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YuMe, a Redwood City, California startup that makes video advertising technology, announced today that it has inked a $25 million fourth round of funding led by Menlo Ventures.

Shawn Carolan from Menlo has joined YuMe’s board of directors. Existing investors Accel Partners, BV Capital, DAG Ventures and Khosla Ventures also participated in the round.

YuMe makes the ACE online video ad management platform. They recently added a feature called Triple Play that inserts a call to action for viewers at the end of a video ad.

MSN, MSNBC, IDG Entertainment and Glam Media are among YuMe customers. ACE serves ads into video streams. YuMe claims to serve an average of 30 million ads per day.

The company claims to be profitable. “This funding will help facilitate new technology offerings and additional expansion,” Carolan said in a press release.

Video advertising is one of the hottest market sectors for startups. Brightroll founder Tod Sacerdoti told us recently that video is the end goal for most advertisers. Everywhere a video ad can be served, he said, you’ll see one soon.

YuMe has 40 employees in Redwood City and another 40 in India. The company previously raised $21 million in three rounds, most recently a $5 investment in September 2009.

Effective Measure, an Australian startup that makes audience measurement technology largely used on the other side of the world, has announced a $4 million round of funding from Rho Ventures.

“These new funds will enable us to extend our leadership position in audience measurement and deliver enhanced capabilities to Web publishers and advertisers,” CEO Scott Julian wrote in a prepared statement. Rho partner David Carlick will join Effective Measure’s board of directors.

The company’s clients include General Motors and Emirates Group.

David Carlick, venture partner at Rho Ventures, will join Effective Measure’s Board of Directors. Mr. Carlick has extensive experience in the field of digital media and marketing, with past board appointments including Ask Jeeves, DoubleClick, International Network Services and Intermix Media (MySpace).

“We are excited to be involved with this talented team, in this emerging set of markets,” said Mr. Carlick. “The global online advertising business is growing rapidly and Effective Measure is going to provide increasing validation and momentum for that growth in the markets we serve. This investment is part of a broader continuing effort at Rho to support emerging startups in the new media space.”

Filed under: Hardware, Humor, Multimedia, Apple, Macbook Pro

One of the things I missed in the news last week due to being so busy at Macworld (along with most of the Olympics, though we did get to watch the opening ceremony at a post-show dinner) was the brand new Toy Story 3 trailer — Pixar’s latest movie has Buzz and Woody in a third adventure, and while I won’t spoil the details, it does appear that Apple plays a big part in the movie. Macenstein has a quick breakdown of all of the places that Macs appear in the new trailer, with cameos by both Safari and iTunes, and director Lee Unkrich actually tweeted a picture of his editing session for the movie on a MacBook Pro (in Avid Media Composer) at 36,000 feet!

Of course, Steve Jobs was the owner and CEO of Pixar for twenty years, and he now is the largest individual Disney shareholder with a seat on the company’s board of directors. Pixar always produces excellent films — Toy Story was the studio’s first big feature as a studio, so it’ll be interesting to see what happens with the franchise after moving on to more mature pictures like Finding Nemo and Up. As always, when the movie comes out on June 18th, we’ll have to keep an eye out for nods in Apple’s direction.

TUAWToy Story 3 and the Mac originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 15 Feb 2010 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Ending a healthy spat of rumor and speculation, Motorola has confirmed today that it’ll be splitting into two separate entities as of the first quarter of next year. The first of the two will form from the current Mobile Devices and Home businesses — led by Sanjay Jha effective immediately — with control of the phone business, set-top boxes, and “end-to-end video, voice and data solutions,” while the other half will congeal out of the Enterprise Mobility and Networks divisions that are responsible for wireless infrastructure, two-way radios, public safety systems, and the like, and that will be led by Greg Brown (in other words, both businesses will retain their current leaders). The deal apparently has the support of Moto’s board (a good thing to have when you’re a publicly-traded company), and logically, both spin-offs will be publicly-traded as well.

Here’s where it gets interesting: the Mobile Devices and Home business will own the Motorola brand and license it, royalty-free, to the other company. Presumably this would be a perpetual license, but we don’t have details there yet. In the meantime, Old Moto (as we’ll call it for now) expects to follow through on the plan using a “tax-free stock dividend of shares in the new company to Motorola shareholders” with the understanding that both businesses will be “well capitalized” so that they “can execute their respective business plans and be able to address future opportunities.” Follow the break for Motorola’s official press release detailing the schism.

Continue reading Motorola targets first quarter of 2011 for split into two

Motorola targets first quarter of 2011 for split into two originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 11 Feb 2010 16:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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During the conference call discussing Google’s impressive earnings, chief executive Eric Schmidt covered topics including Google’s priorities and its moves in China. Near the end of the call, he touched on one more topic that’s particularly interesting: Google’s relationship with Apple.

Schmidt used to serve on Apple’s board of directors, but he left the board last August, because new Google products like the Android mobile operating system and the Chrome Operating System for netbooks were competing with Apple’s core business. Now that Google is selling the Nexus One phone directly, that competition has increased.

Today, Schmidt praised Apple as “a very well-run company” (he’s pictured with Apple chief executive Steve Jobs above). He described Google’s relationship with Apple as a partnership in some areas (such as Google apps on the iPhone) and a competition with in others (such as iPhone versus Android).

“I expect that to be stable for a while,” Schmidt said.

Russian electronic commerce site KupiVIP.ru has raised $20 million in a funding round led by Accel Partners.

