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| Venture Capital Fundraising Is Down Nearly 40 Percent In First Quarter of 2009 Posted: 13 Apr 2009 08:38 AM PDT
The first quarter of 2009 wasn’t just a dry one for venture-backed exits, very little money went into the coffers of VC funds as well. According to data released today by the National Venture Capital Association, only 40 funds raised new money during the quarter, down from 71 the year before (1Q08) and 47 the previous quarter (4Q08). Out of the 40 funds, only three were brand new In dollar terms, the total raised was $4.3 billion, down 39 percent from the year before (1Q08), but up 23 percent from the fourth quarter. The largest capital raising was for August Capital’s $650 million fund. Bain Capital raised a $475 million fund, and Charles River Ventures raised a new $320 million fund. Here are the stats (Source Thomson Reuters/ NCVA): Number of U.S. Venture Funds Raising New Capital 1Q09: 40 Dollar Amount of New Funds Raised By U.S. Venture Capital Firms (in billions) 1Q09: $4.3B (Photo by MrVJTod) Crunch Network: CrunchGear drool over the sexiest new gadgets and hardware. |
| PragueCrunch Round-Up: Checking In With The Czechs Posted: 13 Apr 2009 05:32 AM PDT
Hare are some of the most interesting people and companies I met at the event: Learn10, which is essentially a social platform for learning the basics of foreign languages quickly and smoothly. I liked what the company is doing so much that I’ll share more information about what it is and where it’s going in a separate post later. I ran into Rich Helsen, Prague-based frontend developer for Silicon Valley startup iWidgets, which recently raised $4.1 million in funding, and recorded a short interview with the man. Another interesting conversation I had at the event was with Roman and Michal, the two Czechs behind local real estate portal Zeality.cz, a freshly launched web service that basically approaches the real estate listings market with a very map-centric, personalized experience. Video interview: I was amazed with the growth of and concept behind Geewa, a social multiplayer gaming platform which Leena covered not too long ago. I expect we’ll be hearing more from this company in the future, despite the fact they’re up against a lot of competition in a congested space. Then there’s meebee, a startup which aims to launch a new web service (currently in private “beeta”) that is supposed to ‘make meetings easier’. From the website: “meebee uses the devices and apps you already use: your email accounts and your calendars, and helps you organize meetings with your friends. Best of all meebee will contact you about meetings, in the way you prefer i.e. vie email, or on your iPhone, or via SMS, even on Facebook.” Check out the video demo on the website for more information. Some of you may know from my earlier coverage on TechCrunch and some of my own tweets that I’m a big fan of 360 Cities, a global community of panoramic photographers who share the best 360 degrees shots with each other (and you) on the web. Founder and CEO Jeffrey Martin was at the event too, and besides taking this awesome shot he got in front of my Flip camera to answer some of my questions: Other stuff coming to the web all the way from the Czech Republic and worth checking out: HashPage, a web-based dynamic mashup builder It was also nice chatting with PragueBob, an American expat who’s been living in the city for quite some time. The man amassed over 42,000 followers on Twitter just by being himself, so naturally I asked how that came to be: Finally, it was good to meet representatives from Ataxo, a 200-employee strong interactive marketing agency that’s quickly expanding in Central and Eastern Europe, and the main sponsor of the event, Dial Telecom, which provides voice, data and Internet services in the entire Czech Republic. Hope I get invited to the next one! Crunch Network: CrunchBoard because it’s time for you to find a new Job2.0 |
| Twitter Worm Woes Continue, Fourth Round Of Attacks By Mikeyy (Updated) Posted: 13 Apr 2009 02:05 AM PDT
I was away for the weekend attending PragueCrunch (more on that later), so I missed most of the conversation about Mikeyy, the Twitter worm that’s been plaguing the micro-sharing service for the last couple of days. And just as I was reading up on it, it seems like a fourth attack is being carried out as I’m writing this. That means that Twitter has not yet fully fixed the issue that arose during the weekend, and the messages Mikeyy is posting reflect that:
Update: at 3:40 am PST, Twitter posted a message saying that they believe the situation is now under control, and that they’ll continue to monitor Mikeyy. Users are being advised to refrain from using the web version and use third-party apps instead, as well as to be careful when clicking links. Other steps that should be taken are changing your bio, URL and change / reset your hex color. I would also recommend to take further precautions, like disabling Javascript in your browser, clear your cache and cookies and maybe even change your password, even if Twitter has previously informed users that no passwords, phone numbers or other sensitive information were compromised as part of this renewed attack. You can keep track of Twitter’s Status blog and @spam account for updates.
