Eco-friendly reviews website Ecoscene has been acquired by Viewpoints Network

April 22, 2010 — Fusion DigiNet

Viewpoints Network, a provider of online product reviews and technology that helps retailers run online communities, has acquired Ecosceneinc.com, the two-year old consumer reviews website focused on green products.  It is Viewpoints first acquisition.

“We are excited to welcome Ecoscene readers and fans to the Viewpoints community,” said Matt Moog, President & CEO of Viewpoints Network. “There is a huge demand for eco-friendly products as consumers become more environmentally conscious. Those consumers who are already following the category are very active and outspoken individuals – just the type of consumers we want coming to Viewpoints.com to share their product feedback and help other consumers make smarter purchase decisions.”

Each of the existing Ecoscene reviews has been moved over to the Viewpoints.com platform and is available on http://www.viewpoints.com/aboutme/Ecoscene.

Ecosceneinc’s founder, Aimee Heilbrunn has joined Viewpoints as director of marketing. She comments on the acquistion at the Ecosceneinc.com website

Aprox. Value:  Undisclosed
 
Acquirer:  Viewpoints Network
ACQ Web:  http://www.viewpoints.com
Location:  USA, Greater Chicago Area, IL
Region:  North America
Description:  Viewpoints Network is a social technology and media company that helps leading retailers and brands positively impact the Triple Bottom Line of Social Commerce – incremental sales, actionable consumer insights and increased brand advocacy. The company operates two businesses: The Viewpoints Technology Platform, a hosted technology service for Social Commerce, and Viewpoints.com a leading user reviews and advice website.
Category:  Reviews, Commerce
Contact:  Matt Moog , Founder & CEO Linkedin
 
Vendor:  Ecoscene Inc
Vendor Web:  http://www.ecosceneinc.com 
Location:  USA, Chicago, IL
Region:  North America
Description:  Ecoscene takes a closer look at living green and provides readers unbiased, authentic, consumer experienced information on green products through a variety of mediums including weeekly e-mails, Searchable website database, Daily coverage on our blog, Social media sites including facebook, twitter, flickr, and youtube.
Category: Reviews
Contact:  Aimee Heilbrunn, founder    

FDN Database Reference:  F231109-393

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Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group acquires online gaming studio Turbine, Inc.

April 21, 2010 — Fusion DigiNet

Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group has announced the acquisition of Turbine, Inc., the largest privately-held online gaming studio in North America.

“Turbine is a leader in online entertainment and a strong strategic fit for Warner Bros. as we continue to broaden our games portfolio and development capabilities,” said Kevin Tsujihara, president, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group. “Turbine’s renowned online game development and publishing expertise will help us develop additional online product offerings, while also providing us with new and innovative ways to market and communicate with our consumers.”

In 2007, Warner Bros. acquired TT Games, developer of the LEGO-based game franchises, including LEGO Star Wars, LEGO Indiana Jones and LEGO Batman. Early in 2009, Warner Bros. acquired Snowblind Studios to develop its The Lord of the Rings games franchise, with the first title The Lord of the Rings: War in the North expected to be released in 2011. Also in 2009, the Studio purchased the primary assets of Midway Games. Midway published the Mortal Kombat franchise, which has sold over 26 million units worldwide. Most recently, Warner Bros. acquired a majority stake in Rocksteady Studios, a privately held developer of interactive entertainment targeted at teens and adults.

Aprox. Value:  Undisclosed. The Boston Globe reported that “Warner Bros. will pay as much as $160 million, including sums to be paid to Turbine shareholders in future years if the company meets certain financial targets.”  

