Archive for the ‘Spark Capital’ Category

Me.dium Raises $15 Million Series B Investment Led by Commonwealth

Amit Chowdhry | June 11, 2007 | 407 Views | Add a Comment
Categorized under Commonwealth Capital Ventures, Funding, Me.dium, Spark Capital

Me.dium LogoMe.dium[1], a Boulder, Colorado based company announced today that they have raised $15 million in funding. Me.dium utilizes chatting functionality with visualization effects combined with location tracking.

An example that the company gives for use their service is that Me.dium “lets you see where your friends are online right now. Like when you get together with your friends at the mall to do some shopping, now you can do that online. Only, for the first time, you don’t even have to be in the same store to do it[2] .”

The $15 million in Series B was led by several investors. Waltham, Massachusetts based firm, Commonwealth Capital Ventures[3] lead the investment. Spark Capital[4], Appian Ventures[5], and Brad Feld, a managing director at Foundry Group and Mobius Venture Capital, also participated in the $15 million investment. Elon Musk, a founder of Paypal was a previous investor of Me.dium’s $5 million Series A funding.

Me.dium was founded in June 2006. “We believe Me.dium is pioneering the next phase of social interaction on the Web,” stated Elliott Katzman,a general partner at Commonwealth. “With a proven technology and a world-class management team, Me.dium is well-positioned to lead this exciting new category.” Katzman will join the Me.dium Board of Directors.

Every Me.dium user has the power to turn on and off the service for privacy. This way users can decide whether they want their information shared.

“Commonwealth Capital Ventures clearly shared our vision on the evolution of how people will interact online,” stated Kimbal Musk, the CEO of Me.dium. “We are excited to have them lead this round and join our existing investor team. Their proven understanding of the consumer was critical in our financing decision and was a clear value Commonwealth brought to the table.”

[1] me.dium.com
[2] me.dium.com/company
[3] ccvlp.com
[4] sparkcapital.com
[5] appianvc.com

Former Disney CEO, Eisner Forming Web Video Studio Website, Vuguru

Amit Chowdhry | March 12, 2007 | 434 Views | Add a Comment
Categorized under Spark Capital, The Tornante Company, Time Warner, Veoh Networks, Vuguru

Vuguru Logo
Before departing from Disney, Michael Eisner has had quite a few tumultous encounters with Steve Jobs, founder of Apple Inc. and Pixar Animation Studios (now owned by Disney). Now Eisner has found a new way to occupy himself: the Internet. USA Today mentioned that Eisner’s investment company, The Tornante Company will announce that the company is launching a Web video studio called Vuguru. The website will feature a show called Prom Queen which will have a season that lasts 80 days and will have a new 90 second clip added each day.

“There’s a new distribution platform that’s going to be ubiquitous, and that’s clearly broadband,” stated Eisner. “Winning the marathon will be professionally produced, emotionally driven story content.”

Vuguru has also announced that the web videos will soon be available for streaming on mobile phones and other handhelds. The web videos will have advertisements running before-and-after the show along with product placements within the actual program. The Tornante Company believes that by running shows at 90 seconds a piece, users will still be engaged in every episode. Vuguru had also bought the rights to another program called Sam Has 7 Friends.

Eisner, Time Warner, and Spark Capital have previously invested in Veoh Networks, Inc. last April. The amount was for $12.5 million.