What Company Is Offering:
Songza is a new music search engine that lets you hear the songs that you search.
How It Works:
You can search for music, choose what you want to hear, and build up a play list. For each song you come across, there are a few options: add to your play list, rate it, play it immediately, or share it with friends. The share option branches off into a few more options, which let you send the song to someone, link it, watch the YouTube video, and embed the clip on your own website.
Songs that are on your playlist can be rearranged with drag’n'drop capabilities, and the current song that’s playing will offer links to the discography and for purchasing the song. These look to all be currently provided by Google links.
It’s clear that Songza is moving in the direction of providing a multimedia experience for your music search, which could be built upon in several different directions, from a social network to a semantic search tree that branches off in multiple directions.
More at:http://songza.com/
Tuesday, November 6, 2007
Azaleos -E-Mail Manager Got $10 million in venture funding
What Company is offering:
Azaleos, which helps corporations manage, update and archive e-mail.Azaleos provides enterprise-class managed e-mail solutions that combine an on-premises, physical or virtual appliance with 24 hours a day, 7 days a week remote managed services, ensuring 99.9+% high availability, business continuity and optimized performance of your Microsoft Exchange 2003, Exchange 2007, or Mobile Access environment.
How Much They Got From VCs:
They got $10 million in venture funding and named former Microsoft Corp. Chief Information Officer Rick Devenuti to its board.
The funds were provided by existing investors Ignition Partners and Second Avenue Partners, partly because the company wanted to quickly tap a market that is developing as corporations upgrade to the latest version of Microsoft Exchange. Azaleos raised the money in less than 30 days, with Chief Executive Phil van Etten saying that it would have taken six to eight months to attract new investors in Silicon Valley.
What VCs Says:
"The reason we needed to go so quick is that we have recognized that there is a shift in the way folks are approaching e-mail," van Etten said.
Historically, van Etten said, corporations were not interested in outsourcing e-mail systems to third parties. But, he said, the tide has started to shift as millions of customers upgrade to the latest version of Microsoft Exchange 2007, which was released late last year. As they upgrade, van Etten said, corporations are looking for ways to make sure that Exchange runs smoothly, patches are installed quickly and e-mails are archived properly for regulatory purposes. Van Etten said the goal is to provide those services in a more cost-effective manner that doesn't consume the time of network administrators.
"If you think of (e-mail) in terms of a utility, like electricity, you wouldn't really have someone making sure the lights are on. You would outsource that," said van Etten, who joined the company last year. "As people think of e-mail, they think of it as more of a utility and something you turn on and use it and pay for it."
How They Are Performing:
To date, Azaleos has delivered more than 100 million messages and is currently managing about 300,000 messages every day. Customers include K2, Coinstar, Zumiez and at least five undisclosed Fortune 1000 companies. Its largest customer is a Pennsylvania-based steel manufacturer.Azaleos charges anywhere from $15,000 to $110,000 for its hardware device, with a $12 monthly service charge for each e-mail address. It then charges an additional $6 per month for mobile e-mail services and $4 per month for e-mail archiving.
More at:http://www.azaleos.com/
Azaleos, which helps corporations manage, update and archive e-mail.Azaleos provides enterprise-class managed e-mail solutions that combine an on-premises, physical or virtual appliance with 24 hours a day, 7 days a week remote managed services, ensuring 99.9+% high availability, business continuity and optimized performance of your Microsoft Exchange 2003, Exchange 2007, or Mobile Access environment.
How Much They Got From VCs:
They got $10 million in venture funding and named former Microsoft Corp. Chief Information Officer Rick Devenuti to its board.
The funds were provided by existing investors Ignition Partners and Second Avenue Partners, partly because the company wanted to quickly tap a market that is developing as corporations upgrade to the latest version of Microsoft Exchange. Azaleos raised the money in less than 30 days, with Chief Executive Phil van Etten saying that it would have taken six to eight months to attract new investors in Silicon Valley.
What VCs Says:
"The reason we needed to go so quick is that we have recognized that there is a shift in the way folks are approaching e-mail," van Etten said.
