Series A

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Jelly, Biz Stone’s Startup, Raises a Round (With a Little Help From Friends)

Mike Isaac in Mobile on May 16 at 11:39 am PT

Jelly, the stealthy startup founded by Twitter co-founder Biz Stone, announced Thursday that the company just closed its Series A round of venture capital. The round was led by Spark Capital; Bijan Sabet — an early Twitter investor — will join Jelly’s board. Other noteworthy investors include Jack Dorsey, U2’s Bono, Reid Hoffman, Steven Johnson, Evan Williams and Jason Goldman, Roya Mahboob, Greg Yaitanes and former vice president Al Gore.

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Predictive Data Startup Infer Raises $10M From Redpoint

Kara Swisher in News on April 23 at 4:30 am PT

Infer, a Palo Alto, Calif., startup that makes data-focused business apps to help companies target their best potential customers, said it has raised $10 million in a Series A funding led by Redpoint Ventures. Andreessen Horowitz, Social+Capital Partnership, Sutter Hill Ventures and angel investors also participated in the round. Infer, which is profitable, mines a range of data to determine those with the highest propensity to buy. Along with the funding for its “predictive customer scoring model,” Satish Dharmaraj of Redpoint Ventures will join the company’s board.

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App Discovery Startup AppGratis Nabs $13.5 Million

Mike Isaac in Mobile on January 17 at 9:00 am PT

AppGratis, a discovery platform to help users find mobile apps more easily amid a crowded app marketplace, announced on Thursday the closing of its $13.5 million series A round of financing. Iris Capital led the round, with participation from the Orange Publicis Fund. AppGratis claims a strong footing in the space, with more than seven million users globally, and upward of $1 million in monthly revenue.

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Cloud Media Start-Up Plizy Raises $4 Million From Atlas

Kara Swisher in Media on December 12, 2012 at 7:18 am PT

Plizy, a San Francisco-based cloud media start-up, said it has raised $4 million in a Series A funding from Atlas Venture. The company, which recently launched a new version of its product on the Web and for Apple iPad, allows users to search, organize, watch and share online content, such as movies and television shows. Plizy, which had previously raised $1.2 million in an angel round, will use the money to expand its content offerings and build out to other platforms. In addition to the funding, Plizy said that PayPal President David Marcus will join Plizy’s board, along with Atlas’ Fred Destin.

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Motivational App Lift Closes $2.5 Million Round

Mike Isaac in Mobile on November 27, 2012 at 10:06 am PT

Lift, the personal motivational mobile app that helps users set and achieve goals for themselves, closed a $2.5 million Series A investment round, the company announced Tuesday. The round was led by Bijan Sabet of Spark Capital, who will join the board of the six-person start-up, reuniting with former Twitter board member and co-founder Evan Williams, whose Obvious Corp. has also invested in the company. Also involved in the round are SV Angel, Adam Ludwin from New York VC firm RRE and, appropriately enough, motivational speakers Tony Robbins, Tim Ferriss and David Allen.

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Mobile App Platform BiNu Raises $4.3 Million

Mike Isaac in Mobile on November 21, 2012 at 7:00 am PT

BiNu, the mobile app platform that brings Web-based apps and social functions to low-cost feature phones, announced Wednesday that the company raised $4.3 million in venture capital. Joining the series A round were investments from 500 Startups and PanAfrican Investment Co., among others, following previous participation from Eric Schmidt’s TomorrowVentures and the Savannah Fund. The company is currently focused on developing its business in emerging markets such as East Africa, South America, parts of Asia and other areas in which citizens access the Internet primarily through a low-end mobile device.

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CrowdSource Raises $12.5 Million for Enterprise Tasks

Kara Swisher in Enterprise on October 22, 2012 at 7:39 am PT

CrowdSource, which uses hundreds of thousands of workers to manage labor-intensive tasks at scale, raised $12.5 million in a Series A funding round. The funding was led by Highland Capital Partners. The start-up, which focuses on content creation and structuring big data, said it will use the funds to expand offerings, add workers and increase sales and marketing.

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Viddy Raises $30 Million in Series B Financing Round

Mike Isaac in Social on May 11, 2012 at 6:00 am PT

Social video application Viddy has raised $30 million in venture capital in a Series B round of financing, the company announced on Friday morning. Investors in the round include NEA Ventures, Battery Ventures, Goldman Sachs and Vinod Khosla of Khosla Ventures. The additional funds come after an initial $6 million Series A raised in February, which was led by Battery Ventures and included Qualcomm and Greycroft Ventures.