With so much going on in the city’s thriving ecosystem, it is easy to miss some of the happenings in the space. We keep you abreast of a few of things that you may have missed in NYC Tech this week including the fundings, exits, and events.
CLICK HERE TO SEE WHAT HAPPENED IN SILICON ALLEY LAST WEEK
Dataminr, a real-time information discovery company that uses powerful, proprietary algorithms to instantly analyzes all public tweets and other publicly available data to provide its clients with the earliest warning for breaking news, real-world events, off the radar content, and emerging trends, has raised $130 million in Series D funding. Leading the round was Fidelity Management and Research Company, with additional institutional investments from Wellington Management Company LLP, Credit Suisse NEXT Investors, as well as existing investors Venrock and Institutional Venture Partners.
Among the many high-profile new individual investors are John Mack, former CEO of Morgan Stanley; VikramPandit, former CEO of Citigroup; Tom Glocer, former CEO of Reuters; Noam Gottesman (TOMS Capital LLC), founder of the hedge fund GLG; and Nicolas Berggruen, founder of the Berggruen Institute on Governance. Additional institutional investors include WorldQuant Ventures, Glynn Capital and Goldman Sachs.
FiftyThree, a company that makes mobile tools, like Paper – an app that enables users to sketch, write, draw, outline, and color on the iPad , and which AlleyWatch has covered before— has raised $30 million in Series B funding, led by New Enterprise Associates.
FiftyThree is the first NYC-based company to develop an app that has been named Apple’s iPadApp of the Year (2012).
Shoptiques, which lets you shop the best local boutiques around the world,has just launched its mobile app!
They’d also love to hear user feedback, so feel free to quickly rate the app, or leave a review in the App Store.
Everyone knows that Meerkat started as a side project – and it came out of a DreamIt Ventures Accelerator company (Yevvo). So it makes perfect sense that the speaker sessions for DreamIt NY will be Meerkatted, giving all aspiring entrepreneurs a one-way window into the New York accelerator, whose latest session starts in May. Stay tuned. Literally.
And don’t look now, but a new verb might have just slipped into the lexicon.
Draft, daily fantasy sports app, has raised $3.5 million in Series A funding. The round was led by Upfront Ventures, with participation from Advancit Capital, BoxGroup, the Chernin Group, and QueensBridge Venture Partners.
Playbuzz, whose free authoring platform enables any editor, contributor, publisher, marketers, blogger or brand to author a new item of playful content on a topic of their choice, then embed that content on their website or mobile app, has raised $16 million in Series B funding, led by 83 North, with additional investment from Saban Capital and previous backers Carmel Ventures and FirstTime Ventures.
CafeX Communications, a real-time communications startup that allows apps and websites to include plugin-free video chat and screen sharing, has raised an undisclosed amount of follow-on funding from Intel Capital.
Thirstie, an on-demand alcohol delivery service, closed a $1.1M in seed round funding, led by private investors.
To date, the New York-based startup has partnered with more than 100 liquor retailers in major cities across the U.S. including; Los Angeles; Miami; New York City; San Francisco; Hoboken and Jersey City, New Jersey; Washington D.C., New Haven, CT; Dallas/Fort Worth, Austin, Texas. They’ll use the new funding to help serve Thirstie customers in even more cities, including Denver; Houston; Oakland/Berkeley; and Norwich, Connecticut
Food delivery startup, Maple, which is reinventing the vertical by opening a delivery-only kitchen in New York City, has raised $22 million in Series A funding. The round was led by Greenoaks Capital, with participation from Thrive Capital, Primary Ventures, David Chang of the Momofuku empire, and Bonobos CEO and founder Andy Dunn.
The service has not yet officially launched.
Giphy, the platform that makes it easy to search and share GIFs, has acquired GIF messaging app, Nutmeg.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Ad platform Yieldex has been acquired by AppNexus, the world’s leading independent ad tech company, in a cash-and-stock deal reportedly worth about $100 million. Yieldex had raised $18.5 million from investors, including Triangle Peak Partners, Hearst Ventures, Sequel Venture Partners, First Round Capital, and Woodside Fund.
Brownstoner, the leading site about Brooklyn real estate and renovation, and all the tangential topics that impact life inside and outside the home in the borough, has been acquired by BlankSlate. Terms of the deal were undisclosed.
Brownstoner will continue to be the go-to site for people obsessed with Brooklyn, real estate, old houses and renovation.
Daniel Gulati has joined the New York office of Comcast Ventures as a principal. Gulati, who joined Comcast as an EIR last May, will focus on seed and early-stage investments in consumer Internet companies.
Gulati previously cofounded venture-backed online marketplace, FashionStake, which was acquired by Fab in 2012.
It’s with great sadness that we inform you that New York-based angel investor David Freschman passed away earlier this week.
You might notice that your commute to and from the office costs you a bit more than it did last week.
As of March 22nd, here’s what you can expect:
– Base fares will go from $2.50 to $2.75 per ride
– A single-ride ticket will go from $2.75 to $3.00
– Monthly (30 day) unlimited passes will go from $112 to $116.50
– Weekly (7 day) unlimited passes will be raised from $30 to $31
– Express bus fare paid for with cash will be raised from $6.00 to $6.50, while the same service paid for by a MetroCard will go from $5.71 to $5.86
– Weekly Express Bus Plus MetroCards will go from $55 to $57.25
– Access-a-Ride fare will rise from $2.50 to $2.75
And thank you for riding with the MTA
