http://mashable.com/2008/05/20/clearspring-series/
Clearspring Gets $18M to Make Smarter Widget Ads
May 20, 2008 — 11:19 PM PDT — by Kristen Nicole —
Clearspring, the widget company that has broken into the advertising and distributed media realm, has raised $18 million in a Series C round of funding, led by New Enterprise Associates (NEA) and Novak Biddle Venture Partners, with existing investors also participating in the round.
Harry Weller, a partner at NEA, will be joining the Clearspring Board of Directors, as will Steve Case, co-founder of AOL, Ted Leonsis, AOLs Vice Chairman Emeritus (who is now Clearspring’s Chairman), Miles Gilburne, and Nigel Morris, co-founder of Capital One, who also has a great deal of experience in helping companies go public. That’s a lot of new board members to go along with the hefty round of funding, and a pretty powerful set of newcomers.
Clearspring Looking for an Exit, or an IPO?
Aside from wondering what Clearspring would be doing with the $18 million in funding, I also wondered if bringing such high level business veterans onto the team could be an indication of Clearspring hoping to go public or possibly sell. I asked Clearspring founder Hooman Radfar is this was the case, and he told me that he’s out to “build a really big company, and we’re not really looking for an exit. We don’t believe you can build a company for an exit. It’s better to build according to your vision.”
Plans for Putting $18 Million to Good Use: Standardize & Make Smarter Widget Ads
So with $18 in Series C, has Clearspring joined the ranks of Ning, Slide, and the rest? I’d say so. With standards for widget distribution, a platform available for publishers to create, distribute and track their own widgets, a developing advertising network and other tools for widgetizing and monetizing web content, Clearspring is among the most prominent widget platforms out there.
And Clearspring is only going to get bigger. The funding will be used for three main aspects of the company: expanding Clearspring in the ad space, cultivating its data collection and reporting services, and growing its sales team. On aspect of this growth plan that was of particular interest to me was the data collection and reporting services.
As most other widget companies have done for the past couple of years, Clearspring has been gathering demographic information on its users, advertisers, an methods of distribution. While such a sprawled, consumer-driven technique hasn’t become fully standardized for monetization purposes, the space is getting there.
Clearspring is hoping to help provide that standard by further developing its tracking tools. In doing so, widgets and advertisements, whether they be in-widget ads or full widget ads, can be placed on sites more effectively. This improved execution for ad placement is a common goal for online advertising companies, and in my experience, widget companies with advertising components are well equipped to offer a set of metrics that’s useful towards this end.
Next Stop for Clearspring: More Social
So for the future of Clearspring? Radfar hinted that the company’s widgets will become more social, through increased interaction across networks and open platforms, as well as partnerships with other social media companies. We’ll be seeing more details about this plan in the coming year.
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Clearspring Raises $18m | Mobilitee
2008-05-21 06:24:24
Clearspring Raises $18 Million « Oatmeal Stout - Justin Thorp’s Web 2.0 blog
2008-05-21 08:50:28
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4 Comments »
Brad
2008-05-21 09:24:01
We at Animoto are huge fans (and an early customer) of Hooman and the Clearspring team. We wouldn't be where we are without them. Can't wait to see where this funding takes them.
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Thursday, May 29, 2008
News about Popsause Ad Network and Netvibes' New CEO
http://publications.mediapost.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=Articles.san&s=82447&Nid=42644&p=460063
Zvue Launches Popsauce Ad Network
by Gavin O'Malley, Tuesday, May 13, 2008 8:00 AM ET
CEO of ZVUE Jeff OscodarPublicly traded digital entertainment company Zvue is redoubling its efforts in the hot arena of ad networks with popsauce--a "pop culture" ad network of video sites targeting 18- to-34-year-old influencers.
The popsauce network, set to debut today, represents a mixture of user-generated-content and licensed professional media from SonyBMG, Showtime, Warner Music, National Lampoon, and Disney-ABC Television Group's Stage 9 Digital Media, among others, Zvue CEO Jeff Oscodar tells Online Media Daily.
"Popsauce delivers on a promise to reach the most valuable consumers online," Oscodar said.
Late last year, Zvue dropped its old name, HandHeld Entertainment, and launched an online video ad network to monetize its library of professional and CGM content.
In April, however, Zvue received a letter of warning from Nasdaq to get its stock price up. If, by October, Zvue fails to raise the bid price for its common stock--which had closed below $1 for 30 consecutive trading days--the company could be delisted from the exchange.
