Fusion Corporate Partners

Swaptree.com, has completed a $6 million financing round led by Safeguard Scientifics, with participation from numerous private investors. The capital raised will be used for new hires and marketing initiatives focused on fueling growth. The new round of financing brings Swaptree.com’s total capital raised to date to $11.95 million.

“Swaptree.com is poised to become synonymous with the category of ‘online swap’ in the same way eBay has become synonymous with ‘online auctions’,” said Jeff Bennett, CEO of Swaptree.com. “I look forward to making Boston-based Swaptree.com an iconic Internet business and one that will positively impact the health of the planet.”

Swaptree.com its offers its members an easy, feel good way for people to recycle the stuff they have and get things they want while reducing consumption of new products.

The company has also announced that Jeff Bennett been named Chief Executive Officer. Bennett was the Founder, President and Chief Operating Officer of NameMedia.

Location: USA, Boston, MA

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Payvment, a company that provides a free Facebook application that allows businesses, organizations and individuals to set up virtual storefronts, has raised $1.5 million in a Series A funding round led by BlueRun Ventures. Angel investor Dave McClure has also joined as an individual investor

BlueRun investments include PayPal, Slide, WiderThan, Wavemarket, Fwix and Chomp. McClure is an investor in over 50 startup companies including,  Mint (acquired by Intuit), SlideShare, Twilio and Simply Hired.

Location: USA, San Francisco, CA

Ref: F231109-459

Related article: Payvment has raised $1.15 million Posted April 6, 2010

Criteo, a company that offes display ad retargeting to eRetailers that are frustrated with spending vast amounts of money to acquire traffic only to have visitors leave their site without making a purchase, has raised $7 million in a Series C round of funding from Bessemer Venture Partners (BVP), bringing Criteo’s total funding to $24 million.

“As a global investor, we have been actively monitoring the technology landscape in Europe and following Criteo for a long time. Their breakthrough retargeting technology, ability to execute and world class management team are very impressive,” said Byron Deeter, partner at Bessemer, who also joins Criteo’s board of directors with the announcement. “We believe Criteo is in a unique position to play a major role in reshaping the rapidly evolving online advertising landscape.”

“Adding proven investors that understand our market and can support our hyper growth, gives us a strong competitive advantage as we build momentum in the U.S. market,” said JB Rudelle, CEO and founder of Criteo. “Bessemer has a history of identifying revolutionary companies. Furthermore, from the very start of our discussions, they have been extremely proactive to bring value to our business.”

Location: Criteo’s corporate headquarters were recently relocated from from Paris, France to Palo Alto, CA, USA
Sectors: eRetail, Internet
Ref: F231109-423

Other Bessemer Venture Partner deals reported on Fusion DigiNet:

• Wix Raises $10 Million
• Yodle, a local online advertising and lead generation company,has completed a $10M funding round
• SonicMule, interactive sonic applications for the iPhone, raises $8M
• Social dating community Zoosk has closed a $30 million Series D round of funding
• Bizo, the B2B ad targeting platform has raised $6 million
• Millennial Media Raises $16M in Growth Equity Financing

Providence Equity Partners is taking a 25-percent equity interest in Cox Enterprises owned AutoTrader.com. Cox made the announcement today. They will maintain majority ownership and operating control of AutoTrader.com, and Providence’s ownership will have no impact on day-to-day operations.  Providence will assume two seats on AutoTrader.com’s Board of Directors.

“All of us at AutoTrader.com are excited to see Providence Equity invest in our company,” said Chip Perry, CEO and president, AutoTrader.com. “Their support will enable us to pursue the many organic growth opportunities, as well as strategic acquisitions, that will help improve the products and services we offer our customers.”

The venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers is also an investor.

Goldman, Sachs & Co. advised Cox in this transaction. 

Locations: USA, Atlanta, GA
Sectors: Internet : eRetail
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In January we reported that LivingSocial, the social commerce business behind LivingSocial Deals and Facebook applications Visual Bookshelf and Pick Your Five, raised $5 million. In March we reported that LivingSocial raised $25 million. Just six weeks later LivingSocial has raised another £14 million.

The round, led by Lightspeed Venture Partners, also included U.S. Venture Partners, Grotech Ventures and Steve Case’s Revolution.

LivingSocial is to use the funds to expand its deals service into additional markets, starting with Portland, Orange County, Charlotte and Philadelphia.

Location: USA, Washington DC
Sectors: eRetail, Internet
Ref: F231109-411

Related articles:

• LivingSocial Raises $25 Million Posted on March 14, 2010
• LivingSocial raises $5 million to expand group-shopping deals Posted January 7, 2010