Venture Capital Watch

Each week, The Chronicle tracks the latest investments, fundraising, mergers and initial public offerings involving Bay Area venture capitalists and startups. Some highlights for the week of July 17:

-- Fremont-based Kovio Inc. has raised $20 million to help commercialize a technology that uses silicon ink to print simple electronic devices. According to Chief Executive Amir Mashkoori, Kovio expects to print chips that cost a penny and use short-range radio signals to beam information to a cell phone, creating a new genre of interactive labels.

-- Limerick BioPharma in South San Francisco has raised $15 million in follow-on venture funding. The money will fund clinical trials of experimental drugs that are designed to reduce the side effects of other drugs, and also to treat certain metabolic diseases. The company has raised $35.5 million so far, according to Chief Financial Officer Asha Rajagopal.

-- Aloqa Inc. of Palo Alto came out of stealth mode this week after raising $1.5 million to develop a smart phone application that uses cell phone towers to triangulate a user's location. This will use less battery power and bandwidth than current location technologies and make it possible to deliver localized consumer information, says Chief Executive Sanjeev Agrawal.

-- Berkeley Ventures has created an 8,400-square-foot incubator that can hold 15 to 20 startups for anywhere from three months to two years. Business development associate Joseph Lee said the East Bay incubator is reviewing applications from startups. Visit www.berkeleyventures.com for details.

Sources: Dow Jones VentureWire, Chronicle research. Compiled by Tom Abate, tabate@sfchronicle.com.

This article appeared on page C - 2 of the San Francisco Chronicle