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The document provides a summary of recent trends in technology and internet markets based on a bi-monthly review from SparkLabs Global Ventures. Some of the key points covered include growing venture capital interest and funding in women's health mobile apps, projections that mobile games revenue will double to $35 billion by 2017, and that just 2% of app developers receive over half of all app revenue despite most games making less than $500 per month.
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Bi-monthly overview of major technology and Internet markets across the globe.
Titolo originale
SparkLabs Global Ventures’ Technology and Internet Market Bi-Monthly Review 0728 2014
The document provides a summary of recent trends in technology and internet markets based on a bi-monthly review from SparkLabs Global Ventures. Some of the key points covered include growing venture capital interest and funding in women's health mobile apps, projections that mobile games revenue will double to $35 billion by 2017, and that just 2% of app developers receive over half of all app revenue despite most games making less than $500 per month.
The document provides a summary of recent trends in technology and internet markets based on a bi-monthly review from SparkLabs Global Ventures. Some of the key points covered include growing venture capital interest and funding in women's health mobile apps, projections that mobile games revenue will double to $35 billion by 2017, and that just 2% of app developers receive over half of all app revenue despite most games making less than $500 per month.
SparkLabs Global Ventures (http://www.sparklabsglobal.com) is a global seed-stage fund with partners in Silicon Valley, Chicago, London Tel Aviv, Singapore, and Seoul. 1 Weekly Highlights
Global Trends VCs Excitement in Womens Health Mobile health apps have become increasingly popular as consumers seek to monitor every aspect of their lives through their mobile devices. In particular, apps targeting womens health are topping the charts in terms of popularity and capital committed in the past few quarters. According to CrunchBase, womens health apps raised more money in the past year than all other health-focused apps combined. In the 2Q 2014 alone, Chinese companies Meet You and Dayima raised a combined US$65 million to support a growing community of female users. In the US, womens reproductive health apps, like Ovuline and Glow, popularly known as period trackers, have raised a significant amount of venture funding. For investors, the excitement lies in the user engagement stats Ovulines DAU to MAU is somewhere over 40%. Both Ovuline and Glow analyze data provided by users to draw larger conclusions around fertility and alert users when their symptoms might be indicative of a medical problem. Ovuline investor Bill Pescatello of Lightbank sees Ovuline as the future of user health having the ability to provide users with customized feedback after a short period of time, and using the data collected over time to fine-tune results. And once perfected, this model is applicable to all types of user health, not just fertility. Mobile games revenue projected to double by 2017 (AppLift, Newzoo) Mobile games revenue has been projected to double from US $17.5 billion in 2013 to US $35.4 billion by 2017, according to a report from the mobile game marketing firm AppLift and market researcher Newzoo. The report shows that the Latin American mobile games market is currently the most rapidly growing in the world and has shown 60 percent growth from last year. On the other hand, the Western European mobile game market is one of the slowest growing in the world at 25 percent growth year-over-year. Additionally, average spend per month per paying mobile user in the Asia Pacific region has increased from US$2.86 to US$4.17 and for the North America region it has increased from US$3.87 to US$6.21. 10,000-developer survey: 2% of coders split staggering 54% of all app revenue According to a new 10,000-developer survey by Developer Economics, 50% of iOS developers and 47% of Android developers are below the app poverty line and making less than US$500 per app per month. This means the majority of app businesses are not sustainable at current revenue levels. Although games dominate the app stores, game developers are struggling and only a third of developers are making games, which is low considering the fact that games are by far the most popular types of apps, and about half of all apps downloaded are games. 88% of developers split just 11% of all app revenue and make under $10,000/month. Another 9% split 35% of total app revenue, making between $10,000 and $100,000 per month. And the big winners with massive games, who make up just 2% of all developers, split a staggering 54% of all app revenue, making over $100,000 per month. Most games 57%of them make less than $500/month. To solve that revenue problem, many game developers release more than one app, in fact the majority of those making over $100,000/month publish a minimum of 11 games.