Historically, van Etten said, corporations were not interested in outsourcing e-mail systems to third parties. But, he said, the tide has started to shift as millions of customers upgrade to the latest version of Microsoft Exchange 2007, which was released late last year. As they upgrade, van Etten said, corporations are looking for ways to make sure that Exchange runs smoothly, patches are installed quickly and e-mails are archived properly for regulatory purposes. Van Etten said the goal is to provide those services in a more cost-effective manner that doesn't consume the time of network administrators.
"If you think of (e-mail) in terms of a utility, like electricity, you wouldn't really have someone making sure the lights are on. You would outsource that," said van Etten, who joined the company last year. "As people think of e-mail, they think of it as more of a utility and something you turn on and use it and pay for it."
How They Are Performing:
To date, Azaleos has delivered more than 100 million messages and is currently managing about 300,000 messages every day. Customers include K2, Coinstar, Zumiez and at least five undisclosed Fortune 1000 companies. Its largest customer is a Pennsylvania-based steel manufacturer.Azaleos charges anywhere from $15,000 to $110,000 for its hardware device, with a $12 monthly service charge for each e-mail address. It then charges an additional $6 per month for mobile e-mail services and $4 per month for e-mail archiving.
More at:http://www.azaleos.com/
Business Idea With Difference
Last August a New York-based small business called Sooloos started shipping - not showing, but actually shipping - the Sooloos, a custom designed and built, ultra-high-end, digital music system that starts at $12,900. But if you buy one, chances are good you'll spend $15,000 or more for the system you really want. That doesn't include speakers, amplifiers and other indispensable items (throw in another $10,000 minimum for that stuff).
The germ for Sooloos (the name is both palindromic and "ambidromic" - the same back and forth and upside down) was created in 2004 when Sooloos CEO, Enno Vandermeer, a successful Web programmer and engineer, began working with friends who wanted to digitize their collections of 2,000 to 5,000 CDs.
"We quickly found that if we wanted our audio to stay uncompressed, and there were 10,000 records, there was no way to listen to them," says Vandermeer, 36. Existing digital audio could not store the uncompressed music files he insisted on for highest-quality audio. Standard hard drives weren't fast, large or quiet enough.
Components found in most computers, PC and Macs, produced simply awful sound. There were noisy fans to manage. And the music information - track names and such - was difficult to organize and access on such a scale.
To get from idea to business, Vandermeer survived two years of boot-strapped, internally financed R&D - he says a low seven figures has been invested to date. He divided his attention between American and Asian designers and manufacturers and built a prototype: a fanless, diskless, purpose-built audio computer groomed for best-of-breed sound that could sit elegantly into any decor.
And once he saw what he had done, Vandermeer decided to go strictly high-end. "We saw that we could only realistically ship a few hundred units in our first year," he says. "And to get past our hard expenses we had to keep margins very high."
So while there is a chance that Sooloos could find a wider market - the interface could be licensed, for example - Vandermeer decided to target the super high-end, custom audio installer market. Reaching the industry's biggest spenders meant inventing a multi-room feature that can send different feeds to different rooms in a home or office - a must for high cost, custom-installed systems.
I stopped in at Sooloos' New York City showroom to see what Enno was up to. And right away I could sense the appeal. The unit features an elegant, light gray metallic finish and stacks like many better audio components. There are no moving parts, just a 17-inch touch screen, also done in light gray.
Actual album-cover imagery - not text like in an iPod - is the backbone of the interface. I simply browsed the music stored by touching the album images, not unlike the experience of browsing an old-fashioned jukebox or even a record store. I intuitively panned right or left through the collection. It was as if I had magical control over the records.
When I arrived at Miles Davis' "Kind of Blue," there was the master himself playing his trumpet on the cover. I touched that cover, and, voila, up came the tracks and then the music in all its uncompressed glory.
To my ears, the sound quality was extraordinary for a digital player but nowhere close to master analog vinyls. Granted I'm a vinyl snob, and I should note that other hardcore audiophiles have embraced Sooloos.
"I believe in what they are doing, says Jeff Joseph, president of Joseph Audio, a manufacturer of premium speakers in Melville, N.Y. "Sooloos has found a way for anybody to find their way through their music without giving up a bit of quality. Not even Apple does that."
