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Yodle raises $12 million in financing

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yodle.pngYodle, Inc. has raised $12 million in a round of financing led by Draper Fisher Jurvetson, with existing investor Bessemer Venture Partners also participating in the round. The new funding is the second round of successful financing for the rapidly growing New York based start-up.

Yodle’s goal is to make buying online ads simple and easy for small businesses and to offer a high-performing, cost-effective alternative to the outdated Yellow Pages, previously the standard for small business advertising.

Yodle delivers tangible results for its customers, focusing on generating phone calls instead of web clicks. It’s estimated that $1 invested with Yodle results in $8 in additional profit for small businesses such as electricians, lawyers, doctors, roofers and even florists.

Originally posted on November 26, 2007 @ 11:00 am

Youku.com raises US$25 million to extend leadership in China’s online video space

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youku.pngYouku.com, an online video sharing website in China, has completed a US$25 million round of private equity funding. This investment will be used to accelerate the company’s rapid growth, expand sales and marketing efforts and further upgrade R&D and the video service standard of Youku.com.

Officially launched in December 2006, Youku currently delivers more than 80 million video views on a daily basis. With a broad user base and attractive demographics, Youku has provided interactive marketing solutions to advertising clients such as Dell, Samsung, Shanda, Ford Motors, Rising software, Hewlett Packard, Giant Interactive, etc.

Besides closing a new round of financing, Youku also announced that it has entered into an online video strategic cooperation with Sohu.com. Previously, Youku.com formed a strategic partnership with Baidu, the leading search engine in China and the company also provides exclusive game video support to Shanda, the Nasdaq-listed online game operator in China.

Originally posted on November 26, 2007 @ 11:00 am

Fatdoor hires Yahoo! veteran as CEO and secures $5.5 million in funding

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fatdoor.pngFatdoor, a neighborhood community platform, today announced the addition of Yahoo! veteran, Jennifer Dulski, to its team. The company also announced that it has secured $5.5 million from an investment group led by Norwest Venture Partners (NVP) and also including KeyNote Ventures. Fatdoor will use this first institutional round of funding to expand its market presence, scale its infrastructure and further build out the company’s innovative, community offerings.

Fatdoor began testing its service through an alpha site open in Silicon Valley earlier this year. It will continue that alpha with existing users and incorporate the feedback and recommendations it gathers for the public launch, which is planned for spring of 2008.

As part of the investment, Sergio Monsalve will join Fatdoor’s board of directors.

Originally posted on November 14, 2007 @ 11:33 am

Vivox secures $7.8 million funding

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vivox.pngVivox, provider of integrated voice services for online games and virtual worlds, has secured $7.8 million in a second round of equity financing led by Benchmark Capital led the round. Support was also received from the its existing investors, Canaan Partners and GrandBanks Capital.

Proceeds from the round will fund product development, sales support and marketing as the Company extends its technology and market lead. Vivox offers the only integrated platform and managed service available today to enable online games and virtual worlds to connect their communities with cutting edge features and functionality on a massive scale.

Vivox customers and partners include online game and virtual world leaders 1GPN, Inc., Alpha Innovation, BigWorld Technology, CCP Games, The Electric Sheep Company, FWD International, IBM, Icarus Studios, Illusion Factory, K2 Network, LanguageLab.com, Linden Lab, Monumental Games, Pixel Mine and Wizards of the Coast.

Originally posted on November 13, 2007 @ 12:38 pm

YouMail raises $4.5 million in funding from VantagePoint Venture Partners

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youmail1.pngYouMail, Inc. has raised $4.5 million in series A funding from VantagePoint Venture Partners. Additionally, Craig Cooper, venture partner at VantagePoint, will join the YouMail Board of Directors. YouMail will use the proceeds to invest in further product development and marketing initiatives, and expand its management and development teams.

YouMail provides consumers with a free cell phone voicemail service. YouMail users can also access their cell phone voicemail over the web or in their e-mail, easily share special voicemails, and save them for life.

Originally posted on November 6, 2007 @ 3:02 pm