Delivery Agent acquires Billion Dollar Babes

April 29, 2010 — Fusion DigiNet

Delivery Agent, a business that provides shopping-enabled programming and content monetization, has acquired Billion Dollar Babes, an online fashion designer sample sales business .

Delivery Agent currently powers multi-channel interactive commerce and marketing initiatives for more than 90% of the Nielsen Primetime Top 50 through exclusive contracts with the major television networks ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, The CW and cable networks and studios including Discovery Communications, A&E Television Networks, HBO and The Weinstein Company. Delivery Agent also owns and operates SeenON.com.

“We know that entertainment sells. The combination of Delivery Agent’s partnerships with top entertainment companies and Billion Dollar Babes’ deep roots in Hollywood and expertise in private sales gives us a unique advantage to create a new type of private sale that’s sure to drive tremendous growth in the category,” said Mike Fitzsimmons, Delivery Agent CEO. “With our entertainment-based private sales, consumers will get below-retail prices on fashions and other high-end goods they see featured in their favorite entertainment, and our clients will get to reach and interact in a new way with a big and growing bigger audience. Equally important, they’ll get to tap into a new marketing channel and revenue stream.”

Location: USA, San Francisco & Los Angeles, CA
Sector: Internet, eRetail
Ref: F231109-405

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

Internet Brands acquires DoDTracker.com and PursePage.com

April 28, 2010 — Fusion DigiNet

Internet Brands has acquired two websites in its Shopping vertical. DoDTracker.com (“”Deal of the Day”” Tracker) aggregates “one-a-day” deals from major retailers, while PursePage.com provides reviews of designer handbags and lists designer sales events.

“We continue to see ery strong growth in the social shopping arena,” said Bob Brisco, CEO of Internet Brands. “There is a very active convergence of consumer interest, advertising migration, and innovation of social shopping tools in which we are participating.”

Location: USA, Los Angeles, CA
Sector: Internet, Publishing, eRetail
Related article: Internet Brands acquires online professional directory network ExpertHub Posted on 28, 2010
Ref: F231109-404

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

Posted in Content Media, e-Commerce, Internet Media, Publishers, ~North America. Leave a Comment »

ShoeDazzle.com raises $13 million

April 27, 2010 — Fusion DigiNet

ShoeDazzle.com, the online monthly fashion styling service, has announced the completion of its $13 million growth financing, led by Lightspeed Venture Partners of Menlo Park, California, and existing investor Polaris Venture Partners of Boston, Massachusetts. The funding will allow the company to launch related products that will continue to dazzle its members and to accelerate its leadership position in a new business category created by ShoeDazzle.com. This capital infusion brings the total funding raised for ShoeDazzle.com to over $20 million.

Location: USA, Los Angeles, CA
Sector: eRetail
Ref: F231109-402

Related article: ShoeDazzle Raises $7 Million Posted on November 19, 2009

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

Posted in e-Commerce, ~North America. Tags: . Leave a Comment »

FUND RAISING ROUND-UP

April 18, 2010 — Fusion DigiNet

The best way to receive Fusion DigiNet information is to subscribe to the free email service available from the home page.

1.       Groupon raises more funds at a $1.2 million valuation

2.       Online home work help site Cramster raises $6M

  • Details: Investors: Cramster.com, has secured $6M in Series B financing. Co-founded by Aaron Hawkey and Robert Angarita, Cramster is a provider of online homework help for college and high school students. Cramster previously raised a $3M Series A in September 2008 from online education entrepreneur, Shai Reshef.
  • Investors: Led by Primera Capital.  Primera Managing Partner Ori Sasson joins the Cramster board.
  • Location: USA, Pasadena, CA
  • Category: Education
  • Links: Press Release