More at:http://sooloos.com/
Via-CNNmoney
The germ for Sooloos (the name is both palindromic and "ambidromic" - the same back and forth and upside down) was created in 2004 when Sooloos CEO, Enno Vandermeer, a successful Web programmer and engineer, began working with friends who wanted to digitize their collections of 2,000 to 5,000 CDs.
"We quickly found that if we wanted our audio to stay uncompressed, and there were 10,000 records, there was no way to listen to them," says Vandermeer, 36. Existing digital audio could not store the uncompressed music files he insisted on for highest-quality audio. Standard hard drives weren't fast, large or quiet enough.
Components found in most computers, PC and Macs, produced simply awful sound. There were noisy fans to manage. And the music information - track names and such - was difficult to organize and access on such a scale.
To get from idea to business, Vandermeer survived two years of boot-strapped, internally financed R&D - he says a low seven figures has been invested to date. He divided his attention between American and Asian designers and manufacturers and built a prototype: a fanless, diskless, purpose-built audio computer groomed for best-of-breed sound that could sit elegantly into any decor.
And once he saw what he had done, Vandermeer decided to go strictly high-end. "We saw that we could only realistically ship a few hundred units in our first year," he says. "And to get past our hard expenses we had to keep margins very high."
So while there is a chance that Sooloos could find a wider market - the interface could be licensed, for example - Vandermeer decided to target the super high-end, custom audio installer market. Reaching the industry's biggest spenders meant inventing a multi-room feature that can send different feeds to different rooms in a home or office - a must for high cost, custom-installed systems.
I stopped in at Sooloos' New York City showroom to see what Enno was up to. And right away I could sense the appeal. The unit features an elegant, light gray metallic finish and stacks like many better audio components. There are no moving parts, just a 17-inch touch screen, also done in light gray.
Actual album-cover imagery - not text like in an iPod - is the backbone of the interface. I simply browsed the music stored by touching the album images, not unlike the experience of browsing an old-fashioned jukebox or even a record store. I intuitively panned right or left through the collection. It was as if I had magical control over the records.
When I arrived at Miles Davis' "Kind of Blue," there was the master himself playing his trumpet on the cover. I touched that cover, and, voila, up came the tracks and then the music in all its uncompressed glory.
To my ears, the sound quality was extraordinary for a digital player but nowhere close to master analog vinyls. Granted I'm a vinyl snob, and I should note that other hardcore audiophiles have embraced Sooloos.
"I believe in what they are doing, says Jeff Joseph, president of Joseph Audio, a manufacturer of premium speakers in Melville, N.Y. "Sooloos has found a way for anybody to find their way through their music without giving up a bit of quality. Not even Apple does that."
More at:http://sooloos.com/
Via-CNNmoney
Zilok--Centralizd Online Rental Marketplace
What Company Is Offering:
Zilok is a centralized online rental marketplace. Zilok allows anyone, individuals as well as professionals, to rent stuff out or offer for stuff for rent with a few clicks of the mouse.
Whether you need a hand-drill for a weekend, a luxury handbag for an evening or a bike for a week, you simply need to select the item for rent at the most convenient location available.
How It Works:
Through your account, you can register your items that you want to put up for rental, along with their descriptions.
Describe each item precisely (picture, description, location, category, practical details etc). The specific rental contract that you want to include on the website will be done through tab. For each item or product, a calendar shows when it is available for rental at the requested time. You can make a reservation request for times when it is shown to be available. The owner then confirms the reservation by email. You can also search by dates of availability.At the beginning of the rental, go to the pick-up point to get the item(s) and to work out final details of the rental with the owner. This step and whatever follows is strictly between the owner and the renter -- Zilok is no longer part of the process at this point.
More at:http://us.zilok.com/
Zilok is a centralized online rental marketplace. Zilok allows anyone, individuals as well as professionals, to rent stuff out or offer for stuff for rent with a few clicks of the mouse.
Whether you need a hand-drill for a weekend, a luxury handbag for an evening or a bike for a week, you simply need to select the item for rent at the most convenient location available.
