UK visual search company Plink has been acquired by Google

April 14, 2010 — Fusion DigiNet

Launched just four months ago, visual search engine company Plink has been acquired by Google. Their first product, PlinkArt, which enables you to identify paintings and artworks with  a snap from your phone’s camera, will continue to be available for download and work as it currently does today. However, Plink will not be updating the app and will instead focus their development efforts on Google Goggles; Googles visual search engine. Plink founders Mark Cummins and James Philbin will join Google.

Aprox. Value:  Undisclosed
 
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:  Eric E. Schmidt, Chairman & CEO
 
Vendor:  Plink
Vendor Web:  http://www.plinkart.com
Other Web Links: Twitter
Location:  UK, Oxford
Region:  Europe
Description:  Plink makes visual search engines that let you find out more about something just by taking a photo of it. Our first product, PlinkArt, enables you to identify paintings and artworks with just a snap from your phone’s camera.
Category: Search
Contact 1:  Mark Cummins, founder
Contact 2:  James Philbin, founder 
 
Link: Announcement on Plink’s Blog

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FDN Database Reference:  F231109-386
 
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Greycroft Partners closes its second fund to invest in digital media businesses

April 14, 2010 — Fusion DigiNet

NEWS

Greycroft Partners LLC, an early stage venture capital fund based in New York and Los Angeles announced today the completion of $130.7 million in fundraising for its second fund, Greycroft II. Greycroft II will continue to focus on businesses in the digital media space, broadly defined as products or services delivered through a wireless device or via the Internet.

Greycroft II investors encompass a leading group of municipal and corporate pension funds and endowments led by JP Morgan Investment Advisors, in addition to individuals from across the corporate world. The General Partners of the new fund are the same as Greycroft I, Alan Patricof, Dana Settle and Drew Lipsher with the addition of Ian Sigalow, promoted from Principal.

Previously, Greycroft I raised $75 million, completely from high net worth individuals. During its four years in operation, Greycroft I made over 30 investments in the digital media space including: Collective, Huffington Post; Paid Content, which was sold to Guardian Media; Digisynd, which was sold to Disney; and Pump Audio, which was sold to Getty.

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Morningstar UK has acquired Old Broad Street Research

April 13, 2010 — Fusion DigiNet

Morningstar UK Ltd., a subsidiary of Morningstar, Inc. (Nasdaq: MORN), a leading provider of independent investment research, has acquired Old Broad Street Research Ltd. (OBSR), a premier provider of fund research, ratings, and investment consulting services in the United Kingdom, for 11.95 million pounds sterling, or approximately U.S. $18.3 million, subject to post-closing adjustments. This is the fourth Morningstar acquisition reported on Fusion DigiNet since February.

Managing directors Richard Downs, Richard Romer-Lee, and Nigel Whittingham will continue to lead the business. The subsidiary will be called, “OBSR, a Morningstar company.”

“Morningstar is a good cultural fit for OBSR. Our research team is renowned in the industry for its quality and experience. Becoming part of a global company with greater resources will enable the team to continue to take the business forward,” said Richard Downs, managing director of OBSR. “The investment and advice world is changing, particularly with the introduction of the Financial Services Authority’s Retail Distribution Review (RDR). As part of Morningstar, we will be able to leverage its core skills in research, design, technology, and data to develop a best-in-class solution that builds on our experience in this area.”

Aprox. Value:  £11.95 million / $18.3 million
 
Acquirer:  Morningstar UK
ACQ Web:  http://www.morningstar.co.uk 
Location:  UK, London
Region:  Europe
Description:  Morningstar, Inc. is a provider of independent investment research in North America, Europe, Australia, and Asia. The company offers an extensive line of Internet, software, and print-based products and services for individuals, financial advisors, and institutions. Morningstar provides data on approximately 350,000 investment offerings, including stocks, mutual funds, and similar vehicles, along with real-time global market data on more than 4 million equities, indexes, futures, options, commodities, and precious metals, in addition to foreign exchange and Treasury markets. The company has operations in 20 countries and minority ownership positions in companies based in two other countries.
Category:  Publisher, Media, Finance, Research  
Contact1:  Joe Mansueto, Chairman of the Board, Chief Executive Officer
Contact 2:  Scott Cooley,  Chief Financial Officer
Contact 3:  Don Phillips, president of fund research 
 
