Pulse2 Technology and Social Media News » Canaan Partners

SOASTA Raises $12 Million In Funding

Amit Chowdhry — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 03:44:04 +0000

SOASTA is a cloud-based testing company that has raised $12 million in funding led by The Entrepreneurs’ Fund. Canaan Partners, Formative Ventures, and Pelion Venture Partners have participated in this round of funding. Now SOASTA has raised a total of $33 million.

SOASTA’s CloudTest platform allows developers to test how their web and mobile applications are performing. CloudTest is available as an on-demand service or an app in the cloud. Users can test apps for bugs and monitor load times.

Retailers like Target, Best Buy, and Gilt Groupe use SOASTA’s software to test their stability under high traffic. About 3,000 companies across the financial services, media and technology, and consumer sectors use SOASTA to test their infrastructure. This new round of funding will be used for international expansion and product development.

Social Gaming Company Kabam Raises $30 Million In Series C

Amit Chowdhry — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 19:37:34 +0000

Kabam is a massively multiplayer social gaming company based in California. Kabam used to be named Watercooler and they have raised $30 million in Series C funding. The Series C was led by Redpoint Ventures and Intel Capital with participation from Canaan Partners. Kabam launched in 2006 and they plan to use the funding to expand their gaming studio. Below is the full press release:

Kabam Raises $30 Million to Fuel Growth of Massively Multiplayer Social Games

Explosive Growth to Continue with Funds Targeted for Acquisitions, New Titles, and Studio Expansion

REDWOOD CITY, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Kabam, a leading developer of massively multiplayer social games, today announced it has raised $30 million in series C funding to fuel its aggressive growth plans. The round is led by Redpoint Ventures and Intel Capital with additional funding from original investor Canaan Partners, which incubated Kabam in its offices at the seed stage.

“Social gaming has seen explosive growth, and Kabam has done what no other company has been able to accomplish—create a compelling social game experience that carves out a new segment among core gamers while establishing a very strong business model”

“Kabam has pursued a distinctly different strategy than other social game companies. Rather than target ‘casual’ players, we are focused on creating a new segment of games that appeal to a more core gamer demographic,” said Kevin Chou, CEO of Kabam. “Our market success to date demonstrates that our strategy of creating this new segment of massively multiplayer social games is really resonating with players. This infusion of capital enables us to further our aggressive growth plans as we continue to hire the industry’s best engineering and creative talent and seek appropriate acquisition and partnership opportunities in the technology, team, and product areas.”

Kabam games appeal to the growing number of gamers engaged on social networks by combining the deep, immersive gameplay found in massively multiplayer online strategy and role-playing games with the social connectivity and interaction provided by social platforms. The company’s recent titles, including IGN Reader’s Choice Best Facebook Game of 2010 Kingdoms of Camelot®, Dragons of Atlantis™, and Glory of Rome™, are representative of the company’s strategic vision for a high quality portfolio. Unlike casual social games where interactions only occur out of game when players request assistance from friends, Kabam games provide “synchronous gameplay,” where people play with and against other players in real time in persistent game worlds inhabited by millions globally. Other features, such as the competitive nature of play and real time chat, further distinguish Kabam games from the crowded field of “casual” social games.

“Social gaming has seen explosive growth, and Kabam has done what no other company has been able to accomplish—create a compelling social game experience that carves out a new segment among core gamers while establishing a very strong business model,” said Maha Ibrahim, general partner at Canaan Partners, which has provided funding and counsel to Kabam since its founding. “This heavily oversubscribed Series C financing round validates Kabam’s leadership in this market.”

“Kabam’s commitment to leading the creation of the next wave of social games is extremely exciting and we’re eager to see it continue to experience explosive growth around the world,” added Allen Beasley of Redpoint Ventures, a leading venture capital firm based in Menlo Park, CA.

