Youth media ad network GoFish reels in $22.5M

Youth media ad network GoFish reels in $22.5M

GoFish, a media-based advertising network targeting six to 17-year-olds (and moms), announced that it has brought in $22.5 million in private placement funding, which it will use to pay off its $14.5 million in debt and expand its sales and marketing staff. Backers Panorama Capital, Rustic Canyon Partners and Rembrandt Venture Partners will choose whether or not to kick in an additional $2.5 million in the next few weeks, according to the structure of the… Continue Reading

Roundup: Sprint’s WiMax bet, Twitku, VMware’s $750M mistake, Bolt-dead and more

Roundup: Sprint’s WiMax bet, Twitku, VMware’s $750M mistake, Bolt-dead and more

Here’s the latest action:

Sprint doubles bet on WiMAX –- Sprint doubles its investment pledge on the untested WiMAX technology (WSJ, subscription required), which Sprint will use to provide widespread broadband over its network. It now plans to spend $5 billion by 2010.

Twitku, the Meebo for twittering — Twitku is a new service that lets you post a single message about what you’re doing simultaneously to Twitter and Jaiku. Those two services are rivals in letting people send… Continue Reading

Roundup: Six Apart’s memo, VCs and sex toys, WiMax in 2008, Newser.com & more

Roundup: Six Apart’s memo, VCs and sex toys, WiMax in 2008, Newser.com & more

Here’s the latest (updated) action:

Six Apart’s headaches — The blogging software market is highly competitive, so small differences in quality can make a difference in user adoption. Six Apart, a Silicon Valley start-up that offers several blogging software platforms, including Movable Type, has released a product after acknowledging internally it could make developers mad. [Six Apart’s Anil Dash has since responded in comments, saying the company took time to fix the bugs for the release. The… Continue Reading

Bolt hosed, shows the risks of video

Bolt hosed, shows the risks of video

GoFish, a video-sharing site much like YouTube, has acquired another video site, Bolt, to save that company from lawsuits that threatened to sink it.

The $30 million transaction, first reported by the NYT, is reportedly being used by New York’s Bolt to pay a settlement of “several million dollars” to Universal Music Group, which had sued Bolt for copyright infringement. (See merger filing here)

Thus ends the topsy-turvy ride of Bolt, the company started in 1996 to… Continue Reading