Pulse2 Technology and Social Media News » The Tornante Company

TaskRabbit Raises $17.8 Million In Series B

Amit Chowdhry — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 03:58:04 +0000

TaskRabbit is a Bay Area based startup company that helps you find personal assistants for having your house cleaned, running errands, building IKEA furniture, delivering groceries, etc. Former Disney CEO Michael Eisner is joining TaskRabbit’s board of directors as a strategic adviser.

TaskRabbit has raised $17.8 million in Series B funding from existing investors including Lightspeed Venture Partners, Allen & Company, and the Tornante Company. Eisner runs the Tornante Company.

TaskRabbit plans on using the funding to hire additional engineers and designers. They will also spend it on building mobile products like an Android app. They will also expand to other U.S. cities and abroad. In the next couple of months, TaskRabbit will be available in Seattle and Portland. International expansion is expected by the end of 2012.

Eisner approached TaskRabbit after hearing about it on a News special with Diane Sawyer this past September. TaskRabbit saw about 6.5 million users visit their company website after that. “He really saw the potential in what we’re building. Every single task that’s posted and completed is a story, and even the TaskRabbits themselves are stories,” stated TaskRabbit founder Leah Busque. TaskRabbit was founded in 2008.

[AllThingsD]

Veoh’s $25 Million Third Round of Funding Confirmed

Amit Chowdhry — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 12:00:51 +0000

Veoh is a video content website that serves home videos and internet TV content. As of earlier, the third round of funding was tentative, but has been finalized today. The investors that are plugging $25 million into Veoh includes Tom Freston (former CEO of Viacom), Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE:GS), Spark Capital, Shelter Capital Partners, Time Warner Investments, Michael Eisner’s The Tornante Company, Jonathan Dolgen (former Chairman/CEO of Viacom), and Ziffrin law firm.

In June, Veoh launched VeohTV, a special video browser and with DVR technology that has a patent-pending smart recommendation engine embedded in the service. The address for VeohTV is www.veoh.tv.

Steve Mitgang recently started as Veoh’s CEO. Mitgang came to Veoh from Yahoo!, where he served as the SVP of Yahoo!’s global team where he helped manage the Panama project. When Yahoo! bought Overture, a web analytics company, it also acquired Keylime Software, where Mitgang was CEO.

References:
[1] paidContent.org: Eisner-Backed Video Site Veoh Raises $25 Million; Tom Freston Invests

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

Amit Chowdhry — Mon, 12 Mar 2007 06:45:09 +0000

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.