Yahoo! to acquire Citizen Sports

March 17, 2010 — Fusion DigiNet

The Fusion Team have completed over 70 digital and media transactions for its private, corporate and private equity clients. For more information contact pkelly@fusioncorp.co.uk or visit our website
 
 
ACQUISITION 
FDN Database Reference:  F231109-359
 

Yahoo Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO) has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Citizen Sports, a company that brings the world of sports to fans’ favorite social networking sites and mobile devices through innovative applications. This acquisition will strengthen Yahoo!‘s social strategy of enriching, aggregating and distributing social content from across the entire Web, and offering a highly customizable social experience.
 
Aprox. Value:  Undisclosed. Yahoo! expects to complete this acquisition in the second quarter of 2010.
 
Acquirer:  Yahoo!
ACQ Web:  http://www.yahoo.com
Location:  USA, Sunnyvale, CA
Region:  North America
Description:  Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) provides Internet services worldwide. The company is perhaps best known for its web portal, search engine.
Category:  Media, Search, Internet Services
Contact 1:  Bryan Lamkin, senior vice president, Consumer Products Group
Contact 2:  Carol Bartz, CEO
Contact 3:  Roy J. Bostock, Chairman
Contact 4: Jerry Yang, Co-founder
Contact 5:  David Filo, Co-founder

 
Vendor:  Citizen Sports
Vendor Web:  http://www.citizensports.com
Location:  USA, San Francisco, CA
Region:  North America
Description:  Citizen Sports is a network of popular applications for Facebook, MySpace, hi5, iPhone and Android span professional, college and high school sports.
Category: Sports, Apps
Contact:  Mike Kerns, founder and CEO of Citizen Sports

Link: Press Release
 

Related Fusion DigiNet articles

Posted in Content Media, Games, Internet Media, ~North America. Leave a Comment »

Social Games Developer Playdom invests USD$5 million in Social Gaming Company MetroGames

March 17, 2010 — Fusion DigiNet

 

 

News – Fund Raising

MetroGames, a social gaming company headquartered has closed a USD$5 million investment from Playdom as part of MetroGames‘ Series A financing. The investment will be used to expand MetroGames‘ pipeline of games and continued development of its Metrogames.com social gaming platform. MetroGames has added John Pleasants, Playdom‘s CEO, to its Board of Directors.

Contacts: Damian Harburguer, CEO of MetroGames
Location: Argentina , Buenos Aires
Category: Games
Link: Press Release

About Playdom

ACQ Web:  http://www.playdom.com
Location:  USA, Mountain View, CA
Region:  North America
Description:  Playdom’s lineup of games includes Sorority Life, Mobsters 2, Lil Farm Life, Tiki Farm, Tiki Resort, Wild Ones and Poker Palace.
Category:  Computer Games
Contact:  John Pleasants, CEO

Related Fusion DigiNet articles

Posted in Content Media, Games, Internet Media, ~Latin America and Caribbean, ~North America. Leave a Comment »

Anametrix has acquired cloud-based business analytics service provider Nordic Research Corporation

March 17, 2010 — Fusion DigiNet

The Fusion Team have completed over 70 digital and media transactions for its private, corporate and private equity clients. For more information contact pkelly@fusioncorp.co.uk or visit our website

 
 
ACQUISITION 
FDN Database Reference:  F231109-358
 
Anametrix has acquired Nordic Research Corporation, an independent business analytics technology provider.  This acquisition extends Anametrix‘s ability to deliver cloud-based information visualization and predictive modeling of multiple online, offline and external databases.  As part of the agreement, Nordic Research founder Anders Olsson joins Anametrix as Chief Technical Officer.
 
