VentureBeat |
- VC True Ventures co-founder: There is no bubble, period
- Clovr media lucks into $8.3M for next-gen loyalty programs
- Topsy raises another $15M for real-time search
- The Go Game launches do-it-yourself iPhone scavenger hunts
- Forrester: iPad 2’s biggest challenger is an Amazon tablet
- Skype founder, others catapult $42M to Angry Birds
- Deals & More: BAM Labs gets $2.4M to monitor people while they snooze
- 5 uncommon ways to pitch potential investors
- Broadcastr’s iPhone app unleashes the potential of location-based storytelling
- WhitePages aims to clean up your address book with Hiya
- Sony shake-up puts more power in hands of PlayStation executive
- Zillow’s Rent Zestimates to provide rent prices for 90 million homes
- AOL expected to lay off 400 to 500 people on Thursday
- BiteHunter launches a search engine for dining deals
- Will $4-a-gallon gas ignite an electric-vehicle frenzy?
| VC True Ventures co-founder: There is no bubble, period Posted: 10 Mar 2011 09:30 AM PST
“There is no bubble at current moment. There are very successful Internet businesses being created that are growing very rapidly and are making a lot of pretax profit,” said Black. The biggest red flag VCs need to worry about is when valuations seem out of whack with what investors understand about what the company actually does, he said. “We need to worry about a bubble when there are businesses being valued at sky high prices with no underlying fundamentals,” he said. “Currently, any type of sky-high, bubble valuation dynamic is the exception and not the rule in the venture market.” San Francisco-based True Ventures is an institutional venture capital firm investing from a main $213 million fund. The company co-invests with angel investors around 80 percent, making angel-type investments, but also leading first-round investments and sometimes investing in all the subsequent rounds. Although the hand-wringing continues over whether or not there is a venture capital bubble forming around trendy Silicon Valley startups, Black said that until valuations begin to act irrationally, he does not believe a bubble has even begun. Other VCs have recently chimed in about the lack of a bubble, although the community seems split about the issue, with diehard proponents on both sides. Still, Black said the business of venture capital continues as usual and will for the foreseeable future. Right now, Black said VCs are most likely to be turning their attention to three main areas of growth as Silicon Valley continues to be an incubator for rapid fire innovation and increasing competition. “Everything that can be ’socialized’ will be,” said Black. “Social media is working its way into the enterprise and the mobile app experiences at a rapid pace. The consumer experience is being socially optimized now. The second biggest area is location-based services. All this data is going to be geographically located. … Third is the mobile experience. The mobile world is growing [in] leaps and bounds as the tablet market heats up and the iPhone/Android war continues.” True Ventures’ portfolio currently contains tech darlings including Milo, GigaOm and Meebo. It recently closed a $2.5 million funding round for Orabrush, the YouTube phenomenon known for quirky videos about its tongue-cleaning product. Thus far the firm has raised $375 million, and it currently invests out of its $213 million Fund 2, with between $250k and $2.5 million in the initial capital raises for early-stage technology companies. Companies: Facebook, Gigaom, Milo, orabrush, True Ventures, Twitter People: Phil Black
      |
| Clovr media lucks into $8.3M for next-gen loyalty programs Posted: 10 Mar 2011 08:23 AM PST
The company, which aims to pioneer “Loyalty 2.0,” or the next generation of consumer loyalty programs, gives advertisers the ability to offer special discounts to consumers without requiring any payment up front or paper coupons from users. The company works with financial institutions to present offers from select brands to customers via credit and debit cards. The benefit to advertisers is that they can track and measure clicks and spending. Says Jeffrey Glass, Managing Director at Bain Capital Ventures, "Our investment in Clovr reflects our confidence that the card linked offer is the next step in the evolution of digital coupons and loyalty programs. This platform will eliminate the need for paper coupons and elevate the personalization of savings for every participating consumer." Competitors in the space include Offermatic, which raised $4.5 million from Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Ron Conway, Omar Hamoui and others. The funding round was led by Jeffrey Glass of Bain Capital Ventures. Clovr Media's seed round investors Kepha Partners and Common Angels also participated in this round, as well as angel investor Mark Wright. Based in Waltham, Mass, the company had previously raised $1.5M. Photo via bfishadow on Flickr Companies: Bain Capital Ventures, Clovr Media People: Jeffrey Glass
   |
| Topsy raises another $15M for real-time search Posted: 10 Mar 2011 08:00 AM PST
