Tuesday, March 18, 2008

BrandFM is for all your digital brand 'assets'

What Company Is Offering:
BrandFM makes it really easy to find your brand files, with super fast search and browsing by company, brand, tags, GPC categories and more. Find and download the files you need faster than ever with backorders for restricted files. No more missed deadlines.BrandFM is for all your digital brand 'assets'. Assets are files that you use in marketing and communicating your brand and products. Brand Assets = Your brand marketing resources.

How It Works:

Brand owners decide who sees what, who can download, who can upload and who can manage. Public's great for products, Private brillaint for that next great campaign. Members only just the ticket for core assets that are used again and again. You stay in control.
Invite your designer or agency to upload your brand files and media directly to your online library. Owner Approvals means you stay in control and when you approve- your users can instantly access.

You get your own site address (e.g. yourcompany.brandfm.com) with just your stuff and your own brandable corporate look and feel. Upload your logo, change your colours and add a button to your main website. Hey presto - you've got your own branded brand library where your users will feel right at home - all without coding.

Users can also search and find your brand when searching across multiple companies and brands on the global BrandFM site using a single user id and password. Big users of multiple brands (such as retail chains) will love the time savings available to them while you stay in full control.

More at:http://www.brandfm.com/

KnowledgeShape--Solve the considerable challenge of turning diverse forms of information into clear and valuable search assets

What Company Is Offering:
KnowledgeShape is a Toronto-based company with international presence and reach, whose technologies target and solve the considerable challenge of turning diverse forms of information into clear and valuable search assets.

Its Product:
Products range from simple yet exceptional voice2text and paper2text applications to much more complex & far-reaching Intranet and Internet crawl and search applications. As a result, KnowledgeShape programs can be used by small professional firms and large businesses and institutions alike; particularly where storage, retrieval and search have the potential to provide a competitive and productive advantage.

KnowledgeShape products are scalable search and information management frameworks for the small office, company department, and for large enterprises. Information, intelligence and knowledge repositories that span vast networks and document platforms can be integrated into the frameworks. The frameworks are used for search, crawling, indexing, site deployment, and paper and voice notes conversion. ScapeShape is used to publish information for visualization, search and collaboration while also providing extensive Intranet file sharing capability with its file and document container functionality.

More at:http://www.knowledgeshape.com/

w2wlink.com -- Professional Networking Site For Women Only

What Company Is Offering:
The w2wlink vision is to provide a community and place with resources, knowledge, tools and connections that women need to support growth during times of change in their professional and personal lives.w2wlink.com is the premier online community for professional women in times of growth who work smart and live well. It is a free content and professional peer group social networking website. Members get confidential profile creation, and matched placement into w2wlink Network Circles of up to ten members with common interests to learn, seek advice and share viewpoints. Members can share articles, quizzes, post SmartComments, network and more. Groups include interests such as: Corporate Fast Track, Entrepreneurial Journey, Career Transition and Work-Life Balance.

How It Works:
www.w2wlink.com matches women into free networking circles based on their filling out detailed profiles and then w2wlink custom matches them into peer groups of up to ten. w2wlink.com is a first of its kind, best in its category, online networking community that custom matches members for free, into peer network circles of common interest. Network circle groups include such common interest areas such as Corporate Fast Track, Entrepreneurial Journey, Career Transition, Work-Life Balance.

More at:http://www.w2wlink.com/

BudgetGPS Announces Low Cost GPS Tracking Solution - BudgetGPS.com

What Company Is Offering:
BudgetGPS is a division of towXchange, Inc. and is a leading provider of vehicle tracking solutions to the towing and recovery industry. In February 2008, BudgetGPS expanded its operations to include offerings to all industries needing tracking services. The BudgetGPS application currently provides quality vehicle tracking solutions to companies of all sizes at very aggressive price points. BudgetGPS solutions are currently serving over 500 customers across the United States and extensive growth is planned for the system.

How It Works:

BudgetGPS is designed to be intuitive both in setup and daily use. Customers simply login to the BudgetGPS website and access their own instance of BudgetGPS to track their fleets, run reports, review history and more. System security manages user roles and access to certain features. The system offers HTML reports as well as export options for utilizing the data within other applications. The mapping system is Google Maps based and easy to use.

How It Will Help Companies:
“With BudgetGPS, small companies can afford to implement a GPS solution and all of the tracking data is available to the owner or manager from the internet. This system was designed with a goal of real time dispatch tracking capability and the ability to integrate to the management systems already in place within their potential client base. BudgetGPS can certainly review history, run speed and stops reports and can monitor vehicle location but it was not designed to monitor RPMs or the number of times a driver opens a door. This system was designed to accomplish the task of determining truck location at a reasonable price point and it has overachieved on that goal.”

