fundraising

Wikipedia’s Pledge Drive Ends — So Do Those Jarring Testimonials!

Tricia Duryee in Media on January 2 at 4:35 pm PT

The Wikimedia Foundation’s annual fundraiser ended today after the nonprofit raised $20 million from one million donors worldwide.

Start-Up Rally Wants Your Cause to Raise Money Online, Even if Justin Bieber Isn’t Tweeting About It

Drake Martinet in News on July 15, 2011 at 8:00 am PT

There’s an old maxim in fundraising: It’s better to get one dollar from 100 supporters than it is to get $100 from one supporter. Or you can get a new online fundraising start-up called Rally to take advantage of the network effects of your real supporters.

Machinima's Latest $5 Million Round Doesn't Reflect Its Big-Money Valuation

Tricia Duryee in Commerce on April 25, 2011 at 7:18 pm PT

Machinima, which is mixing the art of film-making and game development in an attempt to build a new media empire, is close to raising a round worth roughly $5 million. But despite the round’s petite figure, make no mistake that the Los Angeles-based company has blockbuster-sized ambitions and a valuation to match.

VC Fundraising Has Best Start Since 2001

Alistair Barr, Reporter, MarketWatch in News on April 11, 2011 at 12:30 pm PT

The U.S. venture-capital industry had its best fund-raising start since 2001 as three firms dominated, Thomson Reuters and the National Venture Capital Association said Monday.

First Half of Groupon Funding Done–DST, T. Rowe Price, Fidelity, Capital Group and Morgan Stanley

Kara Swisher in News on January 7, 2011 at 12:01 am PT

Groupon has officially raised half of a $950 million funding, getting $500 million from a range of top-drawer investors, said sources close to the situation. Those investors include Russia’s DST Global, T. Rowe Price, Fidelity, Capital Group and Morgan Stanley. It’s unclear how much each investor has put in and who will make up the next tranche of funding, which will also close imminently.

Q: Why No Twitter Board Seat for Kleiner's John Doerr? A: His Google Board Seat (Plus, Is the Star VC Looking at Spotify and Groupon Next?)

Kara Swisher in News on December 16, 2010 at 5:14 am PT

Star venture capitalist John Doerr of Kleiner Perkins paid $150 million for a stake in Twitter and all he didn’t get was a board seat. That’s due to another directorship he has at search giant Google. Maybe Doerr will get one at Spotify or Groupon, where he could be investing next.

Latest Check Shows Insufficient Venture Funds

John Paczkowski in News on July 12, 2010 at 11:51 am PT

The “Darwinian contraction” in the venture capital industry continues with no end in sight. A joint study released today by the National Venture Capital Association and Thomson Reuters found that VC firms in the U.S. raised just $1.9 billion in the second quarter of 2010. That’s a nasty 49 percent decline from the $3.7 billion they raised in the first quarter.

After Some Flashy Investing, Is Andreessen Horowitz's Next Move a Big New Fund?

Kara Swisher in News on July 12, 2010 at 7:25 am PT

Since it launched almost exactly a year ago with a $300 million fund, the venture firm of Andreessen Horowitz has cut a rather high-profile path through the Silicon Valley investing community. Now, according to sources and after spending about half its kitty, the firm is poised to begin another round of fundraising to further bolster its clout. While it is unclear how much the VC firm will raise, sources expect it to be much more than its first fund.

Tech Firms Turn to Debt

Ben Worthen in News on April 20, 2010 at 4:00 am PT

A growing number of technology companies are turning to debt to raise capital, taking advantage of the thawing credit markets to build their war chests in anticipation of a wave of dealmaking. Software companies including SAP AG, Adobe Systems Inc. and Salesforce.com Inc. have recently raised several billion dollars by selling debt for the first time in their histories.

Norwest Venture Partners Goes Big

Pui-Wing Tam, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal in News on November 19, 2009 at 5:00 am PT

Norwest Venture Partners on Wednesday announced that it had closed a new venture-capital fund sized at $1.2 billion. That’s nearly double the size of the Silicon Valley venture firm’s last fund in 2006, which closed at $650 million. The new fund is unusual in this day and age amid a tough fundraising environment brought on by the recession.