Mint, online money manager, raises $4.7M
updated
Mint, the San Francisco company that helps you manage money online, said it has raised $4.7 million in a first round of funding led by Shasta Ventures.
Investors include First Round Capital and Ram Shriram, early investor in Google.
We’ve written several times about this company since it launched last month, and received widespread praise. The company says it has since signed up 50,000 users.
Mint also added Donna Wells, formerly vice president of corporate marketing and acting… Continue Reading
Ebay acquires StumbleUpon for $75M
updated
Auction giant eBay has acquired StumbleUpon, an San Francisco company that helps people “stumble upon” and share new sites related to their interests, for about $75 million.
In a statement this afternoon, eBay said the acquisition will give it “exposure to a fast-growing community-based service” that has around 2.3 million users, and that StumbleUpon is attractive because it shares similarities with eBay’s concept of community.
The deal size is not large relative to other deals we’ve… Continue Reading
Roundup: Jobs misled, VoIP on Blackberry, Zude, Twitter grows, more
Apple’s Steve Jobs dealt setback — Former Apple finance chief Fred Anderson now says Apple chief executive Steve Jobs misled him about stock option accounting. Story here, and statement by Anderson here. Question: Will this bring down Jobs?
Ram Shriram weighs in on FCC vote on wireless rule changes — See the Google investor’s VentureBeat column, where he advocates the FCC should take the first step toward opening wireless standards and access when it meets later today (Wed)…. Continue Reading
Zazzle acquires Confego, a software that allows companies to customize products
Zazzle, a Redwood City, Calif. company that gives users a way to personalize products like apparel, posters, U.S. Postage and greeting cards online, and then sell them, has acquired Confego for an undisclosed amount.
Confego, based in Berkeley, Calif., lets big companies like Reebok customize apparel, bags and footwear from the ground up using Confego’s software. In a statement, the companies said Confego has “perfected” the manufacturing and fulfillment process, allowing delivery of custom shoes in… Continue Reading
Roundup: March Madness, Starbucks start-ups, Zannel and more
Here’s the latest action:
March Madness alerts — Palo Alto mobile search company 4INFO will send you an alert in the final minutes of any of NCAA March Madness game that looks like it could be an upset. It sends final scores too. To sign up, text TOURNEY ALERTS to 44636, or signup at the company’s site.
Coffee-house entrepreneurs — The SF Chronicle has a piece about the SF entrepreneurs who launch companies at coffee houses, exploiting the WiFi… Continue Reading
Frontline Wireless — to use wireless for good, and profit
Frontline Wireless is a new start-up aiming to bid on wireless spectrum that it will let police and other emergency response agencies use, in the hopes of making a profit at the same time.
The strategy, led by an interesting mix of interests, potentially including Google, is to get a corner on a 12MHz section of spectrum of long-wave radio, which is designed for big open spaces. Wifi is for offices and metro areas. This long-wave… Continue Reading
Founders Fund hires Sean Parker as partner, to launch second fund
The Founders Fund, the venture firm led by former PayPal chief executive Peter Thiel, has hired Sean Parker, the controversial entrepreneur, who has just turned 27, as a managing partner.
Parker somehow attracts attention wherever he goes. He has already launched three well-known companies. At 19, he co-founded Napster, and his cheekiness drew anger from the recording labels, which eventually shut down Napster with lawsuits. Parker told VentureBeat last week, in an interview, that his… Continue Reading
Indian travel site Cleartrip raises $8M from DAG Ventures — because DAG can react within 48 hours
DAG Ventures has led an $8 million second round of funding for Indian travel site Cleartrip, VentureWire reports today (sub required).
Together with its previous $3 million from Google founding investor Ram Shriram, and Kleiner Perkins, Cleartrip has now raised close to the same as its competitors.
Travelguru just raised $15 million, and MakeMyTrip is reportedly about to raise double digit millions too.
DAG has made a string of investments in other Kleiner-backed companies lately.
Kleiner Perkins… Continue Reading
VCs pour on to campus, in greater numbers than 1999
Venture capitalists have launched a full-court press on campuses. With thousands of venture firms jockeying for the best ideas, it’s no surprise that venture capitalists are spending more and more time with young students at the best universities.
Mark Stevens (pictured here), a venture capitalist at valley firm Sequoia Capital, has given $22 million to USC to help that school make money from licensing promising technologies developed on campus. The program will provide grants to… Continue Reading
Founders should live on Ramen noodles, and $2,000 a month
The Less-Is-More theme continues:
Ram Shriram, the founding investor in Google who backed Larry Page and Sergey Brin when they were still at Stanford, remembers those frugal days. Page and Brin insisted on taking public transportation when they first visited Europe, refusing to fork out money for cabs.
Few companies will get a YouTube-style buyout offer of $1 Billion plus, so they’ll have to tighten their belts early, he said: “I’d rather see start-ups scrappy and frugal… Continue Reading
Ram Shriram says India bereft of middle management, skilled engineers
Ram Shriram, the guy who invested early in Google and made at least a billion, has in part switched his attention to Indian investment possibilities.
Now he’s decrying the dearth of skills there.
Surprising, given all the hand-wringing and publicity in the U.S. in recent years about the never ending supply of talented labor there.
First comes this story from the NYT, which cited studies saying that only one in four engineering graduates in India are employable,… Continue Reading
Validity Sensors raises $20M more for fingerprint sensors
Validity Sensors, San Jose start-up the builds advanced fingerprint sensors, has raised $20 million in its latest round of venture capital, in what appears to be a formal financial restart of the company.
The round included a “substantial investment” from Qualcomm Ventures, according to the company, which suggests the company’s technology will soon be used for mobile phones. Qualcomm is a leading mobile phone chip company.
The round was led, however, by venture firm TeleSoft Partners,… Continue Reading