Tag Archives: Oak Investment Partners
Sports Website Bleacher Report Raises $22 Million
Bleacher Report is a sports website that has raised $22 million in a round led by Oak Investment Partners. Crosslink Capital and Hillsven Capital participated in this round. Oak Investment Partners plans on helping Bleacher Report expand to other verticals where content creation and publishing is encouraged by social engagement.
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FirstRain Raises $6.4 Million
FirstRain has announced $6.4 million in funding today. This is their fifth round of funding from Oak Investment Partners. Oak Investment Partners are the majority owner of FirstRain as the company recently changed their product focus. “I built a new management team and targeted Wall Street,” stated FirstRain president and CEO Penny Herscher. FirstRain was originally founded in 2000. FirstRain is a “business monitoring engine.”
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Categories FirstRain, Oak Investment Partners, Penny Herscher
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Plastic Logic Raising $700 Million To Build A New Plastic Display Factory
Plastic Logic is raising $700 million to build a new factory for building next-generation plastic displays. The funding is coming from government-owned Russian Corporation of Nanotechnologies (Rusnano). Initally the company will receive $150 million and Oak Investment Partners will put in another $50 million.
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Online Marketing Company Ybrant Digital Raises $48 Million
Ybrant Digital is an Indian based online marketing company that plans on going public this year. The company has raised $48 million in a new round of funding, putting them at a total of about $100 million. This round was a combination of debt and equity. Oak India Investments, an affiliate of Oak Investment Partners participated in this round. Current investors Asia Pacific Capital and ICICI Bank also participated in this round. This is Ybrant’s fourth round of funding.
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Market America Acquires Shop.com
Greensboro, North Carolina based Internet marketing firm Market America has acquired comparison shopping website Shop.com. The financial details are unknown. Market America will maintain Shop.com’s Pasadena and Monterey headquarters. Shop.com received funding from Oak Investment Partners, Amazon.com, and Bill Gates. [SoCalTech]
Categories Amazon, Amazon.com, Bill Gates, Market America, Oak Investment Partners, Shop.com
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Reunion.com Buys Wink.com To Create A Merged Social Network/Search Engine
Wink.com has been acquired by Reunion.com. Wink.com is a search engine focused on individuals. Reunion.com is both a social network and a search engine. Both Wink and Reunion will be merging and launching a new website. The new site will be launching in early 2009.
Reunion.com first partnered with Wink.com in April 2007. Wink’s people profiles became available to Reunion’s members. Last year Reunion.com acquired ZoomInfo. Reunion.com was started with $1.4 million in angel funding and raised $25 million Series A from Oak Investment Partners.
Wink’s original investors was Reid Hoffman and Peter Thiel. Cambrian Ventures and Greylock invested $6.2 million Series A in Wink around January 2005.
Demand Media Raises $100 Million; Funding Tally At $320 Million Now
Demand Media Inc. is a Santa Monica, Calif. based company that was founded by Richard Rosenblatt. Roseblatt was the former President of Intermix Media, parent company of MySpace. News Corp.’s Fox Interactive Media became the part company of MySpace when they acquired Intermix.
The company has raised a 3rd round of funding at $100 million by investment banking company, Goldman-Sachs. The previous investors include 3i Group, Generation Partners, Oak Investment Partners, and Spectrum Equity Partners [Source: alarm:clock]. Demand Media has raised a total of $320 million as of now.
So what does Demand Media actually do?
Microsoft Acquiring Parlano As A Value-Add To Communications Software
Today Microsoft made an announcement that they would be acquiring Parlano. Parlano is a Chicago, Ill. based company that developed software called MindAlign, an enterprise group chat messaging system. Microsoft is expecting to implement Parlano software as a part of Microsoft Office Communications Server and Microsoft Office Communicator. Microsoft Office Communicator is an internal messaging system that works similar to Windows Live Messenger, commonly used among major corporations.
“Parlano has been successful in meeting the rigorous communications needs of companies in financial services and other vertical markets,” stated Gurdeep Singh Pall, the corporate vice president of the Unified Communications Group at Microsoft. “Parlano’s expertise and technology, added to Microsoft’s unified communications offering, will deliver customers the most complete presence, instant messaging and group chat solution on the market.”
Financial terms for the acquisition were not disclosed. Parlano is a spin-off from UBS (Union Bank of Switzerland) and has 50 employees. Parlano’s investors include Longworth Venture Partners and Oak Investment Partners.
“Parlano has helped many organizations enhance operations, improve service delivery and increase sales through more effective ongoing group communication, collaboration and knowledge sharing,” stated Nick Fera, the chairman and CEO of Parlano. “The resulting competitive advantage will be further enhanced as we bring Parlano technology together with Microsoft Office Communications Server and Office Communicator.”
Digital Marketing Company, iCrossing Has Raised $62 Million
iCrossing is a digital marketing company founded in 1998. The company has raised $62 million in a fifth round of investment that brings their total round of funding to $110 million. The $62 million investment was received from Goldman-Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) and several other investors.
“iCrossing is at the forefront of developing search and social media strategies that engages not alienates users,” stated Richard Rosenblatt, the chairman of iCrossing. “The market is responding and iCrossing has seized a leadership position in the digital space. With CEO Jeff Herzog’s vision for the future, there are sure to be even bigger things to come.”
What does iCrossing actually do? An example of their work includes developing a solution to make PR Newswire mobile. PR Newswire is a press release website. Essentially, this would benefit journalists all over the world. Other major clients include Coca-Cola, Colgate, GM, Office Depot, and Travelocity.
Investors in iCrossing include:
1.) Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS): Goldman Sachs is a global investment and securities firm based in New York. Goldman Sachs focuses on investment banking, asset management, and trading and principal investments. Some of Goldman Sachs’ case studies are available at: http://www2.goldmansachs.com/insight/case_studies/.
2.) Oak Investment Partners: is a venture capital firm with $8.4 billion in committed capital. Some of the consumer Internet investments that Oak participated in includes aQuantive (acquired by Microsoft for $6 billion), Connexus Corporation, Fastclick, Inc. (acquired by ValueClick), and Shop.com
3.) RRE Ventures: RRE is a venture capital firm that manages $850 million in assets. Some of the companies that RRE has invested in includes WeddingChannel.com, Stockback (acquired by Vesdia), SmarterKids.com, Pinnacor (acquired by MarketWatch), and eMachines.
4.) StarVest Partners L.P.: is a private equity company that has $150 million in assets. Companies that StarVest invested in include Tibersoft Corporation, Newgistics Inc., NetSuite Inc., Connected Corporation (acquired by Iron Mountain Inc.), and Insurance.com
References:
[1] iCrossing press release: Goldman Sachs and Oak Investment Partners Lead Investment in Digital Marketing Leader iCrossing
For further details, refer to iCrossing’s website: www.icrossing.com
Categories Goldman-Sachs, iCrossing, Oak Investment Partners, RRE Ventures
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