Like other real-time search engines, Topsy allows users to search up-to-the-minute content on services like Twitter and Facebook. The company says it provides "the most influential search results ranked by millions of people." Topsy isn't just offering a consumer service. It recently launched Topsy Social Modules, which allow publishers to add real-time content to their websites (you can see a sample module above), and Topsy Social Analytics, which helps businesses see what's becoming popular on social networking services. Topsy says its technology is used on hundreds of websites, including those owned by IDG Media, The Huffington Post, and Discovery Communications. The round comes from Western Technology Investments and previous backers BlueRun Ventures, Ignition Partners, Founders Fund and Scott Banister. Topsy has now raised about $30 million. "With the market consolidation of the last year, Topsy has emerged as the only real-time search architecture capable of becoming a web-scale search platform," said BlueRun partner John Malloy in a press release. Companies: Blue Run Ventures, Founders Fund, Ignition Partners, Topsy, Western Technology Investments People: Scott Banister
   |
| The Go Game launches do-it-yourself iPhone scavenger hunts Posted: 10 Mar 2011 07:53 AM PST
The application, which is now available in the Apple App Store, is being released at South by SouthWest (SXSW) with basic functionality, including the ability to challenge other players and participate in local scavenger hunts around Austin, Texas, where the event is held. The company plans on releasing full-functionality of the application soon to 10 major cities. The target for the do-it-yourself application are individuals interested in creating their own scavenger hunts for events like parties, or small t0 medium-sized businesses. The Go Game noted that it was unable to service these smaller opportunities, but wanted to make its tool available to everyone. Full functionality will give users the ability to invite friends to join a scavenger hunt, select the city they’re located, choose a rating (ranges from G to R-rating), then hit the city and complete missions. When asked about competition, The Go Game pointed out that Scvngr was similar in that it asked users to complete location-based activities. Though a few differences are evident among the two companies, including that Scvngr appears much more focused on working with brands to reach consumers, while The Go Game specifically targets companies interested in creating employee-based scavenger hunts. Another difference is the focus on video by The Go Game, which incorporates it by allowing users to vote at the end of each hunt then share it through Facebook and Twitter. The San Francisco-based company, founded in 2001, has more than 20 employees and produced over 10,000 events in 500 locations for an impressive set of companies, including Google, Apple, Adobe and Electronic Arts. Companies: Scvngr, The Go Game
   |
| Forrester: iPad 2’s biggest challenger is an Amazon tablet Posted: 10 Mar 2011 07:49 AM PST
What’s the problem with Android slates like Motorola’s recently released Xoom? Forrester considers them all too expensive, and they also can’t match the Apple Store’s retail experience. Forrester has found that consumers also find Apple’s products more valuable because of the company’s slick retail stores. Forrester predicted last week that the iPad 2 will continue to dominate in 2011 with 80 percent of the tablet market. An Amazon tablet (which would likely run Android), on the other hand, could better compete with the iPad 2 in terms of pricing, and it could also take on Apple’s content offerings and retail advantage. Unlike other tablet manufacturers, Amazon could deliver a tablet at or below cost, with the hopes that it would recoup some of that expense from ebook sales. That’s not too different from how Amazon first approached its megapopular Kindle e-reader. While Amazon doesn’t have a plethora of retail stores, consumers have become comfortable with the site as a go-to spot for online shopping. Forrester found 28 percent of consumers would prefer to buy a tablet from Amazon, while only 11 percent would rather buy one from a mobile carrier — the main retail source for current Android tablets. Forrester also believes that Amazon has plenty of motivation to develop a tablet of its own, since Apple is looking to implement new App Store rules that could eat away at Kindle ebook profits. And of course, rival bookseller Barnes & Noble managed to deliver it’s Nook Color tablet/ebook reader last year, which offers an impressive amount of features for just $250. Amazon is surely planning a way to strike back against both companies. Given how well the Nook Color has been received, I’m confident we’ll see some sort of tablet announcement from Amazon this year. I also wouldn’t be surprised if Amazon makes it a more straightforward Android tablet experience, especially since the company is planning an Android app store of its own. Companies: Amazon, Apple, Barnes And Noble