Vendor:  Old Broad Street Research
Vendor Web:  http://www.obsr.co.uk
Location:  UK, London
Region:  Europe
Description:  OBSR is a UK based research and consulting firms. OBSR offers an array of customised consulting services including model portfolios, advice on fund construction, and corporate governance services, which are used by many of the leading financial advisers, life offices, and fund platforms. OBSR was established in 1999 after co-founders Richard Downs and Richard Romer-Lee purchased the research business of Buck Investment Consultants Ltd., which was created in 1994. The company has 30 employees.
Category: Market research, Consultancy
Contact 1:  Richard Downs, Managing Director
Contact 2:  Nigel Whittingham, Development Director
Contact 3:  Richard Romer-Lee, Research Director 
 
Links: 

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FDN Database Reference:  F231109-385
 
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Livedoor sold to NHN for just $67 million

April 13, 2010 — Fusion DigiNet

The Japanese unit of NHN Corp.has agreed with Tokyo-based LDH Corp. to buy Liverdoor Co. for 6.3 billion yen ($67.44 million) to ramp up its business in Japan. The portal at one time had a market capitalisation of more than $7bn before its founder, Takafumi Horie, was arrested in January 2006 and later found guilty of falsifying the company’s accounts and misleading investors.

Sale Price:  6.3 billion yen / $67.44 million. LDH are to sell 100,000 shares in Livedoor to NHN by May 10. The sale accounts for 99 percent of LDH’s holding.
 
Acquirer:  NHN Japan
ACQ Web:  http://www.nhncorp.jp/
Other Web Links: Game Portal – Hangame Japan, Mobile Game Community Site – Hange
Location:  Japan, Tokyo
Region:  Asia
Description:  NHN Japan, established in September 2000, operates Hangame Japan, which is the largest online game portal in Japan. It ranked first place in the entertainment category of Yahoo! Internet Guide’s the WEB of the YEAR for three consecutive years (2004-2006). 2008 (2008) Revenue 11,507 million Yen: Operating Income 544 million Yen.
Category:  Online Games
Contact 1:  Chun Yang-Hyun, Chairman
Contact 2:  Morikawa Akira, CEO
 
Vendor:  LDH Corp
Vendor Web:  http://www.ldh-corp.co.jp
Business Sold: Liverdoor Co.
Location:  Japan, Tokyo
Region:  Asia
Description:  Liverdoor Co. offers various Internet solutions in Japan and internationally. The company primarily provides computer network consulting, computer network management, development and sale of computer programs, and network content editing and design services. It operates in Japan, China, Thailand, Germany, and Spain. Liverdoor Co. was founded in 1996 under the name Livin’ On the EDGE, Inc. and changed its name to Livin’ on the EDGE Co., Ltd. in 1997. Further, it changed its name to EDGE Co., Ltd. in 2003 and to Liverdoor Co., Ltd. in 2004.
Category: ISP, Software
Contact:  President, Ishizaka Hiroshi, LDH Corp 
 
 
FDN Database Reference:  F231109-384
 
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BBC Worldwide seeks a partner for its magazine division

April 13, 2010 — Fusion DigiNet

The BBC is reported to be reviewing options for the magazine division of BBC Worldwide, the commercial arm of the BBC. These might include selling off the Radio Times and entering into a partnership with a rival publisher for the rest of its magazine business.

BBC Magazines publishes over 50 consumer titles including Top Gear, Radio Times, BBC Good Food and Gardeners’ World. It is the UK’s fourth largest consumer magazine publisher and sold around 85 million copies in the past year.  In 2008-09 it made an operating profit of £11.5m, down 31 per cent on the previous year, although sales rose 2.4 per cent to £182.2: Subscriptions are up 16% year on year, at 762,750 (ABC Jan-Jun 09): sales were up 2.4 per cent to £182.2m

BBC Magazines also has growing audiences round the world, with 43 licensed editions of its titles in over 55 territories. In addition, BBC Magazines has joint venture publishing partnerships in India (with the Times of India), and in Australia (with ACP).

A BBC Worldwide spokesman said: “We confirmed to BBC Worldwide staff on Friday that following a review of our magazines business we are seeking a partnership with another company to enable our portfolio of profitable market-leading titles to meet its potential, while still protecting the BBC’s editorial standards and brands.

BBC Worldwide has appointed KPMG to help it find a partner for the magazine business.

Links:

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Better Capital backs management buy-out to acquire Reader’s Digest UK

April 12, 2010 — Fusion DigiNet

According to News Agency AFP, Better Capital Limited’s BECAP fund has backed a management buy-out to acquire Reader’s Digest UK. The UK business had gone into administration on February 17, six months after its US parent group filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Managing director Chris Spratling will continue to run the company.

