I thought I’d expand on a post written by Ben Kuo (Venture Capital Booms in the OC) and point out while our county’s start-ups have raised ~$110M in the last week or so, we have also had our recent share of liquidity events.  A very big congratulations to Michael Hajeck and his team at SiliconSystems and to their new parent, Western Digital, as it was announced last week that WDC acquired SiliconSystems for $65M cash!!!  I also feel compelled to congratulate the guys over at Miramar Venture Partners as they were early investors in SiliconSystems.  Looks like a “3-way” win for Orange County to me…

For all you night-owl entrepreneurs who struggle to make it  to our early morning affairs, we’ve heard you and are responding.  Register FAST, this will “sell out” ’cause, what’s not to love???  Booze, food, digital media, and Laguna Beach… 3 of my favorite things.

DATE: Thursday, April 23rd

TIME: 5:30-9:00PM

LOCATION: [seven-degrees] 891 Laguna Canyon Rd. Laguna Beach

At OCVG’s first evening event of ‘09, learn from some of the quickest minds in Digital Media how they’re challenging the powers that be, raising BIG $$$ from VC’s and creating some of the coolest companies on planet earth.  As an added bonus, OCVG will host this mega networking event at [seven-degrees] in Laguna Beach — one of the hottest venues in Orange County.  We’ll have lots of munchies and FREE wine & beer.  Don’t miss out.  Stake your claim and RSVP NOW at www.OCVG.com.Our panelists include:

Dennis Mudd, Founder & CEO, Slacker, Inc. – Slacker creates the perfect personalized radio station for every listener by combining the knowledge of music experts with your preferences..  Since inception five years ago, the company has raised $53 million from “A-list” VC’s including Mission, Centennial, Rho, Austin Ventures and Sevin Rosen.  Before Slacker, Dennis was CEO at MusicMatch, sold to Yahoo for $160 million in 2004.

Jason Feffer, Founder & CEO, SodaHead.com – SodaHead is the premiere opinion-based social community for user-generated Q&A on today’s hottest topics.  Founded only two years ago, the company has raised more than $12 million from savvy investors including Mission Ventures, Mohr Davidow, the Tech Coast Angels and legendary Silicon Valley “über angel” Ron Conway.  Before founding SodaHead, Jason was VP Operations at MySpace.

Mark Kern, Founder & CEO, RED 5 Studios Inc. – Red5 is an independent online game developer led by the talent behind Blizzard Entertainment’s Massively Multiplayer Online (MMO) hit, “World of Warcraft.”  To help fund their drive to become the leading studio for creative, original MMO games for global markets, the company has raised more than $18 million from top-tier Silicon Valley VC’s Benchmark and Sierra Ventures. 

MODERATOR: Bong Koh, Venture Partner, Prism Venture Partners – An expert in starting, growing and selling companies, Bong focuses on digital media and consumer Internet investments at Prism’s Santa Monica office.  With $1.25 billion under management, bi-coastal Prism is a leading investor in digital media start-ups. Before joining Prism two years ago, Bong was a VC at Advanced Technology Ventures.  Prior to this, Bong was co-founder of Mobilocity, a mobile solutions provider he sold to a joint venture of Qualcomm and global ad agency Omnicom. 

So far, so good.  We’re averaging 8 entrepreneurs / VCs so I guess I’ll keep this party going and see where it ends up.  This month, we will be meeting March 19th, 9am-11am, at the Pacific Whey in Ladera Ranch at 25672 Crown Valley Parkway (in the Mercantile West Shopping Center).  Hope to see you there.  As always, any last minute changes will be communicated via http://twitter.com/ocvc.

Well, January has come and gone and the year is off to a “shaky” start in case you haven’t been paying attention to what is going on in the global economy.  Some are faring better…some worse.  In the end, we will eventually pull out of it as life goes on.

Enough luke-warm pep talk.  We had a whoppin’ 6 folks show up for January’s OC VC Office Hours, but since I didn’t know 3 of them I’ll keep this going for the time being and see what (if anything) comes of it.  We had an excellent discussion about what is going on in the local, national, and global VC markets and I suspect this dialogue will continue for most of this year as funding continues to be elusive for start-ups.

The next OC VC Office Hours will be February 12th, 9am-11am, at the common area between Pacific Whey and Starbucks in Crystal Cove (between Newport Beach and Laguna Beach on PCH).  Please join us as we continue to discuss the VC markets and local innovation.

That’s right, Mixergy’s Lunch 2.0 is back in The OC, baby!  Please join Andrew and I at Earth Media Group for lunch tomorrow.  Details and registration can be found here: http://blog.mixergy.com/wp-content/invite/EMG.html

After an overwhelmingly positive response, I’ve decided to give the “office hours” idea a go for the first six months this year and then will make a decision as to whether to continue them.  My hope is that this becomes something that continues without my presence or involvement — a free, no-hassle, relaxed atmosphere for folks in the start-up ecosystem to network over coffee.  I’ve decided the third Thursday of every month is good (at least for me for now), but will rotate between south and north county venues.  So, the first OC VC Office Hours will be Thursday, January 15th from 9am-11am PST Pacific Whey in Ladera Ranch.  If this begins to build a crowd, I’ll use a widget to list the upcoming dates, times, venues, etc. on this blog and will send out updates.

I will send out real-time updates via Twitter if things change.  You can sign up for them at Twitter and rest assured that I’m not a prolific Twitterer.  I look forward to meeting you on the 15th.  I’ll wear be wearing a black hat with the Okapi Venture Capital logo on it to make it easier to find me the first few sessions.

