Omidyar Network promises $30M for entrepreneurs in India and Africa.
Omidyar Network, the philanthropic investment firm created by eBay founder Pierre Omidyar, says it’s committing $30 million to support global entrepreneurship, particularly in India and sub-Saharan Africa.
Omidyar just made the announcement at the Clinton Global Initiative meeting in New York. (He has also been tweeting… Continue Reading
Wikipedia gets $2M from Omidyar Network
Philanthropic investment firm Omidyar Network just announced that it’s making a $2 million grant to the Wikimedia Foundation, the nonprofit group that runs online encyclopedia Wikipedia.
The investment firm was started by eBay founder Pierre Omidyar, so the two groups seem like an obvious fit, with their… Continue Reading
Roundup: An Apple netbook hoax, a BlackBerry sales victory, and more
Here’s the latest action:
Is this the new Apple netbook? — Cult of Mac published an image from “a trusted contributor.” But no, it actually turned out to be a student-created wooden model. Oops.
RIM’s BlackBerry Curve unseats Apple’s iPhone in sales – One of the big drivers… Continue Reading
Twitter went main street yesterday, goes enterprise today
Last month, micro-blogging site Twitter went mainstream, at least according to my own litmus test: The hosts of my local radio station here in the Bay Area talked about a guy who lost his job offer from Cisco for tweeting how he hated the job…. Continue Reading
Sunlight Foundation gets another $4M from Omidyar
The Sunlight Foundation, a nonprofit group that uses the Internet to increase government transparency, has received a $4 million grant from eBay founder Pierre Omidyar’s philanthropic investment firm the Omidyar Network.
Sunlight was founded in 2006 and has helped create a number of government-related databases, including… Continue Reading
World of Good raises $1.1M for socially conscious shopping
World of Good, which operates an eBay-powered online marketplace for ethical shopping, has raised another $1.1 million in funding, according to VentureWire.
The Emeryville, Calif. company emphasizes small artisans in developing countries. In order to sell products on the World of Good website, you must be… Continue Reading
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… Continue Reading
Goodmail working on tool for more secure email transfer
Goodmail Systems, a company that administers secure email exchanges, just added $5 million to close a third round of funding. Based in Mountain View, Calif., it says it will apply the new money to develop its flaship product, CertifiedEmail, so that trusted messages containing multimedia… Continue Reading
Why hasn’t Digg made any progress? It’s worth only $164M now
Has the news site Digg really made no progress in two years?
That’s what you’d have to conclude from the value investors are placing on Digg after their most recent investment: $164 million.
You’ll remember the hyped BusinessWeek article from more than two years ago that reported… Continue Reading
Wikia cuts staff by 10 percent
Wikia, a company that provides wiki and search services and was started by Wikipedia cofounder Jimmy Wales, has let go about 10 percent of its employees. The layoffs came as part of a restructuring that will refocus the San Francisco company on sales and marketing…. Continue Reading
Digg beefs up its funding for major expansion plans
With over 30 million monthly unique users, Digg is a juggernaut of a site. Despite perpetual rumors of an imminent acquisition by major players like Google or Microsoft, the social voting site is now gearing up for a major expansion on its own. And it’s… Continue Reading
Roundup: Scrabulous returns, Dell’s music player and more
Here’s the latest action:
Scrabulous returns as Wordscraper — The popular Facebook application was redesigned and relaunched less than 48 hours after it was taken down due to a potential legal tussle with Scrabble-maker Hasbro.
Dell tests digital music player — The computer maker stopped selling players in 2006… Continue Reading
Meetup.com raises undisclosed sum from Union Square Ventures
Meetup.com, a site that enables people to organize get-togethers around their common interests, has raised an undisclosed sum from Union Square Ventures.
Meetup, which was founded in 2002, has been used to organize political advocacy groups, book clubs, sports teams, urban tech meetups and much more…. Continue Reading
Seesmic raises another $6M for video comments
Updated
Seesmic, a startup that lets users post short video comments and snippets, has raised $6 million in a second round of funding. The new round was led by Omidyar Network, the firm created by eBay founder Pierre Omidyar, and Wellington Partners.
The San Francisco company has… Continue Reading
IGNIA Fund raises $20.6M to help Latin America’s poorest
The IGNIA Fund has raised $20.6 million that it plans to invest in companies targeting Latin America’s poorest residents. The round was led by Omidyar Network, the philanthropic investment group created by eBay founder Pierre Omidyar. IGNIA’s financing is already larger than the $17 million… Continue Reading
Google.org, Omidyar, Soros, create small-business Indian investment company
Google.org, the Omidyar Network and the Soros Economic Development Fund are creating a $17 million investment company that will provide capital to small and medium-sized businesses in India.
Microfinance lending schemes, or those that give money to small, traditional businesses, have been active in India for… Continue Reading
Shared database MetaWeb gets $42M boost
updated
Metaweb Technologies, the San Francisco company developing an open shared database called Freebase to store and edit the world’s information, has just gotten a big boost from Benchmark Capital and Goldman Sachs.
The two firms have invested in a $42.4 million second round of capital for… Continue Reading
Federated Media blog ad network raises $4.5 million
[Updated: We've corrected the article below, based on further reporting. Regulatory filings about venture capital financings are tricky, because they're often late, and misleading. That's why the proposal to bring more transparency is a good one.]
Federated Media, a popular but sometimes controversial ad network for… Continue Reading
Metacafe sold?, Common Sense raises $, Calacanis joins Sequoia, AskCity & more
(Update: Apologies, we’d meant to put a questionmark in the headline, so we’ve fixed. We’re checking on this rumor, but now we’re getting more doubts about this supposed sale)
Here’s the latest in Silicon Valley tech world:
Video site MetaCafe to be sold for $200 million? — That’s… Continue Reading
World of Good raises $4M for “fair trade” goods
World of Good, a Berkeley start-up that provides “fair trade” globally-sourced goods, has raised $4 million in a second round of funding, according to PE Week. Backers include Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Omidyar Network and Cliff Higgerson.