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

 

 

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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

News Corporation acquires a stake in Rotana Group

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:  F231109-337
 
Acquirer:  News Corporation
ACQ Web:  http://www.newscorp.com
Location:  USA, New York, NY
Region:  North America
Description:  News Corporation (NASDAQ: NWS, NWSA; ASX: NWS, NWSLV) had total assets as of December 31, 2009 of approximately US$56 billion and total annual revenues of approximately US$30 billion. News Corporation is a diversified global media company with operations in eight industry segments: filmed entertainment; television; cable network programming; direct broadcast satellite television; integrated marketing services; newspapers and information services; book publishing; and other. The activities of News Corporation are conducted principally in the United States, Continental Europe, the United Kingdom, Australia, Asia and Latin America.
Category:  Media Owner
Contact:  James Murdoch, Chairman and Chief Executive, Europe and Asia 
 
Vendor:  Rotana Group
Vendor Web:  http://www.rotana.net
Location:  Saudi Arabia, Riyadh
Region:  Middle East and Africa
Description:  Rotana Group operates one of the largest TV networks and ad sales operations in the region and owns the largest Arabic film library. Additionally, it has built the leading record label in the Middle East, managing many of the most popular artists in the region and controlling the biggest Arabic music catalogue. Rotana Group also operates an expanding radio network and a wide array of digital services.
Category: Music, TV, Radio, Advertising
Contact:  Owned by HRH Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal
  
Aprox. Value:  Undisclosed
 
Details:  News Corporation today announced that it has reached an agreement to buy a 9.09 per cent stake in Rotana Group, the Middle East media group. Under the terms of the agreement, News Corporation will acquire newly-issued shares in Rotana for $70 million. The company has an option to increase its stake to 18.18 per cent in the 18 months following completion.
 
Link: Press Release
  

Additional Note:  HRH Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal, the principal shareholder of the Rotana Group, is the beneficial owner of approximately 7 percent of News Corporation’s Class B Common Stock as reported on a Schedule 13G, as amended, filed on February 4, 2010

Geneology website business MyHeritage.com has acquired OSN Group

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:  F231109-316
 
Acquirer:  MyHeritage
ACQ Web:  http://www.myheritage.com
Other Web Links: Blog,  Twitter and Facebook   
Location:  Israel, Bnei Atarot
Region:  Europe, Middle East & Africa
Description:  An online network for families and the second largest family history website.  MyHeritage.com offers a  suite of tools and technologies for managing family connections online.
Category:  Geneology, Social Network
Contact 1:  Gilad Japhet, founder and CEO
Contact 2:  Saul Klein, board member  
 
Vendor:  OSN Group  
Location:  Germany, Hamburg
Region:  Europe
Description:  OSN Group, operates a network of 10  geneology websites, including Verwandt  in Germany,  Dynastree in the US and the UK.  and Moikrewni in Poland. Plus  Miparentela.com, Meusparentes.com.br, Meusparentes.com.pt, Parentistretti.it, Verwant.nl, Familleunie.fr, Akrabaonline.com and Semyaonline.com.
Category: Geneology, Social Network
Contact 1:  Sven Schmidt, founder
Contact 2:  Daniel Grözinger, founder 
 
Aprox. Value:  Undisclosed
Details:  MyHeritage.com has acquired the Hamburg-based OSN Group, which operates a network of 10 geneology sites.
 
Links: 

Ad optimization firm IgnitAd raises seed capital

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
 
FUND RAISING 
Database Reference:  F231109-333
 
Business:  IgnitAd
Web:  http://ignitad.com
Location:  Israel, Jerusalem
Region:  Middle East & Africa, Europe
Business description:  IgnitAd develops an optimization system to serve various players in the online advertising space.
Category: Advertising
Contact 1:  Assaf Roth, co-founder
Contact 2:  Yaniv Bar-Lev, co-founder
Contact 3:  Assaf Roth,  co-founder
Contact 4:  Shai Saul, General Partner, DFJ Tamir Fishman Ventures
Contact 5:  Uri Adoni , Partner, JVP Media Studio
 
Investors:  DFJ Tamir Fishman Ventures and JVP Media Studio
Round:  Seed
Amount raised:  Undisclosed 
 
Details:  DFJ Tamir Fishman Ventures and JVP Media Studio ( the seed investment arm of venture capital firm JVP) have made a seed investment in IgnitAd, an early-stage venture.

Link:  Press Release

LivePerson is acquiring web analytics company NuConomy

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:  F231109-311
 
Acquirer:  LivePerson
ACQ Web:  http://www.liveperson.com
Other Web Links: Twitter 
Location:  Israel, Tel Aviv
Region:  Europe, Middle East & Africa
Description:  LivePerson (Nasdaq: LPSN) was founded in 1995. The company provides real-time access to the world’s experts and their knowledge, accross a broad range of categories.
Category:  Directory, Technology
Contact 1:  Robert LoCascio, CEO
Contact 2:  Timothy E. Bixby, CFO  
 
Vendor:  NuConomy
Vendor Web:  http://www.nuconomy.com
Other Web Links: Blog   Twitter
Location:  Israel, Tel Aviv
Region:  Middle East & Africa, Europe
Description:  NuConomy helps companies  assess and understand website and social marketing performance with its generation web analytics and optimization platform.
Category: Web Analytics, research
Contact 1:  Shahar Nechmad, CEO and co-founder
Contact 2:  Haggai Shahar, CTO and co-founder

Aprox. Value:  Undisclosed
 
Details:  According to TechCrunch (they also reference Israeli news site The Marker) public company LivePerson is acquiring web analytics company NuConomy.  NuConomy was founded in 2006 in Tel Aviv, Israel and is now headquartered in San Francisco, California. Its executive team is comprised of former Microsoft and Google leaders. NuConomy completed its A Round financing in 2008 from WPP Group, one of the world’s leading communications services groups.
 
