BLOOMBERG - Feb 1 - Facebook filed to raise $5 billion in the largest Internet IPO on record. Facebook is considering a valuation of $75 billion to $100 billion. A $100 billion market capitalization would value Facebook at 26.9 times trailing 12-month sales, more than double Google’s valuation when the search-engine operator went public in 2004. Zuckerberg is the company’s top holder with 28.4% of the shares, the filing shows. He also has proxy agreements with fellow stockholders that potentially give him voting control over more than half the shares.
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Appconomy Raises $10 Million
STATESMAN - Dec 19 - Austin-based Appconomy, which helps customers provide commerce capabilities in their smartphone apps, has raised $10M to accelerate its business in China. Appconomy was founded last year and its software lets large retailers, merchants and brands build apps that include daily deal, coupons, rewards and loyalty programs as well as social networking and mobile payments. Appconomy previously raised $1.5 million from True Ventures and private investors.
by Lori Hawkins
See full article at Statesman
This post also appears on DailyDealsObserver.
Japanese Mobile Social Gaming Startup Gumi Raises $26 Million
TECH CRUNCH - Dec 5 - Mobile gaming publisher Gumi, which has been growing very rapidly lately, raised $26M last week in a series F round. Gumi has 140 employees. Its growth started taking off this year. The company expects to sell more than $50M worth of virtual in-game coins this year which can be used by players to outfit their characters and level up. The company currently has eight games, including Yakuza Wars, Pirate Wars, and FIFA World Class Soccer. It has 10M registered users in Japan, and 1M active users per month. The average revenue per user in Japan is between $2.50 and $4.00, with some players paying $50 to $100 a month in virtual goods.
Senzari Prepares To Take On Pandora
TECH CRUNCH - Dec 2 - Senzari, the new music streaming service, recently launched into private beta in the U.S. and Brazil, with plans to expand further into Latin America, Spain and Australia in the future. Where Pandora currently offers a catalog of 900K songs, Senzari has launched with over 10M. It also includes Facebook integration, including live chat with Facebook friends. The new startup is backed by $2M in funding from undisclosed angel investors.
Flavors.me Spins Into A Social Network
NY TIMES - Nov 28 - Flavors.me started last year as a place where people with an array of social networking profiles could pull information from each of their accounts into one polished page. Flavors.me has attracted 750K users. ~6% of those have signed up for the $20-a-year version of the service, which offers additional features. The company has raised $4.5M from angel investors.
Yelp Files For IPO To Raise $100 Million
TECH CRUNCH - Nov 18 - Local recommendation site Yelp has finally filed an S-1 to IPO, wanting to raise $100M. The site generated $58.4M net revenue in the first nine months of 2011, 80% growth over the same period in 2010. It operated at a net loss however, of $7.6M. Revenues have grown pretty fast, from $12.1M in 2008 to $47.7M in 2010 but it is still not profitable.
Yammer Raised $17 Million
TECH CRUNCH - Sep 27 - Yammer, an enterprise social network and communications platform, has raised $17M in new funding led by The Social+Capital Partnership, a new fund established by former Facebook VP Chamath Palihapitiya. Previous investors Charles River Ventures, Emergence Capital and U.S. Venture Partners also participated in the round. Palihapitiya will have an observer’s seat on Yammer’s board of directors. This brings Yammer’s total financing to $57M.
Tween Virtual World Maker Woozworld Raises $6M
TECH CRUNCH - Aug 30 - Woozworld, a developer of a social game/virtual world for tweens (kids aged 9-14), has raised $6M in new funding from Telesystem and iNovia Capital along with unnamed angel investors. In addition, Bernard Gershon, former GM and senior VP of Disney, has joined the startup’s board. The capital will be used to expand Woozworld’s services to include mobile platforms and boost its marketing efforts to grow reach.
Groupalia Scores $26m in Gunding
TECH CRUNCH - Aug 9 - Online group buying startup Groupalia has secured another $26M in financing, bringing total capital raised to ~$63M, after landing a $15M capital injection earlier this year. The company, which has growing operations all over Latin America as well as in Spain and Italy, has raised the fresh capital from all its existing shareholders: Nauta Capital, Caixa Capital Risc, private investors Lucas Carné and José Manuel Villanueva as well as VC firms General Atlantic, Insight Venture Partners and Index Ventures. The company, founded in 2009, says it currently has 10M users worldwide and is present in 150 cities in the eight countries in which it operates.
by Robin Wauters
See full article at Tech Crunch
This post also appears on DailyDealsObserver.
Mobile App WhosHere Raises $1.25M
VENTURE BEAT - Aug 3 - The $1.25M round was led by Lightbank, that was started by Groupon co-founders Eric Lefkofsky and Brad Keywell. WhosHere is made by myRete, a three-year-old startup. WhosHere itself is an iOS app for location-based social networking. Offering users the promise that they can “meet nearby people,” the app also allows for free SMS texting, free MMS image sending, and free VoIP calls.
Twitter Confirms Significant Round of Funding
MASHABLE - Aug 2 - Twitter has raised a “significant round of funding led by the venture firm DST Global, with the participation of several of our existing investors.” The announcement comes just weeks after rumors suggested that Twitter was in the process of raising $800M in funding at an $8 billion valuation. Twitter however, does not disclose the size of the round, its current valuation or whether it will cash out early employees and investors, as suggested by earlier reports.
Snapdeal Raises $40 Million
by Rip Empson
See full article at Tech Crunch
This post also appears on DailyDealsObserver.
Twitter Closing $800M Funding Round at $8 Billion Valuation
MASHABLE - July 21 - Twitter is in the process of completing an $800M funding round that will value the company at ~$8 billion. According to All Things Digital, the funding will be a two-stage deal. The first $400M will go toward the company itself, while the second $400M will be set aside for cashing out employees and existing investors.
Evernote Takes $50 Million
TECH CRUNCH - July 13 - Evernote has officially announced $50M in new funding led by Sequoia Capital, with participation from Morgenthaler Ventures. The new round is partially secondary, meaning founders will be taking some money off the table. The majority of the round, though, is a primary venture raise. They’ll use it to fuel growth, including upcoming acquisitions. In Evernote had 10M users. Now it’s 11M.
Twitter Said to Be Raising More Money at $7 Billion Valuation
TECH CRUNCH - July 6 - Twitter is once again raising money, this time at a $7 billion valuation. That valuation would be almost double the $3.7 billion valuation Twitter got last December when it raised $200M from Kleiner Perkins and other private investors. Twitter certainly could raise more money. Many investors would like to own shares, despite the fact that it hasn’t yet found a revenue model to match its technological and cultural impact. Twitter is not believed to be preparing for an IPO anytime soon. It simply doesn’t have the financials to make that kind of run for the public markets.
As Zynga Files for $1B IPO, LinkedIn and Pandora Stocks Pop
TECH CRUNCH - July 1 - Zynga filed for its much awaited $1 billion IPO this morning, revealing some impressive revenue and profit numbers. Pandora and LinkedIn are seeing some major increases in stock value in morning trading after a rocky few weeks. Over the past few days, LinkedIn stock has climbed upwards, closing at $89.94 yesterday. And today, stock reached as high as $94.99 this morning, giving LinkedIn a $9 billion valuation. Pandora’s stock rose as high as $21.20, giving Pandora a $3.4 billion valuation.
by Leena Rao
See full article at Tech Crunch
Zynga Planning to File for IPO as Soon as Tomorrow
TECH CRUNCH - June 28 - Zynga will file for an IPO as soon as tomorrow with a valuation $15 - $20 billion. Zynga will raise $1.5 and $2 billion in its offering.
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