Aprox. Value:  Undisclosed
 
Acquirer:  Anametrix
ACQ Web:  http://anametrix.com
Location:  USA, San Diego, CA
Region:  North America
Description:  Anametrix, Inc. is a privately funded next generation business analytics company whose technology is delivered via Software as a Service (SaaS).  A high-performance data management infrastructure handles data integration, statistical analysis, and other compute-intensive functions to seamlessly manage online, offline, and multi-channel corporate objectives.  Founded in 2009 by analytics industry expert Blaise Barrelet, Anametrixprovides cloud-based solutions that allow for quick and precise decision making from the correlation of vast amounts of data.
Category:  Analytics, Software
Contact 1:  Blaise Barrelet, Chief Executive Officer
Contact 2:  Anders Olsson, Chief Technical Officer (founder of Nordic Research)
 
Vendor:  Nordic Research Corporation
Vendor Web:  http://www.nordicresearch.com
Location:  USA, San Diego, CA
Region:  North America
Description:  Provider of data collection, integration, visualization software, and services that enables organisations to access, integrate, and visualize their data.
Category: Analytics, Software
 
Link: Press Release

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Chicago-based Fund, Lightbank, to Invest Up To $100 Million in Technology Start-Ups

March 15, 2010 — Fusion DigiNet

 

 

Fund Raising News

Eric Lefkofsky and Brad Keywell, two of Chicago’s leading technology entrepreneurs are looking to support other Mid-west talent by providing up to $10 million per year in early stage funding. In addition, they plan to guide and nurture their entrepeneurs through their early years.

Press release: CHICAGO–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Eric Lefkofsky and Brad Keywell, two of Chicago’s leading technology entrepreneurs, plan to invest as much as $10 million annually in early-stage technology companies through a new fund called Lightbank (www.lightbank.com). The entrepreneurs behind Groupon, MediaBank, InnerWorkings (NASDAQ:INWK) and Echo Global Logistics (NASDAQ:ECHO) have already raised over $150 million and generated more than $1.5 billion in investor returns through their existing ventures.

With the launch of Lightbank, Lefkofsky and Keywell will contribute their resources and expertise to foster a vibrant, active community of Midwest technology entrepreneurs who are short on capital, but flush with innovative ideas.

“Chicago is full of untapped entrepreneurial talent that just needs a little support,” said Lefkofsky. “Lightbank will be a driving force behind break-through ideas and help establish this city as a technology hub.”

In addition to investing capital, Lightbank will take an active role in guiding and nurturing companies through all stages of growth, from effectively scaling technology and finding the optimal business model to securing further growth investment and ultimately exiting the business.

Lefkofsky and Keywell, who met at the University of Michigan, have a history of starting new ventures that have shaken up industries with long-standing business models.

In 2001, Lefkofsky founded InnerWorkings, a print and procurement company that was taken public in 2006. In 2005, Lefkofsky and Keywell started Echo Global Logistics, a transportation and logistics management company that went public in 2009. In 2006, they co-founded MediaBank, a data-driven media-buying platform that now processes nearly 20 percent of the media purchased annually in the United States. In 2007, they co-founded Groupon, a collective buying site and their first foray into a consumer-facing business. Groupon now operates in over 40 cities, has more than three million subscribers and has raised $36 million from New Enterprise Associates and Accel Partners.

“Our success with Groupon has created a tremendous amount of interest from consumer-facing Internet-based start-ups in search of funding and support,” said Keywell. “Our formula for high-growth, high-return firms in business services has translated very well to the consumer market, and we believe there are many opportunities to further build on our skills and resources.”

Lightbank will focus on venture investments in early-stage companies in a number of industries. “So far we’ve only scratched the surface of industries that follow antiquated business processes, where technology can be leveraged to realize cost-savings and create value,” said Lefkofsky. “Lightbank will allow us to identify and invest in promising business model innovations and quickly take them to market.”

About Lightbank

Lightbank is a Chicago-based fund focused on early-stage technology companies. Founders Eric Lefkofsky and Brad Keywell, who started Groupon, MediaBank, InnerWorkings (NASDAQ:INWK) and Echo Global Logistics (NASDAQ:ECHO), will invest up to $10 million annually and take an active role in helping entrepreneurs turn early-stage ideas into successful businesses.

