I bumped into Zipwhip founder John Lauer at the paidContent wireless event last week. But the entrepreneur still wasn't sharing many details about his new company, which is planning to launch later this year.
This much I do know about the stealthy operation. They are attacking the text-messaging arena in a big way.
"Texting is now a mainstream communication medium and yet there's no good way to text from your computer. We aim to solve that," said Lauer in a recent e-mail.
I also found this company description in a job post:
Working closely with major U.S. wireless carriers, our goal is to bridge the gap between text messaging and the web. With over a dozen applications on our product roadmap we're well positioned to become the de-facto platform for text messaging on the internet.
Sounds pretty cool. But what else is interesting about Zipwhip is that Lauer is a proven entrepreneur, having sold his last company, Simplewire, to Qpass in 2006.
Lauer told me that the acquisition worked out perfectly for his team, since a few months later Qpass was purchased by Amdocs for $275 million.
Stay tuned for more details as they emerge about Zipwhip.
Cross-posted from Todd Bishop's Microsoft Blog:
Microsoft confirmed today that it has reached a deal to buy Powerset, a San Francisco-based search-technology company. The companies aren't disclosing financial terms. VentureBeat reported that the purchase price would be more than $100 million when it broke the news last week.
Powerset's technology attempts to figure out the meaning and intent behind phrases typed into search engines, seeking to improve search results. Powerset has 63 employees, and Microsoft says the Powerset team will remain in San Francisco, joining Microsoft's search team.
Microsoft has long been looking for ways to improve the position of its Live Search engine, which is in third place behind Yahoo and Google. Its failed Yahoo acquisition bid put an even bigger spotlight on its predicament.
See related posts on the Powerset and Live Search blogs.
SynapticMash is less than 10 months old. But the Seattle education startup is growing fast, approaching 30 employees and already securing contracts with about half a dozen school districts.
And now the startup has reeled in $3 million, money it will use to keep up with demand from states that are asking the company to help with various online education projects.
"We are sprinting," said SynapticMash Chief Executive Ramona Pierson, who is best known for creating The Source for the Seattle Public Schools. The online resource, launched in 2005, allows parents and students to view classroom assignments, grades, attendance, school news and other items.
SynapticMash is taking that concept to the next level, creating a number of online tools for educators, parents and students.
I am off this week, hopefully enjoying some hot, humid weather and fresh corn on the cob.
That means posting will be relatively light.
But in my absence, here's a question to chew on in light of Bill Gates stepping away from day-to-day duties at Microsoft last week.
What impact has Bill Gates and Microsoft had on Seattle's technology industry?
As you may have noticed, I've begun highlighting the most popular and most commented on posts in the right column of the blog.
So far this month, Amazon.com's Web outage is leading the pack in terms of the most read while Dylan Rosario's new business, AdUup, drove a lot of discussion.
Hopefully, you find this useful. But it got me wondering about the top comment-generating posts of all time on the blog.
Here are the top 10, with the number of comments as of June 27.
What do you think drives discussion and conversation? I have my own theories, including sex and bad news. But it would be interesting to hear your thoughts?
Etelos is unveiling a new online service today called Etelos Share that allows users to store, backup and share files.
"Etelos Share is a seamless and productive way for businesses to share files, without the hardware, technical skills and time to install and maintain their own servers," said Etelos founder Danny Kolke in a statement.
The service costs $4.95 per month for 5 GB of storage, with each additional GB costing 34 cents. Etelos maintains offices in Renton and San Mateo, Calif.
RealNetworks and MTV Networks are looking to take a bite out of Apple's dominance in the music business with the launch today of a new store that allows people to listen to full length tracks before making a 99 cent purchase.
Rhapsody, the joint venture of RealNetworks and MTV, also is announcing that it will tightly integrate the new music store with iLike, Yahoo, Verizon's VCAST Music and MTV's online properties.
The store, like one launched earlier this year by Amazon.com, offers songs in the MP3 format without the digital rights management restrictions found on most songs purchased through iTunes. The company will kick off the new offering -- branded "Music Without Limits" -- with an invite-only party in New York's trendy Chelsea neighborhood Monday. A $50 million marketing campaign, operated in conjunction with MTV, also will begin immediately.
But even though Rhapsody vice president Neil Smith believes the new store offers a compelling add on to Rhapsody's subscription music service, he was reluctant to predict that it would knock Apple off its music perch anytime soon.
