Parse, which makes a software platform that adds a cloud component to any mobile app, has raised $5.5 million. The funding round serves as a Series A for the company and brings its total investment to $7 million. Parse calls itself “the Heroku for mobile apps.” Read more »
Redbeacon, the web marketplace that connects people with professional home service providers such as plumbers, painters, and yard workers, has launched its first native app for the iPhone. The company, which lets you search for, get bids from, and ultimately book jobs with background-checked and licensed […] Read more »
Formspring, the social Q&A site, has built up a big following in the two years since it launched. The company is making its first real move toward generating revenue from its users with the launch of Formspring Interests along with a host of media partners. Read more »
Facebook announced Tuesday its latest talent acquisition: Strobe Corp., a San Francisco-based mobile app development startup focused on HTML5 apps. Strobe was born out of SproutCore, an open-source JavaScript framework built by engineer Charles Jolley in 2007 while he was a full-time engineer at Apple Read more »
Even with all the expert and amateur reviews available on the web today, people still like to get recommendations the old-fashioned way: asking their friends for advice — aka, polling the “lazy web.” That’s where a brand new iPhone app called Wikets wants to help. Read more »
Google chairman Eric Schmidt says his company is not quashing competition in the web industry — and has pointed to the fact that search startups like Hipmunk are still receiving millions in venture capital funding as proof. But does this really mean there’s a level playing field? Read more »
Live video streaming pioneer Ustream is going through some pretty major changes, the company said Friday. First, it has landed $6 million in new funding from two existing investors — and second, its co-founder, John Ham, is leaving his job as the company’s CEO. Read more »
While most folks in tech and finance were focused on Groupon’s much-buzzed-about stock market debut, Zynga on Friday morning issued an update to its S-1 filing for an initial public offering. Read more »
It’s confirmed: Groupon has set the final price for its impending initial public offering on Friday at $20 per share, giving the company a total market capitalization of $12.6 billion. That’s higher than the Chicago-based daily deal website’s previous planned share price of $16 to $18. Read more »
Iddiction, a new startup led by Outfit7′s founding CEO Andrej Nabergoj, has secured $3.5 million in a seed round of funding. Details on what exactly Iddiction will do are scarce, since Nabergoj says the company is currently in stealth mode, but it already has big-name backers. Read more »
Massive Health, the San Francisco startup aimed at tackling health care problems with innovative mobile apps, launched its first iPhone app called Eatery on Tuesday. In the 48 hours since then, the company has been hit with a flood of data about its users’ eating behavior. Read more »
Big data technology is attracting some big bucks. Kaggle, a startup that helps companies outsource large business analytics projects by turning them into large-scale competitions for scientists around the world, will announce Thursday it has secured $11 million in venture capital funding. Read more »
Groupon is set to make its debut on the stock market any day now, with several reports saying the IPO will take place by week’s end. But some analysts say that Groupon does not deserve the $11 billion valuation at which it’s set to debut. Read more »
Twitter’s web interface has a couple new additions, seemingly aimed at making it easier for users to find relevant content when searching the site. For certain users, Twitter’s website now includes a featured “Top News” and “Top People” sections at the top of search results. Read more »
Research indicates that 88 percent of people who own tablets use them while watching TV. Yahoo is primed to take advantage of that trend by launching an iPad version of its social TV mobile app IntoNow, with new social media features to complement TV content. Read more »
Rounds, a startup that makes a popular video chat app for Facebook, has raised $3 million in new funding. The Israel-based company says it will use the money to expand its video chat service beyond Facebook to other social networks and onto mobile devices. Read more »
Music streaming service MOG just released new growth figures, and it turns out that the music platform launched by Facebook in late September has given it a big boost. MOG now has 160,000 monthly active users, representing 264 percent growth for the month of October. Read more »
Waddle, the San Francisco-based startup that makes a group photo sharing app for the iPhone, is preparing to get a bit bigger: The company has landed seed funding from Chinese Internet giant Tencent. It has also released an update to its photo sharing app, Waddle 2.0. Read more »
Yes, Twitter and Facebook can be fun. But increasingly the social media sites have become important barometers for very serious things, too. A recent survey found that 61 percent of adults expect candidates in the 2012 U.S. presidential election to have a social media presence. Read more »
Gift cards are big business: The industry as a whole brings in $100 billion annually. But gift card companies are not exactly known for being on the cutting edge of technology. But San Francisco-based startup Giftly is bringing serious innovation to how gift cards work. Read more »
