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Reply.com Acquires Marketing Network For Small Businesses MerchantCircle For $60 Million
May 26, 3:12PM
Ad network Reply has acquired online marketing network for small business owners MerchantCircle for $60 million in cash and stock. The transaction is expected to be completed in Q3 2011. Merchant Circle provides a business directory for merchants in smaller towns and currently lists over a million small businesses. MerchantCircle has long targeted merchants in small locales versus catering towards the consumers, as sites like Yelp and CitySearch do. MerchantCircle has local business members in 95% of the 24,600 U.S. cities and towns with populations over 200. The company also acquired Bloglines from IAC late last year. 
Raptr, The Social Gaming Network, Launches First Personalized News Feed For Gamers
May 26, 3:07PM
There are a lot of companies out there trying to leverage the social graph to make discovering new products, services, or tools -- whatever the case may be -- easier and more personalized. But, when it comes to games, few do it better than Raptr. For those unfamiliar with the company, Raptr is a social network that revolves around gaming, which allows users to keep tabs on what their friends are doing throughout the gaming world, offering recommendations for games to play, accomplishment updates, and a host of other features. One of Raptr's coolest features is its multi-protocol chat client that allows gamers to see what games their friends are playing in realtime, whether they're on PS3, Xbox 360, or PC (including casual Flash games, Steam and Xfire) — even if they don't have Raptr accounts. If one of your friends is online and playing a game, for example, you can send messages to them from the Raptr client regardless of which platform they're on.
WePay Adds Event Ticketing To Hassle-Free Group Payments Platform
May 26, 2:57PM
WePay, a Y Combinator backed startup that aims to take the hassle out of group paying, is unveiling a new ticketing feature that allows users to sell tickets online for events. As we've written in our previous coverage of WePay, the service is a dead simple way to collect, manage and spend money for groups. On WePay, you can create a unique, FDIC insured account for each group. While the account is still associated with your name, but you can keep each group account totally separate from your personal transactions. Group money can essentially be kept separate from any individual accounts you may have. You can also designate specific individuals to have control over accounts.
Google Releases Update To Maps 5.5 For Android
May 26, 2:35PM
Yesterday at TechCrunch Disrupt NYC, Marissa Mayer, Google's location boss, projected that Google Maps would be accessed more by mobile than PC by 2012, so it's no surprise that the search giant has enhanced its Maps app for Android, with an update to version 5.5. 
Zozi Raises $7 Million To Let You Swim With Sharks – And More – At A Discount
May 26, 1:59PM
Exclusive - Zozi has landed $7 million in Series B financing from existing investors, TechCrunch has learned. The startup, which offers deals on unique local things to do, raised capital from LaunchCapital, the Pritzker/Vlock Family Office, 500Startups, ZIG Capital, Thomas & Peter Lehrman, David Tisch and others. The round brings the total of funding raised by the San Francisco startup to $10 million - the $3 million Series A round was secured back in August 2010.
No Spotify Inside Facebook, Two Record Labels Still Needed For US Launch
May 26, 1:03PM
There has been some interesting speculation regarding the relationship between hot (at least in Europe) music streaming service Spotify and gargantuan social platform Facebook. Now Forbes is reporting that Facebook has partnered with Spotify on a streaming service that "could be launched in as little as two weeks" via a Spotify icon in a user's newsfeed. However, our sources are pouring ice cold water on the idea. The reasons are thus: Even through Spotify is doing very well on its home turf of Sweden... and has launched in Finland, France, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain and the UK - it has yet to launch in the US. And a launch in the next two weeks looks highly optimistic. Our sources say the reason is that Spotify has in fact secured two big unnamed record labels - but needs two more labels to come on board before it can launch in the US. 
mSpot's RadioSpotter Adds A Pandora-Like Experience To Your Music Collection
May 26, 1:00PM
Mobile entertainment startup mSpot is launching a new feature for its cloud music service today—Radio Spotter. mSpot lets you upload your music to the cloud, after which it can be streamed from a multitude of devices, ranging from PCs, Macs, to the iPhone, iPad and Android. Radio Spotter matches the songs you're playing from your personal online music collections to music playing on hundreds of radio stations across the web. You can also select Internet radio stations you'll like, based on music genres or your own artist searches. Radio Spotter puts the metadata in your music collection to work by matching whatever you're listening to, and offers new recommendations based on your changing preferences. 