The Moscow-based company has been operating for a year and it has more than a million members in its online shopping club. KupiVIP.ru sells discounted fashion goods from 500 different brands. Oskar Hartmann, chief executive, said that the round was the largest investment to date in a Russian e-commerce vendor.

Other investors are Mangrove Capital Partners, ARLAN, Direct Group and business angel, Oliver Jung. Sonali De Rycker from Accel will join KupiVIP.ru’s board. The company previously raised $11 million in 2008. The capital will be used to invest in logistics and operational infrastructure. KupiVIP.ru plans to double the number of brands to 1,000 in 2010, and grow the number of sales events to 2,500.

The company has about 170 employees. Buyers clubs such as KupiVIP.ru have been doing well during the recession across Europe because they offer big discounts on designer goods.

Not long after Google announced it had acquired mobile advertising firm AdMob, Apple has announced the acquisition of its own mobile advertising firm, Quattro Wireless. The announcement came today just after All Things D broke the rumor that the deal was imminent. Quattro cofounder and CEO Andrew Miller has been named vice president of mobile advertising for Apple as part of the deal.

Apple paid a reported $275 million for Quattro, a much better deal than Google ended up paying for rival mobile ad firm AdMob. Google ponied up $750 million in an attempt to outbid Apple, which had also reportedly made an offer for the company. That price is approximately 16.7 times AdMob’s sales, “the sort of price rarely seen in takeover deals since the heady days of the dot-com boom,” according to Reuters.

Google contends that its acquisition of AdMob is meant to complement its own search- and Web-based advertising, though it’s worth noting that AdMob ads are featured prominently in many free, ad-supported iPhone applications. The FTC is currently investigating the deal between AdMob and Google, and there is an implication that Google CEO Eric Schmidt’s recently vacated position on Apple’s board of directors may have made him privy to Apple’s plans to move into mobile advertising.

Meanwhile, shortly after Google announced a partnership with streaming music service Lala, Apple announced that it had acquired the company. It is believed that Apple plans to incorporate Lala into iTunes and extend the iTunes Store with streaming-based options in addition to downloads. In the meantime, the deal with Google remains in place.

Given Apple’s foray into cloud-based services such as MobileMe and iWork.com, and the company’s integration of services with its mobile devices, it’s certain that the acquisition of Quattro will fit into Apple’s growing mobile strategy. The company may be leveraging mobile advertising opportunities for a long-rumored tablet product expected to be announced later this month. It could also be offering a way to advertise on the iPhone. Apple did not respond to a request for comment on its mobile advertising plans.

With Google’s plan to offer the Nexus One smartphone directly to consumers, its Android smartphone OS, and its array of online services and online advertising, it’s clear that the rivalry between Apple and Google is kicking into high gear.

What is a “Brief” post?”

Disney’s getting a social media infusion at the highest level. Sheryl Sandberg, the chief operating officer of Facebook, has just been nominated to join Walt Disney’s board of directors. Facebook’s second-in-command will join the board once she’s elected next year (a virtual certainty).

She’s certainly qualified. Before becoming Facebook’s COO in 2008, she was the VP of online sales and operations at Google. Before that, she was chief of staff at the U.S. Treasury Department. Once elected to the board, she’ll become co-workers with another tech titan: Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple.

Why did Disney choose her? Beyond the fact that she’s more than qualified, it’s a signal that Disney is looking to push its web and social media presence to new heights. Sheryl’s expertise in online advertising and management could prove invaluable as it increasingly looks to its web properties (e.g. Hulu) to bolster its revenue and expand its reach.

Tags: facebook, Walt Disney

Google CEO Eric Schmidt is in the spotlight once again for potential conflict of interest for serving on Apple’s board of directors. However, he told reporters yesterday that he will discuss the issue with Apple before making any move to step down from his post on the board.

The Federal Trade Commission began an investigation this spring because two of Apple’s board members, Schmidt and former Genentech CEO Arthur Levinson, also sit on the board for Google. Antitrust law prohibits an individual from sitting on the boards of competing companies if it might lead to anti-competitive behavior. Both companies make competing mobile device operating systems, competing browsers (though both are based on WebKit), and even have somewhat-competing suites of online services. And, now that Google has announced its intent to release Chrome OS, it seems the potential for conflict is even greater.

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Originally posted 2009-07-10 22:18:46. Republished by Old Post Promoter

If you’ve ever had to visit the emergency room at your local hospital then you’re no stranger to a jam packed waiting room, crying babies and a long wait. In an effort to remedy the problem, My Health Direct, a company that provides a web-based software for healthcare providers to redirect patients with non-emergency conditions to other health care providers, has secured $4 million in first round funding led by Chrysalis Ventures.

In the press release, founder and chief executive Jay Mason says the funding will be used for expansion, both geographically and beyond the emergency room.

The platform is mainly used by nurses in emergency rooms at hospitals and clinics. As patients call or visit the ER, the nurses can determine their emergency status. If the patient is deemed as non-emergency, the nurses can then search and schedule appointments using the My Health Direct software with other healthcare providers in the community. The result, a reduction of unnecessary visits to hospital emergency rooms, but non-emergency patients still get treated. The appeal for healthcare providers is an overall cost savings because patients are directed to the most appropriate healthcare professional, and not forcing the provider to absorb the ER cost.

This is the second healthcare/information technology deal that Louisville, Ky.-based Chrysalis has closed in the past month.  On November 17th, Chrysalis announced its investment of $5 million in NextImage Medical, a provider of radiology services.

As part of the funding, David A. Jones, Jr., Chrysalis Ventures Chairman & Managing Director will be joining the My Health Direct’s board.