Series B

TaskRabbit Raises $17.8 Million, Brings in Eisner as Adviser

Lauren Goode in News on December 13, 2011 at 8:59 pm PT

TaskRabbit, the Bay Area-based start-up that outsources human “rabbits” to perform odious chores for neighbors, has raised its second cash pile in eight months.

News Byte

Israel’s eyeSight Raises $4.2 Million in Funding for Gesture Recognition Technology

Ina Fried in Mobile on November 22, 2011 at 2:00 am PT

Israel’s eyeSight Mobile Technologies, whose gesture recognition technology is being used in smartphones, announced Tuesday it has raised $4.2 million in Series B funding from investors including chipmaker CEVA and Japan’s Mitsui & Co. Global Investment.

Mission Motors Closes a Round of Funding (And Swears It Won’t Blow It All on Awesome Electric Motorcycles)

Drake Martinet in News on August 19, 2011 at 9:31 am PT

Mission Motors just landed more than $9 million in Series B funding to not build electric motorcycles. Instead, it is trying to attract other companies that might drool over record-setting mini-electric drive systems.

News Byte

Bump Taps Into New Funding, Adds Andreessen, McAdoo to Board

Ina Fried in Mobile on January 10, 2011 at 10:45 pm PT

Mobile social firm Bump announced on Monday night that it has landed $16 million in Series B funding from investors including Andreessen Horowitz and Sequoia. WIth the new investment, Marc Andreessen will be joining the board of Bump as will Greg McAdoo from Sequoia. In a blog post, co-founder David Lieb said the 15-person company now has more than 25 million users for its mobile-to-mobile information-sharing service, which runs on Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android operating systems. “This round of financing solidifies our priorities to build a world-class engineering and product organization here in Silicon Valley,” Lieb said.

LivingSocial Gets $175 Million Amazon Investment (Like BoomTown Said)

Kara Swisher in News on December 2, 2010 at 2:59 pm PT

Amazon will invest $175 million in LivingSocial, the No. 2 player in the fast-growing social buying space. BoomTown reported yesterday that the massive investment was in the works. The online retail giant’s big bet on the Washington, D.C.-based start-up comes in the wake of ongoing acquisition talks between Google and Groupon, the category leader in the local deals business.

Amazon Poised to Make a Major Strategic Investment in LivingSocial to Counter Groupoogle (or Goopon?) Threat

Kara Swisher in News on December 1, 2010 at 1:15 pm PT

With the red-hot acquisition dance between Google and Groupon sucking up all the attention, it’s easy once again to ignore the No. 2 player in the fast-growing social buying space–LivingSocial. But not everyone is. According to sources close to the situation, the Washington, D.C.-based company that also focuses on local deals is in advanced talks for a major strategic investment–as high as $150 million–by online retail giant Amazon, at a very hefty valuation of over one billion dollars, to counter a possible Groupoogle challenge.

Music Video For Database Start-Up? That's How CouchOne Rolls

Deborah Gage, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal in News on November 15, 2010 at 12:08 am PT

How does a small Bay Area start-up whose business revolves around arcane coding compete for developers with the likes of Facebook and Google? By making a rap video, of course.

Three Reasons Why Venture Capitalists Are Investing in New York Startups

Alexander Hotz, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal in News on November 1, 2010 at 11:21 am PT

One criticism leveled at New York City’s fledgling tech scene is that it’s hard for entrepreneurs to find investors in their backyard. But increasingly that argument doesn’t hold water.

LivingSocial Buys Urban Escapes, As Social Discount Market Heats Up

Kara Swisher in News on October 19, 2010 at 4:15 am PT

LivingSocial, the No. 2 social local deals start-up, announced today that it has bought Urban Escapes, a social adventure company. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. The Washington, D.C.-based start-up now has about 10 million subscribers to its discount offers online, where it competes head-to-head with Chicago’s Groupon.

Fighting Monsters And Defusing Bombs In Augmented Reality

Timothy Hay, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal in News on October 1, 2010 at 8:00 am PT

Osuke Honda, a general partner with Menlo Park, Calif.-based venture firm DCM, says he has been traveling back and forth between Japan and the U.S. all his life. He spearheads many of DCM’s investments in Japanese companies from the firm’s office in Tokyo, and this week participated in a $12 million Series B funding for augmented-reality company Tonchidot Corp.

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