WPP takes stake in early-stage mobile content platform Muzy

June 18, 2013 — Fusion DigiNet

wppWPP has taken a stake in Muzy, Inc., an early-stage microblogging service focused on mobile content creation. Muzy has attracted over 20 million users globally and is adding more than 1 million new users each month.

The investment is being made through WPP Ventures, based in Silicon Valley and run by President Tom Bedecarré. He is also Chairman of AKQA. WPP Ventures explores early-stage investments in new technology companies that offer innovative solutions to WPP clients and strengthen the capabilities of WPP.

muzy

Headquartered in San Francisco, Muzy was launched in 2011 by its cofounders, CEO Andrew Chen and CTO Matt Rubens. Like manyweb publishing startups, Muzy currently employs less than 10 people. Muzy will use the investment proceeds to further scale the engineering team and build out the suite of creative publishing tools for the Muzy platform. It offers more than 50 mobile publishing tools and a global network for sharing content and is a Top 100 photo app in 70+ countries.

UK, London & USA, San Francisco

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High 5 Games acquires Electrotank assets

June 18, 2013 — Fusion DigiNet

logo-high-5-games-smHigh 5 Games is to acquire substantially all of Electrotank‘s assets and intellectual property. Electrotank is a  provider of high-performance online and mobile game technology, including ElectroServer. Electrotank’s past clients include Disney, Neopets, MTV, Comedy Central, Mattel, Spinmaster, Hallmark, P&G, and Ubisoft. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

“This move will allow High 5 Games to strengthen and finalize our upcoming Game Server Platform, which will allow our content to be real-time streamed to both regulated real-money gaming sites, as well as to social casino sites throughout the world,” said Anthony Singer, CEO of High 5 Games. “We are overjoyed to bring in the many talented individuals from Electrotank into High 5 Games.”

High 5 Games has worked with Electrotank in the past to move some of its land-based slot games onto Facebook’s gaming platform.

USA, New York, NY

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SGN acquires mobile games developer Mob Science

June 14, 2013 — Fusion DigiNet

logo-sgn-silverSGN (Social Gaming Network), a cross-platform mobile games developer, has acquired Mob Science. The deal will include Mob Science’s full game portfolio, including its most popular title Legends: Rise of a Hero, adding more than 50M users to the SGN network.

“Mob Science is a proven game development company with collectively over 75 years of experience in top-tier mobsciencesocial game creation,” said Chris DeWolfe, CEO and Founder of SGN. “Both SGN and Mob Science stand for quality, enabling us to continue our strategic growth and market expansion.”

Mob Science’s team will stay in their Carlsbad, CA offices as the newest extension of SGN. More recruitment and strategic acquisitions will be slated for announcement later this year.

USA, Los Angeles, CA & Carlsbad, CA

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Google acquires Waze for over $1BN

June 13, 2013 — Fusion DigiNet

googleGoogle has bought iOS map and navigation app Waze for just over $1billion (according to Reuters).

GeekTime is reporting that the price is $1.1 billion, “of which $1.03B will be transferred in cash directly to the company and its stockholders. An additional $100M will be awarded to employees based on performance.”

Waze was founded in 2007. The majority of its staff are based in Israel with around 10 others based in Palo Alto, USA. It has 47 million Wazeusers and has raised $67 million in funding from investors including: Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Blue Run Ventures and semiconductor company Qualcomm Inc.

On the Waze blog, Waze CEO Noam Bardin said “We are excited about the prospect of working with the Google Maps team to enhance our search capabilities and to join them in their ongoing efforts to build the best map of the world.” He also said, “Nothing practical will change here at Waze. We will maintain our community, brand, service and organization – the community hierarchy, responsibilities and processes will remain the same.”

In the Google announcement, Brian McClendon, Vice President, Geo, said “To help you outsmart traffic, today we’re excited to announce we’ve closed the acquisition of Waze. This fast-growing community of traffic-obsessed drivers is working together to find the best routes from home to work, every day.” He went on to say, “We’re excited about the prospect of enhancing Google Maps with some of the traffic update features provided by Waze and enhancing Waze with Google’s search capabilities.”

