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NYC's Silicon Alley badly trails Silicon Valley in startup influence

NYC's Silicon Alley badly trails Silicon Valley in startup influence

With the success of companies like Tumblr, Foursquare, and Kickstarter, New York's startup scene has gotten a lot of attention recently.

But despite the influence of those outfits and venture capitalists like Union Square Ventures' Fred Wilson, the Big Apple is a backwater when it comes to the world startup scene, according to a new report from the Startup Genome project.

In the study, New York City came in as just the fifth-ranked startup ecosystem in the world, trailing Silicon Valley, Israel's Tel Aviv, Los Angeles, and Seattle.

To come up with its rankings, the Startup Genome -- … Read more

Medium hires former literary agent as director of content

Medium hires former literary agent as director of content

Medium, a publishing platform being developed by Twitter co-founder Ev Williams, has hired a director of content.

Williams announced on his company's blog yesterday that Medium has hired Kate Lee, former literary agent at International Creative Management. Lee left her job at ICM in April, after deciding that she wanted to have some time off. She spent 10 years at ICM and focused heavily on bringing blog writers to the book publishing world.

In her new role at Medium, Lee will serve as director of content, a job that will see her "help get great stuff onto Medium,&… Read more

Steve Case: America must 'double down on entrepreneurs' (Q&A)

Steve Case: America must 'double down on entrepreneurs' (Q&A)

Steve Case, who made his vast fortune as the co-founder of America Online, wants to help America's startup scene flourish. Not the scene in Silicon Valley, but in all the pockets between there and the East Coast -- what he calls the "rise of the rest." Cities like Cleveland, Memphis and Detroit. Through his Washington, D.C-based firm, Revolution, Case has invested in about 25 non-Valley startups, including LivingSocial and the now-public Zipcar.

That mission plays into his big cause at the moment, pushing to reform America's high-skilled immigration system so that the country keeps and … Read more

Uber faces new legal challenge, at home in San Francisco

Uber faces new legal challenge, at home in San Francisco

It looks like Uber has yet another legal hurdle to surmount, this time on its home turf in San Francisco.

The popular ride-summoning startup, which has recently dealt with regulatory challenges in Washington D.C., New York, and Chicago, is now being sued in San Francisco by the city's cab drivers, who are claiming unfair business practices.

The fast-growing service, which allows customers to use smartphones to arrange transportation in several U.S. cities, announced last month that in the San Francisco market it was testing out a taxi service option within the Uber app, alongside its existing sedan … Read more

Pet sitting site DogVacay fetches $6 million more in funding

Pet sitting site DogVacay fetches $6 million more in funding

DogVacay, the site that matches people who need a dog sitter with people who are interested in caring for dogs in their homes, is growing faster than a kibble-guzzling puppy.

The company, which launched in March and has about 8,000 hosts signed up on its network, recently hit $1 million in payments to its hosts. It's just received a $6 million investment from Benchmark Capital, co-founder and CEO Aaron Hirschhorn revealed today.

The site, which acts like an Airbnb for dogs, offers an affordable -- and more social -- alternative to kennels for dog owners, while giving hosts … Read more

Jack Dorsey: An IPO is not an exit plan

Jack Dorsey: An IPO is not an exit plan

Twitter co-founder and Square CEO Jack Dorsey has reiterated Twitter's cautious approach to being a public company by saying that a company's initial public offering shouldn't be the end-all for startups.

"You can think of an IPO as an exit or a goal, or you can think of it as more of a milestone. For us, it's a milestone," he told CNBC's Maria Bartiromo in a segment aired today.

When asked about Twitter's plan to become a public company, Dorsey said the company will go public "when we feel the company … Read more

What Square's rise means for the startup ecosystem

What Square's rise means for the startup ecosystem

Square is different than any other startup that has come before it, and its growing influence and size will inevitably lead to a change in the way entrepreneurs run their companies and venture capitalists invest.

There's no doubt that Square is on the rise, but it is set to accelerate its growth, thanks to a strategic investment from Starbucks that places Square's technology in front of millions of consumers. And thanks to Starbucks, Square's revenue and valuation are set to soar.

Perhaps this is why more pundits are calling Square "Silicon Valley's next great company,&… Read more

Friendster founder raises $1.7M for social startup Nuzzel

Friendster founder raises $1.7M for social startup Nuzzel

A decade after his startup Friendster paved the way for online social networks, Jonathan Abrams is back with a new social project. And as of today, he has some high-profile investors supporting his plan.

Nuzzel, a startup that collects all the most-shared links in your Facebook and Twitter feeds and presents them in a clean, easy-to-read format, raised $1.7 million in seed funding from investors including 500 Startups' Dave McClure, "The Lean Startup" author Eric Ries, Slide's Max Levchin, Andreessen Horowitz's Ronny Conway, and the Founders Den's Zachary Bogue, who is also the husband … Read more

Google Ventures reportedly gets $100 million funding boost

Google Ventures, the search giant's venture-capital arm, is getting more cash to play with.

Google Ventures will now be allowed to invest up to $300 million a year into startups, up from the previous limit of $200 million per year. The boost was reported to Reuters by Google Ventures managing partner Bill Maris, who told the news outlet that the increased cash "puts a lot more wood behind the arrow if we need it."

Google Ventures kicked off in 2009 as a way for the search giant to identify early-stage companies and give them cash to help … Read more

Social-networking app Path finally forges its way to the iPad

Social-networking app Path finally forges its way to the iPad

Path, the social-networking app that helps family members and close friends stay in touch, is now making its way to the iPad.

According to Path, the app was built from the ground up and supports both landscape and portrait orientations. Path is especially excited about the landscape orientation, saying that it will provide a full collage of the day's events in a single pane, thanks to the iPad's larger screen screen size. Upon clicking on a photo in the collage of images and videos, users will get a full-screen view and see comments associated with it.

The iPad'… Read more

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