Wednesday, November 26, 2008

PlaySpan, Inc., the leading provider of digital goods micro-transaction and payment solutions got $16.8M funding

What Company Is Offering:
PlaySpan is the game industry's first publisher-sponsored in-game commerce network. PlaySpan's patent-pending in-game search, commerce and micropayment technologies enable game publishers and developers to generate new revenues, acquire new users and extend the loyalty of existing users. Leading game providers and virtual world publishers have selected PlaySpan as their official marketplace for virtual goods.

PlaySpan offers global payment solutions through its subsidiary PayByCash®, which has served the games industry for 10 years, supporting over 70 payment methods in over 180 countries.

How Much They Got From VCs:

PlaySpan, Inc., the leading provider of digital goods micro-transaction and payment solutions, announced $16.8M in Series B investment from Easton Capital Group, Menlo Ventures, Novel TMT Ventures, STIC and other undisclosed investors. This new capital brings the company's total funding to $24M. The new funding will be used to expand into Europe and Asia and to grow PlaySpan's global publisher and user-base.

"Online games publishers and social media application developers are looking for new sources of revenue beyond traditional advertising and subscriptions. We are enabling a new business model in the form of micro-transactions for users that prefer the pay-as-you-go model," said Karl Mehta, Founder & CEO of PlaySpan. "It is a testament to our market-leading position, demonstrated growth, and the long-term potential of virtual goods and micro-transactions that we have raised a significant round in spite of the current economic climate."

The pay-as-you-go model has gained rapid adoption and is poised for tremendous future growth because it gives consumers more control over their entertainment experience and offers publishers expanded revenue opportunities. PlaySpan offers publishers and developers a complete out-of-the-box platform for managing secure, efficient micro-transactions, virtual goods sales, global alternative payments and peer-to-peer trading. PlaySpan’s platform enables any developer to monetize any content at any price for any user in any country, said Mehta.

More at:www.playspan.com

Contact:
VSC Consulting
Vijay Chattha, 415-305-6041
vijaychatta@gmail.com

Sezmi Corporation, creator of the first complete personal TV system has secured $33 million

What Company Is Offering:
Sezmi Corporation has developed the first complete personal TV offering by combining traditional TV content, movies and internet video in a single easy-to-use product. Designed from the ground up with next generation TV functionality, Sezmi puts consumers in total control with a personalized on-demand viewing experience. Sezmi is working with partners from broadcast, broadband, content and advertising industries to create a new TV choice for consumers.

How Much They Got From VCs:

Sezmi Corporation, creator of the first complete personal TV system, announced that it has secured $33 million of additional financing. This amount includes new investments from Advanced Equities, Inc. and others, and follow-on investments from previous investors: Morgenthaler Ventures, Omni Capital Group, TD Fund, and Legend Ventures.

“This round of funding enables us to put the final touches on product development and testing, and bring the Sezmi service to market,” said Buno Pati, co-founder and CEO of Sezmi. “We are pleased to welcome our new investors and would like to thank our previous investors for their ongoing support.

“Sezmi has a strong plan and has established a unique position in the market,” said Bob Pavey, general partner of Morgenthaler Ventures. “Sezmi has demonstrated not only the viability of its offering, but also its ability to reach milestones as set forth in its plan. We strongly believe in Sezmi and its management team; this funding reflects our enthusiasm for the opportunity to contribute to Sezmi’s growth.”

More at: www.sezmi.com
Sezmi Corporation
Barbara Cassidy, 650-631-7100
bcassidy@sezmi.com
or
A&R Edelman
Jody Farrar, 650-762-2925
jody.farrar@ar-edelman.com

QuickenPicks.com, a new, free online shopping service

What Company Is Offering:
QuickenPicks.com, a new, free online shopping service from Intuit Inc. It offers discounts from more than 900 popular online retailers so consumers can save more money and even earn cash back. Last month, Quicken Picks customers received an average cash back check of nearly $50.

