Authors take control in Scribd's new eBook market
Scribd, the popular site for sharing documents, has launched a store that could eventually grow into a serious competitor to Amazon. There’s a bit of David-and-Goliath to the battle (not that Scribd has to kill Amazon to succeed), but there are reasons to think the smaller site might become a major player: Not only does it already attract 60 million readers a month for its free content, but its accessibility and flexibility could make it … Continue Reading
Greenhouse Capital goes back to the well for first fund
Instead of launching a second fund, Greenhouse Capital Partners has decided to reopen its $12 million first fund to raise even more, reports VentureWire. Based in Sausalito, Calif., the firm typically backs seed-stage cleantech startups. It had hoped to raise $100 million when it set out last year, but had its dreams dashed when the downturn set in.
By raising more, Greenhouse hopes to add two to three more companies to its current portfolio of … Continue Reading
Venture capitalists worry: Are we stunting companies?
Chris Shipley and I hosted a breakfast last week with 16 leading Silicon Valley investors about the state of the start-up community.
It was frank and engaging.
Some participants requested their comments remain off the record. Below are summaries of some of the remarks of participants who agreed to be referenced.
Here are the two main trends I picked up from the conversation:
1) The art of VC dealmaking is changing — Investors are no … Continue Reading
Oil co. Terralliance finds funds despite risky business
Oil and gas exploration company Terralliance has raised an undisclosed amount of funding mostly from existing investors, despite reports that it squandered almost $300 million in capital on questionable purchases — Russian jets not least among them — before laying off more than half of its employees.
The company is not taking money from just anyone, either, naming Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Goldman Sachs and Passport Capital among its backers. It has raised $450 … Continue Reading
Best Buy's new Napster: Five bucks, five downloads per month, won't stream to iPhone
Here we go again. Napster, the peer-to-peer song sharing system that flooded the Internet with ripped MP3 tunes in 2000, is long gone. But the brand name is back for yet another relaunch as a music service approved and blessed by the major labels. I’ve lost count of the number of Napster relaunches, which says something about the lack of impact by any of them.
Later today, around 5 pm Pacific time, Best Buy will … Continue Reading
This year's fbFund finalists span Facebook's platform, the web and the iPhone
Developers may make up to $500 million on Facebook’s developer platform this year, and now Facebook’s investors are getting into that action — and then some. The fbFund, a seed-stage investment fund run by Founders Fund and Accel Partners in partnership with Facebook, has announced the first 25 of its 50 finalists for this year.
These companies aren’t just on Facebook’s platform. Some use Facebook Connect to incorporate Facebook data on other web sites or … Continue Reading
Plug and Play startup incubator eyes $20M for seed fund
The Plug and Play Tech Center, a Palo Alto, Calif., accelerator program that provides office space, mentorship and a fundraising springboard for about 200 startups in the Silicon Valley, says it plans to raise $20 million for its own seed investment fund, to be called Plug and Play LLC. And it’s looking to its partners and several other capital firms — Draper Fisher Jurvetson and Sequoia Capital among them — to make it happen.
It … Continue Reading
DoubleVerify launches realtime ad verification system
DoubleVerify, a company that tracks the proper placement of online ads, officially launched what the company calls a “real-time” verification service today following a preliminary test period. The company will compete with Collective Networks and Mpire, among others.
The New York company has not identified its major clients yet, but claims that “a number of blue-chip advertisers including one of the top 3 banks, one of the top 3 telecommunication companies and one of the … Continue Reading
Renewable Fuel Products takes $145K to turn veggie oil into fuel
Renewable Fuel Products, a San Francisco-based company that’s testing oils from various vegetables to determine how well they can be converted into vehicle fuel, has raised $145,000 to continue its research. It’s also working on several products examining the energy potential of algae.
While investors in the recent round haven’t been disclosed, Big Sky Partners and Greenhouse Capital Partners provided seed funding in the past. The company divulged this information under new federal Form D … Continue Reading
Hyperion brings in $13M for gastrointestinal relief
Hyperion Therapeutics, maker of pharmaceuticals to treat hepatology and gastrointenstinal conditions, has raised $13 million of an anticipated $15 million round of debt, according to VentureWire. Contributors have not been disclosed, but the South San Francisco, Calif. company had previously raked in $40 million in a second round of funding from Sofinnova Ventures, Highland Capital Partners, New Enterprise Associates and Washington Research Foundation Capital.
