Venture Capital Fundraising is up in the US
On 6th April, Dow Jones reported 41% increase in US venture capital fundraising, raising $4.1 billion across 34 funds in the first quarter of 2010.
Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers setup fund for iPad developers
The New York Times reported on 31st March 2010 (not quite last week!), Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, who invested in Google and Amazon.com early on, has double its $100 million iFund set up in 2008 and managed by Matt Murphy for application development to $200 million to support iPad application development. The iFund has invested in 14 iPhone applications including
The iFund has invested in 14 companies to date, including:
- Booyah – Creating new forms of entertainment to the masses by bringing together elements of the real world and the digital world.
- Cooliris – a 3D interface for browsing vast amounts of rich media content on the iPhone and web
- GOGII – Leading free texting (textPlus), communication, and group social interaction product for mobile.
- iControl – Stay connected in real-time to what matters most-family, property, home, and business-from anywhere in the world, anytime, day or night.
- InMobi – the largest independent mobile ad network, reaching mobile users in 37 countries
- ng:moco – The first iPhone-only games publisher with 10+ leading titles and the Plus Network for 3rd party developers.
- Pelago (Whrrl) – Mobile social network and discovery app that allows you to find people, places, events, and trends through the eyes of your friends and other people on the Whrrl platform.
- Pinger – a publisher of great utility and entertainment apps for iPhone
- Shazam – The world’s leading mobile music discovery and socialization application – enabling consumers to experience and share music with others.
- shopkick – focused on the intersection of mobile and the physical retail world. Its goal is to dramatically improve the experience of consumers on that intersection.
- Zynga mobile – the world’s largest social gaming network, bringing social games to iPhone and iPod Touch