Aprox. Value:  £13,000,000
 
Acquirer:  Better Capital
ACQ Web:  http://www.bettercapital.co.uk/ 
Location:  UK, London
Region:  Europe 
Category:  Investment Company
Contact 1:  Jon Moulton, Chairman
Contact 2:  Mark Aldridge, CEO

Administrators:  On 17 February 2010, Phillip Sykes, Jeremy Willmont and Bill Beach of Moore Stephens were appointed joint administrators to The Reader’s Digest Association Limited, a UK subsidiary of The Reader’s Digest Association, Inc.  

Description:  The Reader’s Digest magazine was founded in 1922 by Lila Bell Wallace and DeWitt Wallace, and based in Chappaqua, New York, United States. The UK version  was launched in 1938. It employs 117 people and has a circulation of around 465,000.”
 
Link: AFP news story
 
FDN Database Reference:  F231109-383
 
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FUND RAISING ROUND-UP

April 12, 2010 — Fusion DigiNet

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1.       Gadget review site gdgt has raised $3.165

2.       Quora closes a Series A round

  • Details: Quora, a startup building a continually improving collection of questions and answers, has closed a Series A round of financing. Matt Cohler, general partner at Benchmark, will join the company’s board. TechCrunch reports that it was an $11 million round that valued the company at $86 million.
  • Investors: Benchmark Capital
  • Contacts: Adam D’Angelo, CEO: Matt Cohler, general partner at Benchmark
  • Location: USA, Palo Alto, CA
  • Categories: Consumer website
  • Link: Press Release

3.       Stitcher raises $6 million

  • Details: Stitcher, a service that allows users to customize talk radio programming on their mobile devices, has raised $6 million in a Series B round of financing. The funding will be used to further Stitcher’s product and platform development. Bob Kagleof Benchmark Capital will join Stitcher’s board of directors.
  • Investors: Led by Benchmark Capital, with participation from previous investor New Atlantic Ventures and tech veterans including Ed Scott and Ron Conway
  • Contacts: Noah Shanok, CEO of Stitcher: Bob Kagle, general partner at Benchmark Capital
  • Location: USA, San Francisco, CA
  • Categories: Radio

4.       Tencent Invests $300m in Digital Sky Technologies

  • Details: Tencent Holdings Limited, a leading provider of Internet and mobile & telecommunications value-added services in China, is to invest approximately US$300 million in Russian investment group Digital Sky Technologies (DST). DST’s hold stakes in Facebook and Zynga. The aggregate consideration of approximately US$300 million, which will be paid in cash, gives Tencent approximately a 10.26% economic interest in DST upon completion of the transaction. Tencent will hold approximately 0.51% of the total voting power of DST and have the right to nominate one observer to the DST Board.
  • Contact: Chief Executive Officer of DST, Mr. Yuri Milner, President of Tencent, Mr. Martin Lau
  • Location: Hong Kong and Moscow
  • Categories: Investment Group
  • Link: Press Release

5.       UMJ Russia Fund invests $3 million in Game Network

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Blackstone Group invests in the most widely read newspaper in the world

April 8, 2010 — Fusion DigiNet

The Blackstone Group (NYSE: BX) will be investing INR 2250 million in Jagran Media Network Private Limited, which will hold majority share of Jagran Prakashan Limited.  Jagran Prakashan Limited (NSE: JAGRAN.NS, BSE: JAGRAN.BO) is India’s leading media and communications group, with the group’s flagship brand, Dainik Jagran, being the most widely read newspaper in the world with a total readership of 54.6 million. Jagran Media Network Private Limited will file for necessary approvals for the investment with the Foreign Investment Provision Board (FIPB) today.
Aprox. Value:  INR2,250 million
 
Acquirer:  The Blackstone Group
ACQ Web:  http://www.blackstone.com
Location:  USA, New York, NY
Region:  North America
Description:  Blackstone Group is an investment and advisory firm. Their alternative asset management businesses includes the management of private equity funds, real estate funds, funds of hedge funds, credit-oriented funds, collateralized loan obligation vehicles (CLOs) and closed-end mutual funds. The Blackstone Group  also provides various financial advisory services, including mergers and acquisitions advisory, restructuring and reorganization advisory and fund placement services.
Category:  Private equity
Contact:  Mahendra Mohan Gupta – Chairman and Managing Director
  
Vendor:  Jagran Media Network Private Limited
Vendor Web:  http://www.jplcorp.in 
Location:  India, Kanpur
Region:  Asia
Description:  Jagran Media Network Private Limited will be the promoter holding company of Jagran Prakashan Ltd. (JPL). The group’s flagship brand, Dainik Jagran, was launched during the Quit India movement in 1942 by the revolutionary freedom fighter Late Shri Puran Chandra Gupta, with a vision to “Create a newspaper that would reflect the free voice of the people”. Today, Dainik Jagran has the widest footprints within print media in India, and prints out of 11 states – Uttar Pradesh, Uttaranchal, Punjab, Haryana, Bihar, Jharkhand, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Delhi, Jammu & Kashmir and West Bengal. JPL’s other interests are across its other newspaper titles – I Next and CityPlus, its outdoor advertising arm below the line solutions, mobile value added services, and its internet foray with Yahoo India, with Jagran.com being the largest portal across all Indian languages.
Category: Newspaper, Media
Contact:  Mahendra Mohan Gupta – Chairman and Managing Director
 
