Posts Tagged ‘financing’
Thursday, June 30th, 2011
Sean Lind, a blogger at Manolution, offers a detailed (and huge) infographic showing the ups and downs in the history of computing by following Apple vs. Microsoft since November 1994. It will remind you that all was not always smooth electron sailing for Apple.
Twitter co-founder Biz Stone to reform Obvious Corp.
 Isaac "Biz" Stone Biz Stone, co-founder of Twitter, reports on his personal blog that he is leaving the microblogging service. He will be joining Twitter cofoudner and former CEO Ev Williams and former VP of product, Jason Goldman as they relaunch Obvious Corp., the firm that incubated Twitter prior to its spin-off as an independent company.
Stone was named Entrepreneur of the Decade by Inc Magazine, one of the Most Influential People in The World by TIME magazine, Nerd of the Year by GQ, and one of Vanity Fair’s Top Ten Most Influential People of the Information Age.
Stone writes on his blog, “My work on Twitter has spanned more than half a decade and I will continue to work with the company for many years to come….I’ve decided that the most effective use of my time is to get out of the way until I’m called upon to be of some specific use.”
At Obvious, Stone writes, “Our plan is to develop new projects and work on solving big problems aligned along a simple mission statement: The Obvious Corporation develops systems that help people work together to improve the world.”
Mt. View CA-based RockMelt social web browser raises $3oM
Social web-browser startup RockMelt has raised a $30 million funding round, the company says. Investors include Accel Partners, Andreessen Horowitz, Khosla Ventures, Ron Conway, Josh Kopelman and Bill Campbell.
The company has raised a total of $39.9 million.
Founded in 2010, the company is offering a free beta version of its product but has yet to acquire a significant user base.
Earlier this month (June 14) the company disclosed a partnership with Facebook that Ben Horowitz from VC firm Andresssseen Horowitz called “a match made in geek heaven.” The partnership incorporates Facebook features into the browser so users can chat, send messages or do other Facebook activities wherever they may be online.
A previous attempt to make a socially oriented browser, Flock, was discontinued in April.
RockMelt built the “social browser” on the Google Chromium source code. We have just downloaded the browser and we’ll give it a test run and get back to you on what we think of it.
Have you tried RockMelt? Any opinions?
Tags: Andreesssen Horowitz, Ben Horowitz, Bill Campbell, Evan Wiliams, financing, Flock, geek match made in heaven, infographic MS vs. Apple; Biz Stone leaving Twitter, Jason Goldman, Josh Kpelman, Khola Ventures, Obvious Crop., Rob Conway, RockMelt, social web browser
Posted in Internet/New Media, IT | Comments Off
Friday, June 24th, 2011
 Moodlerooms Inc., a Baltimore-based e-learning software company, has raised $2.99 million of a targeted $3.39 million offering, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Moodlerooms was a presenting company at TechMedia’s 2011 Southeast Venture Conference in Atlanta in February.
Moodlerooms was founded in 2005 by former teachers Tom Murdock, Sheila Gatling and Gina Russell-Stevens. Its course management system, is based on the open source Moodle system, a free Web application that teachers use to create online learning sites.
Investors include Longworth Venture Partners, Kaplan Ventures, Frank A. Bonsal III, and New Markets Growth Fund.
See also: Moodlerooms chalks up $7.15M
Tags: Baltimore, e-learning software, financing, Frank A. Bonal III, Kaplan Ventures, Longworth Venture Partners, New Markets Growht Fund, SEC filings, SEVC, Southeast Venture Conference, TechMedia
Posted in Internet/New Media, IT, Maryland, Money, Potomac | Comments Off
Thursday, June 16th, 2011
 Atlanta-based SocialVest, which provides a platform that lets shoppers earn cash back rewards from retail purchases that they can then donate to non-profit organizations, has raised more than $1 million in its Series A round led by Westport, Connecticut-based Bluff Point Associates. The company raised $500,000 in September.
“SocialVest is capitalizing on the intersection of three extraordinarily powerful forces: shopping, consumer consciousness and social media,” said Adam Ross, founder and CEO . “Our goal is to create a new paradigm for retail that enables consumers to spend as they would, while simultaneously supporting their favorite causes and motivating their friends to join them. We think the notion of shopping-based ‘social giving’ is going to be extremely popular.”
“Social giving is a fast-growing, incredibly important industry, and SocialVest is the leader,” said Bluff Point Associates Managing Director, Neil Gabriele who will join the SocialVest board of directors.
