Here’s the latest action:
1) Brightroll raises $5M for video ads
2) LGC Wireless acquired for $169M plus
3) InterviewUp, answers for job interviews
4) Alibaba.com to go public
5) Yahoo’s CMO leaves, without explanation
6) Tesla’s shocking $1M crash tests
7) Tumblr, Collective Media, Veeker, MobileEye, BioFuelBox, GameLayers, Shooner, all raise cash
8) Boston’s Entrepreneur site
Brightroll serves billionth video ad, raises $5 million — The mark comes less than six months after serving half that number. The San Francisco company, which helps large ad agencies and brands sell video ads across leading web sites, has also raised $5 million from new investor KPG Ventures,
True Ventures and Adams Streep Partners.
LGC Wireless acquired by ADC Telecommunications — As we reported last week, LGC Wireless has been bought. Now its official by who. ADC picks it up for $169 million plus about $20.5 million in debt. LGC’s technology strengthens cell signal coverage in buildings, airports and other indoor areas. LGC Wireless had sales of $83 million in year ending Sept. 30. The 11-year-old company had raised $93 million in funding. Investors included Rembrandt Venture Partners, the Mayfield Fund, Allegis Capital, Crystal Ventures, Intel Capital, Hutchison Whampoa Ltd. and Dali Hook Partners.
InterviewUp is Q&A site for job interviews — The site is designed to help interviewers collect challenging questions and interviewees find good answers. We’re not sure the world needs another Q&A site, but a post discussing Google’s interview questions scored over 1500 diggs. If InterviewUp can deliver juicy tidbits like these, it has a shot. For more.
Yahoo’s chief marketing officer Cammie Dunaway leaves — She was head of the customer experience division, and there was no reason given for the departure (details here).
Alibaba Group, 39 percent owned by Yahoo, plans Alibaba.com IPO for Nov. 6th in Hong Kong — The IPO is expected to be the biggest ever by a Chinese Internet company, raising as much as $1.5 billion. Earlier story here from WSJ.
Collective Media, another online ad network, raises funds –The company says it reaches 120 million unique users per month. The round was led by Greycroft Partners, with iNovia Capital participating. More here.
Tumblr, offers you a lean Web site — The New York company offers you a personal site where can collect, share and discuss what headlines and other things found online. It lets you pull in your Twitter feeds, too. Other than that, its has few frills. It has raised $750,000 in a first round of funding from Spark Capital and Union Square Ventures.
Veeker, a mobile video and picture messaging startup, appears to be stuck — The San Francisco start-up raised $2.5 million from Labrador Ventures, but is struggling amid competition.
– D([“mb”,” u003c/span>u003c/font>u003c/span>u003cfont faceu003d”Times New Roman” sizeu003d”4″>u003cspan styleu003d”font-size:16px;line-height:18px”>Since the company launched in July 2006, BrightRoll has expanded its reach to provide execution capabilities across over half of the top 100 online media properties in the United States. u003c/span>u003c/font>u003cspan>u003cspan>u003cfont coloru003d”#FF0000″ faceu003d”Times New Roman” sizeu003d”4″>u003cspan styleu003d”font-size:16px;line-height:18px”> u003c/span>u003c/font>u003c/span>u003c/span>u003cfont faceu003d”Times New Roman” sizeu003d”4″>u003cspan styleu003d”font-size:16px;line-height:18px”>The one billionth video advertisement was served on u003c/span>u003c/font>u003cspan>u003cfont coloru003d”#FF0000″ faceu003d”Times New Roman” sizeu003d”4″>u003cspan styleu003d”font-size:16px;line-height:18px”>[date tbd] u003c/span>u003c/font>u003c/span>u003cfont faceu003d”Times New Roman” sizeu003d”4″>u003cspan styleu003d”font-size:16px;line-height:18px”>for