Hyperion is one of the companies that has reported fundraising activity … Continue Reading
UserVoice raises $800K for customer feedback systems
UserVoice, provider of online tools used to gather and organize customer feedback, complaints and product requests, has raised $800,000 in a first round of venture capital from Baseline Ventures, Founders Fund, Betaworks, David Shen Ventures, Accelerator Group, and several individuals.
Based in Santa Cruz, Calif., the company says it aggregates the data to show what customers want most, and to help developers prioritize the changes they make. When new features are rolled out, UserVoice allows … Continue Reading
Jumbuck brings 15 million chatters to the iPhone
Jumbuck Entertainment is one of the largest providers of messaging apps to wireless carriers in the world. Yet nine years after its founding in 2000, most Americans still aren’t familiar with Jumbuck or its mobile product, even though Jumbuck is on the decks of major carriers.
The company claims 15 million users of its various chat applications in Australia, the Pacific Rim, Europe and the Americas. Its Power Chat application, placed on phones by more … Continue Reading
Roundup: OpenTable IPO this week, big cell phone launches approaching, Google facing antitrust scrutiny
Here’s the latest action:
OpenTable going public — Silicon Valley will likely welcome its first IPO in a while this week from the restaurant-reservation site.
Will the summer bring blockbuster cell phone sales? — The launch of the Palm Pre, iPhone 3.0 software, and others could juice cell phone sales. The New York Times has more.
FTC drops case against Rambus – After years of litigation, the Federal Trade Commisison is no longer pursuing an … Continue Reading
Watchitoo lets distant friends watch web videos as if they're in same room
Watchitoo is launching a collaboration site today that lets friends watch YouTube videos, share slide shows, and otherwise collaborate through a common online window.
It lets you see how your friend reacts to the video at the very same instant you react to it. It’s like sitting in a movie and glancing over to see if your friend is laughing at the jokes or not.
The Israeli company is launching a private beta of Watchitoo … Continue Reading
Work for VentureBeat — in advertising, sales or as product manager
With VentureBeat‘s growth and expanding conference program, we’re building our team. We’ve got openings for the following:
Manager, Advertising Ops/Marketing — If you’re an energetic and outgoing individual who thrives on multi-tasking, staying on top of details and gets excited about working with some of the coolest companies in the technology and media market…then this job is ideal for you. VentureBeat needs an uber organizer to coordinate our online advertising operations, and support our events, … Continue Reading
Facebook raises $150 million more to cash out employees
updated
Facebook has almost finished raising $150 million in capital, in an extraordinary move by the company to buy out shares of hundreds of regular employees.
Hundreds of the Palo Alto, Calif.’s employees have now toiled at the company for more than two years, and many have worked three to five years. Increasingly, some have become restless, and would like to cash in on the huge value they’ve created. Most employees were awarded several thousands … Continue Reading
Real world laws intrude on virtual world behavior
Navigating the laws of cyberspace is getting ever more complex as virtual worlds themselves become mirrors of the real world. That’s one clear message from a Stanford University event on legal frontiers for digital media that I attended today.
Protecting children from predators is at the top of the list. But there are thorny issues about who owns the property created in the worlds, what rights to privacy should users expect, how operators should work … Continue Reading
Tibco Software founder talks of recovery at TieCon event
Tibco Software chief executive Vivek Ranadive said the worst of the tech recession is behind us as he addressed the TieCon conference — an annual event in Silicon Valley heavily attended by the South Asian, venture capital and entrepreneur communities.
Palo Alto, Calif.-based Tibco, a company with a market value of $1.1 billion, makes software that gives real-time insight into the operations of a company and thus it has insight into the enterprise market, which … Continue Reading
5,000 fans watch Wolfram Alpha go live … very slowly
Wolfram Alpha, the much-anticipated service from scientist Stephen Wolfram for computing the answers to factual questions, will officially launch on Monday, but its team is working hard to gradually roll the service out tonight. How do I know? I, along with more than 5,000 others, are watching the launch on livestreaming video service Justin.tv.
I imagine there will be many more than 5,000 people using the “answer engine” as it goes live over the weekend, … Continue Reading
Roundup: Has Della got its groove back? Hulu, Google, etc.
Here’s the latest action:
Dell revises “Della,” its netbook marketing web site targeting women, after allegations of sexism — As Jezebel covers.
The once and future Valleywag — Owen Thomas (pictured right) is leaving to become editorial director of NBC Bay Area later this month. Ryan Tate will be taking over. Here’s Thomas’ farewell post.
The New York Times will figure out how to charge for some content by the end of June — The … Continue Reading