   |
| Skype founder, others catapult $42M to Angry Birds Posted: 10 Mar 2011 07:29 AM PST
The Angry Birds game is played by 40 million monthly active users and, with sales of over 2 million plush toys, has become one of the most recognized entertainment franchises. The game has had well over 75 million downloads. Rovio plans to use the money to increase its reach internationally and to expand across mobile and social media markets through merchandising and partnerships. The company has been expanding through 2010 and 2011 and currently has 50 employees in Finland. Earlier this year the company announced that it would introduce an online Angry Birds experience in summer 2011, and would develop an Angry Birds game for all major consoles. Says Mikael Hed, CEO and co-founder of Rovio, "Angry Birds will continue to grow, and we aim to create more similar success stories. We will strengthen the position of Rovio and continue building our franchises in gaming, merchandising and broadcast media." The funding round was co-led by Accel Partners, the venture capital firm known for having invested in Facebook and Groupon, and Atomico Ventures, the venture capital firm created by Skype co-founder Niklas Zennström. Super angel fund Felicis Ventures also participated. Niklas Zennström, who also co-founded Kazaa and Rdio, will be joining the board of Rovio. Here’s what the Angry Birds folks told VentureBeat’s Dean Takahashi about getting started on the game last year: Rovio got started in 2003 as Relude. It was started by three students from the Helsinki University of Technology: Niklas Hed (Mikael's cousin), Jarno Vakevainen, and Kim Dikert. They had participated in a mobile game competition sponsored by Nokia and Hewlett-Packard. Peter Vesterbacka, who worked at HP, was one of the judges, and he suggested the trio start their own mobile games company. They did so. Digital Chocolate published the game, which was called King of the Cabbage World, a multiplayer real-time game on the now vintage GPRS system. They started doing work-for-hire games, creating titles such as Need for Speed Carbon for Electronic Arts. Angry Birds was the company’s 52nd game. They were so successful that Vesterbacka joined them. Most of those games were designed for others. They made hits such as Real Networks' Collapse Chaos, but always on a work-for-hire basis. Mikael Hed joined as CEO in early 2009 and steered the team toward thinking about making internally produced games that it could own. The company took on more work-for-hire projects, but hired its own subcontractors to make them. That freed up the internal team to make its own games. The team's leaders started contemplating how to do the perfect iPhone game. They wanted to exploit the iPhone's hardware, create memorable characters, and do a fun game that people would play over and over again. They conceived the game and targeted it at everyone: men, women, girls and boys. "We wanted to eliminate luck from the equation," Hed said. "So we focused on every detail." There were other catapult games that had become popular, so they decided to use that familiar mechanic. The game they created has players shoot angry birds with a slingshot to destroy structures. The game used physics, giving people the joy of knocking out items strategically, as if they were bowling. And while many games have the same kind of catapult mechanic, the Angry Birds characters are funny to look at. And it's fun to shoot at the evil green pigs who have stolen the birds' eggs. The pigs mock you if you mess up. Ten of the company's developers (only a few of them full-time) worked on the game. They chose Chillingo as their publisher because it had numerous other hits on the iPhone and they felt Chillingo could market their game best. It debuted on the iPhone in December, catching on in Finland first through the team's own social circles. Friends showed it to friends. The title took off like a virus and spread to Sweden. Then it became the No. 1 hit on the App Store in the United Kingdom, selling for 99 cents. Apple featured the title, making it easy for users to discover and try out. The company started a Facebook fan page, uploaded a video to YouTube, and started its own Twitter account. All of them were successes. On Twitter, celebrities such as skateboarder Tony Hawk, musician Pete Wentz, and Frankenteen tweeted about their addiction to the game. Hawk said, "Recently finished Angry Birds on iPad and now I've lost my sense of purpose." Jimmy Fallon joked about it on his NBC show. Somebody now tweets about Angry Birds about once every minute. Companies: Accel Partners, Atomico Ventures, Rovia People: Mikael Hed
   |
| Deals & More: BAM Labs gets $2.4M to monitor people while they snooze Posted: 10 Mar 2011 06:00 AM PST Today’s funding announcements include products for monitoring health, communicating with friends and finding student loans:
