Bitcoin’s Biggest Bet: Andreessen Horowitz Leads $25 Million Investment in Coinbase

Get ready for a lot more venture capital flowing into bitcoin-related startups, starting … now!

Simulmedia’s Investors Bet $25 Million More on Smart TV Ads (Video)

Web video ads are interesting, but TV ads are huge. Guess which market Dave Morgan is interested in?

Google Ventures Bets on Mobile Ad Startup YieldMo

Serial entrepreneur Michael Yavonditte’s latest venture gets a vote of confidence, and a check, from a company that knows something about ads.

News Byte

GroupMe Co-Founder Steve Martocci Launches Music Collaboration Startup Splice

Steve Martocci, who co-founded messaging service GroupMe in 2010 and sold it to Skype in 2011, has a new project: Splice. The service, co-founded by Matt Aimonetti, is supposed to let musicians collaborate on projects and share the results with fans. Union Square Ventures’ Andy Weissman led a $2.75 million seed round, along with other investors including True Ventures, Lerer Ventures and SV Angel.

VHX Raises $3 Million More for Its Sell-It-Yourself Video Service

Union Square and William Morris back a direct-to-fan site that wants to take on iTunes and Amazon.
VHX Aziz Ansari

News Byte

As It Tries to Revamp the Mobile Addressbook, Brewster Sees Staff Turnover

Brewster, a small startup that makes a year-old iPhone contacts app, lost a significant portion of its staff this year, as Business Insider first reported today. “I have nothing but more confidence in what we’re going after. It’s just really hard,” said Brewster founder Steve Greenwood today, noting that “most of the people who were with us before are no longer with us today.” Commented investor Fred Wilson of Union Square Ventures, “Sometimes change is for the best.”

Apple, Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Twitter and Others Call for More NSA Transparency

The alliance includes 63 companies, investors, non-profits and trade organizations.

News Byte

SigFig Raises $15 Million From Union Square Ventures and Bain Capital Ventures

Investment advice startup SigFig has raised a $15 million Series B round led by Union Square Ventures and Bain Capital Ventures, the company announced today. Prior investor DCM also participated. SigFig users upload information about their investment portfolios to get advice and recommendations about high fees and bad investments. The company has also started to work with media companies such as CNN and USA Today on partnerships that utilize its aggregate investment data. USV’s John Buttrick will join the startup’s board.

No End-Zone Dance for Tumblr Investor Fred Wilson

You can count on it — when a deal works out spectacularly everyone involved will take credit for it. This behavior is particularly annoying to the entrepreneurs who put the sweat, blood, and tears into the Company.

“Union Square Ventures’ Fred Wilson, one of Tumblr’s earliest investors, celebrating the Yahoo deal without celebrating

10gen Promotes Schireson to CEO Slot