Asia Pacific China Real Estate Service Fangdd raises US $80m in Series B round Fangdd, a Shenzhen-based real estate operation service platform, has just raised US $80 million in Series B funding. This funding was received from Vision Knight Capital China Fund, Lightspeed China Partners and Series A investor CDH Venture. Established in 2011, Fangdd is a real estate shopping guide information platform that provides marketing services to property developers, brokerage agencies and home buyers. In addition to this web portal, Fangdd also has four apps: Fangdd, dedicated to individual home buyers who want to find property information; Fangdd Realtor, dedicated to brokers who sell second-hand houses;
SparkLabs Gl obal Ventures Technol ogy and Internet Market Bi -Monthl y Revi ew July 28, 2014
SparkLabs Global Ventures (http://www.sparklabsglobal.com) is a global seed-stage fund with partners in Silicon Valley, Chicago, London Tel Aviv, Singapore, and Seoul. 2 Fangdiantong, a marketing platform for property developers and breakage agencies; and Fangpaipai, a camera app helping brokers to take high-quality photos of houses. Female eshoppers are behind Chinas booming ecommerce market In China, there are more male online shoppers than female online shoppers. However, women are the ones behind the thriving Chinese ecommerce market that saw US$74 billion spent in the first three months of this year. Chinas women spend more, shop online more frequently, and most importantly view ecommerce as part of their lifestyle. In 2013, over 60 percent of Chinese online consumers spent more than RMB 3,000 (US$483) on the internet, with the majority of them being female. In 2013, over 30 percent of Chinese online consumers shopped online more than 40 times in that year. Female consumers accounted for nearly 60 percent of these savvy ecommerce users. Compared to male consumers, female eshoppers tend to view ecommerce as a fun way to entertain themselves and relax. Push Notification Service Getui Announces Eight-digit Dollars Series B Funding Beijing-based third-party push notification service provider, Getui, has just raised an eight-digit US dollar round of Series B funding. This latest round was led by SAIF Partners with participation from all existing Series A investors including U.S. venture firm WI Harper. The capital from this round will be used towards research and development, marketing and branding. Getui is a push notification service that targets both Android and iOS platforms and helps app developers engage and reach their user bases quickly and effectively. Getuis clients include Weibo, PPTV, Changba, Boyaa and China Merchants Bank. The companys major competitors include JPUSH and Chinese Internet giants such as Tencent, Baidu and Alibabas Umeng. Chinese Luxury Site SECOO raises US$100M of Series D Funding for Overseas Expansion Founded in 2008, SECOO, a leading O2O luxury products and related services provider in China, raised over US$100 million in Series D financing led by CMC Capital Partners, with participation of existing investors like IDG, Ventech China, Crehol Meaningful Capital (invested by Mulliez Family) and Vangoo Capital Partners. Given the rising demands from Chinas blooming middle class for quality products and better life, Chinese customers have spent overall 350 billion Yuan (around US$56 billion) on luxury products in 2013, according to research data released by Bain & Company China. To follow this trend, the proceeds from this round will be used to improve local services as well as to expand overseas market, said SECOO CEO Li Rixue. Unlike traditional luxury e-commerce sites, SECOO is an online consignment store for second hand goods, providing one-stop services of premium product communication, maintenance, appraisal, and professional knowledge training. SECOO currently claimed over 3 million high-end customers with sales per user for online and offline stores stand at 8,000 Yuan (around US$1,280) and 15,000 Yuan, respectively. Chinese ecommerce site for babies, Miyabaobei, secures US$20M from Sequoia Capital China-based infant care online retailer Miyabaobei raised a US$20 million in series B round funding led by Sequoia Capital. The Chinese startup previously took a RMB 10 million (US$1.6 million) series A round from China Renaissance K2 Ventures. The startup originally opened its shop on Taobao, Chinas biggest online shopping marketplace, but when it became popular in 2013, receiving more than 1,200 orders per day and 44% of customers being monthly repeat buyers, Miyabaobei decided to strike out on its own. This solved a major issue of customers distrust in baby products on Taobao and strengthened its reputation for selling trustworthy goods. The site also limits the amount of these products that customers are allowed to buy in order to prevent hoarding during high volume seasons or if food safety scandal news report come out. As a result, the available supply is much more steady and items are likely to be in stock year-round. Chinese electronics recycling startup Aihuishou raised US$8M in series B funding Founded in 2011, Chinese electronics recycling startup Aihuishou raised a US$8 million series B round of funding led by the International Finance Corporation (IFC), followed by previous investor Morningside Ventures. The IFC, a member of the World Bank, invests in early and growth stage tech startups that focus on green tech, including communications, waste disposal/recycling, healthcare, education, and agriculture. The website allows people to sell or recycle old laptops, phones, handheld game consoles, and tablets. They can sell for cash or store credit, buy refurbished devices, or trade in an older model for a new one. The startup plans to use this latest investment to expand its recycling network and courier services to more cities. When trading in an old device, the user just needs to fill out a multiple choice form that asks questions like which functions work and which are broken, to calculate its value. Then Aihuishuo will search its database of certified
