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| Tuesday, November 11, 2008 |
| Nimbuzz tie-up with StudiVZ - German Social Network |
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 Nimbuzz - a VoIP, IM and Mobile Communication startup has announced that it will power StudiVZ, the faceBook of GErmany and the largest German speaking social networking site. This will enable StudiVZ users for real time web and mobile communication.
The Nimbuzz powered web and mobile clients is live today for StudiVZ members. The full mobile Nimbuzz portfolio including voice calls, chat, file sharing across popular IM communities will also be available and a link to a bespoke download page will be promoted across the StudiVZ network.
Nimbuzz has entered into a revenue sharing agreement with StudiVZ with income generated from advertisements. Nimbuzz offers a social interaction service combining presence, IM, and VoIP. The free application is available for mobile, PC and Web, enabling calling, instant messaging, file/location sharing across popular IM communities and 23 social networks including Facebook. |
Published on Tuesday, November 11, 2008 at 11:37 PM  |
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| Thursday, November 06, 2008 |
| Subsidized Microsoft Software for Startups |
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 Just last week we saw VCs most successful businessman - John Doerr asking Startups his company has funded to be careful about expenses. Today Microsoft has announced Microsoft BizSpark initiative where in Startups less than 3 years old with less than $1 mn in revenues can join the program and avail almost FREE Microsoft Software for production use.
Startups will have almost FREE access to Windows Client and Server operating system with Microsoft Visual Studio - Programing Language and Tools. They can also use SQL-Server, Exchange Server for e-mails and unified communication development. Additionally they can also avail Microsoft Office suite along with Share Point and Biz Talk Servers.
Enrollmenti s FREE and once you are 3 year old or your revenues cross $1 mn , you pay a $100 exit fee. More details here. Finally the Redmond Giant has woken to competition from Open Source and Free Software Foundation :-) |
| Published on Thursday, November 06, 2008 at 7:03 AM |
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| Thursday, October 30, 2008 |
| John Doerr on Suriving the DownTurn |
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Johen Doerr, Valley's most successful VC and board member of Google Inc has 10 tips for startup founders on how they can survive the downturn. John's 10 commandments are,
- Act now
- Protect core of your business
- Have 18 months or more of cash
- Don't spend on PC and expensive software and use Web based Services [Maybe Open Source ?]
- Negotiate with clients , terms contacts etc
- Everybody in the company should be selling including receptionist - SELL the product should be the underlying tone
- Stop cash bonus and salaries - reward with equities
- Keep you cash in most secure instruments - US Treasury not Money Market
- Revenues of 90 days in Advance
- Over communicate to everybody that mater to your business
Courtesy: AllThingsDigital |
| Published on Thursday, October 30, 2008 at 9:54 PM |
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| Wednesday, September 24, 2008 |
| Rediff + Ticketvala for Bus Ticket Booking |
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 Ticketvala the online bus reservation platform has opened its interface to Rediff so that Rediff users can book bus tickets online.
Rediff Bus FareSearch - powered by AJAX lets you search through the Ticketvala database for buses and then buy the same online. We are not sure how much Rediff gets paid by Ticketvala for the arrangement :-)
I tried purchasing a Bus Ticket during for one of the long weekends and I would say that the experience of buying it exceeded my expectations. Ticketvala also has a dedicated call center to resolve any issues.
One of the best features is you can book the ticket for any of your relatives residing at any other place. All they will need after the booking is a PNR Number through which they can View and Print it for their journey.
Redbus is another competing service for online bus ticket reservations. |
| Published on Wednesday, September 24, 2008 at 7:11 PM |
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| Saturday, July 12, 2008 |
| Investments Mobile Value Added Services |
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 The India Mobile Value Added Services market is going pretty strongly. Here is how the investment is being made into the sector by Venture Capitalists and private Equity funds.
- Mauj Telecom $ 10 mn by West Bridge Capital partners and Sequoia Capital
- Nazara Terchnologies $ 1.5 mn by West Bridge
- Bubble Motion $ 10 mn by Sequoia Capital India
- Paymate $ 5 mn by Kleiner and Sherpalo
- IMI Mobile $ 10 mn by Pequot Ventures
- Indiagames $ 15 mn by UTV Software
- mGinger $2mn by Draper Fisher Jurvetson and NEA-IndoUS Ventures
- Enable M undisclosed sum by Salora Group
- One97 $ 8-10 mn by SAIF Partners & Silicon Valley bank
- Obopay $20 mn by Essar Communications Holdings, Promethean
India, Richmond mgmt, Others - Sai Advantium $20 mn by MPM Capital
- On Mobile $ 27.8 mn by Deutsche bank, Goldman Sachs and Polygon
Investment partners. The company has also raised money in an IPO on Dalal Street.
Please feel free to add the ones we have missed. |
| Published on Saturday, July 12, 2008 at 12:21 AM |
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| Saturday, May 24, 2008 |
| Snapfish acquires Merasnap |
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HP's Online Photo sharing and printing company Snapfish has acquired Indian startup Merasnap in an all cash deal. The amount was not disclosed. Merasnap had 100,000 customers and their accounts will be migrated to Snapfish very soon.
As a part of the acquisition, Merasnap customers will get FREE print for 30 snaps and thereafter Rs 2.95 / snap. Zoom.In and Picsquare are the other two leading players in this vertical in India. |
| Published on Saturday, May 24, 2008 at 10:51 AM |
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| Wednesday, May 14, 2008 |
| Online DVD Rental Company War Hots Up |
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 The Online Movie rental business kicked off in India almost 2 years ago and only now the competition seems to be hotting up. Delhi based Moviemart.in has borrowed some lessons from Pizza delivery guys. If your Pizza isn't at your doorstep in the promised time, you win a freebie. So also Moviemart is promising delivery of Movie within 10-120 minutes of order.
Mr Rahul.M, CEO of Moviemart said,
We are pitching our home delivery at anything between 10-120 minutes in Delhi. We look forward to extend the same to other regions where we operate. Another content company, Nimbus has entered this market with presence in 69 cities and promises to deliver within 30 minutes flat. Reliance ADAG's Big Flicks and SeventyMM are unable to compete Nimbus and Moviemart and are sticking to 24 hour delivery model.
SeventyMM has 67,000 customers while Moviemart has 7,000 subscribers. |
| Published on Wednesday, May 14, 2008 at 6:02 PM |
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| Monday, April 28, 2008 |
| AdMagnet - One More Ad Network |
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 Google set the online advertising market on fire and since then everybody wants a slice of the market. However, what many failed to realize is that Google succeeded in the online advertising market because of their bleeding edge technology and encouraging Small and Medium Businesses to advertise on their platform. Microsoft, eBay and Yahoo are trying to develop competing platforms for over 4 years now but with very little luck.
However, in the context of India, the scenario is lot different. With pathetic 32 million active Internet users in India [Dec-2007] and lack of awareness amongst SMEs about online advertisement, many startups have adopted and offline marketing approach to SMEs including limited such offering from Google.
Today, Interactive Avenues Marketing Solutions has also launched their online advertising initiative - AdMagnet. Their offerings include Media (planning and buying), Campaign Management, Search (SEM and SEO), Web Design & Creatives, and Interactive Marketing.
The modus operandi of these companies is to have SME clients and market on their behalf on other networks such as Google [SEM and AdSense] and Yahoo! Here is a list of Online Advertising & Marketing companies in India.Labels: Online-Advertising-1 |
| Published on Monday, April 28, 2008 at 12:28 PM |
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