TechAddress

Aniboom Believed to Raise $10 Million from DFJ

Thu, 26 Jun 2008 18:36:04 +0000

Source:TechCrunch
Yahoo has announced its anticipated reorganization. As expected executives Hilary Schneider and Ash Patel are consolidating power under president Sue Decker. All product development will come under the responsibility of Patel, a Yahoo veteran and Yang loyalist. Schneider will take over all the advertising sales teams across the company. A third […]Source:TechCrunch
After looking for a nearly a year, Google has finally found a new chief financial officer to replace outgoing CFO George Reyes. So who’s job will it be to count all of Google’s cash? The lucky winner of what must have been one of the most intense executive searches of the year is […]Source:TechCrunch
Israeli-based animation site aniBoom is about to announce a $10 million B round, a source tells us. We believe the round was led by Draper Fisher Jurvetson, although the company won’t confirm this. An announcement is expected on Monday. The company previously raised $4.5 million in February, 2007.
AniBoom wants to be the […]

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WidgetBucks Raises $10M; Is that Enough to be Disruptive?

Thu, 12 Jun 2008 04:43:42 +0000

Source:Mashable!
WidgetBucks started out, only eight months ago, as a shopping widget that publishers can place on their sites and earn money through its affiliate program. It’s since grown into a full-fledged widget ad network that’s been working with a number of brands, and is considered by some to be a disruptive player in the […]

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Social Networks: Billy Campbell wants to friend your mom

Wed, 22 Aug 2007 22:30:28 +0000

Source:Valleywag

Sometime actor Andrew Shue, pictured left, is best known for playing Billy Campbell, the most boring character on ’90s nighttime soap opera Melrose Place. Less well known is his status as cofounder of CMI Marketing, the parent company of social networks ClubMom and CafeMom, the latter of which recently received $5 million in funding from VCs Draper Fisher Jurvetson and Highland Capital Partners. Moms or not, we have a great idea for how to get more traffic on the CafeMom site: Post pictures of Andrew Shue in his underwear. We bet he’ll pose for new ones in exchange for just a few extra stock options.

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Web 2.0 Investments Reached $844 Million: Survey

TechAddressBlog — Wed, 21 Mar 2007 23:58:09 +0000

By Leo Blanco
TMCnet Contributing Editor

Worldwide investments in “Web 2.0” start ups has doubled from 406.2 million in 2005 to $844.4 million in 2006, according to the annual survey conducted by VentureOne, a unit of Dow Jones & Co. and Ernst & Young. “Web 2.0” is coined phrase by O’Reilly Media referring to the second generation of Internet services stressing the power of collaboration and sharing of information among online users. Popular technologies associated with this are weblogs, social networking, podcasts, wiki as in wikipedia, and RSS feeds.

Recognized as the hottest segment in the venture capital market, Web 2.0 investments registered a 108 percent growth last year. The number of ventured-financed companies has risen from 95 to 167 in 2006. Despite its tremendous upsurge, Web 2.0 is hunted by numerous criticisms and complaints that there are few profitable existing business models in the market today. Likewise, venture capitalists in Silicon Valley agree that finding feasible, lucrative trends and business models remains elusive given the fast-changing market dynamics.

Redpoint Ventures partner Christopher Moore believes the major challenge lies in finding the ideal business model that will propel Web 2.0. This issue was raised during the two-day conference sponsored by Dow Jones called WebVenture, a venue where Web 2.0 startup companies negotiates with venture capitalist to solicit financial support. Responding to growing concerns that Web 2.0 will likely be a repeat of the dot-com boom-to-bust cycle, VentureOne global research director Stephen Harmston responded, "The data does not indicate that we are entering bubble territory. What we are seeing is robust activity aimed at a still-emerging business area."

In terms of geography, the survey revealed that U.S. accounts for four-fifths of investments, totaling $682.7 million and divided among 126 firms. Twenty Web 2.0 investments in Europe share $100.5 million and another $61.5 million for 21 companies in China. Despite growing interests in this investment, the actual spending portrays a different scenario. According to VentureOne, Web 2.0 startup companies have a median valuation of $6 million before financing both in US and abroad, representing only one-third of $18.5 million average overall investment recorded last year in US.

Given this trend, Moore predicts Web 2.0 companies will come in $10- to $20- to $30- to $50-million acquisitions. Omidyar Network, Benchmark Capital, Sequoia Capital, and Draper Fisher Jurvetson are the biggest investors in Web 2.0 startups.

Leo Blanco is a contributing writer for TMCnet. To see more of his articles, please visit his columnist page.

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