SparkLabs Gl obal Ventures Technol ogy and Internet Market Bi -Monthl y Revi ew July 28, 2014
SparkLabs Global Ventures (http://www.sparklabsglobal.com) is a global seed-stage fund with partners in Silicon Valley, Chicago, London Tel Aviv, Singapore, and Seoul. 3 dealers to get a list of quotes. The startup does not hold the inventory of the any devices but sends them to professional refurbishers who then re-sell the secondhand phones on Aihuishous marketplace. For customers who want to trade in their old model for a new phone, Aihuishou scans Taobao, Jingdong, and Yicai for the best price. Then the customer inputs his or her device info to calculate his or her deduction. Chinese startup behind Dolphin mobile browser sells 51% stake for US$91M The Chinese developer of Dolphin, a popular web browser for Android and iOS, sold a 51% stake for US$91 million to Chinese gaming giant Changyou. Dolphin has over 50 million users in more than 200 countries. The free app packs in a lot of features not seen in Apples or Googles built-in web browsers, such as customizable gestures, add-ons, and voice search. According to Dolphins VP of international business development, Dolphin chose Changyou because they share its vision for the world which is to provide Internet access to the 60% of world population without access to Internet. Dolphin has a lot of competition not only from global browser makers like Opera, but also from other Chinese firms like UC Browser. UC Browsers parent company, UCWebs was recently acquired by ecommerce giant Alibaba. Chinese Now Prefer Mobile When Going Online For the first time, more Chinese people are gaining access to the Internet with mobile devices than with personal computers. The shift is significant, if expected, in China, which is the worlds biggest market for both Internet and smartphone users. China had 632 million Internet users at the end of June, an increase of 14.4 million since the end of December, according to a semiannual report published on Monday by the official China Internet Network Information Center. Of those, 83.4% reported gaining access to the Internet with mobile devices, exceeding for the first time the percentage who reported using computers to go online, at 80.9%. More Chinese are heading online to send instant messages, through popular apps like Tenents Weixin, or WeChat, listen to music, play video games and read. The number of people making online payments rose the fastest among all types of Internet use, increasing 12.3 % since December to 292 million people. Declines in use were registered in only two categories: social networking websites, on which the number of users declined 7.4% to 257 million; and microblogs, like Sina Weibo, whose users fell 1.9 % to 275 million, probably reflecting the effects of a government crackdown that started last year. Gay Social App Zank Raises Multi-Million USD Zank, a social app for male homosexuals in China, raised a multi-million USD series A funding round. Zank is not the only LGBT app that has gained favor in Chinas investors. Blued, a social service similar to Zank, raised a multi-million series A round from Crystal Stream this February. Gee Yuu is another app that has netted investments. What should be noted is that all three apps target gay men. According to Paul Thompson, the founder of LGBT Capital, a wealth management firm with a focus on Asias LGBT market, Chinas LGBT market is opening up. With over 500 million users is a perfect tool for homosexuals, as it ensures confidentiality through anonymity. Zank uses LBS (location-based services) to help male homosexuals find each other. Designed for gay men, Zank is a hybrid of photo-sharing community, events publishing platform and location- based private messaging.
Korea Softbank Ventures Korea and Qualcomm Ventures invest in online delivery service Naldo Naldo received its Series A investment from Softbank Ventures Korea and Qualcomm Ventures. After an initial angel funding in 2013, this is the first major investment for Naldo. The startup plans to use the funding for faster scaling of sales, marketing, and product development. Naldo provides immediate delivery of any item that needs to be delivered within a maximum time frame of 90 minutes, by way of a web-based ordering system. The existing offline instant-delivery market in Korea (quick service in Korean) is worth US$5 billion, with thousands of small local providers carving up the market. With an online platform, Naldo avoids the high (variable) cost of a call center, allowing for much cheaper pricing and dramatically improved efficiency when scaling the service nationwide or overseas. Until now, no single player has emerged as a market leader in Korea, and this is the gap Naldo aims to fill. The market for instant delivery is currently a hot investment area all over the world, with United Kingdom provider Shutl recently being acquired by eBay and similar services, including Deliv, Zipments, and Postmates present in the US.
