Monthly Archives: April 2010
Hollywood Gossip Blog TheWrap Raises $2 Million
TheWrap.com is a Hollywood news gossip blog that has raised $2 million in a second round of funding. The first round of funding was raised by Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz’s VC firm Maveron. The Wrap is led by Sharon Waxman and features a team of veteran entertainment writers including Josef Adalian, Lew Harris, Josh Dickey, and Dylan Stableford.
100 Year Old Woman With Impaired Vision Uses An iPad [VIRAL VIDEO]
Here is a video of Virginia Campbell using an iPad. Virginia is 100 years old and she was born around the same time that Thomas Edison showed the first talking motion picture. The video below has over 400,000 views.
Categories Apple iPad, Virginia Campbell
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FreeWheel Raises $16.8 Million From Steamboat, TBS, Battery Ventures, and Foundation Capital
FreeWheel is a video advertising company that has raised $16.8 million in funding from Steamboat Ventures, Turner Broadcasting Systems (TBS), Battery Ventures, and Foundation Capital. The company has raised a total of $30 million. FreeWheel was founded by former employees at DoubleClick in 2007. The company works with marketers and publishers to manage video ad campaigns. FreeWheel’s platform can produce inventory forecast for live and on-demand content. Some of their clients include TBS, VEVO, MLB.com, and CBS. Two new agreements FreeWheel has made includes partnerships between Discovery Communications and ESPN Internet Ventures. [TechCrunch]
Categories Battery Ventures, Foundation Capital, FreeWheel, Steamboat, Steamboat Ventures, TBS
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Conan O’Brien and Jim Carrey Sing Superman [VIDEO]
Last week we saw a viral video of William Shatner and Lin Yu Chun doing a duet. This week its all about Jim Carrey and Conan O’Brien. Below is a video of them singing “Superman (It’s Not Easy)” by Five For Fighting. Yup Carrey was dressed like Superman, adding to the viral power contained in this video.
Categories Conan O'Brien, Five for Fighting, Jim Carrey
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Nielsen Preparing For An IPO
According to several buyout firms Nielsen is planning to have an IPO. Nielsen is a TV and Internet ratings research company. Nielsen has six sponsors: Alpinvest, The Blackstone Group, The Carlyle Group, Hellman & Friedman, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR), and THL Partners. The six sponsors are hoping that Nielsen will receive a $21 billion enterprise value according to the Financial Times. Nielsen is expected to make about $1.6 billion in EBITDA this year according to an F.T. source. [FT via NYT]
Swiss IT Security Firm WISeKey Raises $20 Million
WISeKey is a security firm that has raised $20 million with a $200 million valuation from undisclosed investors. WISeKey is a Geneva, Switzerland based company and they plan to expand their information security services across Brazil, Russia, India, and China. The company plans to go public when the stock market is more stable. WISeKey started in 1999 and was founded by CEO Carlos Moreira. Carlos is a former U.N. security expert and he built the company to fight counterfeiting. [VentureBeat]
Categories Carlos Moreira, WISeKey
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Arnold Schwarznegger Joins Foursquare
Arnold Schwarznegger, the governor of California has joined Foursquare according to a tweet. Schwarznegger has over 1,000 followers on the geolocation service already [Foursquare profile] and it appears that he joined on April 21st. On the office of the Governor homepage, it even says to follow him on Foursquare too. I knew Foursquare went mainstream when we saw how much the service grew during the SXSW conference, but to see a major political figure endorse the service is a whole different story. Below is a screenshot from the Governor’s website.
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Categories Arnold Schwarzenegger, Foursquare
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Chitika: Over 1 Million Apple iPads Sold
According to advertising company Chitika.com, about one million iPads have been sold. Their figures are based on tracking the number of individual iPads are out there that surf the Internet and access some part of the Chitika ad networks. [Chitika Labs]
Categories Apple iPad, Chitika
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Social Media Marketing Company Wildfire Raises $4 Million
Wildfire is a social media marketing platform company that is known for building viral campaigns. The company has raised $4 million in Series A funding from Summit Partners, Jeff Clavier, Aydin Senkut, and Gary Vaynerchuk. Wildfire’s platform lets marketers created contests, coupons, quizzes, virtual gifts, etc. Marketers can simultaneously publish these on Facebook and Twitter. Wildfire is a fbFund company. The company went profitable within one month of launching. [TechCrunch]
Categories Aydin Senkut, fbFund, Gary Vaynerchuk, Jeff Clavier, Summit Partners, Wildfire
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FutureMidwest 2010 (#FMW10) Inspired A Social Media Revolution In Metro Detroit
One of the reasons why FutureMidwest 2010 is important for our economy is because it is one of the first events out of several that will spark a social media revolution in Michigan. Detroit, Michigan is a city that is 12 miles away from the conference, which brought a sentimental vibe to the event. Everyone knows that the city of Detroit is down, but not out.
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Categories Adrian Pittman, FutureMidwest, FutureMidwest 2010, Jordan Wolfe, Zach Lipson
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