Shoeboxed nabs $1.43M for digitally organizing receipts, bills, business cards
Durham, NC-based Shoeboxed Inc. has raised $1.43 million from a mixed securities offering, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Shoeboxed has both free and paid services.
The company’s investors include Bethesda, MD-based Novak Biddle Venture Partners. Shoeboxed was a demo company at TechMedia’s Internet Summit in 2009. The next Internet Summit is in November in Raleigh, NC.
For TechJournalSouth’s profile of Shoeboxed, see: Shoeboxed offers service to digitze those receipts.
See also: Shoeboxed part of Google app marketplace
MA-based bargain travel site TripAlertz lands $2.2M
Trip Alertz, a Chestnut Hill, MA-based members-only travel site that offers travel bargains, has raised $2.2 million of a targeted $3.7 million offering, according to a regulatory filing.
The company’s executive Chairman, Mark Donohue, a partner at Entrepreneurship Advisors is an entrepreneur in residence at Babson College. He also founded cleantech venture firm Expansion Capital Partners in 2001, which manages more than $100 million.
Tags: Atlanta, Babson College, Bluff Point Associates, Chestnut Hill, CT, Entrepreneurship Advisors, Expansion Capital Partners, financing, M&A, Mark Donohue, social giving, SocialVest, travel bargain site, TripAlertz, Westport
Posted in Georgia, Internet/New Media, IT, Money | Comments Off
Monday, June 6th, 2011
 ATLANTA – Birch Communications, an IP-based telecommunications and managed services provider to small- and medium-sized businesses, has secured a $77.5 million finance package consisting of a senior term loan, a senior revolving credit facility, a tranche of subordinated debt, and a provision for up to a $7.5 million leasing facility.
Birch will use this new financing to repay outstanding indebtedness, fund future acquisitions, fund network build-out and for general corporate purposes. The amount is one of the largest financing deals we’ve seen in the Southeast in months.
“This financing is a milestone for our company. It strengthens our capital structure and lowers our cost of debt which increases our free cash flow and provides us with extra flexibility to pursue our value-creating growth strategy,” said Edward James, Birch’s chief financial officer,
“This funding enables Birch to continue to grow its business and is also confirmation of our overall business strategy,” said Vincent M. Oddo, Birch’s president and chief executive officer. “I am pleased that this funding will allow us to continue to seek accretive acquisitions, expand our proprietary IP-network and also allow us to expand the scope of our current products and services to better serve our large existing base of customers.”
Birch Communications provides managed communications and information technology services to a target market of small- and medium-sized businesses in select metropolitan areas within 38 states across the United States. Birch services include local and long distance voice, broadband Internet access, T1, PRI, bonded T1, mobile voice and data, e-mail, voicemail, prepaid, and many other communications and information technology services. Birch voice and data services are, in most cases, delivered using Voice over Internet Protocol.
According to Inc. 500|5000 magazine in its 2004, 2009 and 2010 rankings, Birch was one of the fastest-growing private companies in the United States. In 2010, Birch was also named the 7th fastest growing private business in Atlanta, and one of the Top 100 Private Companies in Atlanta, by the Atlanta Business Chronicle.
Tags: Atlanta, Birch Communications, financing, IP telecom
Posted in Georgia, Internet/New Media, IT, Money, Telecommunications | Comments Off
Friday, June 3rd, 2011
 BOCA RATON, FL – VirtualWorks Group Inc., which virutalizes and indexes so companies can rapidly retrieve files from any app or device, has raised $8.5 million in first round funding led by New World Angels Inc. VirtualWorks, which formally launched on June 1, is led by Edward Iacobucci, a prominent high-tech entrepreneur. The company is pioneering a new category of enterprise software, called content virtualization, which it says solves the growing problem of data sprawl.
The Series A investor group consists of domestic and European institutional, high net-worth and strategic private equity investors.
VirtualWorks has developed an enterprise information framework, the Virtual Index Architecture to contain and reverse the overload of information suffered by organizations of all sizes. The approach works by indexing all types of data and virtualizing the content amassed by companies, so employees can rapidly and securely retrieve files from any application, location or device – whether that data is structured or unstructured, stored in the cloud, or hosted locally.
New World Angels Inc. is a group of private investors, with chapters in South Florida and Tampa Bay, and says it is dedicated to providing equity capital for promising entrepreneurial companies with a significant connection to Florida. Founded in 2004, NWA has funded 8 companies to date (in addition to numerous follow-on financings in portfolio companies).
