MyPunchbowl is a social network niche that focuses on event planning.  The Massachusetts start-up company gives users the ability to set-up events and track the guest list.  What makes MyPunchbowl unique from Facebook Events and evite.com is that they send out an e-mail to guests asking what dates works best for them.  Then the organizer is notified which date is ideal based on the “Pick-A-Date” algorithm.  This idea works well for investors as MyPunchbowl has just raised their Series A.

Contour Venture Partners is the lead investor in this round.  Intel Capital and eCoast Angels also participated in this round.  MyPunchbowl plans on using the funding to hire additional employees and create new features.  “We’ve seen explosive growth since our first round of funding last year,”
stated Punchbowl Software CEO Matt Douglas in a press release. “This new funding will enable us
to grow our team and pursue numerous market opportunities.”

Punchbowl Software was founded by Matt Douglas and Sean Conta.  Douglas is a former Bose Corporation and Adobe Systems employee.  At Adobe, Douglas helped Adobe Premiere gain $35 million in revenue in about 4 years.  Conta designed acoustic software at Bose.  Board members of Punch Software include Michael Rose (PNC Equity), Don Dodge (Microsoft), and Lucy McQuilken (Intel Capital). 

Prior to this round of funding, Intel Capital and The eCoast Angel Network participated in MyPunchbowl’s seed funding.

Media6° is an up and coming New York-based start-up company.  Media6° uses social graph data to provide marketers with target audience information.  Media6° recently raised $9 million Series A, led by U.S. Venture Partners.  Other investors include Coriolis Ventures and Contour Venture Partners.  Several angel investors also participated.

“Media6° creates fully customized audiences for advertisers based on currently available advertiser data,” stated Joe Doran, CEO of Media6°. Prior to starting Media6°, Doran worked at Microsoft Inc. (NASDAQ:MSFT) as the General Manager of AdCenter.

Media6° has several patent pending algorithms that have a focus on connecting existing customers to potential consumers within a social graph.

“Media6° is revolutionary. It is the first company we have seen to tap the potential of social data for advertisers,” stated Tim Connors, General Partner of U.S. Venture Partners. “The early work with 30 alpha and beta customers since April points to the enormous promise of Media6° and the work that Joe and the team have undertaken.”

Tim Connors and and Ted Maidenberg of U.S. Venture Partners will be joining the Board at Media6°.

Related Link:
1. Media6Degrees.com
2. Media6° Press Release