Tag | south-africa
Foursquare Founders Pull Out $4.6 Million For Themselves From Last $20 Million Round
Dennis Crowley didn’t get the big personal payday he would have if he had sold Foursquare to Facebook, which he almost did. But Crowley and co-founder Naveen Selvadurai did okay with the $20 million Series B funding they raised from Andreessen Horowitz, Union Square, and O’Reilly AlphaTech. According to an SEC filing (first spotted by Dan Frommer at SAI ), the two founders personally took home $4,636,688 from that round, or 23 percent of the total amount raised. Under a part of the filing titled “Use of Proceeds,” the company had to disclose “the amount of the gross proceeds of the offering that has been or is proposed to be used for payments to any of the persons required to be named as executive officers, directors or promoters in response to Item 3 above.” There are only three people listed as “executive officers, directors or promoters”: Crowley, Selvadurai, and board director Albert Wenger of Union Square. It would be highly unusual for one of the VCs on the board to take personal liquidity out of a deal before his firm does. And Union Square put more money into this round. No wonder Crowley flew to South Africa to watch some of the World Cup games right after the round closed. With the IPO markets not as attractive as they once were and companies staying private longer, it is becoming increasingly common for founders to take some money off the table during later venture rounds. (Other recent venture rounds saw much bigger sums going to founders). As long as the company does well, nobody will blame them. But if the company hits on hard times when that cash could be helpful, well . . . then a different story will be told. Update : Foursquare says the founders sold shares essentially so that investors could buy more. Spokesperson Erin Gleason sent me the following statement: As is common in Series B financings, Dennis and Naveen sold a small portion of their personal equity as a secondary offering to allow our investors to achieve their ownership objectives. CrunchBase Information Dennis Crowley Naveen Selvadurai Foursquare Information provided by CrunchBase
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Foursquare Founders Pull Out $4.6 Million For Themselves From Last $20 Million Round
The Mobile Web Lights Up Between 8 PM And Midnight
Opera has released its latest State of the Mobile Web report, and once again it has registered reasonable growth, with Opera Mini users increasing by 4.2% compared to April 2010. Since that month, page views have also gone up 7.7%, Opera says. For this report, Opera analyzed one 24-hour period to see how Opera Mini is used throughout the day in the top 10 countries (Indonesia, Russia, India, China, Nigeria, Ukraine, South Africa, the United States, Vietnam and the United Kingdom). Turns out that for all of those, regardless of differences in economy, culture or location, the four hours between 8 PM and midnight apparently account for a disproportionate amount of mobile data consumption. Opera found that during said 24-hour period, the highest level of Opera Mini use is at nighttime, from 8 PM to midnight with little difference in data consumption between weekdays and weekends, in all of the top 10 countries. Curiously, users in the UK appear to be just as likely to browse on their phones between 8 AM and noon. Other fun tidbits from the report: – Night owls: compared to users in the other top 10 countries, users in the United States are more likely to be browsing with Opera Mini between midnight and 4 AM. – Early risers: compared to users in the other top 10 countries, users in the UK are more likely to be browsing between 4 AM and noon. – In general, evening browsing (between 4 PM and midnight) is more common than daytime browsing (between 8 AM and 4 PM), except in China and the UK where daytime/evening usage is about even. Is this consistent with your mobile browsing habits, considering you’re in either one of the top 10 countries? CrunchBase Information Opera Mini Opera Software Information provided by CrunchBase
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The Mobile Web Lights Up Between 8 PM And Midnight
Japan’s World Cup Win Over Denmark Scores Record Number Of Tweets Per Second