DailyBooth snags $6M for real-time photo sharing: The San Francisco-based startup has raised a first round of funding led by Ignition Partners with participation from Sequoia Capital and others, peHUB reports. The company, which originally raised funding from Y Combinator, connects users via pictures and status updates. EduLender raises $1M to simplify student loans: The developer of a student loan search engine has raised a round of funding using AngelList, an online community of investors and startups. Based in Chicago, the startup launched in 2010 to serve as an unbiased source of information on the college financial aid process. The company launched EduLender OnePay, a product to help students consolidate existing federal student loans, yesterday. NextSpace grabs $425K for alternative offices: The San Francisco-based creator of shared office spaces has raised a second round of angel funding to build coworking environments for freelancers and entrepreneurs. The startup, which currently has offices in San Francisco and Santa Cruz and works with about 300 clients today, plans to use the funds to open new offices in Silicon Valley and Southern California. Companies: AngelList, BAM Labs, Dailybooth, EduLender, Ignition Partners, NextSpace, Sequoia Capital, Y Combinator
   |
| 5 uncommon ways to pitch potential investors Posted: 10 Mar 2011 06:00 AM PST (Editor’s note: Shawn Parr is CEO of Bulldog Drummond. He submitted this story to VentureBeat.) Pitching your business to potential investors is like dating. It’s time draining, incredibly stressful and an emotional roller coaster. And like dating, the overall process seems to be in desperate need of an overhaul. There’s not much we can do to change the dating world, but if you’re about to meet with potential investors, here are five slightly off-kilter tips to consider: Find at partner with value – Try to identify potential venture partners who match your value-system, have deep domain experience in your sector, and can help you fill in your management experience gaps. Money these days is indeed a commodity. What you'd much prefer is a partnership with a venture team who can, and are willing to, truly help you realize your potential. Start the process by carefully researching the companies you want to invite in to talk about your business. Develop a list of criteria for selecting them, look at their portfolio and investment themes and make sure you understand who you’re going to be sharing your opportunity with. Specifically, make a point of understanding the value they might bring to your venture in terms of the following:
Speak with the CEOs of their portfolio companies to determine if the investor practices what they preach. Ask specific questions about how the VCs conducted themselves when circumstances were going off the rails. Difficult events tend to reveal the true character and capabilities of people – and this is where you want a real partner. Get your head in the right gear – Make no mistake: this dance is highly nuanced and you need to be mentally prepared for the emotional ups and downs. Don’t lose faith in your idea and your vision. You (should) know this business better than anyone else on the planet and be absolutely resolute in the market's need for it. Don’t let anyone take the wind out of your sails with their critique or disinterest. Have thick skin and a questioning mind. Listen and ask lots of questions - For the most part, you'll be speaking with very smart, sometimes hardnosed, professional investors who see hundreds of opportunities each year. Listen closely to what they have to say, even (or perhaps especially) if their comments are negative. They may see holes in your strategy that you're too close to the problem to see. Take it all in and make sure you process it correctly. You’re likely to get 100 opinions that are different. Listen to them all, but take heed of the patterns. Substance over style – Save everyone time by developing your prospective business plans, presentation decks and financials as an integrated set of materials. Ensure you review your story from the perspective of someone who has no idea what you do, what your product is or the credentials you have. Look at it with the lens of simplicity and substance when you develop the actual content. If you can clearly articulate your opportunity in less than two minutes, you're ready to take a meeting. Refine and practice your presentation. You'll be amazed at how difficult it can sometimes be to really define what it is that you're doing. Make your story simple to follow and straightforward in flow using these tips:
Size does matter - VCs like big markets with cheap (that's a relevant term) and quickly scalable products. If you're not addressing a $1 billion market, forget getting top tier venture money. Make sure you have supporting data to reflect the size of the opportunity and how quickly you think you can get there. Above all, be able to clearly explain why the market needs and will buy your product. Additionally, be realistic in calculating the size of the investment you’re looking for before you start the conversations and understand just how much of the company you are likely to trade for the investment. Don't take more than you need, but, by all means, don't take less.