How It Works:
Through your account, you can register your items that you want to put up for rental, along with their descriptions.
Describe each item precisely (picture, description, location, category, practical details etc). The specific rental contract that you want to include on the website will be done through tab. For each item or product, a calendar shows when it is available for rental at the requested time. You can make a reservation request for times when it is shown to be available. The owner then confirms the reservation by email. You can also search by dates of availability.At the beginning of the rental, go to the pick-up point to get the item(s) and to work out final details of the rental with the owner. This step and whatever follows is strictly between the owner and the renter -- Zilok is no longer part of the process at this point.
More at:http://us.zilok.com/
ThinkPassenger Got $8.3 Million In VCs Funding
What Company Is Offering:
The Los-Angeles-based technology leader in on-demand customer collaboration.
Think Passenger combines cutting-edge social media, community building and collaboration technologies to enable companies to collaborate with customers within private online communities.
How It Works:
Based on current Web 2.0 technologies, Passenger enables brand marketers to create private and secure communities to generate and refine new product ideas, gain contextual insight and drive customer advocacy like never before. The company's advanced analytics engine allows companies of all sizes to collect, synthesize and distill real world conversations into actionable business decisions.
How Much They Got from Vcs:
StarVest venture capital firm that is funding and building the next generation of technology-enabled business services companies, today announced its participation in an $8.3 million series B financing round in Think Passenger, Inc. , the Los-Angeles-based technology leader in on-demand customer collaboration. StarVest participated with previous investor Shelter Capital Partners and new investor Steamboat Ventures, the venture capital arm of The Walt Disney Company.
VC detail:http://www.starvestpartners.com/
What Vcs says:
StarVest Partners says, "Passenger's differentiated technology and proven success with customers fits perfectly into our investment strategy and we look forward to helping them expand their customer base while continuing to build their brand."
More at:http://www.thinkpassenger.com/
The Los-Angeles-based technology leader in on-demand customer collaboration.
Think Passenger combines cutting-edge social media, community building and collaboration technologies to enable companies to collaborate with customers within private online communities.
How It Works:
Based on current Web 2.0 technologies, Passenger enables brand marketers to create private and secure communities to generate and refine new product ideas, gain contextual insight and drive customer advocacy like never before. The company's advanced analytics engine allows companies of all sizes to collect, synthesize and distill real world conversations into actionable business decisions.
How Much They Got from Vcs:
StarVest venture capital firm that is funding and building the next generation of technology-enabled business services companies, today announced its participation in an $8.3 million series B financing round in Think Passenger, Inc. , the Los-Angeles-based technology leader in on-demand customer collaboration. StarVest participated with previous investor Shelter Capital Partners and new investor Steamboat Ventures, the venture capital arm of The Walt Disney Company.
VC detail:http://www.starvestpartners.com/
What Vcs says:
StarVest Partners says, "Passenger's differentiated technology and proven success with customers fits perfectly into our investment strategy and we look forward to helping them expand their customer base while continuing to build their brand."
More at:http://www.thinkpassenger.com/
MotorsportMad.com--Upload Any Video Clips Of Motorsport
What Company is Offering:
MotorsportMad.com allows users to upload and view motorsport video clips of all categories and from all over the world. Any video clips that are motorsport related can be uploaded allowing users to share their experience of their favourite and most outrageous motorsport video clips. There is a huge range of categories from rally video clips, motorbike video clips, Nascar video clips, F1 video clips, crashes, street racing, models, car shows, and many more motorsport video clips.
How It Works:
There is a vast category list of motor sport videos such as; NASCAR, Rally Cross, Street Racing, Motorbike, GT racing, Drifting, Champ racing, Indy racing and more. You can browse through the videos by category, or the more recently added, or the top rated videos, or most recently viewed videos. If you like a video take a look at the users and see what other videos the user has added or subscribe to the users videos. If you are a user you can rate the other videos, send them a message, or add them as a friend. MotorSportMad.com is simple and easy to use, it is a community to watch cool motor videos, meet some new people and nothing else.