Last week we reported that Twitter saw a record number of Tweets-per-second (or TPS) after the Lakers win over the Celtics in the deciding game of the NBA Championship. That event generated 3,085 TPS as the game ended. On an average day, Twitter sees about 750 TPS and 65 million total Tweets a day. But with the World Cup causing massive traffic to Twitter, this record was bound to be short-lived. Today, Twitter announced that Japan’s 3-1 victory over Denmark yesterday resulted in 3,283 TPS. Of course, Twitter cautioned that it is tough to pinpoint any records set this week on a single World Cup game because many are being played simultaneously. Apparently, the Netherlands/Cameroon game ended six minutes prior to the Japan/Denmark game. And total numbers, Twitter says, were fairly similar to the first week when only one game was being played at a time. Last week the all time highs were in terms of Tweets-per-second took place after goals were scored in the following games: Japan scores against Cameroon on June 14 in their 1-0 victory (2,940 TPS), Brazil scores their first goal against North Korea in their 2-1 June 14 victory (2,928 TPS) and Mexico ties South Africa in their June 11 game (2,704 TPS). Unfortunately, as a result of this high traffic to Twitter, the network has suffered a c onsiderable amount of downtime. And the downtime even caused Twitter to reschedule its ‘oauthcalypse’ for August because of the heavy usage during the World Cup. CrunchBase Information Twitter Information provided by CrunchBase
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Japan’s World Cup Win Over Denmark Scores Record Number Of Tweets Per Second
BZZZZZZ: YouTube Gets A Vuvuzela Button (Seriously)
YouTube always has had a way with pranks. Some time in the last hour, the world’s largest video portal activated a new button on some videos that looks like a tiny soccer ball. Clicking it will activate an endless, incredibly annoying sound that sounds vaguely like a swarm of insects. Or, for anyone who has been watching the World Cup, like the dreaded Vuvuzela — an instrument commonly played in South Africa at football (soccer) games. South Africa is, of course, the host country for this year’s World Cup, and fans watching the games have been subjected to the vuvuzela’s mindless drone for hours on end. The noise is so annoying that television networks have taken measures to filter it out, and guides have popped up showing viewers how to block it from their TV sets and computers. But despite complaints, FIFA has decided not to ban the vuvuzela because of its traditional significance. Fun fact: one report says that the guy who brought the plastic vuvuzela to the market in South Africa is also in the business of selling ear plugs. Smart guy. I’m not seeing the button show up on all videos, but it is definitely appearing on some clips that aren’t soccer related. Here’s one that has it. Thanks to Ambuj Saxena for the tip. CrunchBase Information YouTube Information provided by CrunchBase
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BZZZZZZ: YouTube Gets A Vuvuzela Button (Seriously)
How To Make The Most Of The World Cup: Apps, Web Sites, Podcasts and More!
Let’s get down to business. The World Cup begins tomorrow, June 11, 2010. The tournament kicks off with hosts South Africa against Mexico at 9:30am ET/6:30am PT on ESPN in the U.S. (International readers: you’ll have to consult your local listings.) Consider this post a general how-to on making the most of the tournament. Mobile Apps, helpful Web sites, podcasts, etc. Woo~!
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How To Make The Most Of The World Cup: Apps, Web Sites, Podcasts and More!
England Vs USA – It’s The TechCrunch World Cup Face-Off
This Saturday England will play the USA in the South Africa World Cup 2010. Personally, I’m hoping England won’t be as complacent as it was in 1950. Back then, the first World Cup saw after the Second World War saw the two teams face each other for the first time. After winning 23 of its preceding 30 games, England was feeling pretty confident. What did the Yanks know about football anyway? When the match kicked off on 29th June, the USA took the lead in the 38th minute. They won 1–0 (that’s “One Nil” BTW). So we present for you our handy list of iPhone apps and sites to follow the World Cup action, and a taster of what it would be like if the two Englishmen on the TechCrunch team (myself and Paul Carr) faced-off against TechCrunch’s Mike Arrington, Erick Schonfeld and MG Seigler.
