News Byte

Following Layoffs, BetterWorks Shuts Down Its Product

BetterWorks, the employee rewards start-up used by companies like Hulu, Tesla and Docstoc, is shutting down its site at the end of the month. The bad news from the Redpoint Ventures-backed start-up comes on the heels of significant layoffs last week. However, a spokeswoman said that the company itself is not shutting down entirely, but rather trying to use its remaining team and capital to reformulate itself.

News Byte

Yep, Google’s in the Content Business. And Now It’s Fessing Up to Its Machinima Investment.

Like we told you earlier this month: Google has invested in Machinima, one of the most popular networks/channels on Google’s YouTube. Google — that’s Google Inc., not Google Ventures — now confirms that it led the $35 million round, along with previous investors Redpoint Ventures and MK Capital. My sources previously told me the deal would value Machinima at around $190 million.

Confirmed: Redpoint Leads $40M Funding Round for Path

Path, the mobile social networking start-up, is planning to announce it has raised Series B funding as early as Monday, according to sources.
Path CEO Dave Morin

Caterina Fake: Fast Growth for a New Social App Is a Very Bad Thing

If you get her started, Caterina Fake sounds almost like a professor of social networking philosophy.
Caterina Fake

Twitter While You Watch TV? Bluefin Labs Is Watching.

And the marketing start-up has just raised another $12 million. Think about that the next time you fire off a comment during an NFL game.
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Voices

The “Mad Men” Years Are Giving Way to the “Math Men” Era

I love the “Mad Men” version of the ad business. The storytelling. The simplicity. The glasses of scotch at 10 am. But these days in digital, it feels like the Math Men media buyers (with their terabytes of data) are taking over for the Mad Men creatives.

Adobe Adds Another $400 Million to Its Ad Business Shopping Spree

Last month, Adobe said it was buying search marketing firm Efficient Frontier, but didn’t disclose a purchase price. Yesterday, it came clean.
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First Class Ticket: Social Travel Start-Up Gogobot Raises $15M in Funding at $70M Valuation

Around the world in $15 million.
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Meet Qwilt, Creator of Smart Video-Caching Gear, and New Member of the Flash Madness Club

Coming out of stealth today with $24 million from Redpoint Ventures, Accel and other investors, Qwilt stores copies of the videos that are popular in your neighborhood to help make the network run faster. And? It uses flash memory to do it! Flash Madness continues.
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What Bad Economy? Three Big Silicon Valley VCs Poised to Haul in $2B in New Fund Raising.

Despite the bad economy, turbulent markets and lackluster venture returns of late, limited partners looking for an investment edge seem to still be adding more dough to the VC kitty.
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Posterous Goes Bare: Shows Us All Its Stats

Scribd Raises $13M More for Web Docs