Brilliant Telecom dials up $7.6M to sync wireless carriers
Brilliant Telecom, a company that designs, develops and distributes network timing solutions for telecommunications equipment, has brought in $7.6 million in convertible debt from Onset Ventures, NovAtel, Asset Management, Draper Associates, Draper Richards, Xilinx and a handful of individual investors, reports Dow Jones VentureWire. Based in Campbell, Calif., says its technology offerings ensure smoother operation of streaming voice and video applications.
Ooma dials up $18.3M for free landlines via VoIP
Ooma, provider of a voice-over-internet box that lets users make free land-line calls, brought in $18.3 million in a fourth round of venture financing, reports paidContent. It raised $14 million of this sum back in June.
Based in Palo Alto, Calif., the company says it now sells its box, priced at $249.99 a pop, through 5,000 retailers like BestBuy, Costco and others.
Ooma has now raised $61.0 million to date. The recent round came from Worldview Technology… Continue Reading
RichRelevance snags $12.5M for e-commerce recommendations
RichRelevance, a company that provides consumers with e-commerce recommendations tailored to their preferences and interests, has brought in $12.5 million in second-round funding from Greylock Partners, Tugboat Ventures, Draper Fisher Jurvetson and Draper Richards, reports VentureWire.
Zimbio raises $6.8M for online magazines
Zimbio, a Redwood City, Calif.-based creator of online magazines, has raised $6.8 million in a first round of funding, according to VentureWire. Zimbio allows users to create “wikizines,” which the company says are interactive magazines. The funding was led by Menlo Ventures, with participation from Draper Richards.
Ahead of deployment, Brilliant Telecom adds to its round
Sometimes a funding is all about timing. In Brilliant Telecommunications‘ case, everything it does is about timing. The Campbell, Calif.-based company makes timing devices for the telecom industry.
Gearing up for its deployment of wireless products with a European carrier, the company has added $4.9 million to its second round of funding, according to VentureWire.
This new money, led by previous investor NovAtel, brings its second round total up to $11 million. Asset Management, Draper Associates, Draper… Continue Reading
Dimdim raises $6M for free web meetings
Updated
Dimdim, the free, open-source web meeting company, has raised $6 million in a second round of funding.
The concept is pretty simple — like WebEx, but free. Dimdim offers all the basic tools that you’d expect from a web meeting service, including a collaborative whiteboard, desktop sharing, audio and video. It doesn’t have too many bells and whistles, and some of the technical kinks still need to be worked out; I’ve run into a few display… Continue Reading
NileGuide takes another $8 million to enrich travel experiences
NileGuide, the online service that aims to help with every part of a trip, has raised a second round of funding.
The company now offers comprehensive travel planning to over 75 destinations around the world and claims to be adding five new ones a month. This new funding will no doubt help that rapid expansion as part of NileGuide’s business is hiring local experts to help make sure that trips to different parts of the world… Continue Reading
EoPlex Technologies piles on another $4M for advanced cell phone antennas
Redwood City, Calif.-based EoPlex Technologies, an advanced materials firm that builds small devices to generate and manage energy for various manufacturing components, has tacked on another $4 million to its third funding round — bringing the total to $12 million. ATA Ventures once again led the extra financing and was backed by fellow VCs Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Labrador Ventures and Draper Richards.
The additional funds will be used to pay for the construction of a new… Continue Reading
Richrelevance, latest personalized recommendation company, raises $4.2M
Richrelevance, a new San Francisco company offering personalized recommendations for online shopping businesses, has raised $4.2 million in a second round of financing.
The company joins a host of other companies — including Amazon, Aggregrate Knowledge and Wunderloop (see our coverage ) — that track what decisions you make while shopping online. Like these other companies, it then peers into its archives to find other users who have made similar decisions to you, so that it… Continue Reading
LiveUniverse rumored to purchase video site Revver
Online entertainment network LiveUniverse has purchased struggling video site Revver, according to NewTeeVee.
The purchase price was substantially more than the $500,000 to $1.5 million Revver was supposedly asking for, says NewTeeVee’s unnamed source, but it was also under $5 million. Revver’s staff will continue to work under the new ownership.
