The biggest funding news of the week, perhaps ironically, is over a month old.
Zynga, still one of the hottest social gaming startups around (see: Playfish, Playdom), finally confirmed news that Japanese telecommunications and media corporation Softbank has completed a $150 million investment in the social gaming company. The two partners also announced the formation of a new joint venture called Zynga Japan, set to rock the country across the Pacific with Zynga’s social network-tailored game offerings.
The new funding round, added to other megalithic investments from Google and Russian investment firm Digital Sky Technologies, brings the San Francisco-based startup’s total raised funds to around the $500 million mark, impressive for a developer of simple Facebook and MySpace games like FarmVille.
Estimated valuations for Zynga in the $5 million range, coupled with the recent acquisitions cited above, cements gaming as a powerful force in the social networking and media world going forward.
Here’s our roundup of the week’s biggest funding announcements:
CloudMade, provider of open-source maps and APIs for developers, raised $12.3 million in a Series B round led by Greylock Partners, with participation from original investor Sunstone Capital. The London-based startup has raised €12 million to date (about $15.7 million according to today’s conversion rates). Sourcing map data from community mapping project OpenStreetMap, CloudMade ultimately seeks to democratize geo data and to expand access to open geo data. OpenStreetMap boasts more than 216,000 members/contributors in over 30 countries worldwide.
eWise, a payments and online financial management solutions provider, secured a $12.1 million Series A funding round led by Balderton Capital with participation from Total Technology Ventures, and others. With offices in the US, UK, China, and Australia, eWise hopes to bring its OBeP (Online Banking ePayments) global network to 400 million users within five years.
LearnBoost, an online grading platform, raised $975,000 in seed funding from a long list of respected venture capital firms and angel investors including Bessemer Venture Partners, Charles River Ventures, RRE Ventures, Atlas Ventures, Othman Laraki, Bill Lee, James Hong, Naval Ravikant, and Karl Jacob. The San Francisco-based startup offers a fully-featured Web-based gradebook that includes real time collaboration capabilities between teachers and parents. Still in private beta (set to be released to the public in August), LearnBoost uses a freemium model in order to help out poorer schools.
MadBid.com, a pay-to-bid penny auction site, raised £4 million (approximately $6.25 million) in Series A funding from Atomico Ventures. Founded in 2008, the UK-based site treats its almost 1 million members to daily opportunities to win top brand products with an average saving of 80% on the recommended retail pricing.
