Microsoft social app co. Wallop rebrands as Coveroo
Wallop, the social app startup that broke out of Microsoft in 2006, has changed its name to Coveroo and plans to refocus its efforts on mobile phone accessories. Its first order of business was to buy laser-engraving firm Etchstar, which specializes in customizing laptops and phones.
Based in San Francisco, the new entity will inherit 10 employees and what’s left of $13 million in capital from Wallop. Its investors include Norwest Venture Partners and Bay Partners…. Continue Reading
Web 2.0 shakeout continued: What’s up at Insider Pages, Backfence, Meebo, others?
(Updated, rumor that Backfence is shutting down is wrong, see fresh post here)
Roelof Botha is one of the hotter venture capitalists these days. The Sequoia Capital venture capitalist led that firm’s investment into video-sharing site YouTube — and saw that company sold within a year to Google for $1.65 billion.
Now he’s apparently reviewing the progress of his companies. Palo Alto’s Meebo, the site that lets people use integrate their instant messaging service online, has been… Continue Reading
Roundup: All Hail Google, WiFi in cars, Wallop walloped, Ahnold’s funding
Round-up of the latest action in Silicon Valley:
It’s all about Google — Notable post by Rich Skrenta about how Google is becoming ever more important. Having become the “start page” for the Web, Google makes $90 to $120 for every thousand times its pages get viewed (or CPM), compared to a mere $4-5 for an average page view elsewhere, he calculates. We asked him for his assumptions, and it turns out he mixes a lot of… Continue Reading
Social networking site Wallop raises $10M
Wallop, the San Francisco social networking startup that was spun out of Microsoft Research Labs earlier this year, has raised $10 million in venture capital with an ambitious plan to become the latest cool social networking company.
Wallop says here that its features set it apart, but if you go through the list they seem more a listing of best practices we’ve learned over the past year from social networking. If following a recipe is all… Continue Reading