SparkLabs Gl obal Ventures Technol ogy and Internet Market Bi -Monthl y Revi ew July 28, 2014
SparkLabs Global Ventures (http://www.sparklabsglobal.com) is a global seed-stage fund with partners in Silicon Valley, Chicago, London Tel Aviv, Singapore, and Seoul. 4 Survey shows Samsung smartphone sales suffer Samsung Electronics is losing smartphone ground not only to cheaper Chinese rivals but also at the high end to Apple, a survey showed, in an ominous sign for the Korean giant as Apple readies to launch its next- generation iPhone 6. Samsungs second-quarter earnings guidance showed results far weaker than expectations and the company is on track for its worst quarterly profit in two years, a performance the company attributed in part to price competition and higher inventory levels in China. Research firm Counterpoints survey of 35 markets accounting for nearly 90 percent of global sales found that sales for the eight-month-old iPhone 5s stood at seven million in May, compared with about five million for Samsungs flagship Galaxy S5, which was in just its second full month of sales after a late March release. Counterpoint said that the Galaxy S5 appeared to be doing worse than the Galaxy S4 had done in its early launch against the iPhone 5, with each selling about seven million units a month. Seoul City Plans To Ban Uber, While Planning Launch Of Its Own Smartphone Taxi Service Seoul is proud of being labeled one of the most progressive tech-focused cities in the world and its administration has been pushing a move towards innovation and tech development. However, Uber will likely be banned in Seoul to maintain the status quo, to protect licensed taxi drivers, to allegedly to protect consumers, and also to allow Seoul City Administrators to roll out their own taxi app later this year, in a competition-free environment. Seoul was the first Asian city that Uber entered around a year ago, and the service has been steadily growing in a taxi-heavy domestic market. Seoul has four times as many cabs as New York City and rides are very cheap, starting at a minimum fee of only around $3.00. While Seoul Citys claims have validation on some grounds it seems counter-productive for the city, which is determined to encourage innovation. Korea has much promise as a regional tech hub in Asia, but the negative global PR that stories like this generate will serve to demonstrate that Seoul may still be stuck in the past, a past that favors protectionism over innovation. Kakao Wallet, A New Mobile Payments Solution From Kakao Corp. is Almost Here Kakao Corp., the company behind Koreas biggest mobile messaging platform, aims to launch a wallet service in the next few months. This is the most recent addition to the Kakao platform, as the company continues to diversify its portfolio of services for users. The payment platform will help boost the nascent mobile wallet industry in South Korea, supporting small-sum wire-transfers, online and offline payments, financial transactions and mobile payments. Anyone over 14 of age registered to the Internet banking service is eligible to use the service and can recharge up to 500,000 won (around $500 USD) as bank money. Only one account is permitted on each device. The service will permit wire transfers up to 100,000 won (around $100 USD) each day among users registered to the service. It had been expected that the service would have been rolled out by the first half of this year, but this has been delayed on account of issues around the financial regulations. Q2 sees LG comeback, Samsung sag With the releases of second-quarter earnings from Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics soon, affiliates of the two companies are expected to show mixed earnings results. Market analysts predict that Samsungs smartphone parts makers will post poor earnings due to Samsung Electronics sluggish sales, while LG Electronics parts makers will produce relatively better reports. Samsungs affiliates will be damaged by Samsung Electronics low phone sales, which have been a shock to the company after three years of growth. As opposed to Samsung, LG Group affiliates are seeing their momentum grow, especially as LG Electronics Mobile Communications division in charge of its smartphone business is expected to turn a profit thanks to strong sales of low-end smartphones and the launch of the G3. LG Innotek is predicted to announce 1.55 trillion won of sales and 73 billion won in operating profit for the second quarter. LG also estimates that its sales of LED screens have increased in the second quarter compared to the same period last year. LG Display has Apple as a client and also recently signed agreements with Chinese home electronics companies such as Skyworth, Chang Hong and Konka to provide OLED TV panels.
Japan Messaging app Line files for $10B IPO
SparkLabs Gl obal Ventures Technol ogy and Internet Market Bi -Monthl y Revi ew July 28, 2014
SparkLabs Global Ventures (http://www.sparklabsglobal.com) is a global seed-stage fund with partners in Silicon Valley, Chicago, London Tel Aviv, Singapore, and Seoul. 5 Japanese messaging app Line is in the process of filing for an initial public offering valued at over US$10 billion or 9 trillion yen. The company reportedly submitted an application to the Tokyo Stock Exchange. Line has amassed over 480 million downloads. While it is free, it offers a variety of in-app features for sale. South Koreas Naver Corp, which owns the app, has chosen investment bank Nomura Holdings to manage the IPO. At the moment the company is considering listing on either NASDAQ or the NYSE in New York, in addition to the TSE. Like other international messaging apps, Line has yet to gain ground in North America. A listing on U.S. stock exchanges may help boost the companys profile in the States. Japanese businessmen started Coent Venture Partners with self-raised $10M fund Two Japanese businessmen, Shuhei Morofuji and Hideki Fujita, founded Coent Venture Partners and will manage a US$10 million fund created with their own money. Coent (meaning co-entrepreneur) is a pet project of two men who have succeeded in their own fields. CEO Morofuji founded SMS, a healthcare information service for the elderly, leading the company to US$120 million in revenue and US$13.8 million in profit, and has retired this year. Fujita is a Gree veteran, having headed its corporate M&A strategy. They eschewed the easy path and chose to bring their business (and their families) to Singapore. The company will be targeting Japan, South East Asia, and a to-be-determined region of Africa. Seed and series A stage companies with cross-border business models will be favored but companies in popular sectors like gaming can expect a cold shoulder. KDDIs Open Innovation Fund invests in 4 US startups to help them enter Japanese market KDDI Open Innovation Fund (KOIF), managed by Japanese venture capital Global Brain Corporation, invested a total of 800 million yen (roughly US $8 million) in four US startups. Global Brain and KDDI, the Japanese telecom operator, will help those startups to enter Japanese market. The four startups are social learning platform Edmodo, digital publishing and sharing service Issuu, seat upgrades app Pogoseat, and tech media business VentureBeat. Global Brain and KDDI established the first KOIF in 2012. KDDI lets investees access its user base or take advantage of the telecom infrastructure it operates. The startups also can join the acceleration programs ran by Global Brain. The first fund, or KOIF I, has invested in 24 tech startups, with 15 Japanese and nine from outside Japan. The aforementioned investments in the four U.S. startups are under KOIF II, which was only recently established.
