Month: June 2012

Here’s a roundup of some of the recent seed-stage and angel deals from around the world:

• TodaCell, a Managed Premium High-Conversions Mobile Ad Network, raises $2 million funding from AfterDox and angel investors
• en-Gauge Inc., which makes devices to remotely monitor safety equipment like fire extinguishers, has received $50,000 in debt funding
• GymPact, which uses cash incentives to help you commit to exercise and actually do it, has closed an $850,000 seed round led by Resolute.vc
• AfterShip, a Hong Kong-based package monitoring service that works with online retailers, has raised an undisclosed amount of seed funding
• TenasiTech, which has developed super-tough strong and stable rubbers using nanotechnology, raises $1.4 million in grants & equity capital
• Swipp, a new startup wants to challenge the “social media status quo”, lands $3.5 million funding from Groupon Investors
• Cabulous, a San Fran-based taxi dispatch technology startup, has raised $8 million funding to scale its service to fleets of cabs worldwide
• Beintoo, which has a loyalty rewards and monetization platform for mobile games, apps, and sites, has secured $5 million in Series A funding
• VHX, a startup specialized in Web video distribution for independent film makers, raises $1.25 million seed funding led by Lerer Ventures
• ThisLife, a site that automatically organizes your photos and videos with face recognition and GPS tagging, gets $2.75 million seed funding
• Kapow Events, the event marketplace where businesses can get access to free planning& exclusive promotions, have raised $700,000 financing
• LumeJet, a UK-based technology developer with expertise in photonic (light-based) imaging systems, lands £1.87 million angel funding
• StrikeAd, a startup that helps advertisers and agencies manage their mobile campaigns, has raised another $500,000 in funding
• PoshVine, an online dining reservation-cum-reviewing portal, has raised a round of seed funding from MyFirstCheque
• Freshplum, which bills itself as “next-generation business analytics for digital commernce”, announces $1.4 million in seed funding
• Gradient X, a company offering a Demand Side Platform for mobile advertizing, has secured $3.75 million in seed funding
• CasaHop, which aims to be the go-to place for home swapping on the web, lands $1.2 million seed funding from an impressive list of investors
• CloudByte, building next generation storage virtualization products, has raised $2.1 million Series A funding led by Nexus Venture Partners
• Big Frame, a YouTube management and production company, has secured $3 million in seed funding
• Psykosoft, a distrubuted startup that has created the web app Psykopaint, has secured $500k in seed funding

To get regular updates, come follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/angel__network or register for our blog at https://www.angelinvestmentnetwork.netwp-login.php?action=register.

Have you managed to raise capital for your company?  We always love to hear from entrepreneurs who manage to get funded.

Or are you looking to raise funding?  Send me a summary of your project at mike@angelinvestmentnetwork.co.uk and we’ll try to help.

 

This graphic that highlights a few notable college dropouts…

Source: https://www.accreditedonlinecolleges.net

Every web publisher — and especially content marketer — yearns for an engaged and loyal audience. But with the sheer volume of noise, clutter and — well, content — online it can be hard to figure out how to reach people and keep them coming back for more.

The content marketing agency BlueGlass knows a lot about how to do this well. They’ve run successful campaigns for clients including eBay, Conde Nast and Greatist. Now BlueGlass is ready to share some of its secrets withMashable readers. The company produced this exclusive infographic to run down some of the ways you too can build an engaged audience online.

Here are a few quick tips: Make sure you have a gripping headline, keep your copy to the point, make sure to provide value and promote, promote, promote.

Why are these approaches so important? Far more people will read your headline than your entire post, so drawing people in is crucial. Online audiences tend to skim for important information and lose patience quickly, so bogging your content down with too many words will be counterproductive. Giving readers obvious value with your posts will give incentivize them to return again and again. And smart, persistent promotion — especially via social media — will help cut through all the noise online and make your content sharable and more effective.

Check out the infographic below for the fuller picture. Does this advice ring true to you? What would you add? Let us know in the comments.