Acquirer:  Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group
ACQ Web:  http://www.warnerbros.com 
Location:  USA, Burbank, CA
Region:  North America
Description:  Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group (WBHEG) brings together Warner Bros. Entertainment’s home video, digital distribution, interactive entertainment, technical operations and anti-piracy businesses. WBHEG oversees the global distribution of content through packaged goods (Blu-ray Disc and DVD) and digital media in the form of electronic sell-through and video-on-demand via cable, satellite, online and mobile channels, and is a significant developer and publisher for console and online video game titles worldwide. WBHEG distributes its product through third party retail partners and licensees, as well as directly to consumers through WBShop.com.
Category:  Entertainment, Media
Contact:  Kevin Tsujihara, president, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group
 
Vendor:  Turbine, Inc
Vendor Web:  http://www.turbine.com 
Location:  USA, Boston, MA
Region:  North America
Description:  Turbine is the largest privately-held online gaming studio in North America and has created some of the world’s most popular and award-winning online games, including The Lord of the Rings Online™, Dungeons & Dragons Online®: Eberron Unlimited™, and Asheron’s Call®.
Category: Online Games
Contact:  Jim Crowley, president and CEO

Previously reported on Fusion DigiNet: Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group acquires majority stake in Rocksteady Studios February 23, 2010

  
FDN Database Reference:  F231109-392
 
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UBM acquires web-based marketing business SharedVue

April 21, 2010 — Fusion DigiNet

United Business Media Limited has acquired SharedVue, a web-based marketing business, from its private shareholders on behalf of UBM’s Everything Channel division.

SharedVue has gained significant traction since its launch in 2007, generating revenue of $1.1 million in 2009. Everything Channel will leverage its strong client relationships to support SharedVue’s sales and marketing efforts, while investing in technical and operational infrastructure to drive future expansion.

Robert Faletra, CEO of Everything Channel, said, “The acquisition of SharedVue is in line with our strategy to enhance and expand our presence in the fast-growing web-based marketing space. SharedVue’s products are highly synergistic with our own and will help to meet growing customer demand in this area. SharedVue’s founding management team have built a robust, profitable and fast-growing platform in a short period of time, and we look forward to helping them grow the business through the next stage of its development.”

Aprox. Value:  Undisclosed

Acquirer:  United Business Media Limited
ACQ Web:  http://www.ubm.com
Other Web Links: http://www.everythingchannel.com 
Location:  USA, New York, NY
Region:  North America
Descriptions:  

  • UBM is a leading global provider of events; data, marketing and information products; print products; and targeting, distribution and monitoring services to specialist business communities. They have 5,800 staff in more than 30 countries, organised into specialist teams.
  • Everything Channel describes itself as “a one-stop shop for accessing, enabling, managing and accelerating technology sales channels”. The business provides sales and marketing solutions to sellers of technology.

Category:  Media Group
Contact 1:  Robert Faletra, CEO, Everything Channel view bio
Contact:  Rob Wiseltier, Chief Financial Officer, Everything Channel view bio 
 
Vendor:  SharedVue
Vendor Web:  http://sharedvue.com 
Location:  USA, Raleigh, CA
Region:  North America
Description:  SharedVue is a provider of highly scalable, subscription-based marketing automation software and consultancy services to blue-chip technology manufacturers. The company’s proprietary technology simplifies the process for updating product, pricing and promotional information within a channel marketing reseller’s network, as well as facilitating the management of direct sales relationships and internal communication with clients’ sales teams. The system also provides subscribers with detailed lead analysis at both the vendor and solution provider level.
Category: Marketing
Contact:  M. Reid Overcash, Chief Executive Officer view bio 

Recent UBM deals reported on Fusion DigiNet

FDN Database Reference:  F231109-391

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FUND RAISING ROUND-UP

April 18, 2010 — Fusion DigiNet

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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
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Demand Media hires Goldman Sachs to explore IPO offering

April 16, 2010 — Fusion DigiNet

According to Kenneth Li writing in the FT today, Demand Media has hired Goldman Sachs to explore an initial public offering and the company could file for an IPO as early as August.

