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New Media News Every Morning

Zillow.com raises $30 million in funding

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zillow.jpgReal estate web site Zillow.com today announced a $30 million Series C round of funding led by global asset management firm Legg Mason Capital Management. The funds will support expansion of Zillow’s staff of 155 employees, including a 20-person national advertising sales team. The capital also allows the company to fund an accelerated timetable of products and features for homeowners, buyers, sellers, real estate professionals and advertisers.

In just 18 months since its launch, Zillow.com has become one of the largest real estate web sites in the country, with 4.4 million unique users in August 2007. Zillow provides data, information and community features around all homes – more than 70 million – not just those on the market today. In fact, nearly 40 percent of all U.S. homes have been searched on Zillow. In the past year, Zillow has launched a number of community features, with the Zillow community now making more than 25,000 contributions to the site every day, including Home Q&A, home and neighborhood photos, and homeowners claiming and updating their own home’s page.

Originally posted on September 20, 2007 @ 9:47 am

Docstoc secures Series A funding

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docstoc.jpgDocstoc today announced its Series A financing. The round was lead in part by Scott Walchek the early stage VC in Baidu.com, Brett Brewer one of the co-founders of Intermix Media the parent company of MySpace.com, and Robin Richards the founding president of MP3.com. The amount was undisclosed.

Docstoc.com is an online community where users can store, search, and share professional documents. The highly anticipated site, currently in private beta, has attracted serious attention from technophiles, social networking authorities, and investors alike. Docstoc lets users share any document type– including MS Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Adobe Illustrator, and PDF, but will launch with a different take than previously attempted by other social networks.

Originally posted on September 14, 2007 @ 6:06 pm

Metacafe secures $30 million in Series C financing

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metacafe.jpgMetacafe, whose more than 25 million unique viewers each month make it one of the world’s largest video sites, announced it has raised $30 million in Series C financing. The round was led by new investors Highland Capital Partners and DAG Ventures. Existing investors Accel Partners and Benchmark Capital also participated.

“Metacafe is defining the next generation of online video, moving away from simple video sharing and hosting to delivering an exceptional entertainment experience for short-form content,” said Richard de Silva, Partner, Highland Capital Partners. “Its sophisticated approach to audience-driven programming is unique in the industry.”

“Over the past four years Metacafe has built a large and global audience, which has grown quite significantly throughout 2007,” said Tom Goodrich, Partner, DAG Ventures. “We expect the growth to continue as Metacafe rolls out new ways of tapping its community to customize the viewing experience for audience members in different regions around the world.”

The money raised will be used to support the company’s continued global growth, including expanding the breadth and depth of content – from emerging video creators through the Producer Rewards program and through partnerships with established media companies.

With their firms’ investments, both Richard de Silva of Highland Capital Partners and Tom Goodrich of DAG Ventures will join the Metacafe board of directors. With the close of this round, co-founder Arik Czerniak will step away from day-to-day operations to pursue other entrepreneurial endeavors but will remain on the board and continue to advise the company on strategic matters.

Originally posted on August 21, 2007 @ 1:14 pm

Exclusive social network connects accredited investors

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fundinguniverse.jpgA social network for investors, launched by FundingUniverse, will connect like-minded investors in an invite-only online community.



“We are very excited about this product as it will be a place for like-minded angels and VCs to connect, collaborate, and syndicate deals,” Brock Blake, FundingUniverse CEO explains. “Many investors belong to business or social networks; however, before now, there has not been a network created exclusively for them.”



The exclusive network will be open only to those investors who have been invited to participate. The network has already generated buzz in the investment community. In just two weeks, over 45 of the countries top investors accepted invitations to the network.

Trent Miskin, FundingUniverse CTO and lead developer on the project, explains the network was created to assist investors in locating Dealflow that matches the investor’s investment preferences while connecting investors with other investors.

“In our experience investors enjoy collaborating with one another,” Miskin said. “Investors can now discuss deal flow, ask investment questions, or just get to know investors across the nation through the use of this user-friendly network.”
 

Originally posted on August 15, 2007 @ 3:40 pm

AmieStreet.com gets funding from Amazon

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amie.jpgAmieStreet.com, a new digital music store with a unique demand-based pricing system, announced the completion of its Series A financing led by Amazon.com, Inc.

AmieStreet.com is the first digital music store propelled by social networking, where members of the community drive the discovery, promotion and pricing of music. All songs on AmieStreet.com start at a price of zero cents. As more people download a song the price rises, capping at $0.98.

For recommending their favorite songs to their friends, members are rewarded by receiving credit for the purchase of additional music on AmieStreet.com. The more popular a song becomes after a member has recommended it, the more credit he or she receives to spend on music.

“AmieStreet.com grew from the idea that we needed to make buying music social and fun. The Amie Street community took over from there, driving a shift toward a music marketplace where consumers decide what is popular and what music is worth. We’re thrilled to have Amazon.com’s support in empowering music consumers,” said AmieStreet.com’s co-founder and CEO Elliott Breece.

The amount of Amazon’s investment and the terms are not disclosed.

Originally posted on August 6, 2007 @ 7:40 am