Livemocha Raises $8 Million in Series B Funding

Bellevue, WA (PRWEB) December 22, 2009

Livemocha (http://www.livemocha.com)], the worlds largest language learning community, today announced that the company has raised $ 8 million in a Series B financing round led by August Capital, with participation from existing investor Maveron.

Livemocha is the leading language learning site worldwide, with over 4.8 million registered members from over 200 countries. Livemocha offers free and premium online learning courses for over 30 languages, led by the award-winning Livemocha Active English.

Livemocha offers a highly effective online learning experience that has quickly attracted a large and active global community. Social, interactive lessons include practice with native speakers for natural development of practical language skills. Specific revenues are undisclosed but growing rapidly, with customers in 97 countries paying for premium products and services.

This latest round brings the total funds raised to date by Livemocha to $ 14 million, and will be applied to accelerate platform innovation and new partnership launches planned for the next 6-12 months.

Closing a significant round of funding is acknowledgement of our progress and underscores the large, disruptive potential of Livemocha, said Shirish Nadkarni, CEO and co-founder of Livemocha. We are excited and well-positioned to realize a very ambitious vision for the future of language learning.

Howard Hartenbaum, General Partner from August Capital, has joined Amy Errett of Maveron on Livemochas Board of Directors. The company's Series A was led by Maveron in December 2007.

About Livemocha

Livemocha is a Seattle-based company that is redefining language learning by combining dynamic online courses in over 30 languages with the world's largest community of native language speakers. Since launching in September 2007, Livemocha has grown to over 4.8 million members, underscoring the strong demand for an engaging, collaborative approach to language learning. There are currently over 375 million people wanting to learn a language worldwide, and the market is currently estimated to be over $ 80 billion, fueled by rapid globalization, immigration and travel.

For more information about Livemocha, please visit http://www.livemocha.com.

About August Capital

Founded in 1995, August Capital has funded an extraordinary group of entrepreneurs who have built significant, long-term value across the full range of information technologies. These companies represent an aggregate market capitalization of well over $ 250 billion and generate in excess of $ 75 billion in annual revenue around the world. This success is a testament to the entrepreneurs themselves, as well as the fundamental technologies they have created. The partners at August Capital were the earliest investors in a number of ground breaking technology companies, including Microsoft, Intuit, Seagate, Sun, Skype, Compaq, Symantec, Sybase, Atheros, Grand Junction and many more. August Capital is located in Menlo Park, California. For more information, please visit: http://www.augustcap.com.

About Maveron

Maveron is a leading venture capital firm based in Seattle, Washington. Dan Levitan and Howard Schultz founded Maveron in January 1998 with the goal of building a firm that would be recognized as the premier financial and strategic partner to leading consumer-based businesses. Maveron's mission is to partner with entrepreneurs in the creation of extraordinary companies in order to generate outstanding financial returns. Current representative Maveron investments include fast-growing consumer companies, such as Potbelly Sandwich Works, Pinkberry, Altius Education, VideoEgg and Livemocha. Monetized investments include eBay, Capella Education Company, Shutterfly, Cranium (acquired by Hasbro), Qsent (acquired by TransUnion), Quellos (acquired by Blackrock), Good Technology (acquired by Motorola) and lucy activewear (acquired by VF Corporation). Maveron has approximately $ 750 million under management and 23 active portfolio companies nationwide. For more information, please visit: http://www.maveron.com.

Contact:

Livemocha

Clint Schmidt, 206-422-2693

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Spartoo.com, the European Leader in Internet Footwear Sales, Secures 12 Million in Funding to Accelerate European Growth

Paris, France and London, UK (PRWEB) January 12, 2010

Spartoo.com, the European leader in internet footwear sales, has closed on a 12 million Series B round of financing to accelerate growth and reinforce its N

Main Street Fair Classified Ads and Auction Site Brings in Funding for Schools

Rancho Santa Margarita, Calif. (Vocus) June 18, 2009

To provide supplemental funding to schools, Main Street Fair, the online classified ads and auction website that is branding itself as the easiest to use e-commerce site, is now open for business.

"We believe Main Street Fair is the easiest classified ads and auction website to use online," said Lisa Porter, Main Street Fair CEO/president. "Even opening a storefront doesn't require additional training."

Main Street Fair categories range from free stuff to cars to used electronics. Houses, travel vacation packages, concert tickets and much more are but a sampling of what visitors can list and find on Main Street Fair.

"When teachers, school administrators and parents see the earning potential Main Street Fair has to bring in money to their schools, we think they will become our biggest advocates," said Porter.