USA, Mountain View, California & Israel, Tel Aviv

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YottaMark acquires personalised food information company ShopWell

May 31, 2013 — Fusion DigiNet

HARVESTMARK ACQUIRES SHOPWELLYottaMark has acquired substantially all the assets of ShopWell Solutions, Inc., the personalised food information company.  YottaMark will integrate the ShopWell team into its HarvestMark Insights group, and ShopWell’s website and mobile applications will become YottaMark branded properties. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.

The ShopWell app helps people make smart decisions about the food they eat. Personalised results show easy-to-understand food scores and recommend foods based on the shopper’s specific dietary needs. At home or in the store, shoppers simply scan a food’s barcode to get nutrition information and find out if the food is a good match. The recommendation engine technology is powered by patent-pending algorithms designed by Registered Dietitians and statisticians, and draws on guidelines set by the Food and Drug Administration, U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Institute of Medicine, and the latest peer reviewed research.

“This acquisition anchors HarvestMark’s strategy as the leading provider of trusted information about food, and provides a critical channel to reach shoppers across the entire grocery store”, said Elliott Grant , YottaMark’s Founder & CTO.  He added, “a producer will now be able to determine which characteristics drive preference and repeat purchase.  A retailer will have the ability to rapidly measure how merchandizing, store operations or supply decisions are affecting shopper satisfaction.  In today’s highly competitive food market – this edge provided by shopper insights can make the difference between a profitable product and failure.”

USA, Redwood City, CA

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Yahoo! acquires gaming infrastructure start-up PlayerScale

May 30, 2013 — Fusion DigiNet

YahooYahoo! has acquired gaming infrastructure start-up PlayerScale. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.

PlayerScale was founded in 2009 and is based in Belmont, California. It develops infrastructure software for various gaming platforms across the social and mobile space. PlayerScale has 100 million users with 4000 titles from over 2,600 developers worldwide.

Other recent Yahoo acquisitions include Astrid, a task-management app maker;Summly, a news-condenser app maker; Stamped, a playerscalemobile-review app maker; OnTheAir, which specializes in broadcasting video chats or interviews to online audiences; Snip.it, which is a kind of clipping service for the web; Propeld, a location-based apps maker; Jybe, a social recommendation site and Loki Studios, a mobile gaming start-up.

The acquisitions are part of a strategy to broaden and strengthen Yahoo!’s expertise in the mobile segment as adoption of mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets continue to accelerate.

USA, Sunnyvale, CA & Belmont, CA

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Yahoo! to Acquire Tumblr for $1.1BN – promises not to screw it up

May 22, 2013 — Fusion DigiNet

Yahoo! Inc. is to acquire Tumblr.

The announcement follows:

YahooPer the agreement and our promise not to screw it up, Tumblr will be independently operated as a separate business. David Karp will remain CEO. The product, service and brand will continue to be defined and developed separately with the same Tumblr irreverence, wit, and commitment to empower creators.

With more than 300 million monthly unique visitors and 120,000 signups every day, Tumblr is one of the fastest-growing media networks in the world. Tumblr sees 900 posts per second (!) and 24 billion minutes spent on site each month. On mobile, more than half of Tumblr’s users are using the mobile app and do an average of 7 sessions per day. Its tremendous popularity and engagement among creators, curators and audiences of all ages brings a significant new community of users to the Yahoo! network. The combination of Tumblr+Yahoo! is expected to grow Yahoo!’s audience by 50 percent to more than a billion monthly visitors, and to grow traffic by approximately 20 percent.

The deal offers unique opportunities for both companies. Tumblr can deploy Yahoo!’s personalization technology and search tumblrinfrastructure to help its users discover creators, bloggers, and content they’ll love. In turn, Tumblr brings 50 billion blog posts (and 75 million more arriving each day) to Yahoo!’s media network and search experiences. The two companies will also work together to create advertising opportunities that are seamless and enhance the user experience.

Total consideration is approximately $1.1 billion, substantially all of which is payable in cash.

