Fusion Corporate Partners

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1.       Chinese online classifieds site 58.com has raised $15 million

Chinese online classifieds site 58.com has raised $15 million in its second-round funding according to news service Sina. The funds come mainly from Doll Capital Management (DCM) and SAIF Partners. CEO Yao Jinbo said that 58.com has retained control over the company, and that the funds raised will be mainly used towards expansion in second- and third-tier cities nationwide.

2.       Daily Grommet raises $3.4 million

Daily Grommet the curated online marketplace and video review site, has closed its Series A financing at $3.4 million. Investors participating in the round include Jean Hammond (investor and member of Hub Angels and Launchpad Venture Group), John Landry (angel investor at Lead Dog Ventures), Nancy Peretsman, and Jill Preotle (co-founder of the Boston Golden Seeds forum and private equity investor). The round also includes existing investors Launch Capital and Gerry Laybourne, founder of Nickelodeon and Oxygen Media.

• Contact: Jules Pieri, CEO and founder of DailyGrommet.com
• Location: USA, Lexington, MA

3.       News Corp. invests in Beyond Oblivion

News Corp. has made an investment in music start-up Beyond Oblivion as part of a $10 million series B funding round. The story was first reported on cnet. Allen & Co., a boutique bank that focuses onmedia, new media, communications & technology also took part. They are listed on the Beyond Oblivion website as their financial advisers.

• Location: USA, New York, NY

Other News Corp. articles

• News Corp. acquires games developer Irata Labs Posted on April 23, 2010
• News Corporation is considering the sale of Berlin based Jamba Posted on March 11, 2010
• News Corporation acquires a stake in Rotana Group Posted on February 23, 2010
• CME buys 90% stake of the Dow Jones Indexes business for $607.5 million Posted on February 12, 2010
• Lachlan Murdoch sells $28m News Corp stake Posted on November 30, 2009
• MySpace Buys ad supported music streamer Imeem Posted on November 19, 2009

4.       Networked Insights raises $5 million

Networked Insights, the social media analytics company, has closed $5 million in Series A funding. The round was led by Kegonsa Capital Partners. The company will use the funds to continue to expand the powerful capabilities of its SocialSense social media listening platform, launch new product offerings based on the SocialSense architecture and accelerate the growth of its sales and marketing programs.

• Contact: Dan Neely, founder and CEO of Networked Insights
• Location: USA, Madison, WI

5.       OpenSky raises $6M Series B Financing

OpenSky has closed a $6 million Series B financing led by Highland Capital Partners and Canaan Partners. This investment brings the total raised to $11 million by the year old New York startup that is re-imaging retail in today’s distributed media environment. The new investment will allow OpenSky to continue to move aggressively to scale its proprietary relationship commerce platform. OpenSky enables consumers to conveniently purchase goods directly from the people they follow and trust. OpenSky further supports these relationships by providing the consumer with a 365-day return guarantee and the ability to provide ongoing feedback to all parties.

• Contact: John Caplan, Founder and CEO of OpenSky
• Location: USA, New York, NY

6.       TheWrap Secures $2 Million in Series B Funding

TheWrap.com, the news organization covering the business of entertainment and media, has raised a $2 million B round capital investment from parties including Maveron, a venture capital firm co-founded by Starbucks CEO, Howard Schultz, and a majority of the Company’s A round investors.. The B round investment will be used to accelerate the continued expansion of TheWrap.com and to provide flexibility to take advantage of new market opportunities. This latest investment follows TheWrap.com’s Series A funding in January 2009 from Maveron and a group of private investors.

• Contacts: Sharon Waxman, TheWrap.com,Founder and Editor-in-Chief: Ben Choi, Maveron Principal and TheWrap.com board member
• Location: USA, Los Angeles, CA

7.       Tumblr raises another $5 million

Spark Capital and Union Square Ventures have invested $5 million into micro blogging site Tumblr. Spark and Union Square were also the only investors in Tumblr’s B round in 2008. Tumblr has now raised $10.2 million. The story was first reported on Media Memo.

• Contacts: Founder David Karp
• Location:  USA, New York, NY

8.       UK investment website Stockopedia raises $700K

UK investment website Stockopedia has secured over $700,000 in Seed Funding from a consortium of private City individuals. The site reaches close to 50,000 investors monthly and around 8,000 followers across all its Twitter feeds.

• Contacts:  Dave Brickell and Edward Croft – Stockopedia Founders

Contact us at pkelly@fusioncorp.co.uk or visit the Fusion Corporate Partners website