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Disruptive Web Security Startup Shape Security Nabs $20M From Venrock, Google Ventures, Kleiner, Eric Schmidt
Jan 07, 11:59AM
Shape Security, a company that wants to disrupt web security technology, has raised $20 million in Series B financing round led by Venrock, with participation from Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Allegis Capital, Google Ventures, Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt's TomorrowVentures and former Symantec CEO Enrique Salem. The new funding brings Shape's total amount raised to $26 million.Founder Of Aftermarket Ticket Exchange Seatwave Departs As CEO To Start 'Next Chapter'
Jan 07, 11:57AM
Six and a half years after starting the company, Joe Cohen, the founder of a aftermarket ticket exchange Seatwave, has announced that he is giving up the role of CEO to become non-executive Chairman. Interestingly, he departs from the top job before a successor has been found. Meanwhile, Louise Mullock, Seatwave's CMO, will act as interim CEO. In a canned statement, Cohen explains his departure as "time for me to open the next chapter in life", though he isn't yet saying what that may entail, citing the timing for the step down as allowing the company to "start fresh in 2013".As Demand For Tablets, Smartphones And Connected Screens Soars, Pure Play Devices Under Threat, Says Accenture
Jan 07, 11:41AM
Attention dumbphones, point-and-shoot cameras and music players: sorry to tell you this, but it looks like your days may be numbered. According to a new survey out from Accenture (embedded below and released to coincide with the CES show), consumers are moving away from buying "single-use" devices and opting instead for those that offer the ability to do many things, with smartphones (at 41% of respondents), PCs (36%), HDTVs (33%) and tablets (23%) topping the list of items consumers are most likely to buy in the next year.Ovuline Raises $1.4M From Lightbank, David Cohen And Others To Help Women Track Fertility And Pregnancy
Jan 07, 11:00AM
Ovuline, a company that helps women track their fertility and pregnancy online, has raised $1.4 million in seed financing led by Lightbank with participation from Launch Capital, LionBird and Techstars founder and CEO David Cohen.iHeartRadio Copies Songza's Music Concierge Feature With Its New Activity-Based "Perfect For" Playlist Finder
Jan 07, 10:00AM
Clear Channel's iHeartRadio launches a new feature today called "Perfect for." Available on iHeartRadio's website and in its mobile apps, the company has shamelessly copied Songza's popular music concierge feature. Every step of the user experience is exactly the same, which mainly means that Songza is doing something right.Paymill, The Samwer Stripe Clone, Raises $13M From Serial Rocket Internet Backer Holtzbrinck Ventures And New Investor Sunstone
Jan 07, 9:41AM
Paymill, the Rocket-Internet incubated online payments company that works like developer-friendly Stripe by offering users an API to quickly integrate card transactions, is today announcing that it has picked up €10 million ($13.2 million) in funding. Rocket regular Holtzbrinck Ventures participated, along with new investor Sunstone Capital, a backer of companies like Prezi and Trunk. Rocket has confirmed that this is the first time Sunstone has invested in a Rocket-backed company. The Rocket Internet spokesperson also tells me that to date, Paymill, which is active in 34 countries, has now raised funding in the region of “double digit million euros” — although, as is par for the course with many of the Samwer’s businesses, we don’t have an exact figure yet. Other investors in Paymill are Rocket Internet and RI Digital (another Rocket vehicle). The news comes as other Rocket businesses also continue to grow — among the most recent, fashion site Zalando has created a luxury goods spinoff, Emeza. I have also had a tip (along with others) that the Samwers may be looking to go public, although the company would not to comment on the report. Paymill says it will be using the new funds to expand its footprint in Europe and elsewhere, as well as further develop its technology. “The investments by Holtzbrinck Ventures and Sunstone Capital reinforce our leading innovative position in the European online payment market and will help us to continue our rapid growth,” said Mark Henkel, CEO of Paymill, in a statement. “Especially, we will use the funds to further improve our technical platform and to enhance our customer care. It's our goal that everyone can accept online payments fast and easily.” Like Stripe, which has been described as the “Twilio of payments” because integrating the payment service into an app or site is as easy as adding a line of code — making it possible for said app or site to then accept payments using major card networks at the touch of a button — Paymill has been building its service on the back of the rapid rise of native and web apps. Its charges are similar to those of Stripe — in Paymill’s case, a per-transaction fee of 28 euro cents, plus a one-time fee of 2.95% of the transaction amount. So far the two have not butted heads in any single market since Stripe is only in the U.S. and Canada, and Paymill is strongest inHTC Q4: Profits Slide To Just $34M For The Quarter, 91% Drop Year-On-Year — Its Lowest Profit Since 2004
