Raptr is a company that produces games for social networks. Raptr launched today and also disclosed that they have raised $12 million from Accel Partners and The Founders Fund this past February. Raptr is based in Mountain View, Calif.

Raptr tracks what games users on playing on PCs, Macs, and on social networks. Raptr alerts the user’s friends when they start playing a game and when a game is about to start.

Raptr was started by Dennis Fong. Fong sold Xfire, a social network for gamers to Viacom for $102 million two years ago.

Amobee Media Systems, a mobile advertising company has raised $22 million.  The $22 million round was led by Motorola Inc. (NYSE:MOT) and Cisco Systems Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO).  Amobee raised a total of $52 million thus far.  Previous investors in Amobee includes Telefonica, Accel Partners, Vodafone, Sequoia Capital, and Globespan.

Amobee’s goal is to help fund telecommunication companies through advertising.  Vodafone Spain is using Amobee to insert advertisements into Vodafone’s mobile site. 

“We have built the first and only telco- grade ad-serving solution specifically designed to address the unique needs and requirements of the mobile operator across multiple channels and services,” states Amobee’s Operators page.

Amobee was founded in 2005 and launched in Feb. 2006.  Amobee’s headquarters are in Redwood City, Calif. and has research and development based in Herzliya, Israel.  Amobee is lead by CEO Zohar Levkovitz.

Related Links:
1. Amobee.com
2. alarm:clock

Yahoo! Inc. is rumored to acquire Maven Networks for over $150 million.  Yahoo! was also previously interested in acquiring Metacafe and previously acquired online video editing company, Jumpcut. 

Maven Networks is an Internet TV advertising platform.  Here is a sample of what they do:
http://www.mediamave.com/foodnetwork/

Maven Networks is based in Boston, Mass. Some of Maven’s clients include FOX, Scipps Networks, Sony, TV Guide, Gannett, Univision, USA Today, CBS, IBM, HGTV, Food Network, and CNET. 

Maven previously raised around $30 million in funding from Prism Venture Partners, Accel Partners, and General Catalyst Partners.  Maven Networks has a partnership with Comcast and had a former advisor that is now the CEO of Brightcove.

[Information Source: NewTeeVee and TechCrunch]

According to AllThingsDigital’s Kara Swisher, Facebook is considering raising additional funds for expansion or potential further acquisitions. Facebook’s first and only acquisition thus far is Parakey, a company created by two of Mozilla Firefox’s core programmers.

Considering the costs of maintaining Facebook between staffing, facilities, and server costs, I am not surprised that Facebook would be looking for more money. If I remember correctly, Facebook has roughly 40 million+ members, is expecting to make around $150 million this year in revenues (compared to $50 million in 2006), and is expecting to file for a possible IPO in the future. If Facebook decides to pursue an IPO, it would be around 2009 or beyond.

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Metacafe has over 25 million unique views per month. And yesterday the company officially announced that they have officially raised $30 million in Series C from Highland Capital, DAG Ventures, Accel Partners, and Benchmark Capital. While YouTube dominates traffic for online video, it seems that Metacafe has a more established business model since users are actually rewarded financially for their creativity.

“Metacafe is defining the next generation of online video, moving away from simple video sharing and hosting to delivering an exceptional entertainment experience for short-form content,” said Richard de Silva, Partner, Highland Capital Partners. “Its sophisticated approach to audience-driven programming is unique in the industry.”

With this round of funding, Metacafe plans on supporting continuous operations and developing the Producer Rewards program further. The Producer Rewards program gives users a financial incentive to develop intriguing video content. For every thousand views a video gets on a site, the user will receive $5. The video has to reach a minimum of 20,000 views.

Highland Capital Partners’ Richard de Silva and DAG Ventures’ Tom Goodrich will join Metacafe’s Board of Directors. Metacafe is privately headquartered in Palo Alto, Calif. and has offices in Tel Aviv, Israel and NYC, NY.

References:
[1] alarm:clock: Video Site MetaCafe Hammers $30M Round

Tumri Inc.[1], a company that focuses on advertisement personalization services, announced today that they have raised $10 million in funding from several investors.  The lead investor was Lehman Brothers Venture Partners[2] and other investors included Shasta Ventures[3] and Accel Partners[4].  With this round of funding, David Kim joined the company as a senior vice president of business development and so did Sandeep Nawathe, the vice president of engineering.  The company plans on expanding support sales, marketing, and product development.

“As the first integrated merchandising and advertising network that can intelligently deliver targeted products to online consumers, Tumri is poised to capitalize on a rapidly growing market,“ stated Ben Boyer, the vice president and principal at Lehman Brothers Venture Partners.  “Tumri’s vision for interactive advertising is based on a strong technical foundation and we are very excited to invest in this innovative company.”

