I don’t think I’ve ever laughed out loud reading SEC filings until today, when I saw a filing from 500 Durians. What’s Dave up to now, naming a fund after a smelly fruit? The filings confirmed my suspicions, yes this is another fund run by 500 Startups founder Dave McClure, Continue Reading
Dave McClure is Raising $10M for Asia-Focused 500 Durians LP
Sulia Now Driving 6-Digit Traffic to Publishers, on Track to Hit 15-20 Million Uniques This Year
Thanks to Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr, cat photos and rants from angry aunts appear in the same feeds as shared recipes and world news. Sulia is changing that by introducing subject-based “channels†where users can consume media about a single topic like technology, politics, or food. Moving away from a Continue Reading
SpotRight Raises $2.8M for Social Customer Intelligence
According to a regulatory filing Boulder-based startup SpotRight has raised $2,870,889. The company previously raised $1M in funding in July 2012 from Grotech Ventures, Access Venture Partners and FFP Holdings, and also raised a $1.4M Series A from the same investors under its original name Giveo in January 2011. SpotRight Continue Reading
Wiggles of Hope: Yahoo Stock on the Rise, At Highest Point Since May 2008
If you invested in Yahoo the day before Marissa Mayer was announced as the new CEO you’re probably pretty happy right now. The price has climbed from $15.36 per share on July 15, 2012 to close at $26.58 today – a 73% gain. For long suffering employees with underwater stock Continue Reading
Project Decor Raises $5M for Social Home Decorating
In a regulatory filing Project Decor revealed they have raised $5M in venture capital, which includes investment from Launch Capital. The company was founded in September 2011, and previously raised $1.6M in March 2012. Project Decor is cofounded by Andy Appelbaum, Cliff Sirlin, and Aaron Wallace. CEO Appelbaum is a Continue Reading
In Race to Be First on Tumblr Acquisition by Yahoo, Wall Street Journal Publishes Questionable Headline
Update, Sunday May 19, 2013 @ 6:21pm: Some readers mentioned that they thought they’d read somewhere that Tumblr’s board had already approved the sale, but with hundreds of Tumblr news stories over the past few days we were struggling to track down a link where that was actually published. Now Continue Reading
The $3B+ Exit Tumblr Could Have Had
It’s all over the news, Yahoo! is in talks to acquire Tumblr. The popular blogging platform, which was founded in New York in 2007, has just a few months of cash left and hasn’t successfully monetized their platform fast enough to cover costs. To date investors have put $125M into Continue Reading
FrogDice, Whoozat, Skyword, AbilTo, Privlo, EnglishHelper, Variable Technologies & Intradiem Raise New Funding
Every day dozens of companies file their funding rounds with the SEC, but often these stories go uncovered by the mainstream tech press until they receive a pitch. These filings are public, and often quite interesting if you’re willing to dig into the names of the directors to see what’s Continue Reading
Past Performance is No Guarantee of Future Results
Past performance does not guarantee future results for startups, venture capitalists, accelerator programs, the media, individual founders, or any other part of the startup ecosystem. On the mission to see into the future, there is a tendency to over value the information and lessons of the past. With 20/20 hindsight Continue Reading
New 500 Startups Batch Announced. Who Has the Most Momentum?
500 Startups announced the non-stealth participants in their current batch today in a TechCrunch article, and while they’ve kindly put them in alphabetical order… you probably know by now that’s not how I roll. I’ve been tracking many of these companies for awhile now and will certainly start tracking those Continue Reading