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England Vs USA – It’s The TechCrunch World Cup Face-Off
Twitter Quietly Adds World Cup Theme
If Twitter is fast becoming the world’s watercooler as it is, watch what happens in the next few weeks as the World Cup takes over the planet. And as with any event of that size and – being a football fan at heart – importance, rest assured that hip Internet companies will be scrambling to lay some easter eggs. Yesterday, we learned that Google has a special surprise in store for those who search for ‘world cup’ – scroll to the bottom if you’ve been living under a rock for the past 24 hours and you don’t know what we’re referring to. An eagle-eyed reader just alerted us to the fact Twitter itself is also doing its part, by quietly adding a custom ‘South Africa 2010′ theme to its design gallery. We don’t know how long it’s been there, but here’s how to get it: go to Twitter.com, log on, go to Settings and then click the Design tab. The theme can be found at the bottom. Update: also, staff picks on the SUL for World Cup (thanks @Orli ) On a sidenote, the official Fifa World Cup 2010 Twitter account is @fifaworldcuptm , the most-used hashtags seem to be #WC2010 and, of course, #worldcup . (Hat tip to Michel Wester ) CrunchBase Information Twitter Information provided by CrunchBase
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Twitter Quietly Adds World Cup Theme
PayPal Powers eBay’s First Quarter, eBay Beats Consensus
eBay squeezed past the Street’s expectations, reporting first quarter profits of 42 cents a share (or $554.2 million) on revenues of $2.2 billion, analysts were looking for profits of 41 cents a share. Revenues gained 9% from the year ago, thanks to a jump in sales in the Payments and the Marketplace businesses. Gross margins dropped slightly to 30.6% in the period, down from 30.7%, driven by growth in PayPal (a relatively lower-margin business). “We are improving the fundamentals of our business, strengthening eBay Marketplaces and aggressively growing PayPal to become the leader in global online payments,” CEO John Donahoe said in the press release. For the second quarter, eBay is looking for revenues of $2.15 to $2.20 billion and non-GAAP earnings of $0.37 to $0.39 a share. The company’s Payments division continues to be eBay’s growth driver, achieving a record first quarter as PayPal gained increased traction on eBay . Some key numbers: overall payment volume rose 35% to $21.3 billion, sales advanced 26% to $809.3 million. In the release, eBay said it remains “focused on consumer and merchant adoption on and off eBay, expansion of PayPal’s open platform initiative and the ongoing integration of Bill Me Later.” On the Payments end, there were several news events during the quarter (including a major deal with China UnionPay), especially its progress on the mobile front. The company’s Send Money app was downloaded more than a million times in its first three weeks and PayPal X (a platform developers can use to process mobile transactions with PayPal) has already recorded $30 million in payment volume. Its marketplaces segment, led by eBay, showed decent growth in the quarter, helped by currency fluctuations and overall revenue growth (sales added 13% to $1.4 billion). Highlights From The Conference Call: – Mobile is driving significant e-commerce and payments volume. – Approximately 8 million merchants accept PayPay, 84 million active or registered accounts – Nearly 60% of PayPal’s TPV comes from merchant services – eBay’s Sold items in US, UK accelerated for the fourth consecutive quarter – Still trying to position eBay as a fashion destination – eBay’s mobile app has been downloaded 8.5 million times – Marketplace turnaround is “on track” – Maintaining full-year guidance – 40% of PayPal’s TPV (total payments volume) was generated outside the US, versus 35% for the year ago period – 60% of Marketplaces’ revenues were generated outside of the US, versus 54% for the year ago period. – Expects PayPal’s global take rate to come down more during the course of the year. – Ongoing weakness in Western Europe. – On Asia, visiting China: “Man, there’s just really, really impressive growth.” – In addition to the China UnionPay deal, eBay has signed deals w. Singapore, South Africa, and Japanese payment gateways. – PayPal will grow faster than expected and margins will be higher this year, increasingly confidence in marketplace changes. That will be somewhat offset by currency and tax rate issues. -Still expects margins in marketplace business to be 42% for the rest of the year. CrunchBase Information eBay Information provided by CrunchBase
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PayPal Powers eBay’s First Quarter, eBay Beats Consensus
