Last fall, a report from Sequoia Capital was widely circulated, strongly suggesting that companies sit on their capital and wait out what was sure to be a very slow and painful period. Now it’s gotten worse. For the past several…
OpenTable, the online restaurant reservation service, has filed an S1 with the SEC to raise $40 million. The company, founded in 1998 by former Citysearch President Thomas Layton, was launched as Easyseats.com. It currently has contracts with 10,000 restaurants in all 50…
Placeblogger, a 2007 recipient of $220k from the Knight News Challenge, has recently been revamped by its founders to encourage more personal interaction. Why? Location-based blogging without the context of a person is just kind of stale, says founder Lisa…
Following Yodle's $10 million C Round funding announcement yesterday, I had the chance to talk to founder Nathaniel Stevens. The funding, for one thing, is a good vote of confidence for Yodle and its market opportunity, despite the current economic…
Pegasus News, the Dallas hyperlocal site, was seen as a great model for other markets when Fisher Communications, a leading broadcaster in Seattle and the Northwest, bought the site in July 2007. But the roiled market in broadcasting apparently stifled…
We’re out with our predictions for 2009. But what’s the final word for 2008? Truly, it was a very stimulating and thoughtful year for our local media and commerce industry. But speaking for myself, it’s hard to say whether it…
In disappointing-but-not-unexpected news, Deutsche Bank has discontinued its coverage of local media (i.e., newspapers and television stations). Most of the companies in the space have lost 70 percent to 90 percent of their equity value over the past three months.…
Eventful, which competes with Zvents for leadership (and affiliates) in the fast changing local event marketplace, has just completed a new $10 million C round lead by Telefonica Capital. Also participating are alumni investors, including Draper Fisher Jurvetson and Bay…
NearbyNow had a three-pronged announcement today including a $12 million series C round, a distribution partnership with TheFind.com and a new iPhone app. The funding was led by Norwest Ventures and will primarily be used to build infrastructure for traffic…
Internet legend Marc Andreessen waxed positive about social networking and VC opportunities for the next five years during a packed luncheon at the Think Tomorrow -- Today conference. Without spending too much time talking about his own social networking venture, Ning,…
The small-business advertising arms race has gotten hotter in recent weeks, as companies eye a chance to add Google and Yahoo! search solutions, and other services to small-business marketing budgets once totally contained by Yellow Pages. First we had ReachLocal’s…
Spot Runner has gone into the local reseller channel in a major way by acquiring Weblistic, a company headed by Ketan Shah (and whose president is Yellow Pages Commando Dick Larkin). The company has 50 employees and is headquartered in…
In what amounts to yet another vote of confidence for local merchant video producer TurnHere, the company has announced a $7.5 million cash infusion from Venrock and Hearst Interactive Media. It's also a vote of confidence for the red hot…
It is hard for me to comprehend, but we are finally finished with ILM:07. We were grateful to have had 650 interesting and enthusiastic attendees from all over the world, 72 stimulating speakers, a full load of sponsors and an…
Three investment heavyweights speaking today at the Interactive Local Media/SES Local conference in Los Angeles said the environment for funding is still attractive for early stage companies. However, the credit crunch looming over the market since August is having an…
Interactive Local Media: 07 is ready to roll Nov. 28-30 in L.A. That’s next Wednesday through Friday! The show, which is being produced in partnership with SES Local, has attendees from all over the world. One exec told me he…
AOL is set to pay $340 million (updated) for Quigo, which provides a contextual ad network alternative to Google. The deal includes PageCast, a video search product, and will be added to AOL’s impressive arsenal of network, behavioral and contextual…
Gannett is teaming with Tribune on a 50/50 basis to take the latter’s Metromix entertainment site national, and reach into the highly valued 21- to 24-year-old market that doesn’t typically use newspapers -- online or off. The JV plans to…
Gannett is teaming with Tribune on a 50/50 basis to take the latter’s Metromix entertainment site national, and reach into the highly valued 21- to 24-year-old market that doesn’t typically use newspapers -- online or off. The JV plans to…
The numbers are looking very, very good for the Interactive Local Media:07 conference in L.A. Nov. 28-30. Internally, we think this one is a record breaker. Register and book the hotel while you can. The latter tends to sell out.…