More at:www.budgetgps.com

PlayCafe, an online video game show, has raised an unspecified first round from First Round Capital

What Company Is Offering:
PlayCafe is the first online game show network! Every Monday through Friday at 6 PM PST / 9 PM EST, they stream live, interactive game shows where YOU are the contestant. You can watch their live crew, play a variety of games, chat in real time with other players, and win prizes. The company, which is also making an embeddable widget version of its games, boasts an average playing session of 86 minutes, with 250 to 300 players per night. Prizes range from an iTunes song to $1000 cash.

How Much They Got from VCs:

LA-based PlayCafe, an online video game show, has raised an unspecified first round from First Round Capital, reports NTV, which notes that the raise is still in progress. The site offers a live Q&A game show, that allows users to participate for prizes and cash. So far, participation is still small, with the nightly game averaging 250-300 players. The company plans to eventually run the game around the clock—currently it runs an episode each night during the week.

More at:http://www.playcafe.com/

Favorville.com is a social networking tool which provides members with the opportunity to help and be helped by others

What Company Is Offering:
Favorville.com is a social networking tool which provides members with the opportunity to help and be helped by others. With Favorville, members can post help requests, offer help and help grow the community. Favorville makes it easy to get in touch and build lasting connections with helpful neighbors, both in your locale or across the global village.

How It Works:

Take a minute to register, select your city, find a suitable category (if one doesn’t exist, suggest it!) and enter your post. Try to be as descriptive as possible so potential helpers can respond accurately to your needs. It also helps to list your neighborhood if your request requires a face-to-face meeting. That’s it. Sit back and wait for responses. You will receive an e-mail any time a trusted member of the Favorville community has responded.

If you received help from another Favorville member, please take a moment to rate your experience. You’ll find all your closed items under the profile section on the site. Simply select Completed Favor and answer a few simple questions – the process will only take a minute or so. It is important for us to track member activity and recognize our most helpful members! Plus, your feedback will help us derive a reliability rating for our members, and this could help future members decide whether they want to help, or accept help, from certain members.

More at:http://www.favorville.com/

Swivel is a place where curious people explore all kinds of data

What Company Is Offering:
Swivel is a place where curious people explore all kinds of data.
Swivel's mission is to make data useful so people share insights, make great decisions and improve lives. Swivel is a Web site that makes it easy for everyone to collaborate and explore data together — because better informed people make better decisions: in voting booths, in corporate boardrooms and at neighborhood meetings.

How It Works:

Swivel can handle only one table at a time. If your spreadsheet has multiple tables, copy the table you want to import into a new spreadsheet.

The data in your table must be arranged in columns containing values of similar type, date, if present, must be in a column, and column titles, if present, cannot span lines or columns. If your data isn't like that, you may be able to tweak it in Excel.

Swivel now provides a Swivel Toolbar available for Excel to allow you to manipulate your data into a format that Swivel will be able to understand.

Your data must have a simple table structure. Your data must be in a single table, with values arranged in uniform columns of like items. If there is a date, it must be in a column. If columns have headers, they must be on one row.

More at:http://www.swivel.com/

Car Advisory Network an online portal for automobile information, has raised around $6.5 million in Series A funding

What Company Is Offering;

The Car Advisory Network is a VC-funded startup building the next internet platform in the auto industry .

How Much They Got From VCs:

Car Advisory Network, a Seattle-based developer of an online portal for automobile information, has raised around $6.5 million in Series A funding, according to a regulatory filing. Backers include Accel Partners and Greylock Partners.

More at:www.caradvisorynetwork.com

RecycleBank that partners with cities and businesses to reward households that recycle has raised $30 million in Series B funding

What Company Is Offering:

RecycleBank, a Philadelphia-based company that partners with cities and businesses to reward households that recycle.

How Much They Got From VCs;

They have raised $30 million in Series B funding, according to VentureWire. Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers led the round, and was joined by return backers RRE Ventures and Sigma Partners.



The company previously raised a $13.1 million Series A round, and before that secured seed capital from Columbia University's Eugene M. Lang Center for Entrepreneurship.

More at:www.recyclebank.com

Clearleap, a new video technology company has closed its first round of venture capital funding for $9 million

What Company Is Offerring:
Clearleap develops and markets technologies that greatly expand consumer options for "what's on TV." The Company works with video content owners and cable, satellite and IPTV companies, offering a new model of video delivery technologies and services that profoundly improve the television experience.

How Much They Got From VCs;
Clearleap, a new video technology company based in Atlanta, has closed its first round of venture capital funding. Industry leaders Trinity Ventures of Menlo Park, California and Noro- Moseley Partners of Atlanta, Georgia co- led this $9 million investment.

Named to Clearleap's Board of Directors are Trinity Ventures' General Partner Fred Wang, and Alan J. Taetle, General Partner at Noro-Moseley Partners. Among those taking a minority stake are Jim Chiddix, former CTO of Time Warner Cable, and Sig Mosley, President at Imlay Investments, Inc.

