Deals
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Sequoia formalizes its scout program, raising new fund to continue it
Sequoia Capital is formalizing the Scout program that we first wrote about last year. It has filed paperwork with the SEC to raise the first separate financial entity to support the program. The program allows entrepreneurs in the Sequoia network to act as angels to newer entrepreneurs the same way any entrepreneur would. The only thing different is they... -
Business of Fashion’s $2.1 million seed round: A case of perfect timing?
London-based Business of Fashion is a new new-media story, emblematic of an emerging era of publishing in which at least some investors are willing to bet that a news-driven company can be very profitable. Even as Time Inc gets taken over by Meredith and Newsweek goes solely digital, venture capitalists, led by Index Ventures, have decided to invest $2.1…
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FlightCar brings the sharing economy to airport car rentals, launches at SFO with $570k in Seed funding
On the scale of frighteningly ambitious startup ideas, taking responsibility of a stranger’s car and handing it over to a second stranger is pretty high up there. Welcome to the basic premise of FlightCar, and to the world of the sharing economy. FlightCar, a member of the Y-Combinator W13 class graduating in March, is launching its product publicly today... -
Here On Biz partners with MENSA and others to add up to 1.4 million users to location-aware professional network
Whether they’re traveling across country or just making the rounds in their local sales territory, business professionals likely cross paths with potentially valuable contacts daily without knowing it. Here On Biz aims to change this through its location-aware, professional networking mobile app built on top of the LinkedIn platform. The Los Angeles based startup was founded in January... -
Leanplum raises $825K to remove the guesswork from app distribution
TechStars Seattle alumnus Leanplum is today announcing an $825,000 funding round from TechStars, Kima Ventures, VoiVoda Ventures, and a number of angel investors found via AngelList. The company, founded by ex-Google engineers Momchil Kyurkchiev and Andrew First, is building a platform to offer product managers analytics and A/B testing tools for mobile devices. A/B testing — displaying different things... -
Nextdoor snags the David Sze endorsement (And his largest check ever)
Nextdoor is announcing several new features to its local neighborhood social network today. But a lot of these won’t come as a big surprise to our readers. As we wrote a few weeks ago, crime and safety reporting and prevention has unexpectedly become the site’s killer app, so to speak. The new version was all about listing to users... -
Groupon acqui-hires MashLogic, will shutter Britely plugin this weekend
Groupon may be taking a beating in the press and on Wall Street, but the company is still looking for ways to integrate itself into the fabric of small businesses. Part of doing so is attracting talent – no easy proposition when your stock is in free fall. The latest news to come out of the daily deals giant makes... -
EasyPost drags the postage stamp into the 21st century
It’s hard out there for a stamp. The little square pictures of Elvis or bald eagles or some president or another used to have enviable job security, guaranteed usage across the United States every day but Sunday. Now, in addition to the United States Postal Service’s announcement that it will cease Saturday deliveries this year and crows for... -
SMB commerce platform TradeSync raises $1.4M and adds an Intuit co-founder to its board
Running a small or medium sized business (SMB) is hard enough. Doing so without modern software tools makes the challenge even more substantial. The problem is, most business software is either too complicated or too expensive to cater to this category. Peter Daley, formerly the founder, CFO, and EVP of Strategy at construction industry Web application company BuildPoint, saw this... -
Top hedge fund Coatue launches $300M Valley-based growth fund
We all know there’s a huge gulf between the way Wall Street looks at technology and the way Silicon Valley looks at technology. The question is whether anyone can breach it. Well one of the top-ten hedge funds on the planet is trying. Coatue Management is launching a $300 million fund to invest in high-growth, pre-IPO startups. Its No. 2... -
ClubW gets $3.1M to add personalization tech to the wine of the month club
There is still VC money out there for subscription ecommerce – when the growth and engagement metrics are healthy enough that is. Los Angeles startup ClubW proved as much by closing a $3.1 million Series A round led by Crosscut Ventures with participation from Guild Capital, Siemer Ventures, Adam Goldenberg, Csaba Konkoly, Brener International Group, 500 Startups, and its accelerator... -
Enterprise in the desert: Teamly raises $250k from Vegas Tech Fund, moves to Downtown
The Las Vegas tech scene is more than just ecommerce, new media, and consumer Web companies. The blossoming ecosystem has at least one enterprise software startup as well. Today, 500 Startups Spring 2012 alumni Teamly announced that it has raised $250,000 from Vegas Tech Fund and 500 Startups, and will be relocating to the re-emerging Downtown Las Vegas area.... -
Michael Dell hopes he’s Steve Jobs, but is he really just Jerry Yang?
The first time I traveled to Jerusalem I was warned of Jerusalem Syndrome. After all, I was traveling with a group of semi-ego-maniacal techies and bloggers — a group that routinely likes to pretend to play God as is. None of us came down with the desire to heal people, dress in bed sheets or wander in the desert.... -
Think Big Analytics raises $3M, goes old school with big data consultancy
The phrase “big data” is arguably one of the most played out terms of the last several years. Every company “has” it. Few companies know what it “is,” or what to “do” with it once they’ve collected it. Enter Think Big Analytics, a self-described big analytics as a service company that combines data science and data engineering to help enterprises... -
With 300% traffic growth, Tapiture raises $825,000 and teases ecommerce rollout
In December we revealed a $450,000 partial funding round by “Pinterest for dudes” social discovery startup Tapiture. At the time, the company’s founders promised “much, much more impressive news to announce in January.” Well the missed the deadline by a matter of days, but today, the company followed through with nearly double the cash raised, balooning traffic, and a... -
Enterprises websites are targets. WhiteHat raises $31M to extend website security lead
“Every company has a founding story,” WhiteHat Founder and CTO Jeremiah Grossman says. “WhiteHat’s takes place a bit over 10 years ago, when I was asked to hack every website that Yahoo had before the bad guys could.” Grossman was the information security officer at Yahoo, and realized that with more than 600 company-owned websites, all constantly changing, and an...
