Tokbox raised $12 million after going through a significant pivot. The company essentially stopped developing its consumer facing product, and instead focused on Open Tok, its video chat API, as its core business. We had a chance to conduct a short interview with Ian Small, CEO of TokBox to find out the pivot decision was made.
Israeli startup headlines for March including new fundraising rounds, product launches, M&A deals, cleantech headlines and Israeli venture capital news, curated by VC Cafe, the home of Israeli startup news since 2005.
Facebook surprised with its first acquisition in Israel today, with the announcement that it is buying Israeli startup Snaptu (previously known as Moblica) for an estimated $60-70 million. Founded in 2007 by Ron Makavy, Micha Berdichevsky, and Barak Naveh, Snaptu raised a total of $9 million in three rounds
Wibbitz provides web developers with a plug-in which automatically transforms static web content into an interactive video. The company was one of the five winners at Seedcamp Tel Aviv 2011, an early-stage micro seed investment and mentoring programme. Startup Intelligence caught up with co-founders Zohar Dayan (CEO) and Yotam Cohen (VP Business Development) to find out more.
Crowdfunding platforms can offer the credibility and infrastructure necessary to successfully harness the financial power of the crowd, but because crowdfunding is a new trend, many people misunderstand how to effectively leverage the tools available to them. RocketHub's founder presents the pitfalls to avoid for crowdfunding success.
As every month, VC Cafe is re-posting the “Invest in Israel” Newsletter, published by the investment promotion center of Israel’s Ministry of Industry, Trade and Labor, which offers many helpful tools for prospecting investors. See the February 2011 edition after the jump. For previous editions, click here.
After reading lots of posts on 'lean startups', listening to Eric Reis in Seedcamp and devouring Steve Blank's "Four Steps to the Epiphany", I wanted to see real examples of companies that went through a pivot process. By definition, a Pivot, is a change in the company's strategy or business model when things aren't exactly working out according to the business plan. The first post in the series is on TokBox, a startup that went through a business model change and managed to generate significant value as a result.
You’ve discovered the next big thing, and you feel you planned everything from concept to market entry. In the coming months you will make a multitude of decisions that will define the fate of your new company, and as an experienced startup consultant, I have seen the best and worst of cases.
, on more than one occasion I encountered a VC saying that the eCommerce model doesn’t have a “VC feel” to it. Huh? What were they missing? Why weren’t they seeing what I was seeing? Hadn’t they heard about the recent funding rounds from Ecommerce companies Groupon and LivingSocial? Since then, and after resting aside my ego, I placed myself back in my VC shoes to try to understand what “proof” such VCs needed to feel comfortable with an eCommerce investment.
GeekMedia, the company behind the Israeli blog NewsGeek (Hebrew) has launched VentureGeeks, a new incubator program in Israel, which will provide seed funding and mentorship to Israeli startups. The Tel-Aviv based incubator is meant to serve as an accelerator program for startups, following the model of US based Y Combinator. Startups which are admitted to the program will receive up to $20,000 in pre-seed funding, office space, administrative services and advice from a group of mentors. The cost for startups is 10% of their equity.
VC investors rely heavily on referrals, but what should a non US startup do when looking to raise funding in Silicon Valley? I found a question on Quora that relates to European startups, but found that some of the advice may be very relevant to Israeli startups as well. How best can European startups land VC funding in the US / Sillicon Valley?
Outbrain bought the content recommendation system Surphace from AOL for an undisclosed sum. Surphace is a reincarnation of Sphere, a startup founded by Martin Remy and Steve Nieker in 2006 as a related content plugin and was later acquired by AOL in April 2008 for a rumored sum of $25 million
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