TechStartups

linkedin facebook matters

techstartups — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 06:29:08 +0000

http://wwwgacebook.com

http://www.lnkdin.com

hello world of venture capital

techstartups — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 05:04:31 +0000

http://wwvmware.com

AdMob Dials Up Funding from Sequoia

techstartups — Fri, 08 Sep 2006 00:10:00 +0000

AdMob, Inc., operator of a global online mobile ad network that generates over 250 million page views per month, announced today that it’s received Series A funding from Sequoia Capital. The company, formed in early 2006, will use the capital to support continued rapid growth, to expand sales and marketing efforts, and to accelerate the development of its Web-based products and services. AdMob CEO Omar Hamoui also announced that the company has added two investors to its board of directors — Jim Goetz of Sequoia Capital, and Maynard Webb, prominent Silicon Valley investor and former COO of eBay.

Notes: This appears to be another sweet deal for Sequoia (despite their star Mike Moritz not sitting on the board). AdMob was only formed in early 2006 and is already serving 250 million mobile page views per month! The company allows advertisers to run ads across a comprehensive set of mobile content channels, including communities, entertainment, news, and portals. It has recently added a contextual search channel, allowing advertisers to build campaigns that include mobile Web searches through Google’s mobile AdWords service.

The company will likely face stiff competition from Google Mobile Ad Words who recently announced a product and potential entrants Mister Softie and Yahoo, who also happen to be potential acquirors.

More on their funding from the Admob blog. Nice blogger template by the way.

We predict an acquisition of the company from Verisign, Infospace, Microsoft, Yahoo, Sybase in 12-24 months.

Of VCs, Vloggers, and Beer Money

techstartups — Thu, 07 Sep 2006 17:17:00 +0000

We blogged about a wsj article written in the summer about Patrick Sell and his idonothingallday.com site, which earns him roughly $15 per day from users clicking on ads inserted after the video on revver.com. Pocket change for now but with the recent increase in site traffic at Revver and other such sites, we wonder what the effect in dollars that would mean to idonothingallday and almost famous vloggers like zefrank down the road.

I do nothing all day is a collection of NYC fashion reality video clips featuring the most beautiful, the hippest, the sexiest, the most daring, the best styled, and the wonderfully free spirited women seen everyday on the streets of the Manhattan and Brooklyn neighborhoods that I roam.

When and where is the tipping point of vloggers quitting their day job (a la bloggers Arrington, Huffington Post, Venturebeat and Om Malik, PaidContent) and going mainstream? It’s only a matter of time when a vlogger will raise the attention of such vc blog investors as Greycroft, Softbank.

Update: Interesting piece from Fred Wilson, blogs on Youtube and a typical high traffic user’s revenue potential. Essentially, lots of traffic equals lots of dollars.

Meru Networks – School District of Philadelphia Selects Meru Networks for Landmark All-Wireless “School of the Future” Deployment

techstartups — Thu, 07 Sep 2006 10:45:00 +0000

Big win in the wifi equipment space. It appears Meru beat out Cisco/Airespace, Aruba, Trapeze at the hotly contested Philadelphia Schools project.

“Meru Networks, the global innovation leader in wireless infrastructure for the All-Wireless Enterprise, today announced that it is delivering wireless LAN solutions for a milestone deployment that will serve as a model for schools across the country. The School District of Philadelphia, the 7th largest school district in the country, servicing over 210,000 students across 278 schools, is using the Meru Wireless LAN System “

Samsung SCH-u420 Phone for Alltel Wireless : MobileWhack.com

techstartups — Thu, 07 Sep 2006 01:13:53 +0000

The new Axcess Shop uses the QUALCOMM’s uiOne(TM) technology and sports applications like World Series of Poker(R) Texas Hold’em by Glu Mobile, Realtone Jukebox(TM) by 9Squared, and Axcess Wallpaper Powered by Digital Orchid. Let’s

Sybase Signs Definitive Agreement to Acquire Mobile 365: Financial News – Yahoo! Finance

techstartups — Tue, 05 Sep 2006 15:30:00 +0000

4.4x. acquisiton value / revenue multiple. Home run investment for early investor DFJ, and triple for fourth and final round investors Mayfield, IVP who invested at a $68M post in March 2004. New CEO since June 2006 likely to have made out well on the deal

“Sybase, Inc., leading provider of enterprise infrastructure and mobile software, today announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Mobile 365, the global leader in mobile messaging and content delivery, in an all cash transaction. The purchase price set forth in the definitive agreement is $425 million, which is subject to adjustment based on Mobile 365′s working capital as of the closing date. Net of acquired cash, the transaction is valued at approximately $400 million. The transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2006, subject to regulatory approvals and other specified closing conditions. Headquartered in Chantilly, Virginia, Mobile 365 is privately held and backed by leading venture capital firms including Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Draper Atlantic Venture, 3i Technology Partners, Institutional Venture Partners, and Mayfield.For its fiscal year ended March 31, 2006, Mobile 365 generated approximately $90 million in revenue. Sybase expects the acquisition to be accretive to pro forma earnings within 12 months following the close of the transaction.”

Exeros Secures $12M in B-Round Financing: Financial News – Yahoo! Finance

techstartups — Tue, 05 Sep 2006 14:49:00 +0000

“Exeros(TM), Inc., an innovator in data mapping and automated data relationship discovery software, announced today it has secured an additional $12 million in a Series B round of private equity financing. This round of funding is led by AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. (NYSE: AB – News), with Exeros’ original investors Bay Partners and Globespan Capital Partners participating. The Series B round of funding will be used to grow the sales team, add sales coverage in new geographies and to grow the engineering team in order to extend the product line.”

IPO Potential: 2
M&A Likelihood: 7
Likelihood for subsequent round of financing: 8
Potential Acquirors: BI players, database vendors, Oracle, IBM, Sybase, others.
Current acquisition range: $20-$50M

Notes:The company had planned to raise $10-$20m earlier in the year. It’s quite odd that AllianceBernstein would come in as a lead investor given AB’s focus on later stage and PE type opportunities. Nonetheless this is a decent series B deal. Solid early stage investors (Bay, Globespan) and a strong management team with particular domain expertise in data integration – Informatix, IBM, Sybase, Informatica. Market timing and acquisition pace for ETL, EII companies is robust. Look for the company to raise another round next year (after showing further, if any, customer traction) and get acquired by a database vendor looking to fill a product gap.

Internet video | The trouble with YouTube | Economist.com

techstartups — Tue, 05 Sep 2006 13:03:30 +0000

“A rival estimates that YouTube is losing more than $500,000 a month.”

“When Guba cut its prices last week, allowing new films to be downloaded for $9.99 and older ones for $4.99, its sales jumped tenfold.”

Internet Phone Upstart at a Crossroads: Off the Hook, or Off the Mark? – New York Times

techstartups — Tue, 05 Sep 2006 12:09:56 +0000

“A chief concern is that Vonage, which helped popularize Internet telephone calling, faces brutal competitive pressure from well-heeled and bigger telecommunications players. That makes it expensive for Vonage to acquire customers and, in turn, to make them profitable. Internet calling allows voice traffic to be sent as packets of data, using the infrastructure of the Internet rather than expensive phone networks.
Competitors, particularly cable companies, continue to erode Vonage’s market share. After the first quarter, Vonage had 29.7 percent of the market for Internet phone service. That’s down from 31 percent at the end of 2005 and 34 percent at the end of 2004, according to research by Sanford C. Bernstein & Company.”