Online Shopping Startup ProjectSlice Raises $9.4 Million From Eric Schmidt, Michael Birch And Others
May 26, 12:45PM
Stealthy startup Project Slice is launching to the public today and announcing a $9.4 million Series A funding round led by DCM and Lightspeed Venture Partners with Michael Birch, FLOODGATE, Eric Schmidt's Innovation Endeavors and Rick Thompson participating. ProjectSlice aims to help you organize your online shopping by analyzing your inbox. It's sort of like what TripIt does for your itineraries, except ProjectSlice tracks receipts, notices and purchases. The startup is launching a free app called "All My Purchases" for Yahoo Mail that will help keep your shopping information organized and accessible. 
Amazon Repeats $0.99 Deal On Lady Gaga Album, Says Servers Won't Melt This Time
May 26, 7:26AM
Earlier this week, Amazon offered the new album from superstar Lady Gaga, 'Born This Way', for a mere $0.99 in an effort to get people to discover its recently launched Cloud Drive / Player service. Only problem was that the offer was so good that it quickly put quite some strain on Amazon's infrastructure. Well, the company wants to make amends by repeating the offer today.
And The Winner Of TechCrunch Disrupt NYC Is…Getaround!
May 25, 11:27PM
Three days and 32 startup pitches later, the winner of TechCrunch Disrupt has been determined. Out of the 30 startups and two audience choice winners, we whittled the list down to six finalists, which include Billguard, ccLoop, Do@, Getaround, InvoiceASAP, and Sonar. Without further ado, the two runners-up are Billguard and Sonar (that's the first time we've had two runners-up). And the winner is....Getaround! Getaround is a car rental market place where you can rent a car by the day, hour or week through a smartphone app. Getaround's all inclusive package, which includes insurance, 24 hour roadside assistance, a Getaround car-kit, iPhone app and a web app makes it easy for people to conveniently car share anywhere. The company's founder said today that currently the startup has signed up 1,600 cars for sharing since its launch yesterday, which is 20 percent of car-sharing giant Zipcar's fleet of 8,000 cars. 
Amen: Plazes Founder And First Twitter Engineer Team Up For Mysterious Startup
May 25, 10:43PM
Looking for a startup with a healthy dollop of hubris, a sense of humor, and a shroud of secrecy? Meet Amen, a company that claims to be offering "the best job in the world". At this point we don't know much about the startup aside from a few things: it has a very solid founding team, and it has something to do with strongly voicing opinions. The company's founders include Florian Weber, a very early Twitter employee who played a major role in that company's creation (to the point that he has been called a forgotten cofounder). Amen also includes Felix Petersen, who formerly founded Plazes, which was acquired by Nokia in 2008. Rounding out the roster are Caitlin Winner (MIT, Nokia) and Ricki Vester Gregersen (Input Squared).
Whoops: NFC Partner Spoils Google's Surprise Tomorrow. ViVOtech One Partner. Citibank Too?
May 25, 10:03PM
Google is holding an event tomorrow in New York City. While everyone seems to be aware that it's a partner event to announce the NFC strategy for their Android phones, Google has refused to confirm it. Well, they don't have to. One of their partners just did. We just got an email from the PR firm representing ViVOtech, wondering if we were going to the Google event tomorrow. They try to talk vaguely about "Google's latest innovations", but that doesn't matter. Just look at what ViVOtech does. They make NFC software.