While my free time allocation to blogging has waned of late, I have been spending more time out and about discussing a variety of topics with lots of interesting people.  I’ve enjoyed these meetings and, based on the feedback I have received from a number of folks, think I will make a go of “OC VC Office Hours” in 2009.  So, if your interested in meeting with me to discuss technology, markets, start-up investing, or other such topics, stay tuned for more details.  I will attempt to establish some sort of regular schedule, publish it on this blog, and provide any updates/changes through my Twitter account (so, if you’re interested in attending and haven’t already done so, sign up to receive my updates at http://twitter.com/ocvc).  Perhaps I can now finally get some value out of Twitter.

In the interim, please have a safe and happy holiday season and I’ll catch you next year.

I’ve been toying with the idea of holding regular “office hours” at a set time and place to meet with folks in the community — be they entrepreneurs, service providers, or others — in lieu of some of the traditional networking events and thought I’d throw the thought out to all of you to see whether this is something you would be interested in.  I have ~ 150 subscribers (via email or RSS) and a thousand more readers so I can only assume that some of you are local.  Anyway, let me know your thoughts here.

If you haven’t already registered for VC in the OC, get to it as tickets have been going fast and we’re on track to sell out (again) this year.  For details, and to register, visit VC in the OC.  Like last year, I will be moderating a panel and will take any questions thereof in advance.  The most common questions will be asked as well as a few “zingers” that I come up with real-time.  Please submit your questions to me via email.  Unlike last year, we’ve turned our program on its proverbial head and are featuring a panel of successful, local entrepreneurs (i.e., those that have done “it” before) rather than our standard panel of “VC talking heads”.  We are also very pleased to welcome back Mark Heesen from the NVCA who will once again provide an illuminating keynote on the state of venture worldwide…nationwide…statewide…and, of course, here in our own backyard.

Special Request — I will be wearing two hats come VC in the OC: 1) President of the Orange County Venture Group; and 2) Guest “VC Blogger” Moderator…so please do yourself a favor and don’t pitch me on any companies until after the event.  I’m easy enough to reach so you really shouldn’t feel the need to pitch me at the event.  Simply send me an email and we can go from there.

I’m clearly biased here, but thought I’d share a recent press release from one of my portfolio companies:

 RF Nano Corp., a Newport Beach, Calif.-based developer of carbon nanotube analog electronics, has raised $8 million in Series B funding. Oxantium Ventures led the round, and was joined by return backer Okapi Ventures.

PRESS RELEASE

RF Nano Corporation, the leader in carbon nanotube analog electronics announces that it has raised $8 Million in Series B venture capital to accelerate the development of its breakthrough technology. Washington D.C. based Oxantium Ventures lead the round and Oxantium founder Dr. Richard Wirt will join the RF Nano Board of Directors. Okapi Ventures, RF Nano’s series A lead investor, also participated in this round.

“Building on the outstanding work of Professor Peter Burke at UCI, RF Nano has developed low cost manufacturing processes and extended its leadership position in the application of carbon nanotubes to high performance analog electronics,” said Steffen McKernan, Chief Executive Officer and co-founder of RF Nano. “”We are very pleased that Dr. Richard Wirt and Oxantium are joining RF Nano. Even before closing this financing, the Oxantium team has added significant value to our business. Their deepening engagement will accelerate delivery of our products and help us drive the creation of a future of analog and mixed-signal systems uniquely enabled by RF Nano’s technology.”

“Oxantium is pleased to be the lead investor for this round of investment in RF Nano,” said Oxantium’s Richard Wirt. “RF Nano’s technology will enable a new generation of robust, high bandwidth wireless devices. As RF Nano harnesses the fundamental promise of carbon nanotubes, the semiconductor world will be forever changed.”

“We continue to be enthusiastic investors in RF Nano. They have built a strong team with deep industry experience focused on delivering against the tremendous potential for utilizing carbon nanotubes in RF applications,” said Marc Averitt of Okapi Venture Capital. “Initial feedback from major players in the RF marketplace confirms our belief in the game changing nature of

RF Nano’s product pipeline.”

About RF Nano RF Nano Corporation is the leader in developing a CMOS compatible suite of discrete, wafer and integrated circuit products based on the outstanding analog electronic properties of carbon nanotubes. With power densities 100 times silicon and 20 times greater than gallium arsenide, intrinsic cutoff frequencies in the Terahertz, inexpensive growth, and the ability to integrate with standard CMOS processes, RF Nano’s extremely robust carbon nanotubes devices will revolutionize the $60 billion analog and mixed signal semiconductor markets. Founded in 2005 and based in Orange County, CA, the company is privately held and backed by Oxantium and Okapi. For more information, please visit www.RFNano.com.

About Oxantium Ventures Oxantium Ventures is a premiere technology investment group supporting companies at seed, early, and growth stage by providing capital, insight, and years of experience in research, industry, and government. Headquartered in Washington, DC with a global investment strategy Oxantium’s team invests to shape tomorrow by empowering passionate and talented entrepreneurs from imagination to innovation to commercialization. Its technology focus areas include emerging computing, wireless everywhere, collaboration, and enabling technologies. To learn more about Oxantium, visit www.oxantiumventures.com.

About Okapi Ventures.  Okapi Ventures is a seed and early stage venture capital fund headquartered in Laguna Beach, California. Okapi, with approximately $30 Million under management in its initial fund, is focused on information technology, digital media and life science opportunities in Southern California with a particular emphasis on Orange County. For more information about Okapi, visit www.okapivc.com.