It’s easier than ever to build a web or mobile app and call yourself a startup. But with new funding opportunities and technology tools, entrepreneurs can easily — and cheaply — use technology to solve larger problems, rather than create another lifestyle app. Read more »
Awe.sm has secured $4 million in Series A funding. Awe.sm is probably best known to most people for its URL shortening service, but the San Francisco-based startup says it’s actually rooted in a deeper software platform attached to those shortened links that provides analytics tools. Read more »
Nowadays, many people’s email inboxes are overflowing with deal advertisements. As much as everyone loves a bargain, it can all be a bit overwhelming. A new app called Frugalo aims to separate the wheat from the chaff in our daily deal overloaded email inboxes. Read more »
Path has enacted a dramatic redesign with the newest version of its app, “Path 2.” Path has expanded beyond photo sharing and now aims to be a “smart journal” that helps users catalog their lives — putting it more squarely in competition with Evernote and Facebook. Read more »
Spanning is a backup service for Google Apps that’s completely hosted and run from Amazon’s web services. The idea of backing up one cloud service via another was intriguing enough that I asked Mike Pav, the VP of engineering at Spanning, how he does it. Read more »
Lots of people logged on to the web to find holiday recipes for the United States holiday of Thanksgiving: Allrecipes.com said it had its biggest traffic day ever on Wednesday, the day before Thanksgiving, with more than 6.8 million visits in that day alone. Read more »
Infochimps, the two-year-old company that runs a “data marketplace” where owners of datasets can charge for their usage, is swapping CEOs. Co-founder Nick Ducoff has stepped down from the CEO role, and the company is looking for a “seasoned executive” to take his place. Read more »
Gilt Groupe, the designer flash sales website, is reportedly set to start prepping an IPO next year. But as more consumer and retail companies get savvy to the web and mobile worlds, should IPOs of companies like Gilt and Groupon really be considered tech industry stories? Read more »
A new wave of apps aims to replace the increasingly crowded space of long-winded five-star user generated reviews (like those on Yelp and Amazon) with straightforward social recommendations. The newest entrant in this field, an iPhone app called Stamped, aims to win with simplicity. Read more »
Brightcove VP Rags Gupta explains why music start-ups should test the waters across the pond before coming to the U.S.: “According to conventional wisdom, consumer start-ups should move to San Francisco for access to capital, talent, and ideas. But if you’re launching an online music company, consider London or Berlin.” Read more »
Hard to believe, but we’re already gearing up for the Crunchies, which will be held January 31, 2012, at Davies Symphony Hall in San Francisco. Once again, GigaOM is co-hosting the annual event, which celebrates innovation and new technology, along with TechCrunch and VentureBeat. Read more »
Quantenna, a startup building chips for sending massive data over Wi-Fi, has built the first gigabit chip for Wi-Fi networks and devices. The chip is available now for use in routers, home gateways and even consumer gadgets. Products containing the chips could arrive in 2012. Read more »
Vyatta, which provides open-source networking software, has raised $12 million in expansion round financing as the entire networking field finds itself on the cusp of big changes. The round, its fifth, was led by HighBAR Partners and brings Vyatta’s total funding to $45 million. Read more »
What happens when you place the equivalent of 1024 neurons in parallel on a chip? Well, you get a new form of computing for cloud computing and sensor networks as well as toys that can recognize cue cards, better artificial intelligence and pattern recognition. Read more »
Blogger Marshall Kirkpatrick is leaving his job at Read/Write Web to start a company called Plexus Engine, which he says will offer data-filtering tools he has used as a tech journalist. Kirkpatrick joins a growing group of bloggers who have left to join the startup world. Read more »
Kontagent on Thursday announced it has raised $12 million in fresh venture funding, bringing the company’s total VC investment to $19.5 million. The company says it’ll put the new money toward R&D on deep tech such as big data processing and predictive analytics tools. Read more »
Uptake’s CEO Yen Lee likes to kid that he runs “the largest travel search company that no one’s heard of.” But the five-year-old company is making its first push for public recognition with a new Facebook app for getting travel tips from your friends. Read more »
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 »
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 »
Looks like Groupon will go public on Friday morning at $20 per share, giving it a valuation of $12.6 billion for its online coupon business. Let’s compare it to some of the greentech startups and big energy firms and try not to get disturbed. 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 »
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 »
Do startups create jobs, or more accurately, do they create jobs the way they used to? In a House hearing Wednesday, a researcher said the number of startups created have been declining since 2006, and when they are created they tend to generate fewer jobs. 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 »
A new bill would allow entrepreneurs to raise up to $2 million from individual investors without having to be approved by securities regulators. But would this free up more entrepreneurial firepower to help the economy, or just cause chaos and confusion for investors and regulatory headaches? 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 »
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 »
Tech blog Betabeat has launched its first original web series, The Pitch, which documents the process of pitching a startup concept to venture capitalists. It’s a story with its own natural drama — funding and a cash prize are on the line. Read more »
Hyperlocal startups in a crowded marketplace are testing new ways to stand out, and they discussed their strategies at the Street Fight Summ… Read more at paidContent »
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 »
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 »
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 »
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 »
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 »
