Nokia to Lay Off 1,800 Employees

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

Espoo, Finland – Nokia (NYSE:NOK) announced on Thursday that it will
lay off up to 1,800 employees, as part of its plan to simplify operations in
product creation at its Symbian and Services units. "The aim is to
accelerate the company’s transformation towards a leading mobile solutions
provider, and to do this we are simplifying and integrating operations within
our product creation and corporate functions," said Juha , Nokia’s
executive vice president of human resources.

The layoffs come shortly after
Stephen Elop was named the company’s new chief executive.

Nokia counts a total of around 131,500 employees.

Related Links:
http://tinyurl.com/2bk5l3r

BBC to Invest $39 Million in Local TV, Online Start-ups

By
Mark Hefflinger
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0

London – The BBC will begin funding local multimedia
start-up companies, beginning in 2013-14 with an initial fund of about $39
million.

The fund will invest in up to twenty local TV and online services.

The
BBC will also commit up to $8 million per year in 2014-15 to acquire content
for use on its own services from these new services.

 

Related Links:
http://tinyurl.com/26wf88z
(PDF)

http://tinyurl.com/2d3vyng
(PaidContent)

KPCB

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

VC Firm Kleiner Perkins Launches $250M 'sFund' for Social Media

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
2

Palo Alto, Calif. – Venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins
Caufield & Byers on Thursday announced the launch of a new $250 million
fund that will be used to invest in entrepreneurs inventing social applications
and services. Also backing the fund are Amazon.com (NASD:  AMZN), Facebook, Zynga, Comcast (NASD:  CMCSA),
Liberty Media (NASD:  LINTA) and Allen & Co.

The "sFund" will be led by KPCB
partner Bing Gordon, former chief creative officer and longtime executive at
Electronic Arts and board director of Amazon.com and Zynga.

In addition to
funding, Amazon will provide sFund investments with access to its Amazon Web
Service, while Facebook will provide access to Facebook Credits and other
resources; Zynga and Comcast will also contribute company resources.

The sFund
follows on the firm’s successful "iFund," which focused on iPhone
application development and backed firms such as the recently-acquired Ngmoco.

Recent
investments in the social space by KPCB include Cafebots, Flipboard, Jive and
Lockerz.

 

 

Related Links:
http://www.kpcb.com/news/article.php?id=2010_10_21_sfund_launch

http://www.kpcb.com/sfund

Poptent Lands $3 Million for Crowdsourced Video

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

Los Angeles – Poptent, a social network focused on
crowdsourcing video, has raised $3 million in its first round of financing, led
by MK Capital.

Founded in 2007, Poptent connects brand advertisers and agencies
with 20,000 independent video creators in the U.S. and over 80 countries.

The
company also announced that it has hired former KidZui president Andy Jedynak
as its new CEO.

Poptent will use the new funds to hire additional sales and
engineering talent, improve its infrastructure and expand its network of video
creators.

 

Related Links:
http://tinyurl.com/27qqrje

http://www.poptent.net

Intel Capital Backs OpenFeint Mobile Social Gaming Platform

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

Burlingame, Calif. – Aurora Feint, developer of the
OpenFeint mobile social gaming network, announced on Thursday that it has
closed a new round of funding led by Intel Capital.

Burlingame, Calif.-based
Aurora Feint says that its platform has added 3,400 games and over 45 million
mobile gamers in just over a year.

"OpenFeint’s momentum and established
user base have positioned OpenFeint as the mobile social gaming platform
preferred by developers and publishers," said Mike Buckley, managing
director of Intel Capital.

"With this investment, Intel Capital is
investing in a robust ecosystem of gaming content that we hope to help Aurora
Feint scale globally."

The company will use the funds to expand its
platform for multi-platform mobile gaming for smartphones and tablets.

 

Related Links:
http://www.openfeint.com

Leisure Activity Search Site Goby Raises $2.5 Million

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

Boston – Goby.com, a Boston-based search engine focused on
leisure activities, announced on Thursday that it has raised an additional $2.5
million in its first round of venture capital.

The funds came from investors
including Flybridge Capital Partners and Kepha Partners, and bring the total
raised in the round to $7.5 million.

Launched in 2009, goby focuses on Web
searches about leisure activities.

The company said it has grown its audience
in 2010 from 50,000 visitors in January to more than 500,000 in July, a tenfold
increase in six months.

 

Related Links:
http://www.goby.com

ShopSocially Gets $1.1 Million for Social Retail Service

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

Mountain View, Calif. – ShopSocially, a site that allows
friends to exchange shopping recommendations, has raised a new $1.1 million
funding round led by Valhalla Partners.

Angel investors Raman Khanna, Ashish
Gupta and Dharmesh Thakker also participated in the company’s first round.

Launched
earlier this year, Mountain View, Calif.-based ShopSocially currently boasts
more than 10,000 product recommendations.

"While online buying is very
easy now, online shopping remains a frustrating experience," said
co-founder and CEO Jai Rawat.

"ShopSocially allows you to participate in a
shopping conversation with your friends making it easy, fun and of course,
trusted."

Kiran Hebbar, a partner at Valhalla, said the company operates "at
the confluence of e-commerce and social marketing, both being multi-billion
dollar markets."

 

Related Links:
http://tinyurl.com/29p3fbo

http://shopsocial.ly

Googlers Create Video for "It Gets Better" Anti-Bullying Project

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

Mountain View, Calif. – A group of LGBT employees at Google (NASD: GOOG)
have created a video to contribute to journalist Dan Savage’s "It Gets
Better" project, which is soliciting videos where people relate their own
struggles in youth with coming out and anti-gay bullying, and send a message
that life "gets better." The project was created in response to the
recent rash of suicides among young people who were bullied because of their
real or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity.

 

Related Links:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYLs4NCgvNU

http://www.itgetsbetterproject.com

Rhapsody Programming VP Tim Quirk Takes Job at Google

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

Los Angeles – Tim Quirk, the vice president of music
programming at Rhapsody, has left to take a job at Google (NASD: GOOG), Billboard reports.
The move prompted some to ponder whether Quirk would spearhead Google’s
forthcoming music service, but sources told Billboard he will take on "a
mid-level programming role similar to what he did at Rhapsody, not heading up
the service."

 

Related Links:
http://tinyurl.com/395cx2q
(Billboard)

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