First Andreessen Horowitz investment, Apptio, raises $14M
Andreessen Horowitz, the much-hyped $300 million fund founded by Netscape founder Marc Andreessen and his Opsware co-founder Ben Horowitz, has chosen its inaugural investment: Apptio, maker of software that makes information technology management more transparent and cost-efficient. It co-led the company’s $14 million second-round of funding with Shasta Ventures.
The Bellevue, Wash. company may not be the sexiest selection, but it makes sense based on its background. Apptio’s chief executive, Sunny Gupta, is a longtime friend… Continue Reading
Multiplayer mobile games take off: Z2Live gets $3M to target iPhone
Gamers love to play together. So finding a way to allow players to play against each other on increasingly popular mobile phones is a no-brainer.
Multiplayer games have been launching left and right on the iPhone, but until now the multiplayer features have usually been built internally by the game developer.
Today, Seattle company Z2Live is launching specifically to offer multiplayer gaming technology to game developers who are targeting the iPhone and iPod touch at “a fraction… Continue Reading
Slideshow creator Animoto syncs business model and traffic, raises $4.4M
Animoto is one of those companies that makes my job fun. It’s a web-based slide show company that has figured out what looks to be a sustainable business model — and it has just closed a $4.4 million round of funding.
I first covered the company in August of 2007, when it launched its patented slide show-video technology. The product, a tool for creating your own multimedia slide show, stood out from other slide show widget… Continue Reading
Skytap soars with new $7M to extend cloud services
Skytap, a company that provides virtual computing environments for application testing, announced that it brought in $7 million in a second round of funding from Ignition Partners, Madrona Venture Group and Washington Research Foundation. The new money will be used for product development and to bolster sales efforts, the Seattle-based company says.
Skytap specializes in delivering cloud services to companies that are actively developing and testing applications. Its technology can help lower hardware and software costs… Continue Reading
Collaborative software company Smartsheet raises $1.25M
Smartsheet, which offers tools for online business collaboration, has raised $1.25 million in a second round of funding.
The Bellevue, Wash. startup’s features include the ability to manage tasks, share files, and collaborate on documents. There are a lot of other product management products out there, such as Jive Software’s Clearspace, but we were hearing good things about Smartsheet back in 2007, and WebWorkerDaily’s Scott Blitstein sounds pretty impressed with the way the product integrates with… Continue Reading
Redfin employees see pink in 20 percent layoff
Online real estate service Redfin Corp. slashed its staff by 20 percent yesterday in order to stay afloat during the economic downturn — despite strong revenue and $21 million in VC backing from Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Madrona Venture Group, Vulcan Capital, BEV Capital and the Hillman Co.
The Seattle-based firm, which helps buyers find homes for sale and broker deals, was hit hard by the credit crunch in recent weeks. In addition to a 30 percent… Continue Reading
Local Marketers raises $4.1 million for online advertising
Local Marketers, a startup serving small- and medium-sized businesses that want to advertise online, has raised $4.1 million in new funding from Madrona Venture Group.
The Seattle company has also appointed a new chief executive, Walter Boos, who previously served as president of educational software maker SchoolKiT. The three-year-old company touts its pay-per-contact model, which is a more accountable ad payment model than pay-per-click.
Local Marketers has raised a total of $5.1 million in venture backing.
Teachstreet helps you find local classes, instructors
TeachStreet, a company that seeks to helps people connect with local teachers, coaches and other instructors with the classes that fit their needs, launched today and announced it had raised $2.25 million in a first round of venture financing.
It starts with a focus on Seattle, including a guide to more than 25,000 Seattle-based teachers, classes, instructors, and schools. It plans to make money from targeted advertising and by charging premium services.
It’s the latest social… Continue Reading
Microsoft buys travel site Farecast for $115M
Microsoft has acquired travel website Farecast for a rumored $115 million. The Seattle startup’s technology will likely be incorporated into the software giant’s site MSN Travel — even before the deal, Farecast had already partnered with MSN.
Farecast’s technology made it a pretty tempting target for acquisition. As we noted a year ago, the Seattle startup owns its niche of predicting airfares. At the time, we also said that some of the big tech players wanted… Continue Reading
BuddyTV raises $6 million in second round
BuddyTV has raised a $6 million second round as it expands its independent TV community site on the web.
Madrona Venture Group led the round for the Seattle-based company, which was founded in 2005 by Andy Liu and David Niu. BuddyTV raised its previous round in June 2007 from Gemstart-TV Guide and Charles River Ventures.
The site says it has several million fans visiting monthly to keep up with their favorite TV shows and stars. The site … Continue Reading
Roundup: Search Wikia to take on Google, Adready, Ideeli, EyeQ, more
Here’s the latest action:
1. Search Wikia could go live by Christmas, to take on Google
2. Nick Denton, the nemesis of Silicon Valley, makes himself editor of Gawker
3. DocStoc, fresh with cash, gives away $50 Amazon gift certificate daily to user uploading best quality docs
4. AdReady, the Seattle advertising startup offering online banner ads, raises $10M more
5. Why Google is going after Wikipedia
6. EyeQ, tracks contributions of developers to projects
7. Ideeli, a invite-only Web retailer for… Continue Reading
Redfin cuts out real estate agents, raises another $12M
[Note: This story was originally published Tuesday evening, but a software bug caused it to disappear. We're publishing again]
Updated
Redfin is one of the more controversial web companies trying to make home buying and selling more profitable. Specifically, it’s cutting out real estate agents.
Eager to do more cutting, it has raised another $12 million, led by venture firm Draper Fisher Jurvetson. It is expanding its listings from most West Coast cities and Boston, now adding the… Continue Reading
Farecast, the airfare prediction site, raises $12.1M more
Farecast.com, the young Seattle start-up that now owns the niche of predicting airfares, and which continues to roll out new features (like letting you guarantee low fares), has raised $12.1 million more.
The round was led by Sutter Hill Ventures, and includes PAR Capital Management, Pinnacle Ventures, and Farecast board member and former Expedia CEO, Erik Blachford. Existing investors, Greylock Partners, Madrona Venture Group, and WRF Capital also participated — it has raised a total of… Continue Reading
SourceLabs raises $7M more for open-source software support
SourceLabs, the two-year-old Seattle startup company that tests and supports open-source software for businesses, has raised $7 million in new venture capital, the company said in a press release.
Madrona Venture Group of Seattle led the investment, which also included existing investors Ignition Partners and Index Ventures.