News Byte

Payments Startup Balanced Raises $2 Million

Balanced, a startup that focuses on bringing payments systems to network-based companies like Airbnb and Kickstarter, announced Tuesday that it raised $2 million in venture capital. Andreessen Horowitz participated in the round, along with CollabFund and a number of current and former Facebook employees. The ten-person startup had already raised $1.4 million in funds from Ashton Kutcher, Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky and Reddit CEO Yishan Wong, among others.

Everybody’s a Curator: Flipboard’s Mike McCue Talks About New Version of Social Magazine (Video)

I made a magazine about Pop-Tarts. Anyone have a problem with that?
FlipboardCover copy-feature

News Byte

Etsy Sellers Grossed $895M in 2012

Etsy said today that its online marketplace sales grew 70 percent to $895 million in 2012, with total membership nearly doubling to 22 million. But the eight-year-old company takes in only a sliver of that revenue, by charging fees of 3 percent to 3.5 percent per transaction, $0.20 per listing and additional amounts for advertising.

Etsy Acquires Mixel for Mobile Team

A better native app is in Etsy’s mobile future.
mixel-etsy

Farmigo Opens Doors to Online Farmers Market

Can’t make it to your local farmers market? Farmigo wants to help bring it to you.
farmigo

Meet Mine — Your Life, in E-Shopping

A start-up aims to create a new online identity footprint from our e-commerce history.
mine_app_icon

On Cyber Monday, Mobile — Not Social — Takes All the Glory

There’s no contest: So far this season, mobile has generated 13 percent of online holiday sales, whereas, Facebook, YouTube and Twitter have contributed virtually zero.
santa-shopping-sale-cart-feature

Pinterest Removes Ban on Commercial Use as It Adds Business Accounts

On a site where people share pictures of stuff they want to buy, it makes sense that people who make stuff would want to share it themselves.
7.getting-started

Is New York’s Digital Boom Slowing Down?

The good news: Internet shops like Google, Rent the Runway and Warby Parker are still hiring lots of people. The less good news: They were hiring more people earlier in the year.
HelpWanted

Go Pro or Go Home

While the site wants to remain an accessible entry point for newbies, it doesn’t want the narrative arc for successful sellers to arrive at the inevitable plot point: “And then I started a real business.”

–From a story by Rob Walker in Wired about Etsy