ArpexCapital

Brazil:

·         Dualtec Cloud Solutions, Brazil’s first cloud services broker, has received an investment from Brazilian VC firm, Astella Investimentos.  The funds will be used to accelerate its growth. This increases Astella’s portfolio to five companies and positions Dualtec to reach its goal of a 36% increase in sales.

o   http://bit.ly/nITZ6p

·         The Brazilian government is going to allocate R$ 2 billion for FINEP, a government development agency, to increase the release of funds for business innovation projects.  The funds will be released through BNDES, the national development bank, through the Investment Support Program at rates of 4%-5% per year.

o   http://bit.ly/qU2onk

·         O2 Games, a Brazilian online social gaming company, has received a new investment from Bossa Nova, a group led by business angel, Pierre Schurmann.  The funds will be used to strengthen the business, keep it in Belo Horizonte, and then increase its market share through new games.

o   http://bit.ly/pJ2zCE

·         Latin America’s largest group buying site, Peixe Urbano, has announced that it will sponsor start-ups participating in incubator, Startup Farm, that try to create some sort of solution using its API.

o   http://bit.ly/ni4NEJ

·         In keeping with its internet expansion movement, the federal government will penalize internet operators and internet providers that limit the access of certain internet services.  Essentially, the government is imposing net neutrality.

o   http://bit.ly/o5kQAG

 

United States:

·         Silicon Valley based social enterprising company Jive files its S-1 this week. Jive’s IPO is expected to be at $100M. Their software combines computing with social collaboration to offer fully-featured social networks for businesses.

o   http://tcrn.ch/qka2mY

·         Tel Aviv based cloud-supported music service, Mecanto launched an affordable streaming and storage service.  The service promises unlimited music streaming and storage to listeners all over the world without the price of competitors.

 

o   http://tcrn.ch/oMTBYo

·         Auto industry digital marketing platform Dealer.com raises $30M led by Accel Partners. Based in Burlington, VT, Dealer.com sells a SaaS application that manages auto dealers’ web presence from start to finish.

o   http://tcrn.ch/rlVVsJ

·         Revenue performance management company Eloqua Limited files for an initial public offering estimated at $100M. Eloqua’s software solution is a SaaS platform that provides its clients with analytics to help predict revenue performance.

o   http://bit.ly/mXgBux

·         Online gaming veterans Chris Chung and Rick Lambright have formed Motiga, a startup dedicated to making cloud-based mobile games. In addition, the company has created a scalable cloud-based mobile game server technology.

o   http://bit.ly/pjAx6m

 

American VC/Industry:

·         Y Combinator startup, MarketBrief, launched last week.  The startup aims to process SEC filings and create a simplified version of the filing document.  The startup plans to include FCA, FCC, and other agency documents as it matures.  The company will operate on a freemium model.

o   http://bit.ly/o9OaOa

·         Technology company incubator YouWeb has raised $2MM from its existing investors.  The funds will be used to help expand the incubator in both its program size and personnel.

o   http://bit.ly/pWJyiD

·         OpenFeint, the mobile social gaming network, has announced that it will allow third-party app developers to use its own identification code in response to Apple’s earlier announcement of its exluding unique device identifier numbers in future Apple projects.

o   http://bit.ly/nOShD2

·         Venture capital firm, Sequoia Capital, is raising a new growth fund and principals fund.  The amounts being sought have not yet been disclosed.

o   http://bit.ly/re6RwM

Brazil:

·       Aiming to stimulate digital entrepreneurship in Brazil, Grupo RBS has launched the first RBS Prize for Entrepreneurship and Innovation. The initiative will offer prizes of R$50,000, R$25,000 and R$10,000 to the top 3.

o   http://bit.ly/n1BtRF

·       Latin America’s largest group buying site, Peixe Urbano announces that they are going to sponsor a segment of the Startup Farm accelerator program for a startup intending to create solutions using the Peixe Urbano API.

o   http://bit.ly/qu6JYI

·       Led by founder, Rafael Dahis, Brazilian based social networking user review service for University students, CarrascoMamata, launches, offering students  advice on class material, professor evaluations,  notes on class style, etc.

o   http://bit.ly/nLgGZz

·       Recently launched Brazilian startup, Drimio helps brands and consumers to integrate ideas, opinions and content.

o   http://bit.ly/qG4ye

United States:

·       According to TechCrunch, Facebook is in the process of rolling out its new “mini” news feed to far more users. The miniature real-time News Feed on the right side of the page will be labeled “Ticker.”

o   http://tcrn.ch/qVi0kH

·       Foursquare announces that users can now officially ‘check in’ to events using the location based service. Foursquare has hooked up with ESPN for sports events, MovieTicket.com for movie tickets and Songkick for concerts to populate its database with official events.