More at:http://www.motorsportmad.com/
MotorsportMad.com allows users to upload and view motorsport video clips of all categories and from all over the world. Any video clips that are motorsport related can be uploaded allowing users to share their experience of their favourite and most outrageous motorsport video clips. There is a huge range of categories from rally video clips, motorbike video clips, Nascar video clips, F1 video clips, crashes, street racing, models, car shows, and many more motorsport video clips.
How It Works:
There is a vast category list of motor sport videos such as; NASCAR, Rally Cross, Street Racing, Motorbike, GT racing, Drifting, Champ racing, Indy racing and more. You can browse through the videos by category, or the more recently added, or the top rated videos, or most recently viewed videos. If you like a video take a look at the users and see what other videos the user has added or subscribe to the users videos. If you are a user you can rate the other videos, send them a message, or add them as a friend. MotorSportMad.com is simple and easy to use, it is a community to watch cool motor videos, meet some new people and nothing else.
More at:http://www.motorsportmad.com/
Figurine Market specializes in the sales of highly collectible figurines
What Company Is Offering:
Figurine Market specializes in the sales of highly collectible figurines. The collectible figurine market is one of the more lucrative collectibles market. It averages 38% annual returns, making it a solid investment for even the beginning investor.
How It Works:
FigurineMarket.com features figurines that are auctioned on eBay. You can search for figurines by browsing through the vast category list which includes figurine categories such as; Coca Cola, Betty Boop, Disney characters, Dolphins, Peanuts characters, frogs, Comic book characters, horses, elephants, and more. Or you can search by typing in a key word and seeing what results the search has. Once you find a figurine that you are interested in buying you click on the image if the figurine and you are directed to eBay, where you get more information on the figurine, place a bid on the figurine or buy it right away.
More at:http://www.figurinemarket.com/
Figurine Market specializes in the sales of highly collectible figurines. The collectible figurine market is one of the more lucrative collectibles market. It averages 38% annual returns, making it a solid investment for even the beginning investor.
How It Works:
FigurineMarket.com features figurines that are auctioned on eBay. You can search for figurines by browsing through the vast category list which includes figurine categories such as; Coca Cola, Betty Boop, Disney characters, Dolphins, Peanuts characters, frogs, Comic book characters, horses, elephants, and more. Or you can search by typing in a key word and seeing what results the search has. Once you find a figurine that you are interested in buying you click on the image if the figurine and you are directed to eBay, where you get more information on the figurine, place a bid on the figurine or buy it right away.
More at:http://www.figurinemarket.com/
eqiyeah.com ---Connecting Professionals
What Company Says:
We had a vision - to create a one-stop solution for seeking, finding, and managing all types of professional relationships. It continues to grow with hundreds and even thousands of new members each and every day. Finally, professionals have a relaxed and safe environment to meet other professionals all over the globe. Best of all, eqiyeah!com is open 24 hours a day, offering a social life that fits anyone's schedule.
How It Works:
To help members make quality connections, they've created extended profile questions that delve further into personalities, likes and dislikes as well as lifestyles. Their team has also added a personalized, interactive Workshop to help members hone their skills most relevant to the relationships they're seeking. The evolution of eqiyeah!com goes on - with changes, improvements and features constantly in the works to make our site the very best in the online professionals industry.
Why is It Different:
eqiyeah!com offers more than a static directory of professionals looking to connect with other professionals. People join for a sense of community - the ability to be amongst other people with similar mindsets and desires. Without the limitations of geography, our members can develop relationships and enjoy all types of encounters with members from around the world.
More at:http://www.eqiyeah.com/
We had a vision - to create a one-stop solution for seeking, finding, and managing all types of professional relationships. It continues to grow with hundreds and even thousands of new members each and every day. Finally, professionals have a relaxed and safe environment to meet other professionals all over the globe. Best of all, eqiyeah!com is open 24 hours a day, offering a social life that fits anyone's schedule.
How It Works:
To help members make quality connections, they've created extended profile questions that delve further into personalities, likes and dislikes as well as lifestyles. Their team has also added a personalized, interactive Workshop to help members hone their skills most relevant to the relationships they're seeking. The evolution of eqiyeah!com goes on - with changes, improvements and features constantly in the works to make our site the very best in the online professionals industry.
