Trilliant buys SkyPilot to extend its smart grid reach
Trilliant, provider of devices and networks that allow smart meters to beam energy data directly to utilities, has extended its reach with the acquisition of SkyPilot Networks, provider of mesh broadband coverage. No financial terms have been disclosed. Both companies had previously raised a substantial… Continue Reading
Entrepreneurs: Apply for Silicon Alley Insider’s startup conference!
Silicon Alley Insider is launching its first annual “Startup” conference, a one-day event and competition meant to recognize the very best early-stage internet company. You can enter your startup this week for the opportunity to win buzz, bragging rights and $50,000 in cash and prizes.
Applying… Continue Reading
Huffington Post’s Lerer teaches journalism students to think like VCs
[Editor's note: As newspapers watch their business models crumble, journalism schools are moving fast to restructure their curricula to emphasize technology and new media. Below, Columbia journalism graduate student Chikodi Chima reviews a new seminar with an entrepreneurial bent.]
Cub reporter Kenneth Lerer was sure his… Continue Reading
KickApps raises another $14M to build social networks
KickApps, a startup that enables customers to build their own social networks, has raised $14 million in a third round of funding.
As every company in the world tries to add “social” features to their web site, the number of “white label” social network startups has… Continue Reading
Controversial ad company Jellycloud shuts down
The deteriorating economy, and cloudy horizon for the advertising industry, has claimed one more victim: Jellycloud, the ad company I wrote last month that was the latest incarnation of team that ran the controversial Gator and Claria.
Last weekend, it threw in the towel, sent home… 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,… Continue Reading
The ad network that keeps changing its stripes: Gator, Claria, and now JellyCloud?
Can a tiger change its stripes? JellyCloud, an ad network company with a controversial past, hopes so.
About eight years ago, it operated under a different name: Gator. The Silicon Valley company attracted lots of users with a useful online vault to save all their personal… Continue Reading
MC Hammer offers entrepreneurial advice to Intel Capital’s CEOs
It was Hammer Time tonight at the Intel Capital dinner.
With some 600 start-up chief executives in the audience, entertainer MC Hammer offered ministerial advice (embrace technology, don’t forget community) for tech entrepreneurs from a “content guy’s” perspective. With references to “tweets” and rubbing shoulders with… Continue Reading
Xiaonei, the Facebook of China, raises $430M — better funded than Facebook
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Xiaonei, the company that likes to call itself the “Facebook of China” has raised a whopping $430 million from financial backers, VentureBeat has learned from the company’s investors.
The backing gives it a larger financial warchest than Facebook itself, and sets the scene for… Continue Reading
Associated Content’s bold media strategy — relying on Google
Associated Content, a company that delivers all kinds of information online, from movie reviews to tutorials about how to fix a kitchen sink disposal, has raised a $10 million in a second round of funding.
Associated Content is notable because its branding is all but unknown,… Continue Reading
Citysearch snaps up Insider Pages in local search race
Citysearch, the division of IAC focuses on local reviews of restaurants and other services, has acquired the struggling local review start-up, Insider Pages.
The purchase (amount undisclosed) comes at a time of increasing competition in the race to deliver a compelling local search services. Citysearch’s parent,… Continue Reading