Quicken Picks offers consumers hundreds of discounts in 27 categories, including automotive services, books, clothing, shoes, toys, and even groceries. Consumers can easily find wish list items too, everything from wine to outdoor gear, to dining, travel and electronics. QuickenPicks.com features discounts from retailers such as Best Buy, Barnes & Noble, and Lands End.

Quicken Picks is available to everyone, free of charge. Consumers can also install a toolbar within Internet Explorer or Mozilla Firefox browsers on Windows machines to receive updates on deals.

More at:https://couponoffers.intuit.com/

VideoEgg, the video and rich media ad network that guarantees brand engagement, today introduced AdFrames for mobile

What Company Is Offering:
VideoEgg is a new kind of rich media advertising network that guarantees brand engagement. The network is composed of over 80 million uniques across more than 200 leading video, gaming and social network sites as well as social applications, bringing outstanding consumer reach and engagement to its advertising partners. An advertising innovator, VideoEgg was the first to commercialise interactive advertising overlays onto video, an approach that is being widely adopted by the industry.

New Updates:

VideoEgg, the video and rich media ad network that guarantees brand engagement, today introduced AdFrames for mobile, a performance-based ad offering that enables advertisers to distribute invitation-based, expandable video or rich media ads to iPhone users. Nikon is among the first brands to leverage AdFrames’ mobile distribution as a measurable way to promote its CoolPix and D90 cameras and reach highly engaged consumers.

What Is AdFrame:
The AdFrames solution distributes video or rich media through an innovative, expandable ad unit that can be dynamically formatted to fit any size on a page, widget or online game. This flexibility will enable publishers to better integrate the ad message into their environment. Importantly, Adframes will align incentives across the delivery network by compensating publishers on user engagement. Engagement doesn’t begin until a user rolls over the ad, and the AdFrame Invitation has expanded into an overlay. AdFrames includes a countdown during the roll-over to ensure the user is not engaging with the ad inadvertently.

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

Venture Capital Is Still Flowing ?

A ray of hope in the hard-knocks economy: Despite few foreseeable exits, early stage investors are still making bets in a handful of promising, high-growth sectors.

In fact, venture capitalists have put only slightly fewer dollars at stake as they did this same time last year, before the financial crisis had gained any traction. In the three quarters ended Sept. 30, venture-capital investment was down just 4%, to $22.3 billion, versus the same period in 2007, according to VentureOne, an industry tracker.

Compare that to the relatively comatose market for initial public offerings, which tends to offer the juiciest exits for VC funds. Measured in dollar terms, the 50 IPOs in the first three quarters raised just $30.5 billion, compared with the 261 deals that yielded $60.5 billion in the first three quarters of last year. Only eight companies went public in the last three months, raising a mere $1 billion.

Some VCs say the difficult market has made it easier to find promising companies. "There are [fewer] tourists right now who are just pitching," says Guy Kawasaki, managing director at Garage Technology Ventures, an early stage venture capital fund. "That yields a better entrepreneur."

Full Story..

Search the best of the web in a single search

What Company Is Offering:

"Search the best of the web in a single search".They've created the first multi-dimensional information aggregator and search portal in the world. Their goal is to gather, organize and render the most relevant information from the internet's most valuable destinations for each users search, in one single simple shot. Catch a useful video when you weren't looking for one, see the latest news and blogs on a topic you're searching for, or find a variety of deals on a gadget you need and more when you use LeapFish.

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

Meshopolis.com is your one-stop shopping marketplace that provides you convenience for buying and selling online

What Company Is Offering:

Meshopolis.com is your one-stop shopping marketplace that provides you convenience for buying and selling online. Or simply put, Meshopolis is an online shopping mall. At Meshopolis, everyone can create and operate their eStores with just a few clicks.

At meshopolis, most eStores will be able to process credit cards through the use of Paypal. Depends on the eStore you visit, credit cards and Paypal will most likely be accepted.

How Is It Different:

Unlike traditional malls, shoppers can also take the advantage of participating in the Meshopolis Community for product discussions and opinion sharing. You can also read product reviews posted by others – a great way to do your research before making final decision on what product to buy.


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