BlueKai raises $10.5M to help sell consumer data
BlueKai, which runs a marketplace where advertisers can buy data about online shoppers, has raised $10.5 million in a second round of funding.
The Bellevue, Wash. startup allows shopping sites that have collected data about your interests and activities to sell that information to advertisers. Done right, that kind of smart advertising could probably deliver much higher returns than traditional ads. In fact, BlueKai says it can provide three times the response rate of a normal… Continue Reading
Music blog network Buzznet lays off 10
Buzznet, a social network of music and celebrity-related blogs, cut its staff by 10 to refocus efforts on its more popular products in the poor economy. For this reason, the Los Angeles-based company actually has plans to increase headcount in sales, editorial and engineering divisions, reports VentureWire.
Stereogum, Absolute Punk, Idolator and Celebuzz are all connected via the Buzznet network, which saw a 50 percent increase in revenue this past quarter. It’s last investment round, valued… Continue Reading
WebVisible buys Adapt for search marketing management tools
Ad management software provider WebVisible announced yesterday that it bought Adapt Technologies, a company that makes applications used to automate search marketing campaigns. The amount of the deal has not been disclosed. Both companies serve their technology to mid-size companies looking to bring in revenue through digital advertising.
While WebVisible’s software follows clients through the entire process of online advertising — from creative production through campaign optimization — Adapt’s complementary platform recommends search keywords to target… Continue Reading
Wireless network provider WiChorus may end funding at $18M
WiChorus, a provider of wireless network hardware and software, may be calling it quits on VC backing following an $18 million third-round of funding, reports VentureWire. Raised to cushion the downturn, the new financing exceeded the round’s goals, and will be used to grow the business before it files for an IPO when the market brightens.
The young San Jose, Calif. company gives wireless carriers the ability to track their users’ exact locations and control network… Continue Reading
Envia raises $3.2M for lithium ion batteries
Envia Systems, a company that provides energy storage services via lithium ion batteries, took $3.2 million in first-round funding from Bay Partners and Redpoint Ventures. The Hayward, Calif.-based firm hopes to integrated its technology into cleantech applications, particularly electric vehicles, hybrid electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids.
The adoption of lithium-ion batteries over heavier nickel-cadmium batteries has pushed electric car development forward, but they are still said to still be prohibitively expensive for regular use. Envia also… Continue Reading
Maxim Integrated acquires Mobilygen for video compression
Surveillance semiconductor company Maxim Integrated Products announced that it will buy private video chip maker Mobilygen for an undisclosed amount. The large public company hopes the acquisition will provide it with the compression technology it needs to make analog security cameras compatible with digital streaming, recording and storage systems.
Maxim is particularly interested in Mobilygen’s technology because it is cheaper to use and requires less power to operate than other solutions, executives at the company told… Continue Reading
Roundup: IT budgets dying on the vine, Chrysler’s electric cars, a cure for the bees, and more
Datamonitor points to IT budget freeze — Major sector analyst Datamonitor says that half of IT organizations around the globe will cap spending levels next year.
Chrysler to roll out electric cars — Car maker Chrysler will unveil a line of electric cars to its dealers next week, according to the Wall Street Journal. The large car company has not previously shown off any electric vehicles.
Bee well — Remember when some researchers were blaming mobile phone signals for colony… Continue Reading
Roundup: MySpace to launch music service, Wall Street firms crumble and more
MySpace to launch free digital music service – MySpace Music sounds interesting, but it may not quite live up to Fortune’s declaration that it “promises to be the most significant roll-out of a digital music service since Apple’s iTunes.” Since you have to purchase songs from another service like iTunes if you want to download them, this doesn’t actually sound much more useful than existing service imeem. Meanwhile, the Los Angeles Times has some speculation about… Continue Reading
Mobile search and ad company Jumptap raises $26 million more
Mobile search and advertising company Jumptap has raised $26 million in a fourth round of funding led by AllianceBernstein, with all previous investors participating.
The company has positioned itself as an alternative to Google’s search and ad services for mobile devices. The largest carrier in the country, Verizon, is partnering with Google for these services. But Jumptap has business relationships with AT&T and 16 other carriers of various sizes, and has said it reaches around… Continue Reading
Game maker Giant invests in Chinese social network 51.com
Scores of cities in China have more than a million people, and 51.com has beat out its rival social networks to be the most popular in many of them, even if it’s not the most popular in cultural centers like Shanghai and Beijing. It faces both international rivals looking to enter China — including Friendster, Facebook and MySpace — as well as domestic startup rivals like Xiaonei, and social networking features on Tencent’s Qzone.
