Peter Thiel: 'Almost everybody (tech CEO) I know' shifted right
At Culture, Religion & Tech, take II in Miami on October 29, 2024
Read more...Early-stage venture capital firm First Round Capital is about to raise its fourth fund, targeting $135 million, according to the company’s filing with the SEC on Monday.
In its third fund, raised in late 2010, First Round, which has four partners - Josh Kopelman, Chris Fralic, Robert Hayes and Howard Morgan - raised $126 million. That year, it was named the third largest investor in the United States, as measured by number of deals.
Founded in 2004, First Round Capital, which typically invests $250,000 and $500,000, is one of the original venture firms to institutionalize angel investing. You might call it the first super angel fund as it bet that start-ups would not require large sums of money to get traction.
Since then it has backed more than 70 companies. Its portfolio includes Fab, the fast-growing fashion retail site, photo-sharing site Path, which just raised another $30 million, Web hosting service Wikia, social media Web browser RockMelt; food search engine Yummly, game developer RockYou, and Schoolfeed, a site to help find high school friends, which recently raised $1.75 million.
First Round Capital has already seen many exits for its portfolio companies. Web search engine StumbleUpon was purchased by eBay for $75 million, financial management website Mint.com, which was bought by Intuit for $170 million, retail site Like.com, which was acquired by Google for $100 million, Chai Labs, which was bought by Facebook for $10 million, and GroupMe, a mobile group messaging provider bought by Skype for an undisclosed amount.
What does the VC market look like?
First Round’s $135 million goal is relatively modest when compared to the goals set recently by other top investment firms. The lower threshold is in large part due to First Round's philosophy of investing modest amounts at the early stages, an investment philosophy that doesn't require large capital raises.
Other recent fund raises include Andreessen Horowitz's $2.5 billion raised in January. Andreessen Horowitz also invests in early stages, but has a penchant for putting large amounts of money in later-stage deals. In recent months, Groupon investor NEA filed with the SEC to raise $2.3 billion, while DST, one of Facebook's biggest investors, was looking to raise $1 billion. Also recent includes a $100 million fund raised by Berlin-based Earlybird. In the fourth quarter of 2011, the top five early-stage firms that raised funds include Khosla Ventures, which raised $1 billion in October, Founders Fund, which raised $625 million for early-stage investments, General Catalyst, which raised $500 million, Accel Partners, which raised $475 million and Redpoint Ventures, which attracted $400 million.
(Image source: angelgroupnetwork.com)
At Culture, Religion & Tech, take II in Miami on October 29, 2024
Read more...The company will use the funding to broaden the scope of its AI, including new administrative tasks
Read more...The company will be deploying Qventus’ Perioperative Solution to optimize its robotics program
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Wikia is a community destination supporting the creation and development of wiki communities on any topic people are passionate about. We currently support over 5500 communities in more than 70 languages. Part of the free culture movement, Wikia content is released under a free content license and operates on the Open Source MediaWiki software. Explore our existing communities or start a new one.Startup/Business
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Odeo.com is digital media search portal through which SonicMountain will unveil new tools and utilities that improve the podcasting experience.
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Like.com is a visual search engine for shopping for soft goods (clothing, shoes, handbags, jewelry, etc). Our unique value is our ability to search inside of photographs looking at the color, shape, and pattern of an item to help you find similar items.Startup/Business
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RockYou is a leading provider of applications and widgets on the web. RockYou widgets include photo slideshows, glitter text, customized Facebook applications and voicemail accessories that are simple to use and enable people to frequently refresh their online style. Founded in 2006, RockYou has over 35 million users, serving over 180 million widget views per day in more than 200 countries. RockYou applications are customized for easy integration across all social networks including Facebook, MySpace, Bebo, Friendster, Tagged and hi5.Startup/Business
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schoolFeed is a high school classmates network which connects to Facebook. Remember your good times and good friends from high school. We hope that you will see a long forgotten photo and realize "Hey! I remember that!"
Each classmate that joins will be added to your easy to access class list where you can connect and share memories with anyone in your class. Our most popular feature is an online yearbook of all the photos chosen by your classmates. schoolFeed will always be fun and FREE!