Outright raises $5.5M to help small businesses with their finances
Outright, which offers a free online application to help small businesses manage their finances, has raised $5.5 million in a first round of institutional funding led by Sequoia Capital. The firms that invested in Outright’s seed round — First Round Capital, Shasta Ventures, and SoftTechVC — also participated. The Campbell, Calif., company has now raised a total of $7.5 million.
Mint.com rakes in $14 Million in third round of funding
Personal finance site Mint.com raked in another $14 million in funding, bringing its total to $31 million. The round was led by DAG Ventures, with new financing from Founders Fund and a top-up from existing investors Benchmark Capital, Shasta Ventures, First Round Capital and Sherpalo.
Although the valuation wasn’t released, “it is a decidedly up-round” and it was “pre-emptive,” meaning Mint.com didn’t raise the funding because it was running out of cash. The company now has… Continue Reading
DNAnexus raises $1.55M for DNA sequencing
DNAnexus, maker of software used to manage data gathered from DNA sequencing processes, has brought in $1.55 million in a first round of funding, according to PE Wire. First Round Capital provided the bulk of the financing for the Palo Alto, Calif.-based company.
CoTweet raises $1.1M to help companies figure out Twitter
People make a lot of comments, questions and complaints on microblogging service Twitter about companies — if you’re well-known, I imagine it becomes hard to manage pretty quickly. That’s where a startup called CoTweet comes in, helping companies manage their customer relations on Twitter. The San Francisco company just opened the beta test of its service publicly, and also announced $1.1 million in a first round of funding.
Of course, it’s possible for a company to… Continue Reading
Symantec snaps up Mi5 to grow its small business protections
Symantec announced that it has bought web security firm Mi5 Networks to expand its portfolio of security software tailored to small businesses. With the Sunnyvale, Calif. company’s technology, the corporation plans to strengthen its abilities to analyze all of the web traffic entering and exiting business web sites. No further details were disclosed about the all-cash deal.
In addition to the acquisition, Symantec also announced it will be rolling out a new suite of security software… Continue Reading
ScanScout nabs $5.1M for contextual video advertising
ScanScout, an online advertising network that places ads in contextually relevant video content, just brought in $5.1 million of an anticipated $8.1 million third round of financing, according to PE Hub. Based in Cambridge, Mass., the company’s backers include General Catalyst Partners, Time Warner, First Round Capital and famed Silicon Valley investor Ron Conway.
ScanScout last raised funding in May 2007, bringing in $7 million. Created by two MIT graduates, it was initially seeded in 2005… Continue Reading
33Across nabs $750K to identify influential online users
Stealthy 33Across, a startup that uses an algorithm to identify which online users are the most influential of others’ behavior, announced that it has raised $750,000 of an expected $1.5 million in second-round funding, according to peHUB. The New York-based company, which also lets its clients target messages to these users, says its platform “enables performance and brand marketers to activate the social web.”
First Round Capital has led the round so far.
Aragon buys software code analysis co. Krugle
Aragon Consulting Group announced its acquisition of San Mateo, Calif.-based Krugle, a provider of code analysis and maintenance technology. The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Krugle had been shopping for a buyer for a while, needing funds to continue marketing its first product — Krugle Enterprise, a searchable source code library — released 10 months ago. Aragon, which specializes in outsourcing software development for companies, says it will continue to offer Krugle… Continue Reading
Outright raises $2M for dead simple finance software
Outright, a company that offers simple web software to help small businesses manage their finances, has raised $2 million in a first round of venture funding.
Chief executive Kevin Reeth gave me a demo last July, back when the company was called Bootstrap, and I was impressed by the way he’d been “absolutely ruthless in simplifying and paring things down.” Services include tracking sales and business expenses, organizing your business records for taxes, and reminding you… Continue Reading
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
Aster Data raises $12M for cheap warehousing
Aster Data Systems, which stores data for social networking site MySpace (and others), has raised $12 million in a second round of venture funding.
The Redwood City, Calif. startup offers “frontline data warehousing,” which basically means storage of all of a company’s data for business analysis. Aster dubbed its system nCluster because the data is spread across clusters of cheap servers. The company says nCluster offers three key innovations compared to competitors like Teradata, Netazza and… Continue Reading
Xobni raises $7M to battle Outlook’s email overload
Xobni, a plug-in that tries to improve email organization in Microsoft Outlook, has raised $7 million in a second round of venture financing.
