Deals
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Invalid coupons suck. Shopzilla’s Robot Oatmeal uses crowdsourcing to solve this problem
Over its nearly two decades in business, Shopzilla has touched seemingly every area of the ecommerce value chain, including business ratings, product discovery, marketplace, business analytics, display advertising, audience targeting, and publishing. Surprisingly, the one area it never touched was that of coupons, although the company managed to collect a serious amount of data around their use through its... -
Swipely raises another $12m from tiny Rhode Island
Payment processing company Swipely is announcing a $12 million series B today. That’s a nice chunk of change for any company, but it’s particularly nice for one based in the not-so-techy-hot-bed of Rhode Island. For investor Josh Kopelman, the underdog location is part of what made the deal attractive…at least to him. The round was lead by Shasta Ventures, with... -
Former MySpace and NASA security exec raises $700k, launches Prevoty to defend websites against malicious user code
Web security is like a generational game of leapfrog being played between malicious users on one side and site administrators and security specialists on the other. Every few years (or even months) a new class of exploit emerges against which the good guys must scramble a response. Today, one of the most common methods of attack is Cross-Site Scripting (XSS),... -
With the bleeding stopped, ShoeDazzle is in the market for a strategic acquisition or investment
For months we’ve been hearing reports of ShoeDazzle shopping itself. Across dozens of conversations with investors, founders, bankers, and other people in the know, we’ve heard everything from “the investors want out” to “the company is simply testing the waters before it raises another round of capital.” We’ve heard about a wide range of potential suitors too. A deal... -
Marqeta now powers Facebook Card loyalty and payments tech, announces $14M Series B round
Customer loyalty programs and gift cards are essentially broken – for every merchant not named Starbucks, that is. Nearly 25 percent of the coffee house’s revenue comes from the purchase of food and beverages using pre-paid gift and loyalty cards (or apps). For everyone else, it’s nearly impossible to get a consumer to register a gift card or provide complete... -
Two years of stealth and $11M in VC later, EdgeSpring launches a data analytics platform for the average man
It’s not everyday that you hear of a company manages to quietly raise two venture rounds from A-list investors while spending two years developing its technology in stealth mode. But that is exactly the story behind big data analytics and business insights (BI) startup EdgeSpring, which today publicly launched its product and announced $11 million in Seed and Series... -
The launch of the Boost Bitcoin Fund brings more capital to an area of growing investor interest
Given the recent fervor over Bitcoins, it’s unsurprising to see several dedicate investment vehicles spring up to support startups in the virtual currency ecosystem. A few months we revealed that Adam Draper’s Boost VC accelerator would be making a big bet on Bitcoin, dedicating half of its upcoming 15 company accelerator class to category. Today, Draper announced that... -
Melon turns to Kickstarter for its mental performance measuring EEG headband
The quantified self movement and the wearable computing devices that make this type self-measurement possible have reached full blown fad status. Dozens upon dozens of companies have introduced hardware and software solutions to measure the quantity of our movement and the quality of our sleep. What we have yet to see from a mass-market consumer product is anything that measures... -
Barracuda Networks gobbles up e-signature startup SignNow for unknown sum
Flush with $130 million in cash following an October 2012 financing, email and Web security provider Barracuda Networks has acquired mobile e-signature startup SignNow. Neither company announced the transaction publicly, but a trail of Internet breadcrumbs left over the last two weeks make such a disclosure unnecessary. First, the bottom of SignNow’s website reads “© 2013 Barracuda... -
“Infrastructure as a service” company Dyn acquires Trendslide for mobile monitoring
If you haven’t heard of 12-year-old infrastructure as a service company Dyn, it’s because the company has quietly bootstrapped itself from Manchester, New Hampshire for the majority of its existence. And then, seemingly out of nowhere, the company last fall raised a $38 million Series A (North Bridge Venture Partners led the deal). Dyn’s infrastructure as a service product powers the... -
Summer@Highland is like success camp for student entrepreneurs. 2013 class announced
Highland Capital knows as well as anyone in the industry how competitive the environment is for attracting top entrepreneurial talent. That’s why for the sixth year in a row the firm is hosting teams of student entrepreneurs as part of its Summer@Highland program. The objective of the program is to systematically connect with high potential future founders earlier... -
