Kik is a smartphone messaging company that has raised $19.5 million in Series B funding, according to Forbes. Kik is commonly used as a substitute for the messaging apps that come pre-loaded on Android and iPhone devices. Kik has about 50 million users and six HTML games that users play while on the service. The company will be launching APIs for third party developers to utilize later this year.
Business Insider has raised $5 million in funding led by Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon.com. Business Insider was co-founded by formet Internet analyst Henry Blodget. Bezos reads the website often and he is making the investment through Bezos Expeditions. This brings Business Insider’s total funding to $18.3 million. RRE Ventures and Institutional Venture Partners also participated in this round. Some of Business Insider’s earlier investors include Marc Andreessen and Ken Lerer, the co-founder of the Huffington Post.
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Albumatic is a photo-sharing app that was launched by Devon Gundry and Adam Ludwin. Albumatic is raising $4.5 million in a round of funding according to an SEC filing. Ludwin is known for being a co-founder and principal of RRE Ventures. Devon Gundry and RRE managing partner Stuart Ellman was also named in the filing.
STELLAService, a company that can track and rate online shopping, has raised $15 million. Based in New York City, STELLAService works with retail customers like 1-800-CONTACTS, Eddie Bauer, Nautica, and GNC to understand and improve how they work with online shoppers. STELLAService has raised a total of $22 million since they were founded in 2009. Norwest Venture Partners led the $15 million round of funding.
BuzzFeed is a content website that writes all sorts of interesting articles. It does not matter if the article is about “50 Puppies To Help You Get Through Work Today” or “The Best Mr. T GIF Ever.” If the content has a chance of going viral, BuzzFeed will try to put it out there. The company has just raised $19.3 million in funding. BuzzFeed plans on hiring more employees and to expand their presence on mobile phones. BuzzFeed has raised a total of around $47 million.
Twitter has acquired a New York based video sharing company called Vine for an undisclosed amount according to AllThingsD. This is an indication that Twitter may create their own video sharing service. Vine had no actually launched publicly yet. This is how Vine describes themselves:
GetGlue is a mobile social networking company that has raised $12 million in a new round of funding led by Rho Ventures. Existing investors Time Warner, RRE Ventures, and Union Square Ventures also participated in this round of funding. GetGlue previously raised $6 million in November 2010. GetGlue launched in 2008 and has been constantly evolving. Currently GetGlue is a “check-in” application for TV shows, books, movies, etc. Users can interact with other people that are reading, watching, thinking about the same thing.
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Crowdsourcing product development social network Quirky has raised $16 million in funding. Investors include Norwest Venture partners and RRE Ventures. The site connects inventors and entrepreneurs with participants who collaborate to help create a successful product. Quirky is also the subject of a reality series slated to air on the Sundance Channel at the end of August. [TechCrunch]