Taiwan Taiwanese Startup WritePath Raises $500k to Expand to Korea Taiwanese startup WritePath raised US$500,000 in funding led by B-Dash Ventures and Pinehurst Advisors. The startups plans to use the funds to further expand into Asian markets outside their base of Taiwan, with a focus on the huge opportunity in Korea. Founded in 2009, Writepath provides multi-lingual editing services and online translation solutions, currently serving 22 countries with three services in the market. One such, Top Admit, is now being touted in the Korean market. Top Admit provides editing services for college applicants and students and until recently the main markets for online education consulting were China, Taiwan and the US with a strong recent growth path in Thailand and Vietnam.
India Maker of low-cost Aakash tablets for Indian schools raises $28 million in IPO DataWind, contracted by the Indian government to produce $58 tablets for school students, raised US$28 million (CA$30 miilion) through an IPO at the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX). The company, one of the worlds 50 smartest companies according to the MIT Technology Review list of 2014, is best known for its ultra-low- cost tablet, the UbiSlate, which was rechristened Aakash by the Indian government. The Aakash tablet launched in October 2011 and cost the Indian government INR2,276 (US$38) per unit. After launching DataWinds Aakas 2 in November 2012, this year the company will supply Aakash 4, which will support 4G services, to the Indian government. According to CEO of DataWind, their IPO on the TSX represents a major milestone for DataWind and gives them the resources to implement the next stage of their vision to bring the Internet to billions of unconnected people in the developing world. Founded in 2001 in Canada, Datawind also
SparkLabs Gl obal Ventures Technol ogy and Internet Market Bi -Monthl y Revi ew July 28, 2014
SparkLabs Global Ventures (http://www.sparklabsglobal.com) is a global seed-stage fund with partners in Silicon Valley, Chicago, London Tel Aviv, Singapore, and Seoul. 6 owns patented cloud-based web delivery technology, which uses existing cellular networks to provide the Internet at a very low cost to the masses.
Malaysia MOL, majority-owned by Malaysian billionaire, files for US IPO to raise $300M Online payment company MOL Global filed with US regulators to raise about US$300 million in an IPO. The epayment monolith is majority-owned by Malaysian billionaire Vincent Tan, who is one of Malaysias richest men. He currently owns a 69.3 percent stake of the company. MOL, which is also widely known as Money Online, is raising funds to aid in its expansion into the rest of Southeast Asia. In lieu of a new consumption tax that comes into play next year, they plan to tap the Malaysian governments push to drive epayments. The company is the largest epayment enabler for online goods and services in Southeast Asia by payment volume, handling over 60 million transactions annually, with a payment value of over US$500 million. MOL reported a revenue of MYR171.5 million (US$54 million) for 2013, which is a 79.4 percent rise from the previous year. The filing did not reveal how many shares the company planned to sell, nor their expected price.
