New ideas rejuvenate old sectors
Anyone who thinks property has topped out probably ought to think again. While bricks and mortar may look a mite expensive, growth in web-based services to real estate buyers is only just beginning. Several companies offering innovative property services will be showcasing their wares and looking for funding at a major event in London next week, Essential Web 2007.
ParkAtMyHouse.com, one of the companies making a presentation, allows property owners to rent out empty driveways to motorists and cyclists on their way to work, a sports match or a hospital appointment, for example. Those who are looking for somewhere to park simply type in the postcode of their destination. The advertiser and driver then contact each other and fix a price. They can even print off a pre-contract. Founder Anthony Eskinazi, 23, says his website already has up to 50,000 hits a day. He plans to launch in Canada, Australia and Europe and the US.
Extate, launched in January, is a search service designed to facilitate property viewings. Dubbed the “YouTube of real estate'', videos can be uploaded by estate agents or owners on to a PC or a mobile. Extate believes home sellers will soon routinely make their own videos and “shoe-leather” agents will be consigned to the past.
Then there is
Migoa, a vertical integrated search engine for real estate, cars and jobs. Migoa.com limits its searches to certain sectors or “verticals”, and aims to give the user more relevant and accurate results.
Of course, property is far from the only booming sector. Music downloads, source of much controversy and debate, are also providing some internet sites potentially lucrative new opportunities.
Essential Web will offer a glimpse into
we7’s business. Somewhere during the recording of 11 solo albums, numerous tours, audio-visual and soundtrack projects, Peter Gabriel, the former Genesis frontman has found time to set up a site offering free music downloads supported by targeted advertising. The idea of an advertising-supported free music download service is not new, but we7’s rival Spiral Frog has struggled so far despite backers including EMI Music Publishing, Universal and Koch.
Others in this space, and presenting at Essential Web, include
Spotify, which offers free music downloads supported by targeted advertising
Another theme will be the managing of personal information online. This will appeal to anyone who has been “Googled” by a friend, enemy or potential employer.
Garlik provides tools that find, track and monitor your personal information online. Garlik, for instance, provides credit reports that show whether scammers have tried to open accounts in your name. Garlik's research and development is outsourced to computer engineers in Poland who work for a fraction of what they would cost in Western Europe. The company is backed by $18m in venture capital. Garlik’s co-founders, Tom Ilube and Mike Harris, sold the internet bank Egg for an estimated $1bn to Citigroup this year.
Also in the identity space is
The Todeka Project which can manage your digital identity from any device so you don’t have to remember all your personal information.
Of course, no web conference would be complete without a strong focus on social networking sites, important drivers of the recent internet revival.
Among these is
Jaiku, which has already been labelled the European Twitter. While travelling in Europe last year,
Nokia product manager Jyri Engestrom missed his friends and family - and wished he could find out where they were without calling them all. That led him to quit the Finnish phone giant and create Jaiku with $25,000 of his and co-founder Petteri Koponen's money. The Helsinki start-up's free mobile application uses information from cell-phone towers and the input of other users who once stood where you are to figure out your exact location and broadcast it to your friends.
Other social networking companies showcasing their services include
LouderVoice, which enables the reviewing of blogs using a community-agreed format, and
Trampoline Systems, providing an approach to information management based on analysing social networks in the enterprise.
These are a fraction of the sectors and companies that will be vying for attention at the event. For full information, go to www.libraryhouse.net/web07. Essential Web 2007 will be held on June 27, at the IMAX Theatre, Waterloo from 8am to 8pm.
The Week's Deals
Twenty-two companies gained venture funding this week, eight were of undisclosed value. The deals raised a total of €74.8m, which is €5.3m on average.
Nanoradio, the Sweden-based fabless semiconductor company, has raised $27m (€20.1m) from
Ferd Venture,
Innovacom,
Nordic Venture Partners and
Teknoinvest. Nanoradio has developed a chipset targeted at applications such as wifi in headsets and other audio devices, VoIP and fixed-mobile convergence. Target markets include mobile phones, portable media devices and other battery-driven handheld consumer devices.
