VentureBeat

Greystripe raises $5.5M for mobile ads

Greystripe, maker of a software platform for developing ad-supported games for mobile phones, announced that it brought in $5.5 million in third-round funding from Incubic Venture Capital, Steamboat Ventures and Monitor Ventures.

The San Francisco, Calif. company has formed partnerships with several game developers in order to insert ads into their video games. Consumers can download these games for free, because ads provide the revenue, which is then split between Greystripe and its developers. It provides… Continue Reading

RazorGator raises $10M in debt for sold-out event ticketing

RazorGator, an online ticket vendor specializing in tickets to sold-out sporting and entertainment events, just brought in $10 million in debt financing from Hercules Technology Growth Capital. The Los Angeles-based company says it will use the money to aggressively scale up its operation.

The company already has an impressive roster of partners, including major athletic teams like the San Francisco 49ers, Buffalo Bills, Pittsburgh Pirates, Carolina Panthers, Baltimore Ravens, Seattle Seahawks and Minnesota Vikings. It also… Continue Reading

Fanzter raises $2M for celebrity trend tracker Coolspotters

Coolspotters, a site that aggregates celebrity style trends in wiki-fashion, just snagged $2 million in a second round of capital for its parent company Fanzter. Today’s homepage, for example, highlights Ashton Kutcher’s avid use of Twitter, Bruce Willis’ sexy Ray-Ban shades and John Mayer’s Blackberry Storm. Basically, it’s a site for people who care where Miley Cyrus scored her checkered flip-flops (they’re Vans) or whether or not Nicholas Jonas is still using an iPhone (check)…. Continue Reading

PopularMedia raises $8M, launches widget

PopularMedia, a social media marketing company, has raised $8 million in a third round of funding, according to VentureWire. The round was led by DAG Ventures, with participation from existing backers Sequoia Capital and Steamboat Ventures.

The San Francisco startup’s latest product is SocialNotes, a widget that can enable feedback and comments on any Web site.

Ontela claims $10M for mobile to computer photo transfers

Ontela is a Seattle-based startup that helps consumers move photos from their mobile phone to their computers, charging a monthly fee of $2.99 for the service.

The company benefits from the profusion of different phone and computer models, which make it difficult for manufacturers or carriers to develop a one-size-fits-all solution. It has so far signed three customers — Alltel, Cellular South and Cincinnati Bell Wireless.

The $10 million funding, Ontela’s second, was first reported by John… Continue Reading

Disney’s Steamboat Ventures looking to raise $200M fund

Steamboat Ventures is planning to raise a third fund, worth $200 million, PE Week reports (subscription required). The backer will be Steamboat’s owner, The Walt Disney Co; another, Europe-focused Steamboat fund is also in the works.

Steamboat typically invests in digital media companies — whether in social networking, mobile services, content delivery services — or other areas that are in some way related to the Disney media empire. Our previous coverage of the fund here.

… Continue Reading

Passenger gets $8M for market research on private social networks

Although Passenger calls itself an “on-demand customer collaboration” company, it’s probably simpler and more accurate to call it what it is: A market research firm operating through private, white-label social networks.

Putting consumers in a controlled online environment, where they can nevertheless interact with each other, gives marketers and product analysts from companies like Coca-Cola and Disney, both Passenger clients, insight into what people think of their products.

Using online social networking tools is gaining credibility as… Continue Reading

Rosum raises $15 million for mobile GPS alternatives

Rosum has raised $15 million to invest in its navigation technology which is an alternative to global positioning system (GPS).

The Redwood City, Calif., company uses signals embedded in broadcast TV signals to fix the location of different moving objects. It serves as an alternative to GPS because it works in areas where GPS devices can’t get a clear view of satellites in the sky.

The company is focusing its efforts on femtocell, voice-over-Internet protocol (VoIP), and… Continue Reading

Roundup: Giving up on the “mobile web,” cleantech gets crunched, and more

Here’s the latest action:

Mobile enthusiast gives up on “mobile web” – Russell Beattie, a Silicon Valley developer and mobile enthusiast who spent two years working at Yahoo Mobile before launching a start-up called Mowser, has given up on the mobile sector. He writes: “The general answer is that I don’t actually believe in the ‘Mobile Web’ anymore, and therefore am less inclined to spend time and effort in a market I think is limited at… Continue Reading

Kyte raises $6.1M to become media platform

Video site Kyte has raised another $6.1 million in venture funding to push forward with a new broadcasting platform. Although anyone can use it, the platform seems targeted at big media companies, and Kyte says it’s already partnered with four major music labels, as well as hip hop star 50 Cent.

Kyte chief executive Daniel Graf says that since he unveiled the product last year, a number of media companies have approached Kyte about partnerships. There’s… Continue Reading

Kapow raises $11.6M more to provide mashup technology

Kapow Technologies, which sells software to companies that lets them assemble their own “mashup” applications by gathering data from around the web, has raised a $11.6 million third round of financing.