"Do we want to attract a bunch of iTunes users? Of course, that would be great," said Smith. "And we expect to do that to a certain extent. But, like I said, iTunes is not going away and we don't expect the death knell of iTunes anytime as a result of this."
Historically, Rhapsody has positioned its music subscription service -- which allows users to choose and listen to any of the 5.3 million songs in the collection for $12.99 or $14.99 per month -- as an alternative to purchasing individual tracks.
By launching the new Rhapsody MP3 store where individuals now own the songs, the company could face some brand confusion.
Smith said the company has been trying to redefine Rhapsody as more than a subscription service, saying they want people to think of it as a place "where you come to listen to music" and encounter "a great music listening experience."
Tracks that are purchased by Rhapsody subscribers are clearly marked, Smith said.
Todd Bishop has the audio clip of Bill Gates' goodbye message to Microsoft employees today.
He covers more of the details here.
Last night paidContent rolled into town, hosting a wireless panel and social gala at the W Hotel.
Clearwire chief strategy officer Scott Richardson kicked off the evening with an overview of the broadband wireless provider, calling the Kirkland company a "bit factory" and noting the differences between WiMax and LTE. Of course, Richardson believes WiMax is superior and has a head start. And he noted that the "E" in LTE stands for evolution, while he said what the broadband wireless industry really needs is a revolution.
After a panel on mobile advertising, the bar opened and members of Seattle's wireless industry came out in force. (Free beer and wine has the tendency to do that.)
I bumped into Knovolo founder Greg Bouwens, who said his bootstrapped Seattle startup is moving towards positive cash flow without taking venture capital or angel financing. He also offered advice on running a startup, saying the key is survival. "A startup is like extreme skiing, just survive," he said.
Wetpaint Chief Executive Ben Elowitz -- looking rested and relaxed after closing a $25 million venture round -- showed up even though his company has no immediate plans to go heavy into the wireless arena. The wiki provider has its hands full with the new Wetpaint Injected service, which Elowitz said is gaining serious traction with some large online publishers. (Look for an announcement on partners in the coming months.)
I spent the better part of the evening chatting with Jeff Schrock of Monster Venture Partners, who was full of interesting tidbits and stories. Did you know LinkedIn was started in Seattle? I didn't.
Schrock also talked about a new Seattle startup he's supporting: Tanning.com. I laughed at the thought of Seattle -- which is only starting to see the sun after months of rain -- being the potential leader in the online tanning business. But Schrock -- who joined Monster Venture Partners earlier this year -- had some interesting facts about tanning, its growth and the lack of online resources.
I jokingly asked Bill Bryant, who was standing nearby with a glass of wine, whether Draper Fisher Jurvetson would ever consider backing Tanning.com. Bryant, who just joined the board of recently-funded WidgetBucks, said they would probably pass.
After telling Schrock that I had begun using Twitter, the former Activate and RealNetworks executive said he didn't think the service would succeed. The reason: young people aren't using it.
Across the room, Newsvine founder Mike Davidson chatted with several of his MSNBC.com cronies. I missed touching based with venture capitalist Tom Huseby who whizzed by.
SinglePoint Chief Executive Rich Begert, the former McCaw Cellular and ImageX executive, provided an example on his phone of a mobile video ad (appearing before an episode of "Project Runway.") But he also lamented that not enough was being done to promote the power of mobile advertising.
I finished the night chatting with party host Rafat Ali about blogging before heading out with ZipWhip founder (and fellow Ohioan) John Lauer, who said Seattle needs more wireless events.
Overall, a successful evening on Seattle's tech social scene.
Online ad networks are a dime a dozen. But adUup founder Dylan Rosario -- whose Seattle startup just closed a $500,000 seed financing deal -- believes he has a new twist on the concept.
The idea is to add a new metasearch engine to the Web sites of small publishers and blogs, creating what Rosario calls "an alternative to the Google monopoly." Beginning this week, adUup plans to have its new fleeQ search box installed on the Web sites of some of its 300 publishing partners.
A visitor to a Web site that has fleeQ enabled who decided to conduct a search would see results in a separate box that overlays a sponsor's Web page. For example, a search for "sandals" or "high heels" could produce results from various properties -- Amazon.com, Google, Yahoo or eBay. Those search results would "float" over the Web page of a publishing partner in the adUup network. In this case, that could be an online retailer that specialized in selling shoes.