3.       Mylikes raises $630,000

  • Details: According to TechCrunch, MyLikes has raises a $630,000 seed round. MyLikes was founded by Bindu Reddy and Arvind Sundararajan. Bindu and Arvind previously worked at Google where they were some of the key people behind Gmail, Google Base, Google Docs, AdSense and Google Video. MyLikes is a word-of-mouth advertising platform that allows the long tail of influencers on the web to create endorsements for products and services they like.
  • Investors: 11 other ex-Googlers.
  • Location: USA, San Francisco, CA
  • Category: Advertising
  • Links: TechCrunch

4.       Searchandise Commerce closes $7M in Series 2 Round

  • Details: Searchandise Commerce, an online media network for product manufacturers and their retail channel partners, has secured $7 million in venture capital funding. The new financing will be used primarily to expand the sales/marketing and operations teams. The company previously raised $7.5 million in venture capital in July 2008.
  • Investors: The Series 2 financing round was led by new investor Madrona Venture Group with participation from existing investors Cloquet Capital Partners LLC, DFJ Gotham Partners, Draper Associates, Inflection Point Ventures, Milestone Venture Partners and Wheatley Partners.
  • Contacts: John Federman, president and CEO, Searchandise Commerce: Brian McAndrews, Madrona Venture Group’s investment
  • Location: USA, Beverly, MA
  • Category: Retail,
  • Links: Press Release

5.       TweetPhoto receives $2.6 Million Series A Financing

  • Details: TweetPhoto, the real-time media sharing platform for the social web, has secured $2.6 million in a Series A financing. The company plans to use the capital to accelerate the development of its core offering, a platform of open APIs and mobile SDKs for real-time media sharing across the social web. The round will also allow the company to expand its developer relations program and to introduce new products that further strengthen its position as the preferred way for leading application developers to incorporate real-time media sharing into their applications.
  • Investors: Led by Canaan Partners, with additional investment from Anthem Venture Partners and angel investors.
  • Contacts: Sean Callahan, CEO of TweetPhoto: Deepak Kamra, General Partner at Canaan Partners: Brian Mesic, General Partner at Anthem Venture Partners
  • Location: USA, San Diego, CA
  • Category: Social Network, Software
  • Links: Press Release

6.       Tynet raises $8 million

  • Details: Tynt Multimedia Inc., the user engagement measurement, and developers of the Tynt Insight content sharing analytics service, has raised $8 million of additional venture capital financing from leading venture firms and private investors from the US and Canada. The financing will be used to introduce new products, expand sales and marketing, particularly in the US, Europe and Asia/Pacific, and to drive multiple new partnerships.
  • Investors: Led by Panorama Capital and other investors including Greycroft, Metamorphic Ventures, iNovia Capital, Disruptive Ventures, Newport Coast Investments (Chad Steelberg), W Media Ventures (Boris Wertz), Joe Apprendi (Collective Media), Allen Morgan (Mayfield Partners), Erik Matlick (Madison Logic), and Yen Lee (Uptake.com). Tynt also announced that Chris Albinson of Panaorama Capital will be joining its Board of Directors.
  • Contacts: Chris Albinson, Managing Director at Panorama Capital: Derek Ball, CEO and co-founder of Tynt
  • Location: USA, San Francisco, CA
  • Category: Publisher services
  • Links: Press Release
Posted in Content Media, e-Commerce, Internet Media, ~North America. Leave a Comment »

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.

Posted in Content Media, e-Commerce, Games, Internet Media, Market Data & Information, Publishers. Leave a Comment »

FUND RAISING: WEEKLY ROUND-UP week ending 28th March 2010

March 28, 2010 — Fusion DigiNet

The best way to receive Fusion DigiNet information is to subscribe to the free email service available from the home page.