CapLinked extends its Series A to $2.1M, adding more financial community advocates
Six months after announcing a $1.6 million Series A round, cloud-based Virtual Data Room startup CapLinked revealed today that it has since expanded that round to a total of $2.1 million. Newly added investors include Conversion Capital, Inflection Ventures, The Artesian Group, Google software engineering manager Chris Harris, and former AccessDNA founder Lee Essener. The group joins existing... -
Life after “Shark Tank” — The real story of how UniKey finally came to market
“Shark Tank”…? You have to be fucking kidding me. Even if he was too polite to say it, that’s what John Frankel was thinking five months ago when one of his limited partners called him to suggest he try to invest in UniKey – a company he’d just seen on the popular TV show. Frankel is a real VC after... -
Chromatik continues to make beautiful music with a $5.7 million (and growing) Series A
Since launching into private beta a year ago and landing the house band of “American Idol” as an early client, music practice and performance platform Chromatik has been punching above its weight class. The company continued this trend when it landed Grammy-winning artist Bruno Mars, Virgin Records co-chairman Jeff Ayeroff, and other music industry heavyweights as investors... -
After crowdfunding $10M for a dozen consumer product companies, CircleUp raises its own $7.5M Series A
Not all crowdfunding is created equal. The first generation of this peer-to-peer fundraising concept centered around incentive-based campaigns, where users of platforms like Kickstarter and Indiegogo receive rewards and recognition for supporting worthy projects. The second wave, made popular by the headline grabbing JOBS Act which passed congress last year – but still awaits final approval from the... -
Photo aggregation platform Chute gets $7M from Foundry Group, launches real-time ad product
Brands and publishers continue to seek out new ways to maximize their online engagement with consumers. One of more effective strategies has been around user generated photographs, with brands encouraging consumers to check in share photos while attending events, or to submit and share tagged photos as part of promotional contests. Y-Combinator alumni Chute is capitalizing on this wave...
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HDmessaging's search for the perfect mobile ad
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Aviary for Android releases 3.0
Photo editor on Android, Aviary, has released the latest version of its app. New features include a better “enhance” tool as well as added filters. [Source: CNET]
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Wired’s Michael Copeland joins Andreessen Horowitz
TechCrunch is reporting that Wired editor Michael Copeland will be leading Andreessen Horowitz’s ‘content strategy.’ Copeland has covered the VC world for a variety of outlets, including Wired, Fortune, and Business 2.0. [Source: TechCrunch]
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Analyst: iPad mini won’t have retina display
Despite reports claiming Apple’s upcoming iPad mini 2 housing a retina display, one analyst believes they won’t be ready for the upcoming shipment. According to an analyst from NPD DisplaySearch, the retina displays will ship sometime in 2014, whereas the latest upcoming batch will contain the iPad’s current display. [Source: BGR]
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Why you’re on a startup roller-coaster
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Facebook now has photo comments
Today Facebook unrolled a new feature for its commenting system. Now users are able to comment with more than just words, being able to attach photos as comments. [Source: CNET]
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Gnip announces new CEO
Gnip, a startup that resells social data from the likes of Twitter and other social giants, has announced a shuffling of the executive ranks. Now, it’s former COO and president will be CEO. [Source: AllThingsD]
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Facebook updates Page Insights
Facebook has redesigned its Page Insights, the tool that lets Pages user monitor their performance. This is the its first update to since October 2011. [Source: TechCrunch]
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Adobe says “Creative Cloud” is working
Despite some controversy with its transition to the Cloud, Adobe’s CEO says its Creative Cloud Suite is actually doing quite well. According to the company, it has 700,000 subscribers, up from 479,000 in the first quarter of 2013, which exceeded the company’s original expectations. [Source: GeekWire]
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Tech’s second boom: What’s different this time?