Mashup technologies have become increasingly important lately, now that data has proliferated around the Web and new technologies such as RSS allow people to pipe it directly to their computers, versus having to go get it themselves. A research analyst covering the retail sector, for… Continue Reading

Vobile joins race to help find copyright infringement in video, raises $7M more

Vobile, one of several companies hoping to help content producers crack down on copyright infringement in video, has raised $7 million more in financing.

We previously wrote about the Silicon Valley company here, when Facebook chief financial officer Gideon Yu invested. The latest round was led by Steamboat Ventures (a venture firm affiliated with Disney) and undisclosed individuals, and was first reported today by VentureWire.

The video identification field is getting increasingly sophisticated, and it needs to… Continue Reading

EdgeCast, a content delivery network, raises $6 million

updated
Content delivery networks are increasingly important to large media companies that want to provide play no-delay, high quality music and videos over the web.

CDNs are distributed computing systems, built to smoothly and quickly transmit large media files like videos and music online to many users. Every media company needs a CDN.

Los Angeles-based EdgeCast has differentiated itself by charging separately for bandwidth component of its service, instead of lumping it in as part of a fixed… Continue Reading

56.com aims to become YouTube of China, raises $20M

updated
While YouTube ran away with the video-sharing crown in the United States, the race is still heated in China, the world’s second largest Internet market and fastest-growing.

There, two leaders are fighting it out, Tudou.com and 56.com. Tudou commands 22 percent of searches for video on China’s most popular search engine Baidu, compared to 56.com, which gets 19 percent. In third place is Youku.com, with 13.9 percent.

56.com seeks to catch Tudou, today announcing it has raised… Continue Reading

Citysearch, Merchantcircle connect their local business services

Citysearch, an online guide service about local US businesses, has partnered with MerchantCircle, in an effort to hold their own in the increasingly competitive area of local reviews.

The move comes as Citysearch is under attack from newer, fresher sites like Yelp, which offers reviews about locales and is appearing as high, if not higher than Citysearch in search engine results.

Citysearch, a division of IAC, has a large collection of local data that includes 14.5 million… Continue Reading

MerchantCircle, helps small businesses market online — aggressively

Online advertising remains hot. But with Google, Microsoft and Yahoo fighting to serve advertising to large companies and publishers, smaller business clients are left neglected.

MerchantCircle, a controversial Silicon Valley company helping thousands of small businesses market themselves online, has raised $10 million in financing to pursue these small businesses further.

It has also arranged a credit line with Square 1 Bank to acquire other rivals in the sector.

The Los Altos, Calif. company has been accused of… Continue Reading

Roundup: [Update: Facebook takes dip, maybe?], Crescendo Ventures, and more

Here’s the latest:

1) Another Googler goes to Facebook, to head its developer platform
2) Facebook traffic apparently took a dip last month — [Update: Or didn't. See Om's update, and a big looping conversation about Facebook on Techmeme]
3) Madonna latest in string of musicians to ditch record labels
4) Mozilla preparing mobile web browser, may improve mobile web user experience?
5) Mixx.com launches to let publishers give users relevant content
6) CBS acquires gossip site Dotspotter for $10 million
7)… Continue Reading

Video delivery is hot: Move Networks raises $34M, BitTorrent’s surprise

Move Networks, a company offering video delivery technology for customers such as ABC, Fox, CW, Televisa, Discovery and ESPN.com, has raised a whopping $34 million round of capital.

This makes Move one the best funded video delivery companies out there. Late last year, it raised $11.3 million. The company is helping the large broadcasters get online, and competes against a number of other well-funded companies, such as Brightcove. These companies could put a dent in plans… Continue Reading

VoodooVox, offering in-call ads, raises $8.1M

VoodooVox, a New York start-up that provides advertising within phone calls, said it has raised $8.1 million in a fourth round of financing.It is led by Softbank Capital, and includes existing investors Apax Partners, Disney’s Steamboat Ventures, and Village Ventures, also participated in the round.

VoodooVox’s product is called “In-Call Media,” and it inserts ad-supported audio content into the calls of  large companies, mainly within customer service calls and the like.  The company says its technology… Continue Reading

Passenger: Social network software for companies to get customer feedback

Passenger, a Los Angeles company that provides social networking software to companies so that they can privately solicit customer input on products and ideas, has raised another $8.3 million in financing.

Walt Disney-backed Steamboat Ventures has joined Shelter Capital Partners and StarVest Partners in the financing. Passenger has previously raised $5.2 million.

The company launched in February, and joins a bunch of other companies offering software allowing people to consult in groups.

Passenger includes a message board, a… Continue Reading