Jan 07, 9:37AM
It was always clear Q4 would be difficult for HTC, as the company continues to struggle to make itself heard in a space dominated by its Android OEM rival Samsung, but exactly how difficult has been made clear today: the Taiwanese smartphone maker has posted its lowest profit in eight years, according to Bloomberg. Unaudited Q4 net income was $1 billion Taiwanese dollars ($34 million).Insta-Opportunism: Tadaa Sees 500K New Users, 3M Images Ported, Post-Instagram ToS Fall Out
Jan 07, 9:30AM
One company's stumble is another company's opportunity. And so it should be no surprise to see competing photo-sharing sites attempt to benefit from the very public Instagram Terms of Service fall out, even if it could be argued that it was a much to do about nothing. Enter: Tadaa, the iOS photo-sharing and editing app. After adding Instagram import just over two weeks ago, the Hamburg, Germany startup says that over 3 million photos have been ported from Facebook-owned Instagram. I'm also hearing that in the same period the app has picked up nearly 500,000 new users, bringing the total registered user base to just shy of 2 million. That's a pretty nice Xmas present from a competitor.Nvidia Outs Next-Gen Tegra 4 Quad-Core A15 LTE-Enabled Mobile Chip; Also Unboxes 'Project Shield': Open Gaming Handheld That Supports Android, PC Titles
Jan 07, 8:32AM
Nvidia has outed its next-gen Tegra 4 mobile CPU at CES. As expected, the chip packs 72 GPU cores, offering a 6x bump on the Tegra 3's graphics processing performance -- to make the most of higher resolution displays -- along with the first quad-core ARM Cortex-A15, to boost web browsing speed by 2.6x and deliver improved app performance. Also on board: LTE support.Roku Now Has 700 Channels, Including Time Warner Cable; Also Has 14 TV Manufacturers Compatible With Its Streaming Stick
Jan 07, 8:01AM
Roku is announcing at CES today a significant milestone both in the amount of content and the number of devices that are compatible with its USB-sized streaming stick. The company now has more than 700 channels of content its subscribers can choose from, as well as 14 device manufacturers making TVs that users can hook the streaming stick into.Facing Regulatory Heat, GREE Apologizes, Pledges Refunds After Over-Charging Minors
Jan 07, 7:51AM
About a year after it faced regulatory scrutiny for certain kinds of game mechanics, GREE said today that it accidentally overcharged minors in some of its free-to-play games. The Japanese gaming company, which has a market cap of $3.8 billion, said it charged several hundred minors more than the legal limit of 5,000 yen per month for players under 15 years of age and 10,000 yen per month for players between 16 and 19. The amount is pretty negligible — about 733 people were affected and the total amount was 28 million yen or about $322,000. Still, the incident shows how sensitive the company is as it battles a public image problem in its home market of Japan. GREE’s shares have suffered over the past year as tighter government scrutiny of free-to-play game mechanics has hurt the company’s profitability. The company’s shares have fallen about 43 percent from a year ago, as the government cracked down on kompu gacha, a slot-machine like mechanic that awards players items in a mobile game. If they collect them all, they get a grand prize. The crackdown affected GREE more dramatically than its rival DeNA. After posting several quarters of uninterrupted growth, the company’s profits actually declined year-over-year by 4 percent in the most recently reported quarter. This was because it could no longer rely on lucrative kompu gacha mechanics and because of the costs of the company’s expansion overseas, which has involved the $210 million acquisition of Funzio and the $104 million deal to buy OpenFeint. GREE said the error was discovered through a routine customer service check and that they’re fixing the software to prevent this from happening in the future.LEGO Mindstorms EV3: The Better, Faster, Stronger Generation Of Robotic Programming