   |
| Broadcastr’s iPhone app unleashes the potential of location-based storytelling Posted: 10 Mar 2011 06:00 AM PST
The mobile app comes more than a week after New York City-based Broadcastr opened its online beta to the public. The mobile app includes all of the key features of the online site, including the ability to listen to stories from around the world, as well as easily record your own story and tie it to a location. But the app also includes one killer mobile feature the company calls “Geoplay.” When turned on, the Broadcastr app will automatically play stories based on your physical location. For example, you could stroll through Bryant Park in New York City and automatically hear stories pinned there. It’s a nifty feature, and it’s something that competing location-based audio sharing services like Shoudio don’t offer. The mobile app also lets you tap into Broadcastr’s social media features. You can follow other users and find notable new storytellers in the app’s “Featured” section. Broadcastr’s combination of Geoplay, 6,000-plus available stories, and easy story recording make it an essential app for would-be broadcast hosts. I was a fan of the company’s concept with its initial web launch, but it definitely seems like Broadcastr is a service better served by the mobile experience. The company plans to release an Android app later this month. Companies: Broadcastr
   |
| WhitePages aims to clean up your address book with Hiya Posted: 10 Mar 2011 04:00 AM PST
This is something that a lot of people struggle with, according to a Harris Interactive survey commissioned by WhitePages. The survey found that 20 percent of adults in the United States think their address book is messy, incomplete, or out-of-date, and 50 percent say they have duplicate contacts. Hiya allows users to merge duplicate contacts and to ask their friends for more up-to-date information. There are other contact management solutions out there, acknowledged Hiya senior product manager Amanda Bishop — in fact, things may be getting more competitive as Comcast-owned social networking service Plaxo plans to relaunch its product in a way that refocuses on its original goal, managing users' address books. But Bishop said that Hiya brings a number of WhitePages' technology advantages to the problem. Most importantly, she said Hiya does the best job of actually spotting duplicate contacts. For example, when she tried to merge duplicates in the same list of contacts in both Hiya and Google Contacts, Hiya spotted a number of duplicates that Google didn't (usually when one of the entries was incomplete or misspelled). Another cool feature allows you to ask your contacts to provide missing information — for example if you only have someone's email address and want their phone number as well. This still works if your contact isn't a Hiya member. They'll just get an email with a link, then they can submit information on the Hiya website without registering themselves. Other features include the ability to see which contacts are in or near a new city when you're traveling, and to fine-tune the synchronization between your different address books. You can fully synchronize your iPhone, Google, and Hiya address books, or only synchronize them one way (so that changes in Hiya aren't automatically pushed to your other address books), or not synchronize them at all. Of course, you can also pull contact data from WhitePages, and you'll receive notifications when WhitePages updates the listing for one of your contacts. (None of your private contact data will get shared with WhitePages, Bishop said.) The Hiya service started its private beta test last October and is now entering the public beta phase. Outlook, Android, and BlackBerry versions are in the works. There's no immediate pressure to make money from the app, Bishop said — it's free for now, and while the company will consider adding premium features that users have to pay for later, it's also looking at other revenue options. Companies: WhitePages People: Amanda Bishop
   |
| Sony shake-up puts more power in hands of PlayStation executive Posted: 09 Mar 2011 11:47 PM PST
Sony said in a statement that the change will empower “the next generation of Sony’s management. Stringer, who is 69, is expected to step down around 2013. The move is a recognition that video games are core to Sony’s future and that consumer devices are still in the midst of a convergence. The change shows that the fundamental technology shifts that are powering Silicon Valley now are also rippling through the giants of the technology industry around the globe. Under Hirai, Sony will combine its television, game, PC, and mobile divisions into a single Consumer Products & Services Group. Hirai is effectively in charge of all of Sony’s consumer electronics businesses. A second division will include Sony’s semiconductor, battery and digital component businesses, which will be led by Hiroshi Yoshioka. The changes will take effect at the beginning of April. Hirai has been an agile leader within Sony. For many years, he supervised the North American video game business during the critical years when Sony took the No. 1 market share in the game business from Nintendo — and then lost it again with the PlayStation 3 generation. When the father of the PlayStation, Ken Kutaragi, retired in 2007, Hirai was named as his replacement for the global PlayStation business, known as Sony Computer Entertainment. In 2009, Hirai was promoted to head of Sony Networked Products & Services Group, which