Kabam, which has grown from 20 employees at the beginning of 2010 to over 200 today, has recently added studios in San Francisco and China, to its Redwood City headquarters, and is actively hiring to fuel further growth. The company’s rapid expansion has been led by a standout management team that brings deep experience in building companies in the internet and entertainment spaces from companies such as Electronic Arts, Blizzard, Google, Intuit, PayPal, and Lucasfilm.

The company has several new games scheduled for launch in early 2011, with further games and strategic initiatives slated to follow later in the year. These new funds will be used to further expand Kabam’s studios, produce a greater assortment of original and branded social games, and make targeted acquisitions similar to the company’s acquisition of WonderHill in October 2010.

For more information on Kabam, visit our official site at www.kabam.com, and also our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/kabam.

About Kabam

Kabam is leading the next wave in social gaming by developing and publishing massively multiplayer social games (MMSGs). The company’s studios focus on combining the best elements of traditional and social gaming to appeal to a growing audience of gamers looking for deeper, more engaging social games. The first wave of Kabam’s new games for Facebook and leading media sites have been widely recognized for their depth of play and social interaction. Founded in 2006, Kabam has offices in San Francisco and Redwood City, Calif., and Beijing, China. More information about Kabam can be found at www.kabam.com.

About Canaan Partners

Canaan Partners invests in visionary entrepreneurs and provides them the networks, insights and operational guidance required to build high-performance technology and healthcare companies. Founded in 1987, the firm has raised eight funds and completed more than 83 acquisitions and 52 IPOs. With $3 billion under management and a worldwide footprint, the firm is committed to catalyzing the growth of innovative digital media, communications & mobility, enterprise, clean tech, biopharmaceutical, medical device, diagnostics and healthcare infrastructure companies. Among its successes are Associated Content, the people’s media company; VOIP equipment supplier Acme Packet; Amicus Therapeutics, a pioneer of next-generation oral therapies for the management of human genetic diseases; BiPar Sciences, a biopharmaceutical company pioneering novel tumor-selective therapies to address urgent unmet needs of cancer patients; Calixa Therapeutics, developer of hospital-based antibiotics to treat infections resulting from resistant strains of bacteria; Cerexa Inc., one of the largest biotech acquisitions of 2007; CommerceOne, the company that pioneered B2B ecommerce; DoubleClick, the leading online advertising solution; Match.com, the most popular online dating site in the world; and SuccessFactors, the global leader in on-demand performance and talent management solutions. Other Canaan investments include Active Networks, Advanced BioHealing, BharatMatrimony, blip.tv, Blurb, Calibra Medical, Chimerix, Inc., Equitas, iYogi, KABAM, Lending Club, Liquidia Technologies, LiveU, Motorexchange, ON24, OpenSky, N-trig, Naaptol, Prime Sense, SOASTA, ReVision Optics, SandForce, Theraclone Sciences, Tremor Media, UnitedLex and Zoosk. Canaan maintains a presence in California, Connecticut, New York, India and Israel. For more information visit www.canaan.com.

About Redpoint Ventures

Redpoint Ventures has helped entrepreneurs build innovative businesses that defy convention, shape the future, and change the world. From early investments in industry pioneers like MySpace, Netflix, TiVo, and Juniper to companies such as RightMedia, Zimbra, LifeSize, Danger, Fortinet, Heroku and HomeAway – we stand behind our entrepreneurs helping them go all the way to the top. With our deep experience and focus on quality, we offer entrepreneurs a culture and approach that values mutual respect, meaningful relationships, and an intense commitment to succeed. Redpoint (http://www.redpoint.com) was founded in 1999 and currently has over $2 billion under management. Its partners have been involved in 39 IPOs and 65 upside acquisitions. The firm is headquartered in Menlo Park, CA with offices in Los Angeles and Shanghai, China.

