Thursday, April 26, 2012

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Mail.Ru Q1 Earnings: Revenues Up 45% To $160M Top
Mail.ru, the internet giant -- and 2 percent owner of Facebook -- today reported Q1 revenues of $160 million, up 45 percent over last year and posted annual earnings with a full-year net profit $208.6 million -- a impressive rise of 158.2 percent as it launched a range of new products and continued its push into international territories using games as its main assault weapon. The company runs one of the country's biggest social networks and its biggest web mail service, both of which saw significant growth over last year. With Mail now numbering 32.7m Russian subscribers and Odnoklassniki ("OK") with 25.3m monthly active users as of March 2012.
 
Customer Service Support SaaS Freshdesk Raises $5M From Tiger Global And Accel Top
freshFreshdesk, an Indian startup that cloud-based customer support platform $5 million in financing led by Tiger Global Management with previous investor Accel Partners participating. Freshdesk, which competes with Zendesk, offers a simple, online help desk and support ticketing application that supports customers through email, phone, Facebook and Twitter. Customer service agents can support, update and assign projects directly from an email client, without needing to log in or use a mobile app. Agents simply email or forward a request to a Freshdesk unique email address and the request will be added to Freshdesk's interface.
 
StumbleUpon Reaches 25M Registered Users, Plans For Global Expansion And API Top
stumbleupon logoCEO Garrett Camp tells me that content discovery service StumbleUpon hit 25 million registered users earlier this week, and that those users are pretty damn active — the service is now seeing 1.2 billion Stumbles a month. For someone like me, who sees the impressive traffic that StumbleUpon can drive to an article, the growth isn't a big surprise, but it's worth remembering that StumbleUpon had some, uh, stumbles of its own, having been acquired by eBay and then spun out again as a separate company in April 2009. At the time, Camp says the site had about 5.5 million registered users, so that's almost 5x growth in three years.
 
Things You Never Thought Would Happen: Wu-Tang's Raekwon Makes "Google That" Rap Video Top
"She told me that she Googled my name up / Shootings, robberies and big coke came up". These are lyrics from "Google That", a vulgar, violent new rap song from NORE Styles P, and Wu-Tang Clan member Raekwon immortalizing the search engine. In it, the rappers brag about how their crimes and jail time are so famous you can find them on the Internet. Most tech companies probably wouldn't mind being mentioned in pop culture, but probably not like this. Rap enthusiast Ben Horowitz might love it, though. Here's the video and full lyrics.
 
What Gaming Can Teach Us About Social Apps Top
fun-games-36Every time I see a photo sharing app come across the transom, the same question crosses my mind: what about trolls and porn. A game we saw yesterday, Pictorious, asks you to take pictures of items in order to get likes from friends and strangers. Additionally, sites like Pinterest have to act like Soviet censors in order to prevent dirty hot porn from taking over. The threat of someone ruining a good thing is everywhere, and in a world of socially connected apps, trolling is the norm. If you haven't played online video games recently, you'll notice that trolling is arguably more virulent and nasty than even a Goatse pic popping up on Instagram. The folks at Penny Arcade along with some major players in the gaming industry have released a video detailing various ways to stop trolling and if you're a community manager or programmer, it deserves a look.op trolling and if you're a community manager or programmer, it deserves a look.
 
With $3M In Hand, Gopogo Launches To Let You Create, Share & Discover Location-Based Stories Top
Screen shot 2012-04-26 at 8.19.18 AMWith the rise of social networks, people are now sharing more information about themselves online than ever before. Sharing is happening at an unprecedented volume, with some calling it ... "The Sharepocalypse". Social feeds now disseminate content in realtime, but the problem of course is that a lot of this sharing gets lost in the noise -- and with content piling up so quickly, stuff quickly gets lost. Want to find a tweet you wrote a year ago? Good luck. A New York-based startup called Gopogo is launching in beta today to address this problem, with a geo-location platform for recording, sharing and discovering connected experiences.
 
Last-Minute Booking App HotelTonight Goes International With Toronto And Vancouver Top
hoteltonightHotelTonight, the smartphone app that lets you book same-day hotel rooms, is moving into international markets for the first time. It now supports bookings in Toronto and Vancouver, and it plans to add other Canadian and international cities this year. The app is built for this moments when you suddenly realize that it would be nice to have a hotel — say if you're visiting San Francisco from somewhere else in the Bay Area, and you decide to stay in the city for the night rather than head home. Instead of popping into a random hotel and possibly getting ripped off or finding it full, you can open the HotelTonight app, which will offer three curated hotel deals in the neighborhood — one that's "Hip", one that's "Luxe", and one that's "Solid". (The deals first become available at noon local time, and can be purchased until 2am.)
 