I can only imagine how much damage this is doing to the startup’s reputation, and how the community will react to this new round of attacks when word gets out en masse. Granted, having unwanted messages posted to your account is more of an annoyance than a genuine security risk, but this is clearly severely impacting the way people look at and use the service now, particularly those who use Twitter for commercial reasons. Crunch Network: CrunchBase the free database of technology companies, people, and investors |
| You Will Be Using FriendFeed In The Future — But It May Be Called Facebook Posted: 12 Apr 2009 09:19 PM PDT
Go ahead, take a look at the newly launched beta version of FriendFeed side-by-side with the recently redesigned Facebook. Sure, both also look a lot like Twitter, but look deeper, beyond the appearance and into the functionality. Both of the services’ main pages offer a stream of information, including information piped in from other services. Both have filters on the sidebar (though FriendFeed recently moved its from the left side — where Facebook’s are — to the right side). Both offer the ability to comment and “like” elements within the stream. And both offer the ability to hide information within the stream. Now, use both services. Immediately, you’ll see what Facebook is trying to do: Show you an up-to-date look at what your friends are doing both on Facebook and around the web. But it’s not actually live — it’s static. You need to refresh the feed to get more information. FriendFeed, on the other hand, is updating in real-time. At first, there was some backlash against this real-time updating on FriendFeed, with users complaining that there was too much information coming in, too quickly. But that talk has quieted down quite a bit in the week since its launch. And the real-time aspect has so far proven to be a boon for activity on the site. I’m looking at my FriendFeed stream right now compared to my Facebook stream — my FriendFeed stream has a lot more activity on it, despite Facebook having over 200 million users and FriendFeed likely having something south of a million users. At a glance, FriendFeed feels alive, while Facebook feels, well, static.
Facebook plans to turn on real-time updates as well. But when it does, it could well be looking at another major backlash from users. If we saw a backlash against real-time on FriendFeed — which not only has much fewer users, but also has a user base that is considered to be full of “power” web users — just imagine what the backlash will be like on Facebook. It will be ugly. And that’s why filters are so important. These allow you to show only certain updates from certain people on your stream. But again, FriendFeed has done a better job on them than Facebook has. Facebook has made it fairly easy to edit who is in what filter, but it’s still not obvious as to how to do that from a friend’s actual profile page. On FriendFeed, it’s obvious. More importantly, FriendFeed has always made it easy to filter the stream not just by user, but by type of feed element. Facebook recently added this functionality, but it is much less tailored. For example, I can hide YouTube videos, but it will hide all YouTube videos. On FriendFeed, you can hide just YouTube videos from a certain user (but still get other updates from that user). And it’s easy to change those settings as any time. On Facebook, I have no idea how to do that. And with these weaker filters (and a user base who isn’t accustomed to using them), when Facebook implements its real-time stream, a lot of information is going to go by without being noticed. That’s because while FriendFeed smartly brings elements back up to the top of the stream when a friend comments on or “likes” them, Facebook keeps them moving right on down the stream. This means that we’re not likely to see an 800+ comment stream below items like we saw the other day on FriendFeed during a live recording of the Gillmor Gang (yes, it was talking about FriendFeed, but still).
