Month: September 2012

Angel Investment Network’s Weekly Funding Roundup

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

  • Music United, a site for musicians to simplify, strengthen & streamline their social media efforts online, lands $500k angel funding
  • Truecaller, the Sweden-based global number lookup service, has announced $1.3 million in Series A funding from Open Ocean
  • Brazilian online insurance broker Minuto Seguros has closed a Series A round led by Redpoint e.ventures
  • Crowdbase, a Canadian start-up that is reinventing how teams capture and organize knowledge, has secured $650k seed financing
  • Gowar, an Italian startup that develops and commercializes social geo-localized mobile games, has raised €185k in seed funding
  • Scoot Networks, an electric scooter sharing service calling itself the “Zipcar for Scooters,” has closed a seed round of $550,000
  • Hultar.com, America’s first full-scale online boutique outsourcing company, receives $137,000 in venture capital funding
  • Covacsis, which helps manufacturing companies measure floor economics in real time, has secured venture capital funding of Rs 2.5 crore
  • StearClear, a designated driver service for smartphones that gets its customers and their cars home safely, lands $600,000 funding
  • BetterDoctor, a startup that’s trying to help consumers find an appropriate doctor more easily, has raised $650,000 seed funding
  • Double Robotics, who have created probably the best-looking telepresence robots on the planet, scores $250,000 funding
  • Ubooly, which turns your iPhone or iTouch into an interactive plush toy for kids that talks back and reacts, has raised $1.5M seed funding
  • AdFreeq, a classified site that’s designed to help newspapers recover some of their classified advertising, lands $50,000 angel funding
  • GroundMetrics, a company that makes electric field sensing technology, gets $1.2M Series A financing
  • Bangalore-based new data management platform Datagres Technologies has secured $2M Series A funding from Nexus Venture Partners
  • OneLobby, which provides event management and social software for event organizers all over the globe, has raised $500,000 seed funding
  • Rawporter, an open marketplace where anyone can buy, sell, request & share photos and videos, lands $300,000 seed funding
  • Indian Angel Network has invested in Poncho, a Mumbai-based Mexican quick service restaurant
  • Gloople, the UK’s 1st social sharing e-commerce platform with mobile functionality, secures £150,000 angel funding
  • QVIVO, a cloud for people to store and watch movies & TV shows, as well as listen to music, has raised $1 million Series A funding
  • ShopInterest.co, a platform that lets anyone turn their Pinterest boards into online stores, lands a small investment from 500 Startups

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 Network’s Weekly Twitter Roundup

Angel Investment News: 

Business Plans & Pitching:

Fund Raising:

Marketing & Social Media:

Start-Up & Entrepreneurship:

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.

Angel Investment Network’s Weekly Funding Roundup

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

  • Stockr, the industry’s most advanced social network for investors, has closed a $1.5 million seed round
  • MOxST, a startup working on cheap & environmentally-friendly ways to produce lightweight metals to be used in cars, raises $2.5M funding
  • YourMechanic, an online marketplace where you can find the best local mechanics, has raised $1.8 million in seed funding
  • Ener-G-Rotors, which makes devices that convert waste heat to electricity, has landed $1.5 million funding from Bright Capital Seed Fund
  • Full Circle CRM, a startup delivering marketing performance management solutions, has secured 500K seed funding led by WI Harper Group
  • LemonStand, an e-commerce platform aimed at mid-size merchants and developers creating online stores, has raised seed funding
  • Aventa Technologies, which makes machines used to manufacture a variety of products ranging from LEDs to solar film, gets $1 million funding
  • Kinesense Limited, which specialises in CCTV video retrieval and analysis software solutions, has received a €500k investments boost
  • Property inspection start-up Happy Inspector has raised a seed funding round from investors including Dave McClure’s 500 Startups
  • Transfluent, which provides human-powered translation services with a quick turnaround, raises $1 Million funding
  • Traddr, a trading community 3.0 – with live chat, apps, twitter integration, blogs, videos, RSS & more, closes $1.2M Series A Financing
  • Ubersense, the sports technology company that helps athletes improve at any sport, has raised $1.1M seed funding
  • Kairos, which builds and implements facial recognition software to enterprise, has closed $500,000 in seed funding
  • Sri Lanka-based travel portal Trekurious.com has secured first round of funding from Blue Ocean Ventures and the Lankan Angel Network
  • FieldLens, who are trying to eliminate $40 billion of waste in the construction industry by leveraging new technologies, raises $1.9 million
  • ReelSurfer, which lets anyone clip and share any video from any website, has raised $880K in seed funding
  • Vivocha, a cloud-based service that allows any company to provide live support to online customers, has raised € 1.5M in venture capital
  • BeGo, a UK-based business which helps overseas students settle into life in the UK, has raised venture capital funding from Midven
  • OpenSignal, which offers crowd-sourced mobile coverage maps worldwide via a custom Android app, lands $1.3M seed funding
  • Le Petit Ballon, which offers subscribers two bottles of wine for €20/month, has raised seed funding from a group of business angels
  • Music United, a site for musicians to simplify, strengthen & streamline their social media efforts online, lands $500k 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.

