Startups

  • Startups

    7 Startup Funding Headlines I Didn’t Have Time to Write Today

    The Creators of PerkyJerky – Beef Jerky with caffeine in it – Raise $2.3M
    Source: Regulatory Filing
    More: Company Website

    WestView Capital Partners has filed its intent to raise a $430M 3rd fund.
    Source: Regulatory Filing

    Atlanta-based GetOne raised a seed round of $515K for their digital loyalty rewards startup
    Source: Regulatory Filing

    Scale Venture Partners has filed its intent to raise a $300M 4th fund and lists Stacey Bishop, Kate Mitchell, Rory O’Driscoll, and Rob Theis as General Partners
    Source: Regulatory Filing

    Their previous fund of $250M closed in February 2010 and there are 4 GPs listed on the previous fund who are not listed on the new filing: Louis Bock, Sharon Weinbar, Mark Brooks, Jim Jones (who is no longer listed on the company’s team page)

    Social Recruiting Startup TalentBin Raised $246K Using FundersClub
    Source: Regulatory Filing

    DFJ Growth Fund has filed its intent to raise a $350M fund
    The 4 GPs remain unchanged from the previous fund.
    Source: regulatory filing.

    ResearchGate, the Social Network for Scientists, Raises $20M lead by Founder’s Fund partners Luke Nosek (PayPal) and including Benchmark Capital, Accel Partners, Michael Birch (Bebo), and David Sacks (Yammer)
    Source: Regulatory Filing and Company Announcement

  • Posts,  Startups

    Judge and Prepare to Be Judged

    Much of the feel good media coverage of startups today is so superficial and manufactured it can hardly be called news. Investigative journalism covering tech startups is extremely rare, and when it does happen it’s written in a snarky fashion full of speculation, rather than research and data.

    That’s why for the past month I’ve been indexing startups and tracking their momentum using dozen of signals from public data sets. The analysis reveals up-and-coming companies who deserve more attention, and also highlights companies that are not growing or have headed into decline.

    Go to any bar, any coffee shop, any coworking space. They’re talking about which startups are going to make it and which are going to die. Investors, employees, friends, family… if you’re working at or running a startup you know people are already piecing together an impression of how your company is doing based on what you say, don’t say, do, tweet, blog, etc.

    As incomplete as the picture may be, people pick up the signals you and your company are sending out into the world no matter how good you are at putting on The Show.

    Delay is the Deadliest Form of Denial

    Think your B2B startup shouldn’t be expected to ever have meaningful web traffic? Twilio is #13,158 in global web traffic and Zendesk is #650, so don’t even try that line on me. Companies that build brand awareness, regardless of their industry, are the ones who win. The success of your company is a function of your unit economics multiplied by your ability to get someone to pay you. Before they can pay you they have to know you exist. This is why the most successful B2B tech companies invest heavily in doing world class online marketing, and if you are competing with them you will eventually have to as well.

    There are very few B2B SaaS startups that have business models enabling them to succeed with less than 100 customers (e.g. Palantir). Startups in the consumer space will need *at least* TENS OF MILLIONS of people to be aware of your products for you to ultimately succeed. Consumer startups need to achieve massive scale in order to monetize through advertising, or sell themselves to another company who will handle monetization for them (like Facebook).

    Unsung Heroes

    What excites me most is uncovering companies that are doing really well but flying under the radar. So keep reading, and be among the first to know.

    Let’s give them something to talk about.

  • Posts,  Startups

    April 2013 Startup Index: 1,183 Companies – 71% Are Growing

    Through the startups indexes I’ve been creating in the past month I’ve developed a database of over 1,000 companies with dozens of signals each. This list includes ALL the startups in my database, across all the portfolios that have been indexed so far, ranked by momentum.

    Of the 1,183 startups in the index 71% (844) exhibited positive growth in the month of April across the signals we are tracking.

    Why I’m Writing These Posts

    Many commenters and friends have asked why I’m doing this and not working on my startup. In case it wasn’t obvious, this is our startup and these posts are our MVP. I’d like to publicly acknowledge the tremendous effort by my team that make this possible. Kevin Morrill, our CTO and cofounder, who has taken a process managed in dozens on unwieldly spreadsheets and a ridiculous number of browser tabs and automated it with code. Andy Sparks, our Technology Editor, has undertaken the incredible schlep work of hand building new indices and researching startups, cleaning, curating and organizing our data.

    How to Read This List
    Momentum measures a quantity of motion, measured as a product of its mass and velocity. In case we want to measure the momentum of a startup (the “body”) where mass is the company’s share of web traffic (as measured by Alexa rank) and velocity is the growth trajectory of several different signals. Unlike previous indexes growth trajectory is now heavily weighted toward sustained growth, versus small spurts of growth from press coverage or a burst of paid traffic or Twitter/Facebook followers.

    The Bigger They Come, the Harder They Fall

    You will find companies in the top portion of the list that you’ve probably never heard of, and companies near the bottom who are big names you recognize right away. Because of this, you might be tempted to immediately discredit the entire index – but let’s walk through a few examples first so you can see what we are measuring. Since this measures momentum, the bigger the company the more it is impacted when it fails to grow.

