Legendary venture capital firm, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (KPCB), has launched a $100M venture fund focused exclusively on the development of technology for the iPhone and iPod Touch platform. The fund, call iFund™, will invest from $100K of seed capital to $15M of expansion capital in mobile application and services companies.

The top early-stage venture capital firm, Foundry Group, has launched its expanded website over the weekend. The new site not only offers us more detailed information about the Firm, but also provides us with a glimpse into its thematic investing.

Back in December, I published an interview with Foundry Group Managing Director Jason Mendelson, who first discussed his firm’s thematic approach to investing in early stage tech companies. New themes he mentioned included implicit web and human / computer interaction.

According to the Site, Foundry Group’s initial investments include Lijit, Memeo, Zynga Game Network and Oblong Industries  — a startup working to improve human / computer dialogue.

Rob Johnson and Josh Fraser, two of my friends out here in Boulder, have started an exciting new company, EventVue, that works to pre-connect conference goers through social networking.

The Company partners with conference organizers to create micro-conference communities where attendees can create profiles and pre-network with each other months before the conferences take place. Afterwards, users can then go back and re-connect with those they met during the event.

Since founding in May 2007, the Company has raised over $250,000 from angel investors, including Brad Feld (Managing Director at Foundry Group), David Cohen (Executive Director at TechStars), Dave McClure (Entrepreneur), and Wendy Lea (Managing Partner at Chatham Group).

For those of you that haven’t already heard, I was recently invited by Tech Confidential’s General Manager, Josh Jaffe, to join the Tech Confidential network. Tech Confidential is owned by TheDeal.com and focuses on providing information about high-tech startups, venture capital and investment exists.

I will continue to write about entrepreneurship and marketing, but will also be expanding my focus into venture capital and private equity. For those entrepreneurs living in Boulder (and elsewhere), feel free to keep me posted on your startup progress.

Have a great holiday weekend. I have several fun posts already planned for next week, so stay tuned!

Several venture capital firms have popped up over the last few years that are dedicated specifically to helping fund socially-minded entrepreneurs. These firms not only invest in high-tech ventures, but are also willing to consider unusual business models, such companies that have nonprofit arms.

A primary difference between traditional venture capitalists and social venture capitalists is that social VCs are willing to accept lower initial returns (about 15% per year verse 30%) and wait longer for exits (7-8 years verse 5-7 years).

Here’s a list of VC firms that specifically fund social enterprises
 

Underdog Ventures
Island Pond, Vermont
http://www.underdogventures.com

Root Capital
Cambridge, Massachusetts
http://www.rootcapital.org/

ShoreBank Pacific
Ilwaco, Washington
http://eco-bank.com/

TBL Capital
Sausalito, California
http://www.tblcapital.com/

Good Capital
San Francisco, California
http://www.goodcap.net

As I was leaving the DEMO ’08 opening reception, I ran into Brian Del Vecchio from good2gether. His team is launching a site that will allow charities to list volunteer opportunities, upcoming events and in-kind donation needs and have this information syndicated online to newspapers and media partners. The Site will also offer a widget allowing the same information to be posted on the nonprofit’s website. 

I’m not the only one to think that good2gether a clever idea. According to the Company, it has already raised $1.5 million from private investors. 

Here’s a sneak peek of what to expect during the DEMO ’08 Conference

A Packed Opening Reception

The Demo ’08 Presentation Room

Tonight is the official kickoff of the DEMO ‘08 Conference out here in Palm Desert. For those that aren’t familiar with this event, DEMO hosts a series of conferences each year to provide a launching pad for innovative technology products. To be selected for the show, a product must:

• Make its public debut at the DEMO conference
• Make a significant contribution to the state of the art in its target market
• Change the dynamics of the marketplace into which it is introduced
• Be backed by a management team capable of delivering the product to market

This show in particular will feature 77 new tech products that will be debuted over the next couple days. Each company will have approximately 6 minutes to do live demonstration on stage in front of venture capitalists, angel investors, journalists (and bloggers), and tech-geeks.

I was fortunate enough to land a press-pass last minute (this morning) with the help of Tech Confidential and will be covering the Conference for the next couple days. Be sure to check back regularly for updates from the show.