Pulse2 Technology and Social Media News » Austin Ventures

Limos.com Raises $10 Million From Austin Ventures

Amit Chowdhry — Wed, 06 Apr 2011 00:41:32 +0000

Limos.com is an online market for limos and car rental. The company has recently raised $10 million in funding from Austin Ventures. Limos.com was founded in 2007 by former employees at Hotwire. They have previously raised $5 million from Canal Partners. The company is profitable and works with about 2,000 car service companies across the globe. They receive about 500,000 monthly unique visitors. [alarm:clock]

HomeAway Files For $230 Million IPO

Amit Chowdhry — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 23:52:57 +0000

Last month I wrote about how HomeAway.com is in talks for a $300 million IPO. It turns out that HomeAway.com has filed for a $230 million IPO. HomeAway.com lets users rent houses, condos, etc. that the owners list. HomeAway has 500,000 listings across 145 countries. HomeAway made $167.9 million in revenues last year with a net profit of $16.9 million. Austin Ventures owns 24.4% of HomeAway and CEO Brian Sharples owns 3%. [Statesman]

HomeAway.com In Talks For A $300 Million IPO

Amit Chowdhry — Mon, 21 Feb 2011 01:22:53 +0000

HomeAway.com is in talks with several banks about a $300 million IPO according to BusinessWeek sources. The banks that HomeAway is talking to include Morgan Stanley, Deutsche Bank AG, JPMorgan Chase & Co., and Goldman Sachs.

HomeAway was founded in 2005 and raised $500 million in private funding from Austin Ventures, Redpoint Ventures, Technology Crossover Ventures, and Institutional Venture Partners (IVP).

HomeAway is a website where you can rent houses, apartments, condos, etc. for vacations on a nightly or weekly basis. HomeAway currently has about 540,000 rental listings across 120 countries. Homeowners pay an annual fee of about $300 to post their properties.

[BusinessWeek]

Dachis Group Raises $30 Million In Second Round

Amit Chowdhry — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 04:41:35 +0000

Dachis Group is a social media consulting firm that has raised $30 million in a second round of funding. Dachis Groups sells software to businesses that want to improve their brands through social media. Dachis Group was founded by Jeff Dachis, who co-founded Razorfish in 1995.

Dachis focuses on three strategies for his business:
1. Social business strategy
2. Social business engagement
3. Social business intelligence

Dachis Group acquired social business company Xplane this past April after the company raised $50 million from Austin Ventures in June 2008. Dachis Group has 300 clients which include Microsoft, AOL, AMEX, AT&T, Bud Light, Calvin Klein, Cisco, etc.

[VentureBeat]

WhaleShark Media Acquires RetailMeNot.com For AU$90 Million

Amit Chowdhry — Tue, 07 Dec 2010 21:12:18 +0000

Australians Guy King and Bevan Clark launched RetailMeNot.com in 2007 at a cost of about $30. Recently the two have sold RetailMeNot.com for $90 million to WhaleShark Media. With about 95 million unique visitors per year, RetailMeNot.com is the most visited coupon website in the world.

“We’re dedicated to revolutionizing online shopping by giving deal-seekers the easiest-to-use, most reliable, comprehensive and up-to-date information about deals and discounts available online,” stated WhaleShark Media CEO Cotter Cunningham. “In just four days from Black Friday to Cyber Monday this year, WhaleShark Media sites (including RetailMeNot.com) drove record traffic with more than 6 million visits combined. This underscores the increased importance of online discounts in the broader e-commerce ecosystem.”

“When I launched the site, I honestly didn’t even consider that I’d be able to make any money from it,” stated King. “It’s quite surreal.” RetailMeNot.com was on track to hitting $30 million in revenues this year. Austin Ventures, Norwest Venture Partners, and Adam Street Partners provided financing for the transaction.

[ZDNet]

Austin Ventures Invests $1.6 Million In Spredfast

Amit Chowdhry — Sun, 18 Apr 2010 00:44:42 +0000

Austin Ventures has invested $1.6 million Spredfast. Spredfast has a social media analytics platform. Spredfast’s dashboard works on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, WordPress, Flickr, YouTube, Blogger, Lotus Live Connections, Drupal, etc. Spredfast’s basic services are free, but premium services cost $100 per month. [ReadWriteWeb]

Accel Partners and Austin Ventures Invest $12.8 Million In Marc Ecko’s Complex Media

Amit Chowdhry — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 20:49:11 +0000

Marc Ecko Enterprises is struggling with debt, but their digital and print publication Complex Media has been attracting some investments. Complex Media raised $12.8 million in funding according to an SEC filing. The $12.8 million in funding was provided by Austin Ventures and Accel Partners. This is Complex’s first round of funding.

Complex Media is led by CEO Rich Antoniello and general manager Brian Kelley. Complex Media has a network of about 26 websites including OliviaMunn.com, PlanetXbox360.com, and Loud.com.

Complex Media isn’t the only Marc Ecko company that received a major investment. Marc Ecko Enterprises sold a majority stake for $108 million to Iconix Brand Group. Marc Ecko Enterprises includes several clothing lines, a video game division, and an online video network.

Austin Ventures and Dachis Group Buy Out Headshift

Amit Chowdhry — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 10:01:13 +0000

Headshift is a social media company that helps companies improve customer engagement and communication. Headshift started in 2003 and has services based in the U.K. and Australia. The company has clients in the legal, consumer products, health care, government, and publishing sectors. Some of their clients include AXA, BP, and BBC. Headshift was recently acquired by Dachis Group and Austin Ventures. The financial details of the acquisition were undisclosed. Before the acquisition, Dachis Group had about 6 employees.

Dennis Mudd Steps Down From CEO Position At Slacker

Amit Chowdhry — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 06:16:34 +0000

Dennis Mudd has stepped down as the CEO of Slacker over the weekend. However Mudd will remain on the B.O.D. Mudd stepped down so he could spend more time with his family. His daily tasks will be passed on to Jim Cady, the current COO and President of Slacker.

Mudd previously founded Musicmatch Jukebox, a company that Yahoo! bought for $160 million in 2004. Slacker raised $70 million in VC funding since the company started. Investors in Slacker include Austin Ventures, Mission Ventures, Rho Ventures, Centennial Ventures, and Sevin Rosen Funds.

Slacker designs a portable music player device. Slacker has BlackBerry and iPhone applications but they have quite a bit of competition.

Entrepreneur Media Bought By Austin Ventures & 2 Private Equity Firms

Amit Chowdhry — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 19:41:53 +0000

Austin Ventures and two private equity firms have acquired Entrepreneur Media for a price roughly under $200 million.Â Entrepreneur Media made roughly $80 million in revenues last year.Â The acquisition should be finalized in July when due diligence is complete.

Seeing as how many Business 2.0 and Red Herring shut down, it is becoming clear that print publications are suffering from the competition of online publications.Â With this influx of cash, Entrepreneur magazine could revamp their whole brand.

The problem I have with Entrepreneur magazineÂ is that it features stories that are just bad.Â Their Networking blog is even worse.Â The stories are bland and don’t get me started on their load times due to the Digg plugin also.Â Entrepreneur magazine should take the money and replicate Wired.com’s strategy.Â Hire some quality writers, find a strong niche, and write interesting content for crying out loud.Â

Information Source:
[1] paidContent: Austin Ventures and Another PE Firm Buying Entrepreneur Media by Rafat Ali