Pasadena-based eSolar , the solar thermal power startup backed by Idealab and Google, has inked a new partnership today with Ferrostaal AG , a major power plant developer. According to the two firms, they are in a partnership to deploy solar power plants in Spain, the United Arab Emirates, and South America. Financial details of the deal were not released, however, the firms said that eSolar will provide its solar field and receiver technology, and Ferrostaal will provide power block and manage the construction and financing of those solar power plants.

Santa Monica-based Factual , the new data focused startup run by Gil Elbaz , the co-founder of Applied Semantics , which invented Google's AdSense technology, is announcing the investors in the firm this evening. According to Elbaz, the firm has a number of very high profile investors backing the the firm, including Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz of Andreessen Horowitz, Bill Gross of Idealab, Danny Rimer of Index Ventures, Esther Dyson, the Founder Collective, Gunderson Dettmer, Lee and June Stein, former MySQL CEO Marten Mickos, Miramar Venture Partners, Demand Media' Richard Rosenblatt,

Venture capital firm First Round Capital , the early stage venture fund whose Managing Directors include Idealab's Howard Morgan , said last night that it has created its own startup exchange fund, a fund which allows the founders of the firm's various startups to diversify their investments and share in the success of the company's portfolio. The fund is similar to Startup Exchange , a fund run by Michael Barton, which strives to do the same thing across venture firm lines. The fund allows founders of First Round Cpaital's portfolio firms to contribute some of their equity into a central pool, and share in any exit success of others who also participate in the fund.