Jan 07, 5:00AM
Lego is back with another generation of MindStorms, the company's consumer robotics line aimed at introducing application programming to a younger generation. Kids these days grow up with so much focus on the virtual self, but MindStorms works as a bridge to connect software programming with real-world, physical actions. The new kit includes directions for up to 17 different robots, most of which look like scary-style animals, such as snakes and scorpions.Sensus Case Adds Back And Side Touch Controls To The iPhone
Jan 07, 3:35AM
The Sensus Case is at CES 2013, and it brings touch controls to the iPhone that go way beyond the screen. Touch-sensitive panels on the back (which can detect 10 points of input at once) and sides of the case give it additional capabilities for gaming and apps, akin to what Sony has down with the back panel of the PlayStation Vita mobile console.No, We Were Not Trying To Trademark Rumor Sunday! ®
Jan 07, 3:22AM
You know, I love Aol. I seriously do. The company has some stellar health and dental benefits, and they brought Mike and MG back and there are definitely some individuals who work there that go above and beyond what's necessary in being thoughtful, generous and helpful (hello Trisha Dearborn, you saint you!). It is also pretty great to have someone, anyone, pay you to write about technology when you are obsessed with technology, and for that I am forever grateful: Don't tell Jay Kirsch, but I would probably do this job for free if I could make sure I'd have a roof over my head and ample feta cheese on my plate while doing so. Okay, not really.Hands-On With The Apex HD+ Goggles: Simple Video Streaming For Snowbunnies
Jan 07, 3:14AM
Now I'm hardly what you'd call an athlete, but I've often been sucked into a sport because of some of the gadgets involved (don't ask me how many fitness trackers I've bought since I started running). The recently released Apex HD+ goggles, which California-based Liquid Image was keen to show off here at CES Unveiled, is one of those gadgets -- skiers and snowboarders can use them to record video on the fly as they zip down the slopes.Belkin WeMo Light Switch Looks And Feels Like A Light Switch, But With Wi-Fi Control For $50
Jan 07, 2:32AM
The Belkin WeMo line is designed to bring Wi-Fi connected remote home automation to the masses, without expensive, whole home system upgrades. The existing WeMo outlet is a little bulky, but it makes it possible to remotely power on and off any device with a two or three-prong cord. Now, the company is debuting an in-wall switch to make controlling your lighting from an app or the web easier.Join Us Live From CES Unveiled, The First Official Event Of CES 2013 #CEScrunch
Jan 07, 1:30AM
CES 2013 is here! Join us live with the live video stream above and send us questions and comments with the hashtag #CEScrunch. Tonight, on a cool Sunday evening, CES 2013 officially kicks off in the bowels of the massive Mandalay Bay complex. It's CES Unveiled, a mini-Consumer Electronic Show upon itself.Hands On With Redbox Instant By Verizon: Not Really A Netflix Killer. But Then, What Is?
Jan 07, 12:00AM
Redbox's long-awaited streaming video service is almost here, thanks to a partnership with Verizon that was announced in July. I lucked out and got an invite to the service, which was launched in beta last month, and have played around with it a bit. Here's what you need to know about Redbox Instant and how it stacks up against the competition.Meet Mike Rothenberg, The 28-Year-Old Whose Seed Fund Could Be The Best Bang For Your Cap Table Buck
Jan 06, 11:30PM
When you're a rookie, you've got to hustle, and Mike Rothenberg is ready to bring some sweat to venture. Today he unveils his seed fund Rothenberg Ventures. With up to $5 million to invest, it's already backed eight startups and just led Chat Sports' $1 million seed round. Rothenberg's lean firm hopes to add big value with intros and advice for a chance to make small investments.Polar Demonstrates Exactly What To Do If Your App's User Base Is Becoming Too "Teen-Centric"
Jan 06, 11:00PM
It happens to the best of entrepreneurs: That service, app, or site that you set up finds an audience that totally blows your mind. You thought that a certain set of people would flock to your app like crazy, and you're surprised by those who actually use it. If you have this "problem," it's important to recognize that it's not a problem at all.If at any time you'd like to stop receiving these messages, just send an email to feeds_feedburner_com_techcrunch+unsubscribe-hmdtechnology=gmail.com@mail.feed2email.net.
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