Founded in 2006, Demand Media was founded in 2006 by Richard Rosenblatt (previously CEO of Intermix Media, Inc., and Chairman of Myspace.com) and Shawn Colo (previously a principal with Spectrum Equity Investors). The company has a network of premium online brands including eHow, Livestrong.com and Cracked.com: an Internet content studio: and an enterprise social media platform deployed on many of the world’s leading digital destinations. The company also owns eNom, the world’s second-largest domain registrar.

Demand Media has raised more than $355 million dollars from tier-one investors, including Oak Investment Partners, Spectrum Equity Investors and Goldman Sachs. The company was founded in May 2006 and is based in Santa Monica, CA, with offices in Bellevue, WA, Austin, TX, New York, NY and London, UK.

Demand Media’s Executive Team:

Link: Demand Media enlists Goldman Sachs in preparation for IPO FT.com April 16, 2010

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Icahn increases offer for Lions Gate

April 16, 2010 — Fusion DigiNet

Carl C. Icahn has announced that the purchase price in connection with his existing hostile offer to buy all of the outstanding common shares of Lions Gate Entertainment Corp. is being increased from $6.00 to $7.00 per share.

In addition, he has issued a letter to shareholders criticising the board for its actions to date in defending against the bid. He says “We do not feel comfortable that existing management is the right team to guide Lions Gate through this difficult period”: and says that their “profligate spending has taken its toll on Lions Gate’s share price”. He also defends his own investment track record saying “in light of Lions Gate’s selective attempt to distort facts in an effort to discredit me, I thought it important to provide a few facts of my own”.

Mr Icahn has built a stake of 20 per cent in Lions Gate Entertainment Corp. The company has a major presence in the production and distribution of motion pictures (“My Bloody Valentine”, “Saw V”, “Rambo” and “The Bank Job”), television programming (“Mad Men”, “Weeds” and “Crash”), home entertainment, family entertainment, video-on-demand and digitally delivered content. Lionsgate own a library of approximately 12,000 motion picture titles and television episodes.

Read the full text of the letter here

Lionsgate Management Team

Carl C. Icahn

Profiles of Carl C. Icahn: Forbes,  Wikipedia, Britannica Online Encyclopedia

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Twitter buys Tweetie

April 15, 2010 — Fusion DigiNet

Twitter has entered into an agreement with Atebits to  acquire Tweetie, an iPhone Twitter client. Tweetie will be renamed Twitter for iPhone and made free (currently $2.99) in the iTunes AppStore in the coming weeks. Founder, Loren Brichter will become a key member of Twitter’s mobile team.

The Twitter Blog reports, “careful analysis of the Twitter user experience in the iTunes AppStore revealed massive room for improvement. People are looking for an app from Twitter and they’re not finding one. So, they get confused and give up. It’s important that we optimize for user benefit and create an awesome experience.”

Aprox. Value:  Undisclosed
 
Acquirer:  Twitter
ACQ Web:  http://www.twitter.com
Other Web Links: Twitter Blog, @Twitter 
Location:  USA, San Francisco, CA
Region:  North America
Description:  Twitter is a service for friends, family, and co–workers to communicate and stay connected through the exchange of quick, frequent messages.  People write short updates, often called “tweets”  of 140 characters or fewer.  These messages are posted to your profile or your blog, sent to your followers, and are searchable on Twitter search.
Category:  Social Network, Blog
Contact 1:  Jack Dorsey, Founder and Chairman
Contact 2:  Evan Williams, Founder and CEO
Contact 3:  Biz Stone, Founder and Creative Director
Contact 4: Ali Rowghani, CFO
Contact 5:  Dick Costolo, COO
 
Vendor:  Atebits
Vendor Web:  http://www.atebits.com
Business Sold: Tweetie
Twitter: @atebits
Description:  iPhone Twitter client.
Category: Social Networks, Software
Contact:  Loren Brichter, Founder
 
Links: 

FDN Database Reference:  F231109-388 
 
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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

Related DigiNet articles

FDN Database Reference:  F231109-386
 
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FUND RAISING ROUND-UP

April 12, 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.       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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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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