What you need to know - 08/17/11

Ronny Kerr · August 17, 2011 · Short URL: https://vator.tv/n/1df7

Go deeper with Dave McClure's 500 Startups; S&P downgrades Google rating, shareholders sell

See the next batch of companies to emerge from Dave McClure's 500 Startups.

Cloud-based file sharing service Box.net is looking to raise another hefty round, from the looks of an SEC filing that shows that the company has already raised $18.6 million of a $35 million round.

Calorie Counter will make it easier to log meals by launching a new voice option that lets users enter food choices verbally, rather than manually.

Cinchcast, a service that allows businesses to create and share audio content, raised a $6 million round of Series B funding led by Guggenheim Partners.

Representing a 55.0 percent increase from the year before, marketers in the U.S. are set to spend $3.08 billion on social network advertising this year. Social media ad spend is actually growing faster than video.

Watch an exclusive interview with Gilt Groupe CEO and founder Kevin Ryan, who discussses his company's expansion from excess inventory to full-blown retail.

S&P has changed its rating on the search giant from “buy” to “sell” and cut Google’s price target from $700 to $500. And…as you might imagine, shareholders are, indeed, selling.

Kabbage, a provider of working capital for online merchants, secured $17 million in Series B funding, led by Mohr Davidow Ventures. Existing investors and several individuals also participated in the round.

Watch an exclusive interview with Dave Otten, founder and CEO of LongTail Video, where he discusses his company's syndication strategy.

RelayRides, a peer-to-peer marketplace for car sharing, increased its total Series A.2 funding to $10 million, with the help of Shasta Ventures and entrepreneur/environmentalist Lisa Gansky, perhaps best known for authoring The Mesh: Why the Future of Business Is Sharing.