Pulse2 Technology and Social Media News » Digital Sky Technologies

Online Payment Company Klarna Raises $155 Million

Amit Chowdhry — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 21:30:42 +0000

Online payment services company Klarna has raised $155 million. What makes Klarna different is that buyers pay after they receive their goods. Klarna raised the funding from DST Global and General Atlantic. Some of this funding will be going towards buying shares from existing shareholders.

“Now is the time to raise the money and increase our growth rate and go for becoming the market leader in the global online payment space,” stated Klarna CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski. “Call it crazy, but that’s what we want to do.”

[WSJ]

How Much Groupon Executives and Investors Made From The IPO

Amit Chowdhry — Sat, 05 Nov 2011 20:57:39 +0000

Yesterday Groupon Inc. (NASDAQ:GRPN) had an initial public offering. The company set their stock price at $20 and yesterday it closed at $26.11. The company was given a valuation of over $17 billion. BusinessInsider.com has compiled a list of how much the executives and investors made from the IPO. Below is the list:

Ted Leonsis – Former AOL Vice Chairman – Made $48.27 million from 1,848,770 shares owned
Brian Totty – Groupon SVP of Engineering – Made $16.31 million from 624,786 shares ownde
Howard Schultz – Starbucks CEO/Groupon board member – Made $49.59 million from 1,899,336 shares owned
Kenneth M. Pelletier – Former Groupon CTO – Made $70.47 million from 2,698,944 shares owned
Robert S. Solomon – Former Groupon President and COO – Made $105.88 million from 4,055,000 shares owned
Andreessen Horowitz – VC Firm – Invested $40 million, Earned $132.2 million, Gain of $92.2 million
Maverick Fund – VC Firm – Invested $50 million, Earned $165.3 million, Gain of $115.3 million
Greylock Partners – VC Firm – Invested $65 million, Earned $214.9 million, Gain of $149.9 million
Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers – VC Firm – Invested $65 million, Earned $214.9 million, Gain of $149.9 million
Morgan Stanley – VC Firm – Invested $75 million, Earned $248 million, Gain of $173 million
T Rowe Price – Investment Firm – Invested $100 million, Earned $330.6 million, Gain of $230.6 million
Fidelity Investments – Investment Firm – Invested $100 million, Earned $330.6 million, Gain of $230.6 million
Battery Ventures – VC Firm – Invested $58 million, Earned $417.4 million, Gain of $359.4 million
Technology Crossover Ventures – VC Firm – Invested $150 million, Earned $459.9 million, Gain of $345.9 million
The Growth Fund of America – Fund – Invested $175 million, Earned $578.6 million, Gain of $403.6 million
Accel Partners – Invested $20 million, Earned $866.96 million, Gain of $856.96 million
Digital Sky Technologies – Invested $151 million, Earned $1.11 billion, Gain of $959 million
The European Founders Fund – Earned $1.02 billion based on 6.2% ownership in Groupon
Brad Keywell – Groupon Co-Founder – Earned $1.07 billion based on 6.5% ownership
Andrew Mason – Groupon CEO – Earned $1.2 billion based on 7.3% ownership
New Enterprise Associates – VC Firm – Invested $14.8 million, Earned $2.28 billion, Gain of $2.26 billion
Eric Lefkofsky – Groupon Co-Founder – Gained $1.67 billion based on over 10% ownership of the company
Elizabeth Lefkofsky – Wife of Eric – Gained $1.67 billion based on over 10% ownership of the company

ZocDoc Raises $50 Million From DST

Amit Chowdhry — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 02:18:39 +0000

ZocDoc has raised $50 million in a new round with Digital Sky Technologies (DST). ZocDoc is a company that allows people to find and book appointments with doctors online. As part of this this round of funding, ZocDoc now has a valuation of $700 million.

ZocDoc started with a few dentists and 5,000 appointment slots. ZocDoc hit one million available appointments in two years. Now ZocDoc has 5 million appointments over the next 90 days and up from 3 million in February. They have more than doubled the number of employees in the last 6 months to 150.

Doctors pay about $250 per month to be a part of ZocDoc. ZocDoc wanted to launch with the company name Doctors.com, but the domain name owners wanted $4 million.

[TechCrunch]

Airbnb Raises $112 Million In Series B From Andreessen Horowitz, DST, and General Catalyst

Amit Chowdhry — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 06:09:25 +0000

Airbnb has raised $112 million at a $1+ billion valuation. This round of funding was led by Andreessen Horowitz. The split is roughly 60 million from Andreessen, 40 million from DST, and 5 million from General Catalyst. The rest of the split is from previous investors and Jeff Bezos. This round of funding raises Airbnb’s total funding to $119.8 million.

“Over the past three years, we’ve built a community marketplace for unique properties and brought it into the mainstream and into almost every country on the planet,” stated Airbnb co-founder and CEO Brian Chesky. “Today is a watershed moment — both for Airbnb as a company and for our community — that will enable us to touch new markets and expand our vision to make the world’s most interesting and inspiring places accessible to our users.”

Airbnb doubled their benchmark of 1 million nights booked in four months. The company now has over 2 million nights booked. Airbnb receives over 30 million page views per month.