Source: https://mashable.com/

Angel Investment News:  

• Index Ventures Raises $442 Million in New Fund: https://ow.ly/bDWDD
• US-based Silicon Valley Bank sets aside €80m for Irish tech start-ups: https://ow.ly/bJ5OE
• Investor and Pay Pal co-founder Peter Thiel starts Mithril Capital with a $402 million fund: https://ow.ly/bJ5bb
• Connecticut appears to find itself in an unaccustomed place – too many angel investment dollars seeking too few deals: https://ow.ly/bKIZT
• Optus and SingTel have launched a seed funding program that will back up to 8 Australian start-ups with $250,000 each: https://ow.ly/bKILH

Business Plans & Pitching:

• Constructing an Unforgettable Elevator Pitch: https://ow.ly/bDY4F
• 5 Business Plan Mistakes. The key to successfully obtaining funds is having a solid business plan: https://ow.ly/bKKd4
• Preparing Your Business Plan: The Executive Summary: https://ow.ly/bKKl0

Fund Raising:

• Painful truth on why venture capital firms reject startups. A VC tells entrepreneurs exactly why he won’t fund them: https://ow.ly/bDYcG
• Video – Kevin Rose on his new gig at Google Ventures, what he looks for in a startup founder, and more: https://ow.ly/bDYO4
• Study highlights entrepreneurs’ funding problems, offers solutions: https://ow.ly/bHvrm
• Angel Investor Tells Us 4 Questions That Founders Need To Ask Themselves Before Fundraising: https://ow.ly/bJ7LN
• 10 VCs And Founders Give Their Best Advice For Raising Money: https://ow.ly/bJ7PD

Marketing & Social Media:

• 5 Social Media Marketing Myths: Busted! https://ow.ly/bHwdd
• How Social Content Attracts and Engages More Customers: https://ow.ly/bJ3ar
• 3 Steps to Getting Started With Social Media: https://ow.ly/bKK2u

Start-Up & Entrepreneurship:

• Entrepreneurs Need to Brand Themselves First: https://ow.ly/bDWPv
• Infographic: Startup Genome analyzed 3,200 high-growth technology startups to answer this question: Why do startups fail? https://ow.ly/bOcnM
• 5 Practices Startups Should Borrow From Big Businesses: https://ow.ly/bDXG3
• Five Ways To Be A More Efficient Entrepreneur: https://ow.ly/bKIBs
• Behind The Launch is a 16-episode documentary that takes you behind the curtain of a young and ambitious startup: https://ow.ly/bKJLb

To stay updated, come follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/angel__network or register for our blog at https://www.angelinvestmentnetwork.netwp-login.php?action=register.

Read anything interesting? Feel free to add links to any articles or resources you’d like to share with the angel community.

Or are you looking to raise funding?  Send me a summary of your project at mike@angelinvestmentnetwork.co.uk and we’ll try to help.

Here’s a roundup of some of the recent seed-stage and angel deals from around the world:

