What You need to know - 10/5/11

Silverpop acquires PlacePunch;Watchdog teacher sells teen soft-porn on Amazon; Prezi hits 5M mark

Silverpop, the e-mail marketing platform, announced Wednesday that it has acquired PlacePunch, a location-based marketing service.  The terms of the deal were undisclosed at this moment.

PlacePunch , an Atlanta-based startup, allows businesses and franchises of any size to create online location-based marketing campaigns and build loyalty programs to reward customers for checking in at their venues. Silverpop, expanded in April, its email marketing services to include location-based marketing  with the launch of its Foursquare “To-Do Button” option.

Shocking but true, it was discovered that the chair of discipline at the Ontario College of Teachers has co-authored with his wife, a soft porn book intended for a teen audience. The book entitled The Sexteens and the Fake Goddess, features the sexy adventures of Grade 9 girls and boys at a mythical Toronto high school, and is listed on Chapters/Indigo, Amazon, Kobo and other sites. The book summray reads: “Confrontations and conflictual relationships with adults in position of authority explode throughout the school.”

Just in time for the season to be jolly, Pandora One gift cards come to Target. Pandora, an Oakland-based online radio service announced Wednesday that it is partnering with Target to offer Pandora One subscription gift cards. The gift gives access to the premium digital radio services, at the cost of $36.  Spotify, offers a digital gifting service at $9.99 per month.

Greener Capital, a Berkey-based green technology venture firm,  announced Wedesday that it has secured a $33 million fund, from Greener Capital Partners II.The new clean tech fund is the second for the firm, the first debuting in 2009.

Founded in 2009, Greener Capital said via a press release that it "backs entrepreneurs that offer unconventional, even radical solutions to major problems in the production and management of energy."

ezCater,a Boston-based company,  announced Wednesday it had raised a $630K seed round.  Investors listed are Jill Preotle, Director and early investor at ZipCar and TaskRabbit; Spinnaker Trust; Mike Masterson, co-founder and Director at Oak/Kleiner-backed Sundrop Fuels; Ed Belove, former VP of R&D at Lotus and at AT&T; and members of Walnut Venture Associates.The online catering middleman provides reviews, ratings, and menus to help connect customers to local caterers.

Keek, a Toronto-based startup announced Wednesday that it has raised $5.5M in funding from Capital North Asset Management and Plazacorp Ventures. Only launched two weeks ago, the microvideo sharing website  is currently an advertising free service with the capability of sharing uploaded video content directly on Twitter, Tumblr and Facebook. The company will use the funding to strengthen the team, rapidly roll out new features and accelerate global expansion.

MemberClicks announces Wednesday a partnership with Moolah Payments. Based in Atlanta, and founded in 1998, MemberClicks works with more than 1,200 organizations throughout North America. 

Moolah processed over $15 billion in transactions with their system last year.

Prezi, a San-Francisco and Budapest based startup, announced Wednesday that it had reached the five million users benchmark, joining the ranks of the "big" boys in Silicon Valley.

Prezi was funded by TED Conferences, as well as Sunstone Capital, in an undisclosed round in 2009.

I had a little chat with Peter Arvay, the CEO of Prezi, about new implementation, funding, and the beauty of zooming.