Charles Rivers Ventures

INVEST

Investing in Visionary Entrepreneurs

At CRV, our approach to investing is simple: we seek out visionary entrepreneurs, and give them the support they need to build great companies from the ground up.

Meet our Team

team member Hassan Ahmed Devdutt Yellurkar Jack Genest Sarah Reed Mike Zak Austin Westerling Rick Burnes Ted Dintersmith Chris Baldwin George Zachary Bruce Sachs Saar Gur Jon Auerbach Izhar Armony Bill Tai

Jon Auerbach

BUILD

Great Entrepreneurs Build Great Companies 

We focus on highly charged industry sectors which we believe are rich in opportunity. Take a look at our current portfolio of companies—ones we believe will define the future of these market categories: 

Communication & Technology

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  CRV Team

  Devdutt Yellurkar

  Heartland Robotics

  Heartland Robotics is combining the power of computers - embodied in robots - and the extraordinary intelligence of the American workforce, to increase productivity and revitalize manufacturing. 

  09/08/2009

  Xconomy Boston: Heartland Robotics Confirms $7M Funding Round; Charles River…more

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  CRV Team

  Devdutt Yellurkar

  GupShup

  GupShup is mobile group SMS service that allows users to create mobile communities and broadcast messages to them. GupShup is growing rapidly with thousands of groups on topics such as finance, entertainment, lifestyle, health, sports and technology.

  http://www.smsgupshup.com

  01/20/2010

  SMS GupShup Secures $12Million Additional Funding   more

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  CRV Team

  Izhar Armony

  vlingo

  Vlingo is a voice-powered user interface that unlocks access to mobile phone wireless data services. Vlingo allows users to speak or type into any vlingo-enabled text box and get accurate, easy and consistent access to all the information, entertainment and communication made possible through today’s mobile applications. By giving consumers control of the mobile Internet with the power of their voices, vlingo provides a quantum leap in usability for mobile data services that are currently restricted by limited user interfaces. Vlingo secured its venture capital financing from Charles River Ventures and Sigma Partners. Founded in 2006, the company is headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Why tap when you can talk? http://www.vlingo.com.

  07/15/2010

  Vlingo in TechCrunch: Vlingo’s SuperDialer For Android   more

  12/04/2008

  Vlingo on CNET: Vlingo one-ups Google with a better voice-powered…more

  09/26/2008

  Vlingo in New York Times: Don’t Make Your Fingers Do…more

  06/26/2008

  VentureBeat: Vlingo’s voice recognition for Blackberry officially outcools the iPhone…more

  06/13/2008

  BusinessWeek demonstrates Yahoo’s oneSearch, a service powered by vlingo that…more

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  CRV Team

  Chris Baldwin

  InVisage Technologies

  InVisage Technologies, Inc. is a venture-backed fabless semiconductor company based in Menlo Park, Calif. that is developing QuantumFilm, a breakthrough imaging-sensing technology that will replace silicon. Its first product enables the high-fidelity, high resolution images from handheld devices like camera phones and PDAs.  Founded in 2006, InVisage Technologies is venture funded by RockPort Capital, Charles River Ventures, InterWest Partners, and OnPoint Technologies. More information is available at http://www.invisageinc.com.

  03/22/2010

  InVisage Technologies in the Wall Street Journal: Startup Says Quantum…more

  03/22/2010

  InVisage Technologies in New York Times: Company Sees Leap for…more

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Software & Services

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  Bill Tai

  Maxthon

  The Maxthon browser was awarded the Red Herring Asia 100 prize in 2005 and was named as one of the best 100 products by PC World. Equipped with features and tools not found on any other browser, Maxthon is the favorite of 30 percent of Internet users in China and is rapidly increasing its market share in the rest of the world. Since the launch of version 2.0 in 2006, it has been downloaded 40 million times, increasing its cumulative total to more than 140 million downloads. These accomplishments were achieved without marketing or advertising, attesting to the growing number of fans who have spread the word about Maxthon’s abilities. Being publicly endorsed by Microsoft and leading Wall Street Internet analysts, Maxthon (http://www.maxthon.com) also has working arrangements with Google and Skype.

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  Devdutt Yellurkar

  Zendesk

  Zendesk is inspiring the help desk 2.0 movement through a focus on enlightened customer support. By leveraging the benefits of Web-based communications and social media, Zendesk extends good help desk karma to any company looking to offer professional-grade support service with very little effort. Backed by Charles River Ventures, Zendesk was founded in 2007 and has more than 1,000 customers including John Lewis, MSNBC and Twitter.  To learn more, go to www.zendesk.com or follow @zendesk on Twitter.

  08/17/2009

  Zendesk Announces New Products and Secures $6 Million in Series…more

  05/06/2009

  Zendesk secures series A funding from CRV and opens U.S.…more

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  George Zachary

  CloudShare

  CloudShare is a quick and easy way to share copies of your complex IT environments, online, so you can collaborate with customers, partners, and colleagues – for Demos, Proofs-of-Concept, Training, or other enterprise applications – without wasting time copying gigabytes of software or shipping machines and people. Going beyond basic webinar or “virtual lab” offerings, CloudShare’s solutions enables users’ extended interaction in dedicated “hands on” production-grade replicas of their existing IT, delivered as cloud-based SaaS – while centrally monitoring and managing it all. Leading solutions providers have adopted CloudShare as their vendor of choice to extend access to their virtual infrastructure from the Enterprise to the Cloud.

