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U.S. Venture Funds Raised $7.7 Billion In First Quarter, Highest Influx In A Decade
Apr 11, 12:40PM
U.S. venture capital firms raised more money last quarter than in any period since 2001. The total raised for new funds was $7.7 billion, according to Dow Jones LP Source. The capital going into VC funds was up 97 percent from a year ago, when they raised $3.9 billion. (Venture capital funds benefited from an overall influx of money into U.S. private equity funds overall, which attracted a total of $31.6 billion in the quarter, up from $13.5 billion a year ago). Institutional investors and limited partners are putting more money into ventre capital, but are concentrating their bets in fewer, higher-quality funds. The money from limited partners, however, was not spread willy-nilly. Only 25 funds tracked by Dow Jones were able to raise money, the smallest number since 2003. 
Level 3 To Acquire Global Crossing For $3 Billion In Stock
Apr 11, 12:03PM
Level 3 Communications has acquired IP solutions and networking provider Global Crossing. The transaction is valued at $23.04 per share, or approximately $3 billion, including the assumption of approximately $1.1 billion of net debt from Global Crossing. The deal was an all-stock transaction. Global Crossing's networking platform offers businesses VPN, leased lines, audio and video conferencing, long distance telephone, managed services, dialup, colocation and VoIP services. Global Crossing's network is currently being used by 40 percent of Fortune 500 companies, as well as 700 carriers, mobile operators and ISPs.
WorkSnug Secures Funding, Locates Nine Angels
Apr 11, 11:44AM
WorkSnug, the location-based service for mobile workers, has raised £110k in funding from nine UK-based Angel investors. Yes, you read that correct, nine separate investors, which seems a little extreme for what from the outside looks like a seed round. However, in actual fact, WorkSnug has generated revenue almost from the get-go through partnerships with Plantronics, Cisco, Skype and, most recently, HP. Having launched its app globally over a year ago, the London-based startup is only now taking funding in order to step on the gas as it were by launching on more mobile platforms (beyond iPhone and BlackBerry) and broadening its offering. Interestingly, this could include helping mobile workers not just locate places to co-work and other resources but, eventually, people. Thus unlocking the serendipitous or dare I say temporal social networks that potentially exist in places frequented by mobile workers hunched over laptops. It's not hard to imagine how that could create all sorts of exciting opportunities.
Huddlebuy, The 'Groupon-For-Small Businesses', Raises £350K In Angel Funding
Apr 11, 11:12AM
Is there no end to the group buying craze? It seems not and today news comes that Huddlebuy, the 'Groupon for small businesses', has raised £350,000 in Angel funding. Those that participated in the round include Alex Chesterman, co-founder of LoveFilm and Zoopla, and well-known Angel Sherry Coutu. UK-based Huddlebuy is founded by Per Larsen (ex-Apple), Chieu Cao (ex-Microsoft) and Saurav Chopra (ex-Deloite/Yahoo!) and like a typical group buying site, offers discounts - this time aimed at small businesses - through the so-called power of group buying, which in reality is achieved through a sprinkling of economies of scale supported by a heavy dose of social media marketing as offers are designed to go viral.
Kiip Is An Entirely New Mobile Ad Model: Real Life Rewards For In-Game Achievements
Apr 11, 6:59AM
Kiip, the seven month-old mobile startup, is finally coming out of stealth today and revealing an entirely new model for mobile in-game advertising, one that offers users value instead of fighting for their attention. Going beyond the banner and text ads used by industry leaders iAd and AdMob, the team behind Kiip has thought long and hard about the way people actually play games and has come to conclusion that the moments when players experience in-game achievements like upping a level, completing a challenge or accumulating a certain number of points are the most valuable in terms of providing the most user engagement.
Peter Thiel: We're in a Bubble and It's Not the Internet. It's Higher Education.
Apr 11, 4:45AM
Fair warning: This article will piss off a lot of you. I can say that with confidence because it's about Peter Thiel. And Thiel - the PayPal co-founder, hedge fund manager and venture capitalist - not only has a special talent for making money, he has a special talent for making people furious. Some people are contrarian for the sake of getting headlines or outsmarting the markets. For Thiel, it's simply how he views the world. Of course a side benefit for the natural contrarian is it frequently leads to things like headlines and money. 
