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PARIS -- Indiegogo, a site that lets people fund projects and companies in exchange for assorted products and perks, is expanding internationally.

Co-founder Danae Ringelmann announced today at the LeWeb conference here that the company today started accepting payments in euros, British pounds, and Canadian dollars, not just U.S. dollars, and has versions of the Web site in German and French.

"Thirty percent of our business is outside U.S., but it's all been in English in U.S. dollars," Ringelmann said. Internationalization of the business will make Indiegogo work more easily elsewhere. "If you'… Read more

Just like programming in the traditional TV world, many YouTube-backed channels providing original programming won't be back for another season.

About a year after the video-sharing site launched an ambitious program to challenge the cable industry by investing $100 million into the development of dozens of new YouTube channels, many of those channels will not receive a second round of funding.

YouTube plans to provide funding to only 30 percent to 40 percent of its original content providers, with programming partners learning their fate over the next couple of weeks, Ad Age reports.

"Our biggest objective was to … Read more

Spotify is close to closing a $100 million financing round that would value the company at a little more than $3 billion, sources tell The Wall Street Journal.

The capital would come from multiple investors, including Goldman Sachs, although the Journal did not identify who the other investors were.

CNET has contacted Spotify for comment and will update this report when we learn more.

In a funding round last year, the music-streaming service raised about $100 million from venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and Russian investment firm DST Global, to give it a $1 billion valuation. More … Read more

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

Sometimes we kick ourselves for missing out on a good Kickstarter. There's that moment of sorrow when we see something awesome is already funded and done without us. Then we eventually forget about it.

Kickfollower is a combination of a gentle reminder and a discovery tool for crowdfunded projects. It aggregates successful projects that are now reality and available for purchase from online stores.… Read more

Kickstarter has been barraged by questions regarding its responsibility to people who fund projects on its platform, and today it addressed many of these concerns.

The crowd-sourced funding platform announced that project creators must now address the risks and challenges of their projects, can no longer use renderings of their proposals, and cannot give mass quantities of their finished products to funders.

"It's hard to know how many people feel like they're shopping at a store when they're backing projects on Kickstarter, but we want to make sure that it's no one," the company'… Read more

Corporate venture-capital funding was on the rise during the second quarter of 2012.

Research firm CB Insights, which provides quarterly data on VC investments, revealed today that a total of $2.1 billion was offered up to startups during the second quarter in just 118 deals. The total invested capital nearly doubled the first quarter's $1.09 billion in investments. During the second quarter of 2011, funding hit $1.81 billion.

So, where is that cash going? According to CB Insights, Facebook's $1 billion acquisition of Instagram prompted corporate venture capitalists to flock to the mobile arena, where … Read more

Square is growing by leaps, bounds, and venti lattes.

The payment-processing company, which allows merchants to swipe cards with a device connected to mobile devices, today announced that it's now handling $8 billion in transactions every year. Just a year ago, that figure stood at over $1 billion, and earlier this year, Square CEO Jack Dorsey said the company was processing $4 billion in transactions per year.

That growth has meant far more revenue for Square. Although the company doesn't divulge its financials, it takes a fee of 2.75 percent for each card swipe through its service. … Read more

Check out ThingsWeStart, a Web site launched earlier this week that displays current Kickstarter projects on an interactive map. Users of the site can drag their mouse around and view local projects, or perhaps peep on an endeavor in a nearby city.

Aside from a general search by city, state, or ZIP code, the magnifying glass near the ThingsWeStart logo offers the option to filter by the type of Kickstarter project. This provides a unique lens to see ventures in lesser-known categories, such as fashion, theater, publishing, design, and so on. Clicking on a project lets you view the related video and a link to see the listing on Kickstarter. … Read more