  12/11/2009

  CloudShare Lands $10M in Series B Funding from Sequoia Capital,…more

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  Izhar Armony

  Virtusa

  Virtusa (NASDAQ: VRTU) is a global information technology (IT) services company providing IT consulting, technology implementation and application outsourcing services. Using its enhanced global delivery model, innovative platforming approach and industry expertise, Virtusa provides cost-effective services that enable its clients to use IT to enhance business performance, accelerate time-to-market, increase productivity and improve customer service.

  Founded in 1996 and headquartered in Massachusetts, Virtusa has offices in the United States and the United Kingdom, and global delivery centers in India and Sri Lanka. For more information, visit http://www.virtusa.com.

  08/03/2007

  Virtusa Announces Pricing of Initial Public Offering   more

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Media & Entertainment

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  Izhar Armony

  iSkoot

  With offices in Cambridge, Mass. and Israel, iSkoot is dedicated to enabling mobile Internet voice and chat services. iSkoot software allows users to view their buddy lists, make and receive Internet calls, and enjoy instant messaging using nearly any mobile handset. Supported on native platforms (Symbian S60, Blackberry, Windows Mobile, UIQ, and Palm) as well as J2ME and BREW platforms, iSkoot uses proprietary technology and has many patents pending for its unique client server protocol and interfaces, Mobile-to-Skype gateway and integrated presence system. For more information, visit http://www.iskoot.com.

  11/11/2008

  iSkoot Raises $19 Million in Series C Round   more

  02/27/2007

  iSkoot Raises $7 Million in Series B Financing   more

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  Austin Westerling

  Mochila

  Mochila is redefining content syndication through its global online media marketplace for text, video, and photo content. The company’s syndication platform levels the playing field for publishers of all sizes – from long-tail blogs to large media companies. Mochila integrates its proprietary licensing-management technology with the company’s licensed ad supported program, allowing web publishers to buy and syndicate content for free and earn a percentage of the advertising revenue that accompanies that content. Founded in 2001, the company came out of stealth mode in March 2006. Mochila is privately held and based in New York, NY. For more information, visit http://www.mochila.com

  02/02/2009

  Mochila in Silicon Alley Insider - Content Syndicator Mochila Raises…more

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  George Zachary

  Geni

  Geni is a tool for understanding and staying in touch with your family. Geni lets you create a family tree through our fun simple interface. You can expand your tree by adding relatives’ email addresses. They will be invited to join your tree and can add other relatives. Your tree will continue to grow as relatives invite other relatives.Each family member has a profile which can be viewed by clicking their name in the tree. This helps family members learn more about each other and stay in touch. Family members can also share photos and work together to build profiles for common ancestors. Geni was founded by former executives and early employees of PayPal, Yahoo! Groups, Ebay, and Tribe. It is backed by venture capital firms Founders Fund and Charles River Ventures. Learn more at http://www.geni.com.

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  George Zachary

  Millenial Media

  Millennial Media is the industry’s leading mobile media networks company—leveraging our quality advertising networks and extensive reach of the lucrative ‘millennial’ audience to define the mobile advertising industry.

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EMERGE

We Back Emerging Industry Leaders

RPX

SpotlightOn: RPX

RPX invests in broad patent portfolios to protect their large and small technology clients against lawsuits from patent trolling firms.  The result of such a rational solution?  Patent-holders are fairly compensated, while the technology industry spends more time innovating and less time litigating.

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ZenDesk

SpotlightOn: ZenDesk

Ever had a moment of Zen courtesy of customer service?  Didn’t think so.  Zendesk aims to change that.  CEO Mikkel Svane believes that by enabling companies to easily track all customer service interactions, they’re creating a simpler and more intimate relationship between company and customer that results in… well, moments of Zen. 

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SpiderCloud Wireless

SpotlightOn: SpiderCloud Wireless

The reason your indoor wireless coverage can be so spotty is because your carrier doesn’t want to spend the money to create a signal robust enough to reach indoors with the same data and voice reliability. SpiderCloud Wireless takes your carriers existing architecture, and extends its reach to your indoor area, making spotty indoor coverage a thing of the past.

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Scribd

SpotlightOn: Scribd

From start-up to world’s largest online library of original writing, Scribd has turned reading and publishing into an online social experience.  With over 50-million users, co-founders Trip Adler and Jared Friedman are well on their way to achieving their goal of making Scribd a top 20 website.

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Rive Technology

SpotlightOn: Rive Technology

They may look like ordinary grains of sand to the average eye, but Rive sees piles of cash in its revolutionary oil refining catalyst.  By helping oil refineries produce more gasoline and less asphalt from their crude, Rive increases refinery profits, while reducing their environmental impact.

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