Adobe And Zend Launch Flash Builder 4.5 For PHP Development
Apr 11, 4:00AM
Adobe and Zend Technologies, the PHP distribution company, are announcing Flash Builder 4.5 for PHP software, a new integrated product aimed at helping PHP developers create rich Internet applications for mobile, Web and desktop leveraging the Flash Platform. Zend, which has been working with Adobe since 2008, offers its own distribution of PHP, the popular open-source scripting language for Web applications, and sells software and support services around the language. 
Dave McClure On 500 Startups: "If Sequoia Is The Yankees, We're The Oakland A's"
Apr 11, 3:37AM
After 500 Startups Demo Day on Thursday, I sat down to talk to investor Dave McClure about the strategy and vision behind the early stage seed fund and accelerator program, which he hopes will eventually encompass 500 actual startups (currently the portfolio is at around 110). In the interview McClure talks about the perfect formula for a startup (hacker + hustler + designer) and why the three Ds -- Design, Data and Distribution -- are important for young companies. He says that the fund basically makes its $25K to $250K bets on companies with simple revenue models, "Things that are easily understood and make money." 
War, What Is It Good For? Three Points!
Apr 11, 3:24AM
"When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things." - Corinthians 13:11
Can't Build A Real Startup? Play The 'Startup Fever' Boardgame
Apr 10, 10:31PM
There's actually quite a few options for wannabe-founders looking to live vicariously through this current startup explosion: A) You can read TechCrunch and hash out whether or not a product will succeed in the comments section. B) You can hang out on Hacker News, lauding people who have dropped out of school to build a startup and voting up articles that basically amount to entrepreneurship porn. C) You can engage in the intense debates surrounding questions about startups on Quora, despite having no startup experience yourself.
InPulse Adds A Smartphone-Like Experience To Your Wrist Watch
Apr 10, 9:10PM
Mobile phones have evolved into smartphones because these devices have basically become computers in the form of a cell phone. Besides browsing, one of the key components that make smartphones as interactive as a computer are the apps that can be used within the device. And it's interesting to consider how we can add this element of computing and interactivity to other gadgets we use in everyday life. Today, Y Combinator-backed startup InPulse is launching its wrist watch, which adds elements of smartphone-like computing to a watch. Founder Eric Migicovsky says that he is a avid cyclist and wanted a way to check his email, SMS messages and calls in a hands free devices. Using a smartphone on his trips didn't make sense because he wasn't able to actually use his hands while cycling. So he started thinking about how he could add smartphone capabilities to a watch, which he always wore when exercising. Thus, InPulse was born.
Larry's Turn
Apr 10, 8:17PM
John Lennon would have loved Twitter, Yoko is said to have revealed. Certainly she would have the inside track on this, especially if she had insisted on it. But what I want to know is whether Hendrix would have loved GarageBand, or would Miles have preferred Android over iPhone. It's open, man... We'll never know what the Gettysburg Address would have looked like after surviving auto-correct. Or what Hitler might have done with GPS. By the looks of Techmeme this weekend, we don't even have a shot at what is happening right now. Instead, we have Larry Page's first day at his second take as Google CEO. Stuck inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues again. 
How Worried Are Consumers about Privacy?
