What you need to know - Wednesday 10/13/10

Katie Gatto · October 13, 2010 · Short URL: https://vator.tv/n/129b

Gamervision raised $1.5M; MySupermarket.co.uk raised $7.4M; PlayFirst raised $9.2M

Seed investments have increased, from 1% of all deals in the third quarter of 2009, to 11% in  that period in 2010. The research was conducted by CB Insights, a market research firm.

Facebook to upgrade commenting features. Comments will now be threaded, and the users in your network will be able to vote on your comments, with a like or dislike style system.

 

CEO's tell all about what they want in an investor. The survey, which sampled 363 startup CEOs, was conduced by international law firm Dorsey and Whitney LLP.

 xAD raised $4 million in funding. The round was led by Emergence Capital Partners. xAD is a local mobile advertising network.

Marissa Mayer is to join Google’s operating committee. Mayer is formerly the Google’s vice president of search products and user experience. She will be the youngest member of the group, at the age of 35.


Microsoft announced that the Windows 7 phones would be Mac compatible. The announcement was made via a tweet by Oded Ran, Microsoft UK’s head of Windows Phone marketing. The tweet has since been removed.

Facebook announces text message based password recovery. The password will be for one time use, and expires after 20 min. To obtain a new password users simply have to text "otp" to 32665 on their mobile phone. The service is not yet available everywhere, but Facebook expects it to be in the next few weeks.

PlayFirst has raised  $9.2 million in funding. Investors include Mayfield Fund, Trinity Partners, Comerica Bank, DCM and Rustic Canyon Ventures. This brings the total raised for the company to 31 million.

Qualcomm Innovation Center has bought iSkoot Technologies. The amount of the deal was not released. ISkoot is a company that merges Internet and mobile technologies.

MySupermarket.co.uk raised $7.4 million. This was the Series C of funding. Investors in this round included Greylock Israel and Pitango Venture Capital. This brings the total financing to date to $21.4 million.

Gamervision raised $1.5 million from a group of private investors. The round brings the companies total funding to $10 million. The site is a news and entertainment site for gamers, with a social networking aspect.

The US Patent and Trademark Office approved a patent Apple filed in 2008 to prohibit sexting. The device would determine what words could and could not be sent, based on determiners like the end users age or grade level.

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Playfirst

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PlayFirst is a leading publisher focused on creating shared casual game experiences around lasting original brands. Committed to building casual gameplay rich in story and character, PlayFirst works with talented internal and external developers to bring mass market games to multiple platforms, including PC, Mac, mobile, handheld and console. The company's portfolio includes the world-renowned Diner Dash® franchise as well as top-selling games such as Wedding Dash™, Chocolatier™, and Dream Chronicles™.
Founded in 2004 by veterans of Internet portals, traditional games publishers, entertainment software, and technology firms, PlayFirst is funded by venture capital firms Mayfield Fund, Trinity Ventures and Rustic Canyon Partners.