 

1.       Avatar Reality raises $4.2 million

  • Details: Avatar Reality, creator of the massively multiplayer online virtual world platform Blue Mars, announced today has raised an additional $4.2 million. To date, more than $13 million has been invested in Avatar Reality.
  • Investors: Venture capitalists including Henk Rogers and Kolohala Ventures
  • Contacts: Henk Rogers, co-founder: Jim Sink, CEO
  • Location:  USA, Honolulu and San Francisco, CA
  • Category: Online games
  • Links: Press Release

2.       KidZui raises $4 Million

  • Details: Kidzui, an a safe search engine filter and online browser for kids, has raised $4 million.
  • Investors: Led by Mission Ventures led along with current investors First Round Capital, Emergence Capital Partners, and Maveron.
  • Location:  USA, San Diego, CA
  • Category: Search

3.       Made.com raises £2.5 million

  • Details: Made.com has raised £2.5 million to launch a new designer furniture company that cuts out the middle man using the internet to connect buyers directly with manufacturers.
  • Investors: Brent Hoberman, Founder of MyDeco and Lastminute.com, board director of the Guardian Media Group and Profounders Capital
  • Contacts: Ning Li, founder
  • Location:  UK, London
  • Category: Retail
  • Links: Made.com about us

4.       Placecast raises $3 million in series B funding

  • Details: Placecast raises $3 million in series B funding to expand their ShopAlerts location‐based marketing service.
  • Investors: From current investors, Quatrex Capital, ONSET Ventures and Voyager Capital.
  • Location:  USA, San Francisco, CA
  • Category: Advertising
  • Links: Press Release

Previous Fusion DigiNet article: 1020 Placecast has raised $5 million in a second round of funding November 19, 2009

5.       Wix Raises $10 Million

  • Details: Wix, which allows users to build free flash websites, has raised $10 million in Series C funding.
  • Investors: Benchmark Capital, plus existing investors Bessemer Venture Partners and Mangrove Capital Partners.
  • Location:  USA, New York, NY
  • Category: Technology
  • Links: TechCrunch

Funding News

Link: Atomico completes $165 million fundraising to invest in early-stage growth companies

Posted in Content Media, e-Commerce, Games, Internet Media, ~Europe, ~North America. Leave a Comment »

Good news for UK “wealth creators and innovators”- entrepreneurs’ relief for Capital Gains Tax doubled

March 24, 2010 — Fusion DigiNet

 

 

United Kingdom – Chancellor of the Exchequer’s Budget statement

Alasdair Darling, Chanceller of the Exchequer for the UK Governement has announced an extension of Entrepreneurs’ Relief from the first £1 million to the first £2 million of gains made over a lifetime.

Entrepreneurs’ Relief supports business owners and those investing in businesses with growth potential by providing an effective 10 per cent Capital Gains Tax rate on qualifying disposals.

This change will take effect from 6 April 2010.

The Chancellor also announced that the normal rate of capital gains tax (CGT) remains unchanged at 18 per cent.

Direct quote from the Budget statement

“I am also going to make it more attractive for wealth-creators and innovators to set-up their own businesses. To do this, I am doubling entrepreneurs’ relief for Capital Gains Tax. At the moment, the first million pounds of lifetime gains are taxed at a lower rate of 10 per cent, rather than the main rate of 18 per cent.

This threshold will now increase to £2m, enabling entrepreneurs to benefit more from their effort and investment.

And I can also confirm today that I am not increasing the main rate of Capital Gains Tax.”

Link: HM Treasury Budget website

Posted in B2B Services, Broadcasting, Conference/Exhibitions/Events, Content Media, e-Commerce, Energy & Environmental Services, Games, Internet Media, Market Data & Information, Publishers, ~Europe. Leave a Comment »

FUND RAISING: WEEKLY ROUND-UP week ending 19th March

March 19, 2010 — Fusion DigiNet

 

 

The best way to receive Fusion DigiNet information is to subscribe to the free email service available from the home page.

