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.

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.

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:

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.

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