Capital Chaos

Laszlo (San Mateo, CA) pulled in another $6.6M in its latest round of funding which included backers from WI Harper Group, General Catalyst Partners, Mitsui & Co Venture Partners and Sofinnova Ventures.  This $6.6M is in addition to the $8M they had already taken in just last month ago putting the total round at $14.6M.

These guys have been developing an open-source platform concentrated on developing and deploying Ajax applications.  This RIA (Rich Internet Application) development platform has gained a lot of momentum recently and is now used by “tens of thousands of developers” according to the company. 

Hundreds of companies are using the Laszlo technology platform today including Monster, WalMart, T Rowe Price, IBM etc.  We reviewed the application and it really is pretty cool and intuitive.

The company is led by Steve Ciesinski who has some pretty good experience on the management side having served as the former president of Resumix (which was acquired by HotJobs) and also worked at Octel, Applied Materials and P&G.

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 Sofinnova Ventures (San Francisco, CA) is an early-stage Life Science and IT startup VC firm.  Foudned in 1974, these guys have been around the block a few times and seen a great deal of companies and transactions. Even though these guys have been in and around the Valley for over 30 years, they haven’t been involved in many of the big name IPO’s of the web craze that we often see.  Whether it is by choice or they just prefer to focus on less consumer branded technology companies, these guys are not the ones to go to if you are looking to build a major consumer branded company. 

That being said, they have made some very interesting investments into companies like Streamezzo and Phone.com.  What is also good about these guys is that while many of their investments are within the typical “30 Miles Zone”, they are open to exploring outside of the sweet spot and have done so.  

Their typical investment size is $5-8M and will go up to a total of $15-24 during the life of the investment if they are inclined to do so.  While they say they like to be in deals early, they typically co-lead deals with other VC’s.  Also, if you decide to work with these guys, look at some of the management fees they charge and get a good understanding before you do a deal.

Their process is pretty simly and straight forward.  While they typically like you to be referred by someone they already know, they are open to you emailing them an introductory document with your executive summary.   For pure IT companies, contact Eric Buatois or Brian Wilcove; software, Alain Azan. 

Contact:
140 Geary Street
10th Floor
San Francisco, CA 94108
Telephone:  (415) 228 3380

Menlo Park Office
850 Oak Grove Avenue
Menlo Park, CA 94025
Telephone:  (415) 228 3380