Google Ventures

Video Ads + App Ads = Vungle, a Freshly Minted Start-Up With a Big Pile of Cash

Peter Kafka in Media on May 2 at 8:00 am PT

A start-up that didn’t exist last fall now has a $2 million seed round.

YouTube Co-Founders Hit Up Google Ventures and NEA for AVOS Series A

Liz Gannes in News on April 27 at 10:26 am PT

If there’s one thing the co-founders of YouTube don’t need, it’s money.

Another Science Start-Up, Wittlebee, Gets $2.5 Million in Funding for Kids’ Clothes Club

Kara Swisher in Commerce on April 4 at 9:00 am PT

It’s kind of like a never-ending online Gap.

eBay Is the Most Recent Bay Area Transplant to Seek Access to Seattle’s Talent Pool

Tricia Duryee in Commerce on January 12 at 6:00 am PT

The e-commerce giant has joined a growing list of companies willing to brave the rain in order to gain access to a deep pool of technology engineers in Seattle.

MovieGoer: A Social App for Going to the Movies

Liz Gannes in Social on November 30, 2011 at 4:28 pm PT

A new iPhone app called MovieGoer aims to help people find movies through their friends, go to movies together and submit quick video reviews from their phone.

WhaleShark Catches $150 Million Round to Invest in Couponing Craze

Tricia Duryee in Commerce on November 9, 2011 at 9:00 pm PT

WhaleShark Media has raised $150 million in venture capital to continue buying up coupon-oriented sites around the globe.

“Everything About Your Life Is Exciting. To Everyone,” Says New (Fake) Jotly App.

Liz Gannes in Social on October 17, 2011 at 5:52 pm PT

With Jotly, you can rate a parking meter, a leaf, the quality of a hiding spot …

Got DNA? Biocomputing Start-Up DNAnexus Lands $15M From Google Ventures and TPG

Arik Hesseldahl in News on October 12, 2011 at 5:05 am PT

The computational biology start-up aims to create a huge database of DNA information for researchers and scientists.

News Byte

Echoecho Raises Money to Help Friends Find Each Other — Literally

Liz Gannes in Social on September 8, 2011 at 7:30 am PT

Echoecho, the Los Angeles-based start-up that makes apps to help friends ask “Where are you?” and then see each other’s current location on a map, has raised $750,000 in seed funding from Google Ventures and PROfounders Capital. A new version of the cutely named Echoecho includes chat features and the ability to correspond with someone who hasn’t yet downloaded the app.

News Byte

RelayRides Tops Off the Tank to Fuel Car Sharing Service

Tricia Duryee in Commerce on August 17, 2011 at 6:00 am PT

RelayRides, a car-sharing service which connects people with available cars nearby, has added an additional $3.6 million to its first round of capital. It has now raised $10 million. Shasta Ventures and Lisa Gansky, author of The Mesh: Why the Future of Business Is Sharing, are joining Google Ventures and August Capital in the round, which will pay for its expansion in San Francisco and Boston.