• Glam Media

  Led · Equity · Aug 2013

  Glam Media operates a portfolio of lifestyle-focused sites including Glam and Foodie and runs advertising across a broader network of publishers. The company acquired social network builder Ning in a deal reported to be about $150 million in cash and stock. Glam is preparing to go public and reportedly used a provision in the JOBS Act to file an initially secret IPO registration. Its recent hiring activity includes about 450 employees and more than 35 jobs listed on its careers page (with a source saying U.S. openings exceed 90). Financially, Glam has previously raised more than $150 million in equity and $20 million in debt and has been valued at $750 million after a $50 million round. The company took on an additional $25 million in new funding as it moves through the IPO process. Glam Media operates a vertical advertising network that controls and represents more than 1,400 publishers and content sites. The network attracts nearly 160 million unique monthly worldwide visitors, including roughly 72 million monthly U.S. visitors, generating about 2.5 billion page views and 2.5 billion minutes spent. The company reported 2009 revenue of around $55 million, up from $40 million in 2008, and said North American operations were EBITDA-profitable with global break-even in Q4 2009. Management plans to use new capital for business investment and strategic acquisitions and is gearing up for an IPO in the next 12–18 months. Glam is headquartered in Silicon Valley and New York City. Glam Media is a distributed media network that aggregates content and monetizes it through display advertising across partner publishers. The company has focused on international expansion, with recent funding targeted specifically at its Japanese and German operations and strategic acquisitions in 2008. It has launched side projects such as Tinker while continuing to pursue growth abroad. Operationally, Glam has faced publisher-relations strains—slowing payments and making significant pay cuts—yet it self-reported a "surprisingly strong" Q4 and was identified by ComScore as one of the fastest-growing U.S. sites. At the time of the article, Glam ranked as the ninth-largest publisher of display ads, serving an estimated 2.1 billion ad impressions per month. Its cumulative capital deployed into the company exceeded $100 million (not counting an additional $20 million in debt). Glam Media operates a portfolio of small, women-focused sites anchored by Glam.com and sells advertising across owned and third-party properties. Several of its properties are SEO-driven (for example, free-beauty-tips.com and celebrity-hairstyles.org), and the company functions as an ad network that drives the vast bulk of its page views. Comscore reported the network had nearly 47 million unique visitors and 1.1 billion page views worldwide, roughly 4x and 11x growth year-over-year. The company was not yet profitable in 2007, losing about $3.7 million on $21 million in revenue, while projecting $150 million in revenue and $40 million in profit for 2008. Glam may face margin pressure as competition increases despite controlling substantial page views. The company is based in Brisbane, California. Glam Media operates a fashion- and lifestyle-focused online network that publishes and aggregates magazine-style editorial content for women. The company secured a landmark partnership with Hearst Magazines to bring Marie Claire content to Glam.com, signaling a push to host high-quality print magazine material online. Glam aims to expand its audience and advertising reach by growing its sales and editorial teams. The site reports over 7 million global unique visitors per month and ranks as a top-10 women’s property per comScore Media Metrix (October 2006). Leadership positions the company to capture advertising targeted at women that they argue is underrepresented online compared with print magazines. Management framed the move as part of a strategy to dominate the online medium for women the way certain magazines have in print.