o   http://tcrn.ch/oB3Ut8

·       Bing launches new Windows app “We’re In.” When you use the app to create an event and invite people to it, the invitation goes out via text message. In addition, the app allows participants to leave in-group status updates.

o   http://tcrn.ch/ow4nrv

·       Textbook rental leader Chegg announces that it is going digital and will be steadily rolling e-textbooks on its platform. In preparation for it’s digitial debut, Chegg has partnered with many leading textbook publishers.  

o   http://tcrn.ch/rsxYmK

·       Evernote CEO Phil Libin announces that the company has acquired Skitch, a best selling app in the Apple app store. Also announced was the availability of Skitch for Android.

o   http://tcrn.ch/qQ14B1

·       Google announces that the company will be adding a new weather layer to its popular mapping service, Google Maps. Courtesy of weather.com, the weather layer will display conditions with various icons for sun, rain, clouds, etc.

o   http://tcrn.ch/oCyxpv

·       In the hours leading up to their Q3 conference call, HP confirmed that the company will be discontinuing operations surrounding the TouchPad and all webOS phones. The company claims that it “will continue to explore options to optimize the value of webOS software going forward.”

o   http://tcrn.ch/prwo3Z

VC/Industry:

·       Chinese video sharing site, Tudou, which is similar to YouTube, raises $174 million this week in its U.S. IPO. Tudou’s shares were priced at a 58 percent discount compared to rival Youku, valuing the company at $822 million.

o   http://bit.ly/pBZcoA

·       According to a recent study from Nielsen, the 10 most popular Android apps capture 43 percent of all the time spent by Android consumers on mobile apps.

o   http://bit.ly/raAbTR

·       Research in Motion, the company behind Blackberry announces the development of their own streaming music service that would run specifically on its smartphones and tablets.

o   http://bit.ly/rtr8aN

 

Brazil:

·         Following a Brazilian courts injunction against Vostu in the Zynga vs. Vostu lawsuit, an American Judge said that the Brazilian Court cannot shut down the Brazilian startup. This is due to Zynga’s decision to use the US courts as its first forum.

o   http://tcrn.ch/piGRk6

 

·         Brazilian accelerator, Startup Farm, has announced three scholarships for women.  One will be a complete scholarship with the other two covering 50% of costs.  The goal is to increase the amount of woman participants given their low representation.

o   http://goo.gl/mtuAP

 

·         Sao Paulo-based startup Ledface has launched its beta of what it calls “the collective brain,” which is essentially a crowdsourcing platform. The Brazilian startup is a platform that aims to harness collective intelligence to answer questions.

o   http://tnw.co/ow77OD

 

·         Start-Up Lab, as presented by Artemisia Neogicos Socias and The Hub, is hosting a pitch session event in Rio de Janeiro at August 25th. This is a part of a week of programs that cover a variety of topics from August 21-August 28^th.

o   http://bit.ly/pGuoJk

 

·         American VC fund, Redpoint Ventures, will be hosting office hours in Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro on August 15^th (SP) and August 18^th (RJ).  Redpoint will select 30 companies to participate in this event.

o   http://goo.gl/10R9z

 

United States:

·         Foodspotting, a service built around sharing photos of meals with the goal of food discovery, attained 100M users this week. In response to this the startup is adding a new “Follow” tab in order to augment the social aspect of the app.

o   http://tcrn.ch/rkE4mJ

 

·         Facebook released mobile messaging app, Facebook Messenger. The new app merges the technology from the company’s acquisition of group messaging service, Beluga, and a revamped Messages product.

o   http://tcrn.ch/qw8L6r

 

·         Google+ has launched its own games section that features titles from Facebook game companies such as Zynga and others.  More importantly, Google is undercutting Facebook by charging a 5% revenue fee versus Facebook’s 30%.

o   http://goo.gl/Je5C2

 

·         In a new partnership with Foursquare, DVD rental service RedBox is now offering discounts when customers check-in with the location based service. This comes as the latest push to encourage Redbox users to connect the kiosks to their mobile devices.

o   http://on.mash.to/n8XolE

 

·         In order to circumvent Apple’s new in-app subscription rules, Amazon has launched a new HTML5 app called Kindle Cloud Reader that allows you to read Kindle books in your browser both online and offline.

o   http://on.mash.to/mXfcQk

 

·         URL shortening service Bit.ly acquired social publishing tool, Twitterfeed. The social tool automatically publishes RSS feeds to social networks with a title and shortened Bit.ly link.

o   http://on.mash.to/oZ3pEO

 

