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

Chris Baldwin

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

  Mike Zak

  Optiwind

  Founded in 2007, Optiwind is pioneering a new market in wind energy, placing medium sized wind turbines right where they’re needed most – on site at schools, businesses and government locations. By allowing customers to capture their own clean, renewable power right at their own locations, Optiwind frees customers from the risk of continuously rising grid rates and allows them to refocus all of their resources on what they do best.

  http://www.optiwind.com/

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  CRV Team

  Mike Zak

  Cedar Point Communications

  Cedar Point Communications’ totally integrated switching platforms enable the scalable, cost effective, less complex delivery of VoIP and multimedia for cable, telco, enterprise and WiMAX network operators. Designed to provide carrier-class performance and reliability, while increasing network integrity, security and privacy, Cedar Point’s SAFARI C³ Multimedia Switching System is a PacketCable™-qualified solution that supports legacy circuit, NCS and SIP-based voice services, as well as delivering core IMS capabilities. The company is based in Derry, NH. For more information, please visit http://www.cedarpointcom.com.

  04/30/2007

  ENTREPRENEURIAL TELECOM VETERAN MARK TUBINIS JOINS CEDAR POINT COMMUNICATIONS AS…more

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  CRV Team

  Bill Tai

  Veebeam

  Veebeam, formerly known as Staccato Communications, is developing a consumer electronics device to wirelessly deliver high quality internet video content from the consumer’s laptop to the flat screen.  Staccato Communications developed wireless USB silicon and software solutions and changed its name in April 2010 to acknowledge its new consumer electronics focus.

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  CRV Team

  Bruce Sachs

  Vanu, Inc.

  Vanu, Inc. (http://www.vanu.com) is the developer of the Anywave Software Radio solution for cellular operators, the wireless industry’s first technology to simultaneously operate multiple standar ds on a single platform. The Anywave system utilizes open standards architecture, with each wireless standard and all signal processing developed entirely in high level software running on Linux and general purpose servers. This eliminates the use of proprietary chip sets and delivers ongoing price-performance improvements throughout the life of the system. The Vanu solution also significantly reduces backhaul costs and enables new wireless standards and system capacity to be added through remote software downloads which substantially reduces operating costs. The Anywave Base Station in the first softwaredefined radio (SDR) to receive certification from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). Vanu was founded in 1998 and is based in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

  07/09/2007

  Vanu Closes $8M Angel Investment Round   more

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Software & Services

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  Austin Westerling

  EnterpriseDB

  EnterpriseDB develops and supports EnterpriseDB Advanced Server, the world’s leading Oracle-compatible relational database management system (RDBMS). EnterpriseDB Advanced Server runs most applications written for Oracle unchanged and at a small fraction of Oracle’s cost. Built on PostgreSQL, the world’s most advanced open source database, EnterpriseDB Advanced Server has the reliability and scalability necessary for high-volume, mission-critical enterprise use. The company is also the world’s leading provider of enterprise-class, PostgreSQL-based products and services, including the EnterpriseDB Postgres distribution. EnterpriseDB has offices throughout North America, Europe, and Asia. The company was founded in March 2004 and is headquartered in Edison, N.J. For more information, please contact +44 (0) 207 269 2750 or visit http://www.enterprisedb.com.

  10/08/2009

  IBM puts Oracle to the sword with EnterpriseDB   more

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  George Zachary

  Learnboost

  LearnBoost’s product allows teachers to manage their classroom by offering an amazing gradebook and software for managing and creating lesson plans, tracking attendance, maintaining schedules, integrating calendars including Google calendars, seamless tagging of Common Core State Standards, and so much more.

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  Izhar Armony

  Thinkfire, Inc.

  ThinkFire, Inc. (http://www.thinkfire.com) is an international intellectual property services firm that works with leading information technology, telecommunications, semiconductor, software and consumer electronics companies. ThinkFire’s IP management resources help its clients increase profitability, minimize expense, and enhance freedom to operate. Earlier this year, the company concluded a sale of key communications patents for a Global 100 corporation which netted the patent owner approximately $20 million and provided the purchasers with important assets that enhanced their portfolios. ThinkFire’s professionals include negotiators, market analysts, technologists and patent attorneys who have been previously associated with leading technology and professional services firms including IBM, British Telecom, Accenture, Siemens, PwC, Lucent Technologies, The McKenna Group, and Intel. ThinkFire offices are located in greater New York, London and San Francisco.

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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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Media & Entertainment

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  Bill Tai

  Glyde

  Glyde is a next generation Web company.

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  Ted Dintersmith

  The Active Network, Inc.

  The Active Network, Inc., based in San Diego, Calif., provides application services technology and marketing access to community service organizations, and is a leading online community for active lifestyles. The company’s solutions help sports and community service organizations improve customer service capabilities, increase revenues, and reduce the cost and complexity of managing and marketing activities and events. Its full service marketing and promotions agency, Active Marketing Group, brings direct knowledge, insight and access to active and on-the-go consumers. Through its Web properties, http://www.Active.com, http://www.eteamz.com and http://www.ActiveGolf.com, The Active Network provides consumer services and resources that support participation in healthy lifestyles. For more information, please visit http://www.TheActiveNetwork.com or call 1-888-543-7223.

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  Austin Westerling

  Eons, Inc.

  Eons, Inc. is a social networking site empowering a new generation of spirited boomers through interactive content, tools and community. Founded by Jeff Taylor, creator of Monster.com, Eons has attracted a team of renowned advisors and industry-leading partners and is backed by venture capital financing from General Catalyst Partners, Sequoia Capital, Charles River Ventures and Intel Capital, as well as Humana, Inc. It is supported by corporate founding partners Harrah’s Entertainment, Humana, Inc., Liberty Mutual Group, Fidelity and Verizon Wireless. Eons is headquartered in Charlestown Navy Yard, Boston. For more information about Eons, visit Eons.com.

  03/06/2007

  Eons Closes $22 Million In Series B Funding Led By…more

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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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