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Monthly Archive for June 2010

Spectrum Bridge & Google Tackle the Smart Grid

June 29, 2010

Spectrum Bridge, working in partnership with the Plumas-Sierra Rural Electric Cooperative & Telecommunications and Google, have launched the nation’s first “Smart Grid” wireless network trial, utilizing TV White Spaces spectrum.

TV White Spaces are unused TV broadcast channels made available by the recent transition from Analog to Digital TV. As part of the National Broadband Plan, the FCC has declared that TV White Spaces are well suited for wireless data networks and can be used to deliver cost effective broadband connectivity for a wide variety of consumer, business and government applications.

With this implementation, instead of having to lay cables to connect the wireless broadband system, groups can use the white spaces to maintain the network connection more effectively than traditional networks.  For an area like the Sierra Nevada Mountains, this option has enabled the region to overcome many terrain-related issues that hurt connectivity.

In the long-term, what this means for residents is more efficient electricity, better broadband access, and increased data acquisition – all at a cheaper cost than traditional networks.

With the amount of Wireless Spectrum available to double in the short-term, the success of this project demonstrates the incredible potential of wireless spectrum to revolutionize wireless communication and rural energy.

Congrats to Richard, Peter, Joe, Chris, and the entire Spectrum Bridge team on this great success!

Urban Airship Releases AirMail, a Media-Rich Mobile Messaging Solution

June 28, 2010

Today, Urban Airship announced the public release of their new AirMail product.  The product has been in developer preview since March and is now officially live with launch partners LivingSocial and the Democratic National Committee.

With AirMail, push notifications are no longer just for lightweight messaging.  Push notifications can now be media-rich, as well as include return-receipts, an in-app inbox, and all sorts of other cool features.  Most importantly, mobile publishers can now maintain the same look and feel to their website, email, and other branding via mobile outreach.

Congrats to Scott, Steve, Adam, Michael, and the whole Urban Airship team on the launch of AirMail and continuing to change the mobile landscape.

Playdom acquires Hive7

June 25, 2010

Today, Playdom announced the acquisition of social gaming company Hive7. True funded the team along with Naval Ravikant in the 2005, and together we have worked closely with Max, Dave, and JD, as they have grown the company over the past five years.

Hive7 focuses on building games played on Facebook and other social networks and is best known for Knighthood, a medieval themed game of combat and diplomacy. Its other titles on Facebook, Myspace, Bebo, and other social networks include Youtopia, Kick-Off, and Sindicate.

Following the acquisition, the team has already moved into Playdom’s Mountain View office and is hard at work on their next title supported by Playdom’s central services and business intelligence functions.

We are extraordinarily proud of the Hive7 team for their efforts and dedication over the past five years, and we look forward to supporting Max, Dave, JD, and the entire Hive7 team on the next leg of their journey as part of the Playdom family.

Chapter 2: Social Media-Obsessed Cat Lady

June 21, 2010

Hello, TEC readers.  I blogged last week about my early interest in entrepreneurship; this week, I’ll be talking about what I’ve been doing at Assistly.

Assistly is a customer support platform that allows companies to streamline all channels of customer interaction — traditional channels like email and phone, but also newer channels like Twitter and chat — into one unified and prioritized list.  It also makes customer support agents more efficient by allowing powerful macros, autosort rules, and other tools, leading some beta customers to refer to agents equipped with Assistly as “ninjas”.

Assistly Customer Support Platform

When I saw this on assistly.com, I knew I’d been assigned to the right portfolio company.

more…

True Ventures 2nd Annual TEC Summer Program for College Student Internships with Startups Launches

June 21, 2010

True Ventures’ TEC Program for aspiring entrepreneurs is back for a second summer with 15 of the top college students from across the United States.

As a member of TEC, these students will be paired with one of our portfolio companies and spend eight weeks working on a variety of projects both appropriate to their background and of value to the company.