·         Zulily, a daily deals site that specializes in toys and children’s clothes closes a $43M fundraising round led by Meritech Capital Partners. No plans were announced for the new

funds.

o   http://tinyurl.com/3k5r4oq

 

 

American VC/Industry:

·         Gaming giant Zynga filed an amended S-1 for their IPO, slightly altering their previous filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Additionally, Zynga confirmed that it now has a $1B credit facility, as well as an increase in employees.

o   http://bit.ly/o7nJoT

 

·         Rovio, the company behind the smash game Angry Birds is in the process of fundraising a round that would value the company at over $1.2B.

o   http://bit.ly/oRK7Xs

 

·         Visa has announced that it will deploy dual-mode chips to pave the way for NFC based mobile payments.  Furthermore, Visa has announced a 3 year, 3 step plan that will induce merchant-credit card companies infrastructure changes.

o   http://goo.gl/Rf22N

 

 

Brazil:

·         Zynga has now sued Vostu in Brazil where a judge has granted a preliminary injunction against Vostu.  Vostu and Orkut must now remove four games within two days or incure $13K in daily fines.

o   http://tcrn.ch/nmJ3zo

·         IDC Institute has found that Apple’s iPhone dominates Brazilian phone sales, gaining 19% of the market.  This level of market share represents an increase of 140% over the previous year. Apple’s rise  is in stark contracts to Nokia’s 30% fall.

o   http://bit.ly/n9RvD6

·         Buscape Challenge has selected four winners in its business plan contest. The winners: Urbanizo (an internet real estate site), HotMart (a platform for operating and distributing digital content), Anuncie La (a social virtual marketplace), and Meu Carrinho (a mobile app for grocery store prices) will receive R$1MM from Buscape and other qualitative aid.

o   http://bit.ly/poWZ1l

·         Brazilian incubator Aceleradora has selected five startups for its 2011 mentoring cycle.  The companies: AcessoZero (online social city guide), Anuncie.La (a social virtual marketplace), Crowdtest (crowdsourced testing service) EuDecido (reverse group buying system), and Vozis (call routing platform) will receive constant mentoring sessions and even small capital investments if needed.

o   http://tnw.co/raoRL5

 

United States:

·         Social gaming company Kixeye raised $18M in a series C round led by Jafco Ventures. The company focuses on “games for gamers” and with the new funds looks to expand in both personnel and titles.

o   http://tcrn.ch/oF9zK4

·         American Express has teamed up with Verizon Wireless to support AmEx’s Serve digital wallet platform.  Under the agreement, Verizon customers will be able to use Serve to make payments for transactions done on their smartphones.

o   http://bit.ly/ql7qko

·         Educational gaming startup Airy Labs, which creates social learning games for children that are compatible with mobile, tablet and browser, raised $1.5M in seed funding from Google Ventures among others.

o   http://tcrn.ch/qiYo99

·         Social gaming company Zynga launched Words With Friends for Facebook. The new version of the game offers continuous play; meaning if you start a game on your mobile device, you can continue it on Facebook and vice-versa. 

o   http://on.mash.to/prm0AE

·         Kinvey, a startup that helps mobile developers build apps faster, raised $2MM in a seed round.  The seed money will be used to hire more employees and add new features.

o   http://bit.ly/rcXiGR

·         WhosHere, an iOS app for location-based social networking, has raised $1.25MM in its first round.  The company plans to scale the business and expand its team with West Coast developers and East Coast operations personnel.

o   http://bit.ly/oPRyBK

·         ChoozOn, a coupon aggregator, raised $3.2MM in angel funding.  The company is currently In beta testing.  With the new funds ChoozOn intends to grow from 40 employees to 50 employees.

o   http://bit.ly/qfYLnV

·         Quirky, a social network for product development, has raised $16M in a Series B led by Norwest Venture Partners. The crowdsourcing site plans to use the new funds for talent hires, specifically in the product development and design areas.

o   http://tcrn.ch/qaNfLg

 

VC/Industry:

·         A study by PlaySpan and VG Market Study found that a third of online gamers buy virtual goods. Furthermore, it was found that women are three times more likely than men to use Facebook credits to purchase virtual goods.

o   http://bit.ly/rnh9NJ

·         Startup incubator AngelPad has decided to offer applicants an additional $100K in funding. The funding is from two VC firms and does not have major diluting effects.

o   http://bit.ly/p4iFZD

·         McKinsey has published a research article in which the population of heavy users of digital activities has almost tripled.  Nonetheless, a quarter of the population still does not own a smartphone or engage in digital activities and lacks an intention to do so.

o   http://rww.to/q3PcTW