Getaround Signed Up 1,600 Cars In A Day; That's 20 Percent Of Zipcar's Fleet
May 25, 9:54PM
TechCrunch Disrupt Battlefield finalist Getaround is already disrupting the current car sharing industry, only a day after its launch. As we wrote yesterday, GetAround is a car rental market place where you can rent a car by the day, hour or week through a smartphone app. Getaround's all inclusive package, which includes insurance, 24 hour roadside assistance, a Getaround car-kit, iPhone app and a web app makes it easy for people to conveniently car share any where. Today, the company's founder said that since its launch yesterday the startup has signed up 1,600 cars for sharing. That's 20 percent of car-sharing giant Zipcar's fleet of 8,000 cars. Impressive for a bootstrapped startup that has only been open to the public for a matter of hours. 
Arrington: Sonar (Which Took $250K To Build) Is Better Than Color Could Hope To Be
May 25, 9:40PM
At the TC Disrupt startup battlefield finals, after Sonar CEO's product demo (Sonar is an app that introduces you to the people relevant around you) TechCrunch editor Michael Arrington asked founder Brett Martin, how much he spent to build the service. When Martin replied that Sonar took around $250K to date to build, Arrington commented, "This is better now than Color could ever hope to be," looking at Sequoia investor Roelof Botha for comment or reaction. There was none. Sequoia invested about $25 million in Color's $41million Series A round.
Behold: TechCrunch Erupt In Iceland (Pictures)
May 25, 9:07PM
As some of you may have read, I was all set to step on a plane on Sunday to head to New York City for TechCrunch Disrupt. Then a giant volcano exploded. But being stranded in Iceland wasn't all bad. First of all, it's a beautiful country. Second, when some local entrepreneurs read about our misfortune, they got together and organized an event: TechCrunch Erupt. My friends and I headed over to the event on Monday for conversation, beer, and livestreaming of TechCrunch Disrupt from the U.S.
Live Blog: TechCrunch Disrupt Battlefield Finale
May 25, 8:30PM
We're live at the very final Battlefield of TechCrunch Disrupt New York, where six finalists are duking it out for $50,000 and the coveted Disrupt Cup. We'll be maintaining our live notes below — tune in to be the first to know who walks away victorious. 
4Chan Has 18M Uniques A Month, Canvas Participation Is Optional
May 25, 7:51PM
4Chan and Canvas founder Christopher Poole (Moot) took the stage to talk to Erick Schoenfeld about creating vibrant online communities. Poole revealed that that the eight-year-old 4Chan is averaging 8 million users according to Quantcast and 18 million users according to Google. Note: Poole says that the Google numbers used to be 14 million and shot up to 18 because of a recent Google Analytics tag change. Still impressive.
Google Maps For Mobile Crosses 200 Million Installs; In June It Will Surpass Desktop Usage
May 25, 7:45PM
Today at TechCrunch Disrupt in New York City, Google's Marissa Mayer sat down with our own Michael Arrington. She's an old pro dealing with Mike — she's actually been to every event we've ever put on. And she knows that as long as she has some new data to give him, he won't push on the other, more uncomfortable things he likes to push on. Or at least, he won't push as hard. As such, Mayer noted that Google Maps for mobile has now surpassed 200 million installs. And those are active users of the product. Perhaps even more amazing is that mobile constitutes over 40 percent of all Maps usage. And in June, Mayer says that she expects mobile will surpass the desktop version of Maps for good.
Absolute Must Watch: Office Hours With Paul Graham At TC Disrupt
May 25, 7:35PM
Today we tried something new at TechCrunch Disrupt: a special, on-stage office hour with Y Combinator cofounder Paul Graham. The goal was to reproduce the sessions that Graham and other YC partners hold with each of the startups who participate in Y Combinator — except the startups at Disrupt were getting sage advice in front of a few thousand people. And boy, was it awesome. Six companies were chosen at random from the TechCrunch Disrupt Startup Battlefield. Then, for six sessions of less than ten minutes each, Graham spoke with each startup founder to flesh out their idea, asking probing questions as he tried to figure out what they were setting out to do, and what they might need to change. Graham has a knack for being insightful and critical on his feet, and he doesn't require much background information to hone in on some of the pain points and weaknesses in a startup's idea (it's a skill that likely comes from practice, as he's held office hours with hundreds of YC companies). 