• PetHub, a service that helps lost pets find their way home, has closed its seed round of $1.3 million from angel investors
• Regaalo, a gift-giving website aiming to recreate the experience of parents shopping for their college-age children, gets $125K seed funding
• Thatgamecompany has raised $5.5 million funding from Benchmark Capital after six years of developing games for Sony’s PlayStation
• Paloma Mobile, a mobile startup creating cloud-based services for any smartphone, raises $1.5 million Series A funding led by OneVentures
• Switchcam, which recreates concert experiences by combining professional and fan footage, lands $1.2 million seed funding led by Mark Cuban
• Iconfinder, an online marketplace for icons to use iOS and Android apps (among other places), has raised $1.5 millionin seed funding
• Aidin, a startup that helps people find better continuing care after they leave the hospital, has raised $600,000 from General Catalyst
• Sambaash, a SaaS-based service that builds online communities for businesses & organizations by leveraging social media, lands $2.1M funding
• Indow Windows, the Northeast Portland producer of thermal window inserts, has completed its $1.3 million Series A investment
• French membrane proteins specialist Calixar has raised €875,000 in an initial round of fundraising from private investors & business angels
• FashionSpace, the social publishing platform in the fashion industry, has closed a second round of funding led by Crystal Horse Investments
• UK-based online money and investment management software maker Nutmeg has landed £3.4 million in funding
• Snapguide, whose simple UI makes it easy for users to build “How-To” guides via iPhone, raises $5 million Series A funding
• Setem Technologies, a company developing software that separates voice from ambient noise, lands $1 million from angel investors
• Sellfy, the one-click e-commerce platform for self-publishers, has scored an angel investment from two Skype alumni
• Liquid Health Labs, a company that makes a plastic bottle cap which injects a dose of vitamins into water, gets $100K in angel funding
• Onefinestay, which allows visitors to London to stay in quality homes whilst the owners are away, has raised $12 million Series B funding
• Mile High Organics, a leading organic online grocer, has closed a seven-figure seed round. Investors included 500 Startups and TA Venture
• Crushpath, a platform for salespeople to control a deal from lead to close, closes $2 million seed funding led by Charles River Ventures
• Duolingo, a language translation website, has raised $3.3 million funding from Ashton Kutcher and New York-based Union Square Ventures
• Bitcasa, a Mountain View, Calif.-based cloud storage company, has raised $7 million in a Series A funding round
• Yesware, a startup that helps salespeople manage e-mail communications (and soon, phone calls too), gets $4 million in new funding
• Mycity4Kids, an online guide for parents residing in Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore, has raised angel funding from YourNest Angel Fund

To get regular updates, come follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/angel__network or register for our blog at https://www.angelinvestmentnetwork.netwp-login.php?action=register.

Have you managed to raise capital for your company?  We always love to hear from entrepreneurs who manage to get funded.

Or are you looking to raise funding?  Send me a summary of your project at mike@angelinvestmentnetwork.co.uk and we’ll try to help.

Angel Investment News:  

• £6m SEIS fund ready to help UK student start-ups: https://ow.ly/bzz1l

Business Plans & Pitching:

• What investors look for in a business plan: https://ow.ly/bwiKo
• The new elevator pitch: Now in five slides or less: https://ow.ly/bx7Cy

Fund Raising:

• Video – What Do VC’s Look For? Is it team? Is it the idea? Is it product? Is it market? This is a great 15-second clip: https://ow.ly/buCkK
• 5 Tips On Getting Investors To Hand Over Money For Your Startup: https://ow.ly/buHHC
• Video – Angel Investors VS. Venture Capitalists – Ask Jay: https://ow.ly/buIGI
• 105 Women in Venture Capital and Angel Investment you should know: https://ow.ly/bxPq9

Marketing & Social Media:

• 5 Reasons You Should Measure Social Media Return on Investment: https://ow.ly/buCaI
• A Blogger’s Checklist. Want some more traction on your blog? Here are 6 components every blog post should have: https://ow.ly/buHgS
• 9 Ways to Measure Your Brand’s Social Media Health: https://ow.ly/bwhzZ
• 4 Key Reasons Why Your Blog Sucks: https://ow.ly/bwhOy
• 8 strategies for Pinterest for business: https://ow.ly/bx7XH
• 5 Tips To Stop Failing At Social Media Marketing: https://ow.ly/bzwIS
• 10 Social Media Tips From a Top Media Agency: https://ow.ly/bB6Hn
• 5 Ways to Get Your Infographic to Go Viral: https://ow.ly/bB71Z

Start-Up & Entrepreneurship:

• 7 Secrets Every Entrepreneur Should Learn From a Teenager: https://ow.ly/bweoW
• Entrepreneurship could cure South Africa’s growing youth unemployment crisis: https://ow.ly/bwh5l
• 5 money saving tips for new start-up businesses: https://ow.ly/bzwv9https://ow.ly/i/HbAG

To stay updated, come follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/angel__network or register for our blog at https://www.angelinvestmentnetwork.netwp-login.php?action=register.

Read anything interesting? Feel free to add links to any articles or resources you’d like to share with the angel community.

Or are you looking to raise funding?  Send me a summary of your project at mike@angelinvestmentnetwork.co.uk and we’ll try to help.

 

Startup Genome analyzed 3,200 high-growth technology startups to answer this daunting question: Why do startups fail?