Singapore Singapore online grocery store RedMart raises $23M Singapore online grocery startup RedMart raised US$23 million in a series B round of funding led by Garena, with participation from Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin, SoftBank Ventures, and Visionnaire Ventures. The startup plans to use the funding to build operational capacity to support future growth and expand its product range to include fresh food. The need to invest in infrastructure is especially pressing for the startup, since it is dealing with basket sizes consisting of over 20 items, much more than fashion ecommerce sites. The startup currently has 200 staff and its revenue is growing 20% month-on-month. In total, the company has raised US$27 million, including contributions from Pivotal Asia, a new venture capital firm headed by Shane Chesson and Hian Goh, who previously sold his company the Asian Food Channel. Also backing the company are Skype co-founder Toivo Annus, Singapore-based investment firms East Ventures and Golden Gate Ventures, and angel investor John Tan. While a pioneer in this space, RedMart faces competition from dominant supermarkets like NTUC FairPrice and Cold Storage, as well as startups like GoFresh, started by Groupon Singapore co-founders Christopher Chong and his brother Karl. Capillary Technologies raises $14M to expand offline retail analytics Capillary Technologies, a Singapore-headquartered, Bangalore-based startup that has created a cloud-based service for offline retail stores to better engage customers, raised a US$14 million series B round led by established Valley venture capital firms Sequoia Capital and Norwest Venture Partners. Capillarys services include a loyalty program engine that is integrated into a stores point-of-sales system. For retailers, the loyalty program doubles as a source of data, allowing sales associates to better identify the customer needs based on their past purchasing behavior. According to Aneesh Reddy, co-founder and CEO of Capillary, retailers that use their products see a 15 percent increase in average basket value and a 30 percent increase in customer retention rate. Capillarys customers include Marks & Spencer, KFC, Pizza Hut, and Lacoste. Singapore accelerator Fatfish Internet raises $3.2M Fatfish Internet Group, a startup investment company from Singapore has begun trading after raising US$3.22 million on a market capitalization of US$24.2 million. The Group aimed to raise the same amount in its prospectus, making it 100 percent subscribed. Fatfish calls itself an internet ventures accelerator, acting as a strategic investor in companies by providing funding, network, and resources to increase the growth of their businesses. It has backed ventures like fashion ecommerce site Dressabelle, car insurance comparison service RajaPremi, and Novatap, which is the company behind visual website builder dockPHP. Fatfish invests in early and growth stage startups in Southeast Asian markets like Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, and Vietnam. Going forward, the Group will set up dual headquarters in Singapore and Melbourne, Australia. It plans to use its Australian presence to promote the businesses of its portfolio companies via online and social
SparkLabs Gl obal Ventures Technol ogy and Internet Market Bi -Monthl y Revi ew July 28, 2014
SparkLabs Global Ventures (http://www.sparklabsglobal.com) is a global seed-stage fund with partners in Silicon Valley, Chicago, London Tel Aviv, Singapore, and Seoul. 7 media marketing. The company plans to use the fund to grow its portfolio companies and providing finance, legal, intellectual property, and administration support for them.
Philippines Ayannah Raises $1M To Serve The Philippines Rapidly Growing Remittance Market Ayannah, a digital payments startup based in the Philippines, raised US$1 million in new funding from Japanese venture capital firms IMJ Investment Partners and Beenos, the investment vehicle of Teruhide Sato, president and group CEO of netprice.com. The startup is hedging its future on remittances from the 10 million Filipinos who work overseas, as well as revenue growth from its SaaS business, and increasing demand for it services from domestic workers. Ayannahs new funding comes as remittances in the Philippines enjoy strong growth. Data from the Central Bank of the Philippines showed that personal remittances grew 6.1 percent to $10.404 billion in the first five months of this year, up from $9.809 billion in the same period in 2013. In the future, Ayannah hopes to expand to the remittance markets of countries in Latin America, South Asia, and Africa, and eventually become Amazon for the next four billion.
United States Vidyo raises US $20m in latest round of funding Vidyo, a company that builds videoconferencing technology and also powers other companies products, such as Google Hangouts, has just raised US $20m in new funding. This new capital comes from the companys existing investors, including Menlo Ventures, Rho Ventures, Sevin Rosen Funds, QuestMark Partners and Juniper Networks. This round of funding brings Vidyos total funding to US $135.1m. Investment training startup, Dough, raises US $25m in latest round Dough, a startup that provides educational content on personal investing, just raised US $25m in funding from Technology Crossover Ventures. This new capital will go towards hiring more people who can narrate videos on-air and bringing the startups materials into more foreign countries. Dough is a massively open online course (MOOC) site that offers free interactive video lessons online and teaches people how to make investments. It shows experts trades and even provides users with a way to make their own trades. Cloud-based document-management tool, NetDocuments, has raised US $25m in Series D round NetDocuments, a provider of document- and email-management services for law firms, has just raised US $25m in its latest round of funding. This new capital come from Frontier Capital and is the companys fourth (Series D) round after several investment rounds more than 10 years ago. The company says that it has received no investments in the past decade and that this latest