• SilkRoad Technology

  Participated · Equity · Aug 2013

  SilkRoad Technology provides cloud-based, end-to-end talent management solutions through its SilkRoad Life Suite. The SilkRoad Life Suite includes Talent Acquisition, Talent Development, and HRMS solutions delivered via a tablet-friendly Talent Portal. The platform is described as easy to deploy and use, intended to boost employee engagement and business performance. SilkRoad announced it received a $7.5 million venture loan to bolster liquidity. The company said the funds will be used for working capital to support current customers and to market its products to prospective organizations. Company and lender statements framed the financing as growth capital that supports an encouraging growth outlook. SilkRoad provides cloud-based, end-to-end talent management software, marketed as the SilkRoad Life Suite. The Life Suite includes Talent Acquisition, Talent Development, and HRMS modules delivered through a tablet-friendly Talent Portal. The company announced it has secured a new round of funding to bring its next-generation cloud products to market. Management plans to release the next-generation SilkRoad Life Suite in the fourth quarter of 2014. SilkRoad and its investors cite rapid growth in the human capital management market; the article references an IDC forecast of a $15.4 billion worldwide HCM market in 2018, growing at an 8.2% CAGR. Company leadership framed the raise as a vote of confidence from its marquee investors. SilkRoad offers Life Suite, a cloud-based talent management system that bundles HRMS, talent acquisition, and talent development applications for small- to mid-size businesses. The platform is designed to help customers find, attract, develop, and retain employees through an integrated set of HR tools. John Shackleton serves as President and CEO. The company serves customers across North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific. SilkRoad raised $16M in growth financing and plans to use the capital for product innovation across its software portfolio. The company has completed prior financings, indicating an active growth and funding history. SilkRoad offers an online human resources and social talent management platform that includes recruiting management, applicant tracking, and tools for managing global employees. The company focuses primarily on small and medium businesses while increasingly serving enterprise customers such as Toyota Tsusho, Juniper Networks, and Clear Channel Communications. SilkRoad operates roughly 20 global offices and employs about 400 people, with a strong presence in Europe and Asia. The company does not publish financial results, but analysts estimate annual revenue around $70 million. SilkRoad plans to use new funding for international expansion and product innovation and is preparing for a potential IPO in 2012–2013. Prior to the current round the company had raised about $94 million. SilkRoad Technology offers web-based human resource management solutions, including its Life Suite designed to strengthen and personalize employee experiences. The company serves over 1,500 customers in more than 50 countries and operates offices worldwide. Launched in 2003, SilkRoad plans to use new funding to expand its worldwide direct sales and marketing efforts. Management also intends to pursue strategic acquisitions and continue product development. The recent financing indicates external investor support for the company’s growth and product roadmap.

• Jumptap

  Led · Equity · Jul 2012

  Jumptap operates a mobile ad network and targeting service that integrates offline third-party data providers (including Polk, Acxiom, Datalogix, TARGUSinfo, Catalyst and i360) plus partners for location and social analysis (PlaceIQ, 140 Proof) to improve ad delivery. The company claims a global reach of 263 million users (107 million in the U.S.) and serves about 20 billion mobile impressions per month. Jumptap holds 29 issued patents with roughly 200 pending, which the article highlights as a potentially valuable asset. It is described as one of the last large, independent and privately-held players in the mobile ad network space. The firm secured new funding and plans to use proceeds to support rapid expansion of its products and capabilities and to position itself for an eventual IPO. The market context cited in the article notes mobile advertising growing roughly 50% annually, with U.S. mobile ad spend having recently broken $1 billion and projected to top $2.6 billion this year per eMarketer. JumpTap operates a data-driven mobile advertising network that promises highly targeted advertising across a range of mobile solutions. The company partners with digital and media agencies, publishers, wireless carriers and brand advertisers and has integrations with more than 10,000 sites and apps. Its network reaches 83 million consumers, a 30% increase year-over-year, and it recorded over 10 billion ad requests in April. JumpTap holds over a dozen patents related to mobile ad technologies and added 35 employees since the beginning of 2011. The company says the new investment will be used for product and technology development and to hire additional staff to support client demand. Cumulatively, JumpTap has raised more than $90 million in funding. Jumptap builds a mobile search and advertising product that prioritizes actionable results and tailors results to the device rather than shrinking web pages. Its algorithm tries to rank nearby, relevant results (for example, the closest open drug store) ahead of less useful web content. Jumptap also delivers targeted search ads alongside results. The company is pursuing carrier partnerships and is broadening its relationship with AT&T as it seeks mobile search deals. CEO Dan Olschwang positions this approach as a competitive edge against incumbent search engines like Google and warns carriers about ceding long-term monetization and customer understanding. Financially, Jumptap raised $26 million in a Series D, bringing total capital raised to $73 million; the article notes only about 7 percent of U.S. mobile subscribers currently use search.

