Mysterious search engine Blekko finds $2.5M
Blekko, a stealthy San Francisco company that is sounding more and more like a search engine, has tacked $2.5 million onto its third round of funding, which now totals $14 million, according to Dow Jones VentureWire. The recent extension came from US Venture Partners and CMEA Capital, but it was previously backed by SoftTech Venture Capital, Western Technology Investment, Netscape founder Marc Andreessen, famed angel investor Ron Conway, and former Googlers Jeremy Wenokur and Danid… Continue Reading
Permuto launches platform to track performance of display ads
Permuto, an online marketing company seeking to optimize display advertising for its client brands, has launched a new platform that measures the performance of this type of ad with the same precision that most search engine text-ads are evaluated. Called, ShopperConnect, the platform is targeted at web-based retailers, promising to collect purchasing data, provide dazzling ads, buy ad space and calculate browsers’ responses to the ads.
Based in Palo Alto, Calif., Permuto says its new offering… Continue Reading
isocket raises $2M for self-serve advertising
isocket, which has created a commission-free platform for selling online ads, has raised $2 million in seed funding from a group of big-name investors. The round was led by Tim Draper at Draper Fisher Jurvetson, while the other VCs participating including David Blumberg of Blumberg Capital, Jeff Clavier of SoftTech VC, and Dave McClure of Founders Fund.
The Mountain View, Calif. company (the two-man team recently moved out here from the Midwest) says its technology automates… Continue Reading
Data-sharing service Gnip raises $3.5 million
Gnip, a company that provides technology to help other web services quickly share information provided by users, has raised $3.5 million.
Here’s how Gnip works: When a user updates their information on a site like Digg or Twitter, it takes that information and updates it quickly on the user’s accounts at other sites, such as Plaxo’s personal information aggregator service, Pulse.
The San Francisco, Calif. and Boulder, Colo.-based company has already signed partners like Yahoo and Plaxo.
The… Continue Reading
Bleacher Report’s sports fan journalism gets $3.5M boost
Bleacher Report, a site for “fan-journalism” about professional sports, has raised $3.5 million in a second round of funding.
I’m not a huge sports guy, but I was pretty impressed by the site when it launched in February. At the time, co-founder Dave Nemetz argued Bleacher Report was very different from the existing discussion forums or promotional blogs for teams and players. The site’s design is quite polished, and the top articles, at least, live up… Continue Reading
Fitbit gains $2M to help you lose weight
Fitbit, the maker of a small device that tracks how many calories you’ve burned, has raised $2 million in a first round of funding. The San Francisco company was a hit among judges when it launched at the TechCrunch50 conference, and it plans to start selling its devices in early 2009.
There are other portable weight loss devices out there — for example, Weight Watchers offers its own mobile application. What’s exciting about Fitbit, however, is… Continue Reading
Space Pencil raises $800,000 for web analytics
Web analytics startup Space Pencil has raised $800,000 in a first round of funding, according to Private Equity Hub, citing a regulatory filing. Funding for the Emeryville, Calif.-based company comes from True Ventures and SoftTech VC.
Stealth search company Blekko gets $3M
Blekko, a stealth search company started by Topix co-founder Rich Skrenta, has raised $3 million in a second round of funding, according to TechCrunch.
Little is known about the company, and right now its website contains nothing more than a photo of, um, a puppet (see above). But apparently Netscape and Ning co-founder Marc Andreessen, SoftTech VC and Western Technology Investment all think Skrenta (famous for creating the first computer virus) has a good idea, as… Continue Reading
Goodrec lines up $1.05M for user recommendations
Goodrec is a new company that intends to build new ways to remember, share, and find recommendations on the web. It is led by Mihir Shah, a former senior director of product management for Yahoo Search.
Little else is know about how the company’s product works as the site is in closed testing at the moment.
The San Francisco-based Goodrec has secured $900,000 of the $1.05 million Series A round. Taking place in the round are SoftTech… Continue Reading