round pays of the initial (minority investors). The company offers its document-management software as a service in exchange for subscription fees. Its primary users are law firms and financial services companies but it also does some work with real estate, healthcare and accounting firms. Apple forms strategic partnership with IBM for expansive enterprise push Apple has recently announced its strategic partnership with IBM. Enterprise giant, IBM, will transfer over 150 of their enterprise and IT apps and tools to Apple platforms natively. In addition to this, IBM will sell Apple iPhones and iPads to its business clients globally. Furthermore, the apps that IBM produces with Apple will be developed from ground up for iPhone and iPad. These new apps will supplement new cloud services aimed at iOS specifically and will include security and analytics solutions, and device management tools for large-scale mobile device management (MDM) deployments. Apple and IBM will be tackling industries such as retail, healthcare, banking, travel, transportation, telecommunication and insurance. Additionally, this partnership gives Apple access to IBMs big data and analytics capabilities. Multiplier Capital, venture debt fund, raises fund worth US $227m Multiplier Capital, a venture debt fund, has just raised a large, oversubscribed fund worth US $227 million. This latest round was led by Liberty Peak Capital. Multiplier Capital is interested in making loans (not equity-only deals) ranging from $3m to $15m to rapidly growing, expansion-stage companies. The fund has already
SparkLabs Gl obal Ventures Technol ogy and Internet Market Bi -Monthl y Revi ew July 28, 2014
SparkLabs Global Ventures (http://www.sparklabsglobal.com) is a global seed-stage fund with partners in Silicon Valley, Chicago, London Tel Aviv, Singapore, and Seoul. 8 completed 16 loans across various industries, including cyber security, digital media, and healthcare information technology. Urban Compass raises US $40m to expand beyond NYC Urban Compass, a startup that operates an online marketplace for users to rent, buy and sell apartments, has announced that it has raised US $40m in new funding. This latest Series B round includes participation from Advance Publications and Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff. The new capital from this round will be used towards expanding Urban Compass services beyond New York City and into other cities in the US such as Boston, Chicago and San Francisco. This brings the companys total investment received to US $73m. Urban Compass was first emerged into the publics eye in December 2012 when it raised US $8m during its seed round. Mobile game developer Social Point raises $30M to go to Asia Social Point, mobile game developer, just raised $30m in funding to build additional games and expand into the Asian market. This round was led by Highland Capital Partners Europe and participated by existing investor Idinvest. This capital will go specifically towards allowing the company to expand Social Points specialty, breeding games, into something called Mobile Action Social Strategy (MASS) games. This will allow players to play for longer lengths of time and with more social interaction. The company will launch three new titles this year and then an additional four more in 2015. LinkedIn to acquire business marketing company Bizo for US $175M LinkedIn has announced that it will be acquiring the business marketing company Bizo for around US $175m 90 percent cash and 10 percent stock. Bizo is a company that helps advertisers reach businesses and professionals and has raised a total of US $20m in venture funding and $12.5m in debt. More specifically, Bizo offers targeting and analytics for display and direct response ads. LinkedIn announced that many members of the Bizo team will be joining LinkedIn as a part of the acquisition and that its goal is to integrate Bizos offerings into its content marketing products so that it can be a powerful tool for brands to build strong relationships with professionals. Travel advertising firm Intent Media raises US $22.7m Travel advertising firm Intent Media has just raised US $22.7m in a new round of funding. This is the firms third round and was led by Insight Venture Partners with participation from existing investors Matrix Partners and Redpoint Ventures. The company plans on using the new capital towards international expansion and towards hiring more engineers and data scientists to boost its ad platform. Intent Media specifically focuses on advertising and marketing in the travel industry specifically for travel-related tech companies. Some of its more notable clients include Orbitz, Expedia, Hotwire, Travelocity and Hipmunk.
Europe Autobutler raises !5.8M to connect European car-owners to customers Autobutler, an online platform for car maintenance and servicing has just raised !5.8m in its latest round of funding. This round was led by Index Ventures with participation from existing investors including Dawn Capital and Nordic venture capital firm Creandum. The new capital will be used to expand the service across Europe starting with Germany and the UK. Autobutler has helps customers find garages to repair or service their cars based on the make and model of the car, the work that needs to be done and location. Within 24 hours, the customer receives up to three offers from vetted local garages to choose from. Smart thermostat producer Tado raises $13.6M in latest round of funding Munich, Germany-based startup Tado has recently raised US $13.6m in new funding with the goal of expanding the reach of its smart thermostat tech to a broader audience. Investors for this round include Target Partners, Shortcut Ventures and others. Tado plans on using the new capital to specifically expand sales to all major European countries as well as build a global brand. The companys thermostats currently lead in the European market when it comes to the issue of climate control; these thermostats adjust to users preferences over time and allow users to reduce energy costs. Seedcamp raises US $30m to expand and scale
SparkLabs Gl obal Ventures Technol ogy and Internet Market Bi -Monthl y Revi ew July 28, 2014
