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
Quintura scores another round of funding for visual search engine
Visual search startup Quintura has raised a new round of funding to continue building out its engine, which is used on several media sites, including Maxim, the Russian version of Cosmo and ReadWriteWeb. As with its last round of funding, Quintura’s founders have not disclosed the exact amount, only calling it “several million dollars”.
Founded by Russians, the engine appears to have gotten the most attention in that country. However, it also recently hired a chief… Continue Reading
Speed-dating site WooMe raises $12.5M more, enjoys $41M valuation
WooMe, a video speed-dating site whose claim to fame is a speedy, no-frills interface and the ability to attract people who would never touch a traditional dating site (it calls itself an “introductions platform”), has raised a fresh round of capital to continue expanding.
NewTeeVee had the scoop on the funding news, however its report said the company was valued at $30 million after the money, and had a deal with MTV, both of which… Continue Reading
EnterMedia, a Russian in-game advertising firm, raises first funding
EnterMedia, an in-game advertising firm based in Russia, has raised a round of over $1 million from Mangrove Capital Partners and ABRT Fund, according to coverage of a Moscow press conference posted on the Quintura blog.
The company has a proprietary technology it uses to place dynamic ads in flash-based games. Since the Russian market is fairly tiny, it seems likely the investment was made to help migrate the technology to other language markets.
The exact amount… Continue Reading
Free phone service Nimbuzz offers “everything”
If you’re like me and split most of your “online time” between your smartphone, your computer’s chat client and your Facebook/LinkedIn page, Nimbuzz may be for you.
It’ll make all those communications smoother.
My Facebook friends sometimes leave me wall messages that I take forever to respond to. Now they can call me or chat with me directly via a widget embedded on my Facebook profile page. The Nimbuzz widget detects presence and shows if I’m online…. Continue Reading
Roundup: Wikileaks judge slaps own wrist, AllPeers unpeers, Saudis developing solar, and more
Here’s the latest action:
1) Wikileaks judge restores restores site, slaps self on wrist
2) AllPeers’ peer-to-peer scheme fails to capture users
3) Chevron, Weyerhaeuser join up for cellulosic ethanol
4) Saudi Arabia and IBM partner to develop green nanotech
5) Akamai wins patent fight, but not happy with ruling
6) Woz points out flaws in Apple’s latest products
7) Global warming, now with double the lethality
LinkedIn’s new features look a little more like Facebook
9) Fastcompany.tv launches with Robert Scoble
10) Fortune tops… 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
OpenAds lets Web companies take control of ads, raises $15.5M
The online advertising world continues to get shaken up.
OpenAds, a company based in London, is the latest to drive change, undercutting the old guard with a low-cost offering. It offers Web site owners something called an “ad server,” a device lets them take control of their online advertising management. It provides the technology needed by Web sites to control advertising creative, insert into the right place on a Web site at the right time, and… Continue Reading
Zlio raises $4M for online shops, defies Amazon
Paris-based Zlio, a company that helps you easily create your own web page “shops” to sell merchants’ goods online, has raised $4 million from Mangrove Capital Partners.
See our previous coverage here.
The site now attracts more than 2.5 million unique visitors per month. More than 100,000 shops have been created — double the number of shops it had in March — according to chief executive Jeremie Berribi. Zlio provides a simple tool for you to pick… Continue Reading
Quintura, the visual search engine, raises “several” million
updated
Quintura, a company offering a visual search engine, said it has raised “several millions” of dollars in a first round of venture funding from Luxembourg’s Mangrove Capital Partners.
(Update: Some reports have put the round at “around $5 million”; we haven’t confirmed.)
With Quintura, you search for a term, and Quintura offers you a “cloud” of words related to your term that helps you refine your search.
For example, if you search for iPhone (see screenshot below),… Continue Reading
Adserver company, Openads, raises $5M
Openads, the developer of a free, open source product that serves ads for Web sites has raised $5 million in a first round of financing led by Index Ventures.
Also participating are First Round Capital, Mangrove Capital Partners and O’Reilly AlphaTech Ventures. The London, UK company sells so-called adservers, which are used to serve and manage ads on the pages of Web sites
Often publishers rely on outside parties to serve their ads. We at VentureBeat do… Continue Reading
Social network Piczo raises $11 million more, shows momentum
updated
Piczo, the social networking company that tries to distinguish itself as the safer place for teens, has raised $11 million in a third round of funding, it tells VentureBeat.
Piczo is one of handful of sites gunning for “second place” behind MySpace, the overwhelming leader with 65 million unique users a month. Facebook is around 17 million. Piczo boasts 10.5 million monthly unique visitors worldwide, mainly in Europe and the U.S. Bebo and Hi5 are around… Continue Reading