Venture Capital Activity: Technorati Buys Personal Bee, Akami Buys Red Swoosh, LinkedIN, Y Combinator


Technorati Buys Personal Bee
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Technorati said Wednesday that it has acquired Berkeley-based Personal Bee, an online service which allows people to create their own personal sites using RSS feeds. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Ted Shelton, founder of Personal Bee, will join Technorati as its VP of Business Development.

Akamai Buys Red Swoosh
Akamai Technologies said today that it is acquiring San Mateo-based Red Swoosh, a developer of client side technology for media distribution, in a deal worth $15M. Akamai said it purchased Red Swoosh in an all-stock merger transaction, and that it will use the acquisition to augment its services. Akamai said that Red Swoosh will be integrated into its existing engineering team in California.

LinkedIn Claims 10M Users
Palo Alto-based LinkedIn, the online social networking web site focused on business professionals, said today that it has reached 10 million users for the site. The company said that it is currently growing at the rate of over 130,000 members a week. LinkedIn provides social networking tools targeted at business users, and has received funding from Sequoia Capital, Grelock, Bessemer Venture Partners, and the European Founders Fund.

Y Combinator is Breaking VC Ground!
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The Mercury News has a good description of how Y Combinator works:

Here’s how it works: twice a year, Y Combinator invites “hackers,” or programmers, to fill out an online application, outlining who they are and a business idea. One winning batch of teams is funded in winter and the other in summer. With Y Combinator’s help, each becomes a real company - one that is expected to create its product within three months. The amount of money Y Combinator gives each group - $5,000, plus an additional $5,000 per founder - is a pittance for what it asks in return, which is, on average, a 6 percent stake in their start-up. That money has to really stretch. Beyond their living and working expenses, it must also cover relocation costs, as the winter winners must relocate to the Bay Area and the summer winners to the Boston area.

April 14th, 2007 From admin

Search Marketing, Mobile Marketing, International optimization, Venture Capitalism, Valuation, Social Media, Tagging, Domains, Local Search, Brand Management, International Marketing, Technology

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Google to acquire DoubleClick for $3.1B


April 13th, 2007 From admin

Search Marketing, Venture Capitalism, Valuation, Marketing, Social Media, Tagging, Google, Local Search, Brand Management, International Marketing, Technology

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Get Caught up on Search Marketing & VC


April 2nd, 2007 From admin

Search Marketing, Mobile Marketing, International optimization, Venture Capitalism, Valuation, Marketing, Social Media, Domains, Google, Interviews, Blogging, Local Search, Brand Management

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Is Your New Brand Taking Away From Your Old Brand’s Loyalty?


March 24th, 2007 From admin

Valuation, Marketing, Brand Management

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Zopa backs up the truck with $12.9M in Financing


March 21st, 2007 From admin

Venture Capitalism, Valuation, Marketing, Social Media

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Successfully Measure Venture Capitalist Contribution for a Portfolio Company


March 20th, 2007 From admin

Venture Capitalism, Valuation

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Baidu Has Their Own Click Fraud Problems – Stock Drops


March 20th, 2007 From admin

Search Marketing, International optimization, Valuation, China Search

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