Related Fusion DigiNet Article: Groupon has raised a Series B financing round of $30 million, 2nd December 2009

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FUND RAISING: WEEKLY ROUND-UP week ending 14th March 2010

March 14, 2010 — Fusion DigiNet

 

 

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Last Week’s Fund Raisings

1. Autoquake has raised £6 million

2. Chomp.com has raised £2 million

  • Details: iPhone apps review site Chomp.com has raised £2 million in funding. Launched just 8 weeks ago, Chomp has 300,000 users and 1.5 million reviews.
  • Investors:  BlueRun Ventures, SV Angel partners Ron Conway and David Lee and former SV Angel, now CEO of DailyBooth, Brian Pokorny.
  • Location: USA, San Francisco, CA
  • Category: Apps, Reviews

3. DataXu Secures $11 Million in Series B Funding

  • Details: DataXu, provider of the leading real-time bidding platform for online display advertisers, today announced it has closed $11 million in Series B funding. The proceeds will be used to fund new product development, sales and marketing, and international expansion. John Jarve, Managing Director of Menlo Ventures, will join DataXu‘s board of directors.
  • Investors:  Led by Menlo Ventures. Atlas Venture and Flybridge Capital Partners, who provided DataXu‘s Series A funding in April 2009, also participated in the round.
  • Contacts: Mike Baker, President and CEO of DataXu: John Jarve, Managing Director of Menlo Ventures.
  • Location: USA, Boston, MA
  • Category: Advertising
  • Link: Press Release

4. DoubleVerify Raises $10 Million in Series B Funding

  • Details : Online advertising verification company DoubleVerify has closed a $10 million series B financing round
  • Investors:  Led by Institutional Venture Partners (IVP). The round included participation from existing DoubleVerify investors. DoubleVerify had previously closed a $3.5 million Series A financing in May 2009 led by Blumberg Capital, with participation from First Round Capital, Genacast Ventures and private investors.
  • Contacts: Oren Netzer, Co-Founder and CEO of DoubleVerify: David Bell, a DoubleVerify board member: Dennis Phelps, General Partner of IVP: David Blumberg, Managing Partner, Blumberg Capital
  • Location: USA, New York, NY
  • Category: Advertising
  • Link: Company Announcement

5. FirstRain raises $7.3 million

  • Details: FirstRain, a business that offers a research engine that intelligently filters information and trends from the web about companies, the markets they operate in, and the business trends impacting their market, has raised $7,296,727 of a $8,815,242 equity round.
  • Contact: Penny Herscher, President and CEO
  • Location: USA, San Mateo, CA
  • Category: Research, Search
  • Link: Regulatory Filing

6. LivingSocial Raises $25 Million

  • Details: LivingSocial, the social commerce business behind LivingSocial Deals and Facebook applications Visual Bookshelf and Pick Your Five, has completed a $25 million Series B round of venture funding. With this round of funding, LivingSocial Deals is launching in four additional cities: Chicago, Denver, Raleigh Durham and San Diego, making the program live in 13 markets across the USA
  • Investors:  Led by U.S. Venture Partners, with Grotech Ventures and Steve Case’s Revolution, LLC participating
  • Contact: Tim O’Shaughnessy, CEO of LivingSocial
  • Location: USA, Washington D.C.
  • Category: Ecommerce
  • Link: Company announcement

Competitor news on Fusion DigiNet: Groupon has raised a Series B financing round of $30 million, 2nd December 2009.

7. Plancast has raised $800,000

  • Details : Worldly Developments, the consumer internet startup behind Plancast has raised $800,000. The founders are Mark Hendrickson (who previously worked at TechCrunch) and Jay Marcyes.
  • Investors:  SoftTechVC, True Ventures, Founders Fund Angel, and Zelkova Ventures. As well as individual angels, Aydin Senkut, Saul Klein, David Cohen, Joshua Schachter, Dave McClure, Dan Martell, Ron Bouganim, and Paige Craig.
  • Location: USA, San Francisco, CA
  • Category: Social Network
  • Link: TechCrunch

8. SeaWell Networks Secures $7 Million in Series A Funding

9. Todacell secures additional $1 million funding from existing investor

  • Details: Todacell, the mobile display ad network for optimizing publisher ad performance, has raised an additional $1 million round of funding. Monies from this round of funding have been earmarked for sales and marketing, with five new sales offices opening in New York, Los Angeles, Toronto, London and Bombay.
  • Investors:  Raised from existing investor AfterDox. Previously Todacell has secured $2 million from AfterDox and others, including $350,000 seed funding from the Fore Group.
  • Location: Israel, Tel Aviv
  • Category: Advertising, Mobile
  • Link: Company Announcement