But, the… Continue Reading
Redpoint to put up to $13M into Answers Corp.
Ask is a successful company, so why not Answers, too? To help hedge its bets, publicly-traded Answers Corp. (NASDAQ: ANSW) has inked an agreement for up to $13 million from Silicon Valley VC firm Redpoint Ventures, with $6 million being delivered immediately.
Answers runs a two sites, Answers.com and WikiAnswers.com. The former is the company’s flagship site, drawing in content from an in-house editorial team, Wikipedia, and WikiAnswers, a question-and-answer site that relies on user contributions.
The… Continue Reading
Even more Ruby on Rails investment: Heroku gets $3M
San Francisco startup Heroku has been rolling out tools to help developers build, deploy and scale web applications, and it has gotten some pretty positive buzz in the process. But that’s just the beginning, says co-founder James Lindenbaum. Heroku has now raised a $3 million first round of financing led by Redpoint Ventures, and that means the company can “start to build out some of the rest of our vision,” Lindenbaum says.
Heroku’s offerings are based… Continue Reading
Lead-gen site Leadpoint raises $6M, doing fine despite economic downturn
LeadPoint, a site that provides online lead-generation tools for advertising buyers and web publisher sellers, has raised $6 million in a round led by Silicon Valley Bank Ventures, with Redpoint Ventures participating.
Los Angeles-based LeadPoint calls itself “the first and largest leads exchange” marketplace on the web. Online lead generation broadly means helping advertisers to find potential customers via search results, and various forms of advertising.
LeadPoint helps advertisers in auto, real-estate, mortgage, debt and other industries… Continue Reading
Advanced Power Projects, for power plant efficiency, takes first funding
A new startup that promises to make new and existing power plants run more reliably and produce less greenhouse gas emissions has received an undisclosed amount of funding by Bay Partners, Sequoia Capital and Redpoint Ventures.
Advanced Power Projects has a technology called the Simplified Combined Cycle, which is capable of capturing waste heat more effectively than the arrays of turbines and cooling towers used at most plants.
The company also has a mixing method for steam… Continue Reading
WebVisible, an interactive ad company for local markets, gets $12M more
WebVisible, a company that focuses on interactive advertising in local markets, said it has received $12 million in second round of funding.
The funding was led by Sutter Hill Ventures and included existing investor Redpoint Ventures.
The Irvine, Calif. company offers a software that manages interactive advertising campaigns for small-to-medium-sized businesses.
It can track a consumer’s location apparently because it partners with companies that have cookies and other information that provides it with that information, including Yahoo,… Continue Reading
Archetype Media, a social media advertising services company, raises $4.12M
Archetype Media Inc. handles a range of advertising services within social networks, designed to help traditional advertisers reach these users.
The West Hollywood, Calif. company has raised $4.12 million in Series A funding in a round led by Redpoint Ventures.
Sparkplay Media gets funds for MMO game with social networking ties
Full-scale massively multiplayer online games (MMOs) are generally built by giant studios, not venture-funded startups, but Sparkplay Media is one of the few exceptions, with an upcoming game called Earth Eternal.
The game will come with its own distinct Web 2.0 angle, though — the ability to tie in with social networks like Facebook. Although CEO Matt Mihaly is being quiet on specific details, he says that there will be applications and activities on social sites… Continue Reading
Microsoft gobbles up Danger, maker of the Sidekick mobile software
Microsoft Corp has agreed to acquire Danger, a Silicon Valley company that makes the software for the Sidekick and other mobile devices, for an undisclosed amount.
Danger has worked away for ten years on its device software, and recently filed for an IPO, which we termed as risky (see our piece The Danger-ous IPO), because Danger has not been as open as trends would suggest it should be, and it’s difficult to see how it could… Continue Reading
Rebel Monkey, a casual game developer, raises $1M
Rebel Monkey is a New York-based casual gaming startup founded by Nick Fortugno, the lead designer of the original Diner Dash, and Margaret Wallace, former head of Skunk Studios.
The company is so far keeping its plans close to its chest, saying only that it plans to offer “community-centric casual game experiences”.
Redpoint Ventures led the $1 million financing round, the company’s first.
Mobile services suite Mig33 raises $13.5 million, grows around the world
We last covered Mig33, an integrated mobile service that’s been growing fast around the world, back in May when it raised $10 million.
Then, Burlingame, Calif.-based Mig33 had gained four million subscribers in less than 18 months, by offering an integrated mobile download application that includes features for text messaging, IM, and cheap calls. Now, it has more than nine million total users, including two million in South Africa.
The company is especially popular in developing countries,… Continue Reading