Qwiki Will Soon Let You Qwiki Yourself
May 25, 6:44PM
TechCrunch Disrupt winner and alum Qwiki took the stage today for an update on news from the startup. What makes Qwiki so compelling is its ability to generate media on the fly that combines text, audio, and animated photos. It presents information in a highly visual way, assembling photos and spoken text from Wikipedia and other sources to create visual guides to millions of topics. The company recently launched its iPad app in the App Store, and quickly gained an impressive number of downloads. And the company also raised $9 million in new funding. 
This Brammo Enertia Electric Motorcyle Was Just Spontaneously Given Away At Disrupt
May 25, 6:11PM
Enamored of the shiny orange Brammo Enertia electric motorcyle adorning the stage during the latest presentations here at Disrupt NYC, Michael Arrington decided that it should be given away. Never mind that it wasn't ours to give, and that we were already significantly over time. Once the idea took hold of his mind, he was not to be dissuaded, and after a short talk with Brammo CEO Craig Bramscher (conveniently present backstage following a panel on next-generation motoring), it was a done deal.
Borthwick: Paying Attention in the iPad Era
May 25, 5:29PM
With today's announcement by Twitter CEO Dick Costolo of the Tweetdeck acquisition, the shape of the next layer of micro messaging begins to come into focus. What BetaWorks CEO and co-founder John Borthwick was calling hypothetical yesterday when we talked backstage at TechCrunch Disrupt is now a fait accompli, if it wasn't already so then. He described how Betaworks was at work modeling a desktop multi-column Twitter UI when Tweetdeck founder Ian Dodsworth popped up with a working app to invest in. But when I tapped on my iPad, Borthwick called it the device that changed everything.
AdMob Ad Requests More Than Triple In Past Year; Debuts New Tablet Ad Formats
May 25, 5:00PM
It's been exactly one year since mobile ad network AdMob was officially acquired by Google for $750 million, after intense scrutiny of the deal by the FTC. Over the past year, Google has been working to integrate AdMob into the company, and clearly there have been some highs and lows. Today, As AdMob-Google turns one the search giant is announcing a number of new features and milestones for the ad network. Overall, AdMob traffic (Ad Requests) have grown more than 3.5 times in the last year. In April, AdMob saw over 2.7 billion ad requests a day globally, up from over 2 billion announced in January. There are over 80,000 mobile websites and apps in the AdMob network, up from over 50,000 in January. And 11 countries in the AdMob network generated more than a billion monthly ad requests in April 2011, up from just three countries a year ago. 
LoKast Relaunches Group Messaging App With Photo, Video, Music Sharing
May 25, 4:50PM
We've written previously about NearVerse's mobile app LoKast, a proximity based mobile social network. Today, the company is debuting a new version of its iOS app, which combines group messaging with location proximity and media sharing. On the app you can create spaces, which are visible by others within the app in the same physical place. These spaces essentially serve as min-social networks of sorts, where people can chat and share links, videos, images, music and more. Users can also make networks completely private. 
Kima, Morin And Brichter-Backed Sparrow 1.2 Is The World's First Social Email Client
May 25, 4:14PM
In four months simple Mac mail client Sparrow has been downloaded over 300K times, has raised $250K in funding from luminaries like Dave Morin and from Tweetie creator Loren Brichter. "We're not adding social layers mail for the sake of it," says CEO Dom Leca. The basic idea is pulling contextual information from your social network that is relevant to the users, and Leca is working on pulling in data for LinkedIn and Twitter. 
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