Here’s a roundup of some of the recent seed-stage and angel deals from around the world:  

• Startup Gumhouse raises $6M+ for a “Social Stream Video Shopping Network” which uses Facebook to personalize your shopping experience
• Ringadoc, a health company that brings virtual medical visits to any phone or computer on demand, has received $750K seed funding
• MakieLab, which launched recently with its 3D-printed dolls based on an avatar you create on the site, lands $1.4 million seed funding
• CareinSync, which offers Carebook, a real-time collaborative software platform for physicians, patients & caregivers, raises $1.6M funding
• Flutter, which lets you control iTunes, Spotify and Quicktime by simply waving your hand at your computer, lands $1.4 million seed funding
• Magnetic, the leader in search retargeting, lands a $10 million Series B funding investment led by private equity firm Edison Ventures
• zuuka group GmbH, publishers of the iTalk entertainment apps, zuuka Comics and iStoryTime, has raised seed financing
• Camiloo, a UK-based software company which develops technology for online retailers, has secured a £100,000 funding boost
• Blaze Bioscience, developers of technology that helps surgeons see whether they’re missing any parts of a tumor, raises $5 million funding
• Planwise, an online tool geared at helping users understand the future impact of their financial decisions, closes $200,000 angel funding
• Mobile Travel Technologies, a large mobile platform aimed at the travel industry, has raised $5 million Series A funding from DFJ Esprit
• SumAll, a new tool for e-commerce store owners that lets you use your own data to make more money, receives $1.5 million in seed funding
• InstaEDU, a new website that offers one-to-one academic instruction to users, has raised $1.1 million in a seed round of funding
• CellScope, a mobile health startup building systems for at-home diagnosis, has raised $1M in seed funding from Khosla Ventures
• Roadtrippers, maker of a web app to help travelers find and purchase road trip-related travel and experiences, has closed $250,000 funding
• Roqbot, a virtual jukebox solution that lets users crowdsource music in bars, cafes and stores, lands $1.2 million seed funding
• CheckThis, a quick way to create and share web pages, has raised $910,000 in seed money led by Lerer Ventures
• ValueAppeal, a simple online tool for homeowners to challenge their property tax assessment, lands $1.2 million funding from angel investors
• Woofound, a startup that matches your personality to things you want to do using a visual personality game, lands $1.2 million angel funding
• Incitor Inc., an Albuquerque, N.M.-based renewable/biomass energy and chemical company, has received $1.5 million in Series A funding
• Eventup, an online community marketplace for event space listings and bookings, has secured a $1.8 million seed round led by Lightbank
• Condition One, a technology company developing next generation immersive video applications, lands $500,000 seed funding led by Mark Cuban
• Rewind.me, which uses social media to track a user’s personal history, has raised a $800,000 seed round from a long list of investors
• Bangalore-based neighbourhood services delivery platform Delyver.com has raised an undisclosed amount in angel funding

To get regular updates, come follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/angel__network or register for our blog at https://www.angelinvestmentnetwork.netwp-login.php?action=register.

Have you managed to raise capital for your company?  We always love to hear from entrepreneurs who manage to get funded.

Or are you looking to raise funding?  Send me a summary of your project at mike@angelinvestmentnetwork.co.uk and we’ll try to help.

 

Angel Investment News:  

• Angel Investment Network’s Weekly Funding Roundup. Some of the recent seed-stage and angel deals from around the world: https://ow.ly/boRpH

Business Plans & Pitching:

• How To Craft A Business Plan That Will Turn Investors’ Heads: https://ow.ly/bpk2T

Fund Raising:

• Here are some quick tips on how to appeal to angel investors: https://ow.ly/bojT9
• 6 Tips When Meeting Investors at a Conference: https://ow.ly/bokaK
• How to Raise Startup Capital Without a Pitch Deck: https://ow.ly/bokVk
• Raising Money 101: It’s a Selling Moment: https://ow.ly/bolsT. Article by Charles Moldow, a general partner at Foundation Capital
• Infographic – How To Raise Money For Your Startup: https://ow.ly/boxpX