Last Week’s Fund Raisings

1.  Foundry Group and industry angels invest $2.2 million in Trada

  • Details : Trada launched to the public today the first online marketplace allowing small and medium businesses and agencies to leverage the skills of hundreds of paid search experts, who in turn earn money by generating low-cost clicks and conversions for advertisers. Trada entered private beta in January 2009 and has more than 70 advertisers and 280 experts to date.
  • Investors:  Foundry Group, Seth Levine, Managing Partner of Foundry Group, Carlos Cashman, Jamie Crouthamel, Stuart Larkins, Dan Murr, Alan Warms and Robert Wolfe – Bios
  • Contacts: CEO and founder of Trada,  Niel Robertson
  • Location:  USA, Boulder, CO
  • Category: Search, Advertising
  • Links:

2. GyPSii raises $11 million

  • Details : GyPSii, developer of location-based social networking applications, has closed an $11 million private funding round. The funds will be used to support marketing and additional development of GyPSii applications including Twitter app Tweetsii, GyPSii. This latest infusion brings total fundraising to $40 million.
  • Investors:  Led by U.K.-based Schroders
  • Contacts: Dan Harple, Executive Chairman,
  • Location:  The Netherlands, Amsterdam   
  • Category: Social Network, Apps
  • Link: The fund raising is announced in the Press Release that also announced thelaunch of new app Tweetsii

3. Hunch raises $12 million

 4. Plastic Jungle raises $7.4 million

  • Details: Plastic Jungle, a website that enables readers to buy, exchange, and donate gift cards in a trusted environment, has raised $7.4 million in Series B funding. Plastic Jungle previously secured $6 million in Series A funding, bringing its total equity funding to $13.4 million. The Series B financing was completed at an increased valuation over the prior round, which occurred in March 2009. Plastic Jungle will add Allen Beasley, Partner at Redpoint Ventures, to its board of directors.
  • Investors: New investor Redpoint Ventures led the round and previous investors Shasta Ventures, First Round Capital and Bay Partners, as well as other existing investors also participated.
  • Contact: Garry Briggs, CEO: Bruce Bower, President: Dave Worthington, Chief Financial Officer: Ashmit Bhattacharya, Chief Technology Officer
  • Location: USA, Mountain View, CA
  • Category: Consumer website
  • Link: Press Release

5. PowerReviews raises $6.1 million.

  • Details: PowerReviews, the company behind the review sections of many e-coomerce sites, including RadioShack, ToysRUs and Staples, has raised $6.1 million.
  • Investor: Led by Menlo Ventures and Tenya Capital
  • Contact: Pehr Luedtke – CEO, Andy Chen – Founder and VP, Strategic Partnerships, Robert Chea – Founder and COO
  • Location: USA, San Francisco, CA
  • Category: Reviews, Technology
  • Link: Caterina Fake talks about the deal on her Blog

6. Second Porch closes a £1 million Series-A investment

  • Details: Second Porch has closed a £1 million Series-A investment. The investment will be used to continue the company’s expansion into the vacation home rental and home exchange markets, which are among the fastest growing segments in online consumer travel. Second Porch enables owners and renters to tap into real world relationships in order to rent and trade vacation homes, where trust between owner and guest is of paramount concern on both sides of the transaction
  • Investor: Led by the Oregon Angel Fund (OAF)
  • Contact: Brent Hieggelke, CEO of Second Porch
  • Location: USA, Portland, OR
  • Category: Holiday, Rental
  • Link: Press Release

7. World Golf Tour raises $10 million

  • Details:  World Golf Tour has raised $10 million in a third round of funding.  The funds will be used to expand globally and to create a stripped-down version of its web site game for Facebook
  • Investor: Led by JAFCO Ventures. Existing investors also participated. World Golf Tour was founded in 2006 with the backing of l venture capital firms Battery Ventures and Panorama Capital, as well as prominent individual investors.
  • Contact: Yuchiang Cheng, chief executive
  • Location: USA, San Francisco, CA
  • Category: Games
  • Link: Venturebeat
Posted in Content Media, e-Commerce, Games, Internet Media, ~North America. Leave a Comment »

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

March 14, 2010 — Fusion DigiNet

 

 

The best way to receive Fusion DigiNet information is to subscribe to the free email service available from the home page.

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 »
Newer posts »