About VCs:
1.
Trinity Ventures, a 21 year veteran in the venture business with more than $1 billion under management, partners with exceptional entrepreneurs to build great companies. Trinity Ventures focuses on early-stage technology investment opportunities with a particular emphasis on the Digital Media, Internet Services, Mobility, Security and Software markets. Trinity has invested in well over 100 ventures. For more information, visit www.trinityventures.com .

2.
Founded in 1983, Atlanta-based Noro-Moseley Partners (NMP) is one of the largest and most experienced venture capital firms in the southeastern United States. NMP has created five limited partnership funds totaling approximately $580 million in capital and has invested in approximately 160 companies. NMP invests primarily in Southeastern-based, early and established growth stage companies. Industries of interest include technology, healthcare and business services. For more information, visit www.noro-moseley.com .

More at: www.clearleap.com

Thumbplay, Inc. is a leading online platform of mobile entertainment content has raised $18 million in Series E funding

What Company Is Offering:
Thumbplay, Inc. is a leading online platform of mobile entertainment content. The company aggregates, promotes and delivers mobile content directly to members via Thumbplay.com. The site offers ringtones, wallpapers, games and text-based services through a membership-based, community experience. Thumbplay, headquartered in New York, was founded by CEO Are Traasdahl and Executive Vice President, Marketing Evan Schwartz.

Thumbplay Inc., is backed by Bain Capital Ventures, SoftBank Capital, i-Hatch Ventures, Redwood Partners, New Enterprise Associates and Meritech.


How Much They Got From VCs:
Thumbplay, a New York-based provider of mobile multimedia content, has raised $18 million in Series E funding. The deal was co-led by the Brookside Capital Advisors, the public equity affiliate of Bain Capital, and Cross Creek Capital, the private equity affiliate of Wasatch Advisors.



The company had previously raised over $35 million, including an unannounced $17 million Series D round last summer at a post-money valuation of approximately $250 million. In addition to the investors listed in the new regulatory filing, that round also included Bain Capital Ventures, Redwood Partners, New Enterprise Associates and Meritech Capital Partners.

More at:http://www.thumbplay.com/

Vivisimo, a leading provider of enterprise search software and expertise got $4 million USD funded by Portland

What Company Is Offering:
The Vivisimo Velocity platform provides enterprises with innovative search solutions that allow users to access, extract and manipulate all available content, regardless of location. The latest version of Velocity is the first major enterprise search platform to bring business-ready Web 2.0 functionalities, such as social tagging, social bookmarking, social networking and mash-ups to the market.
Vivisimo does search right by combining the simplicity and innovation of consumer search with the flexibility and control of enterprise software. The company works with customers to understand their goals and quickly deploy solutions that maximize the business value of information??with an interface user's love. Vivisimo serves its global client base through headquarters in Pittsburgh, PA, and Paris, France, and partners throughout the world.

How Much They Got From VCs:
Vivisimo, a leading provider of enterprise search software and expertise, today announced the completion of its first institutional investment round of , ME based North Atlantic Capital (northatlanticcapital.com). The financing will support Vivisimo's continued global expansion and strengthen the company's sales and marketing efforts.

About VCs:

Portland, Maine based North Atlantic Capital is an expansion stage venture capital firm investing primarily in tech-enabled business service, information technology and communications companies. Established in 1986, North Atlantic manages a pool of capital in excess of $200 million, and is currently investing its fourth fund, closed in 2007. In addition to growth capital and board level guidance, North Atlantic offers its portfolio companies free research and M&A services along with executive education programs at leading business schools. Other investments in the current fund include Tangoe, Inc., Servigistics, Inc., Invoke Solutions, Inc. and Synacor, Inc. To learn more about North Atlantic's investment criteria and approach to value creation, please visit www.northatlanticcapital.com

More at:www.vivisimo.com

isango! , a leading provider of travel experiences on the internet has received $8m in investment

What Company Is Offering:
isango! is an ambitious young company . It offers consumers and travel professionals an authoritative source of exciting and colourful experiences - holiday tours, sightseeing, attractions, activities and the best things to do in 60 countries across the world. To help you plan and book ahead, isango! finds everything you need to make your travel experience unforgettable.

How Much They Got From VCs:
isango! , a leading provider of travel experiences on the internet has received $8m in investment to fund its next stage of growth. The funding round, which is the first institutional round for the company, was led by SPARK Ventures, which is known for previous investment success with LastMinute.com, PriceRunner and other internet-based businesses. SPARK Ventures contributed $4m; Beringea, manager of the top performing ProVen VCTs, contributed $2.5m and the remaining $1.5 million came from existing shareholders.