"It's a capital issue, not a business issue," Oscodar said. "We were given six months to show that the stock price can rise above a dollar, and I'm not worried about that."
The bulk of the San Francisco-based company's revenue still comes from the sale of MP3 players. Yet it has increasingly focused on the operation of its network of sites, including holylemon.com, dorks.com and funmansion.com.
With possession of the popular video-sharing network eBaum's World, Zvue Networks currently projects nearly 3.5 billion page views and video streams served annually.
The popsauce network also recently signed distribution agreements with Next New Networks--to feature some of its content, including the popular "Obama Girl" videos--and Stage 9, Disney-ABC Television Group's new digital studio.
The network offers advertisers pre- and post-roll video advertisements, in-stream flash overlay advertisements, and banner and other alternative rich media advertisements.
Zvue Networks also provides advertisers with access to specific psychographics and includes vertical categories such as music, entertainment, and video games.
Gavin O'Malley can be reached at gavin@mediapost.com
Update on 5/29/08
Freddy Mini as Netvibes’ Chief Executive Officer
Netvibes Founder to Remain on Board of Directors as Strategic Advisor
PARIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Netvibes, the pioneer of the personalized homepage and leading universal widget platform, today announced that it has appointed Freddy Mini as the company’s new Chief Executive Officer. Netvibes founder Tariq Krim will remain on the Board of Directors as a key adviser to the executive team on its creative product and strategic growth initiatives.
Freddy Mini commented, “Tariq is a true visionary who not only pioneered the concept of the widget economy, but helped prove it by creating a universal widget platform that’s currently used by more than 1,000 leading media and technology companies. By painting such a compelling picture for the future of the personalized, widgetized Web, Tariq has also attracted a very large and truly international community of dedicated users. I am grateful for his continued support as a member of the Board and key strategic advisor as we enter our next stage of growth as a global media company for the emerging widget economy.”
Tariq Krim founded Netvibes in 2005 and as CEO oversaw the original development of the Netvibes super-personalized homepage and its adoption by millions of users across the world. Krim established the first models for today’s emergent widget economy by creating the Netvibes Ecosystem, sponsored widget model and universal widget platform that have enabled major media companies and developers to monetize distribute widgets across leading platforms including Yahoo, Google, Apple and Microsoft simultaneously.
“As Chief Operating Officer, Freddy has continually proven himself as an invaluable partner in building Netvibes’ core business operations and global media partnerships,” said Netvibes founder Tariq Krim. “His experience in establishing major online media companies and rapidly scaling operations and infrastructure for global enterprises uniquely qualifies him as the best choice to drive Netvibes’ next chapter of growth as we continue to accelerate as a global media distribution powerhouse for widgets.”
Since 2006, Freddy Mini has served as Netvibes COO, establishing the company’s US operations and leading international business development with hundreds of major media and technology companies, such as CBS, USA Today, Le Figaro, New York Times and MIVA. Mini was also in charge of creating and managing the company’s new marketing initiatives, sponsorships and revenue streams. Previously, Mini served as Senior VP and Managing Director of CNET Networks Europe, where he was responsible for creating and building their operations to more than 200 people while exceeding all profitability goals, and CEO of Ziff-Davis France. Before that, Freddy had also led the music search engine startup musicMe, AltaVista’s worldwide marketing efforts and Lotus Development Corp’s word processing business.
About Netvibes(http://www.netvibes.com)
Founded in 2005, Netvibes pioneered the personalized homepage as alternative to traditional web portals. Today, Netvibes is a global community of users who are taking control of their digital lives by personalizing their web experience. Netvibes lets individuals assemble all in one place their favorite widgets, websites, blogs, email accounts, social networks, search engines, instant messengers, photos, videos, podcasts, and everything else they enjoy on the Web.
Netvibes has established the leading universal widget platform that is used by thousands of publishers around the world. Netvibes has offices in Paris, London and San Francisco.
Zvue Launches Popsauce Ad Network
by Gavin O'Malley, Tuesday, May 13, 2008 8:00 AM ET
CEO of ZVUE Jeff OscodarPublicly traded digital entertainment company Zvue is redoubling its efforts in the hot arena of ad networks with popsauce--a "pop culture" ad network of video sites targeting 18- to-34-year-old influencers.
The popsauce network, set to debut today, represents a mixture of user-generated-content and licensed professional media from SonyBMG, Showtime, Warner Music, National Lampoon, and Disney-ABC Television Group's Stage 9 Digital Media, among others, Zvue CEO Jeff Oscodar tells Online Media Daily.