• Stoke

  Led · Equity · Jun 2012

  Stoke delivers gateway solutions that enable mobile operators to manage traffic growth and increase the efficiency, reliability, and scope of mobile data services. The company is led by President and CEO Vikash Varma and is based in Santa Clara, CA. Stoke received a US$5M strategic investment from Samsung Venture Investment Corporation to support its growth in the worldwide LTE market. The article identifies the investment as strategic but does not specify instrument details beyond that. Stoke is backed by venture capital firms and carriers including Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Sequoia Capital, Focus Ventures, and NTT Docomo. No revenue, user metrics, or prior round financial amounts are disclosed in the article. Stoke, founded in 2004 and headquartered in Santa Clara, California, designs and manufactures systems and hardware for mobile communications infrastructure. Its products support 3G, 4G and Wi‑Fi carrier networks and are designed to improve speeds and make networks more secure. The company’s hardware targets bandwidth efficiency as carriers face rapid growth in connected mobile devices and mobile data traffic. Keating Capital noted industry demand for 4G/LTE and Wi‑Fi over the next 5–10 years and said Stoke is well positioned to take advantage of that growth. Financially, the most recent transaction was a $3.5 million secondary purchase of common shares by Keating Capital from certain Stoke employees; Stoke did not issue new securities or receive new capital. Keating was the sole investor in the transaction and joins existing preferred-stock holders Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Sequoia Capital and Docomo Capital as investors in Stoke. Stoke builds mobile broadband infrastructure solutions that provide 3G and LTE capabilities and help network operators transition to 4G. Its products are designed to reduce information overload on carrier networks by improving scalability, flexibility, and cost. The company cites strong demand driven by rapid smartphone adoption and forecasts of massive growth in connected devices. Stoke closed 2010 with revenues four times those of 2009 and was expecting triple‑digit growth in the following year. It plans to use the new funding to double its size in 2011. Total funding to date is $92 million. Stoke builds hardware that provides mobile carriers the technology to let phones access different wireless networks including 3G, GSM, CDMA, Wi‑Fi and WiMax. Its systems converge wireless coverage and let phones seamlessly detect different networks and automatically switch based on location and availability. The product targets carriers facing massive increases in mobile data traffic from applications, video, and music. Stoke says the new funds will be used to support continuing partnerships with mobile carriers. Financially, the company has raised $15M in a Series D, bringing total funding to $65M. Prior rounds include a $20M Series C in 2007, a $19.8M Series B in 2005, and a $10M Series A.

• LifeLock

  Participated · Equity · Mar 2012

  LifeLock provides identity-theft protection services to consumers and partners with financial organizations and telecommunications companies to evaluate and mitigate identity risk. The company acquired ID Analytics, which develops technology to predict identity risk associated with credit applications and also offers consumer protection services. LifeLock used $100 million in new equity financing toward the acquisition and says LifeLock and ID Analytics generated combined revenue in excess of $200 million in 2011. ID Analytics will operate independently as a wholly owned subsidiary of LifeLock. Management positions the acquisition as strengthening LifeLock’s consumer identity-protection business and enabling delivery of next-generation identity risk management solutions. The company has raised a total of $178 million to date. LifeLock offers identity-theft protection services and markets a $1 million “service guarantee” to subscribers. CEO Todd Davis has promoted the guarantee by publicly advertising his social security number as a marketing tactic. The company has faced at least one high-profile incident in which Davis’s identity was stolen and used to obtain a $500 payday loan, prompting lawsuits and public debate over the guarantee. Regulatory filings and PE Data Center pegged LifeLock’s recent financing at a valuation of about $306 million. LifeLock recently raised $40M in a financing and has previously raised at least $31.5M from Kleiner Perkins, Goldman Sachs and Bessemer, taking total capital raised to more than $71M. Symantec has entered a partnership to bundle LifeLock with Norton products, offering Norton customers a free 30-day LifeLock service, 10% off membership and two free movie tickets.

No current team members are available.