoaxe. CEO John Lemp told me that Revcontent is paying “north of $30 million” in cash and stock for the acquisition, which he described as an investment in better content recommendations.

Read the full article on TechCrunch

Portfolio News: Kiana Analytics Awarded Grant from The Department of Homeland Security Science and Technology Directorate to Enhance Traveler Experience

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) announced today a $179,800 award to Kiana Analytics, Inc. to enhance U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s (CBP) passenger screening technology. The project is awarded under the Silicon Valley Innovation Program (SVIP) Other Transaction Solicitation (OTS) aimed at non-traditional performers to offer solutions to some of the toughest threats facing DHS and the homeland security mission.

“CBP secures and manages 328 ports of entry all over the country, including in remote areas,” said CBP Acting Commissioner Kevin McAleenan. “Through the Silicon Valley Innovation Program, we are exploring technologies that can provide us with new capabilities and solutions to facilitate lawful entry at even our most remote U.S. ports of entry.”

Read the full press release here

University of Notre Dame ESTEEM “Startup Salon”

Band member Richard Pivnicka, Honorary Consul General of the Czech Republic, on March 14th hosted a “Startup Salon” at AutoVino in Menlo Park for 50 Masters in Entrepreneurship and MBA students from his alma mater University of Notre Dame. In Notre Dame’s 11-month entrepreneurship program – ESTEEM – students learn not only about startups in general but specifically about the commercialization of innovative science, engineering, and technology discoveries and innovations. Ian Sobieski, Chairman of the Band of Angels, interviewed Marc Tarpenning, co-founder of Tesla Motors, educator, and role model. Other prominent guests invited to converse with the graduate students included Whit Diffie, winner of the $1m Turing Prize, the “Nobel" of computer science, and, Dr. Ramesh Raskar, Director of MIT Camera Labs and winner of the $500,000 Lemelson Award. 

Life Sciences/MedTech SiG - March 2017

The Life Sciences/MedTech Special Interest Group (SiG) met on Wednesday, March 15th at Carr & Ferrell (120 Constitution Dr, Menlo Park) from 11:00 AM to 2:00 PM. Presenters included: a diagnostic/software company that has developed a next generation approach to objectively quantify pain in humans, a company that makes programmable temporary tattoos that are electronics-free and transform to convey useful information about your body or environment, a company that is creating a solution that delivers accurate, objective indicators of asthma control as part of a service to support patients and their families in achieving the best outcomes, and a company that has developed surgical systems improving soft tissue repair in both lower and upper extremities.

The next Life Sciences/MedTech SiG meeting will be on Wednesday, May 17th. To apply, please complete the online application and check "Life Sciences/MedTech SiG".