Tags: Edward Iacobucci, file retrival tech, financing, New World Angels, Virtualworks
Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off
Tuesday, May 24th, 2011
 VIERA, FL – SkyCross, which develops and makes advanced antenna and radio frequency solutions, has closed on an $11 million, the first installment of its E round of financing. The company said it expects to close a second tranche in the round, up to $15 million, by early June. It says this is likely to be its final round of equity financing.
The capital raised will be used to support the company’s rapidly increasing business in Asia and the United States.
Significantly, the round includes new equity from DOCOMO Capital as a strategic investor. DOCOMO Capital is a corporate venture arm of NTT DOCOMO, the world’s leading mobile operator. Existing investors including TL Ventures, Investor Growth Capital, Gabriel Venture Partners, Intel Capital, and a group of long standing individual investors also participated.
SkyCross continues to grow due to strong global demand for the company’s unique RF technology and design expertise for wireless products, such as tablets, smartphones, and multiband USB modems. Increasingly, these devices require multiple antennas, creative 3D design and manufacturing techniques, and 4G MIMO functionality for LTE.
“SkyCross technology and expertise are key factors in meeting the growing, worldwide demand for 4G/LTE wireless devices,” said Tomoya Hemmi, President and CEO of DOCOMO Capital, Inc. “MIMO antenna technology is a key enabler of LTE performance, and SkyCross solutions address this global market need. We are pleased to participate in this round as a new strategic investor.”
Tags: 4G, advanced antennas, financing, FL, last venture round, mobile, RF solutions, SkyCross, Viera, wireless hardware
Posted in Florida, Money, smartphones, Telecommunications | Comments Off
Monday, May 23rd, 2011
 BALTIMORE, MD – Bambeco, an online seller of “eco friendly” products such as bamboo and others made from materials that are all-natural, biodegradable, nontoxic, organic, recycled, recyclable, repurposed or renewable, has raised just over $932,000 in an equity raise targeted at $1.5 million, according to a regulatory filing.
The company sells products in a variety of areas, including home decor, kitchen and bath, outdoor, pet, and seasonal items.
The company disclosed the raise in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. It cites Richard Faint, a company director from Baltimore’s Exceptional Software Strategies, Susan Alpin, CEO, Carylyn Wapnick, CTO, and Sandra Huffer, a director, as principals.
Tags: Baltimore, Bambeco, Economic Development, financing, online seller
Posted in Internet/New Media, Maryland, Money, Potomac | Comments Off
Wednesday, May 18th, 2011
 ATLANTA – Sionic Mobile Corp. has inched up to $1.97 million of a round now aimed at $2.5 million, down from the $5 million equity raise originally targeted, according to an amended filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
The company disclosed in a previous SEC filing that it had raised $1.4 million of the round in January 2010 when the round was aimed at $5 million.
Atlanta-based Sionic is a mobile marketing service that lets users download a free app to receive discounted local shopping offers. Sionic takes a fee from each transaction.
The company may be facing an uphill battle raising funds for a service in the same space as LivingSocial, Groupon, and many smaller players. The whole field is ripe for consolidation, however, and successful firms that hold significant markets may be candidates for acquisition by some of the larger players. We have heard some Atlanta investors express skepticism about funding companies in this space.
The company is led by veterans of the retail, restaurant, and travel industries, including Mark Wilbourn, owner/operator of Popeyes, Checkers and Edy’s in Atlanta, CEO Ronald Herman, previously CEO of IntelliOne Corp., William Clift, a director who was formerly CTO of Cingular Wireless, and William Lamar, also a director and formerly chief marketing officer of McDonald’s USA.
-Allan Maurer
Email TJS Editor Allan Maurer: Allan at TechJournalSouth dot com.
Tags: Atlanta, financing, Groupon, LIvingSocial, local discount deals, mobile marketing, Sionic Mobile
Posted in Georgia, Internet/New Media, Marketing, Money | Comments Off
Tuesday, May 17th, 2011
 ATLANTA – 2080 Media, doing business as PlayON Sports, has raised $1 million from a mixed securities offering, according to a regulatory filing. The company raised $3 million to buy PlayON Sports from Turner in 2008 and $2.18 million in an equity round in August 2010. PlayOn Sports focuses producting, aggregating and distributing high school sports content.