Marketing & Social Media:

• Social Media Marketing Success With Guy Kawasaki: https://ow.ly/bokLd
• How To Include Social Media In Business: https://ow.ly/bokBX
• Airtime May Have Sean Parker, But Here Are 7 Ways To Grab Attention For YOUR Startup: https://ow.ly/brFPI

Start-Up & Entrepreneurship:

• 10 Websites Every Entrepreneur Should Bookmark: https://ow.ly/bom0T
• Which of These Six Entrepreneurial Types Are You? https://ow.ly/bq5n0
• 36 Strategies For Startup Success: https://ow.ly/brFXO
• 10 Winning Tips for Entrepreneurs: https://ow.ly/brFmX

To stay updated, come follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/angel__network or register for our blog at https://www.angelinvestmentnetwork.netwp-login.php?action=register.

Read anything interesting? Feel free to add links to any articles or resources you’d like to share with the angel community.

Or are you looking to raise funding?  Send me a summary of your project at mike@angelinvestmentnetwork.co.uk and we’ll try to help.

Here’s a roundup of some of the recent seed-stage and angel deals from around the world:  

• Virtual Race Bags, which provides an affordable digital marketing platform to organizers of endurance events, wins $900,000 Series A funding
• Datahero, which allows users can gather information and turn it into pretty, useful graphs and charts, raises $1 million funding
• Diffbot, a machine learning system that can read any web page and extract useful, structured data from it, has closed $2 million in funding
• smartDIGITAL, a startup that makes interactive ad displays, has raised $2.7 million in a Series A round of funding
• Smartphone & tablet-focused studio Rolocule Games (1.5 million downloads across 100 different countries) has closed round of angel funding
• PostRocket, which gives recommendations to have your Facebook Page perform like a champion, has just raised $610,000 in seed financing
• Fracture, a firm that developed digital technology to print photos on glass, has received an investment from the Tamiami Angel Fund
• EyeVerify, a startup focused on bringing mobile biometrics technology to market, closes $1.4 million seed funding led by Think Big Ventures
• IvyDate, the premier dating network for smart, inspiring singles, has secured a $1.45 million Series A investment
• innRoad, the leading SaaS cloud solution for hotel property management, bookings, & marketing, raises $5.8 million Series B financing
• MapMyFitness, a start-up that powers a community of fitness-oriented websites like, has closed $9 million in Series B financing
• Zola Books, a new social eBooks site to discover, buy and discuss books, has raised $1 million in seed funding from prominent authors
• ividence, the first stand-alone email ad exchange, has completed a $4 million series B round of funding
• Threadflip, the leading social marketplace for discovering, buying and selling fashion, has closed $6.5M Series A funding
• Surf Air, a membership-based flight service offering trips between SoCal and NorCal smaller airports, has closed its Series A funding
• LockerDome, a social media platform for your sports life, has closed a new $1.04M financing round led by the St. Louis Arch Angels
• Fisoc, which develops social media tools for financial institutions, has received a $3.4 million financing from a syndicate of investors

To get regular updates, come follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/angel__network or register for our blog at https://www.angelinvestmentnetwork.netwp-login.php?action=register.

Have you managed to raise capital for your company?  We always love to hear from entrepreneurs who manage to get funded.

Or are you looking to raise funding?  Send me a summary of your project at mike@angelinvestmentnetwork.co.uk and we’ll try to help.

Angel Investment News:  

• The UK government launches StartUp Loans for young entrepreneurs, a scheme proposed by Sir Richard Branson last year: https://ow.ly/bbTRo
• The BBAA launches a campaign to tease more business angels out of the UK’s high net worth population: https://ow.ly/bbT5H
• Bloomberg’s Deirdre Bolton reports on which states had the most angel funding applications: https://ow.ly/bbULo

Business Plans & Pitching:

• Five tips for mastering the art of VC speed dating: https://ow.ly/bgrNG
• Start-up companies need to consider the value of market research when planning product launches, says Cint: https://ow.ly/bi83Z

Fund Raising:

