Former Twiistup 8 Showoff (Click here to view their pitch and our review) Nevolution, the startup that insists Mac, mobile phone and tablet users shouldn’t have all the fun when it comes to acquiring great software – has closed a $450,000 angel round to gear up for the launch of its Avenue(TM) Windows App Store service and private-label app store platform.
This weeks TZ Startup Hot Seat featured Justin Kan of Socialcam and Justin.tv. Justin is most known for broadcasting his life 24/7. In 2007, Justin Kan stopped broadcasting and Justin.tv relaunched into its current form as a network of thousands of various channels. Based on the research they have done with their release of the Justin.tv iPhone app, Socialcam was born.
David Cohen is the founder and CEO of TechStars, a mentorship-driven seed stage investment program for Internet startups. David opened up Twiistup 8 with a great talk on building an entrepreneurial community, and how you could start your own in whatever city you may be located.
Los Angeles based and long time TechZulu Partner AudioMicro has taken on investment from Fotolia, the leading micro stock photo library in Europe and the #2 / #3 player in the world. Fotolia, which is backed by private equity firm TA Associates, also owns Flixtime.com, a site that turns photos into videos, and Photoxpress.com, a subscription photo service
TechZulu had the pleasure of being a partner of this years past 5th annual ITVFest a few months back. We have watched it grow for quite some time now and every year just keeps getting better and better.
Tech Coast Angels is the largest angel investor group in the US, with nearly 300 members and $100M personally invested in startups over the last decade. Some of their major hits include Sandpiper Networks (acquired by Digital Island for $630M) and Green Dot (NYSE: GDOT). And in recent years, they’ve been involved in some interesting SoCal startups such as Zag, SodaHead, and Vokle.
Groupon ushered in the new era of group buying, and now hyper local and vertical deal sites are the name of the game. One such company, Santa Monica, Calif-based FamilyFinds, launched this week with $5.75 in funding from Split Rock Partners.
You won’t want to miss this riveting interview with the fiercely candid Mohit, who previously founded BizRate and Shopzilla. Mohit explains how Gri.pe uses social clout to make people powerful in the real world, cutting through the “barrage of brand bullshit” that clutters our lives. It’s so simple, based on truth, and on the idea that people are good.
Last night we had a completely sold out event filled with startups, entrepreneurs, angles, and VC’s. The panel gave some amazing advice, tips, personal stories and wisdom they have learned over the years over being in the startup community.
Our good friends Brad Feld and David Cohen over at TechStars from Boulder, Colorado will be in town this week, Thursday October 14th, for a Do More Faster Book launch event. As part of the TechStars / Do More Faster book tour, they will hold a one hour “About TechStars” meetup hosted by Microsoft at their Los Angeles downtown location.
