TechStars and Bloomberg TV have partnered to work on a reality show that highlights what it is like to be on the founding team of a start-up. The reality show miniseries is called “TechStars” and it will premier on September 13th at 9PM. About 6 episodes will run through October 18th. Eleven start-ups will be highlighted in this season which includes OnSwipe, Immersive Labs, Veri, ToVieFor, Shelby.tv, RedRover, Nestio, ShuttleCloud, CrowdTwist, FriendsList, and ThinkNear.
Localytics is a mobile analytics company that has raised $2.5 million in a new round of funding. Localytics is a company that graduated from the TechStars Boston incubator program in 2009. The investors in this round include Launchpad Venture Group, New York Angels, and Hub Angels. Now Localytics has over $3 million in funding.
Orbotix is a smartphone toy company that has raised $5 million in Series B funding from Foundry Group and Highway 12 Ventures. Orbotix plans on launching a toy called Sphero this fall. Sphero is a robotic ball that can be controlled by iOS and Android devices. Orbotix spun out of the TechStars incubator. Sphero costs $130 and will include multiple games and apps. Mark Solon of Highway 12 Ventures and Brad Feld of Foundry Group will be joining the company board of directors as part of the funding deal. [TechCrunch]
UsingMiles is a reward management platform company that has raised $2.7 million in funding from iSherpa Capital. Jon Nordmark, former CEO of eBags.com, has joined UsingMiles as CEO as well. UsingMiles spun out of the TechStars incubator with a goal to provide frequent flyers with a place to aggregate all of their loyalty programs. The rewards include airlines, car rentals, hotels, credit cards, and retailers.
RoundPegg has raised $1.27 million in a funding round led by Access Venture Partners with participation from Croghan Investments. RoundPegg was incubated by TechStars. RoundPegg is a website that matches potential employees with employers. RoundPegg uses a personality and culture algorithm to make the recommendations. Currently RoundPegg has thousands of job seekers and hundreds of companies signed up. [TechCrunch]
President Barack Obama said in the State of the Union address last week that the U.S. needs to out-educate and out-innovate our competition to win the future. One of the biggest ways by doing so is by encouraging entrepreneurship. Today the President announced Startup America, a campaign to accelerate entrepreneurship and it will be headed by Steve Case. Carl Schramm, the President and CEO of the Kauffman Foundation, will be a founding board member of Startup America.
Graphic.ly is an online comic book company that has raised $3 million in funding. Graphic.ly was part of the 2009 TechStars class in Boulder, Colorado. The company was originally known as Take Comics and their original round of funding was $1.2 million.
Graphic.ly is a CDN company that specializes in comics. The company has raised $1.2 million in their first round of funding. DFJ Mercury is the early-stage lead VC firm behind the funding. Other investors include Starz Media, GC&H Investments, Northstar Equity Partners, Dave McClure, Paige Craig, and Chris Sacca.
Graphic.ly plans to use the funding for technology development, marketing, and future partnerships. One of Graphic.ly’s first projects after the funding is to develop an iPhone application for Marvel Comics. Graphic.ly launched out of TechStars, a startup incubation firm. Graphic.ly was founded by Kevin Mann and Thanavanth Jaroenvanit and is run by CEO Micah Baldwin. Baldwin is the former VP of business development at Lijit Networks.
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