Jambool is a virtual currency startup company that has a platform called “Social Gold” that works with social networking applications.  Jambool has raised $5 million in funding, led by Madrona Venture Group with participation from Bay Partners.

Vikas Gupta, co-founder of Jambool said that the funding will be used to accelerate the growth of the company.
“The last ten months have been a whirlwind for us,” stated Jambool CEO and co-founder Vikas Gupta. “Since we launched Social Gold, we’ve seen virtual goods become the de facto monetization engine for social applications. It has been very exciting to build the platform and tools that power large online, virtual economies and enable a great in-app purchase experience for millions of users on social networks. We are thrilled to partner with Madrona and Bay as we accelerate our product development and distribution.”

Seattle, Wash.-based, BuddyTV is a television information social network slash listings site slash game site.  BuddyTV has a large number of users constantly reading their TV show ratings, interviews, etc.  BuddyTV recently raised $6 million Series B funding from Madrona Venture Group.  The company previously raised $2.8 million from Gemstar-TV Guide around July 2007.

BuddyTV lists top shows for all you idiot box addicts.  Top shows include The Amazing Race, America’s Next Top Model, American Idol, Big Brother, Desparate Housewives, Heroes, Step It Up And Dance, Flavor Of Love, etc.  Each of these shows contain the aforementioned features.

Other companies that Madrona Venture Group invested in includes Amazon, Classmates.com, VacationSpot, Sharebuilder, Photoworks, Farecast, PayScale, and TripHub.

Information Source:
[1] TechCrunch: BuddyTV Raises $6 Million From Madrona Venture Group by Jason Kincaid