 

What Does an Angel Investor Do?

Investors Mike Maples and Ron Conway explain their job like this: They help all lights turn green for the fast-moving car of the Internet start-up. In addition to cutting a check, these angel investors explain the panoramic view of what a good investor offers, including bringing in the right talent and business sensibilities, and building and testing product prototypes.

Small businesses rate economy, ethics in government as most important election issues

Today the George Washington University Graduate School of Political Management and Thumbtack.com have released new data showing that small businesses overwhelmingly rank the economy and jobs as the most important factor in choosing a president. Surprisingly, however, ethics, honesty and corruption in government rated as the second-most important issue for small businesses.

And although President Obama has come under fire for his “you didn’t build that” comment, more entrepreneurs say that President Obama is more supportive of small business than say the same about Governor Romney. Nevertheless, more than a quarter of small businesses say they are unsure who is more supportive of small business. Furthermore, only one in five small businesses believe that President Obama’s health care policy helps their business.

Both presidential campaigns claim to promote policies that benefit small businesses, but nobody has asked entrepreneurs themselves which policies are most important to their businesses. The George Washington-Thumbtack.com Small Business Politics Survey is the only survey investigating the political issues that matter most to small businesses themselves, drawing data from an extensive, nationwide universe of job creators and entrepreneurs.

“Small businesses are deeply attuned to the effect of politics on job creation and the economy,” said Dr. David Rehr, a lead researcher on the study with the George Washington University’s Graduate School of Political Management. “Entrepreneurs are feeling squeezed by the tight lending environment and want their political leaders to curb the influence of money in politics.”

Some of the key findings include:

  • 40% of all small business owners nationwide rate the economy and jobs as the most important factor in choosing a president. Ethics, honesty, and corruption in government is the second-most important factor for small businesses.
  • Taxes are not a decisive factor for small businesses in this election, with only 3% of small businesses rating it as the most important issue in their choice for president – outranking only foreign policy and national security issues. Even among economic issues, tax policy was the top concern for less than 6% of small businesses.
  • The federal budget deficit looms large in the mind of small businesses, ranking behind only unemployment and the job market in the most important economic issues that small businesses are considering in their choice for president.
  • Small businesses rate gas and fuel costs as the single most burdensome cost to their businesses. And self-employment taxes were rated as more burdensome than even personal income taxes or health care costs.
  • The policy most commonly mentioned by small businesses that would help their business is improved access to loans.
  • 39% of small businesses say that President Obama is the most supportive candidate of small business, whereas only 31% say the same of Governor Romney. And 28% are still not sure which presidential candidate is more supportive of small business.
  • Only one in five small businesses believe that President Obama’s health care policy helps their business, and two in five small businesses say the opposite.
  • Among swing states, New Hampshire voters were the most concerned about the economy and jobs, Wisconsin voters were disproportionately concerned about ethics in government, and Iowans and Nevadans rated health care policy as their top economic concern more frequently than did small businesses in any other swing state.
  • Florida and Michigan small business owners were more concerned about the economy and jobs than those in any other large states.

“Six thousand small business owners have told an unusually nuanced story about the factors that drive their political decisions,” said Sander Daniels, co-founder of Thumbtack.com. “When job creators speak, we need to listen.”

The full results can be seen here and include interactive data visualizations, dozens of quotes from small business owners nationwide, and demographic-by-demographic comparisons.

Survey methodology

Thumbtack.com surveyed 6,174 small businesses across the United States. The survey asked questions about political issues and business costs, such as:

  • “What is the single most important issue in your choice for president?”
  • “Thinking specifically about the economy, what is the most important economic issue in your choice for president?” and
  • “How important are the following issues to the success of your business?”