Why is It Different:
eqiyeah!com offers more than a static directory of professionals looking to connect with other professionals. People join for a sense of community - the ability to be amongst other people with similar mindsets and desires. Without the limitations of geography, our members can develop relationships and enjoy all types of encounters with members from around the world.
More at:http://www.eqiyeah.com/
TextBack 4 TextBooks to help inform you anytime and anywhere
What Company Is Offering:
TextBack 4 TextBooks to help inform you anytime and anywhere. Save money and spend it on things more fun! No need to wait until you get online to find cheap textbooks. Begin your search while you're at the campus bookstore. Be sure to save 4INFO short code in your phone.
How It Works:
While in the bookstore simply send keyword "ISBN" followed by the 10 digit ISBN number to short code 4INFO (44636). Isn’t it better to text the ISBN to confirm you have the right textbook when you go online? After you send a text message they store the book on the website in a mobile cart so can purchase online from Amazon Market Place. They also send you a text with online pricing and the title. Giving you confidence knowing you have the right textbook. You don't have to sign up or join. More importantly, you don't have to give them your cell phone number. They place a numeric code in their response messages. All you need do is enter the code on the site and they will display all of the books for you. The system is good for any book not just textbooks. Technical professionals can use the system for those expensive tech books too.
More at:http://textback.net/
TextBack 4 TextBooks to help inform you anytime and anywhere. Save money and spend it on things more fun! No need to wait until you get online to find cheap textbooks. Begin your search while you're at the campus bookstore. Be sure to save 4INFO short code in your phone.
How It Works:
While in the bookstore simply send keyword "ISBN" followed by the 10 digit ISBN number to short code 4INFO (44636). Isn’t it better to text the ISBN to confirm you have the right textbook when you go online? After you send a text message they store the book on the website in a mobile cart so can purchase online from Amazon Market Place. They also send you a text with online pricing and the title. Giving you confidence knowing you have the right textbook. You don't have to sign up or join. More importantly, you don't have to give them your cell phone number. They place a numeric code in their response messages. All you need do is enter the code on the site and they will display all of the books for you. The system is good for any book not just textbooks. Technical professionals can use the system for those expensive tech books too.
More at:http://textback.net/
ZoomInfo--For Fresh Organized Information On Industries,Companies,People,Products,Services,Jobs
What Company Is Offering:
ZoomInfo is the premier business information search engine, with profiles on more than 37 million people and 3.5 million companies. ZoomInfo delivers fresh and organized information on industries, companies, people, products, services and jobs
ZoomInfo, the people search engine that gets its data from gathering biographical information on just about everyone, whether you know about it or not.
How It Works:
You’ll need to first visit ZoomInfo in order for it to have your cookie. Additionally, you’ll have to have a general presence on the web, whether this be for social networking, your own website, or any type of e-commerce activity. So when you purchase an item from a company’s website, it could then work with ZoomInfo to compare “cookie notes” in order to provide more targeted ads to you, online, via email, and the next time you visit the company’s website.
Its New Features:
They are launching an advertising network. And in going along with the current trend of tempting fate when it comes to controversial activity with web surfer’s cookies, ZoomInfo will be offering up these cookies to companies looking to provide more targeted ads.
More at:http://zoominfo.com/
ZoomInfo is the premier business information search engine, with profiles on more than 37 million people and 3.5 million companies. ZoomInfo delivers fresh and organized information on industries, companies, people, products, services and jobs
ZoomInfo, the people search engine that gets its data from gathering biographical information on just about everyone, whether you know about it or not.
How It Works:
You’ll need to first visit ZoomInfo in order for it to have your cookie. Additionally, you’ll have to have a general presence on the web, whether this be for social networking, your own website, or any type of e-commerce activity. So when you purchase an item from a company’s website, it could then work with ZoomInfo to compare “cookie notes” in order to provide more targeted ads to you, online, via email, and the next time you visit the company’s website.
Its New Features:
They are launching an advertising network. And in going along with the current trend of tempting fate when it comes to controversial activity with web surfer’s cookies, ZoomInfo will be offering up these cookies to companies looking to provide more targeted ads.
More at:http://zoominfo.com/
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