Pulse2 Technology and Social Media News » Polaris Venture Partners

Kim Kardashian’s Internet Apparel Company ShoeDazzle Raises $40 Million From Andreessen Horowitz, LightSpeed, and Polaris

Amit Chowdhry — Sat, 14 May 2011 17:18:26 +0000

ShoeDazzle is a subscription based e-commerce company that was founded by Brian Lee and Kim Kardashian. ShoeDazzle recently raised $40 million from several Silicon Valley investor companies that include Andreessen Horowitz, Polaris Venture Partners, and LightSpeed Venture Partners. Andreessen Horowitz led the round with $30 million and general partner John O’Farrell will join the ShoeDazzle board.

ShoeDazzle sends members a monthly selection of shoes, handbags, and other apparel that matches their interests. They can buy one item every month for $39.95 or they can skip a month. The packages are sent through the mail in a box with a ribbon.

If the subscribers do not buy anything, then they will be charged $39.95 and will have that much in credit. ShoeDazzle has about 3 million subscribers thus far. This round of funding puts ShoeDazzle at a total of about $60 million in funding.

T2 Biosystems Raises $15 Million In Equity

Amit Chowdhry — Tue, 25 May 2010 19:04:33 +0000

T2 Biosystems Inc. has raised $15 million from 9 different investors. The company plans to use the funding to accelerate development and commercialization for its diagnostic platform. The investment round was led by Physic Ventures. Other investors include Arcus Ventures, RA Capital Management LLC, Camros Capital LLC, WS Investments Company, Flagship Ventures, Polaris Venture Partners, Flybridge Capital Partners, and Partners Healthcare of Boston. T2 Biosystems raised $10.8 million in Series B financing two years ago. [Bizjournals]

Stickybits Raises $1.6 Million From Multiple Investors

Amit Chowdhry — Wed, 19 May 2010 15:31:59 +0000

Stickybits has raised $1.6 million from multiple investors. First Round Capital and Lower Case Capital are two new investors that joined in on Stickybits’ funding. Previous investors that participated in this round include Mitch Kapor and Polaris Venture Partners. Chris Sacca also joined in this round. Stickybits lets you attach photos, videos, text, music, etc. to any barcode.

Howard Morgan of First Round will be joining the board of directors at Stickybits. “Stickybits makes the physical world more interactive, engaging, and participatory. The platform is driven by the energy of each of the users, and so far these users have made me think, taught me, opened my eyes, and made me laugh my ass off,” stated Sacca.

[BusinessInsider]

Kim Kardashian’s ShoeDazzle.com Raises $13M

Amit Chowdhry — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 20:49:11 +0000

ShoeDazzle.com, a women’s fashion website co-founded by Kim Kardashian has raised $13 million as part of a growth financing round. The lead investor was Lightspeed Venture Partners and previous investor Polaris Venture Partners also participated. ShoeDazzle’s previous round of funding was $7 million. The other co-founder of ShoeDazzle is Brian Lee, who also co-founded LegalZoom.com. ShoeDazzle.com asks users to fill out a survey and based on the answers, the website will recommend you certain shoes to buy from them based on your fashion preferences. [soCalTech]

Quantcast Raises $27.5 Million From Cisco, Polaris, Founders Fund, and Revolution

Amit Chowdhry — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 02:16:58 +0000

Quantcast, a website that monitors stats for websites announced earlier this week that they have raised $27.5 million. Cisco Systems is the leader investor in Quantcast. Quantcast competes with Alexa and Compete.com. Quantcast plans to use the funding to expand their advertising platform.

“Quantcast’s approach and technology for delivering high-value, targeted advertising aligns with the needs of Cisco’s customers, from service providers to media companies and ultimately consumers,” stated Cisco SVP and general manager of Media Solutions Group Dan Scheinman. Other investors include Polaris Venture Partners, The Founders Fund, and Revolution Ventures.