The full methodology and analysis paper can be found here.

About GSPM and Thumbtack.com

GW’s Graduate School of Political Management, the pioneer school in the nonpartisan study of political management and applied politics, offers graduate programs in political management, legislative affairs, public relations and PAC management, as well as international programs in Latin America and Europe. The school educates students and professionals in the tools, principles and values of participatory democracy; preparing them for careers as ethical and effective advocates and leaders at the international, national and local levels.

Thumbtack.com is a place where you can hire help locally. Need a DJ, carpenter, personal trainer, or wedding photographer?Tell us what you need, and we’ll bring you 3-5 bids on that job to your email inbox within 24 hours. More than 275,000 small businesses and freelancers have listed their services on Thumbtack nationwide.

Angel Investment Network’s Weekly Funding Roundup

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

  • Tackk, a web-based publishing platform focused on single use and disposable content, has secured a seed investment of $400,000
  • IIT Chennai-incubated rural BPO service provider DesiCrew Solution Pvt Ltd has raised Rs 7 crore in a Series B round of funding
  • Mumbai-based Tushky Events & Entertainment Pvt. Ltd which runs Tushky, an online activity marketplace, has raised Rs 35 lakh angel funding
  • Aurus Network Infotech, a cloud-based SaaS solutions company for lecture capturing and publishing, has raised angel funding
  • Spreecast, the social video platform that brings people together for conversation, has secured $7M Series A funding
  • Babelverse, an application for real-time voice translation powered by a global community of human interpreters, has raised seed funding
  • Dauphin Health, the startup behind the free app pingmd which connects parents with their children’s doctors, has raised $1.33M funding
  • Blue River Technology, a pioneer in the use of computer vision and robotics for agriculture, has raised $3.1M Series A funding
  • Localytics, a Boston mobile analytics startup and 2009 TechStars Boston graduate, has raised $5.5M in Series B funding
  • RidePal, a company providing a turnkey commuter bus system for companies, has closed half a million in seed funding
  • SendmyBag, which helps air travellers travel light by providing a door-to-door luggage delivery service, scores £100K angel funding
  • VideoBlocks, the first subscription-based provider of unlimited royalty-free stock video & audio clips, has closed $10.5M Series A funding
  • Sōsh, the personal concierge and offline activity recommendation app, lands $4 million Series A funding
  • Mural.ly, developer of a platform designed to let users create murals of content, has raised seed funding led by Intel Capital
  • Mumbai-based traffic monitoring solutions provider Birds Eye Systems Pvt. Ltd has raised Rs 2 crore from Indian Angel Network
  • Inspire Commerce, which is working on a universal payment platform, has raised a $500,000 seed round from Axia and The Story Stock Exchange
  • Chalkable, an app store that helps teachers and parents search and purchase quality learning resources on the web, lands $1.3M seed funding
  • JustFamily, a mobile and web application purposefully designed to help families stay close, raises $1.25M seed funding
  • French peer-to-peer car rental startup Voiturelib lands $2.6M from Alven Capital, with ‘significant participation’ from Index Ventures
  • 42Floors, which is aiming to make office space rentals and commercial real estate listings easier to search, raises $5M Series A funding
  • Estimize, a site where users try to beat Wall Street analysts by predicting public company earnings, lands $1.2 million Series A funding
  • Work4 Labs, a San Francisco-based recruiting tool for Facebook, has raised $11 million Series A funding
  • Open Garden, which allows users to connect their phones, tablets & computers to share wireless data connections, raises $2M seed funding
  • Anyfi, which wants to turn any Wi-Fi access point into a virtual extension of mobile networks, lands $1.37M funding led by Industrifonden
  • Lighting manufacturer ArmadilloLED has secured £230k angel funding to kick start its growth plans for international markets

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.

Infographic – State of Entrepreneurship in South Africa

Statistics shows that South Africa ranks 35th out of 189 countries in the world. South Africa has scored well in the cost of starting up a business, getting credits, dealing with construction permits and protecting investors. And on average, it only takes 6 procedures and 19 days to start up a business in South Africa.

What is the current state of entrepreneurship in South Africa? This infographic presented to you, courtesy of data visualization not only presents the statistics, but hopes that in doing so we will strengthen a culture of entrepreneurship in South Africa.