10. TripIt receives $7M third round of funding

  • Details: TripIt, the trip management company, has closed a third round of funding, receiving $7 million from a group of investors. These funds will be used to accelerate TripIt‘s cloud-based web service to reach more business travellers, as well as new services for mobile and enterprise collaboration at global companies.
  • Investors:  Led by Azure Capital Partners and O’Reilly AlphaTech Ventures. TripIt has now received $13.1M in total investment, including $1M when it launched in 2007, $5.1M in 2008, and $7M in this third round of funding, which was oversubscribed by interested investors.
  • Location: USA, San Francisco, CA
  • Category: Travel
  • Link: Press Release

Fund Raising News

  1. Berlin: Team Europe Ventures starts €6 million investment fund for Internet start-ups, Reported on Fusion DigiNet on 10th March 2010.
  2. Battery Ventures Closes $750M Fund
  • Details: Battery Ventures, a multi-stage investment firm focused on technology and innovation worldwide, today announced that is has closed its ninth fund, BV IX, at its $750M target. BV IX Will focus on Technology-Related Investments from Seed to Growth Equity and Buyouts. The firm invests worldwide, with the majority of its investments in North America, Israel and India.
  • Location: Battery Ventures invests out of offices in Waltham, MA, Menlo Park, CA and Herzliya, Israel. 
  • Link: Press Release
Posted in Content Media, e-Commerce, Internet Media, Publishers, ~Europe, ~Middle East & Africa, ~North America. Leave a Comment »

HootSuite Acquires Android Developer Swift App

March 14, 2010 — Fusion DigiNet

The Fusion Team have completed over 70 digital and media transactions for its private, corporate and private equity clients. For more information contact pkelly@fusioncorp.co.uk or visit our website
 
 
ACQUISITION 
FDN Database Reference:  F231109-354
 
Acquirer:  HootSuite Media
ACQ Web:  http://hootsuite.com
Other Web Links: Twitter
Location:  Canada, Vancouver
Region:  North Amerca
Description:  HootSuite helps organizations use the social web to launch marketing campaigns, identify and grow audience, and distribute targeted messages across multiple channels. Using HootSuite’s unique social media dashboard, teams can collaboratively schedule updates to Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin, WordPress and other social networks via web, desktop or mobile platforms plus track campaign results and industry trends to rapidly adjust tactics.
Category:  Apps, Social Network
Contact:  Ryan Holmes, CEO 
 
Vendor:  Swift App
Vendor Web:  http://www.swift-app.com
Other Web Links: Twitter
Location:  USA, New York, NY
Region:  North America
Description:  A company focused on developing social media applications for Google’s open mobile platform, Android.
Category: Apps
Contact:  Sebastian Delmont, Developer

Aprox. Value:  Undisclosed
 
Details:  HootSuite Media, Inc. have acquired Swift App, Inc. a company specializing in Android™ App development, notably their flagship product “Swift App,” a Twitter client for Android. The acquisition means quicker development for the growing Android market and is a show of support for the emerging mobile platform. The acquisition sees Swift App developer Sebastian Delmont joining HootSuite as a mobile adviser.
 
Links: 

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News Corporation is considering the sale of Berlin based Jamba

March 11, 2010 — Fusion DigiNet

NEWS

News Corporation is considering the sale of Berlin based Jamba (Jamster) according to a Merger Markets report in the Financial Times. Jamba is a mobile content provider. It is thought that News Corp want to concentrate their digital businesses around MySpace.

The report cites bankers as saying that Spanish entertainment company Zed is a likely buyer and also lists Italian mobile companies Buongiorno and Flycell, plus mobile music business Dada.net as other possible buyers.

Link: Financial Times article

 Other News Corporation articles on Fusion DigiNet

Posted in Content Media, Internet Media, ~Europe. Leave a Comment »

Evri acquires Twine.com

March 11, 2010 — Fusion DigiNet

The Fusion Team have completed over 70 digital and media transactions for its private, corporate and private equity clients. For more information contact pkelly@fusioncorp.co.uk or visit our website
 
 
ACQUISITION 
FDN Database Reference:  F231109-353
 
Acquirer:  Evri
ACQ Web:  http://www.evri.com
Other Web Links: Twitter
Location:  USA, Seattle, WA
Region:  North Amerca
Description:  Search and discovery engine that filters the real-time web for news and conversations that matter and distills them into intelligent information streams. Evri is funded by Paul Allen’s Vulcan Capital.
Category:  Search
Contact:  Will Hunsinger, CEO
 