Investors in the digital media company include Buckhead Investement Partners, Noro-Moseley Partners, Imlay Investments, and Hamilton Ventures.
The company’s board includes many well-known Atlanta digital media and venture capital pros, including Greg Foster, Sig Moseley (of Imlay), Mark Buffington of BIP, and James Hamilton of Hamilton Ventures.
PlayOn Sports’ business includes:
- Production and distribution of over 30 different high school sports
- Coverage of over 2,000 high school championships
- 10,000+ total events produced annually
- Distribution partnerships with major national companies, including ESPN, Fox, Comcast, Charter, Time Warner Cable
The company merged with Madison-WI-based When We Were Young Productions in May last year.
TechJournal South is a TechMedia company. TechMedia presents the annual conferences:
SoutheastVentureConference: www.seventure.org
Internet Summit: www.internetsummit.com
Digital East: www.digitaleast.com
Digital Summit: www.digitalsummit.com
Tags: 2080 Media, Buckhead Investement Partners, financing, Greg Foster, Hamilton Ventures, Imlay Investments, James Hamiltons, Mark Buffington, Noro Moseley Partners, PlayON! Sports, Sig Mosley, Turner, When We Were Young Productions
Posted in Georgia, Internet/New Media, Money | Comments Off
Friday, May 13th, 2011
 DELRAY BEACH, FL – GridGlo, a startup specializing in data fusion and the development of smart grid applications, has raised $1.2 million capital raise from, CUBRC, a Buffalo, NY-based research organization with deep data fusion expertise developed over decades serving the Department of Defense and other Government agencies. The company said the deal is a strategic partnership.
GridGlo’s new cloud-based, platform-as-a-service (PaaS) solution aggregates petabytes of advanced metering infrastructure data and analyzes it by applying proprietary algorithms and advanced data fusion processes.
Data fusion is the science of combining disparate sources of data to develop inferences and continually refine them, and GridGlo is the first to leverage this approach to derive novel insights from energy consumption data. GridGlo enriches usage data with consumer behavioral, demographic and premises-specific information, providing new ways for utilities to drive customer engagement and forecast, segment and monetize their market opportunities.
One of the first applications GridGlo has developed with this approach is the Energy People Meter, a FICO-like score for energy consumers. An EPM score is a real-time digital fingerprint of a customer’s energy behavior. EPM scores range from 1 to 1000, with a higher score reflecting a user who consumes energy efficiently, has predictable consumption patterns, and is actively improving his or her energy consumption behavior.
GridGlo and its utility partners are also testing a number of other applications, such as a forecasting tool to reliably predict demand on an individual-premise basis and a demand response scenario builder to predict the impact of future demand response events. In addition, GridGlo is testing a risk management tool for identifying potential abandonment, energy theft, and consumer financial health.
“The smart grid today is like the wireless industry of the early 2000s – a market of great latent potential nearing an inflection point,” said Isaias Sudit, founder and CEO of GridGlo. “With reams of data constantly being generated by AMI and other smart grid systems, we see tremendous opportunity in unlocking the value of that data and know we have the right technology and approach to do so.”
Tags: Buffalo, CUBRC, Delray Beach, Energy, financing, FL, GridGlo, NY., smartgrid data platform
Posted in Energy, Florida, IT, Money | Comments Off
Friday, May 13th, 2011
 HERNDON, VA – ePals Inc., a company providing an online communications and collaboration platform to K-12 schools, teachers, parents and students, has raised $9.14 million in financing from an offering targeted at $12 million, according to a regulatory filing. The company had raised $6.8 million of the offering by May 2010.
Principals listed in the filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission include Phil Bronner of Novak Biddle Partners, Jean Case, Mitchell Kapor, and Miles Gilburne.
The company merged with In2Books in January 2007 to create what is says is the “world’s largest K-12 e-learning network.”
It offers primary and secondary schools, teachers, students and parents worldwide a safe and secure platform for building educational communities, providing quality digital content and facilitating collaboration for effective 21st century learning. ePals is used by more than 600,000 educators and reaches more than 25 million students and parents in 200 counties and territories.
