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New Feature: Company Activity Maps & Examples

June 16, 2007 on 5:27 am | In Company Analysis, New Features |

We recently integrated a new feature that allows registered users to quickly identify Silicon Valley capital activity (we actually unveiled this at the Launch Silicon Valley event on June 5).  The feature is accessible from our newly designed home page at http://linksviewer.com/home, which also provides access to a wide array of (free) sample maps.  To illustrate the utility of activity searches (updated daily), a couple of scenarios can help identify how this new feature can be used:

• What companies recently received funding? (Focus of this post)
• What investors have been recently active? (Next post)

Example 1:  I am interested in recent SV-funded companies (let’s say I was on vacation).  Who was funded in the past week?

From the LinkSViewer home page, I started at the Search Recent Funding Networks and from each pull-down menus I selected All Rounds, 7 days, and All Sectors, and clicked on Show Results.  Very handy/time-saving.  The results returned 8 companies (DVC Labs, Eye-Fi, iKoa, Luminescent, M-Factor, Roxro Pharma, Silver Spring Networks, & Telltale Games), listing the company name, number of investors, and funding date.  At this point I can select any combination of the results in displaying the map.  For this example, I selected DVC Labs and Eye-Fi (clicking on the DVC Labs and holding onto the Ctrl key while clicking on Eye-Fi) and clicked Show Relational map.

Relational Map of DVC Labs and Eye-Fi.  Notes: (1) the board interlock between Larry Orr (Trinity Ventures) and Carl Showalter (Opus Capital): Orr sits on the board of DVC Labs, Showalter sits on the board of Eye-Fi, and they both sit on the board of Identity Engines; (2) DVC Labs has two VC investors, Matrix & Trinity - they were also one of five investors in Aruba Networks, a recently successful IPO. 

Example 2:  I am looking for Internet companies funded over the past three months (let’s say I am a Web 2.0 angel investor interested in the recent landscape).  What Internet start-ups got funded over the past 90 days?

From the LinkSViewer home page, I started at the Search Recent Funding Networks and from each pull-down menus I selected All Rounds, 7 days, and All Sectors, and clicked on Show Results.  The results returned 9 companies listing the company name, number of investors, and funding date.  At this point I can select any combination of the results in displaying the map.  For this example, I selected all of the 9 companies together (Clicking on the first entry and then holding the shift key on the last entry).  Their Relational Map is below:

Last 90 days Funded Internet Companies Relational Map.  Notes: (1) SnapLogic, lala, and Multiverse are isolates in the network; and (2) NEA is a central investor in the network even though they only invested in on of the 9 companies (Vibrynt) - NEA has common investment/board ties to 6 recently funded Internet companies.

Of course there are several ways to further explore the preceding map.  I provide a few of these below:

Last 90 days Funded Internet Companies Relational Map (Pendants dropped).  This amplifies the connectivity in the preceding map (e.g., NEA ties).  One large connected component dominates this map, tying together 6 target companies.

Last 90 days Funded Internet Companies Relational Map (Pendants dropped, Company filter = Internet sector companies only).  This further segments the preceding map to only contain linking Internet companies.  Note how NEA’s centrality is reduced and Peter Thiel’s connecting role is amplified.