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No, USV did not get a 5000% return on Tumblr
Earlier today, Crain’s cited a PrivCo report stating that Union Square Ventures got a 5000% return on its Tumblr investment. It also said that employees #31 through #178 received $371,000 apiece. But in a comment on a Hacker News post, Union Square Ventures’ Fred Wilson calls the numbers “total garbage.” [Source: Hacker News via ShortFormBlog]
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Nutella will not shut down fan's "Nutella Day"
Earlier today, there were reports that Ferrero, the makers of the delicious chocolate hazelnut spread Nutella, sent a cease-and-desist order to one of its biggest fans because she had the audacity to throw a World Nutella Day event. The company, realizing it’s usually not a good idea to sue your biggest fans, has now worked out an arrangement where World Nutella Day can exist without threat of litigation. [Source: Techdirt]
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Video proof Snapchat doesn't delete photos
A YouTube user named Nick Keck uploaded a video of himself locating supposedly “deleted” Snapchat photos sent to him. Did he need sophisticated software or hacking skills? Nope, just an app called iFile and a smartphone. [Source: Nick Keck via Motherboard]
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Times makes developer take down Snow Fall replica
Developer and Scrollkit founder Cody Brown created a “replica” of Snow Fall along with a video to show other news organizations how making something like it perhaps isn’t as difficult as it looks. The New York Times wasn’t pleased, sending a cease-and-desist letter followed by (and this is the ridiculous part) a second letter asking that Brown remove the following phrase from his website: “The NYT spent hundreads of hours hand-coding ‘Snow Fall.; We made a replica in an hour.” [Source: Cody Brown]
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PopExpert raises $2 million for its video teaching marketplace
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The race to a "smart" television is over. Xbox won
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March for Innovation: What you need to know
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Former Yahoo exec joins the Tribune company
Shashi Seth, a former top product executive at Yahoo, has joined the Tribune Company as president of digital ventures. He will be based in Silicon Valley and report to CEO Peter Liguori. [Source: AllThingsD]
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Airbnb host fined $2,400
New York City officials originally asked Nigel Warren to pay $7,000 for violating a law that makes it illegal for New York residents to rent out their properties for less than 29 days. A judge dismissed building and zoning code violations, and so lowered the fine to $2,400. [Source: CNET]
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WedPics raises $1.1 million
The Raleigh, North Carolina-based social network specializes in photo sharing for wedding pictures. Participants in the funding round include former Redhat CEO Bob Young and Reverbnation co-founder Jed Carlson. [Source: The Next Web]
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The importance of grit, rules, and discipline
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CharityBuzz auctions chance to pitch to your favorite VC
Weeks after a massively successful auction for a cup of coffee with Tim Cook, Charity Buzz is now aiming right at the heart of Silicon Valley. Up for auction is the chance for people to pitch their favorite VC, with a VC all-stars lineup including like Tim Draper. [Source: VentureBeat]
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Amprius has developed a battery that lasts 25% longer
Venture-backed Amprius revealed today that it has developed a battery for smartphones and tablets that can hold a charge for 25% longer than any other battery out there. The company will be providing the new batteries to unnamed smartphone and tablet OEMs. [Source: GigaOm]
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In Oklahoma’s time of crisis, Sparkrelief is working to unify relief efforts
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Internet Archive nabs $1M donation
The Internet Archive is working on a project to collect and index all broadcasts since the beginning of television. To help with this, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation have donated $1 million. [Source: paidContent]
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XBox 360 games are not compatible with XBox One
Today marks the reveal of Microsoft’s latest gaming console, the XBox One. At the unveiling, Microsoft disclosed that due to a different chip architecture the One won’t have native compatibility with XBox 360 games. [Source: CNET]
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Jamba Juice and PayPal unroll “order ahead” feature
PayPal and Jamba Juice are expanding their partnership with a new mobile feature. Now customers can place orders on their phones and pay with PayPal ahead of pickup. [Source: AllThingsD]
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France Telecom to invest 30 and 50 million euros in Dailymotion
France Telecom has disclosed its plans to invest up to 50 million euros in its video-sharing website Dailymotion. While rumors of Yahoo buying a stake in the company persist, France Tel claims “the door is not closed.” [Source: Reuters]
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Best Buy reports another quarterly loss
Best Buy has reported its quarterly earnings, showing another revenue loss. Online sales, however, have improved. [Source: AllThingsD]
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It's damn hard to build an enterprise company
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Intel taps former Apple and Palm executive for new devices unit
After news that Intel is spearheading a new devices unit, word has come that the unit will be led by Mike Bell. Bell, who’s been working at Intel’s mobile chip business, has also worked at both Apple and Palm. [Source: AllThingsD]
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“The U.S. court system is currently structured in such a way that it’s currently difficult to get the protections a technology company needs, because the cycle is very long.”
— Apple CEO Tim Cook, on the United States' intellectual property protection environment
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Sprint raises its Clearwire bid
Sprint has raised its bid for Clearwire 14% at the very last minute, in the hopes of getting the shareholders’ approval. After news of the upped bid, Clearwater decided to postpone the stockholder meeting until May 30. [Source: GigaOm]
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Change.org raises $15M in additional funding
Online petitioning platform Change.org has scored $15 million in new funding. This latest round was led by Omidyar Network. [Source: VentureBeat]
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Apple’s brand value is still on top
Despite its stocks taking a huge hit over the last few months, Apple’s brand value continues to dominate. According to an analysis by MarketingWeek, Apple is still the world’s number one brand, and its brand value has increased year-over-year. [Source: BGR]