[Marketwire]

Spotify Raises Funding At $1 Billion Valuation

Amit Chowdhry — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 21:00:07 +0000

Spotify has raised funding that puts them at a $1 billion valuation. Spotify raised $100 million in funding from DST, Accel Partners, and Kleiner Perkins. Spotify has been working on this round of funding for about 6 months. Spotify plans on using this round of funding to pursue a launch for their streaming music service in the U.S. Spotify currently has licensing deals with three out of four of the biggest music labels in the U.S. [AllThingsD]

Rumor: Airbnb In The Process Of Raising Over $100 Million

Amit Chowdhry — Tue, 31 May 2011 07:02:36 +0000

Airbnb is close to raising over $100 million based on a valuation of over $1 billion. This round is being lead by Andreessen Horowitz. Participation is expected from DST. Airbnb’s last round of funding was about $7.2 million and included Sequoia Capital, Greylock, SV Angel, Ashton Kutcher, and Youniversity Ventures. Airbnb launched out of Y Combinator.

Airbnb connects people who have space in their home to share with people who are looking for a place to stay. Guests can build a connection with their hosts.

Spotify To Raise About $100 Million At A $1 Billion Valuation [RUMOR]

Amit Chowdhry — Tue, 22 Feb 2011 19:40:57 +0000

Music streaming service Spotify is planning to raise a $100 million round of funding at a $1 billion valuation very soon. DST and Kleiner Perkins are believed to be involved in this round. Thus far Spotify has raised a total of €82.3 million. Spotify is expected to launch in the U.S. very soon as they are negotiating deals with music labels. [AllThingsD]

Yuri Milner Launches Start Fund, Giving Every Y Combinator Company $150,000

Amit Chowdhry — Sun, 30 Jan 2011 17:40:57 +0000

Venture capitalists Yuri Milner of DST and Ron Conway of SV Angel have launched a new fund called The Start Fund. The first order of business is to invest $150,000 in every Y Combinator start-up company. The $150,000 investment will be convertible debt with no cap and discount.

The startups can choose whether or not they want the investment as they prepare to exit out of Y Combinator. So far about 39 of the 43 startups in the class signed the paperwork to take the loan. The rest is pending approval from lawyers.

“These aren’t gifts, we’re not a charity. It’s an investment that gives these startups that first critical $150k that gets them to product. We intend to make money on these investments,” stated SV Angel managing partner David Lee. “This is a chance for us to invest in some of the best young entrepreneurs in the world.” Lee and Conway founded SV Angel together.

Groupon China May Strike A Deal With Tencent

Amit Chowdhry — Mon, 17 Jan 2011 03:12:24 +0000

Groupon is currently in talks with major Chinese Internet company Tencent to co-brand a deals website there. Normally Groupon would buy a competitor or a clone and re-brand them, but in this case it sounds like Chicago-based group coupon service is seeking something more.

Interestingly enough, there are a ton of Groupon clones in China including Groupon.cn, which is not affiliated with Groupon.com at all.

Groupon and Tencent share a common investor too: the Mail.ru Group, formerly known as Digital Sky Technologies (DST). Mail.ru owns 5% of Groupon and Tencent is an invest in Mail.ru.

Groupon Closes Its $950 Million Series G Round

Amit Chowdhry — Mon, 10 Jan 2011 22:09:53 +0000

Group coupon service Groupon.com has completed its $950 million series G round of funding. The best part is the press release title: “Groupon Raises, Like, A Billion Dollars.” I’ve pasted the press release below. The investors in this round include Andreessen Horowitz, Battery Ventures, Greylock Partners, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Mail.ru Group, Maverick Capital, Silver Lake, and Technology Crossover Ventures. Allen & Company LLC acted as financial advisor. The previous funding rounds was led by New Enterprise Associates, Accel Partners, and Mail.ru Group (formerly DST).

Groupon Raises, Like, A Billion Dollars

Investment to Continue Rapid Growth of Global Social Commerce Platform

CHICAGO–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Today Groupon announced that it has completed a $950 million round of financing. Groupon will use the funds to fuel global expansion, invest in technology, and provide liquidity for employees and early investors.

“With their support, we will continue on our mission to change the way people shop locally and serve the world’s local businesses.”
The financing consists of several venture capital firms and late-stage investors, including Andreessen Horowitz, Battery Ventures, Greylock Partners, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Mail.ru Group, Maverick Capital, Silver Lake, and Technology Crossover Ventures. Allen & Company LLC acted as financial advisor. Previous funding rounds were led by New Enterprise Associates, Accel Partners, and Mail.ru Group (formerly DST).

In the last year, Groupon has been called “the fastest growing company ever” by Forbes Magazine and “America’s best website” by one of Groupon’s television commercials. In 2010, Groupon:

- Expanded from 1 to 35 countries
- Launched in almost 500 new markets (from 30 markets in 2009)
- Grew subscribers by 2,500% from 2 million to over 50 million
- Saved consumers over $1.5 billion
- Worked with 58,000 local businesses, serving over 100,000 deals worldwide

“We’re thrilled that Groupon has earned the confidence of some of the world’s most respected investment firms,” said Andrew Mason, founder and CEO of Groupon. “With their support, we will continue on our mission to change the way people shop locally and serve the world’s local businesses.”

About Groupon

Groupon, launched in November 2008 in Chicago, features a daily deal on the best stuff to do, eat, see and buy in more than 500 markets around the world. Groupon uses collective buying power to offer unbeatable prices and provide a win-win for businesses and consumers, delivering more than 650 daily deals globally. For more information, visit http://www.groupon.com. To learn more on how to become a featured business on Groupon, visit http://www.grouponworks.com.