Kofax Acquires 170Systems For $32.9 Million

Amit Chowdhry — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 14:03:05 +0000

Kofax Inc. is a management software company that has just acquired 170Systems Inc. 170 Systems Inc. builds financial process automation software. Kofax acquired 170 Systems for $32.9 million. Of the $32.9 million, about $10.1 million was paid in cash and the rest in stock options.

170 Systems is based in Boston, MA and has about 140 employees. 170 Systems is a startup backed by Polaris Ventures. Polaris invested $14 million in 170 Systems and they still had roughly $10.1 million cash in hand. 170 Systems’ revenues were about $28 million, but the company was not profitable. Kofax has roughly 1,200 employees and $300 million in annual sales.

Turbine Raises $6.6 Million For Developing Online Nerd Games

Amit Chowdhry — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 14:32:02 +0000

Turbine has raised $6.6 million out a planned $50 million round of funding. Turbine builds online games based on The Lord of the Rings, Dungeons & Dragons, and Asheron’s Call.

Turbine directly competes with Activision Blizzard, the developer of World of Warcraft. Turbine plans to release Dungeons & Dragons Online into a free game later this year called Eberron Unlimited.

Investors in Turbine include Columbia Capital, Highland Capital Partners, Polaris Venture Partners, Tudor Ventures, and Granite Global Ventures. Turbine previously raised $95 million. The company has about 300 employees.

The company is even planning on announcing their first console game in the near future. Turbine may even buy out another gaming company.

[via PEHub/alarm:clock]

Quantcast Seeking $50 Million In Additional Funding

Amit Chowdhry — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 23:03:04 +0000

Analytics company Quantcast is seeking a $50 million round of funding which would put them at a $300 million valuation according to PEHub.

The company is rumored to have received several term sheets, but the identities of the investors is not yet known. Quantcast monitors the traffic and demographics of about 10 million web sites and they are finding ways to monetize the service through a Media Program. The Quantcast Media Program gives advertisers the ability to select the audience they want to reach by having access to demographic information.

So far Quantcast has raised $25 million in total funding. Allen & Company invested $20 million Series B in 2007. Other investors include the Founders Fund, Polaris Venture Partners, and Revolution Ventures.

LogMeIn Preparing For $100 Million IPO On July 1

Amit Chowdhry — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 19:42:22 +0000

Earlier this week remote access software company LogMeIn announced that they are preparing for an IPO. The company plans to offer 6.66 million shares at a price of about $14-$16. The IPO is expected to take place on July 1. LogMeIn will trade under the NASDAQ with the stock symbol LOGM.

LogMeIn had a net income of $1.5 million for the three months ending March 31 on revenue of $17.2 million. About a year ago, the company had a net loss of $4.2 million on revenues of $9.9 million during the same time period. Intel owns 5% of LogMeIn and other investors include Prism Venture Partners, Polaris Venture Partners, Technology Holding Central and Eastern European Funds, and Integral Capital Partners.

LogMeIn customers include AMD, CardinalHealth, 3M, Best Buy, IBM, DHL, SAP, etc. The company is based on Woburn, Massachusetts. The company indicated the IPO back in January.

[via AlarmClock/MarketWatch]

Hangout Raises Additional $4 Million From Highland and Polaris

Amit Chowdhry — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 00:50:35 +0000

Hangout.net is a virtual environment that has fully customizable rooms, avatars, etc. The company makes it possible for MySpace users to create custom virtual rooms. Highland Capital Partners and Polaris Venture Partners has extended their Series A investment by an additional $4 million in Hangout.net.

The total funding that Hangout has raised is now about $10 million. The company’s seed funding is $1 million and the initial Series A financing was $5 million. The $4 million extension gave Hangout enough backing to last them a long time. The company confirmed the funding in an SEC document. Hangout is based in Boston, Massachusetts and is led by CEO Pano Anthos.

[via NEVC Funding]