Stumble Video, Seven, Panama, Skype 3.0, Venice Project & more
Here’s the latest round-up of Silicon Valley tech news:
Video launch of the day: Stumble Video — StumbleUpon, the site that lets you “stumble upon” other sites by offering up recommendations based on your perceived interests, has reportedly seen a spike in popularity. So it has launched… Continue Reading
Red 5 Studios wants to bring Web 2.0 to games — raises $18.5M
Red 5 Studios, a new start-up formed by the team that built popular online game World of Warcraft (WoW), has raised $18.5 million in venture capital to create online games that integrate more social networking aspects from the outset.
The funding comes from Benchmark and Sierra… Continue Reading
Metacafe sold?, Common Sense raises $, Calacanis joins Sequoia, AskCity & more
(Update: Apologies, we’d meant to put a questionmark in the headline, so we’ve fixed. We’re checking on this rumor, but now we’re getting more doubts about this supposed sale)
Here’s the latest in Silicon Valley tech world:
Video site MetaCafe to be sold for $200 million? — That’s… Continue Reading
Pluggd “perfects” audio and video search, raises $1.65M
Declaring it has “perfected the user experience” for audio and visual search, Seattle start-up Pluggd has raised $1.65 million from Intel and angel investors to help it start distributing its technology.
If you haven’t played with Pluggd, you should. It provides that “wow” experience, giving you… Continue Reading
Azureus soaks up $12M and launches Zudeo, but not simple
Azureus, a Palo Alto company that delivers a popular application to distribute video files, launched a new service named Zudeo, which it apparently hopes will become the next YouTube for high-quality video.
It has raised $12 million in a second round of capital, led by Redpoint… Continue Reading
Fanning to launch Rupture, a social network for games
Shawn Fanning, founder of the popular music file sharing company Napster, is back in the game with a new start-up.
This time, Fanning wants to bring social networking to popular online games like World of Warcraft, as BusinessWeek first reported.
Experts say this is a… Continue Reading
Google invests less than $1M in Meraki for indoor WiFi
Compared to other companies its size, Google makes few venture investments, preferring to buy companies outright.
However, it has invested less than $1 million into Mountain View wireless router start-up Meraki Networks, according to GigaOm.
The router is being touted as a way to extend municipal… Continue Reading
Edgeio buys its way to online real estate search
Silicon Valley classifieds start-up, Edgeio, has acquired a company that will allow Edgeio’s users to search significant amounts of real estate data.
If you think that is trivial, think again. Online real estate listings face a regulatory mess — related to the legally complicated Multiple Listing… Continue Reading
BrighTex builds wrinkle predictor
This is another one of those “Why-didn’t-I-think-of-that?” moments.
Last year, entrepreneur Raj Chhiibber poured $1 million of his own money into developing a face-scanning device that not only detects skin-related disorders, but also predicts things like when wrinkles are going to begin and where. It provide… Continue Reading
Peanut Butter redux, expensive Sonsini, Hoffman burned, Infinera & much more
(Updated) roundup of the high-stakes game going on in Silicon Valley:
Brad Garlinghouse’s Peanut Butter memo — The Yahoo executive complained about the company’s “proclivity to repeatedly hire leaders from outside.” This is noteworthy, because he himself was hired from the outside. Before Yahoo, he’d served as… Continue Reading
YouSendIt and MyFabrik add to file-sharing options
YouSendIt and MyFabrik are two of the many companies that let you easily share large files, such as videos or photos. They’ve raised venture capital recently, to help them survive the throng of competitors.
Have you ever had an outgoing or incoming email bounce because you… Continue Reading
AGLOCO launches — will pay you to surf the Web
(See our update on this story here.)
AGLOCO is a controversial new Stanford-based start-up that wants to pay you to surf the Web, in return for access to your online surfing information. It launches later today (Monday).
It was discovered two weeks ago by Gigaom, which blasted… Continue Reading
Yahoo acquires online contest site, Bix
Yahoo has acquired Bix, the Palo Alto start-up that lets people compete in online karaoke, hot or not and other contests.
The amount was undisclosed, but this acquisition was fast; Bix launched barely three months ago.
It is the latest sign of focus by Yahoo in… Continue Reading
Real Girls Media raises $6M for women & Web 2.0 — but feels bubbly
Real Girls Media, a new San Francisco start-up that wants to publish content for women, has raised $6 million in a first round of funding.
We reported earlier how another company, Sugar, had raised $5 million, led by Silicon Valley high-profile venture firm Sequoia Capital, after… Continue Reading
Qihoo raises $25M for new Web 2.0 search engine
Qihoo, a fast-growing but controversial Chinese search engine for Web 2.0 content, has raised $25 million more in a second round of venture capital from credible U.S investors.
This is significant because Qihoo has launched a new kind of search engine, dedicated to Web 2.0 content… Continue Reading
Phonezoo offers free, extensive ringtone download service
Updated
Phonezoo is a new Silicon Valley start-up that makes downloading ringtones a fun activity, even for us at VentureBeat who have so far snubbed the trend.
Phonezoo, of Sunnyvale, has been in testing mode until now, but today launched publicly. We’ve tried it. You go through… Continue Reading
Slide gets big VC round for its slideshow product
Slide, the San Francisco start-up that lets you create slide shows from your photos or other content, has raised a large third round of funding from Khosla Ventures and Mayfield Fund.
The amount remains undisclosed, but we’ve heard it is more than the company got for… Continue Reading
ClickFacts, a new company countering click-fraud
(Updated with response from Google, and a counter-response from ClickFacts)
ClickFacts, a San Francisco start-up, may be worth looking at if you’re an advertiser plagued by click-fraud.
Click-fraud is the bane of the Internet: Web site owners and others with ulterior motives have incentives to click on… Continue Reading
Mascoma gets $30M for cellulosic ethanol — in bid to replace gasoline
Mascoma, a start-up that is trying to become the first commercial developer of cellulosic ethanol — something some environmentalists see as the Shangri La of alternative fuel — will announce tomorrow it has raised $30 million more in venture funding.
Funding for the Cambridge, Mass. company… Continue Reading
Skipping the ads? BlackArrow raises $14.75M to defy you
(Updated with Web site URL)
San Mateo start-up BlackArrow has raised $14.75 million to develop a way to insert advertisements in TV and Internet video programming, and it shows the ads even if people try to skip over ads with their DVRs.
It has been secret until… Continue Reading