Main Street Fair, with its no or low-cost classified ads and online auctions, contributes a percentage of its income to schools sellers choose across America. The site was developed as a way to help fund schools, yet equally serve as a platform for people who want to make money by using the site as a retail outlet or to sell unwanted items. It resulted from a single mother of an 11-year-old, who became frustrated with dismal education funding, and arts and other enrichment programs being slashed.

"People don't have enough money to contribute to keep many of our school programs going, so we hope to do it for them," said Porter. "All people need to do now is list their items so schools can start receiving money donations from Main Street Fair."

Main Street Fair also supports upper education by offering free classified listings for textbooks.

"It's tough enough for college students to keep up with the rising cost of education," said Porter. "At Main Street Fair, students can list their textbooks for free so they don't have to pay mark-up fees."

"Main Street Fair is a site that offers a deal for everyone: It donates funds to schools, sellers make money by getting rid of things they don't want or product they have in stock, and buyers find great deals. Making money online while supporting education doesn't get any easier than that!"

Main Street Fair also expects to draw a large number of storefronts, charging an introductory offer of only $ 15 per month with unlimited listings. The storefronts offer owners a variety of templates to choose from, logo upload capabilities, a unique online address, the ability to send out customized newsletters and much more.

"People can virtually have their own online auction and classified ads site without the cost or liability of ownership," said Porter

Companies can also promote themselves using Main Street Fair's banner ad program. The ads may be linked to their websites. This could increase their website's traffic significantly. Furthermore, advertisers will have access to a detailed statistical report to monitor banner and text ads using real-time information. This comprehensive report includes the number of clicks and click through rate (CTR) and number of impressions to keep ads performing at their maximum potential.

As customers benefit, so will education. The more people that use Main Street Fair to buy and sell, whether as classified ads or auctions, the more money the schools will earn.

"Main Street Fair is starting on the ground floor, but expects to quickly generate significant ongoing revenue for schools," said Porter. "It's a winner's circle for buyers, sellers, schools and students."

The company is headquartered in Rancho Santa Margarita. For more information on Main Street Fair, please call (877) 797-1398 or log on to http://www.mainstreetfair.com.

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TabbedOut Secures $2.05 Million Series A Round Of Funding From NEA For National Expansion

Austin, TX (PRWEB) October 5, 2010

TabbedOut, the secure and innovative way to pay your bar or restaurant tab with a smartphone, today announced that the company has secured $ 2.05 million in funding from New Enterprise Associates, Inc. (NEA) in a Series A round of venture funding.

The funding, which follows a $ 750,000 angel round, brings the companys financing to $ 2.8 million in total. The round will be used to extend lighthouse markets onto a national stage, continue to build out the companys hospitality partner network, and enhance TabbedOuts breakthrough mobile payment technology.

The TabbedOut product works with existing point-of-sale systems removing the need for merchants to purchase any new equipment while patrons are able to checkout without presenting a credit card and receipts are emailed to them afterwards.

NEA was an obvious fit because of their expertise in IT, mobile and security and were confident our collective efforts will bring TabbedOut to a city near you soon said Rick Orr, Co-Founder and CEO of TabbedOut. Weve already seen great adoption in our test markets and are looking forward to expanding into other areas where mobile payments will make life easier for merchants and their patrons.

As part of the funding agreement, NEA General Partner Scott Sandell and Venture Partner Jimmy Treybig will join the TabbedOut Board of Directors. Sandell focuses on information technology investing and has led NEAs investments in industry-leading companies like Salesforce.com, WebEx and Data Domain. Treybig, a Silicon Valley pioneer with extensive security expertise, is the founder and former CEO of Tandem computers and also served as Chairman of the Board of ClearCommerce and Whole Security.

In the rapidly expanding mobile payments market, TabbedOut is emerging as a leader in both innovation and security, said Sandell. The team has a tremendous depth of experience in security software and card payments, garnered at leading companies like Whole Security, MPOWER Labs and Symantec. Were thrilled to partner with TabbedOut as they scale their operations and really deliver on the potential of this incredible technology.

TabbedOut also recently brought on Kevin McKeand, former VP of Strategic Account Sales for AT&T Wi-Fi Services (acquired as Wayport in 2008), to serve as Vice President of Sales and Marketing. He is responsible for building the TabbedOut sales team across the U.S. and selling to new hospitality partners.

About TabbedOut:

TabbedOut is a product of ATX Innovation, a company focused on changing the payments paradigm for the hospitality industry in order to increase convenience and security. TabbedOut saves time and increases security measures in a fraud-prone industry while providing a better customer experience. The company is actively seeking additional hospitality partners to further enable its expansion.