Apr 10, 5:52PM
The need to protect consumer privacy online has been in the spotlight lately, more than ever. In February the U.S. Senate created a new Judiciary Subcommittee on Privacy, Technology and the Law, which will be chaired by Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn. AdWeek quoted Franken <a href="">saying , "The boom of new technologies over the last several years has made it easier to keep in touch with family, organize a community and start a business. It has also put an unprecedented amount of personal informationinto the hands of large companies that are unknown and unaccountable to theAmerican public." This has been fueled in large part by the scrutiny of Facebook. A Wall Street Journal piece in October 2010 provided details about the controversy, which stemmed from concerns that application developers were gathering information about Facebook users – and their friends – then selling that information to advertiser
Gillmor Gang 4.10.11 (TCTV)
Apr 10, 4:46PM
The Gillmor Gang — Robert Scoble, Doc Searls, Kevin Marks, Andrew Keen, and Steve Gillmor — dive deep into the reasons why Google has its work cut out for it in the fight for social credibility. @scobleizer thinks it's because the engineers of the search startup don't understand the value of wasting time. Doc Searls, who arrived late in the show due to a failure to understand how clocks waste time, thinks there's room for failing at social. In a week where Netflix paid a million dollars per episode for the full Monty of seven seasons of Mad Men, the new challenger to HBO and Showtime puts a price tag on the value of the model formerly known as the rerun. British philosopher and TCTV interviewer Andrew Keen agrees with In The Plex author Steven Levy that Google's future lies with mastering Artificial Intelligence. Watch for a secret revealed about new CEO Larry Page. Hint: he doesn't need a microwave.
The New Information Age
Apr 10, 2:00PM
LinkedIn Founder Reid Hoffman said, recently, "that if Web 1.0 involved go search, get data and some limited interactivity, and if Web 2.0 involves real identities and real relationships, then Web 3.0 will be real identities generating massive amounts of data." Reid is a visionary and certainly had this right. But the information that Reid described is just the tip of the iceberg. We are already gathering a thousand times more data than that. The growth is exponential, and the innovation opportunities are even bigger than Silicon Valley can imagine they are. I'm going to explain why I believe this. But let me start with a short history lesson.
The d.Fund Founder Enrique Allen: Innovation Will Take A Different Breed Of Designer
Apr 10, 4:36AM
Earlier this week 500 Startups announced the creation of The d.fund, a designer-centric fund with the aim of increasing the number of startups co-founded by people who have design experience. As quite a few startups like Tumblr, YouTube, Android and Flickr have achieved success because of their designer founders, d.fund founder and 500 Startups designer Enrique Allen wants to foster a community that replicates their success. 
I'm Having A Party. Here's $50. Bring Cool People — Or You Owe Me $100.
Apr 10, 2:36AM
Think about the best parties you've ever been to. They're probably not thrown by some random promoter that you found via a flyer on the street. They're probably thrown by your friends, or a friend of a friend. And they probably came together organically. Or at least more organically than a party you pay for. I've been thinking about this a lot this week following the news that Google is tying all employee bonuses this year to their social strategy. At first I thought this was a joke. It is not. They dance around the word "social" in the wording in the memo, but make no mistake: that's exactly what this is all about. "[Your bonus] can range from 0.75 to 1.25 depending on how well we perform against our strategy to integrate relationships, sharing and identity across our products." Social.
Ad.ly Versus Facebook: Something Doesn't Add Up
Apr 09, 11:31PM
Earlier this week we heard whispers that Facebook was clamping down on Ad.ly and Crowdrally — two services that let users post sponsored updates to their Facebook Pages. This is important, because the companies are monetizing Facebook Page feeds, which is something that Facebook presumably would prefer to do itself. Inquiries to speak to both companies went unanswered. Then, this morning, Ad.ly posted an update to its blog stating that it has "complied with Facebook's request to no longer offer celebrity endorsements on Facebook." A report on MediaMemo expanded on the news, and we've spoken to both Facebook and Ad.ly founder Sean Rad to get to the bottom of what's going on. The only problem: both sides are directly contradicting each other.
(Founder Stories) Right Media's Mike Walrath: "I Was Never Qualified For Any Job I Got In My Life"
Apr 09, 7:34PM
Mike Walrath "was supposed to write novels." Instead, he got int digital ad sales, started Right Media, which became an online ad exchange that he sold to Yahoo in 2007 for $850 million. In this Founder Stories video, he answers some rapid fire questions from host Chris Dixon about startup advice, hiring, and investing. "Don't try to solve a problem that you don't fully understand," he warns would-be entrepreneurs. He speaks from experience, having dabbled in the broken independent film industry after he left Yahoo. Now, the startup world is pulling him back in. He recently became the chairman of Yext, and is involved with some smaller projects as well. Walrath admits, "I was never qualified for any job I got in my life." But the most important thing is to keep on learning. His No. 1 piece of hiring advice for startup CEOs is to figure put how fast a candidate can learn new things.