AdUup handles the advertising around the search results, including video ads and a sponsored "skin" that wraps around the results. It also serves up the Web page of the publishing partner, which resides in the background. That technology is patent-pending, according to Rosario.
"The fleeQ product is for publishers to earn traffic and revenue from the searches that they are giving away to the big search engines for free," says Rosario.
It wasn't a secret that Celebrate Express -- the struggling Kirkland online and catalog party supplies retailer -- was considering a buyout. (In April, the publicly traded company engaged an investment bank to consider offers.)
Today, the 14-year-old company has entered an agreement to be acquired by Liberty Media for $31 million in cash, or $3.90 per share. That's a 39 percent premium over the company's closing stock price from Wednesday.
Interestingly, prior to the merger being announced this afternoon, Celebrate Express' stock tumbled 17 percent to a 52-week low. (It is now coming back strong in after-hours trading, up 52 percent to $3.51)
Celebrate Express will be combined with Buyseasons, an online costume and party supplies retailer that Liberty Media acquired in 2006.
Founded in 1994 by Mike and Jan Jewell, Celebrate Express completed a $57 million public offering in 2004. It used the cash to expand into new product categories, growing to more than 400 employees a few years later.
The company had cash and cash equivalents of $14.8 million for the quarter ended Feb 29 and posted a net loss of $12.9 million for the period. Meanwhile, sales at the company's Birthday Express, Costume Express and other brands declined 20 percent to $13.1 million during the quarter.
Here's the press release on the acquisition, which notes that Arch Ventures, Thesis Capital and Spencer Management have agreed to vote their shares in favor of the deal. Together, the investment firms own 40 percent of Celebrate Express.
Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates plans to work full time at his charitable foundation after leaving day-to-day duties of the software company he founded more than 30 years ago.
Gates
But as P-I reporters Todd Bishop and Tom Paulson note in today's story -- part of an ongoing package about the life of the software billionaire -- Gates has a few other things in mind.
In fact, Gates is investing in a new nuclear energy project alongside Nathan Myhrvold's Intellectual Ventures.
And, as the story points out, he's fascinated by the cross section of biology and computing.
The story raises an interesting question about how Gates might use some of his $58 billion fortune, beyond the foundation and his private investment firm, Cascade.
And I was left wondering if we could see Gates get more engaged in the venture capital universe, a path that his old buddy Paul Allen has pursued through Vulcan.
Gates has more money than all of the venture capital firms in the Pacific Northwest combined, so if he starts to dabble in early stage projects that could be very interesting to watch. And, if he chooses to focus on Seattle area startups or partner with former Microsofties, it could be a huge injection of capital into the local economy.
Gates noted in the P-I interview that he will be very selective in any type of investment he makes.
"Unless it's something dramatic, using new science, breakthrough software approaches, breakthrough medical approaches, it somehow doesn't grab me, because I'm much more of an engineer and scientist. If somebody says to me, 'OK, we can do new cookie stores, and we can make zillions,' I have no interest in spending a minute on that. I hope somebody goes and does that, but that's not me."
But what is interesting is that Gates appears willing to roll the dice on early-stage projects.
The other night I caught a discussion on Larry King Live about the problems in the real estate market, including comments from real estate magnate Donald Trump, who basically said the housing market is in rough shape in many parts of the country.
"1,000,000 Foreclosures! Can you save your home?" noted the news crawler at the bottom of the program.
Some of the experts on the program, however, predicted that the real estate bust may be coming to an end.
Whichever way the market goes, two Seattle online real estate startups are pushing ahead with expansion plans. Redfin today is launching service in Chicago, the eighth market for the company and the first new market for the company this year. Meanwhile, Estately is moving into San Diego with its online real estate search service.
With the addition of the 4 million properties in Chicago and expanded search areas in Washington, California, Massachusetts, Washington, D.C., and other areas, Redfin now will have a total of about 16 million properties on the site. Estately will have about 120,000 properties for sale on its site.
In addition to the Chicago launch, Redfin says that it has incorporated Street View maps from Google so that homebuyers can see a 360-degree view of properties and neighborhoods. (San Francisco-based Trulia rolled out that same functionality earlier this year.)
Estately and Redfin have different business models, though bother offer real estate search. Estately makes money by referring home buyers to traditional real estate agents, while Redfin acts as a discount broker that refunds a portion of the commission to home buyers.
