Source: P2P startup SkyRider has shut down
Troubled peer-to-peer technology startup SkyRider has shut down, a reliable source tells me. I’ve reached out to the company for comment but haven’t heard back.
Mountain View, Calif-based SkyRider took a round of bridge financing last winter, as we reported then; NewTeeVee subsequently unearthed a management… Continue Reading
Webaroo nabs $11M for group text messaging
Mobile software provider Webaroo brought in $11 million in first-round financing to continue developing its top product SMS Gupshup — a group text-messaging platform that allows users to blog and form communities on their mobile phones. Contributors to the India-based company included Charles River Ventures… Continue Reading
RPX gets funding from Kleiner Perkins, Charles River for patent acquisition
A stealth-mode San Francisco outfit called RPX, which calls itself a “patent acquisition services company”, has taken an undisclosed funding from top firms Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and Charles River Ventures.
Details look thin on exactly what RPX does, but the general outline seems to… Continue Reading
Stealth mode Conduit Labs’ LoudCrowd revealed
The mysterious Conduit Labs has gone through pains to keep its nature under wraps. The company’s stated goal is to create online social experiences that are as rich as those we have offline, and it has managed to raise $5.5 million from Charles River Ventures… Continue Reading
Vlingo’s speech recognition for Blackberry officially outcools the iPhone — for now
Vlingo, a Cambridge, Mass, speech recognition company, has just launched an awesome voice-powered interface for Blackberry smartphones.
In a recent post about speech-to-SMS provider Yap, we posited that the ultimate mobile interface would let us navigate a phone using a combination of voice and manual input…. Continue Reading
GreatCall raises $38 million for simple Jitterbug cell phones
GreatCall has built a business bucking the trend of feature-rich cell phones that are getting to be as complex as computers. Its Jitterbug phone is aimed at people who only want one simple thing out their phones — to make calls.
The Del Mar, Calif.-based company… Continue Reading
Parascale raises $11.37M to help companies control their storage destiny
A startup called Parascale is preparing to launch software that chief executive Sajai Krishanan says will help media companies deal with ever-increasing storage needs. The company has just raised $11.37 in its first round of venture backing.
Computing and storage in the Internet “cloud” are hot… Continue Reading
Rosum raises $15 million for mobile GPS alternatives
Rosum has raised $15 million to invest in its navigation technology which is an alternative to global positioning system (GPS).
The Redwood City, Calif., company uses signals embedded in broadcast TV signals to fix the location of different moving objects. It serves as an alternative to… Continue Reading
Gridstone Research raises $10M for financial research
Gridstone is a San Mateo, Calif. company with a research platform designed for financial analysts. Their software combs through company information to present financial and operational data, guidance, and structured text.
The $10 million funding was led by Helion Venture Partners. Existing investors Charles River Ventures… Continue Reading
Yahoo teams with Vlingo to offer voice search
Updated
With just-announced improvements to its mobile service, Yahoo oneSearch gives customers the ability to search the web by simply speaking into their phones. To make this happen, Yahoo is partnering with startup Vlingo and has led Vlingo’s $20 million second round of funding.
Yahoo isn’t the… Continue Reading
TNS buys Web traffic analysis company Compete for $75M
Taylor Nelson Sofres, the world’s third largest market research company according to one measure, has acquired Compete, a company that tries to measure the traffic and types of people that visit certain web sites, for $75m (£37.8m).
TNS, based in London, apparently made the statement as… Continue Reading
Skyrider investment suggests advertising on P2P might not be so easy, after all
It’s been over a year since we covered Skyrider, and for good reason: We hadn’t heard anything more since the company revealed its business plan, based around monetizing peer-to-peer networks with ads, in late 2006.
In the space of about three months, we’d reported that Skyrider… Continue Reading
Lookery, the company serving ads to Facebook and other social networks, raises $900,000
Lookery, a company serving ads in Facebook and other social networks, has raised a $900,000 seed round of funding, the company said in a statement last week.
It plans to seek a first round of venture capital funding in April.
We’ve covered the company here.
The seed funding… Continue Reading
Live Gamer lands $24M for virtual good trading
A new portal for trading virtual goods called Live Gamer announced its first funding today, promising to add some structure and protections to online transactions.
As massively multi-player online games (MMORPGS) like World of Warcraft have gained popularity, real-world markets have sprung up for everything from… Continue Reading
Silicon Clocks raises $8M more for chip timing
Silicon Clocks is a fabless semiconductor company focused on integrating timing devices directly onto processor chips.
Current quartz-based technology, which is several decades old, requires a separate processor piece and is somewhat limited in its abilities. Silicon Clocks claims it can reduce the size and cost… Continue Reading
Co-founder of Bebo leaves to join venture firm: Q&A
Jim Scheinman, one of three founders of Bebo, is leaving the company he helped start to become an Entrepreneur in Residence at the VC firm, Charles River Ventures. We talked with him to discuss that decision, his days at Friendster, his plans for the future… Continue Reading
Investors back mobile ad company, Millennial — forgive fake ad counter
Millennial Media, a Baltimore, Md., company that serves ads to mobile phones, has raised a $15 million a second round of funding.
A bunch of companies have launched to grab a portion of the lucrative mobile ad market. The cut-throat competition has pushed companies like Millennial… Continue Reading
Dell buys EqualLogic for $1.4B, biggest cash purchase of private tech company
Dell just announced the planned acquisition of EqualLogic, a supplier of data storage for large companies, for about $1.4 billion in cash.
The deal is the largest ever cash purchase of a private venture backed technology company, according to data from VentureSource. See table below.
This could… Continue Reading
SocialMedia raises $3.5M to sell ads across social networks
SocialMedia, a company that lets small Facebook applications get exposure by bidding on ad links within Facebook popular applications, has just raised $3.5 million in financing.
Using the marketplace offered by SocialMedia, a Mill Valley, Calif., company, less popular Facebook applications bid to get ads placed… Continue Reading
Staccato raises $17.5M for wireless device technology
Staccato Communications, a San Diego, Calif. maker of semiconductors and equipment that wirelessly connect devices to personal computers, has raised $17.5 million in financing, bringing its total to $53 million.
Investors include Allegis Capital, Bay Partners, Charles River Ventures, Formative Ventures, Interwest Partners and Vision Capital.