Mon.ki Is Building A Rapportive For The Web Top
logo-monkiPrepare for the concept of the address book to be flipped. Today, a startup called mon.ki is launching a new way for you to discover "who you know" by providing that information to you in the context of what you're viewing. The product, which they're calling a "social compass" of sorts, automatically extracts information from the web page you're viewing, and then displays relevant information from Twitter about the people and tweets related to the page . To be clear, it's not just about finding out who tweeted about that page, but about the people related to that page. For example, a TechCrunch article would point you to the author's profile, as well as Twitter profiles related to that writer. And Twitter integration is just the beginning. The company is adding support for Facebook, Google+ and LinkedIn, too. In addition to today's launch, mon.ki has also closed a round of $400,000 in seed funding.
 
Apple ≠ Sony: Why Apple Can Succeed Post-Jobs Top
steve-jobs-steve-wozniakWhile I often prefer to watch analysts hoist themselves with their own petard, it's not often that one dumps out a bit of drivel so short-sighted as George Colony at Forrester. In short, Colony believes that Apple is the next Sony - a desiccated organization that has nothing new to offer the world. While he's right about Sony, he's wrong about Apple. Analysts, to be fair, do know a thing or two about a thing or two. I'm sure he's great at plumbing financial data and picking expensive steaks. But in this Forbes piece he cites Max Weber's Theory of Social And Economic Organization, a book that I read in college but haven't had the time to peruse of late. Weber, writing in 1947, breaks organizations down into legal/bureaucratic, traditional, and charismatic. Weber probably knew from charismatic, considering his demi monde, but I doubt his version of a charismatic leader - "he is set apart from ordinary men and treated as endowed with supernatural, superhuman, or at least specifically exceptional powers or qualities" - is applicable in any case in our modern business climate.
 
Ditto Picks Up $3 Million From August Capital, Others For Its Virtual, 3D Eyeglasses Sales Site Top
Screen shot 2012-04-26 at 15.23.51The next big thing in fashion e-commerce is a moving target -- literally. Ditto, a site that lets users upload videos of themselves to use in trying on eyeglasses, has today announced that it has picked up a $3 million in funding from a group of investors led by August Capital. Ditto's co-founder and CEO Kate Endress says the funding will be used to further enhance the technology behind the service, and to grow the company's own eyewear business, which resells frames from Persol, Chloe, Ray-Ban, Tag Heuer, Vera Wang and others.
 
Walmart Adds "Pay With Cash" For Online Shoppers At Walmart.com Top
Pay with CashWalmart.com is launching a new way to checkout, targeting customers who don't have credit or debit cards...or money in the bank for that matter. The company is now allowing customers to buy online and pay with cash. The change reflects the current economic conditions in the U.S., as Walmart states (citing FDIC figures) that one in four U.S. households is "unbanked" or "underbanked" - meaning they rely on cash for their purchases. In addition, Walmart says the majority of its own in-store transactions are cash or debit, and only 15% are paid for using credit cards.
 
D'oh! Homer Simpson, And His Donut, May Show Up In Angry Birds Space Top
angrybirds_simpsons-580x326We heard from Peter Vesterbacka himself that Angry Birds Space would be Rovio's biggest launch yet. It's had crazy success since its launch in March, and in proper Rovio fashion, the company has just released an update to the next level: "Fry Me To The Moon." But with access to the next level, we also get a glimpse of what the level past that might look like, and guess what! It looks a helluva lot like Homer Simpson's favorite donut.
 
Fashion Retail And Styling Platform JustFab Seeing Over $100M In Revenue, Expanding Internationally Top
justfabJustFab, a fashion retail and styling platform, is announcing a number of new metrics today, including over $100 million in 2012 revenue as well as international expansion. JustFab was incubated by Intelligent Beauty in March 2010 and has since grown to over 2.5 million members. Similar to sites like ShoeDazzle and BeachMint, JustFab operates a monthly distribution model.
 
AHAlife Raises $10.1M To Curate And Sell Hard-To-Find, Luxury Products From Around The World Top
ahalifeAHAlife, an e-commerce site for hard-to-find and exclusive luxury lifestyle products, has raised $10.1 million in Series B funding, led by Japanese e-commerce giant Rakuten, with DCM and FirstMark Capital also participating in the round. This brings the company's total funding to $19.1 million. As we wrote in our review of the site, AHAlife introduces one new product a day in editorial format through its email list, tells the story about how the product was made, who made it, and where it came from while allowing you to also purchase the product. Products span fashion, food, beauty, travel, accessories, home décor, tech, and travel experiences.
 