"Popsauce delivers on a promise to reach the most valuable consumers online," Oscodar said.
Late last year, Zvue dropped its old name, HandHeld Entertainment, and launched an online video ad network to monetize its library of professional and CGM content.
In April, however, Zvue received a letter of warning from Nasdaq to get its stock price up. If, by October, Zvue fails to raise the bid price for its common stock--which had closed below $1 for 30 consecutive trading days--the company could be delisted from the exchange.
"It's a capital issue, not a business issue," Oscodar said. "We were given six months to show that the stock price can rise above a dollar, and I'm not worried about that."
The bulk of the San Francisco-based company's revenue still comes from the sale of MP3 players. Yet it has increasingly focused on the operation of its network of sites, including holylemon.com, dorks.com and funmansion.com.
With possession of the popular video-sharing network eBaum's World, Zvue Networks currently projects nearly 3.5 billion page views and video streams served annually.
The popsauce network also recently signed distribution agreements with Next New Networks--to feature some of its content, including the popular "Obama Girl" videos--and Stage 9, Disney-ABC Television Group's new digital studio.
The network offers advertisers pre- and post-roll video advertisements, in-stream flash overlay advertisements, and banner and other alternative rich media advertisements.
Zvue Networks also provides advertisers with access to specific psychographics and includes vertical categories such as music, entertainment, and video games.
Gavin O'Malley can be reached at gavin@mediapost.com
Update on 5/29/08
Freddy Mini as Netvibes’ Chief Executive Officer
Netvibes Founder to Remain on Board of Directors as Strategic Advisor
PARIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Netvibes, the pioneer of the personalized homepage and leading universal widget platform, today announced that it has appointed Freddy Mini as the company’s new Chief Executive Officer. Netvibes founder Tariq Krim will remain on the Board of Directors as a key adviser to the executive team on its creative product and strategic growth initiatives.
Freddy Mini commented, “Tariq is a true visionary who not only pioneered the concept of the widget economy, but helped prove it by creating a universal widget platform that’s currently used by more than 1,000 leading media and technology companies. By painting such a compelling picture for the future of the personalized, widgetized Web, Tariq has also attracted a very large and truly international community of dedicated users. I am grateful for his continued support as a member of the Board and key strategic advisor as we enter our next stage of growth as a global media company for the emerging widget economy.”
Tariq Krim founded Netvibes in 2005 and as CEO oversaw the original development of the Netvibes super-personalized homepage and its adoption by millions of users across the world. Krim established the first models for today’s emergent widget economy by creating the Netvibes Ecosystem, sponsored widget model and universal widget platform that have enabled major media companies and developers to monetize distribute widgets across leading platforms including Yahoo, Google, Apple and Microsoft simultaneously.
“As Chief Operating Officer, Freddy has continually proven himself as an invaluable partner in building Netvibes’ core business operations and global media partnerships,” said Netvibes founder Tariq Krim. “His experience in establishing major online media companies and rapidly scaling operations and infrastructure for global enterprises uniquely qualifies him as the best choice to drive Netvibes’ next chapter of growth as we continue to accelerate as a global media distribution powerhouse for widgets.”
Since 2006, Freddy Mini has served as Netvibes COO, establishing the company’s US operations and leading international business development with hundreds of major media and technology companies, such as CBS, USA Today, Le Figaro, New York Times and MIVA. Mini was also in charge of creating and managing the company’s new marketing initiatives, sponsorships and revenue streams. Previously, Mini served as Senior VP and Managing Director of CNET Networks Europe, where he was responsible for creating and building their operations to more than 200 people while exceeding all profitability goals, and CEO of Ziff-Davis France. Before that, Freddy had also led the music search engine startup musicMe, AltaVista’s worldwide marketing efforts and Lotus Development Corp’s word processing business.
About Netvibes(http://www.netvibes.com)
Founded in 2005, Netvibes pioneered the personalized homepage as alternative to traditional web portals. Today, Netvibes is a global community of users who are taking control of their digital lives by personalizing their web experience. Netvibes lets individuals assemble all in one place their favorite widgets, websites, blogs, email accounts, social networks, search engines, instant messengers, photos, videos, podcasts, and everything else they enjoy on the Web.
Netvibes has established the leading universal widget platform that is used by thousands of publishers around the world. Netvibes has offices in Paris, London and San Francisco.
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
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