    #2 – Coinbase, a service for storing and selling Bitcoin e-currency, has been gaining a lot of momentum alongside the popularity of trading the online currency – averaging 11% growth week-over-week in web traffic by our estimates. This growth also shows in Coinbase’s social media following. They grew Facebook Likes 35% from 452 to 614 during April. On Twitter they grew from 1375 followers to 1876, a 36% growth rate. We’ll be watching to see if Coinbase can sustain this growth in May.

    #1179 – StumbleUpon, the popular social content discovery service, appears just 6 positions from the bottom of the list and upon closer inspection we see this is because the mass of the company has declined as it dropped from 176 to 179 in Alexa rank during April. Based on our analysis this drop is representative of a loss of around 10,000 unique visitors per day, and a look at the companies Alexa graph reveals their traffic has been in steady decline for over a year.

    Also of note in this list are some of the younger startups that have already shot to the top. YC Winter 13 companies such as Strikingly, Teespring and Thalmic Labs made an impressive showing.

    Biggest Winners & Losers

    Keep scrolling and you will find the entire list of startups, but for those of you who don’t like scrolling through 1000+ rows in a spreadsheet I’ve got the highlights for you.

    20 Startup Who Gained the Most Momentum

    1. BuzzFeed
    2. News Blur
    3. Coinbase
    4. Dropbox
    5. Codecademy
    6. Disqus
    7. Rap Genius
    8. Weebly
    9. ROBLOX
    10. Priceonomics
    11. Strikingly
    12. Teespring
    13. Creative Market
    14. Aereo
    15. Virool
    16. BuildZoom
    17. Thalmic Labs
    18. Bitnami
    19. Perfect Audience
    20. Tapas Media

    20 Startup Who Lost the Most Momentum

    1. ChirpMe
    2. Causes
    3. Payvment
    4. Udemy
    5. StumbleUpon
    6. Lockitron
    7. Svbtle
    8. Crowdbooster
    9. Grubwithus
    10. Kaleidoscope
    11. Oh Life
    12. SplashUp
    13. Tumult
    14. LaunchRock
    15. Ecomom
    16. FamilyLeaf
    17. Imgfave
    18. LeanMarket
    19. OpenX
    20. Iconfinder

    The April 2013 Startup Index

  • Startups

    Metromile Raises $10M More for Per-Mile Car Insurance

    Metromile revealed in a regulatory filing yesterday that they have raised $10M in a round of funding. They previously raised $4M in December 2012 from New Enterprise Associates, Index Ventures, First Round Capital and others. The service offers the first ever pay-per-mile car insurance which does exactly what is says charging drivers only for the miles they actually drive.

    Metromile customers put a sensor in their car which detects the distance travelled and sends them a monthly bill. The company initially launched to customers in Portland, Oregon due to regulatory restrictions but the team is based in the San Francisco Bay Area. It looks like it still isn’t available in my neighborhood.

    According to a writeup in the New York Times:

    The company says that its ideal consumer, someone who drives 5,000 to 8,000 miles a year, can save 25 percent to 30 percent a year, compared with conventional auto insurance.

    The company’s management team roster includes David Friedberg, founder and CEO of the Climate Corporation (also an NEA/Index investment) as Chairman of the of Board and according to LinkedIn the company currently has 13 employees.

  • Startups

    Seenu Banda Raises $6.5M Series A for Stealth Startup Kaybus

    According to a regulatory filing stealthy startup Kaybus has raised $6.5 in a Series A funding round. The company’s website doesn’t reveal much about what they’re doing but does say they are hiring for software engineers who know Ruby, Java, Javascript and NodeJS.

    Bandu’s EIR profile on the Artiman Ventures website says:

    He is the founder and was the CEO of Net Devices, responsible for the company’s strategic direction and corporate management. NetDevices was acquired by Alcatel-Lucent in 2007. He stayed with Alcatel-Lucent for 4 years as VP of Solutions Marketing and later as VP of Sales for South Asia. Prior to NetDevices, he was Senior Director of Marketing at Cisco Systems where he was responsible for all marketing and product management functions of Cisco’s mid-range router family. At Cisco, he managed multiple billion-dollar product lines including the 7200 and 7500, spanning across multiple market segments from enterprise, service provider, and broadband aggregation to security solutions. Earlier, Seenu worked for six years at Intel Corporation in strategic and product marketing roles.

    With his significant enterprise technology and Artiman’s penchant for “white space investments” it will be interesting to learn more about what the company is working on. Feel free to send any tips to morrilldanielle (at) gmail if you have more information.

  • Startups

    Viddy Raises $2.8 Million from New Enterprise Associates & Battery Ventures

    According to a regulatory filing social video sharing service (and Vine competitor) Viddy has raised $2.9M in an equity round from New Enterprise Associates and Battery Ventures. The filing indicates that Pete Sonsini of NEA and Brian O’Malley of Battery are now on the Board of Directors.

