Latest VatorNews stories

• Apple buys the rest of Beats, deal appears to be done

  by Steven Loeb, August 1, 2014

  Apple puts up a new page welcoming Beats to its family

  "Today we are excited to officially welcome Beats Music and Beats Electronics to the Apple family. Music has always held a special place in our hearts, and we’re thrilled to join forces with a group of people who love it as much as we do. Beats cofounders Jimmy Iovine and Dr. Dre have created beautiful products that have helped millions of people deepen their connection to music. We’re

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• Funding roundup - week ending 8/1/14

  by Steven Loeb, August 1, 2014

  Flipkart, Leanplum, ChoiceStream, ABODO, Dstillery, SportsManias, Easy Taxi, Geekatoo, Pogoseat

  Seed stage Marinanow, an online platform for people who want to book berths for their boats, raised €370,000 in a round led by United Ventures. Gaming studio JuiceBox Games raised $2.5 million from Initial Capital, General Catalyst, Index Ventures, and Mavron, and individual investors includes Scott Dale and John Riccitiello. mxHero, which brings the App Store to e-mail systems, raised $500,

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• Watch: Tim Draper on government moving toward slavery

  by Kristin Karaoglu, August 1, 2014

  Draper's provocative remarks on the economy and the Six Californias idea

  Not one to ever hold back his opinions, Tim Draper, venture capitalist and founder of Draper University, boldly stated that the government was "moving toward slavery." This provocative remark, stated at Vator Splash Oakland, prompted a dozen articles to be written. What was this controversy all about? Watch the video and you can see for yourself. Draper was interviewed by long-time friend and now c

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• Kabam partners with Alibaba, gets $120M in funding

  by Steven Loeb, August 1, 2014

  Aliaba will publish Kabam games in China across mobile applications

  In addition, the deal also called for Alibaba to invest $120 million into the company. Kabam has previously raised a total of $125 million, most recently an $85 million Series D in May 2011. This latest funding round gives the company a total of $245 million. Previous investors have included Redpoint Ventures, Intel Capital, Canaan Partners, Google Ventures, Pinnacle Ventures, Performance Equity and

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• LinkedIn's better than expected Q2 sends stock up 10%

  by Steven Loeb, July 31, 2014

  LinkedIn saw revenue of $534 million for the quarter, and EPS of 39 cents

  "LinkedIn delivered strong financial results in the second quarter while maintaining investment in our member and customer offerings," Jeff Weiner, CEO of LinkedIn, said in a statement. "We made significant progress against several key strategic priorities including increasing the scale of job opportunities on LinkedIn; expanding our professional publishing platform; and continuing the strategic shift

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• RockYou raises $10M to give old games a second life

  RockYou purchases older, but still profitable, titles from gaming studios that no longer want them

  Where do games go when they are no longer fresh and new? Or when a developer has gotten tired of Facebook and wants to go mobile? They go to RockYou, a cross-platform advertising network for games. The ...
  By Steven Loeb
  

• Reward community SwagBucks acquires SodaHead

  SodaHead provides polling technology for websites and media companies

  How often do you visit a website, and get that ridiculous pop-up window asking you to take a survey of some kind? It happens to me all the time, and I don't think I have one time ever actually done it. ...
  By Steven Loeb
  

• First Data purchases digital gift card platform Gyft

  Gyft will be integrated into First Data's POS solution and app marketplace

  It's not all that hard to envision a world without any physical money, is it? I mean, I personally only carry cash on me for emergencies or for small places that don't take credit cards and eventually ...
  By Steven Loeb
  

• Pinterest buys project organization tool Icebergs

  Icebergs will be shutting down its services and app on September 1st

  Pinterest's entire model is based around organization, by putting pins in the right category to help people get the most out of them, and to help the company serve up better recommendations. Once the company ...
  By Steven Loeb
  

• Amazon hits back at Flipkart with $2B Indian investment

  Announcement comes one day after Flipkart raised a record-breaking $1 billion funding

  The Indian e-commerce space is big, and growing, and the battle between Amazon and Flipkart for supremacy over it is about to get pretty interesting. Just a day after Flipkart raised a nearly record breaking ...
  By Steven Loeb
  

• How to be an early-stage investor

  From SoftTech VC, Intel Capital, Bain Capital... how do top investors make decision?

  How is the landscape changing for early-stage investors? Given the influx of seed-stage financing and the dearth of Series A investments, are there opportunities for investors to make money? If so, what ...
  By Kristin Karaoglu
  

• Facebook shuts down Gifts as commerce focus shifts

  Instead of selling goods directly, Facebook will be a third party for brands to sell through

  You know how Facebook is always asking you to buy your friends a gift for their birthday? Have you ever actually done that? Yeah, I didn't think so. Neither did anyone else and, well, now no one will be ...
  By Steven Loeb
  

• Instagram taps Bolt app outside US

  Stand-alone app to be launched in New Zealand, Singapore, and South Africa

  Instagram, the photo sharing app acquired by Facebook in 2010 to great fanfare, baffled more than one user a few days ago when a link to “one-tap photo messaging app" named Bolt started to appear ...
  By Ane Howard
  

• Future revenue at Twitter? Monetizing unique visitors

  Twitter has hundreds of millions of visitors who don't have accounts, but can be monetized

  Twitter saw better-than-expected user growth in its second quarter earnings report, which was released after-the close, as average monthly active users (MAUs) grew 24% year-to-year, and 6% quarter-to quarter, ...
  By Steven Loeb
  

• Twitter stock soars 29% after outstanding quarter

  Twitter easily beats expectations with $312M revenue, $0.02 EPS

  The company posted quarterly revenue of $312 million, up 124% year to year, easily beating out analysts expectations of $283 million. Twitter reported non-GAAP EPS of $0.02, which beat expectations of ...
  By Steven Loeb
  

• Whoa! Flipkart raises a massive $1B funding round!

  Flipkart's round comes in second only to Uber's $1.2 billion in June

  There's a lot of money that changes hand in the tech world, as companies pay billions of dollars on acquisitions all the time, but it is very rare for a company to raise that much money from venture capitalists. ...
  By Steven Loeb
  

• Say goodbye to in-app messaging on Facebook

  Facebook is decoupling the service, and making users download the separate Messenger app

  After Facebook's attempt to take over Android phones with Home earlier this year failed, the company took a different track to, pretty much, get to same place: it has been expanding its presence on mobile ...
  By Steven Loeb
  

• Envisioning a vibrant tech ecosystem in Oakland

  As the tech money flows in, how can Oaklanders optimize it for good?

  At Vator Splash Oakland, one of the themes was how the city, its residents and businesses, could leverage the opportunities created by the emerging tech ecosystem. It's an exciting time for Oakland as ...
  By Karen Wertman
  

• Zillow buys Trulia for $3.5B in mega real estate deal

  Trulia will continue to operate under Zillow umbrella, with CEO Pete Flint staying at the helm

  Trulia is going to become part of Zillow, it was revealed in a press release on Monday. The deal is going to be worth $3.5 billion, in an all stock deal. The price is actually 25% more than the $56.35 ...
  By Steven Loeb
  

• EU Commission gives thumbs up on Apple's Beats deal

  Beats Music does not even operate in Europe, and there is plenty of competition in headphone sales

  As with any deal of such a size, Apple's $3 billion deal to buy Beats Electronics, which is known for its line of headphones, along with its music streaming service Beats Music, is going to have to go ...
  By Steven Loeb
  
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