This year, TEC interns will spend the summer with Voxpop, Assistly, Loopfuse, BrightRoll, BStock Solutions, Kwedit, Spectrum Bridge, Inventables, Valencell, SendMe Mobile, Vurve, VodPod, and Pumpkinhead.   Student projects range from marketing and business development to project management and iPhone App development.

Follow them via the TEC blog each week, as students write about their experiences and thoughts working with our portfolio companies and learning about how businesses are built from the ground up.

True Ventures Featured on Mark Suster’s This Week in VC

June 21, 2010

True Ventures was featured in back-to-back week of Mark Suster’s This Week in VC.

In week 9, Mark Suster interviewed Mo Koyfman about Spark Capital, trends in technology, and the startup eco-system in NYC.

During Mo and Mark’s discussion of Spark Capital’s new website, they used True Ventures’ Service Recommendation page as a great part of a website – one that they both plan to copy in the short-term.

Then in week 10, Mark interviewed True Venture Partner Om Malik.  The interview discusses True’s emphasis on being friendly to entrepreneurs, Om’s work with Red Herring and Business 2.0, and True’s funding of GigaOM in 2005.

Check out the week 9 video and the week 10 video at This Week in Venture Capital Online.

Thanks, Mark!

Women 2.0 Summer Labs Program Hosted at True Ventures’ San Francisco Pier 38 Office

June 17, 2010

Have an idea that you are looking to start or validate?  Curious about starting a new venture?

Our friends at Women 2.0 have started a new initiative called Women 2.0 Labs, which is a 5-week program (July 6 – August 5, 2010) for engineers, designers, biz dev, and marketing mavens to develop high-growth technology ventures in San Francisco, CA.

Over the course of five weeks, selected participants will moonlight in teams at the Women 2.0 Labs co-working space and, every Thursday night, demo the latest startup prototype. Industry leaders, serving as visiting advisors, will join participants each week to help in the building process.

This year, the summer program will be hosted in True Ventures’ San Francisco offices at Pier 38.

If you’re interested, check out their website to find more details.  The deadline to apply is June 20, 2010.

Collecta Raises $4.7 Million Funding Round from True Ventures & Dace Ventures

June 15, 2010

Congrats to Gerry, Jack, Patrick, and the rest of the Collecta Team on closing their new round of funding!  Check out the story on ReadWriteWeb, Mashable, and Venturebeat. The round was led by our friends at Dace Ventures, so we also want to welcome them to the deal.

Since we funded the Series A for Collecta in 2009, the team has created tremendous value providing real-time news on the web.  Today, you can find Collecta streaming real-time news updates across the web at sites such as Afraid Of Sharks, BlueIon, TheTofu, Egronomixpr, and Future of Money.

Congrats again, Team Collecta!

The 1000 Markets Team Launches Bixbe

June 15, 2010

The team at 1000 Markets has just released a new product: Bixbie – the easiest way to sell anything online.

With Bixbe, users can easily create unique pages for their items and share with friends through Facebook, Twitter, and Email.

With no account to create or shop to design, selling with Bixbe is easy.  Simply choose an item to sell, upload some photos and a description, and start selling.

Check out some early examples of what people selling on Bixbe on the brand new site.

Whether it’s a custom handmade item, a fine piece of art, the unused bike in the garage, or the old sofa, Bixbe is the easiest way to sell it online.

Congrats to the John and Matt and the whole team at 1000 Markets! Go check out their new product and get selling today!

FitBit Featured in Forbes & launches new Support Group Feature

June 14, 2010

On Friday, the personal health blog at Forbes put together a nice write-up of FitBit.

From the article:

“I’ve been using the Fitbit for several months now, and I’m impressed. It’s made me much more aware of how active I am over the course of a day, and helped me get up out of my chair more often and for longer periods. Dare I say it? It’s made me healthier.”

Also on Friday, FitBit launched a new Support Groups feature to help users connect with other users and find further sources of motivation.  Whether you are a Fitbit User with Pets or in the 90% percentile in any fitness category & over 50 – Fitbit Support Groups is the place for you.

You can find all the new groups in the Fitbit Community.

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