funding

Facebook members can now vote on the second round of finalists for its FBFund seed funding competition, which will give out a total of $225,000 to five grand prize winners. The 25 companies currently in the running have already pocketed $25,000 apiece for the applications they have proposed for Facebook's third-party developer platform.

This is the second annual FBFund competition, but the first one in which members have been able to vote on their favorite apps. They can vote once per day, and can watch promotional "commercials" about what each one of them does. Voting … Read more

Vacation home rental site HomeAway announced Tuesday it received a substantial $250 million fourth round of funding.

HomeAway, which has raised $405 million to date in private equity, received its latest round from lead investor Technology Crossover Ventures, along with existing investors Institutional Venture Partners and Redpoint Ventures.

HomeAway's $250 million third round represents the largest U.S. venture stake for an Internet company over the past eight years, according to Venture Source.

Companies that tend to raise sizable venture rounds in excess of $100 million tend to be in capital intensive industries, such as networking company Santera Systems … Read more

The Federal Communications Commission is postponing a controversial vote on how phone companies pay each other for long-distance calls that traverse their networks.

The commission was expected to vote Tuesday on a proposal spearheaded by Chairman Kevin Martin that would have drastically changed intercarrier compensation, the complex system established between phone companies for paying each other for connecting long-distance calls. It would have also changed how fees are assessed and collected for the Universal Service Fund, which helps phone companies provide service in rural areas.

But on Monday, the FCC pulled the item from its agenda, which means a vote … Read more

Zuora, a company that offers an on-demand subscription billing and payment service, announced Tuesday that it has secured $15 million in Series B funding. According to the company, the round was led by Shasta Ventures and Lehman Brothers Venture Partners. Benchmark Capital and Marc Benioff, chairman and CEO of Salesforce.com, also participated.

Zuora's funding round comes amid concerns that venture capitalists aren't as willing to invest cash in start-ups as they were just a few months ago. But as Jason Pressman, managing director at Shasta Ventures points out, maybe that fear is unwarranted.

"Now is the … Read more

Access 360 Media, an out-of-home media network catering to young adults, announced Tuesday that it raised $8 million in a Series B round led by Mission Ventures and Bessemer Venture Partners. The company's executives said the funding will be used to accelerate the company's growth and capitalize on opportunities in the market.

Access 360 Media has carved out a significant niche by focusing its attention on young adults. The company has formed partnerships with major retailers worldwide and uses in-store, online, and mobile marketing campaigns to target an audience that amounts to 170 million people in 14,000 … Read more

iStorez, a company that collects specials and coupons from online stores and bundles them together to help visitors find savings across the Web, announced Monday that it obtained $2.3 million in first-round funding from Norwest Venture Partners

Although it's competing with services like Savings.com and SilkFair, iStorez doesn't focus as much on the social element of savings like the others do. Instead, iStorez offers a series of weekly newsletters from major online retailers and coupons that allow visitors to save a little extra cash before they make a purchase.

iStorez is owned by the Kriyari network, … Read more

Call it the elephant approach to sizing up the health of tech.

In two separate reports released Monday, Forrester Research CEO George Colony and Mayfield Fund weighed in on where they believe tech is headed in this challenging climate.

Colony, who took hold of the proverbial elephant's trunk, noted in his CounterIntuitive blog that the current recession will likely result in a tech spending slowdown, but nothing near the levels seen in the post-bubble-burst era of 2001 to 2003.

He noted CEOs and CIOs are indicating they plan to "change their way" out of the current economic … Read more

Martini Media Network, an advertising network that caters to the affluent, said Monday it has raised an undisclosed amount of Series A funding.

The company also announced that it hired Skip Brand, chief revenue officer at Pudding Media and a former advertising and business development employee at Yahoo, Cox Communications, and Excite@Home, to take the reins as CEO.

"Martini Media targets high net-worth individuals through lifestyle pursuits such as polo and yachting, letting luxury and premier brands connect with these elusive consumers online," Brand said in a statement. "I look forward to working alongside the entire … Read more

Crispy Gamer, a video game site that has emerged from beta with 1 million unique visitors, said Monday it has raised $8.25 million from Constellation Ventures.

Crispy Gamer's executives have their sights set on attracting video game junkies. The site features the basics: news, reviews, and previews. But it boasts a unique revenue model. According to the company, it won't run any advertising from video game publishers.

Instead of going with such ads, Crispy Gamer will use its predominantly male demographic, ages 18 to 49, to attract advertisers outside the video game industry, such as tech and … Read more