OMG/JK: Google "Open", Google Re-Org, Google Social
Apr 09, 7:13PM
This week's episode of OMG/JK is all-Google, all the time. Given the big shakeup at the top of the search giant (with co-founder Larry Page taking over the CEO role this week), it should be no surprise that a lot of interesting things are happening. But even more interesting is how things are shaking out. The "open" debate has been kicked up a notch, there's been a huge re-organization, and the big push towards a more social Google is finally beginning.
Foursquare Wants To Help Google Employees Get Massive Counteroffers, Too
Apr 09, 5:59PM
Foursquare CEO Dennis Crowley says he wants to do his part in helping Google employees get their FUM Counteroffers from Google, too (that's what we're calling them now, FUM Counteroffers, you can figure it out). He writes: >> "If you're a Google employee and you aren't out interviewing at Facebook, Twitter or Zynga you are a moron." what about foursquare, brother?!
Paypal Is About To Get A Bruising From Facebook And Square
Apr 09, 4:00PM
2011 is going to be a big year for payments, with more startups and mature companies getting funded in the space than almost ever before. It's important to make the distinction between the headline chasers, the slow moving giants struggling for a piece of the pie and the companies that have a chance at real disruption. For my money Facebook and Square are both very interesting companies to follow in this space. In my last post on TechCrunch I discussed Google and Apple and their efforts around payments, and explained why I don't yet think they are serious players for the whole payments pie. The post ended with some ideas around what serious contenders could look like, and who are other potential large companies that could step into user-to-user payments. I'd like to expand on that, looking at how the companies above might take advantage of chinks in Paypal's armor (disclosure: my consulting company, Analyzd, has done a project with Square in the past).
Facebook Comments: What's Easy Isn't Always Right
Apr 09, 2:00PM
Editor's note: Jordan Kretchmer is the founder of Livefyre, a realtime commenting and conversation platform for publishers and online communities. He doesn't think much of Facebook comments. In this guest post, he explains why. I'm not gonna lie, I hate Facebook Comments. It's not just because it competes with my company's product (though I'm sure that has something to do with it). It goes much deeper than that. And I am not alone. I'm a bit biased, I admit, but I think we have to look beyond the feature-set of Facebook to grasp the impact that one line of javascript could have on a site's community, and more importantly the entire web. This post tries to unpack the many places where Facebook fails those who adopt the commenting platform as a cure-all to bring community back to their content.
Why British Geeks Can't Bear To Look A Gift Horse In The Mouth
Apr 09, 9:26AM
Last week the UK's Technology Strategy Board, run by the government as a booster of the tech business world, unveiled a new £1m fund to support "digital businesses" in the small area around Old Street and Shoreditch in East London (known as 'Silicon Roundabout'). The announcement was badly handled as it lacked detail. But instead of asking for more detail (and getting it), the tech community has let loose with both barrels. Why, asks Daniel Tenner, the founder of GrantTree and Woobius (a collaboration hub for architects), is this? He also blogs on swombat.com. You can follow him on Twitter here. The questioner, looking nonchalant but determined, was in his thirties, held a small black dog in his lap and wore thin spectacles. "I have a question. What's in it for the taxpayers? Who's going to be assessing entries and how are they qualified to do that?" There was a chuckle from the audience, at the obviously antagonistic question. I muttered to the person next to me, "Talk about looking a gift horse in the mouth!"
Silicon South Africa: Google Launches Incubator For African Startups
Apr 09, 4:53AM
Google has announced that it will be launching a startup incubator in Cape Town, South Africa, called Umbono. The incubator aims to support the local tech ecosystem in South Africa by offering local startups access to seed capital, Google mentorship, and angel investors. Umbono will focus on web and mobile-based startups building solutions to local problems, which also have regional appeal, in an effort to help them "transform their ideas into companies", according to Google SA country manager Luke Mckend. Fittingly, "umbono" happens to be the very Zulu word for "vision" or "idea".
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