About VCs:
1.
SPARK Ventures is the leading quoted early-stage venture capital company in Europe. It manages over ?240 million on behalf of major institutional investors, leading UK universities, and three quoted venture capital trusts.

SPARK invests in entrepreneurs to create dynamic businesses in the technology, media, telecoms and healthcare&life sciences sectors. As well as capital, it brings a wealth of experience of developing high growth companies from early stage through to IPO or trade sale, adding value to its investments through active support and strategic direction.

Some of its exits include Mergermarket, Lastminute.com, Footfall, Nomad, Pricerunner, Elata, Glycart, OHM and Avidex.

www.SPARKventures.com

2.
Beringea is an international private equity and investment banking firm with offices in London, Los Angeles, Detroit (U.S.) , and Shanghai. Beringea invests in a range of emerging sectors including media, Internet technologies, marketing services and advanced communications.

Beringea launched its first VCT in 1996, making it one of the most experienced VCT managers in the UK. Beringea is the manager of ProVen VCT and ProVen Growth&Income, the highest performing VCTs of their launch years according to www.taxefficientreview.com .
For more information please visit www.beringea.com/ http://www.provenvcts.com .


More at:www.isango.com

Video Search Summit 2008

Accuracy * Indexing * Advertising & Marketing* User Experience * Monetization * New Technology

Superb case studies, panel debates, and roundtable sessions on:

The Online Video Search Market: Discover how text, speech and video analytics tools will ensure you get your share of the predicted $15.6bn Online Video market.
Indexing the Video Web: Identify the latest indexing tools and methodologies. Plus strategies to handle dynamic online video players and the impact of RSS feeds on video identification.
Monetize Online Video Search & Maximize ROI: Learn how personalized channels and contextual advertising technologies will revolutionize in-video advertising – and supercharge your business revenues.
Lead the Way in User Experience: Understand why directive search and casual browsing are the keys to consumer satisfaction and learn how human aggregation, text analytics, and speech analytics tools can help boost your viewing figures.
Search Results: Hear the latest advances in video, speech and text analytics, including skewed language models and face detection technologies that can make your searches the most accurate and relevant on the web.
Cutting Edge Technology Update : See how best to exploit next-generation Online. Video Search tools such as semantic search, image content detection and two-dimensional browser interfaces.
Legal Issues: Evaluate intellectual property pitfalls, including updates on Perfect 10 v Google; & Universal Music Group v VeohTV.

More at: http://www.videosearchnews.com/

crowdSPRING---To help people from around the world access creative talent, and to help creatives from across the globe find new customers

What Company Is Offering:
crowdSPRING was started to help people from around the world access creative talent, and to help creatives from across the globe find new customers.

With backgrounds in both the creative industry and law, crowdSPRING is a labor of love for a team that believes strongly in the creative process and the protection of intellectual property. We left no stone unturned - from free, binding legal contract generation for every transaction and advanced digital watermarking to a built-in, secure escrow service and a feedback rating system - they tried to make a safe environment for both Buyers and Contributors alike.

How It Works:


Whether you need a new logo, website, marketing materials or a custom illustration, just tell them what you need, when you need it and how much you'd like to pay.

As the submissions come in, you'll be able to review, sort, rate, give feedback and collaborate with Contributors until you find 'the one'.

Once posted, Contributors from all around the world will work on your project and you'll begin to receive actual work - not proposals or bids - to review.
And, if you're not completely satisfied, they offer a 100%, unconditional, money-back guarantee.

Every transaction on crowdSPRING is protected by a customized contract, digital watermarking and numerous other protections so you can be sure that your work is safe. Plus, through our unique partnership with IPRegistry.com, every completed project is automatically registered in an intellectual property database at no cost to you whatsoever.

When you start your project, you'll deposit the funds with us and we won't release them until you tell us that you're totally happy with the final product. Plus, we also offer an unconditional money back guarantee. If you're not completely happy, then they'll refund your money.

For every completed project on crowdSPRING, Buyers and Contributors rate one another and give feedback on a whole range of variables from communication to adherence to the timeline so you'll never be left to wonder about who you do business with.

More at:http://www.crowdspring.com/

VisualDNA - a revolutionary new way of helping you discover fascinating things about yourself

What Company Is Offering:

They’ve developed VisualDNA - a revolutionary new way of helping you discover fascinating things about yourself by using your response to images. Intrigued? - So far over 6 million people have used this amazing new technology on their sister site, Imagini.net.

Who Is Backing Them:

We’ve teamed up with Pepsi to bring you the VisualDNA of David Beckham, Ronaldinho, Thierry Henry, Cesc Fabregas, Lionel Messi, and Frank Lampard.


Why To Use It :

You can use your VisualDNA to find things that suit you. Right now our most advanced of these is our Interiors Style Finder with MyDeco.


More at:http://youniverse.com/