Link: Press Release 
 
 
FDN Database Reference:  F231109-382
 
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Qlipso acquires the assets of Internet Television company Veoh

April 8, 2010 — Fusion DigiNet

Qlipso, a social feature-rich multi-party content-sharing platform with 3D avatars, webcam and voice, today announced its purchase of substantially all of the assets of Veoh, an Internet Television company delivering broadcast-quality video programming. The purchase enables Qlips0’s unique synchronized media sharing and socially-interactive environment to tap into Veoh’s library of more than one million videos, TV shows, online games and other interactive content, as well as Veoh’s tens of millions of active monthly users. Qlipso is backed by Jerusalem Venture Partners, an Israeli venture-capital fund.

“By bringing together features of both Qlipso and Veoh, we are taking the best of social, multiplayer online gaming and applying that to mainstream digital content, such as videos and music, for a mainstream audience,” said Jon Goldman, CEO of Qlipso. “This provides not only a terrific user experience, but also a vastly improved target audience for advertisers.”

As part of the transaction, key former Veoh executives will help shape the new vision of Qlipso.

Aprox. Value:  Undisclosed
 
Acquirer:  Qlipso
ACQ Web:  http://www.qlipso.com 
Location:  Israel, Jerusalum
Region:  Middle East & Africa, Europe
Description:  Qlipso allows users to share any type of Flash-based media live and synchronized with friends in a secure online social setting. Personalization options include avatar creation and webcam support, thereby enabling users to interact with each other while viewing the media simultaneously. As a business partner, Qlipso integrates with web sites to allow their audience to invite friends to share content, as well as to open up new revenue streams, like virtual item sales.
Category:  Technology, Media
Contact 1:  Jon Goldman, CEO and founder
Contact 2:  Ishay Pnuelli, Chief Technology Officer  and founder
Contact 3:  Erel Margalit, Jerusalem Venture Partners founder and managing partner 
 
Vendor:  Veoh
Vendor Web:  http://www.veoh.com
Location:  USA, Los Angeles, CA
Region:  North America
Description:  Veoh is an Internet Television company that delivers broadcast-quality video programming via the Internet. Veoh has more than 100,000 content publishers – from CBS, Viacom’s MTV Networks, ABC, Warner Bros. Television Group, ESPN and Lions Gate to thousands of independent filmmakers and content producers – and attracts over 28 million unique users per month worldwide.
Category: Television

About Jerusalem Venture Partners: A venture-capital fund based in Israel. The Fund operates from Jerusalem and manages more than USD$800 million. JVP focuses on building market leaders in the fields of digital media technology, including gaming and virtual worlds, mobile media, software and hardware applications and Internet advertising.
 
Links: 

FDN Database Reference:  F231109-381
 

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Internet Ad Revenues reach record quarterly high of $6.3 Billion in Q4 ’09

April 7, 2010 — Fusion DigiNet

NEWS

Slight Decline Year-on-Year to $22.7 Billion, Still A Bright Spot in Media Industry

The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) and PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (PwC) today released the IAB Internet Advertising Revenue Report for the full year 2009. Though U.S. Internet advertising revenues, at $22.7 billion for the year, showed a 3.4% decline from 2008, there are signs of an emergent recovery in the industry. The fourth quarter of 2009 hit a record quarterly high of $6.3 billion, a 2.6% increase year-over-year and a 14% increase over the third quarter of 2009.

Highlights of the report include:

  • Search and display-related advertising continue to represent the largest percentages of overall interactive advertising spend. Search revenues, comprising 47% of the total, amounted to nearly $10.7 billion for 2009, up slightly from 2008.
  • Display-related advertising—which includes display ads, rich media, digital video and sponsorship—totaled nearly $8 billion in 2009, showing an increase of 4% from 2008.
  • One component of display-related advertising, digital video, continues to experience robust growth, with an almost 39% increase from 2008 to 2009.
  • These latest revenue figures underscore the significant share shift taking place from traditional media to digital. Based on industry data from PwC from 2005 to 2009 in five key U.S. ad-supported media (television, radio, newspapers, consumers magazines and Internet), the Internet’s share of combined ad revenue grew from 8% to 17%.

Full Press Release

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