Voice messaging startup Bubble Motion confirms $6M in funding
Bubble Motion, a company that allows users to send voicemails as if they were SMS text messages, announced today that it has raised $6 million in a third round of funding. Based on a regulatory filing, we first covered the Mountain View, Calif. company’s funding in June, but now Bubble Motion has confirmed the news and identified the new investor, Palomar Ventures, which led the round.
Here’s the company’s concept: If you want to send your… Continue Reading
Vyatta lands $10.3M for open-source networking
Vyatta, maker of open-source network software, has raised nearly all of its planned $10.3 million round of equity. It adds this amount to the $11 million in second-round funding it brought in two years ago from ArrowPath Venture Capital, Comcast Intractive Capital, Fuse Capital and J.P. Morgan Partners, reports VentureWire.
Based in Belmost, Calif., Vyatta positioned itself as a rival for Cisco Systems when it first launched in 2006. In fact, its web site’s tagline is… Continue Reading
Bubble Motion raises $6M for mobile voice messaging
Bubble Motion, provider of a service that lets users send voice messages directly to others’ mobile phones like text messages, has raised $6 million in equity from undisclosed investors, according to regulatory filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Based in Mountain View, Calif., the company brought in $14 million in March 2008 from Comcast Interactive Capital, NCD Investors and Sequoia Capital — the last of which provided $10 million in 2007.
Jingle Networks keys up $7.5M for directory assistance
Jingle Networks, the company that operates national telephone directory assistance (1-800-FREE-411), landed $7.5 million in a fourth round of funding, according to VentureWire. The Menlo Park, Calif. firm will add this sum to the $75 million in capital it previously raised from Goldman Sachs, Hearst, IDG Ventures, Liberty Associated Partners and Comcast Interactive Capital. First Round Capital joined for the recent round.
Jingle Networks operates through voice-recognition software that breaks down callers’ queries. It brings in… Continue Reading
WiFi ad network JiWire raises $11.1M
JiWire, a San Francisco WiFi advertising network, has raised $11.1 million in a second round of funding, according to Private Equity Hub, citing a regulatory filing. It has also sold another $1.53 million in warrants, which can be converted to stock. Comcast Interactive Capital joined the round as a new investor.
Roundup: Feds offering short-term loans, presidential debates live online, Silver Spring gets a big raise, and more
Feds now providing short-term debt — The Federal Reserve will provide money for companies to finance their day-to-day activities, in the government’s latest effort to staunch bleeding in the credit markets.
Live presidential debates hit the web — Hulu will stream tonight’s presidential debate live, something of a breakthrough for Internet TV.
Smart grid co. Silver Spring Networks raises $75M — Rapidly growing energy efficiency startup Silver Spring Networks, which makes communications equipment that connects utilities to electricity consumers, has… Continue Reading
Visible World, a targeted cable advertiser, raises $25M
Targeted advertising, based on geographic location, age, gender and other factors, is a pretty common concept by now. Visible World wants to bring it to cable television, with an added twist — editing of specific commercial spots to appeal more to individuals.
Say a large company like Toyota doesn’t want to exclude certain groups from an advertisement, but does want to make it appeal more to each individual. Visible World’s technology allows a special version for… Continue Reading
Giant Realm raises another $2 million for male entertainment portal
Giant Realm said it has raised $2 million from SoftBank Capital to expand its entertainment portal for male entertainment junkies and video gamers.
The investment brings the New York company’s total first round funding to $5.5 million. Last month, the company announced that Comcast Interactive Capital and Edison Venture Fund had invested $3.5 million. The William Morris Agency is also a backer. (our coverage).
In other news, the company said it hired Alan Pearlberg, co-founder of online… Continue Reading
RGB Networks raises $20 milllion for video processing chips
RGB Networks raised $20 million in a fourth round of funding for continued expansion of its video processing chip business.
Institutional Venture Partners led the round. Also participating were existing investors Accel Partners, Comcast Interactive Capital, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and Focus Ventures, according to VentureWire.
The Sunnyvale, Calif., company has raised $57 million to date. The company has 125 employees. It was founded in 2003 and launched its first products in 2005. The company competes… Continue Reading
Roundup: Giving up on the “mobile web,” cleantech gets crunched, and more
Here’s the latest action:
Mobile enthusiast gives up on “mobile web” – Russell Beattie, a Silicon Valley developer and mobile enthusiast who spent two years working at Yahoo Mobile before launching a start-up called Mowser, has given up on the mobile sector. He writes: “The general answer is that I don’t actually believe in the ‘Mobile Web’ anymore, and therefore am less inclined to spend time and effort in a market I think is limited at… Continue Reading
Free 411 service Jingle raises $13M
Jingle Networks, a provider of free telephone directory services, has raised $13 million in a third round of funding, according to VentureWire.
The service, called “1-800-FREE-411″, is pretty simple, and it’s completely automated: You dial a number, listen to an ad and then get the information you need. The Boston-based company has signed up around 150,000 advertisers.
When we covered Jingle back in 2006, the startup had just raised $30 million to build out its network —… Continue Reading
Bubble Motion gets $14M more for voice texting
updated
Bubble Motion, a Silicon Valley company that gives you a way to send text messages (SMS) with your voice instead of text, has raised $14 million in additional funding.
It came from existing investor Sequoia Capital, and new investors Comcast Interactive Capital and NCD Investors.
The company says in a statement that it has more than 135 million users worldwide, which we haven’t confirmed, but it sounds inflated. (Could the company really mean the technology is enabled… Continue Reading
BlackArrow inserts ads for cable companies, raises $12M
BlackArrow, a San Mateo, Calif., startup, is offering a new technology to help keep TV advertisers happy.
The company, in secrecy until now, will announce tomorrow (Monday) that it wants to insert targeted ads into on-demand viewing by placing a piece of hardware between cable operators and consumers. Prior to the user watching an on-demand show, BlackArrow helps deliver a brief ad, tailored to the theme of the show and the user’s apparent preferences. For example,… Continue Reading
Arcwave, supposedly one of Silicon Valley’s hottest companies, goes under
Arcwave Wireless, a Los Gatos, Ca. provider of wireless networks for small businesses has shuttered, just four months after being named one of Silicon Valley’s hottest companies.
Chief Executive Bill Sickler announces the demise on the company’s Web site, saying cable operators (its targeted customers) weren’t responding to the company’s sales efforts.
Investors Comcast Interactive Capital, Lucent Venture Partners, Mayfield, SBV Venture Partners, Venrock Associates and Vulcan Capital had invested more than $11.5 million into the… Continue Reading
Vyatta, the open-source networking co., raises $11M more
Vyatta, a San Mateo, Ca. company that sells open-source networking products including routers, firewalls and virtual private networks, has raised $11 million more in a second round of financing.
The round was led by Comcast Interactive Capital, the company said in a statement.
Also participating in the round are existing investors JPMorgan Partners (Panorama), ComVentures, and ArrowPath Venture Partners. The company’s total funding is now $18.5 million.