The deal isn’t a huge surprise — more than a month ago, Contentinople reported that it was in the works, and since then, plenty of other… Continue Reading
Power Reviews raises $15M for product reviews
Considering the number of competitors in the product review market and the difficulty of establishing a successful destination site, it seems somewhat staggering that Power Reviews, the company that runs the product review site Buzzillions, has raised $15 million.
We’ve covered Power Reviews before, and it stands out from the pack by offering more comprehensive reviews and an innovative means to browse them. The site lets you filter reviews according to your personal preferences, so, for… Continue Reading
Jaxtr raises $10 million, doubles users in one month
Jaxtr, a service for dodging international calling fees using your phone, has raised $10 million in series A round led by August Capital.
It says it has doubled in size in the last month to a million users.
The Menlo Park, Calif. company (more detail from our past coverage here and here [update: first comment below]) allows you to make free phone calls over the web or your mobile and landline phones, including low local rates for… Continue Reading
Jott raises $5.4M for voice-to-text
Jott, the convenient voice-to-text service we reviewed favorably in March, has raised $5.4 million in its latest round of financing.
Jott, of Seattle, allows you to call a number, record a message, and then have that message translated into text and e-mailed to you or one of your contacts.
Bain Capital of Boston led the round with money from its new early-stage fund. The round included previous investors Draper Richards, Ackerley Partners and Atomico.
Founder and chief executive… Continue Reading
NearbyNow, shopping mall search engine, confirms $5M investment
NearbyNow, the Los Altos, Calif. shopping mall search engine company, announced it has raised $5 million from DFJ and Draper Richards. We reported this two months ago (see story).
Kyte.tv goes live, with the kitchen sink
Kyte.tv, the service that wants to be your own interactive TV channel, has finally launched.
We wrote wrote about the company two months ago, after first getting a demo.
You can host your photos, slide-shows, videos all in one place — the Kyte channel — and lets you post the channel player anywhere you want. It also lets you do mashups with things like surveys and music, and is integrated with live chat –distinguishing it from… Continue Reading
Buzzillions, offering “power reviews”
Have you ever searched for product reviews online at and come away unsatisfied?
We have. Sometimes we can’t find reviews for a niche product. At Amazon for books, or at Yelp for restaurants, we often get that sneaky feeling a reviewer is biased (written by a friend of the author, or owner). And for cameras or computers at CNET or Yahoo, we’re not sure whether the revenue is targeted to an expert, or beginner. We’re dependent… Continue Reading
Jott, a convenient voice-to-text service
Jott rocks.
Jott, a company based in Seattle, offers a convenient new service that lets you speak messages and send them to yourself or others — as a transcribed text message.
Or as a voice message, if you prefer.
Sign up at Jott.com takes a minute, with no hassle. Then all you do is call Jott’s number, 1-877-568-8486. Jott asks who you are sending the message to. You tell Jott (the name of your friend will be… Continue Reading
Flurry, offering free email for your phone, raises $3.5M
Flurry, a San Francisco company that offers an easy download for your mobile phone to let you email and read news for free, has raised $3.5 million in a first round of financing.
Flurry is useful because it helps you get email without having to buy an expensive smartphone. It lets you read news via RSS.
Now it hits crunch time. After signing up 140,000 users over the past year (we don’t know how many of them… Continue Reading
EoPlex raises $8M for miniature energy devices
EoPlex Technologies, a Redwood City, Calif. company that sells miniature devices to generate and manage power for things like sensors and manufacturing processes, has raised $8 million in a third round of financing.
ATA Ventures led the financing with investments from existing investors, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Labrador Ventures and Draper Richards.
From the company’s statement:
EoPlex produces components in layers using custom printing equipment and proprietary “inks” that carry ceramic, metallic or polymer materials to millions of locations…. Continue Reading
The new video players: Kyte, DimDim
There are a ton of “video player” companies out there, and they’re starting to blur.
It takes a lot to impress these days. A video player in 2007 should be able to upload any video file — from your desktop or from the Web — and then have it run from any Website from a widget.
Just when we thought innovation was running out, we hear about Kyte, a video player that allows live video and… Continue Reading