included Sony’s game, PC, networked mobile and network service businesses. That included the declining Walkman music player business and the online distribution of music and videos. Like Stringer, Hirai has a jovial personality and a perfect command of English. I did frequent interviews with him during his time with the PlayStation business in Foster City, Calif. He had One of Hirai’s most recent tasks was to whip Sony’s networked strategy into shape. The company now has lots of internet-connected TVs, a Sony PlayStation Network with 74 million gamers, and One possibility in the future is that Sony could break itself into two different companies, one focused on consumer products and the other focused on components. But if it did that, it would be heading in the opposite direction of Apple, which is now designing its own chips. Companies: Apple, Microsoft, nintendo, Sony People: Howard Stringer, Kaz Hirai
   |
| Zillow’s Rent Zestimates to provide rent prices for 90 million homes Posted: 09 Mar 2011 09:00 PM PST
Seattle-based Zillow provides online real-estate price estimates and acts as a marketplace for renters, buyers and sellers. According to the 2009 American Housing Survey from the U.S. Census, 70 percent of people who move each year are renters, making Zillow’s foray into the rental market a potential cash cow. Of those renters, a recent survey by housing research think-tank Ipsos found that two-thirds of renters do not research what is a fair rental price before they sign their lease. Zillow said it hopes to change that by offering Rent Zestimates’ estimated rent prices on specific homes or apartments, thereby leveling the playing field to make sure consumers aren’t paying too much for their new rental. The company said Rent Zestimates will appear in search bubbles on homes available to rent, and on the main details page for nearly every home on Zillow, whether it's on the market or not. It currently has close to 300,000 apartments and homes listed for rent and consumers can search listings by number of bedrooms and bathrooms, square footage and monthly payment. Users can find Rent Zestimates on map searches and individual home detail pages on Zillow.com and all Zillow mobile applications, including iPhone, iPad and Android apps. "Buyers and renters are not exclusive categories – many people are considering both options when shopping for a new home. Similarly, many would-be sellers in today's housing market are considering whether to become landlords rather than sell at a loss," said Zillow CEO Spencer Rascoff. "We created Rent Zestimates to empower people with information and data to make the right real estate decision for them." The company is also hoping to catch the eye of landlords who are intending to move out sometime in the next three years, helping them determine a fair price to charge when they do rent out their homes. Zillow’s offerings are widespread: It took over all of Yahoo’s real estate listings in July and launched mobile apps in March of last year. But it still faces stiff competition from other online home finders such as Trulia, which announced in January that it had teamed up with international home lister ListGlobally to begin offering rentals and houses for sale in 17 countries worldwide. For now, however, Zillow remains the leader in the space. The company said that currently Zillow Mobile apps are used 6.5 million times each month, with more than 23 million visits to home detail pages –the equivalent of 32,000 home views every hour, or close to nine home views a second. It also logged more than 13 million unique users in December, a year-over-year traffic growth of 77 percent. Companies: ipsos, Trulia, Yahoo, Zillow People: Spencer Rascoff
   |
| AOL expected to lay off 400 to 500 people on Thursday Posted: 09 Mar 2011 07:31 PM PST
The New York-based internet giant is expected to eliminate jobs in targeted areas of the company. Chief executive Tim Armstrong (pictured right, with Arianna Huffington of the Huffingtong Post) signaled that the layoffs were coming last week. The moves reflect AOL’s big push to make more money and redefine itself in an age of ever-increasing media competition. Sources said that no staffers will be let go in the network group of the ad sales unit. But editorial and other media product groups will be hit. The company has more than 5,000 employees, so the layoffs add up to 8 to 10 percent of the company. AllThingsD said that Jonathan Dube, AOL’s vice president of news, is among those leaving. He joined AOL in November after leaving a position as president of ABCNews.com. The content side of AOL is taking the brunt of the layoffs due to overlap with the Huffington Post, the web site created by Arianna Huffington that AOL bought for $315 million in a deal that closed on Monday. Huffington is now running all of AOL’s content efforts. AllThingsD didn’t say whether the moves would affect TechCrunch, which AOL also bought recently. AllThingsD also wrote that 400 jobs will be eliminated in India and 300 more will be transitioned to contractors there. [image credit: wowelle] Companies: aol People: Arianna Huffington, Tim Armstrong
   |
| BiteHunter launches a search engine for dining deals Posted: 09 Mar 2011 05:10 PM PST
