THE BUSINESS OF TECHNOLOGY
Oracle, the world's third largest software maker and top producer of high end business computers, will pay $1.7 billion to acquire Acme packet, a company that sells telecommunications VoIP hardware. “The addition of Acme Packet to Oracle’s leading communications portfolio will enable service providers and enterprises to deliver innovative … [Read more...]
by MATT GALLAGHER, Red Herring Though plenty of Q&A service sites sleep contentedly in the graveyard, ChaCha is thriving alive and strong. The company recently raised a new round of $14 million. The company will use the new funding to expand its mobile and online experience as well as enhance its advertising potential. The round was led … [Read more...]
Though it won't market a product until 2014, DataGravity has already landed some pretty serious capital. The stealth mode startup recently raised $30 million in a round led by with existing investors Charles River Ventures and General Catalyst Partners participating. It brings the company's total capital to $42 million. The company specializes … [Read more...]
by MATT GALLAGHER, Red Herring Streaming video across multiple devices is far from the easy breeze it looks. With the launch of its new Elastic Transcoder service, however, Amazon not only makes it a synch, but much more affordable than other options currently offered on the market. Launched this week, Amazon's Elastic Transcoder service is … [Read more...]
Ribbit Capital, a new Silicon Valley-based venture capital firm, has closed on a $100 million fund that will be focused solely on finance-based startups. The firm will focus on startups specializing in lending, payments, insurance, accounting, tax preparation, personal financial management, and other financial services. The firm will target … [Read more...]
Google broke another record, earning its first $50 billion in annual revenue in 2012, thanks in a large part to strong fourth quarter earnings that generated $14.62 billion, an increase of 26 percent over the same period the year before. Outpacing analyst estimates of $12.36 billion for the December quarter, Google's fourth quarter was about three … [Read more...]
Cox Enterprises, an owner of radio and TV stations, newspapers, cable and telephone services, has placed a big bet on the startup world. Moreover, it's placed big money on the entrepreneurial instinct of Tripp Rackley, a serial entrepreneur who successfully launched and sold two companies to Intuit and Qualcomm and claims to have created over $1 … [Read more...]
Baidu, the Chinese search giant, has signed an exclusive deal with France Telecom and its subsidiary Orange to co-brand and pre-load its Baidu mobile browser on Android smartphones in Africa and the Middle East. It is the first time Baidu has signed such an agreement with a global provider and extends the company to 19 countries in a move that … [Read more...]
Facebook rolled out its Graph Search, a functional search tool that provides results based on social connections. It's a big step for Facebook that evolves its social function to provide relevant knowledge based on relationships. Search for “friends of friends who are single women,” and you completely revamp the nature of dating. Search for … [Read more...]
Infusionsoft, a company that provides small businesses with a complete end to end CRM, social marketing and sales management, has raised $54 million from Goldman Sachs. The company will use the new funding for “fueling our product development, accelerating marketing and sales, and growing our partner and education programs in the U.S. and … [Read more...]