Simply Hired hits profitability with new $4.6M

Simply Hired hits profitability with new $4.6M

Simply Hired, a job listing search engine based in the Silicon Valley, announced today that it has crossed into profitability with a new $4.6 million in fourth-round capital from IDG Ventures and Foundation Capital. The company is also marking four consecutive quarters of positive cash… 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,… Continue Reading

Social ad network Social Media gets funding boost, after strong year

Social ad network Social Media gets funding boost, after strong year

Updated

Social Media, a new-fangled advertising network for applications on Facebook and other “social media” sites, has raised a second round of $6 million from IDG Ventures and existing investor Charles River Ventures.

While some have been skeptical of the value of advertising within social networks, Social… Continue Reading

Quova lets websites know where you are

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… Continue Reading

In a first, China removes profit repatriation tax for U.S. investor

In a first, China removes profit repatriation tax for U.S. investor

For the first time, the Chinese government has exempted a U.S. venture firm from having to pay a hefty 10 percent withholding tax for repatriating profits, in a major move that could spur another major wave of U.S. investment in China.

Patrick McGovern (pictured here), head… Continue Reading

Free 411 service Jingle raises $13M

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… Continue Reading

How do you manage packs of proud VCs globally? You don’t, unless you’re IDG or DFJ

How do you manage packs of proud VCs globally? You don’t, unless you’re IDG or DFJ

Many venture capitalists think of themselves as romantic swashbucklers, mixing raw intelligence with their bulging money purse to skillfully create companies of huge worth. Many of them are lone wolves that gather in regional packs because it’s more convenient.

So how do you harness of a… Continue Reading

Vaultus Mobile Technologies gets $6M for mobile application access

Vaultus Mobile Technologies is a software startup that helps businesses create mobile versions of their existing applications, allowing their employees to keep using them over their smartphones or other devices.

The company has several pre-packaged offerings that extend apps like sales and field services software onto… Continue Reading

Life sciences briefing: Wednesday, Jan. 16, 2008

Life sciences briefing: Wednesday, Jan. 16, 2008

TODAY’S HEADLINES:

Drug-screening tool maker IonGate Bio raises €4.6M (release)
Protein-drug maker Molecular Partners gets $5M up front in Centocor deal (PDF release)
ProtaGen takes in €1M for protein biochips (PDF release)
China’s Sundia MediTech, a contract research organization raises second round (release)
Vital-signs implant maker Transoma Medical sets IPO… Continue Reading

Mobivox raises $11M for yet another VoIP service

IDG Ventures Boston has led an $11 million first round of investment into Montreal, Canada company Mobivox, just the latest Internet telephone company that lets members make cheap or free phone calls around the world.

It  lets members make calls to a number of countries free… Continue Reading

Telltale raises $6 million to blow up retail games model

Telltale raises $6 million to blow up retail games model

Telltale, the San Rafael, Calif. company that makes interactive games, including Sam & Max, has raised $6 million in a second round of financing.

The three year old company is already profitable, having pursued a strategy of making games much more rapidly and cheaply than the… Continue Reading

Zing, the wireless music download service for digital players, raises $12.5M

Zing Systems, a Mountain View, Calif. company that provides wireless download access for mp3 or digital players, has secured $12.5 million of a planned $13.41 million third-round of funding, according to a regulatory filing cited by PE Wire.

IDG Ventures Boston was joined by return… Continue Reading

Mapbar, Chinese maping company, raises $10M

Mapbar, a Beijing mapping and local search company, has raised a total of about $10 million from venture capital firms IDG Ventures and WI Harper in two rounds.

The news was first reported by China Web2.0Review.

WI Harper led the second round of $5 million, with existing… Continue Reading

MySpace prepares ground campaign for China, carefully

MySpace prepares ground campaign for China, carefully

MySpace is negotiating its entry into China with a venture capital group and a former China Netcom Group exec, according to the WSJ (sub required), a sign that it is relying on local help to avoid the expensive mistakes made by other U.S. companies in… Continue Reading

Jingle gets $30M to grow its free directory assistance service

Jingle gets $30M to grow its free directory assistance service

(Updated below with comments from chief executive George Garrick)

Jingle Networks, a Menlo Park start-up which provides free phone directory assistance, has raised a whopping $30 million more in venture capital — upping the ante in what is now a crowded field.

This area has become popular… Continue Reading

Jingle gets $30M for free directory assistance

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IDG to open new SF-based venture capital firm

Pat McGovern, chairman of the global media company IDG, said IDG will probably invest in a new San Francisco-based venture capital firm focused on local investments.

IDG has several regional venture funds, including China, Vietnam and Boston, and this latest effort in San Francisco will be… Continue Reading