venture

News Byte

TasteMakerX Raises $1.8M for Mobile Social App Platform

Kara Swisher in Social on February 8 at 3:00 am PT

TastemakerX, a San Francisco start-up that is developing a social mobile platform focused on “targeted taste graphs,” said it had raised $1.8 million in funding from a variety of venture firms, including Guggenheim Partners, Baseline Ventures, True Ventures and Tekton Ventures, as well as angel investors. The company said it will release its TastemakerX Music mobile app as a private beta in early March 2012.

Andreessen & Horowitz on Monster $1.5B Fund: Software (And Giant VCs) Ready to Chomp Everything!

Kara Swisher in News on January 31 at 11:23 am PT

Memo to the world from Silicon Valley power-VCs: You look good enough to eat.

What Bubble? Andreessen Horowitz Raises $1.5 Billion Mega-Fund, Its Third.

Kara Swisher in News on January 31 at 7:05 am PT

How green is Silicon Valley? Very, it seems.

Making Sure the Next Zuckerberg or Gates Stays Put at Harvard

Kara Swisher in News on January 27 at 3:40 pm PT

Earlier today, Harvard University and New Enterprise Associates announced the Experiment Fund, aimed at making sure that future entrepreneurs can stay on campus and innovate without having to head West.

Opening the Floodgates: Talking Investing with VC Mike Maples (Video)

Ina Fried in News on January 23 at 1:15 pm PT

In a conversation at last week’s Founder Showcase in Mountain View, the venture capitalist offered some good advice, mixed in with surfing metaphors galore.

Sarah Lacy Debuts New Tech Site, PandoDaily — $2M+ in Funding and Guess Who’s Working for Her? (Video)

Kara Swisher in Media on January 16 at 9:00 am PT

Here’s the brave woman who will be the new boss of Michael Arrington, M.G. Siegler and Paul Carr. (You read that right.)

Sequoia Grabs Googler to Head New Comms Role Aimed at Helping Entrepreneurs

Kara Swisher in News on December 29, 2011 at 12:22 pm PT

The move to beef up communications expertise at the prominent Silicon Valley venture firm continues.

News Byte

AOL PR Exec Hollars Becomes Andreessen Horowitz PR Partner

Kara Swisher in News on December 12, 2011 at 6:17 pm PT

After the departure of AOL exec Brad Garlinghouse, it’s probably no surprise that his longtime public relations exec Kiersten Hollars would be next to go. And she is indeed leaving to take a job as a PR partner at Silicon Valley venture firm Andreessen Horowitz. She’ll be reporting to marketing partner Margit Wennmachers there.

Former Palm and Twitter Techie Mike Abbott Jumps From EIR at Benchmark to Kleiner Partner

Kara Swisher in News on December 1, 2011 at 11:00 am PT

Well, that didn’t last long, Mike, but maybe the food was better at 2750 Sand Hill Road than at 2480 Sand Hill Road.

Marc Andreessen vs. Reid Hoffman in Yahoo Savior Face-Off? Not Yet. (But Delicious to Imagine.)

Kara Swisher in News on December 1, 2011 at 2:23 am PT

Whoa, Nelly! How fantastic would it be for Silicon Valley tech legends Marc Andreessen and Reid Hoffman to battle for control of Yahoo? Too fantastic to actually happen. But one can hope.