Xobni’s most prominent feature is an inbox sidebar that shows profiles of people you’re corresponding with. By making related content (phone numbers, past messages, files exchanged, and more) immediately accessible, Xobni helps you avoid fruitless or time-consuming searches through giant piles of email; Microsoft founder Bill Gates (somewhat hyperbolically) called it “the next… Continue Reading
Data-sharing service Gnip raises $3.5 million
Gnip, a company that provides technology to help other web services quickly share information provided by users, has raised $3.5 million.
Here’s how Gnip works: When a user updates their information on a site like Digg or Twitter, it takes that information and updates it quickly on the user’s accounts at other sites, such as Plaxo’s personal information aggregator service, Pulse.
The San Francisco, Calif. and Boulder, Colo.-based company has already signed partners like Yahoo and Plaxo.
The… Continue Reading
Gigya brings in $11M to grow widget services
Widget distribution network Gigya raked in $11 million in third round funding to continue building out two existing products of its own called Wildfire and Socialize.
They serve different but related purposes: Wildfire provides a platform for other widget developers to post and share their creations with a broader audience, while Socialize provides any website with the tools it needs to incorporate social networking features (things like a newsfeed that tracks friend activity, and a panel… Continue Reading
Teen social network myYearbook is growing fast and it just raised $13M, but is it more than a teen site?
Teen social network myYearbook has raised $13 million, confirming rumors we were hearing last month. The company has managed to grow in the face of more established competitors, like MySpace, within the pre-college market, according to third-party web measurement firms. Hitwise says myYearbook had 1.54 percent of the overall US social network market share behind MySpace’s 71.92 percent and Facebook’s 16.91 percent in June. ComScore, meanwhile, says myYearbook had more than 4.5 million monthly unique… Continue Reading
Dayak raises $1M for recruiting marketplace
Dayak, a site that connects employers with recruiters, has raised $1 million in additional funding, according to VentureWire. That’s in addition to the $1.15 million that Dayak previously raised for its first round. New investors NextStage Capital and Bessemer Venture Partners led the funding, with existing investor First Round Capital also participating.
Chief executive Allan Sobol told socalTech (which first reported the funding) that the site is used by 1,000 employers and 2,500 recruiters.
GumGum raising $1.2 million for content licensing and distribution
GumGum is raising $1.2 million in a first round so that it can expand its business of licensing and distributing online content. The Santa Monica, Calif. company has developed a platform to monetize media, starting with photos, that are often pirated online.
Users upload their photos to GumGum. Then users who want to purchase the content can do so at the GumGum site, and the company handles the payment, tracks every time the content is viewed,… Continue Reading
Data-sharing service provider Mashery raises $2M, as more companies look to share data
Mashery, to put it simply, helps companies to more easily share their data with outside developers. By making this data more accessible, a company can let other developers use their own creativity to put the information to work.
This technology, called application programming interfaces (or APIs), has been around for years, and has assumed new relevance as more web-connected services look to grow. Auction site eBay has let developers build auction services using its auction data… Continue Reading
Want the latest gadget? TechForward offers cash in exchange for yesterday’s toy
TechForward, one of several companies that sees opportunity in the market for reused consumer electronics, believes its guaranteed buyback plans are just the thing for people always lusting after the latest in high tech consumer electronics.
Like fellow startups Flipswap, Turtle Wings and Second Rotation, TechForward is touting the concept of “Ownership 2.0″ — the idea that you should be able to donate, sell or trade-in a gadget you no longer want. Unlike its rivals, however,… Continue Reading
Top 10 tech trends: Smart phones, alternative energies, Boomer technologies
Where is technology headed?
The Churchill Club of Silicon Valley just wrapped up one of its most anticipated events: the Annual Top Ten Tech Trends Debate. Five well-known and opinionated venture capitalists weighed in on what trends will take flight and what trends will fizzle out in the months ahead.
(The VCs are pictured, from left to right: Steve Jurvetson, Vinod Khosla, Josh Kopelman, Roger McNamee, Joe Schoendorf.)
The audience of around 300 people was asked whether it… Continue Reading