Facebook said Friday it will shut down Beluga, the social text messaging service the company acquired in March 2011. It’s not an unexpected move: GigaOM first reported that Beluga’s future was up in the air in August, when Facebook debuted the Facebook Messenger mobile app. Read more »
Astrid, the web and mobile application that allows users to create to-do lists with social features, has finally debuted a version of its app for the iPhone. The iOS launch comes three months after Astrid raised an undisclosed amount of funding from Google Ventures and Nexus […] Read more »
Facebook on Thursday morning unveiled new features aimed at making people feel more secure on the ever-growing social networking site, including “Trusted Friends” and “App Passwords.” These are just the latest in a series of major privacy changes Facebook has announced in recent months. Read more »
Exclusive: There are lots of great summer internships at Silicon Valley startups. But top engineering students often pass them up for the money and name recognition companies like Google can provide. So Kleiner Perkins has partnered with InternMatch to attract top-flight students to its portfolio companies. Read more »
Venture capitalists have generally given semiconductor startups the cold shoulder for years now in favor of the web and software spaces. But LSI Corporation’s $400 acquisition of VC-backed chip startup Sandforce could encourage more VCs to warm up to chip technology once again. Read more »
Sincerely, the San Francisco startup aimed at making it easier to get physical copies of the photos taken on mobile phones, is announcing Wednesday it has secured $3 million in Series A funding. The company is also set to launch a holiday card app, “Sincerely Ink.” Read more »
If you’re like most people, you probably don’t know your neighbors all that well — if at all. That’s where a startup called Nextdoor wants to help. Nextdoor lets neighbors create private websites where they can exchange local information while getting to know each other better. Read more »
Inkling, the company that makes interactive, digital versions of textbooks for the iPad, is set to release its version of The Professional Chef, the official textbook of The Culinary Institute of America. It’s the first Inkling title that could have major appeal beyond the classroom. Read more »
Peter Thiel, the tech industry magnate known for co-founding PayPal and being an early investor in Facebook, is launching a new program called Breakout Labs aimed at funding cutting edge technology research ideas. It’s a big effort, but Thiel himself is known for bold ideas. Read more »
Buzz around voice recognition technology is louder than ever, thanks to the debut earlier this month Apple’s iPhone 4S with Siri. But Apple isn’t alone in the space. Voice recognition startup SoundHound says it has seen impressive user growth over the past year. Read more »
Peer-to-peer marketplace Zaarly has secured some major support — from some of the tech industry’s biggest names. Zaarly has closed on $14.1 million in a series A funding round. In addition, Hewlett-Packard CEO and former eBay CEO Meg Whitman has joined Zaarly’s board of directors. Read more »
Groupon has filed suit against two former employees who have recently joined Google. In a lawsuit filed in Illinois last week, Groupon accuses former employees Michael Nolan and Brian Hanna of taking information they learned at Groupon to their new sales jobs at Google Offers. Read more »
It may seem like Amazon.com has conquered every corner of the e-commerce market, but it has its sights on a new vertical to add to its empire: Groceries. Quidsi, the wholly-owned Amazon subsidiary, has launched a new grocery category within its Soap.com website. Read more »
Qwiki, the San Francisco-based search startup, may be going through a rough patch. Qwiki’s two top technical executives and at least one early engineer left abruptly last week, sources say, after major disagreements with the CEO over the company’s future product strategy. Read more »
Cardpool, the San Francisco-based startup that lets people buy, sell and trade unused gift cards, has been acquired by Blackhawk Network, a wholly owned subsidiary of grocery giant Safeway. Details about the deal are scarce, but Cardpool co-founder Anson Tsai says his investors “are quite happy.” Read more »
For years, owners of Android phones have generally gotten the short end of the stick when it comes to having great apps. But venture capital firms are finally starting to realize that the Android market should be much more than just an afterthought. Read more »
Liftopia, a website that sells discounted ski lift tickets and alpine resort packages, has closed on $1.3 million in new funding. The five-year-old company, which was founded by former Hotwire executives, says it plans to add deals on summertime “mountain-related activities” to make more year-round revenue. Read more »
Although Silicon Valley has generally fared better than many other parts of the world, the venture capital industry is not immune to the macro-economic slowdown. In the third quarter of 2011, VC funding fell 12 percent in dollars and 14 percent in deals compared to Q2. Read more »
With all the buzz around Yahoo recently, its financial conference call with analysts and investors could have been a big event. But interim CEO Tim Morse made it clear that investors looking for answers about Yahoo’s CEO search and M&A options were out of luck. Read more »
Livefyre, the software platform that embeds live commenting on websites, has secured $4.5 million in a new round of funding. The startup says it plans to use the money on hiring and new products — which will come in handy since it has some stiff competition: Facebook. Read more »
