THE BUSINESS OF TECHNOLOGY
Battling Pandora for turf in the on-demand music streaming service business, Spotify announced plans to expand its footprint into Asia, Latin America and Northern Europe recently on its blog. The company will expand into eight new countries, bringing its total markets to 28. The new locations include Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Mexico, … [Read more...]
The China Internet Network Information Center released some startling figures on the growth, size and potential of China’s ecommerce market. The sector earned more than 1.2 trillion RMB ($190 billion) in 2012. That’s a 66.5 increase over what it made the year before. And with 242 million Chinese Internet users purchasing goods last year in a … [Read more...]
The Samwer brothers, the siblings behind Berlin's Rocket Internet incubator known for launching clones of successful companies in new markets, have teamed up with Fabian Siegel, one of the co-founders of Delivery Hero, a global online food delivery platform, to launch a new fund to be headquartered in Munich, Germany. Global Founders Capital will … [Read more...]
It costs money to look good, and Indochina just got a bundle, raising $13 million in a Series B round led by the Highland Consumer Fund with participation by existing investors Madrona Venture Group, Acton Capital Partners, and Jeff Mallett , Indochino Chairman and former president and COO of Yahoo!. Tom Stemberg of the Highland Consumer Fund will … [Read more...]
Apple has acquired WiFiSlam, an indoor GPS startup that can pinpoint a smartphone in real time within 2.5 meters of accuracy. The move bolsters the company’s shoddy map product and makes it more competitive to Google Maps, improves indoor GPS mapping capabilities and will likely eventually create new mapping functions, such as the ability to … [Read more...]
Nasdaq received SEC approval for a $62 million payout to investors following the stock exchange’s botched Facebook IPO. Though it sounds like a pile of money, it’s a little more than pocket change for the estimated $500 million the errors reportedly cost investors. The company’s IPO last May was troubled to say the least. Nasdaq’s systems halted … [Read more...]
Apple was awarded a patent this week for an augmented reality function that can tag objects in a live video stream and present information about those objects in an overlay on the screen, the Apple Insider reported. Published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, Apple's U.S. Patent No. 8,400,548 for "Synchronized, interactive augmented reality … [Read more...]
AccessData, the cyber security and digital forensics company that was one of the first to get in on the data and cyber protection gig way back in 1987, has raised $45 million for its first funding in the legacy company’s 26 year history. The investment includes a $20 million equity trade from Sorenson Capital and $25 million in structured debt … [Read more...]
NewsCred, a media company that serves as a middle man for third party media content, has raised $15 million and added the New York Times as a prestigious partner to give its model more validity. Founded in 2008, Newswire reinvents the newswire business model by offering media companies an easy way to syndicate premium content. Rather than offering … [Read more...]