For the first time, not one but two Kickstarter projects eclipsed the $1 million pledge mark, within hours of each other yesterday. The milestones highlight the bigger momentum behind Kickstarter, which is rounding into form as a major funding tool. Read more »
This report outlines the myriad issues at play in Facebook’s move, from examining how CEO Mark Zuckerberg wants to rewire the world to understanding the company’s infrastructure dependency. But from every angle, it’s clear the effects will ripple throughout the startup and tech communities. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
In the past couple of months, New York has attracted former San Francisco startup Qwiki, PlaceIQ from Colorado and recent 500 Startups graduate Snapette of Boston, which spent the past half of a year in Silicon Valley. New York is becoming a destination for startups. Read more »
The solar industry has begun 2012 with some trepidation, with many on the warpath to cut costs and reduce output. These moves give the market a chance to reduce inventories and get production more in sync with demand. But recovery will likely come slowly. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
At just 2.5 years old, Andreessen Horowitz, the VC firm founded by Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz, has become a tech industry institution with holdings in Facebook, Twitter, and more. GigaOM talked with Andreessen to get his thoughts on Silicon Valley and the larger tech landscape. Read more »
Apartment-letting site Airbnb will get investment, endorsement and distribution from the publisher of Europe’s most-read newspaper. Read more at paidContent »
Two European companies are this week taking venture capital in the games space… Read more at paidContent »
One of the key misplaced assumptions that Valley VCs made in cleantech boom times is that the rapid progress of Moore’s Law could be created for cleantech with a little bit of VC funding and Valley smarts. Read more »
Jeff Clavier’s SoftTech VC has closed investment on its third fund at $55 million, making Fund III its biggest fund yet.
Clavier talked to GigaOM about why SoftTech decided to go so big, how the new cash will be invested, and the larger tech industry landscape. Read more »
A big endorsement today for mobile advertising from eMarketer: their analysts today said they were revising up their forecasts for U.S. mobi… Read more at paidContent »
Codecademy, which teaches users how to program for free with an interactive and social web application, has garnered more than 1 million users in less than five months. We talked to co-founder and CEO Zach Sims about how Codecademy started and where it’s going. Read more »
Some revealing numbers out from the analysts at Rutberg & Co. that point to how big mobile is in terms of tech investments today, and how co… Read more at paidContent »
Polar Mobile — the Canadian startup that develops apps for big-name publishers like CBS Interactive (NYSE: CBS), Conde Nast, Sports Illustr… Read more at paidContent »
If you thought 2011 seemed like a big year for web startup funding, you were absolutely right. According to the latest MoneyTree report from PricewaterhouseCoopers and the National Venture Capital Association, 2011 saw the highest level of VC investment in Internet companies over the past decade. Read more »
Nanosolar, which has struggled for years to fulfill its promise as the next major thin-film solar manufacturer, announced Thursday it has a new CEO. Eugenia Corrales, who has been the startup’s head of engineering and operations, is taking over the chief executive post effective immediately. Read more »
Charlie O’Donnell, a principal at First Round Capital in New York, thinks Brooklyn is increasingly where the action is, and he’s launching the first Brooklyn-based venture capital fund to help kick-start companies on the other side of the East River. Read more »
Startups looking to disrupt the traditional energy industries — oil, coal, gas-burning cars — need to have more than just innovative technology. They need a team and a plan in place that can scale their technologies to compete on the massive scale needed. Read more »
Facebook on Thursday debuted a new “listen with” feature that lets groups of people listen to the same song at the same time. The new feature is most directly comparable to turntable.fm, which lets people create music listening rooms and share DJ duties with their friends. Read more »
Last year, venture capital investment in “true” cloud computing companies constituted more than a quarter of overall Internet deal volume and more than a third of Internet investment dollars, according to new research from CB Insights. Read more »