The company’s Web site lists the following investors:
Miles Gilburne and Nina Zolt; Steve and Jean Case; Mitchell Kapor, Founder, Lotus; chair, Mozilla Foundation; chair, Second Life; National Geographic Ventures; Microsoft Corporation; Ted Leonsis; Yossi Vardi, Int’l Technologies Ventures; fomer chairman, ICQ; John Kao, Fellow, Royal Society of Arts; entrepreneur; author, Innovation Nation & Jamming; Nancy Peretsman, EVP, managing director, Allen & Co. Jesselson Capital; Sandy Lange, Partner, Hilan Capital; former chairman & CEO Pictorial William Raduchel, Former CTO, Time Warner; CSO, Sun Microsystems; Steve Arnold. Lucas Foundation.
That’s a formidable list of venture capitalists to have backing your company. Many of these folks, including Steve and Jean Case, Miles Gilburne, and Ted Leonsis, for instance, tend to invest in projects together.
TechJournal South is a TechMedia company. TechMedia presents the annual conferences:
SoutheastVentureConference: www.seventure.org
Internet Summit: www.internetsummit.com
Digital East: www.digitaleast.com
Digital Summit: www.digitalsummit.com
Tags: Discovery Networks, e-learning, ePals, financing, K-12 social network, Miles Gilburne, Mitchell Kapor, Novak Biddle Venture Partners, Phil Bronner, Polaris Ventures, Stephen Arnold, William Campbell
Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off
Tuesday, May 10th, 2011
 GLEN ALLEN, VA – Zigmo Inc., which sells technology support services to manufacturers, small business owners, retailers and other clients, has raised $1.5 million from 12 investors, according to a regulatory fClearspring Technologies closes on $20M for AddThis sharing platformiling.
The company closed a $3.5 million round in 2009.
The company’s services include computer repair, wireless network setups, home theatre installations and more. The company’s moto is “We make stuff work.”
CEO and President David Czerwonka was previously vice president of New Channels at Circuit City’s firedog division.
The company disclosed the funding in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Tags: David Czerwonka, financing, Glen Allen, technology services, VA, Zigmo
Posted in IT, Money, Potomac, Virginia | Comments Off
Tuesday, May 10th, 2011
 McLEAN, VA - Clearspring Technologies Inc., provider of the AddThis social content sharing platform, has closed on a $20 million Series D round of funding led by Institutional Venture Partners (IVP) with participation from the company’s existing investors. The funding will be used to accelerate Clearspring’s next-generation publisher products and continued growth of its advertising offerings, as well as to help fuel strategic acquisitions.
IVP has funded online companies such as Twitter and Zynga.
The AddThis sharing tool, with its widely recognized orange box with white plus sign icon, is a familiar sight on more than 9M websites globally enabling users to share content easily with their friends through more than 300 different social networks in 70 languages. Armed with collective insight into what over 1 billion unique Internet users choose to read and share monthly through AddThis, Clearspring says it enables advertisers to reach the right audiences at the right time via ad exchanges and demand-side platforms.
Hiring an employee a week
“Clearspring processes 10TB of data per day. This as much data per week as the entire digital Library of Congress has stored online,” said Sandy Miller, General Partner at IVP. “This massive data set, coupled with their scalable and differentiated real-time data processing capabilities, puts Clearspring in a unique position to not only take advantage of the rising demand for audience data in advertising, but also enables them to disrupt a number of other markets. We’re excited about the investment and the growing opportunities associated with big data online.”
The AddThis platform has grown from reaching 200M users in 2008 to being one of the ten largest audiences online today. AddThis is also one of twenty web tools world-wide with a Google Page Rank of 10. With revenue on track to triple this year, the company is hiring a new employee almost every week, which will result in it almost doubling its staff this year.
Hooman Radfar, co-founder and CEO of Clearspring said, “With this investment, we can now bring the power of that reach back to the individual publisher via our next generation tools and services, which will focus on providing publishers actionable data, not just from the social web, but the entire web. Imagine the challenges we can help a publisher solve- -it’s a staggering opportunity.”
The company’s investors, in addition to IVP, include: New Enterprise Associates, Novak Biddle Venture Partners, former AOL vice chair and president Ted Leonsis, AOL founder Steve Case, Capital One co-founder Nigel Morris, and Silicon Valley super-angel Ron Conway.
Tags: AddOn, AOL founder Steve Case, Capital One co-founder Nigel Morris, Clearspring Technologies, financing, former AOL vice chair and president Ted Leonsis, Hooman Radfar, Institutional Venture Partners, McLean, New Enterprise Associates, Novak Biddle Venture Partners, online content sharing platform, Ron Conway, Sandy Miller, social media, Steve Case, Ted Leonsis, twitter, VA, venture capital, Zynga
Posted in Internet/New Media, IT, Marketing, Money, Potomac, social media, Virginia | Comments Off
Monday, May 9th, 2011
 MIAMI – Local Exchange Carrier (CLEC) netTALK.com Inc., (OTCBB:NTLK) which sells product and network phone service for VoIP, has nabbed $1.5 million in new funding.