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Viacom latest media company to join Twitter Amplify
Viacom has joined Twitter’s Amplify program, a partnership for media companies to better implement second screen experiences. The first Viacom-Amplify will be the 2013 MTV Video Music Awards on August 25. [Source: VentureBeat]
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Dan Bricklin hired as Alpha Software’s CTO
Dan Bricklin, the co-creator of VisiCalc and “father of the electronic spreadsheet,” has been hired as the CTO for Alpha Software. In addition, the company announced the launch of Alpha Anywhere. [Source: AllThingsD]
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Videopixie launches connecting footage to editors
Videopixie launched today, providing a marketplace for people who have rough video footage and editors. The service works by users uploading their raw footage, and then vie bid for the job by making a quick teaser trailer with the footage. [Source: TechCrunch]
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Google introduces a new scorecard in AdSense
Google today launched a new AdSense scorecard aimed at telling site owners their performance. The scorecard is divided into three categories: revenue optimization, site health and Google+. [Source: TechCrunch]
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Grammy Award-winner's law of attraction in Tech
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Intercom raises $6M
Intercom, a startup that seeks to make it easier for businesses to interact with their customers, has announced a $6 million Series A led by The Social+Capital Partnership. The funding will be used to expand the company’s product, which is already used by companies like GitHub, Buffer, and Heroku, among others.
[Source: Intercom]
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Kiip opens self-serve rewards marketplace to brands in limited beta
Kiip, a rewards platform that allows app makers to reward users for “moments” — achievements in video games, completing a task list, and so forth — has announced that the opening of its self-serve marketplace to brands in a limited beta. Now, instead of being vetted by and working through Kiip, brands can offer rewards directly to the service’s users.
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LG to mass-produce flexible displays by the end of this year
LG will begin mass-producing flexible displays by the fourth quarter of this year, the Korea Times reports. The company also intends to produce the first smartphone equipped with such a display this year.
[Source: The Korea Times]
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Cisco to invest $15M in Israeli VC funds
Cisco plans to invest $15 million in Israeli VC funds, Reuters reports. The investment is part of a larger push to expand in the Middle East through acquisitions, the opening of a new development center, and other efforts.
[Source: Reuters]
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Social Radar raises $12.75M
Social Radar, which makes a location-focused service meant to make it easier to connect with friends, has raised a $12.75 million Series A led by Grotech Ventures, Swan & Legend Ventures, and New Enterprise Associates.
[Source: Social Radar]
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Vdio launches in US and UK
Vdio, the video-streaming service created by Rdio, has made its public debut in the US and UK today. The service, which I reviewed during its limited beta, was previously limited to Rdio subscribers.
[Source: Rdio]
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Crittercism launches Fathom Mobile Command Center
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FBI confirms it uses drones for domestic surveillance
While testifying to the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday, FBI Director Robert Mueller confirmed that the agency owns and operates drones for domestic surveillance, describing their use as “very seldom.” The laws governing operation such usage have not yet been established. [Source: Mashable]
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iOS 7 causes many startups to pause Android development
Many startups are adjusting their Q3 roadmaps in light of the newly announced iOS 7 update, and according to CrunchFund partner Michael Arrington Android is the big loser. Several companies in Arrington’s portfolio and others he has spoken to have temporarily shelved their Android development plans and redeployed resources to focus on updating their apps ahead of the fall iOS launch. [Source: Uncrunched]
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Apple TV adds HBO GO, WatchESPN, and more to content lineup
Apple has expanded the programming available to owners of its Apple TV set top boxes, adding HBO GO and WatchESPN, as well as Sky News, Crunchyroll, and Qello. [Source: Apple]