Despite many challenges — from disappointing EV sales to the headaches in subsidizing solar — the cleantech sector survived 2011. Where is it headed next? It is clear that early-stage companies and ideas hold the keys to future growth, much like the first wave of Internet ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Fewer venture firms raised more money during 2011. A smaller industry with more money, plus an active angel community that can put money in early stage deals, means entrepreneurs are likely to face the biggest fundraising challenge at the Series B round. Read more »
News Corp-controlled pay-TV firm BSkyB (NYSE: BSY) is buying itself a foothold in the looming social TV field by acquiring 10 percent of the… Read more at paidContent »
Cleantech venture capital and corporate investing for the full 2011 year was up in terms of overall dollar amounts compared to 2010, according to the research firm The Cleantech Group, but large follow-on rounds for matured companies continued to dominate the year. Read more »
GrabCAD, a specialist in open-source CAD software, has netted $4.2 million in new funding from its existing VC backers. It has also added Matrix Partners’ David Skok to its board, according to a new blog post by GrabCAD President Hardi Meybaum. Read more »
A recent post by Andrew Clay Shafer raised doubts about the abilities of growing number of incubators that are imitating the likes of 500 Startups. The key qualities of these incubators are no different than incubators from 1999, as an old Forbes.com piece of mine shows. Read more »
Already in our headlines today for a hiccup over its Google (NSDQ: GOOG) Chrome campaign, Unruly Media, which makes video campaigns designed… Read more at paidContent »
Almost a year to the day after it last took funding, audio-hosting service SoundCloud is taking a further round from new investors. Read more at paidContent »
Boston-area tech incubator Adverplex is reborn as Cogo Labs and is starting to talk itself up. The 30-person shop, which backed CourseAdvisor and Autotegrity, is also on the hunt for software, analytics and data warehousing talent. Read more »
It’s not 1982 anymore. Twenty-nine years after co-founding Sun Microsystems — a company that once boasted a $200 billion market cap — McNealy is a known commodity in the Valley, and that makes life a lot easier when it’s time to launch a new venture. Read more »
2011 has been all about personalized mobile apps, and Evernote has benefited handsomely: In the past 12 months, the personal note-taking software company grew its user base from 6 million to 20 million. GigaOM talked to CEO Phil Libin about the growth and Evernote’s 2012 outlook. Read more »
Cloudability, a startup that bills itself as “Mint.com for the cloud,” has raised $1.1 million in seed funding for its service that helps companies keep an eye on their cloud-computing spending. It recently let one user spot an exploit that could have cost the company dearly. Read more »
Every day, it seems like there’s another bland press release about startup seed funding. So when Buffer closed on $400,000, it wanted to announce it differently — by explaining exactly how the process happened. It’s a fun read, and a good lesson for other startup founders. Read more »
One of the consequences of the growth of social media has been the rise of that category of digital, interactive advertising referred to as… Read more at paidContent »
As a startup, you might think the A-list employees are beyond your grasp. But Scott Weiss, general partner at Andreessen Horowitz, explains why you should reach for the stars – and why they might jump at the opportunity. Read more »
Broadcasting, publishing and marketing group Cox Media Group is putting down some more roots in digital media investments: it has announced… Read more at paidContent »
Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Bin Abdulaziz Alsaud of Saudi Arabia, an investor in media titans News Corp. (NSDQ: NWS) and Time Warner (NYSE: TW… Read more at paidContent »
If print book costs major on distributing boxes of dead trees, what price the e-book fulfilment sector? Read more at paidContent »
Outbrain, whose content recommendation engine lets publisher sites add related news links, is taking a $35 (£22.6) million fourth funding r… Read more at paidContent »
TaskRabbit has raised $17.8 million in a Series B funding round. It’s just been 7 months since the company announced its $5 million Series A, but growth has been fast and furious: TaskRabbit has tripled net revenue and seen a seven-fold increase in customers since May. Read more »
Most venture capitalists obsess on the latest shiny object for youngish consumers. That’s remarkably shortsighted. The aging U.S. population is a potential gold mine for entrepreneurs that can build technologies to help this huge population remain active and stay in their homes as long as possible. Read more »
