Monday, April 30, 2012

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Microsoft Makes $300M Investment In New Barnes & Noble Subsidiary To Battle With Amazon And Apple In E-books Top
barnes_and_noble_nook_tablet_1161200_g2Barnes & Noble has found a new, major partner in its fight to get an edge over Amazon and Apple in the heating up market for e-books and the devices being used to consume them: it is teaming up with Microsoft in what the two are calling a strategic partnership, name yet to be determined. It will come in the form of a new subsidiary of B&N that will include all of its Nook business as well as its educationally-focussed College business that will see Microsoft make a $300 million investment in the subsidiary, valuing the company at $1.7 billion in exchange for around 17.6 percent equity in the subsidiary. The news leaves the door open for B&N to eventually spin these off into a separate business altogether -- or sell them to Microsoft. And it leaves a big load of questions about what B&N will do next with the Nook, which is build on a forked version of Google's Android platform.
 
Just-Eat Just Raised Another $64M From Vitruvian, Index, Greylock For Online Food Ordering Top
just eat logoThe UK may have just entered a double-dip recession but that doesn't seem to have trickled down to how consumers are spending money on take-out food -- and the companies that are building businesses around that. The UK-based online food ordering site Just-Eat has picked up a third round of funding totaling $64 million, its biggest yet, to further build out its online food ordering service. The round was led by private equity firm Vitruvian Partners, with participation from existing investors Index Ventures, Greylock Partners and Redpoint Ventures. The investment comes only a year after the company raised a venture round of $48 million, and a Series A of $17.4 million in 2009, and brings the total funding in the company up to a whopping $129.4 million in the last three years.
 
Greylock Deepens Enterprise Experience, Adds Former BladeLogic CEO And BMC President As Venture Partner Top
devGreylock Partners has been long focused on two distinct areas when it comes to venture investments—consumer and enterprise. The last consumer partner hire the firm made was former CEO of Mozilla, John Lilly. And today, the firm is deepening its experience in its enterprise practice with the addition of Dev Ittycheria as Venture Partner in Greylock's Silicon Valley office. At Greylock, Ittycheria will be focusing on investing in enterprise software companies, with a focus on cloud-based services and enabling IT infrastructure. Ittycheria is a long-time enterprise veteran with a history of not only founding successful startups, but also helping lead established companies towards revenue growth. He co-founded BladeLogic, which he led through a successful IPO and eventually a sale to BMC Software in 2008 for $900 million.
 
Opera Mini Now Has 169 Million Users, 56% Of Them Only Use The Mobile Web Top
Opera-logo-JPGOn the desktop, Opera's browser is only a minor player compared to Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome and Safari, but as a mobile browser, Opera competes head-to-head with Apple and Google. Worldwide, depending on which statistics you believe, it is either just ahead of the competition or a close runner-up. In developing countries, Opera is generally far ahead of the competition. According to an interesting new white paper by Opera, in which the company took a look at how its users around the world actually use the browser, it's hard to underestimate the importance of mobile browsing in developing countries.
 
McCann Invests $4M in Israeli Incubator 'thetime' Top
thetimeWith a $4M investment, McCann Worldgroup has bought a 15% stake in Israeli incubator 'thetime'. This move isn't a particularly surprising considering 'thetime' was founded by Ilan Shiloah, who for the past 10 years has been chairman of McCann Erickson Israel. 'thetime' was also co-founded by angel investor, Nir Tarlovsky. Uri Weinheber, previously of Lab One, acts as the incubator's CEO.
 
Zillow, Mum On $45M RentJuice Rumor, Launches First Dedicated Rental App, On Android Top
zillow rentalsZillow, according to one report, may be closing in on a deal to buy rental marketing software maker RentJuice for $45 million, but in the meantime the online property portal is focusing on the rental market in another way: by launching its first dedicated rentals app -- a free app for Android devices. Zillow Rentals is the latest development in Zillow's strategy for mobile, which -- now numbering at 10 apps -- has become a huge part of its business: on weekends, a full 40 percent of all of Zillow's traffic -- 32 million uniques in March -- comes from mobile devices, and in the same month 155 million homes on Zillow were viewed from mobile devices: that works out to 57 homes per second, the company tells me. And although users are able to view some rental information on the original app, the new, dedicated app gives a speedier and more streamlined experience for the fast, high-volume property viewing that characterizes the average would-be renter, says Jeremy Wacksman, VP of marketing at Zillow.
 