This service benefits online retailers, publishers, and bloggers.  The online retailers have their products featured on the websites of publishers and bloggers.  The most recognized service on Tumri is there AdPod feature.  AdPod is a widget that is customized by the publisher or blogger and features items from the online retailers.  AdPod was built with XML and AJAX.  AdPod makes shopping interactive rather than just displaying an item and a link to the retailer. 

Tumri was started in 2004 and is based in Mountain View, CA.  The company was founded by Hari Menon, Pradeep Javangula, James Rice, and Richard Billington.

[1] Tumri.com
[2] Lehman Brothers-Investment Management-Private Equity-Venture Capital:Technology
[3] Shastaventures.com
[4] Accel.com

“We have taken traditional consumer research to the next level. For the first time ever marketers can understand all aspects of consumer activity, including critical links between online and offline behavior,” stated Gian Fulgoni, Co-Founder of comScore.  comScore is an Internet information provider that monitors consumer behaviors and trends online.  comScore has a plethora of lucrative clients such as Verizon, T-Mobile, Viacom, AOL, iVillage, CareerBuilder, Microsoft, and Yahoo!.  All of these clients benefit from the human-computer interactions monitored by comScore.  It will be comScore, Inc. will be listed under NASDAQ: SCOR.

comScore was created in 1999 and had acquired assets from NetRatings during the dot-com bust.  About 12% of comScore’s 2006 $66 million in sales came from Microsoft.  The company is often times cited in the press for its statistical information.  In a recent Bloomberg article, comScore statistics were used for reporting how many more visitors were attracted to YouTube this year compared to last.  YouTube had 133.5 million visitors this past January and 9.5 million the January before that.  comScore also reported that 94.8 million visitors visited the website this past January and 38.9 million the year before.

A number of financial companies have stake in comScore.  Investors include JPMorgan Partners, Accel Partners, Institutional Venture Partners, Lehman Brothers, Adams Street Partners, Topspin Partners, Flatiron Partners, vSpring Capital, Devine InterVentures, and Rembrandt Venture Partners.  The number of shares expected to release during the IPO is not yet known. 

The return on investment made on YouTube’s funding through the acquisition definitely has whetted the appetite of investors. YouTube took in two rounds of funding from Sequoia Capital for a total of $11.5 million. So how come Brightcove, a lesser known Internet TV website is receiving such substantial funding? Brightcove started with $5.5 million and then received $16.2 million. Today, it was announced that Brightcove raised $59.5 million. This comes to a total of $81.2 million of total funding. The investors include Maverick Capital, The New York Times Company, Transcosmos Investments, Accel Partners, Allen & Company, America Online, General Catalyst Partners, The Hearst Corporation, IAC (InterActivCorp), and Brookside Capital.

“We think there’s a lot of opportunity outside the United States for Internet TV,” stated Adam Berrey, the VP President of Marketing of Brightcove. “We think this market will consolidate. It’s time for the leaders to emerge. This puts us in a good position.” Berrey didn’t mention what Brightcove is planning on doing for future plans, but according to TechCrunch, Brightcove did acquire metaStories on March 20, 2006. metaStories is a Seattle based company that has the tools that creates Flash content.

“Brightcove’s early success in partnering with media companies that are driving the transition of television and video distribution to the Internet puts the company in the right position as Internet TV takes off on a broader scale,” stated Jamie Kiggen, senior VP President of AllianceBernstein. “We’ve looked at many opportunities in this area and believe that Brightcove is well positioned for success in creating solutions that both media companies and consumers will embrace.”

With this new funding, Brightcove plans on growing the company and to provide Internet TV tools to media creators so that it would help them monetize as well as distribute their own videos. Brightcove is planning on launching ad revenue sharing soon.

Amobee Media Systems is a San Francisco, CA based company that is developing a new form of mobile advertising and has recently gained an unlisted amount of funding from Sequoia Capital, Accel Partners, and Globespan Capital Partners.

Amobee “has built and designed the first and only telco-grade ad-serving solution 100% dedicated to mobile operators, allowing them to ad-fund all non-voice related applications and services: WAP Browsing, Video & Music, SMS, MMS, and Games.” Amobee allows users to decide if they want to view non-voice advertising content or to pay for avoiding advertisements. Advertisements would be relevant to the content being viewed.

In a previous investment, Amobee raised $5 million from Sequoia and Accel. Amobee has offices in London, San Francisco, and has a research and development arm in Herzliya, Israel.