About Intel Capital

Intel Capital, Intel’s global investment organization, makes equity investments in innovative technology start-ups and companies worldwide. Intel Capital invests in a broad range of companies offering hardware, software, and services targeting enterprise, home, mobility, health, consumer Internet, semiconductor manufacturing, and cleantech. Since 1991, Intel Capital has invested more than US$9.5 billion in over 1,050 companies in 47 countries. In that timeframe, 175 portfolio companies have gone public on various exchanges around the world and 241 were acquired or participated in a merger. In 2009, Intel Capital invested US$327 million in 107 investments with approximately 50 percent of funds invested outside the United States and Canada. For more information on Intel Capital and its differentiated advantages, visit www.intelcapital.com.

About Betfair

Betfair is one of the world’s largest international online sports betting providers and pioneered the betting exchange in 2000. Driven by cutting-edge technology, Betfair enables customers to choose their own odds and bet against each other. The company now processes over five million transactions a day from its three million registered customers around the world. In addition to sports betting, Betfair offers a portfolio of innovative products including casino, exchange games and poker. Betfair has twice been named the UK’s ‘Company of the Year’ by the Confederation of British Industry and has won two prestigious Queen’s Awards for Enterprise, being recognised for Innovation in 2003 and most recently for International Trade in 2008. Betfair currently employs over 2,000 people worldwide. The company holds betting licences in the UK, the US, Tasmania, Italy and Malta. For more information on Betfair please visit www.betfair.com.

All trademarks or registered trademarks are property of their respective owners.

PrimeSense Raises Undisclosed Amount Of Funding From Silver Lake

Amit Chowdhry — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 21:13:26 +0000

Private equity firm Silver Lake is known for their investments in Skype and other technology companies. Now Silver Lake has invested an undisclosed amount in PrimeSense Inc. PrimeSense is the company responsible for designing some of the components that went into the Microsoft Kinect. Microsoft has shipped about 8 million Kinects thus far.

PrimeSense specializes in gesture recognition. At CES Asustek showed off a product called the Wave Xtion, which uses PrimeSense to navigate around the Internet and other PC software. PrimeSense also showcased some of their technology interacting with TVs. PrimeSense previously raised $9 million in funding from Israel VC firms Genesis Partners and Gemini Israel Funds and another $20.4 million round led by Canaan Partners.

Daily Deals On Virtual Goods Company Inhale Digital Raises $1.1 Million

Amit Chowdhry — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 17:41:46 +0000

Inhale Digital is a company that offers daily deals on online games and virtual goods. Inhale Digital is based in New York and they have raised $1.1 million from several investors, including Canaan Partners. Inhale Digital is integrating their offers into Facebook, which allows people on the social network to sign up for deals and discover new games.

Wireless Live Video Streaming Company LiveU Raises $11 Million

Amit Chowdhry — Thu, 04 Nov 2010 18:20:45 +0000

LiveU has raised an $11 million Series C round of funding. LiveU is known for streaming wireless live video from a backpack device. LiveU has a low cost option for HD video streaming that broadcasts directly from a website, TV, or a device. Pitango Venture Capital, Carmel Ventures, and Canaan Partners are the three investors in this round of funding.

“Finalizing this round of investment will allow the Company to expand its presence as a significant player in global markets, in parallel to completing the development of next-generation products, based on our extensive experience working with top-tier TV and news organizations,” stated LiveU CEO Samuel Wasserman. “I am delighted that a tier-one fund such as Pitango is joining LiveU’s prestigious list of investors. I am certain that together with the current investors, Pitango will contribute greatly to LiveU’s development and success as a global company.” LiveU was founded in 2006 and their video streaming has jumped 650%.