• 20 ways to impress your investors and secure funding: https://ow.ly/bgs4i
• What Facebook’s IPO Debacle Means for Startup Funding: https://ow.ly/bi8wl

Marketing & Social Media:

• 9 Tools to Accurately Track Your Startup’s Web and Social Metrics: https://ow.ly/bc0pE
• Infographic: 22 Ways to Create Compelling Content And Content Marketing Case Study: https://ow.ly/bbZCi
• 5 Steps to Maximize Your Startup Marketing Budget: https://ow.ly/bi8Kh

Start-Up & Entrepreneurship:

• 50 People Every Entrepreneur Should Follow on Twitter: https://ow.ly/bi8iM
• Five startup lessons from Jay-Z: https://ow.ly/bbU0E
• Infographic: Return on Employee Investment: https://ow.ly/b94fx
• 10 digital start-up trends to watch: https://ow.ly/beUdT
• 3 Fatal Errors Startups Make; https://ow.ly/beWRu
• VIDEO – Three Pitfalls Startup Founders Must Avoid from Noam Wasserman, Harvard Business School professor: https://ow.ly/bi95U

To stay updated, come follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/angel__network or register for our blog at https://www.angelinvestmentnetwork.netwp-login.php?action=register).

Read anything interesting? Feel free to add links to any articles or resources you’d like to share with the angel community.

Or are you looking to raise funding?  Send me a summary of your project at mike@angelinvestmentnetwork.co.uk and we’ll try to help.

Here’s a roundup of some of the recent seed-stage and angel deals from around the world:  

• Speaktoit, developer of human-computer interaction technologies based on natural language conversations, grabs Series A funding from Intel
• SocialToaster, a social marketing platform that helps companies promote content to their social networks, has raised $1.98 million funding
• RocketFrog, a startup developing casino games on Facebook, has raised $2M angel funding & added MySpace cofounder Tom Anderson as an advisor
• Firebase, a scalable real-time backend for your web app, has raised additional seed funding, bringing their total investment to $1.4 Million
• Collaaj, a startup whose technology allows user-specific information to be accessed independent of a desktop, has received angel investment
• Vend, an award-winning, intuitive, web-based point-of-sale (POS) platform, raises $2 Million funding capital led by Point Nine Capital
• Meddik, a community-driven content aggregator for health, has raised $750,000 seed funding from a flock of notable angels & early-stage VCs
• Exec (a start-up from the founder of Justin.tv), which connects users with would-be assistants to get odd jobs done, has raised $3.3 million
• Rome2Rio, which helps you discover how to get anywhere by searching flights, trains, ferries & driving directions, lands $450k seed funding
• FlightFox, a travel search service where experts compete to find you the best flight, has just closed an $800,000 round of seed funding
• PlanGrid, which has created a groundbreaking app for the construction industry, has raised $1.1 million from a notable list of investors
• AudioCure Pharma, a Berlin-based startup focused on the clinical development of drugs in neurodegenerative diseases, has raised seed funding
• Junar, the Open Data platform leader for the Data Economy, has raised $1.2 million seed funding from Austral Capital and angel investors
• DealAngel, a highly visual travel deal search engine, has closed $750,000 funding from Foresight Ventures and Bright Capital
• Buddy, which enables app developers to focus on building the best cross-platform software they can, lands $1 million seed funding
• Payumi, a UK-based group-payments startup which aims to cover all the ‘group payment’ bases, has sealed £150,000 seed funding
• eTax Credit Exchange, the online marketplace for trading tax credits, has closed more than $350,000 in seed funding
• True&Co, an online bra fitting service & shop that makes it quick to find bras you like that actually fit well, wins $2 million seed funding
• Grubwithus, the social dining network and 2011 Y Combinator grad, has secured $5 million in new funding to snack on

To get regular updates, come follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/angel__network or register for our blog at https://www.angelinvestmentnetwork.netwp-login.php?action=register).

Have you managed to raise capital for your company?  We always love to hear from entrepreneurs who manage to get funded.

Or are you looking to raise funding?  Send me a summary of your project at mike@angelinvestmentnetwork.co.uk and we’ll try to help.