“Tumblr is redefining creative expression online,” said Yahoo! CEO Marissa Mayer. “On many levels, Tumblr and Yahoo! couldn’t be more different, but, at the same time, they couldn’t be more complementary. Yahoo is the Internet’s original media network. Tumblr is the Internet’s fastest-growing media frenzy. Both companies are homes for brands – established and emerging. And, fundamentally, Tumblr and Yahoo! are both all about users, design, and finding surprise and inspiration amidst the everyday.”

“I’ve long held the view that in all things art and design, you can feel the spirit and demeanor of the creator. That’s why it was no surprise to me that David Karp is one of the nicest, most empathetic people I’ve ever met. He’s also one of the most perceptive, capable entrepreneurs I’ve ever worked with,” continued Mayer. “David’s respect for Tumblr’s community of creators is awesome. I’m absolutely delighted to have him join our team.”

David Karp, CEO of Tumblr, addressed the Tumblr community, “Our team isn’t changing. Our roadmap isn’t changing. And our mission – to empower creators to make their best work and get it in front of the audience they deserve – certainly isn’t changing. But we’re elated to have the support of Yahoo! and their team who share our dream to make the Internet the ultimate creative canvas. Tumblr gets better faster with more resources to draw from.”

The transaction, which is subject to customary closing conditions, is expected to close in the second half of the year.

USA, Sunnyvale, CA & New York, NY

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Intelligent Living Inc. acquires Israeli on-line brain games company, Mind360

May 17, 2013 — Fusion DigiNet

intelligent livingFEEL Golf Co., Inc. through its wholly owned subsidiary, Intelligent Living Inc., has acquired Mind360, a company which offers a series of scientifically developed online brain games targeted to improve cognitive skills and memory function. The games on Mind360 are aimed toward sharpening memory, increasing focus, building logical reasoning skills, increasing alertness and awareness, boosting productivity, and exercising the mind. Each player gets a virtual personal brain trainer that helps build up brain function.

Danny Aboody and co-founders Dr. Eran Chajut and Gil Steiner spent 2008 quietly building Mind360, a suite of brain-training games mind360that according to the company “help people boost overall well being and maximize their potential through online well-defined, entertaining cognitive training activities.”

Mind360 has over 10,000 users in every continent with more than 40 games. Sign-up is free and monthly or annual subscriptions are available.

USA, Fort Lauderdale, FL & Israel, Tel Aviv

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Yahoo acquires to-do app Astrid

May 3, 2013 — Fusion DigiNet

YahooYahoo Inc has acquired yet another app business, this time buying to-do app Astrid. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

The Astrid app is available on Android phones, Android tablets, iPhone, iPad, and the web. It enables users to sync their lists across allastrid their devices with cloud backup.

Astrid will continue to work as is for the next 90 days, but will no longer be taking new premium subscriptions. In the announcement on the Astrid blog, Astrid founder and CEO Jon Paris said that Yahoo! will be administering refunds to eligible users who have paid for annual subscriptions, Power-Pack and Locale Plugins.

Astrid had raised $400K in seed finding in April 2012 from Google Ventures, Nexus Venture Partners, Jack Herrick and TMT Ventures.

In March Yahoo acquired mobile news aggregator Summly for around $30 million.

USA, Sunnydale, CA & San Francisco, CA

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betaworks acquires a majority stake in Instapaper

April 26, 2013 — Fusion DigiNet

betaworksbetaworks has acquired a majority stake in Instapaper. The acquisition was announced by Instapaper founder and developer Marco Arment. Marco posted details of the acquisition on his blog. Instapaper is a simple tool to save web pages for reading later. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.instapaper

“I’m happy to announce that I’ve sold a majority stake in Instapaper to Betaworks. We’ve structured the deal with Instapaper’s health and longevity as the top priority, with incentives to keep it going well into the future. I will continue advising the project indefinitely, while Betaworks will take over its operations, expand its staff, and develop it further.”

Other Betaworks products include digg, bit.ly, Chartbeat, Giphy and tapestry.  Wall Street Journal reported that Digg was acquired for around $500,000 last year.

USA, New York, NY

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