SparkLabs Global Ventures (http://www.sparklabsglobal.com) is a global seed-stage fund with partners in Silicon Valley, Chicago, London Tel Aviv, Singapore, and Seoul. 9 Seedcamp, an investment firm that specializes in providing seed funds to startups, has just raised US $30m in its latest round of funding. This round of funding was led by European Investment Fund and participated by VC firms like Index Ventures, WhiteStar Capital, Caixa Capital, Connect Ventures and Credo Ventures as well as angel investors like Taavet Hinrikus of TransferWise, Sten Tamkivi of Teleport and Barry Smith of Skyscanner. This new capital will allow the company to back 100 startups within the next four years and acquire additional funds for follow-on investments. Additionally, this new funding will allow London-based Seedcamp to expand its presence into the U.S. Seedcamp will also create an alumni program to offer increased support to the teams that it has backed at its yearly events in Berlin and London. Funding Circle raises US $65M for its small business lending marketplace Funding Circle, an online marketplace that connects small businesses looking for loans with individuals and institutions willing to lend money, has just raised US $65m in its latest round of funding. This latest, Series D, round was led by Index Ventures with participation by existing investors Accel Partners, Union Square Ventures and Ribbit Capital. This new capital will be used to improve technology and expand Funding Circle further into the U.S. This latest round puts the total raised by the company at US $123m. Currently Funding Circle is lending out US $6.5m/month on average and it predicts that it will loan out US $600m in 2014. OnlineTours, Russia-based reseller of package tours, raised $7M international investment Russia-based online travel market raised its third major venture funding operation as OnlineTours, a reseller of package tours, closed as US $7million Series B round. The funds were brought in by a VC consortium that includes international funds e.ventures, Global Founders Capital and Holtzbrinck Ventures as well as Russias InVenture Partners. The startup plans to use the funding to increase the market share of OnlineTours and further develop its technology platform. The market in Russia for package tours was estimated last year at $15 billion with just 2% generated online. According to the government agency Rostourism, Russians travelled abroad 47.8 million times in 2012, including 15 million times for touristic purposes, with Egypt and Turkey being the most popular destinations. The average price for package tours reached $1,800-$2,000. The competition in this market is fierce as the startup to compete with offline travel agencies, as well as online tour offers.
Israel Israel payment technology provider Zooz raises US$12M Zooz, an Israel-based provider of smart payment technology, closed a US$12 million round of investment led by Blumberg Capital. Existing investors including XSeed Capital, Lool Ventures and Rhodium, as well as new investors Access Industries and Camp One Ventures, also participated. The company plans to use the funding to continue creating technology, expand operations and open new offices. Zooz, which has thousands of retail customers, enhances the existing payment infrastructure of retailers, enabling them to accept payments efficiently and flexibly for competitive rates both online and in-store. When a customer payment is made over Zooz's platform, the payment details are securely stored so that future payments made through different channels can be linked to the original user. This user information provides retailers with insight that can be used to create personalized shopping experiences and increase conversion rates. Supersonic scores $15M, begins Asia Pacific expansion Based in Tel Aviv and San Francisco, advertising platform developer Supersonic raised US$15 million in its second round of institutional funding led by one of Chinas largest venture capital firms, SAIF Partners. Supersonics main product is a cloud-based software development kit that enables mobile application developers to include robust streaming interactive ads inside their apps. Among its uses, the SDK enables online monetization by engaging mobile users in games and virtual worlds as well as social networks. Virtual currency is earned when mobile users watch branded ads, play a game, or complete offers. According to co- founder and CEO of Supersonic, Gil Shoham, the company plans to use the funding to reach their aggressive growth goals over the next 18 months, by improving user acquisition effectiveness and ROI. The company also plans to expand in the Asia-Pacific region by opening offices in Beijing, Tokyo and Bangalore to pursue business development and management of the Asian market. The company cited strong growth, currently at a $100 million annual run rate during its third quarter. Supersonics chief competitors include Tapjoy, TrialPay, Flurry, inMobi, and Millenial Media.
SparkLabs Gl obal Ventures Technol ogy and Internet Market Bi -Monthl y Revi ew July 28, 2014
SparkLabs Global Ventures (http://www.sparklabsglobal.com) is a global seed-stage fund with partners in Silicon Valley, Chicago, London Tel Aviv, Singapore, and Seoul. 10 Auto camera maker Mobileye starts pre-IPO tour for $500 million IPO Israel-based Mobileye plans to sell 27.75 million shares on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) at a price of $17 to $19 a share under the ticker MBLY. At that share price, the IPO would bring in somewhere between $472 million and $527 million. Mobileye makes a series of windshield-mounted cameras that provide a warning (via a dash-mounted display) if it appears that an accident is eminent. The technology is already used in more than 3 million vehicles made by BMW, General Motors, and others. Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley are lead underwriters. Goldman Sachs Group, Fidelity Investments, BlackRock, and Enterprise Holdings already own equity in the company. Mobileye lost $53 million in 2012 but doubled its revenues in 2013 ($81.2 million) and showed a $20 million profit for that year.