Zenith Optimedia, Hewlett-Packard’s advertising agency.u003c/span>u003c/font>u003cspan>u003cfont faceu003d”Times New Roman” sizeu003d”4″>u003cspan styleu003d”font-size:16px;line-height:18px”> u003c/span>u003c/font>u003c/span>u003cspan styleu003d”line-height:18px”>u003c/span>u003c/span>u003c/p>u003cp>u003cspan>u003cfont faceu003d”Times New Roman” sizeu003d”4″>u003cspan styleu003d”font-size:16px;line-height:18px”>The campaign, for Hewlett Packard printers, features Gwen Stefani elaborating on her creativity and the creative process.u003c/span>u003c/font>u003cspan>u003cfont faceu003d”Times New Roman” sizeu003d”4″>u003cspan styleu003d”font-size:16px;line-height:18px”> u003c/span>u003c/font>u003c/span>u003cfont faceu003d”Times New Roman” sizeu003d”4″>u003cspan styleu003d”font-size:16px;line-height:18px”>BrightRoll helped Zenith Optimedia execute the Hewlett-Packard campaign across a portfolio of stellar publishers such as CBS, Clear Channel Radio, CNN andu003c/span>u003c/font>u003cspan>u003cfont faceu003d”Times New Roman” sizeu003d”4″>u003cspan styleu003d”font-size:16px;line-height:18px”> u003c/span>u003c/font>u003c/span>u003cfont faceu003d”Times New Roman” sizeu003d”4″>u003cspan styleu003d”font-size:16px;line-height:18px”>ESPN.u003c/span>u003c/font>u003cspan styleu003d”line-height:18px”>u003c/span>u003c/span>u003c/p>u003cp>u003cspan>u003cspan>u003cfont faceu003d”Times New Roman” sizeu003d”4″>u003cspan styleu003d”font-size:16px;line-height:18px”> u003c/span>u003c/font>u003c/span>u003cfont faceu003d”Times New Roman” sizeu003d”4″>”,1] ); /Tesla’s $1M crash tests — Ouch, at $1M each, no wonder executives at Tesla were gasping at the cost per crash for the testing of the anticipated all electric sports car. Apparently, though, the cost per crash is now a mere $300,000 (Earth2Tech).
Goldman Sachs invests $100M in Israel MobileEye, for driving tool — MobileEye‘s technology calculates the speed and distance of a vehicle in front of a car, and alerts the driver when other vehicles are too close. The company raised the money at a pre-money valuation of $500M, reports Israel’s Globes. MobileEye, which has already raised $50M, plans an IPO for next year. The company says that it will have $10M in sales this year and that it will become profitable in 2008. Here’s its statement.
BioFuelBox, biofuel refining startup, raises $9.46M in first round — Backers of the a Hollister, Calif. start-up include Draper Fisher Jurvetson and DFJ Element. PE Hub has the scoop, reporting that the company’s technology is a “bio-refinery in a box — a modular, containerized innovation that produces biofuel cost-effectively and easily.”
GameLayers, a passive multiplayer online game maker, raises $500,000 — The San Francisco company is backed by O’Reilly AlphaTech Ventures, Joi Ito and Richard Wolpert, reports PEHub.Schooner Information Technology, secretive finance company, raises $3.33 million — The company plans a $15 million total first round, according to regulatory filings cited by PE Week. The round was led by CMEA Ventures. The Oakland, Calif., company is led by Richard Busch, formerly with Sun Microsystems as research director of computer system architecture and analysis.
Social networking site for VCs launching next month in Boston — TheFunded lets entrepreneurs talk about VCs. Next month, the New England Venture Network will launch venturenetwork.vc, a place for VC’s to talk about deals. A deals section will feature a Craigslist-like listing of investment opportunities, including a place for VCs to post about companies that are looking for funding, that they chose not to invest in. A questions section will let analysts query VCs. A jobs section will let VCs advertise openings at portfolio companies. Via The Boston Globe.