DEMO leaves Boulder, hits Boston, Chicago, LA, Austin, Singapore and more (photos)

As part of our mission to find the most exciting, disruptive tech for this season’s DEMO, we recently stopped off in Boulder, Colorado to check out the coolest startups in the region. Below are some photos from the meetup we had there.

Then we flew back to SF on Thursday, where we invited some exciting new companies to pitch at venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins, and found several we expect to invite to launch at … Continue Reading

Join VentureBeat and Kleiner Perkins at our DEMO meetup party this week (update)

Update: We have reached our capacity for the party. Thanks to everyone who has signed up to attend. 

Come party and network with VentureBeat, Kleiner Perkins, and the DEMO community this week at our DEMO meetup event.

VentureBeat and Kleiner Perkins are hosting a DEMO meetup on Thursday, February 9 at the Dutch Goose in Menlo Park. Ten companies will be selected from dozens of applications to participate in a feedback session with a Kleiner … Continue Reading

Silicon Valley and Colorado companies — Do you sizzle? (Reminder)

Just a reminder to Silicon Valley- and Colorado-based companies: VentureBeat is joining up with two great venture capital firms to offer feedback on your product.

Yes, there’s something in it for VentureBeat. We’re on the prowl to find the most exciting products to write about (eventually, when your product is ready), and also to invite to launch our upcoming DEMO conference. The next DEMO takes place April 17-19 in Silicon Valley.

And yes, there’s something … Continue Reading

Silicon Valley companies: Get feedback from VentureBeat and Kleiner Perkins

If you’re based in the Bay Area, and are building the next tech product that will change the world, consider joining me for a feedback session with one of the city’s most respected venture capital groups, Kleiner Perkins.

Kleiner has offered to give feedback to your idea before it comes to market, including on your technology, business model and go-to-market strategy. And if there’s a fit, we can also discuss your launching opportunities at DEMO … Continue Reading

NYC companies: Get feedback from VentureBeat and RRE Ventures (Reprise)

If you’re based in New York and looking to launch your next big tech product soon, join me for a private feedback session on December 13 with one of the city’s most respected venture capital groups, RRE Ventures.

VentureBeat is on a world tour, going country-to-country looking for exciting products. We’re looking for great stories to write about, of course. But we’re also on the prowl to find companies we want to invite to launch … Continue Reading

Kleiner Perkins picks up Twitter’s former VP of engineering

Mike Abbott, the former vice president of engineering who flew the Twitter coop in mid October, has joined Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers as a partner and is now a part of the illustrious venture capital firm’s digital team.

The KPCB new hire spent less than a year-and-a-half at Twitter, but grew the engineering team from 80 to 350 employees and helped mastermind the rebuild of Twitter’s infrastructure. Prior to joining Twitter, Abbott worked at … Continue Reading

Why Turkey is the next raging e-commerce hotspot

Last week, I visited Turkey, and discovered what a lot of people are saying about this fascinating country: It’s the next developing hotspot for technology startups, especially for e-commerce.

The sector is exploding: The Turkish e-commerce market hit $10.6 billion in the first six months of the year, compared to $16.3 billion for all of 2010.

And after years of neglecting Turkey, U.S and other investors are now starting to flock there. Investment capital isn’t … Continue Reading

Kleiner Perkins raises $250 million China II Fund

Venture firm Kleiner Perkins has raised a $250 million fund to invest in Chinese companies, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The KPBC China Fund II filing documents list chief financial officer Susan Biglieri as the company’s signatory.

This follows a recent trend of Asia-focused venture funds, but it is very small when compared to the $6 billion raised by venture firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts in October.

Companies in the Kleiner … Continue Reading

Lockerz grabs $36M, aiming to become Generation Z’s homepage

What if you opened your high-school locker to find $36 million inside? I’d probably skip biology. Lockerz, an interactive eCommerce company, did receive that cash. It plans to use the proceeds to win the attention of Generation Z.

The $36 million third round came from new comers Live Nation Entertainment, DAG Ventures and existing investors Kleiner Perkins and Liberty Media.

“Incentives” and “gamification” have been thrown around recently to describe advertising initiatives that lure interaction … Continue Reading

Former DoubleClick team raises $6M for comparison-shopping engine

DoubleClick cofounder Kevin O’Connor has a new startup, FindTheBest, aimed at helping you compare everything from air purifiers to venture capitalists.

Now, with a $6 million funding round from Kleiner Perkins that closed Tuesday, FindTheBest should be in a good position to build out its “data driven content platform,” which combines computer-driven semantic analysis with human-powered tagging to build data sets quickly and efficiently.

“‘Human’ is dirty — it’s not scalable,” O’Conner (above, left) said … Continue Reading

Shasta Ventures pools a $200M fund, invests with Google Ventures and KP

Early stage venture firm Shasta Ventures raised $200 million dollars, according to a form D filed with the SEC. This is a growth fund intended to support start-ups.

This is a pooled investment fund, with the form citing Rob Coneybeer, Tod Francis, and Jason Pressman as involved in the pool. The company pooled its first fund in 2005 when it started investing $210 million. In 2007, Shasta raised a $250 million fund for investments in … Continue Reading

Pinger lowers European texting fees by making SMS a game

This article is part of a series of posts about DEMO alumni and news of their progress. Pinger launched at DEMO in Fall 2006. Check out more at DEMO.

Europe telecommunications is, in one word, super-pricey-holy-crap-don’t-text-me. Today, however, free text and talk service Pinger crosses the Atlantic from the U.S. to change that, starting in Germany.

The market for a free text and talk product is wide open in Europe. In order to dominate in … Continue Reading

Sequoia & Kleiner VCs: Past year first for meaningful mobile momentum

Who doesn’t love to entertain venture capitalists? They have insight, they have an innovative eyes, they have lots of money… So we grabbed two of the best dressed (plaid blazers anyone?) to join us on stage at MobileBeat 2011 today to discuss why VC’s are going long on mobile.

Jim Goetz of Sequoia Capital and Matt Murphy of Kleiner Perkins have been investing in mobile companies for 5 years but say that the past year … Continue Reading

17 reasons to attend GamesBeat 2011

We’ve been writing a lot of posts about our speakers at GamesBeat 2011. But here’s a summary of why we think this will be the must-attend game conference for you.

We’re gathering the industry’s top CEOs, entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, investors, journalists, marketers, developers and other key executives for a two-day gathering at the elegant Palace Hotel in San Francisco, from July 12 to July 13. The event is co-located with our MobileBeat conference this year … Continue Reading

Square snags $100M at massive $1B valuation

If you need any further evidence that the mobile payments arena is going to be huge over the next few years, just look at Square.

The mobile payments startup, created by Twitter founder Jack Dorsey, has raised $100 million in a third round of funding led by Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, skyrocketing the company’s valuation to more than $1 billion, the Wall Street Journal reports.

The funding has quadrupled Square’s valuation — the company’s … Continue Reading