The netTALK DUO is a versatile communications device with the ability to connect directly to a router or modem (no computer needed) or the computer’s USB port, offering consumers free local and long distance calls to any landline or mobile phone in the U.S. and Canada from anywhere in the world.
Tags: CLEC, financing, Miami, Nettalk Duo, Nettalk.com, telecom
Posted in Florida, Money, Telecommunications | Comments Off
Monday, May 9th, 2011
 SC Launch, an SCRA affiliate, today announced that three client companies will receive investments in undisclosed amounts for their continuing projects. Greenville-based Dannar, Columbia-based Senex Biotechnology and Charleston-based Madeira Therapeutics will each receive SC Launch funds after presentation to and subsequent approval by the SC Launch Board of Directors.
Based in Greenville, SC and developed by Gary Dannar, Dannar’s technology offers hybrid/battery-electric systems to reduce emissions in transportation vehicles. The Dannar – Mobile PowerStation (MPS) is a leading edge OEM of purpose built vehicles for the government roadside and “Right-of-Way” management market.
A company formed by recently-named USC Endowed Chair Dr. Igor Roninson and Dr. Lawrence Friedhoff, Senex Biotechnology develops novel therapeutics for the treatment of major diseases. Target technologies include the treatment of cancer, viral diseases and age-related diseases by targeting damage-inducible signal transduction pathways involved in cellular aging.
Located in Charleston, SC, Madeira Therapeutics was founded to develop new pharmaceutical products for unmet medical needs in the pediatric population. Currently the FDA does not run separate clinical trials for pediatric applications; doctors simply apply adult approved drugs at smaller doses for children. Madeira Therapeutics strives to ensure drug safety and efficiency for intended patients in the pediatric setting.
TechJournal South is a TechMedia company. TechMedia presents the annual conferences:
SoutheastVentureConference: www.seventure.org
Internet Summit: www.internetsummit.com
Digital East: www.digitaleast.com
Digital Summit: www.digitalsummit.com
Tags: Biotech, Charleston, clean energy, Columbia, Dannar, financing, Greenville, Maderia Therapeutics, SC, SC Launch, Senex Biotechnology
Posted in Carolinas, Economic Development, Energy, Money, South Carolina | Comments Off
Friday, May 6th, 2011
 ORLANDO – Row Sham Bow Inc., an electronic game developer startup, has raised $1.5 million of an equity financing aimed at $3 million, according to a regulatory filing.
Row Sham Bow – a name derived from the Japanese term for the game Rock–paper-scissors, says its mission is to “create fun games anyone can play.”
Former Electronic Arts Tiburon VP Philip Holt, CEO and president, founded the company in March.
The company has asked Orlando for $114,000 and the state for $570,000 in economic development incentives. It says it will create 60 high-paying jobs.
The company disclosed the financing in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
TechJournal South is a TechMedia company. TechMedia presents the annual conferences:
SoutheastVentureConference: www.seventure.org
Internet Summit: www.internetsummit.com
Digital East: www.digitaleast.com
Digital Summit: www.digitalsummit.com
Tags: Electronic Arts, electronic games startup, financing, FL, Orlando, Philip Holt, Row Sham Bow, Tiburon
Posted in Florida, Internet/New Media, IT, Money | Comments Off
Friday, May 6th, 2011
 MIAMI – Intcomex Inc., which distributes IT products in Latin America and the Caribbean, has raised $22.5 million in equity, according to a regulatory filing.
The company recently said Brightpoint Latin America Inc., a subsidiary of Miami-based Brightpoint Inc., which sells supply chain software to the wireless sector, invested $15 million in Incomex for about a 23 percent stake.
Citi Venture Capital International, a Citigroup Inc. subsidiary, also invested in the company.
Intcomex provides and distributes computer equipment, components, peripherals, software, computer systems, accessories, networking products and digital consumer electronics to more than 44,000 customers in 41 countries. The company also delivers training on new products, technical support, warranty services and assistance with customs, duties and taxes.