Another Crowdfunding Player Enters The Fray: Apps Genius Launches GetFunded.com Top
getfunded.comThis may not have been the U.S. government's exact intention when when it passed the crowdfunding-friendly JOBS Act, but you have to wonder if it has also jumpstarted the number of crowdfunding sites out there competing for entrepreneurs' and consumers' attention. The latest comes from the social and mobile games developer Apps Genius -- (in)famous for its scatological riff on Angry Birds, "Angry Turds" -- which today announced that it is launching a new crowd-sourced funding site, GetFunded. Like Kickstarter and many others, GetFunded will be a "crowdfunding platform for entrepreneurs who are seeking new investments in their businesses and ideas," according to a statement from App Genius. Adam Kotkin, the CEO of Apps Genius, clarifies that just because his company is focused on games, this doesn't mean that GetFunded will be, too: it's aiming for everyone and everything. He tells me the site will be launched in the coming weeks.
 
Ikea Reveals A Cute Cardboard Digital Rangefinder Camera Top
300225041_33f0aa7127b0Ikea is seemingly getting serious about consumer electronics. First there was the new home theater line and now a digital camera. But the two are slightly different. The disruptive HDTV system, UPPLEVA, is a serious entry into a stale market. The digital camera is, well, cardboard. And cheap. But still awesome.
 
Shape Security: Kleiner Perkins & Eric Schmidt Lead $6M Round In Stealth Security Startup Top
Screen shot 2012-04-26 at 3.57.21 AMBig corporations have been riddled by security attacks over the past year, and hackers seem to be growing even bolder and more resolute. As a result, market research firm The Radicati Group said that it expects the corporate web security market to grow to $2.5 billion over the next four years. It's in this climate that a young, stealth startup is trying to put companies back on the offensive, and some notable Silicon Valley investors are buying in. Mountain View-based Shape Security is announcing this morning that it has raised $6 million in series A financing, led by Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt's TomorrowVentures. Accel Partner Peter Wagner, Sequoia Limited Partner Guarav Garg, Baseline Ventures, and unnamed executives at LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook also participated in the round.
 
Yandex Q1 Earnings: Revenues Up 51% To $200.3M, Net Income Up 53% To $43M Top
yandexYandex, Russia's biggest search company, has posted Q1 earnings, with revenues up 51% to $200.3 million, and net income up 53% to $43 million. The results beat analyst expectations: on average analysts expected revenues of $194.64 million, with earnings per share of $0.15 (low $0.13; high $0.16), but other numbers may still give investors pause: Yandex's share of the search market in Russia, its largest market by far, is now at 59 percent against competition from Google and others: last year it was closer to 65 percent.
 
ZestCash Debuts New Big Data Underwriting Models To Determine Consumer Credit Risk Top
zestcash-pictureZestCash, a company founded by former Google CIO and VP of engineering Douglas Merrill to legitimize the payday loan industry, is announcing a new patent pending credit decisioning model to better analyze credit risk. ZestCash also introduced Hollerith, a new set of underwriting models that allow the company to extend credit to 25 percent more Americans and increase repayment from customers by 20 percent. ZestCash takes an entirely different approach to underwriting by combining Google-style machine learning techniques and data analysis, combined with traditional credit scoring. As a result, the company can offer credit to many people who historically would have been turned away. The company allows users to borrow between $300 and $800 in what are called 'payday loans' and is currently available in five states— Wisconsin, Utah, Idaho, Missouri and South Dakota.
 
Comparing Pre-IPO Facebook To Pre-IPO Google: Fair, Or A Case Of Apples And Oranges? Top
Facebook MoneyFacebook, in its updated S-1 released on April 23, dazzled us with more milestone user numbers: 901 million monthly active users, and 500 million on mobile. But it also reported a decline in revenues $1.058 billion compared to $1.131 billion in the quarter before -- due to seasonality, Facebook explains. And perhaps more importantly, annual revenue growth is slowing, and in Q1 2011-Q1 2012 was 44.7 percent, nearly half of the 88 percent the year before. Some new data from Privco teases out those revenue growth numbers even further by comparing Facebook's financials to those of pre-IPO Google, in an attempt to show that it is not seasonality but a more particular issue with Facebook. The picture is not pretty.
 

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