The site has been live for months now, but co-founder and chief executive Gil Harel said the company has been fine-tuning the features and is now moving the site into "beta test" mode. As with many other online products, the beta version is already pretty usable. BiteHunter is also announcing a $250,000 seed round of funding. In a new blog post, Harel describes BiteHunter as "the Kayak.com for dining". Similar to Kayak’s approach to flights, BiteHunter’s goal is to find restaurant deals wherever they're posted online, whether it's a restaurant's Twitter account, Facebook Page, website, or elsewhere. So if you're hungry for Chinese food, you can visit the BiteHunter site, bring up a list of Chinese restaurants in your neighborhood, and see which ones are offering discounts or specials. You can also see which restaurants seem to be getting the most "social buzz" as judged by "likes" and check ins on sites like Facebook and Foursquare. For a diner, this offers a new way to figure out where to eat — not by finding the restaurant with the best reviews (as you would on Yelp) or the one that best matches your personal taste (as you would on Bizzy) but by finding out who has a good deal tonight. Restaurants, meanwhile, can reach people who haven't heard of them before. After all, that's one of the main reason to offer these kinds of specials. The seed round was led by Eyal Chomski, head of the ad agency Grey Global Group Israel. [top image via Flickr/Steve Damron] Companies: BiteHunter People: Eyal Chomski, Gil Harel
   |
| Will $4-a-gallon gas ignite an electric-vehicle frenzy? Posted: 09 Mar 2011 03:24 PM PST
Now it looks like they’ll have a second chance to capitalize on high gas prices as prices have once again risen to the occasion. The price for crude oil futures has crossed the $100 mark — hitting as high as $104 per barrel. Some gas stations in the Bay Area and across the country are already selling gasoline for $4 per gallon or more. Despite a number of car companies working on increasingly fuel-efficient “classic” vehicles that run on gasoline that can run 40 to 50 miles per gallon of gasoline, it’s time for electric-car manufacturers to get their marketing engines revved up. Existing car manufacturers are going on the offensive to capture a growing part of the population interested in electric cars. General Motors recently returned to the public markets post-bankruptcy, raising $20 billion in part on the promise of a sleeker, greener lineup led by the electric-powered Chevy Volt. Nissan, Ford and GM are all plowing forth with all-electric and hybrid offerings. Nissan, in particular, wants to grab 20 percent of the global electric-car market with its newest model, the Leaf. The market looks good for upstart manufacturers, too. Tesla Motors, despite piling up losses to get a new line of electric sedans rolling, has hit the ground running with its first model, the Roadster — which, I can say from personal experience, is a pretty nice ride. Coda is about to debut an five-seat sedan with an electric motor, of which it hopes to sell 14,000 in the first year of production. The company is in the midst of raising its fourth round of funding, with the first $75 million secured before Christmas. The price tag for an electric car is still going to bother most potential buyers. The Nissan Leaf, for example, costs around $33,000. Coda’s electric vehicle costs $45,000 before tax credits given out to electric car buyers. General Motors is asking car buyers to shell out $41,000 for its Chevy Volt. But electric-car owners should be able to make up those costs in the long run — at least, according to George Parrot with GreenCarReports.com. He expects his fuel and maintenance costs to go from around $2,600 a year to $300 a year after switching from hybrid electric cars to full electric cars. Silicon Valley might or might not be in a tech bubble, depending on who you are asking — and we all know how well the last tech bubble turned out. But there’s nothing frothy about the inexorable rise of gas prices. Barring another cataclysmic recession, this may be the moment for electric-car manufacturers to pump up the market. Companies: Coda, ford, General Motors, Nissan, Tesla, Tesla Motors
   |
There is no bubble forming around Silicon Valley or tech startups because white-hot companies like Twitter and Facebook are able to show they have fundamental value and are capable of making money, 
Bain Capital Ventures has led an $8.3M investment round in 
Some of the excitement around real-time search seems to have died down recently — I'm no longer seeing 
The Go Game
Market research firm Forrester isn’t putting too much stock in the hype surrounding upcoming Android 3.0 tablets. Instead, the company believes that 
Accel Partners and Atomico Ventures have co-led a $42 million investment round for Rovio, the creator of the Angry Birds Franchise.
BAM Labs brings in $2.4M to keep an eye on people as they sleep: The Los Gatos, Calif.-based 
Now anyone can star in their own “This American Life”-esque story and share it with the world using just their iPhone: 
Seattle company 
Sony announced today that it combine its consumer businesses into a single entity headed by former PlayStation chief Kaz Hirai. The move may set up Hirai to succeed Howard Stringer as chief executive of the Japanese company.
Housing start-up 
AOL is expected to lay off 400 to 500 people in the U.S. starting tomorrow, according to a 
Lots of restaurants offer deals and discounts online — now a New York startup called 
As gas prices rise, electric cars look better and better. But any chances manufacturers had the | You are subscribed to email updates from VentureBeat To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
| Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610 | |
Tidak ada komentar:
Posting Komentar