Pulse2 Technology and Social Media News » T-Venture

Groupon Acquires Pelango, Makers Of Whrrl Mobile App

Amit Chowdhry — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 19:29:25 +0000

Pelango, the mobile application development company that created Whrrl, has been acquired by Groupon. Whrrl allows users to check in to locations and discover new places. Pelango founder Jeff Holden will become an executive of Groupon’s product development team as part of the acquisition. The terms of the deal were undisclosed.

“We’ve always liked CEO Jeff Holden, the Whrrl team and the technology they’ve developed. Their obsession with real-world serendipitous discovery, or Anti-Search, is core to Groupon’s mission. It’s about discovering what you didn’t know you didn’t know, right in your own backyard,” stated Groupon CEO Andrew Mason.

Pelango was founded in 2006 and raised venture capital funding from Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, the KPCB iFund, Bezos Expeditions, T-Venture, Trilogy Equity Partners, and Reliance Technology Ventures. Before starting Pelango, Holden worked at Amazon for 8 years. He was the SVP of Consumer Websites Worldwide. Many of Pelango’s team will be rolled into Groupon’s future Grouponnovations division. Holden will be moving to Chicago as part of the acquisition.

[AllThingsD]

Cooliris Raises $9.6 Million In Series C

Amit Chowdhry — Tue, 15 Feb 2011 18:32:51 +0000

Cooliris is a multimedia browser plugin that lets you view photo and video content on the web in an appealing way. The company has raised $9.6 million in Series C financing from investors such as Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Deutsche Telekom subsidiary T-Venture, DAG Ventures, and The Westley Group. Cooliris has raised a total of $27.6 million in funding. Cooliris plans on using the new round of funding for strategic partnerships and product innovation. [TechCrunch]

Jajah Getting Acquired For $200 Million

Amit Chowdhry — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 00:32:49 +0000

VoIP startup Jajah has been acquired for $200 million by O2. Microsoft and Cisco were reportedly both involved in the bidding process. Jajah made its one billionth call back in June. Jajah has about 15 million users, many of whom make calls from Yahoo! Messenger. Jajah also has a deal with Microsoft. Jajah raised a total of $30 million in funding over four VC rounds. Sequoia, Intel, Globespan, and T-Venture were all involved in Jajah’s funding.

Delivery Agent Raises $25 Million In Fourth Round

Amit Chowdhry — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 03:35:53 +0000

Delivery Agent is an advertising platform company that designs applications for publishers to sell entertainment products. The company recently raised $25 million as they help build “click-to-buy” applications for selling products centered around 125 major entertainment properties. The company now has a total of $60 million in funding.

“We launched the market for shopping-enabled entertainment when we made it possible for television viewers to go online and buy things related to their favorite shows. Today, as so much entertainment content becomes and is available on other platforms, our expanded commerce and marketing technology will make it possible for our entertainment partners to reach, influence and transact with audiences wherever and whenever they happen to be watching premium content, whether through their television, mobile phone, online video player or whatever else is next,” stated Delivery Agent Mike Fitzsimmons in a press release.

This round of funding was led by Focus Ventures. Other investors include T-Venture, Coral Group, Ironwood Capital, Bessemer Venture Partners, Worldview Technology Partners, and Cardinal Venture Capital.