Wireless startup Fon raises $9.5M
Fon, a Spanish startup hoping to build “the world’s largest wireless community”, has raised $9.5 million in a third round of funding, according to TechCrunch.
Coral Capital Management led the round, with participation from British Telecom, Google, Allen & Co., founder Martin Varsavsky’s Jazzya and Joi Ito’s Digital Garage. Varsavsky says he’ll use the new funding to launch Fon in Russia, and to release a new version of the company’s Fonera router.
We covered the company last… Continue Reading
Dopplr, a trip-sharing site for the jet set
Dopplr, a Helsinki, Finland company that lets frequent travelers share their trips with friends and so that they make notes on each other’s itineraries, has raised an undisclosed amount of financing from individual investors.
Sharing travel plans isn’t new. A plethora of sites offers ways to consult with others on travel plans, from MyTripbook, to RealTravel to Tripwiser. The difference is, most other travel sites offer trip-sharing as part of a much larger palette of offerings.
Dopplr… Continue Reading
Google, Genentech fund personal-genetics startup 23andMe
(UPDATED: see below.) 23andMe, a stealthy Mountain View, Calif., “personal genetics” startup, has raised a first round of funding from some heavy hitters — Google, Genentech and two blue-chip VC firms, Mohr Davidow Ventures and New Enterprise Associates.
That’s some significant megatonnage for a low-profile and potentially controversial startup, although it all starts to make sense once you realize that Google co-founder Sergey Brin is newly married to 23andMe co-founder Anne Wojcicki. In addition, Genentech CEO Art… Continue Reading
Whisher tackles FON — launches its own WiFi nation
Honestly, we never got FON, the company that sells a WiFi router so that you can share your WiFi with others.
FON claims 50,000 nodes, and that it is the “largest WiFi network in the world,” so it appears to be having some traction.
Whisher is a new Spanish start-up flogging a similar model — but its offering may be more palatable than FON’s. Whisher has just raised an undisclosed amount of funding from Benchmark Europe… Continue Reading