Wrapp Brings Social, Mobile Gifting Service To The U.S.; Partners With The Gap, H&M And Others Top
wrappWrapp, a social gifting service backed by Greylock Partners and Atomico, is crossing the pond with the U.S. launch of its mobile gift card and retail app. Wrapp, which was available previously only in the UK, Norway, Sweden and Japan, Wrapp is actually launching today with a number of U.S. retailers including Fab, Gap, H&M, Sephora, The Wall Street Journal, Wayfair, and others. As we've reported in the past, Wrapp was co-founded by Rebtel and SendIt founder Hjalmar Winbladh, Spotify founding CTO Andreas Ehn, and lets friends give, receive and redeem digital gift cards using mobile devices, and allows friends to contribute to gifts given by mutual friends. With Wrapp, which offers iPhone, Android and web apps, you sign in via your Facebook account, and you can then tap the Celebration tab on the app, browse your friends or major events, and select the person you want to send a gift card to. All available gift card offers for that friend are automatically listed.
 
Disillusionment of an Entrepreneur Top
Lopez_4When I became an entrepreneur at the age of twenty-three, I began in earnest, as do all entrepreneurs, chasing a dream. My dream was clear. I would build a consumer technology company that reached ten million people and sell the company for millions of dollars, before the age of thirty. Then, as the dream went, I would retire to an oceanfront house on a warm Pacific beach and learn how to surf. I recently had the fortune of celebrating a year in which I saw that lofty goal fulfilled. My company's iPhone apps had over ten million downloads, and a competitor paid a large sum of money to acquire what we had built, just a week before my thirtieth birthday. Dream had become reality.
 
How Much Revenue Does It Take To Be A $1B Public Company? Top
1billevilWith all the chatter about Billion dollar valuations -- like Instagram, Evernote, Splunk -- combined with recent S1 filings and IPOs, the topic of tech company valuation is coming to the forefront of people's minds. Specifically related to the software industry, the growing number of SaaS IPO candidates of late is signaling an important shift in the way that enterprise software is built and sold. It also indicates that the subscription business model is here to stay. What does this shift towards a subscription economy means for startups, investors and the IPO landscape? First of all – get Instagram out of your mind. The price it sold for is not relevant to us mere mortals who are building B2B software businesses. For all good, non-bubble reasons, SaaS companies need tens of millions in revenue, high growth, and solid business fundamentals. What you may notice though, is that revenue may be lower than what we've become accustomed to during the last few years of IPO drought.
 
Achievement Unlocked: Apple Wins Applecom.com And Appleprinters.com After WIPO Complaint Top
apple_rainbow_logoApple still doesn't own iPad.com, apple.co.uk or many other domains that contain its name or names of its products, but it is now the proud owner of applecom.com and appleprinters.com -- two domains that were the subject of a complaint Apple made to the World Intellectual Property Organization complaint Apple made about a month ago. If you now visit those URLs, they automatically redirect to Apple's main site.
 
Test Driving GAIN Fitness, The App That Turns Your iPhone Into A Personal Trainer [TCTV] Top
Screen Shot 2012-04-29 at 12.08.13 PMSummer is on its way, and self-improvement is on everyone's minds -- so it seems like each day I hear about a new must-have app focused on fitness, health, nutrition, or the "quantified self" in general. And now that the tech startup scene is hotter than ever, many of these apps are backed by serious investors and have big plans for the future. Take GAIN Fitness. The San Francisco-based company, headed up by former college athlete and ex-Googler Nick Gammell, makes web and mobile apps that provide personalized workout routines and track users' progress as they go through them. It sounds solid on paper, but with all the options out there we wanted to look a bit closer at the company and its product. So we met up with Gammell at a gym in downtown San Francisco to talk to him about GAIN Fitness and test drive the app ourselves.
 
Weathermob Nabs Funding To Make Sharing Weather Reports More Social Top
WeathermobWeathermob, a mobile, social network for sharing weather reports around the globe, has raised $360,000 in new funding from a number of angel investors including Christopher Austin, Tim Albright, Drew Volpe and Mark Hastings. Via a free iOS app, Weathermob allows anyone to become a weather reporter. The app mashes up real-time meteorological data, photo and video sharing to allow users to report on and share the weather in their current location. Since launching in November, the app already has millions of users from 128 countries.
 
The TechCrunch Meet-Up In NYC Is Officially Official: RSVP Now Top
NYC_Times_SquareAs the days pass, the big moment draws nigh. No, I'm not talking about Disrupt, which is a big moment in its own right, nor am I teasing any other big launch. I'm talking about a party. A huge party. We initially called it a mini meet-up — a gathering of New York's tech startup scene, including investors, entrepreneurs and TechCrunch editorial — but its grown into so much more than that. With over 600 RSVPs, ten sponsors, a badass venue, and more TC staff in attendance than we'd originally expected, our mini meet-up is now massive.
 
