News Byte
Mike Isaac in Social on June 19 at 9:05 am PT
Intercom, a startup that focuses on customer support and communications tools for businesses, announced that it had raised a $6 million Series A round of financing on Wednesday. The round was led by Social+Capital, with participation from Freestyle Capital, as well as Yammer CEO and founder David Sacks. The company already had $1.75 million in seed funding from 500 Startups, Freestyle Capital and other angel investors.
News Byte
Mike Isaac in Social on June 19 at 9:00 am PT
Social Radar, the mobile-focused startup that aims to connect users through location-based targeting and social network cross-referencing, announced a $12.75 million Series A round on Wednesday. The round was led by New Enterprise Associates, Grotech Ventures and Swan & Legend Ventures, with participation from Steve Case, Ted Leonsis, Dave Morin, Kevin Colleran, and a number of other angel investors. Dayna Grayson from NEA, Steve Fredrick from Grotech Ventures, Fred Schaufeld from Swan & Legend Venture Partners, and angel investor Kevin Colleran will all join Social Radar’s board of directors.
Peter Kafka in Media on June 19 at 8:19 am PT
Some exceptions apply, of course, because nothing is ever easy when it comes to the Web and TV.
News Byte
Jason Del Rey in Mobile on June 19 at 8:13 am PT
Online travel review site TripAdvisor today added another acquisition to its portfolio, buying airport info app
GateGuru. The app is used by travelers on the day of their flight, providing real-time info such as wait times, gate changes and flight delays. Earlier this year, TripAdvisor bought Jetsetter, Gilt Groupe’s travel-sale site.
News Byte
Mike Isaac in Social on June 19 at 8:02 am PT
Rockmelt, the startup that aims to reinvent the Web browser with a social focus, launched an Android application on Wednesday morning. Unlike the company’s existing iPad and iPhone apps, Rockmelt’s new Android app has been reconfigured to fit the many screen sizes that Android devices come in. Rockmelt also made updates to the navigation user interface, vertical and horizontal viewing modes, and added place-saving “elevator buttons” for easier browsing. The new Rockmelt apps host more than 1.1 million users to date.
News Byte
Peter Kafka in Media on June 19 at 8:00 am PT
Twitter is linking up with Viacom in an ad partnership; the cable giant joins a list of media partners,
including ESPN, Fox and Discovery, in
Twitter’s TV/video push. Twitter users should first see the first set of Viacom video ads in August, during MTV’s Video Music Awards, which has become a hotbed of Twitter activity.
Arik Hesseldahl in News on June 19 at 6:38 am PT
The point? Get rid of all those proprietary switches, of course.
Voices
Shelly Banjo, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal in Commerce on June 19 at 6:00 am PT
As it seeks to catch up to Amazon in e-commerce, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is creating a vast new logistics system that includes building new warehouses for Web orders, but also uses workers in stores to pack and mail items to customers.
Liz Gannes in Commerce on June 19 at 4:30 am PT
Isn’t everything about the process of buying a car just … fantastic? Yeah, not so much.
I think there’s unprecedented space now in journalism to really say things that you wouldn’t have been able to get in print, or at least a large audience for, even ten years ago.
– Michael Hastings, contributing editor for Rolling Stone and reporter for BuzzFeed, in a 2012 AMA on Reddit. Hastings died in a car crash in L.A. on Tuesday.
