Pulse2 Technology and Social Media News » Mark Cuban

Shark Tank: Mark Cuban Invests $25,000 In Steve Gadlin’s “I Want To Draw A Cat For You”

Amit Chowdhry — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 08:49:50 +0000

Steve Gadlin is a Chicago resident that is also a comedian. He came up with a unique company called “I Want To Draw A Cat For You.” Gadlin was able to convince billionaire Mark Cuban to invest. Cuban offered $25,000 for 33% of the company.

“There is an economy for stupid, and I am overflowing with it. My cat drawings are poised to be the next pet rock,” said Gadlin. Above is a video of Gadlin pitching his idea on the TV show, “Shark Tank.” Gadlin previously received a lot of customers by putting an ad on Groupon. Below is a video of how “I Want To Draw A Cat For You” works:

Nimble Receives $1 Million From Mark Cuban, Jason Calacanis, Don Dodge, Dharmesh Shah, Google Ventures, Etc.

Amit Chowdhry — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 18:38:39 +0000

Nimble is a customer relationship management startup company that has raised $1 million in funding from Mark Cuban, Dharmesh Shah, Jason Calacanis, Don Dodge, Google Ventures, etc. Nimble CEO Jon Ferrara believes that Nimble is a combination of Hootsuite, Yammer, and Salesforce.com.

Using Nimble, instead of having to cc: and bcc: their communications, Nimbler users will be able to use OAuth into Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Google to bring their contacts and messaging contacts into Nimble. Nimble will notify you if one of your contacts starts using a different service. Users will be able to control whether information should be visible or not by setting Nimble defaults to private.

Ferrara will be using the funding to expand their 20 person team and make hire developers and marketers. About 25,000 customers have joined Nimble since launched in September.

Mark Cuban Invests In Brotips.com

Amit Chowdhry — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 06:55:58 +0000

Internet entrepreneur Mark Cuban has invested in men’s advice website Brotips.com. Cuban’s investment was undisclosed. Brotips tips that are about no more than one or two sentences. Brotips was designed by Toronto-based Push Pull Labs. Brotips currently receives about 1.5 million unique visitors per month. They make money through a sponsored section called “Brands Bros Luv.” The company will be launching a line of clothing soon too. [Fast Company]

BlueCava Raises $1.5 Million, Boasts Big Name Investors

Riley Kennysmith — Fri, 08 Jul 2011 15:37:54 +0000

Device connectivity startup BlueCava has raised $1.5 million in funding for technology that can identify internet-connected devices. The technology was, according to TechCrunch, invented about 15 years ago by Ric Richardson, who has a patent for the tech. BlueCava’s investors include Mark Cuban and Tim Headington, and its advisory board includes Facebook’s Joe Sullivan and MasterCard’s Ellen Moskowitz.

Mark Cuban Invests In Revision3

Amit Chowdhry — Wed, 02 Feb 2011 20:36:35 +0000

Internet billionaire Mark Cuban has invested in video podcast company Revision3. This investment is part of a small round of funding that Revision3 raised last year, but was not disclosed until now. Revision3 is known for producing the podcast called Diggnation. Cuban co-founded a cable TV company called HDNet network and he has argued that expectations for web video was over-hyped and it would never displace TV. Cuban is investing in a potential source of content for his TV network.

“I think Jim can make some money from this. I don’t throw money away,” stated Cuban in an e-mail with AllThingsD. “But this investment really confirms my position on web video. While Revision3 will make some money on the web, the real money is [in] TV. And I wanted HDNet to have the option to be that outlet.” Revision3 said that revenues have increased 80% since last year and the company made a profit in Q4 2010.

Mark Cuban Is Crazy

Amit Chowdhry — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 21:31:57 +0000

Mark Cuban is one of the craziest billionaires in the world. He is offering to finance an investigation against himself… The SEC is investigating Cuban for an insider trading case and they told him that their lawyers could take up to 8 months to look into the full investigation. Cuban wants the case to speed up so he is offering to fund part of it himself. The SEC told Mark that they hope to get their lawyers started on the case by next March so that the documents are ready to go by 2012. Cuban would pay the overtime fees for the lawyers or retaining lawyers on a freelance basis. [New York Post]

Mark Cuban Invests In BlueCava

Amit Chowdhry — Wed, 20 Oct 2010 02:31:33 +0000

Internet billionaire Mark Cuban is one of several angel investors that have put money in BlueCava. BlueCava is a company whose plans is to develop unique IDs for computers, mobile devices, and many other devices. BlueCava aims to have these unique IDs replace cookies. This way users can be tracked using these IDs. From an Internet user stand-point, consumers would have the opportunity to opt out of certain ways from being tracked. This round of funding was $5 million.

“We represent a brand new way to disclose to consumers how they can receive targeted advertising,” stated BlueCava CEO David Norris. “Some people view us as the next generation of technology that will extend beyond what cookies can do.” Cuban will be joining the BlueCava board of directors as a result of the funding. Oil conglomerate Tim Headington is also an investor in this round. Norris and BlueCava turned down $15 million from other investors who wanted to participate.

[Wall Street Journal]

Mark Cuban Joining Shark Tank TV Show On ABC

Amit Chowdhry — Wed, 22 Sep 2010 18:49:17 +0000

Internet billionaire and Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban is joining the second season of ABC’s “Shark Tank.” He will be a guest venture capitalist giving his opinion about the ideas created by small-business owners. The producers of the show received over 20,000 requests from entrepreneurs who wanted to pitch their ideas to the venture capitalists. Mark Cuban sold Broadcast.com to Yahoo! for $5.9 billion in 1999, which is where he gained a majority of his wealth.

Ross Perot Jr. Suing Mark Cuban, Claiming Dallas Mavericks Are Insolvent

Amit Chowdhry — Wed, 12 May 2010 04:56:22 +0000

Ross Perot Jr. is suing billionaire Mark Cuban (pictured above) over the financial performance of NBA team, the Dallas Mavericks. The Mavericks are “insolvent and/or in imminent danger of insolvency,” according to a filing for the lawsuit. Perot sold a majority stake of the Dallas Mavericks to Mark Cuban in 2000, but he still holds a 5% ownership.

The Dallas Mavericks are now over $200 million in debt according to the lawsuit and Perot is seeking a court-appointed person to run the team. “Mavs fans have nothing to worry about,” stated Mark Cuban in an e-mail. “The Mavs operations and debt are guaranteed by me. There is no risk of insolvency. Everyone always has been and will be paid on time.”

[Dallas News]

Mark Cuban and Betaworks Invest In Superfeedr

Amit Chowdhry — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 22:16:28 +0000

Superfeedr is a website that can pull real-time data from Flickr and Twitter, then feed it into the standard ATOM format so that you can “parse one sort of feed no matter where it came from.” The company makes money by charging web developers for tracking over 1,000 feeds. Its a very niche service and I am not aware off-hand of anyone I know that would use this service.

Mark Cuban and Betaworks have recently invested in the company. Andrew Anker and David Recordon has joined the advisory board as well.