Tags: BrightPoint Latin, CitiiGroup International, financing, Intcomex, IT distributor
Posted in Florida, IT, Money | Comments Off
Wednesday, May 4th, 2011
 WASHINGTON, DC – LivingSocial, the DC-based local discount deals firm that is second only to Chicago’s Groupon in that space, has closed on an additional $.59 million equity raise, according to an equity filing. The company raised $400 million in April and a total of $600 million since its founding as it races to put people on the ground in market after market in competition with Groupon and a host of smaller local group buying firms.
LivingSocial investors include Amazon, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Rowe Price, and Institutional Venture Partners, Case Foundation Ventures, U.S. Venture Partners, and Grotech Capital Group.
The latest raise, disclosed in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, shows that the space remains hot. Although this raise is minimal compared to previous ones, investors apparently still want a piece of the action.
We previously noted reports in the Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg that the company was considering a $500 million raise at a valuation of around $2 billion. VCExperts says the raise could actually value the company at around $3 billion.
LivingSocial now offers it daily deals in more than 200 markets and putting people on the ground in most is part of what costs so much money.
The company raised $175 million from Amazon and $8 million from its other venture backers three months ago, following a $950 million raise by Groupon.
In December, LivingSocial said it brings in about $1 million a day.
Some reports have said that LivingSocial could actually overtake Groupon in terms of dealflow by next year if current trends continue. An additional $500 million would likely accelerate their progress.
Although both LivingSocial and Groupon are well-financed and have a huge lead in creating national organizations, both face competition from smaller players, often operating in just a handful of markets. We recently reported on Twongo, one such competitor based in the Research Triangle, which operates in several North Carolina and Canadian markets.
We would be willing to be both Groupon and LivingSocial will start buying up some of the smaller players with viable, successful markets. The question is whether they will keep whatever differences made the smaller players successful in their markets.
TechJournal South is a TechMedia company. TechMedia presents the annual conferences:
SoutheastVentureConference: www.seventure.org
Internet Summit: www.internetsummit.com
Digital East: www.digitaleast.com
Digital Summit: www.digitalsummit.com
Tags: Amazon, and Institutional Venture Partners, Case Foundation Ventures, Chicago, DC, financing, Grotech, group buying, Groupon, LIghtspeed Venture Partners, LIvingSocial, local deals, Rowe Price, SEC, U.S. Venture Partners
Posted in Internet/New Media, Money, Potomac, Washington, DC | Comments Off
Tuesday, May 3rd, 2011
 BOCA RATON, FL - InfoFinder Search Technologies Inc., a company selling software that helps businesses locate electronic files, has raised $6.68 million of a mixed securities offering aimed at $9 million.
The company is led by former Citrix Chair Edward Iacobucci, who previously oversaw IBM’s development of personal computer tech. He also founded DayJet, an on-demand air taxi services that shut its doors in 2008.
The company’s website notes that according to the IDC report “The high cost of not finding information” by analyst Susan Feldman, average knowledge workers spends 15% to 35% of their workday searching for information.
InfoFinder says its product is a search system enabling you to find ANY text content from documents, databases, spreadsheets, presentations, PDF files, e-mails, attachments, scanned documents and any other text content file.
nfoFinder AS was established in Trondheim, Norway, in 2000 to help bridge the silos where information resides. The company says its mission then is the same as it is today: to make company data located behind-the-firewall instantly and securely accessible – regardless of what it is, where it is located or who needs it.
Its product is used by more than 20,000 individuals across 300 private and public sector organizations on a daily basis in Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Spain and the United States.
Tags: Boca Raton, Enterprise electronic file search, financing, Florida, InfoFinder Search Technologies
Posted in Florida, IT | Comments Off
Monday, May 2nd, 2011
 COLUMBIA, MD - Informous Inc., which operates a website that aggregates white papers, brochures, videos, articles, webinars and other content for the plastics industry, has raised $1 million of a $1.5 million offering, according to a regulatory filing. Investors include GAS Venture Partners, the Grosvenor Funds, and New Markets Venture Partners.
The company’s website allows people in the plastics industry to do research and request information from multiple vendors.
The company is hiring inside sales people, according to its website.
This is the company’s third iteration. It was previously Three Stage Media and before that, was BDMetrics.
The company disclosed the raise in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Tags: financing, GAS Venture Partners, hiring sales people, Inforous Inc., New Markets Venture Partners, plastics industry information website
Posted in Internet/New Media, Maryland, Money, Potomac | Comments Off
|
