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Welcome Kiip to the True Family

August 5, 2010

We are happy to announce True’s recent investment in new mobile startup – Kiip.

Kiip bridges the gap between digital gaming and real world goods with a new monetization model for mobile games.  Kiip Founder Brian Wong has impressed us from day one with his excitement, enthusiasm, and passion for his business.  At True, our top priority is the people whom we invest in, and we could not be happier to have Brian join the True Family!

Congratulations to Brian!

Thank you for your confidence in True, and welcome to the family.

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.

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.

Welcoming Trinity Ventures to Loggly

May 19, 2010

On Monday, Loggly closed its $4.2M Series B funding led by Trinity Ventures.  We could not be happier for Kord, Raffy, and Jon and are very excited to be working with our friends at Trinity.

We seed funded Loggly almost five months ago with the strong belief in the team and their vision to provide valuable context around data sets that are continuing to grow exponentially.  Since that time, they have launched a successful Beta version of their product, which has attracted a tremendous amount of interest.

We have all witnessed the vast amount of buzz around the growth in data, but the real value is going to come in actually understanding and acting on that data through as intuitive an interface as possible. Loggly is uniquely positioned to deliver this kind of value to the masses and we feel lucky to be a part of their journey.

Congrats again to the Loggly team!

Sifteo Closes $9M in Funding

May 10, 2010

Congrats to Dave, Jeevan, and the rest of the Sifteo team for closing their round! peHUB broke the story here today. We are also very excited to be working with the Foundry team again, whom we have worked closely with in the past.

Since we first funded the initial seed round with Dave and Jeevan back in 2009, the company has made tremendous progress. With the growth in smartphones, social gaming and the introduction of the iPad, people’s interaction with computers has become much more tactile in nature. At the same, people’s love for traditional tabletop games such as Legos or Mah-Jong has not faded. Sifteo represents the future of play while for the first time truly bridging these two worlds. What’s even more exciting is that the possibilities are endless as far as what users will be able to experience on the platform. We very much look forward to partnering with Dave and Jeevan to help make their vision a reality.

Dave and Jeevan’s thoughts on the funding as well as their TED talk can be found here and here.

Jen Bekman: Most Influential Women in Tech 2010

April 28, 2010

Fast Company named 20×200′s Jen Bekman as one of the most influential female entrepreneurs for 2010. Don’t let Lower East Side art gallery in Manhattan fool you. Jen is all about technology with the online gallery 20×200 promoting the democratization of art. Congrats, Jen!

Om Speaks to BC’s Tech Trek

March 1, 2010

BC Tech Trek

This evening Professor John Gallaugher of Boston College and his Tech Trek students visited the GigaOm offices in San Francisco to hear Om Malik speak on founding GigaOm, venture investing at True Ventures, and reporting on the high tech industry.

It was a great group of students, who asked excellent questions and many of whom plan to apply to TEC 2010!

For information on TEC 2010, check out the program website and appy.

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