Vendor:  Radar Networks including it’s flagship property, Twine.com
Vendor Web:  http://www.twine.com
Location:  USA, San Francisco, CA
Region:  North America
Description:  Online service for intelligently finding, organizing and sharing information with the people you trust. Radar Networks is backed by Paul Allen’s Vulcan Capital, Fuse Capital, and DFJ, as well as leading angel investors
Category: Search
Contact:  Nova Spivack, CEO
 
Aprox. Value:  Undisclosed
 
Details:  Evri has acquired Radar Networks including it’s flagship property, Twine.com. Radar Networks CEO Nova Spivack said in his blog entry about the acquisition “I am positive about the future for Twine and Evri. I really do believe that Vulcan Capital and Evri have the vision, and the deep pockets, necessary to execute on the long-term vision of the Semantic Web and the work we have done so far at Twine”. Mr. Spivack will continue to be affiliated with Evri in an advisory capacity and the Radar Networks team will consolidate to Evri’s San Francisco offices.
 
Links 

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Team Europe Ventures starts €6 million investment fund for Internet start-ups

March 10, 2010 — Fusion DigiNet

The Fusion Team have completed over 70 digital and media transactions for its private, corporate and private equity clients. For more information contact pkelly@fusioncorp.co.uk or visit our website
 

Funding News

Over the next three years, Team Europe Ventures intends to invest €6 million in startup financing for Internet businesses, and has set up a fund for this purpose. The fund focuses on the seed-stage; initial investment is up to €500 K per company. The fund is focused on Internet and mobile Internet.

Location: Germany, Berlin

Other Team Europe Ventures news on Fusion DigiNet: SponsorPay Acquires GratisPay 

Link: Press Release 

About Team Europe Ventures:

Team Europe Ventures invests in promising internet companies in early stages of development. Team Europe’s industry focus is consumer internet and internet technology; the goal for Team Europe’s companies is to generate revenues in the millions within a few years after founding. Team Europe Ventures is managed from Berlin by the its four partners Lukasz Gadowski (founder of Spreadshirt, co-founder of StudiVZ), Kolja Hebenstreit (early employee at Spreadshirt, seed investor in StudiVZ), Pawel Chudzinski (formerly Grennhill & Co.) and Steffen Hoellinger. Team Europe is shareholder in 15 self founded companies or lead investments as well as 40 co-investments. Regional focus of the investments are the EU and the US.

Posted in Content Media, Internet Media, ~Europe. Leave a Comment »

Online photo editor Picnik Acquired by Google

March 9, 2010 — Fusion DigiNet

The Fusion Team have completed over 70 digital and media transactions for its private, corporate and private equity clients. For more information contact pkelly@fusioncorp.co.uk or visit our website
 
 
ACQUISITION 
FDN Database Reference:  F231109-352
 
Acquirer:  Google
ACQ Web:  http://www.google.com
Location:  USA, California
Region:  North Amerca
Description:  Internet search, e-mail, online mapping, office productivity, social networking, video sharing
Category:  Search
Contact 1:  Eric E. Schmidt, Chairman & CEO
Contact 2:  Brian Axe, Product Management Director  
 
Vendor:  Picnik
Vendor Web:  http://www.picnik.com
Other Web Links: Blog
Location:  USA, Seattle, WA
Region:  North America
Description:  Picnik gives users the power to edit digital photos in their browser, without having to purchase or download complicated software.
Category: Photography
Contact 1:  Jonathan Sposato, CEO
Contact 2:  Darrin Massena, Co-Founder, CTO
Contact 3:  Mike Harrington, Co-Founder, COO
 
Aprox. Value:  Undisclosed
 
Details:  Google has acquired Picnik. Google says in it’s blog that they are not announcing any significant changes to Picnik, though they will be working  on integration and new features. They also say that they will continue supporting all existing Picnik partners so that users will continue to be able to add their photos from other photo sharing sites, make edits in the cloud and then save and share to all relevant networks.
 
Links: 

Other recent Google acquisitions

Posted in Content Media, Internet Media, ~North America. Leave a Comment »
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