B round

What Privacy Problem? Web Ad Targeter Media6Degrees Raises $17 Million

Peter Kafka in Media on December 12, 2010 at 9:00 pm PT

More money for a Web ad start-up that promises marketers it can sniff out prospective buyers by tracking their “social signature.”

News Byte

Evernote Raises $20 Million From Sequoia Capital

Beth Callaghan in News on October 19, 2010 at 8:54 am PT

Evernote, the cloud-based platform for note-taking, has raised $20 million in a series C round of funding led by Sequoia Capital. The company’s success makes it the go-to example of the “freemium” business model–its premium product recently started paying for its current day-to-day operations, and there’s still $9 million left over from its B round. CEO Phil Libin aims to use the new infusion of cash to expand into more countries and into corporate and educational markets.

More Mobile Ad Money: InMobi Raises $8 Million

Peter Kafka in Media on July 13, 2010 at 5:00 am PT

The mobile ad market is still more theoretical than anything else. But it’s got to show up one day, right?

Tumblr Raises Another $5 Million From Spark and Union Square. Now It Wants Your Money.

Peter Kafka in Media on April 20, 2010 at 3:00 am PT

Tumblr’s David Karp, seen carpet surfing on the cover of New York Magazine this week, says his hipster blog service is ready to become a real business. Karp’s VC backers seem to believe him.

Hunch Gets It Right, Adds a $10 Million Series B Round Led by Khosla Ventures

Peter Kafka in Media on March 12, 2010 at 1:40 pm PT

The crowdsourced recommendations site led by Caterina Fake and Chris Dixon gets a big vote of confidence from a high-profile investor.

A Sheriff for Web Ads Gets $10 Million

Peter Kafka in Media on March 8, 2010 at 4:00 am PT

Web advertising is a big business, but it’s a young and rowdy one, too. Does it need a sheriff? That’s the job DoubleVerify wants. And the start-up just raised more money to help it get the gig. Institutional Venture Partners led a $10 million B round for the company,

AOL Automates Its Story Factory. Does That Kill an Associated Content Deal?

Peter Kafka in Media on November 30, 2009 at 4:45 am PT

AOL is cutting its payroll by one-third. Now comes its plan to make the remaining employees more productive: New technology that assigns and even edits stories automatically. That sounds an awful lot like Associated Content, a start-up that AOL CEO Tim Armstrong invested in–and considered buying–earlier this year.

Web Video Darling Boxee Gets Another $6 Million: Are Zero Revenue and Big Plans Worth $25 Million?

Peter Kafka in Media on August 12, 2009 at 8:46 am PT

Yet another sign that revenue-free start-ups can still attract investors, given the right pitch: Boxee, the software company that makes it easy to get Web video onto your TV, has raised a $6 million B round led by General Catalyst. I’m told the new round pegs the company’s value in the $25 million to $30 million range. What’s the appeal? The chance that the company could play a role in the disruption of the $70 billion TV business.

Another Bet on Video: How-To Start-Up 5min Raises $7.5 Million

Peter Kafka in Media on July 23, 2009 at 6:43 am PT

Web video companies that wanted to take on YouTube are having a very hard time. But Web video isn’t going away, either, and there has to be some way to make it work for users, publishers and investors. Right? Hence, another round of funding for 5min, a video start-up that just raised a $7.5 million B round. New investor Globespan Capital Partners led the round, and Spark Capital, the VC shop that has made several video bets (along with a big one in Twitter) made a second investment.