Khosla Ventures related stories
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SLIDESHOW: Face Scrubbers, Balloon Trips: 16 at CalPERS Face Fines for Alleged Gift ViolationsSixteen California Public Employees Retirement System http://www.calpers.ca.gov/ employees and former employees reached a preliminary settlement to pay fines for allegedly receiving but not properly reporting a slew of gifts that included a face scrubber, a hot air balloon ride and tickets to the Rose Bowl Game. The value of the gifts in question rarely exceeds the low three figures. The largest fine is a relatively modest $3,600. But the humiliation factor? (Priceless.) The list of alleged gift policy violators http://www.fppc.ca.gov/agenda.php?id=464 was made public by the California Fair Political Practices Commission http://www.fppc.ca.gov/index.php These penalties are slated to be finalized at a meeting of the FPPC on September 22nd. Recall that the FPPC initially investigated CalPERS employees back in May 2011, following even more severe charges /98805/scathing-report-details-calpers-bribery-scandal/ by federal and state authorities alleging that former CalPERS Chief Executive Federico Buenrostro and others on CalPERS's private equity team were wined, dined and sent on luxurious trips at the invitation of Alfred Villalobos, a placement agent and former CalPERS board member who was working on behalf of Apollo Global Management. Villalobos and Buenrostro still face a state level lawsuit, and are also being investigated by federal authorities.
- RingCentral Adds $10M Series D
RingCentral, a maker of a cloud business phone systems platform and related services, has added $10 million in Series D financing, bringing it’s total raised to more than $55 million. Scale Venture Partners led the latest infusion, and was joined by Sequoia Capital, Khosla Ventures, Cisco, DAG Ventures, and Silicon Valley Bank. The money will be used for expansion efforts.
- People Briefs, September 2011
Hires and personnel changes at Accel, Morgenthaler, Khosla and other VC firms
- EcoMotors Adds CFO, Director
Patrick S. Aubry will join EcoMotors International, the Michigan-based automotive engine developer, as Chief Financial Officer and will add Jennifer Holmgren to its board of directors. Holmgren also serves as CEO of LanzaTech, a bioenergy tech firm, and holds multiple patents. EcoMotors is backed by Khosla Ventures and Bill Gates.
- Skype Buys Messaging Startup GroupMe
Skype said Monday that it would buy one-year-old mobile messaging startup GroupMe. Terms of the deal were not released. GroupMe is based in New York, and raised $11.5 million from investors including Khosla Ventures, First Round Capital, Lerer Ventures and General Catalyst Partners.
- Coskata Holds First Close on Series D
Coskata Inc., a developer of technology for the production of biofuels and biochemicals from biomass and waste materials, held a first close of its Series D round. The company did not disclose an amount for the round, but said that investors the Blackstone Group, Khosla Ventures, Total Energy Ventures International, ATV, Globespan Capital Partners, General Motors, Arancia and Sumitomo all participated. Coskata plans a final close of its round in the fourth quarter.