Link: TechCrunch   The Marker (in Hebrew)

Telefónica acquires IP communications business JAJAH

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:  F231109-278
 
Acquirer:  Telefónica
ACQ Web:  http://www.o2.com
Location:  United Kingdom, Slough
Region:  Europe
Description:  Telefónica Europe is a business division of Telefónica comprising mobile, fixed and DSL operations in the UK, Ireland, Germany, the Czech Republic and Slovakia
Category:  Mobile, Technology, Communications
Contact:  Matthew Key, Chairman and CEO of Telefónica Europe

Vendor:  JAJAH
Vendor Web:  http://www.JAJAH.com
Location:  USA, California, and Israel
Region:  North America, Middle East & Africa, Europe
Description:  Seamless IP communications services across the organisation, regardless of location or device. Used in around 200 countries by millions of people and are integrated into everyday instant messaging and social media applications, as well as through its own JAJAH direct-to-consumer offer.
Category: Technology, Communications
Contact:  Trevor Healy, CEO of JAJAH
 
Aprox. Value:  EUR 145 million in an all-cash transaction.
 
Details:  Telefónica has acquired communications innovator JAJAH. the company will continue to operate under its current brand reporting into Telefónica Europe, which will be the first of Telefónica’s regional business divisions to offer seamless JAJAH services to customers wishing to extend their communications experience.  The agreement is subject to formal clearance by CNC, the Spanish competition authority.
 
Link: Press Release

Mood-based video search firm, Jinni Media, raises $1.6M

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

FUND RAISING 
Database Reference:  F231109-295
 
Business:  Jinni Media Ltd
Web:  http://www.jinni.com/
Location:  Israel
Region:  Middle East & Africa, Europe
Business description:  According to Jinni, “Jinni isn’t a social network, it’s an internet application designed to fit how people relate to movies and TV. And since conversation is part of that, we’ve created tools to meet people with shared tastes, compare preferences, and review and rank titles.”
Category: Search, Video
Contact:  Michael Pohl, CEO
  
Investors:  DFJ Tamir Fishman Ventures (Isreal, Tel Aviv and USA, Menlo Park, CA)
  
Round:  Round A
Amount raised:  $1,600,000
 
Details:  Israel based Jinni Media Ltd has raised $1,600,000. The new cash will fund Jinni’s expansion and provide the resources it thinks it will need to chase after deals for its mood-based video search and recommendation technology.

Link:  Cable Digital News

Pageonce raises $6.5M

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
 
FUND RAISING 
Database Reference:  F231109-283
 
Business:  Pageonce
Web:  http://www.pageonce.com/
Location:  USA, Palo Alto, CA
Region:  North America, Middle East & Africa, Europe
Business description:  Smartphone personal information management company. Its flagship application, ‘Personal Assistant’ enables tracking personal finance, travel, bills, cell phone minutes and shopping.
Category: Mobile: Technology
Contact 1:  Guy Goldstein, Co-Founder and CEO, PageOnce
Contact 2:  Liron Petrushka,  Chairman, PageOnce
Contact 3:  Eitan Bek, partner, Pitango
  
Investors:  The round was led by the leading Israeli Venture firm Pitango Venture Capital and brings the total raised to date to $10M.
 
Amount raised:  $10,000,000  
 
Details:  Pageonce has closed a $6.5M new round of venture funding. Pitango Partner Eitan Bek will join Pageonce’s board of directors. Pageonce is backed by Pitango Venture Capital and HillsVen Capital as well as other prominent Silicon Valley angels including Liron Petrushka who serves as Chairman of Pageonce. Pageonce is headquartered in Palo Alto, Calif., with a development team in Kfar Saba,Israel.

Link:  Press Release

Genieo, which develops personalized home pages, has raised $3 million

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
 
FUND RAISING 
Database Reference:  F231109-253

Business:  Genieco
Web:  http://www.genieo.com/
Location:  Israel, Herzliyia
Region:  Europe/ Middle East & Africa
Business description:  Finds, filters and organizes relevant information into a personal homepage”
Category: User Content Host
Contact 1:  Jacob Tenenboem, co-founder and Chairman
Contact 2:  Sol Tzvi, Founder and CEO
Contact 3: Dr. Yuval Elovici, CTO

Investor:  Undisclosed
  
Round:  Seed round
Amount raised:  $3,000,000
 
Details:  Genieo, which develops personalized home pages, has raised $3 million in seed funding from undisclosed investors.

Link:  TechCrunch

Online Remote Tech Services Business SupportSpace has raised $10 million in funding

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
 
 
FUND RAISING 
Database Reference:  F231109-248
Business:  SupportSpace
Web:  http://www.supportspace.com/
US Headquarters: USA, San Francisco, CA
Israeli R&D center offices: Israel, Netanya  
Business description:  Online Remote Tech Services for computers and connected devices to consumers and small and medium-sized businesses.
Category: Services
Contact 1:  Yair Grindlinger – CEO and Co-Founder
Contact 2:  Doron Elgressy – President and Co-Founder
 
Investor 1:  Emergence Capital Partners
Investor 2:  BRM Group
Investor 3:  Gemini Israel 
Round:  B Round
Amount raised:  $10,000,000
Participants:  3
 
Details:  SupportSpace has raised $10 million in funding to enhance its infrastructure, expand its team, and acquire new partners.

Link:  TechCrunch