Obviously, Facebook is a lot more than just a stream of information — it’s the largest social network, with rich profiles, a robust application community, among many other things. But it’s also clear that Facebook wants to be the center of sharing information on the web. And right now, both Twitter and yes, FriendFeed are kicking its ass at that, in terms of execution. Let’s jump back to Twitter for a second. A lot of people are caught up with the whole Facebook/Twitter comparison — and that probably includes those high up at Facebook (which failed in a bid to buy Twitter at the end of last year). It’s obvious that Facebook’s recent emphasis on status updates comes directly as a result in the surge in popularity of Twitter. It’s also clear that the large icons in the stream come from Twitter as well — something which I think is actually a mistake for Facebook, because the icons are far too large and make information intake even more difficult. But I think it’s FriendFeed that Facebook should be more closely following, given what it wants to do with its service. That’s especially true when even more information starts coming into the site by way of Facebook Connect. Twitter has exploded in popularity because it’s so simple — but it’s far too simple for everything that Facebook want to do. But FriendFeed seems to be morphing into exactly what Facebook wants to be. So the question I have now, is whether or not Facebook will copy these better features from FriendFeed? I think it will. After all, it had no problem borrowing the “like” feature, the importing of third-party stream elements, or the commenting functionality. (Sure, FriendFeed didn’t invent all of these, but they’ve been implemented on Facebook in nearly the exact same way they’ve been used on FriendFeed.) And if Facebook is able to follow that lead, 200 million plus users will essentially be using FriendFeed — just under the moniker of Facebook. Unlike a lot of people out there, I believe Facebook is on the right track with its recent moves to centralize sharing on the web. But the redesign, in many ways, is half-baked. It needs to be executed better — it needs to be like FriendFeed. Crunch Network: MobileCrunch Mobile Gadgets and Applications, Delivered Daily. |
| MySpace To Launch Featured Apps Directory Next Week Posted: 12 Apr 2009 07:17 PM PDT
MySpace has announced that it is planning to launch a new “Editor’s Pick” category in its application directory next week, allowing members to quickly sift through the platform’s best apps. MySpace had previously shown a handful of featured apps as users browsed its Apps Directory, but these rotated and there was no way to browse through them. Now, users will be able to access a stable list of the best apps as determined by a team of MySpace employees who work with the applications on a daily basis (all apps will be chosen by merit, not through paid sponsorships). MySpace is beginning to accept submissions from developers today, which can be sent in by following these instructions:
Since social networks began to offer support for third party applications (a trend that began with the launch Facebook Platform in May 2007), one of the biggest issues facing users has been weeding out the best applications from the countless spammy and useless apps available. Last summer Facebook announced that it was going to launch a Verified Apps program that would offer approved applications extra exposure and benefits not afforded to standard apps. We’re still waiting. In November Facebook announced that it would charge a $375 fee for developers to apply - a fee that we likened to a protection racket. To make matters worse, Facebook is running behind on the program (which was supposed to launch ‘early this year’), and developers are getting antsy. At this point it’s unclear how similar MySpace’s Editor’s Picks will be to Facebook’s Verified Apps program - the MySpace program is certainly less structured that Facebook’s, and I suspect it won’t be nearly as comprehensive. But it’s still something that lets members know that the applications they’re using can be trusted. Crunch Network: MobileCrunch Mobile Gadgets and Applications, Delivered Daily. |
| Ad Network Collective Media Secures $20 million In Series B Funding Posted: 12 Apr 2009 06:08 PM PDT
Online ad network Collective Media has secured $20 million in Series B funding led by Accel Partners and iNovia Capital. Collective Media offers publishers an ad network management platform to create their own branded, vertical ad networks. The company raised an undisclosed amount in Series A funding, led by Greycroft Partners and iNovia Capital, in October 2007. Launched in 2005, the company provides technology products that let publishers use advance audience targeting, manage ad networks, and access analytics. Collective Media says it will utilize the new funds to grow its network, develop new technology, expand internationally and explore acquisitions. Last year, Collective purchased contextual ad targeting company Personifi for an undisclosed amount (though there were reports that they paid “eight figures” for the Personifi). Crunch Network: CrunchBoard because it’s time for you to find a new Job2.0 |
| Welcome To TechCrunch, MG Siegler Posted: 12 Apr 2009 05:17 PM PDT
MG is a hard worker, and writes both quickly and well (a rare combination). Combine that with a certain level of competitiveness and you’ve got a winner. He’s also very much a part of the startup and technology community here in Silicon Valley. He maintains a personal blog at ParisLemon, where frankly I think some of his best articles have been posted. He’ll continue to write on ParisLemon, but I’ve asked him to bring more of that personal style and opinions into his TechCrunch writing as well. I think you’ll like what you see. MG joins Erick Schonfeld, Sarah Lacy, Jason Kincaid, Robin Wauters and Leena Rao (and myself) as the team writing most of the content you see here on TechCrunch. Look for his first posts soon. You can read VentureBeat’s sendoff here, and get MG’s take on his new job here. Welcome, MG! Crunch Network: CrunchGear drool over the sexiest new gadgets and hardware. |
So I was in Prague for the weekend together with CrunchGear’s 
Last week, we wrote that 
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