Foxconn Profit Down As Scrutiny Forces Corporate Changes Top
scaledwm-img_3792Taiwanese electronics manufacturer Foxconn saw its profits fall to $509 million from $1.19 billion last quarter. Chairman Terry Gou said this quarter was particularly affected by Foxconn's recent image problem. Improvements in wages, worker benefits, and education accounted for some of the loss, although new iPad and iPhone 4S manufacturing bolstered income last quarter. As a reaction to recent popular criticism on various fronts, the company increased wages by 25 percent this year and is planning to open a hospital and language schools for its employees.
 
How Tablets Are Transforming Business Intelligence Top
ipad_kb_side_bigStaying on top of your game and understanding the competitive landscape is essential to winning in the modern business world. A huge component to staying ahead of the curve is keeping a close eye on competitors in your market, which entails maintaining a watchful eye on industry news. Some companies turn to expensive news monitoring services to keep track of their respective industry, but in reality there are more viable options. Emerging tablet news and information services like Flipboard, Pulse and others are proving an incredible companion to business and consulting executives in staying current with industry changes occurring around them. Jeff Cavins, CEO of Fuzebox, recently wrote in Business Insider that the explosive uptake of tablet computers is fueling the growth of what he called the new "iPad economy." Cavins said: "The iPad is shifting the way businesses function, changing how executives interact and transforming the economics of today's business operations."
 
The Future of Science Top
typewriter vintage image GraphicsFairy1Almost every technological and medical innovation in the world has its roots in a scientific paper. Science drives much of the world's innovation. The faster science moves, the faster the world moves. Progress in science right now is being held back by two key inefficiencies:
 
Data Driven Decisions for Startups Top
6259499293_b577b94cfd_b"If you don't have any facts, we'll just use my opinion." - Jim Barksdale (former president and CEO of Netscape). Startups are the sum of the decisions made by the people who run them. Should you raise money? Who should you raise money from? What should be your marketing strategy? What are the next features you should build? Who should you hire? Ok.. you get the point. If decisions are so important then it might be worthwhile to think about how to make them better. A lot of research has been done on this subject and you can literally spend years going through the books, papers and the various theories and schools of thought in decision-making. Needless to say, that will probably be a bad decision by itself. Instead, it is more important to understand why data driven decisions work and to instill such a culture in your company.
 
Google Releases Full Report On Street View Investigation, Finds That Staff Knew About Wi-Fi Sniffing Top
evilbearEarlier today Google released the full report of the FCC's investigation into the collection of  "payload data" from open Wi-Fi networks -- aka passwords, email and search history from open networks -- that its fleet of Street View cars obtained between 2008 and April 2010. An earlier and heavily redacted version of the report was released on April 15 but today's version only redacted the names of individuals. The report found no violation of any wrong doing by the company because there was no legal precedent on the matter. The FCC found that Google did not violate the Communications Act citing the fact that Wi-Fi did not exist when it was written. However, the FCC did fine Google $25,000 for obstructing the investigation, which was presumably the outcome of Google refusing to show the FCC what the data being collected entailed because it might have shown that the company broke privacy and wiretapping laws. Google says any obstruction was result of the FCC dragging out the investigation. Interestingly enough, the report did reveal that the data harvesting was not the act of a rogue engineer and that said engineer notified the Street View team of what was going on. (Wait. What? Google knew this was going on! It gets even better.)
 
No, AirPlay Is Not The New Apple TV Top
a3If you asked your mom or dad what DLNA or UPnP stood for or did, would they just look at you weird? While the two technologies enable users to wirelessly beam content to Internet Connected TVs from their tablets, phones, and computers, Apple's AirPlay is the first implementation that makes the experience seamless. Tap the button again and playback resumes on your root device. No complicated setup is required - it simply works. Some, like Bloomberg and Hunter Walk, have suggested that AirPlay is Apple TV, and that Apple will simply license AirPlay to the major Connected TV manufactures - and by default every Connected TV sold will be an "Apple TV" - the remote being your iPhone or iPad. It's certainly a sensible theory - there are 250 M+ iOS devices, and with the upcoming OS X update, laptops can now leverage Airplay as well. That's over 300M Apple devices that can push content to TVs.
 
Hardware Start-Ups: Join Us In Hardware Alley At TechCrunch Disrupt NY Top
23-75TechCrunch Disrupt is all about start-ups but we often give short shrift to hardware-based companies. Well, that's about to change because we're now running Hardware Alley, a one day exhibition of some of the coolest hardware start-ups in NY and beyond. Running a Kickstarter project? Building a better mousetrap? Creating something cool out of scrap metal and wires? Register as a Hardware Alley exhibitor. You'll get admission on the last day of Disrupt, May 23, a table to show off your goods, and access to some of the most interesting people (and most interesting VCs) in the world. We'd love to have you.
 

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