Placecast lands $5M more for location-triggered mobile advertisements
San Francisco’s 1020 Placecast, a company working on new mobile advertising technology, said today it raised $5 million in more funding to continue developing its opt-in location-triggered ad service.
Placecast, which previously raised $4 million, pushes advertisements from major brands to the consumer’s phone depending on their physical location, but allows users to opt-in to the system. Here’s a scenario: You’re shopping and have opted in to receive advertisement alerts from your favorite store, say GAP (you can… Continue Reading
Former Adobe CEO, Chizen, joins Voyager Capital
Voyager Capital has brought Bruce Chizen, former chief executive officer of Adobe Systems, on board as a venture partner. A long-time member of the Menlo Park, Calif. firm’s advisory board, he will be focusing his efforts on digital media and software opportunities.
Chizen is a prestigious figure in Silicon Valley, having turned Adobe from just another software company into the choice for default design and drafting software it is today. During his tenure, he tripled the… Continue Reading
Website wiki AboutUs raises $2.5M more
AboutUs, a website with user-written and -edited profiles of other websites, has raised another $2.5 million in venture funding, according to TechFlash.
On its profile page, the Portland-based company describes itself as “your guide to websites,” with profiles of more than 10 million sites already in the database. When I first heard of AboutUs, I wondered if it was addressing a real need — isn’t it easier to just visit a website itself, rather than reading… Continue Reading
Keystream launches online video advertising overlay service
Keystream is an online video ad startup coming out of stealth today, joining a pack of others trying to do similar things. It lets an online video publisher run an ad that appears in the empty part of a video. For example, in this picture of a Land Rover charging through a flooded road, there’s a sample ad that says “Want to make an impression?” If you click on the ad, the video pauses and… Continue Reading
Nusym Technology raises a round for chip design verification
Nusym Technology has raised $8 million in a second round of funding for its chip design verification business. The Los Gatos company makes software for verifiying the functions of circuitry in complex chip designs.
The company will use the new money to refine its products. Chip makers are trying out the products now. Voyager Capital led the round and Simmons Goodspeed Investment Management participated. An unnamed public company also made a strategic investment in Nusym. Previous… Continue Reading
1020 Placecast serves location-based ads on Eventful
When I got a chance to meet with events web site Eventful back in July to look at their iPhone application, the company informed me it was working on some interesting ways to incorporate advertisements. Today, it revealed those plans: It’s the first cross-platform partner of location-based ad-targeting service 1020 Placecast.
What this means is that Placecast will be in charge of serving up advertisements on Eventful’s webpages and on its mobile site — including the… Continue Reading
Seattle VC firms Maveron and Voyager Capital venture southward
Two Seattle-based VC firms, Maveron and Voyager Capital, have recently brought on new partners to extend their reach to the south.
Maveron, which hit a homerun with an early investment in eBay, but has yet to match that success, has expanded its San Francisco office by making Amy Errett (pictured above) a partner. Errett is the former CEO of lesbian lifestlye and travel company, Olivia, and Maveron recruited her six months into her stint as an… Continue Reading
Sensys Networks raises $5M for vehicle sensors
Sensys Networks, which makes wireless sensors for vehicle detection and traffic data collection, has raised $5 million in a fourth round of funding. The round was led by Voyager Capital, with participation from existing investors Velocity Interactive, Horizon Ventures and Garrett Gruener.
The Berkeley, Calif. startup says its technology has been deployed in more than 30 states in the United States, and in more than 10 countries internationally. By allowing cities to monitor and manage traffic,… Continue Reading
Elemental Technologies raises $7.1M for video software
Elemental Technologies, a Portland, Ore. provider of parallel video processing software, has raised $7.1 million in new funding led by General Catalyst Partners and Voyager Capital.
Elemental says its software can perform video encoding, transcoding and filtering at unprecedented speeds without sacrificing quality by using general purpose graphics processing units (GPUs). Its first product is a video conversion application called the Badaboom Media Converter.
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
CapitalStream sells to HCL Technologies for $40M
Founded before the dotcom boom, Seattle-based CapitalStream managed to pull in $75 million in funding during that era from a number of funds, most of whom subsequently abandoned the investment prior to a restructuring of the company.
The company makes a product called FinanceCenter that is used by financial institutions in the “front office,” where consumer and commercial lending operations take place. HCL, which is based in India, will help expand sales outside the US.
Three investors… Continue Reading
Yapta, airfare tracker, raises $2.3 million
Seattle-based Yapta, a service that informs you when the price of plane tickets you want drops, has raised $2.3 million.
The company is one of many trying to provide ways for people to save money on airfare, but its approach is a bit different: Yapta lets you bookmark, or “tag” individual flights and will e-mail you immediately when any of them become cheaper.
Sites like Kayak and Sidestep let you search hundreds of travel sites for the… Continue Reading