Spigit.com, a company that allows companies to connect their customers, employees and partners via social networking tools, has landed a $10 million equity investment. The investment comes from Warburg Pincus, an equity firm that does business around the world.
Patrick Severson, Warburg Pincus’ managing director, points out how a number of companies are already using the Spigit.com platform.
Said Severson: “Some of the most visionary companies in the world have already discovered the power of Spigit’s platform to drive profitable innovation and we look forward to helping solidify the company’s position as a market leader in innovation management.”
Spigit.com will use the money …read more

Crunch.co.uk, an online accounting startup that is aimed at helping freelancers, recently received funding. The notable aspect about the funding is the source of the funding.
Michael van Swaaij, the Chairman of Skype, and Paul Birch, the co-founder of Bebo, were the duo behind the funding of Crunch.co.uk.
Said van Swaaij: “The accounting industry is ripe for some disruption in order to make it more efficient, lower cost and less time consuming for freelancers. Freelancing is booming and here to stay as a form of employment, giving millions of people access to work and income otherwise out of their reaches.”
Especially for freelance …read more

Google ventures led the Series D financing of Adimab, a company that discovers human antibodies. The amount of funding Google Ventures gave Adimab wasn’t released. Along with Google Ventures, Adimab also got funding from SV Life Sciences, Polaris Ventures, Borealis Ventures and OrbiMed Advisors.
Said Errik Anderson, Adimab’s COO: “Adimab reviewed multiple investment proposals but it was clear that Google Ventures immediately understood our value proposition – that a prolific discovery platform can drive even greater productivity when integrated with advanced computational tools.”
Bill Maris of Google Ventures, who called Adimab’s technology “groundbreaking”, says that Google can also help out the company …read more

Chocri, a customized chocolate bar company based in Germany, recently won a German startup award presented by WirtschaftsWoche. The award was for a yearly competition in Germany for companies who could survive on the global market. For winning the award, Chocri received more than $400,000 worth of services aimed at helping a startup company.
With Chocri, customers can create their own chocolate bar. First they choose their chocolate base (white, milk or dark). Secondly, toppings are selected. Finally, customers pick a name for their chocolate bar and select the type of wrapper they want.
Said Franz Duge, Chocri’s co-founder: “Since chocri was …read more

Fisker Automotive Inc., a startup car company based in California, has received a loan from the United States government valued at $529 million. With the load, Fisker Automotive hopes to build hybrid sports cars.
The cars, which will be built in the country of Finland, would have a price tag of about $90,000. The hope for this startup car company is that people who want a slick looking hybrid car will be willing to pay.
The U.S. government hasn’t been shy in terms of giving money to car companies. If they haven’t been bailing out the giant auto companies, they’ve been giving …read more

Livebookings, the largest restaurant reservation service in Europe, has received $16 million in their latest round of funding. The company, which has employees and partners in a total of 19 countries, received its funding mostly from Wellington Partners, a venture capital firm.
With the latest round of funding, Livebooking will look to expand and strengthen its position as the industry leader in Europe.
“Livebookings has grown aggressively since day one and we’re now at a point where we see a fantastic opportunity for further managed but rapid growth supported with further investment,” said Niklas Eklund, Livebookings’ CEO. “Despite the recession, recent figures …read more

Vuclip announced that it has landed $6 million in Series B funding. The funding was led by Jafco Ventures and previous investor New Enterprise Associates. The startup plans to use the funding to help pioneering in the industry of mobile video search.
One of the main issues Vuclip has needed to tackle since the inception of the startup has been the fragmented mobile landscape. With so many different platforms and services, it is difficult to find a solution that satisfies everything. As the months go on, the mobile landscape gets more and more fragmented.
Said Nickhil Jakatdar, the CEO of Vuclip: “We’ve …read more

Avere Systems, a demand-driven storage solutions startup that plans to hit the market in fall of 2009, received $15 million in Series A funding from Norwest Venture Partners and Menlo Ventures. With a new scalable architecture, Avere Systems hopes to use multiple storage media to provide customers with solutions that will reduce cost, power and space.
Ron Bianchini, the CEO and founder of Avere Systems, has a good history in this field. He is the former CEO of Spinnaker Networks, a storage solutions company that was purchase by NetApp, Inc. for $300 million. Bianchini is just one of many impressive names …read more

Ozmo Devices recently announced that they have received $7.5 million in their latest round of funding. The funding comes from current investors including Intel Capital, Granite Ventures and Tallwood Venture Capital.
Ozmo Devices provides low-power Wi-Fi PAN solutions. Their specialty is providing wireless connectivity to something like a mouse or headset to platforms that are Wi-Fi enabled.
Len Rand of Granite Ventures points to Ozmo Devices’ growing list of relationships as a sign that the company has a bright future.
Said Rand: “Ozmo Devices has gained market traction and forged key relationships with noteworthy companies including Intel, Avago Technologies, and Wolfson Microelectronics. We …read more

If you are launching a startup company, saving money early on in the process gives your business a better chance of survival. Especially in this economy, money is tight and startups can’t always count on outside venture funding or even a loan from a bank. Here are some money saving tips for startups:
Rent don’t buy
Obviously renting your office space helps save money early on. However, also consider renting office supplies, equipment and furniture to save some dough.
Hire with care
Nothing drains money like too many employees. Early on, it’s better to have too few employees than too many.
Find your niche
Many startups …read more