    Viddy received a ton of buzz about a year ago for reportedly raising a $30M Series B at a $370M valuation, which NEA was part of according to TechCrunch. A regulatory filing from April 2012 shows that deal did happen, so this investment is in addition to that round.

    I’ve got to wonder how much of the $30M raised a year ago has been burned through already. With ~30 employees (on LinkedIn) they would have to burn ~$2.5M per month to be out of money right now (and that’s assuming they were at 0 when they closed that round).

    Maybe they’ll use it to make more incredible videos like this:

  • Startups

    Graphicly Raises $300,000 Using MicroVentures P2P Funding Platform

    Graphicly, a tools and distribution platform for visual stories like digital comics and children’s books, raised $300,000 on the MicroVentures according to an SEC filing today.

    This funding comes in addition to It is unclear whether this investment rounds out the $1M announced earlier this year, or additional funding, but often with crowd funding platforms a seperate entity is formed for each of the smaller investors to commit capital, and that entity in turn invests in the startup. This also keeps the cap table much simpler. I’m digging in further to find out how MicroVentures works.

    In 2010 Graphicly participated in Bizspark and made this video (below), which discusses the original vision for digital comic books. Since then they have expanded their focus to include all kinds of content and offer distribution to platform Kindle, iOS, and NOOK.

    MicroVentures is an Austin, Texas based P2P startup funding platform similar to AngelList and Funders Club where accredited investors gain access to pre-screened investment opportunities. Their site indicates the Graphicly offering took place 01/07/2013.

  • Startups

    Weekly WTF: Barking Apps Files S-1 to Raise $100,000 on OTCBB

    Usually I skip over S-1 filings unless they are by companies whose names I recognize. It’s unlikley a tech company will suddenly go public without getting on the radar of the tech press in the years leading up to IPO.

    That’s why this S-1 filing from Barking Applications caught my eye today, and upon closer examination I’m quite confused as to why they’d want to raise $100k by listing on the OTCBB (Over-the-Counter Bulletin Board). Even more baffling is why any retail investor would consider this company a good investment after reading the prospectus.

    Solo founder (who only works 30 hours a week!):

    We currently have no employees other than Raymond Kitzul, our sole officer and director, who devotes approximately 30 hours per week to our business and who will not be compensated for his time until and if we become profitable.

    No revenue:

    We have a short history of operating losses and negative cash flow and have not generated any revenues to date. Our only asset as of the date of this prospectus is our cash in the bank of approximately $3,244, the balance of cash generated from the issuance of shares to our founders. At May 23, 2012, we had an accumulated deficit of $624. As a result, we expect to continue to incur significant losses as we execute our strategies and may never achieve or maintain profitability. If we fail to execute our business strategy or if there is a change in the demand for mobile applications or market conditions, or any other assumptions we used in formulating our business strategy, our long-term strategy may not be successful and we may not be able to achieve and/or maintain profitability. These and other factors raise substantial doubt by our auditors about our ability to continue as a going concern. Our fiscal year end is December 31.

    No code:

    As a development stage company, our current operations have been limited to planning and administrative activities.

    What am I missing? Have you listed your tech company on the OTCBB to raise capital in the past, or invested in one of these companies in the past? I’d love to hear from you.

    Photo credit: mtsofan on Flickr

  • Posts,  Startups

    Mobile Labs Raises $2.9 Million for Enterprise Software Testing

    According to an SEC filing today, Atlanta-based enterprise software testing company Mobile Labs has raised $2,962,729 from undisclosed investors in an equity financing.

    The company was founded in 2011 and is lead by President & CEO Don Addington. Advisory board members include Neil Edwards, who is President of PangoUSA in New York. According to the Mobile Labs LinkedIn page, has grown to 12 employees.

    The company provides secure 24/7 testing for enterprise mobile applications on private internal cloud infrastructure while managing applications, devices, users and test plans in the enterprise test lab. While many testing tools exist for consumer apps, Mobile Labs appears to be focused on the closed environment and unique needs of larger organizations.

    Earlier today Mobile Labs was named as a finalist for the CTIA E-Tech Awards in the Enterprise Solution – Mobile Cloud category, with final awards to be announced later this month. In an official announcement CEO Don Addington said:

    “Recognition as a CTIA E-Tech Awards Finalist is a testament to the hard work and dedication of the entire team at Mobile Labs,” commented Don Addington, CEO, Mobile Labs. “deviceConnect provides IT with an easy-to-use interface to manage all of their mobile testing assets and 24×7 remote access with a secure, private cloud. With deviceConnect even the most confidential enterprise app data can be tested with no concern for data breaches via accidental access over a public cloud.”

    I will update this post as I learn more about who the investors are.

  • Startups

    Good Technology Raises $50M Equity Round

    According to an SEC filing today, enterprise software company Good Technology has raised $50,000,005 from undisclosed investors in a equity round of financing.

    Crunchbase data appears to be out of date, showing its most recent funding event in 2005. However, according to the EDGAR database prior funding events not listed on Crunchbase include $51.3M raised in October 2006. The company was founded in 1996 and is estimated to have raised a total of $223.3M to date.

    I will update this post as I learn more.