Ticket reselling site Seatwave lands $17M amid tough rivals
Seatwave, one of several sites for secondary ticket sales, has brought in $17 million in a fourth round of funding to continue developing and marketing its platform. While the London-based company has done quite well for itself — recording a 200 percent jump in revenue from first quarter this year compared to last year — it faces an increasingly fierce field of competition.
Seatwave, which allows ticket holders to sell their passes to others online if… Continue Reading
Redbrick gets a $15M boost for incentive-based health insurance
Redbrick Health, provider of employer insurance that bases employee premiums on their behavior, has scored $15 million in a third round of funding led by Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. The Minneapolis, Minn.-based firm says the system is designed to encourage insurance recipients to adopt healthier habits, and to reward those that already practice them.
This individualized approach to healthcare allows every employee to map their health status according to standardized measures, and view specific steps… Continue Reading
Tween mobile provider Kajeet bags $1M
Kajeet, the cell phone service provider for kids and tweens, closed a $1.05 million second-round of venture backing to continue product and market development. The Bethesda, Md.-based company is coming off a big win last week, striking a deal with Amazon to sell its phones through the site’s wireless store (it also landed a coveted spot on Amazon’s holiday toy list).
It’s currently selling four different youthful models on the site — built by Samsung, LG… Continue Reading
Quova lets websites know where you are
Geolocation software developer Quova launched its new On-Demand service today, providing websites with the ability to pinpoint their users’ locations, and use this data to customize their content and applications.
The Mountain View, Calif. company gives businesses the tools they need to help their users find local information (weather and nearby stores, for example) on their websites. Quova says the technology could also come in handy in checking out potential fraud by giving e-commerce sites the… Continue Reading
Stylesight raises $16M to help fashion companies stay trendy
Stylesight, a company that helps merchandisers and designers track fashion trends, has raised $16 million in a first round of financing.
We’ve written about a bunch of fashion sites, particularly those targeting women, but Stylesight is aiming for businesses and professionals, not shoppers. The New York-based company’s services include trend forecasting and market reporting, which can be used to create new products and plan marketing campaigns. It also offers an image search tool that replaces the… Continue Reading
Investors flock to Flock with a new $15 million round
Social web browser Flock has garnered a lot of hype since its release in 2005. It’s also won a lot of fans. Both likely played a role in its new $15 million fourth round of funding announced today. The round was led by Fidelity Ventures, with all previous lead investors, including Bessemer Venture Partners, Catamount Ventures and Shasta Ventures, participating.
Impressively, this round of funding actually surpasses all of Flock’s previous rounds combined.
This money will be… Continue Reading
SpikeSource launches software platform, gets $10M from Intel
SpikeSource, a startup that helps companies build, test and integrate software, is partnering with Intel to launch the SpikeSource Solutions Factory Platform. For SpikeSource, it’s a big strategy change — instead of partnering with independent software vendors, the startup will now provide its technology to major players like Intel so they can certify products in their ISV networks.
The new platform could catapult SpikeSource into the big leagues. When SpikeSource launches a new product, it normally… Continue Reading
IBM backs database company EnterpriseDB, squares off against Sun
updated
IBM has invested in open-source database company EnterpriseDB, part of the giant company’s effort to hold its own in the fast growing Web application services market.
IBM typically does not invest in start-ups, but it has watched on as competing server company Sun acquired the popular open-source database company MySQL. Databases are a key component of the “stack” required to run applications on the Web, basically a place that stores the information that is called upon… Continue Reading
Secondary event ticket site Seatwave raises money, amid industry frenzy
Seatwave, a European market place for event tickets where fans can buy and sell directly from and to each other, has raised $25 million in a third round of funding.
The financing continues a — yes, a large wave — of interest in the secondary ticket market, where people buy tickets, but then turn around and sell them to someone else. These markets can serve people who are legitimately caught with tickets and want to get… Continue Reading
Life sciences briefing: Wednesday, Dec. 19, 2007
TODAY’S HEADLINES:
Gene-silencing developer Santaris raises €20M (PDF release)
Consumer-driven healthcare manager RedBrick Health prescribed $15M (release)
Cardiac Dimensions takes in $36M for heart-valve device (release)
TcLand Expressions gets €8.2M for biomarkers (PDF release)
TheraQuest Bio gets $3M for pain drugs (release)
Brain-software maker NeuroTrax visualizes $1.5M (VentureWire)
ActivBiotics selling off assets after clot-busting drug failure (release)
Nanostart buys stake in Singapore’s Curiox, a drug-discovery tech firm (release)
Respiratory biotech Altair Thera gets additional funding (VentureWire)
Specialty pharma Prometheus Labs files for $100M IPO (Edgar)
Sirtris… Continue Reading
Xoom, money transfer site, raises $20M more
Xoom, a company that lets you go online to transfer money internationally, has raised $20.29 million in a fifth round of funding.
It’s just the latest in a wave of companies using the Web to shake up the payment-lending industry.
This six-year-old San Francisco company has now raised more than $50 million. To use it, you log on to Xoom’s Web site and pay between $3.50 and $12 per transaction, not exactly cheap — but considering the… Continue Reading
Kajeet’s phone for kids, will it avoid pitfalls of predecessors?
updated
In a highly risky strategy of piggy-backing on other carriers’ networks, Kajeet has raised $36.8 million in a second round of financing to offer cellphone services to tweens and teens.
It offers a dashboard for parents to control when the phone can and can not be used, along with wallpaper, games, ringtones, applications and more.
The Bethesda, Maryland company is brushing aside the grim evidence provided by string of disasters at other companies trying something similar. Amp’d… Continue Reading
HP buys storage software co., Polyserve
Hewlett-Packard has agreed to acquire PolyServe Inc., a Beaverton, Ore. provider of storage software for application and file serving utilities.
According to the announcement:
The acquisition provides a strong entry point for HP into the high-growth enterprise network-attached storage (NAS) market and allows the company to extend NAS technology to blades, the fastest growing segment of the storage market. The acquisition will also allow HP to offer customers a powerful consolidation platform for databases that… Continue Reading
Black Duck raises $12 million for open source IP protection
Black Duck, the Waltham, Mass. company that tracks how companies use software in order to protect open source code and intellectual property rights for software makers, has raised $12 million more in a third round funding.
The round was led by Focus Ventures, a Silicon Valley late-stage venture capital firm.
Blackduck has now raised $29 million. Previous investors participated in the round, including Fidelity Ventures, Flagship Ventures, General Catalyst Partners, Intel Capital and SAP Ventures.
Intellon raises $18M from Samsung, Intel & others for broadband via electrical outlets
Intellon Corporation, of Ocala, Florida, which makes chips to enable broadband access via electrical outlets has raised $18 million in financing from Samsung Ventures and a long list of existing investors: BCE Capital, Comcast Interactive Capital, Duchossois Technology Partners, EnerTech Capital, Fidelity Ventures, Goldman, Sachs & Co and Intel Capital.