According to Patrick Spain, a local entrepreneur whose start-ups include Hoover's Inc, a research firm, among others, much has changed in recent years.
"The impact here is astronomical," said Mr. Lessin, whose start-up was called Drop.io.
However, anaerobic digestion is a complex biological process, where hundreds of microbial populations are involved, and whose start-up and operation are delicate issues.
Other hardware start-ups include Boxee, a New York company whose software lets people watch movies and videos from the Web on a television.
Shareholders in the start-up include Goldman Sachs, 3i Group, Generation Partners, Oak Investment Partners and Spectrum Equity Investors.
This is particularly good advice in a political season whose starting line-up includes Chris Dudley, a former NBA back-up center running for governor of Oregon; Linda McMahon, co-founder of World Wrestling Entertainment running for senator from Connecticut; and Heath Shuler, a former NFL quarterback, scrambling for a third-term as a member of the House from North Carolina.
The national basketball team, whose starting line-up includes Serbs, Croats and Muslims, recently defeated Croatia, one of Europe's strongest sides, with a Bosnian Serb scoring almost half the points.
It's bought hundreds of start-ups, including Calico, whose stated mission is to "cure death" and DeepMind, which aims to "solve intelligence".
In recent weeks it acquired a number of start-ups, including Glancee, a location sharing app whose creators are based in San Francisco; Face.com, an Israeli facial recognition technology company; and Acrylic Software, a Canadian application developer.
Page B1 BLURRING THE ETHICAL LINE Michael Arrington, whose influential TechCrunch blog covers Silicon Valley, has started a venture capital fund to invest in start-ups, including some that he and his staff write about.
SAN FRANCISCO — Michael Arrington, whose influential TechCrunch blog covers Silicon Valley, has started a venture capital fund to invest in start-ups, including some that he and his staff write about.
