Adknowledge acquires Miva’s media division for $11.6M
Pay-per-click ad network Adknowledge announced last week that it bought the media division of peer ad network Miva (formerly Espotting) for $11.6 million. The move is part of a growth strategy Adknowledge launched two years ago. Since then, it has gobbled up Cubics.com, Media Run Divisions, Adonomics and Lookery. This recent purchase includes Miva’s domain Findwhat.com. A public company based in Fort Meyes, Fla., Miva will retain the rights to its Miva Direct properties, which… 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 a showdown with the American company. Facebook has just started to get serious about entering the huge, fast-growing Chinese market.
The backing of Xiaonei could be a statement that the company… Continue Reading
Finance site Geezeo raises $1.2M from TheStreet.com
Geezeo, a site that helps you manage credit cards, loans, checking and savings accounts and more, has raised $1.2 million from investment site TheStreet.com. The deal gives TheStreet.com a 13 percent stake and an option to purchase the Framingham, Mass. startup at an equity value of $12 million.
Geezeo competes with other financial management sites like Mint and Wesabe. TheStreet.com owns sites like Stockpickr.com and MainStreet.com, and received a $55 million investment from Technology Crossover Ventures… Continue Reading
Stationery company Tiny Prints gets investment
Tiny Prints, which provides customizable stationery, has raised funding from Summit Partners and Technology Crossover Ventures. The amount is undisclosed, but it’s the Mountain View startup’s first outside investment. Cascadia Capital was an advisor for the deal.
Tiny Prints provides customized stationery for holidays, birth announcements, weddings and more through its TIny Prints and Wedding Paper Divas brands. The company says it’s been profitable since its founding in 2004.
TheStreet.com trades ownership stake to Technology Crossover Ventures
TheStreet.com, an investment-related media property located in Palo Alto, is a dotcom survivor founded in the late 1990’s. Like other older web companies, among them Ask.com and CNET, it’s trying to diversify away from its core offering.
The $55 million that Technology Crossover Ventures is plowing into the company will help it with further acquisitions and initiatives. TheStreet recently acquired Bankingmyway.com and Stockpickr.com, among others, and launched Mainstreet.com.
With TheStreet’s current market cap at over $400 million,… Continue Reading
TCV, a Silicon Valley firm that invests in late-stage companies, raises $3B
Technology Crossover Ventures, a Palo Alto venture capital firm, has raised a new $3 billion fund, the firm said in a statement.
The firm will begin investing next year.
The company uses the word “crossover” in its name, because it invests in late-stage private companies, but also in public companies. It targets Internet, financial technology, infrastructure and communications, software and services and health care IT.
The firm is led by Jay Hoag and Richard Kimball.
Zillow gets $30M more for online real estate — despite credit crunch
Zillow, the controversial website that gives value estimates of people’s homes and other real estate info, has raised a significant $30 million of funding, despite the mortgage industry credit crunch.
The Seattle company has now raised a hefty $87 million in total funding during its short lifetime, making it one of the most richly backed of the new era of “Web 2.0″ Internet companies.
The round was led by Legg Mason Capital Management. Previous backers Benchmark Capital,… Continue Reading
Comcast acquires Fandango, the online movie ticket company
Comcast has agreed to acquire Fandango, the LA, Calif. online movie ticket company.
The deal amount was undisclosed.
Fandango raised around $61 million in funding from investors including Accretive Technology Partners, Cinemark, General Atlantic, Lowes and Technology Crossover Ventures.
See Adweek story here.
Nuance shores up voice-recognition lead, buys BeVocal for $140M
Nuance Communications, the speech-recognition technology company, said it has agreed to acquire BeVocal, of Mountain View, Calif., for $140 million.
The deal allows the Burlington, Mass.-based Nuance, which dominates the speech-recognition market, to extend its reach into mobile calls, where BeVocal’s customers include carriers like Cingular, Liberty Wireless, Metro PCS and Virgin Mobile. It comes at a time when Tellme is making headway in mobile voice search (though Tellme relies on Nuance’s underlying speech-recognition technology).
Mobile phone… Continue Reading
Stock-trading co., Automated Trading Desk, gets $60M from TCV
Palo Alto firm Technology Crossover Ventures has investd $60 million into South Carolina’s Automated Trading Desk, a company with expertise in computerized buying and selling of securities.
The investment reportedly gives TCV a minority stake.
In November, the company said, it processed an average of about 280 million shares a day, for brokerage firms and institutional investors.
TCV has also invested in New York’s Liquidnet Holdings, which also specializes in stock trading.
Technical Communities raises round for gov. contracting services
Technical Communities, a service provider for technical organizations that sell to U.S. government agencies and prime federal contractors, has raised an undisclosed amount in a fourth round of financing.
The round included all previous investors, including Crosspoint Venture Partners, Netmarket Partners, New Enterprise Associates (NEA), and Technology Crossover Ventures (TCV), the company said in a statement.