Altair Semiconductor, the Israel-based fabless semiconductor company, has raised $18m (€13.5m) from
BRM Capital,
Bessemer Venture Partners,
Giza Venture Capital and
JVP. Altair is developing mobile wimax processors for handsets and handheld devices.
In2Games, the UK-based gaming company, has raised £4.56m (€6.7m) from
Ingenious Media Active Capital. The funding is the first part of a possible £7.76m (€11.4m) investment. In2Games has developed an ultrasonic 3D motion sensing technology, designed for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 consoles, which the company says delivers performance, control and flexibility far in excess of that offered by existing technologies. The investment will be used to bring the games controller system and games to market.
Pocared Diagnostics, the Israel-based medical device company, has raised $10.7m (€8m) from
Elron Electronic Industries,
SCP Private Equity Partners and other undisclosed investors. Pocared develops diagnostic systems to enable rapid, on-site analysis of human fluids and specimen in order to provide physicians with real-time detection, identification and antibiotic sensitivity of pathogenic bacteria.
Elsewhere,
Openads, the UK-based developer of an open source adserver product for publishers, raised $5m (€3.8m) from
Index Ventures,
First Round Capital,
Mangrove Capital Partners and
O'Reilly AlphaTech Ventures;
Movimento Automotive, the Sweden-based developer of diagnostic and software download tools for the automotive industry, raised €4.2m from
Eqvitec Partners,
Industrifonden and the company’s founders; and
PolyTherics, the UK- based drug discovery company, raised £2.3m (€3.4m) from
Imperial Innovations,
Longbow Capital and
The Capital Fund.
See below for a complete list of deal headlines.
Did we miss anything? If you think we have missed a deal or know of a deal that is about to close then send us your
deal news.
The Week's Exits
Nacre, the Norway-based designer of electronic in-ear hearing protection and voice communications technology products, has been acquired by France-based
Bacou-Dalloz for $135m (€101m). Nacre develops miniature communications headsets with built in noise protection that allow military forces and law enforcement personnel engaged in tactical operations to improve communication. Nacre, a spin-out from the Norwegian research institute SINTEF, has orders worth about $35m (€26m) for 2007.
Propero, the UK-based developer of virtual workspace infrastructure, has been acquired by US-based
VMware for $25m (€18.7m). VMware provides software that allows multiple virtual machines, with heterogeneous operating systems to run in isolation, side-by-side on the same physical machine. For example, Mac users can simultaneously run Mac, Windows, Linux, NetWare and Solaris-based applications without rebooting.
Tao Group, the UK-based mobile software developer for the mobile entertainment market, has ceased trading, according to The Register. The online news site reports that the company’s IP portfolio was sold recently in a private auction to venture capitalist
Cross Atlantic Capital Partners. Tao’s interactive entertainment software platform 'intent' was designed to enable publishers, operators and manufacturers to provide consumers with consistent and high quality mobile entertainment, while reducing time to market and cost.
Most Accessed Companies
Point 35 Microstructures, the UK-based supplier of high-tech wafer processing tools, has attracted a lot of attention this week. Point 35 Microstructures has developed a system designed enable the high levels of control, repeatability and yield seen in the semiconductor industry to be achieved in MEMS (micro-electro-mechanical systems) manufacturing. The company says its technology significantly increases the throughput and yield compared to current approaches, enabling cost effective volume production. The company is backed by
Scottish Enterprise and
Close Ventures.
Seatwave, the UK-based online ticket exchange service, has also received a lot of attention recently. Seatwave allows fans to legally buy and sell tickets for concerts, theatre, sports and other live event; a market worth about £1bn in the UK alone. The company says it already has more than 400,000 tickets for sale on the site, 20 times more than
eBay, making it the largest ticket exchange in the UK. The company’s backers include
Atlas Venture and
Mangrove Capital Partners.
Other companies generating interest recently include
Where Are You Now?,
ZBD Displays, and
H2O Networks.
There are now 11999 companies in VenturePedia and
7332 investors, comprising
4074 institutional,
2376 corporate,
716 individual and
166 other.
Of VenturePedia's 38131 contacts, there are
21771 executive,
8704 CEOs,
2892 chair,
1753 non-executive and
3011 other.
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