[Red Herring]

Web Video Company Blip.tv Raises $10.1 Million

Amit Chowdhry — Wed, 19 May 2010 15:07:00 +0000

Blip.tv has closed on a $10.1 million third round in funding led by Canaan Partners. Bain Capital also participated in this round of funding. Blip.tv started in 2005 and plans to use the new round of funding to accelerate growth and expand content services. Blip.tv has about 44,000 indie video producers that use the service and distributes about 50,000 original web shows. Blip.tv receives about 90 million video views per month. [MediaPost]

LendingClub Raises $24.5M In Series C

Amit Chowdhry — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 22:09:03 +0000

Lending Club has raised $24.5 million in Series C funding from Foundation Capital, Morgenthaler Ventures, Norwest Venture Partners, and Canaan Partners. The company now has a total of $52.7 million in funding. The additional funding will be used to advance their existing platform which allows lenders and borrowers to avoid the middleman (banks) for investing among peers. This round of funding will also be used for launching new products, marketing, and improving customer service. [PRNewsWire]

TweetPhoto Raises $2.6 Million In Series A

Amit Chowdhry — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 07:48:44 +0000

TweetPhoto, a competitor of TwitPic and a company that encourages you to share pictures over Twitter has raised $2.6 million in Series A. The lead investor was Canaan Partners. Additional investment was provided by Anthem Venture Partners, Qualcomm, Tim Kelly, Frank Asaro, Shane Brisbane, and Jack Corrao.

TweetPhoto accounts can be connected to Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Foursquare. The photos and other media shared on TweetPhoto can be geo-tagged and there are customizable widgets available. TweetPhoto has about 15 million monthly unique visitors, serves 40 million API requests per day, and is seeing 250 million images uploaded per month.

The funding will be used to enhance the core offering, build a platform of open APIs, and develop some mobile SDKs. [TechCrunch]

Zoosk Raises $30 Million In Series D Funding

Amit Chowdhry — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 22:42:00 +0000

Zoosk is a dating social network that has been growing at a rapid pace. The social network has about 40 million users across 40 countries. This attracted investors to plug in $30 million as part of their Series D round of funding. Investors include Bessemer Venture Partners, Canaan Partners, and ATA Ventures. David Cowan of Bessemer Venture Partners is joining the Zoosk board of directors as a result. The funding will be used for marketing, expansion, and other new features.

“Zoosk has been redefining the online dating experience since we launched nearly two years ago, and singles around the world have embraced our fun, safe, and social network-driven approach,” stated Zoosk co-founder and CEO Shayan Zadeh in a press release. “We are thrilled to begin our partnership with David Cowan and Bessemer Venture Partners as we work with our investors and Board to take advantage of the incredible opportunities for growth in the online dating space.

The company has about a $30 million run rate based on revenue from Premium Memberships. Zoosk also earns revenue from virtual goods and advertising. Zoosk is based in San Francisco and started in January 2007 by Zadeh and Alex Mehr.

Dating Application Zoosk Raises $4.1 Million Second Round

Amit Chowdhry — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 15:27:52 +0000

“We have quickly become the dominant player in the social dating space and we plan to continue to rapidly expand our user base across even more social networks,” stated Shayan Zadeh, a co-CEO at Zoosk and former program manager at Microsoft. “We allow people to seamlessly connect across multiple social networks, for example a Facebook user can interact with a MySpace user, and this ability has given us unprecedented access to today’s young, single professionals. Our new funds will allow us to expand our network of subscribers and add even more new features that will make the social dating experience even more fun and less painful.”

Zoosk, a dating social network based in San Francisco, Calif. has raised $4.1 million in it’sÂ second round of funding recently.Â The $4.1 round of funding was led by Canaan Partners.Â ATA Ventures also participated in this round.Â Zoosk is built around application widgets that help users connect based on interests and preferences.

The company was started in 2007 and receives roughly 400,000 daily uniques, 1 million messages sent per day, and 3 million dating profiles on Zoosk network.

Zoosk has plenty of competition.Â The funding new comes shortly after WooMe, a video dating social network raised $12.5 million.Â Match.com has also created an application of their own called Little Black Blackbook: Are You Interested?Â On Facebook alone, there are over 1,745 Dating Applications.Â So clearly a dating application is not unique.Â Fortunately for Zoosk, they have the user numbers to back up the quality of their app.

Information Source:
[1] Zoosk Press Release via PR Web