January 18, 2011 Fan “relationship management” service FanBridge recently closed a $2 million Series A financing and already completed its first acquisition of Facebook fan management startup Damntheradio. Super angels Jeff Clavier (SoftTech VC), Chris Sacca (Lowercase Capital Capital), and Dave McClure seeded FanBridge with $350,000 in March, 2009. They are all back in this $2 million round via SoftTech VC, Lowercase Capital, and 500 Startups, respectively. Joining them are First Round Capital, Founder Collective, Grape Arbor VC, and Alex Zubillaga.

FanBridge helps bands, artists, sports teams, and even small businesses and brands manage their fan base through opt-in emails and sophisticated analytics. It manages 90 million fans via email alone… More at TechCrunch

For more on FanBridge, its founders and investors check out their profile on CrunchBase

From Fast Company January 26, 2011: Birchbox aims to help the $52 billion beauty business learn which free trials become full-size sales.

Hayley Barna, 27, and Katia Beauchamp, 28, are getting stronger. “Every 10 new customers, one push-up,” Barna says. Those push-up relays in the duo’s fuchsia-strewn New York office may soon be daunting: Birchbox, their subscription-based e-commerce company, has grown to 5,000 members in four months, and roughly 50 people join each day.

For a $10 monthly subscription, Birchbox sends consumers a box of deluxe-size samples from brands such as Benefit, Kiehl’s, and Marc Jacobs. Samples — whether given away in department stores or mailed with magazine subscriptions — have long been a staple in the beauty business, mostly because women like to test products before purchase… More at FastCompany.com

You can learn about Birchbox’s funding and investors at TechCrunch

December 03, 2010 via TechCrunch By Eric Schonfeld – Today, Jewelry flash-sale site BaubleBar officially launched. Previously known as Eight1six, BaubleBar offers fashion jewelry at deep discounts for limited periods of time. The company was founded by Daniella Yacobovsky and Amy Jain, two recent Harvard Business School grads who previously worked in investment banking. The New York City startup also raised $1.1 million in a series A financing led by Accel Partners. Founder Collective, Lerer Ventures, and hedge fund “fashion maven” Julie Macklowe. (FGVN editor: Angel fund Grape Arbor VC also participated)

It competes with other flash-sale sites like Gilt, ideeli, and HauteLook, which sell a broader array of apparel and accessories, including jewelry. But by focusing only on jewelry, BaubleBar hopes to distinguish itself. (Last year, Ideeli raised $20 million and HauteLook raised $31 million earlier this year)…  More at TechCrunch…

ChallengePost, a public platform that enables social problem solving, announced in September of 2010 the launch of Challenge.gov, a site that gives citizens free access to participate in Federal government challenges and solve them for prizes and recognition. There are over 35 challenges from more than 15 agencies on the new platform.  ChallengePost will work closely with government agencies such as the USDA and HHS to promote and publish more challenges that take on health, science, and design issues, among others.

A USDA challenge Apps For Healthy Kids offered $60,000 in prizes to create innovative, fun and engaging software tools and games that encourage children directly or through their parents to make more nutritious food choices and be more physically active.

Challenge Post was one of the startups in the First Growth Venture Network inaugural 2009 vintage.  More on Challenge Post funding, team, and investors can be found at Venture Beat or browse their latest news.

InComm, the $10 Billion leader in sales and marketing of prepaid products and innovator of transaction processing, has as of March 9, 2010 acquired Zeevex, the first open virtual currency provider and digital content microtransaction thought leader. An integral component of InComm’s digital content strategy, the Zeevex acquisition will enable InComm to leverage the strength of its prepaid gaming vertical with Zeevex’s virtual currency platform creating a powerful tool for consumers of all ages to discover and purchase their favorite digital content.

Zeevex was one of the startups in the First Growth Venture Network inaugural 2009 vintage.  You can learn more about Zeevex including their funding, team info, and investors at CrunchBase.

Have you ever wanted to just relax and watch some videos, without necessarily knowing what you want to watch? Say there’s nothing interesting ‘on demand’, and none of your favorite TV shows are on. What should you do? You could go online, but there are so many videos and sites, it’s impossible to know where to start. Plizy is the solution to that problem.

Plizy learns who you are and recommends videos based on what you like. Our unique, patent pending recommendation engine builds an “entertainment graph” using your existing graphs (including Facebook and Twitter). We already know what you want to watch, and we find you video content we know you’ll enjoy.

So sit back and relax, with Plizy.

From ReadWriteWeb.com By Audrey Watters / April 9, 2011 3:00 PM
Despite the increasing popularity of e-books, children’s literature – particularly picture books – has been slower to go digital. There are a number of obstacles in the way, most obviously the emphasis on colorful illustrations alongside the words. As many e-readers have black-and-white screens and as many formats focus primarily on digitizing the text, you’re unlikely to find a great selection of children’s e-lit in e-bookstores (although that is changing)…
…MeeGenius is available across platforms: the web, iPhone, iPad, Google Chrome Web Store, and Google TV. Yes, Google TV. Park, a father of preschool age twins, says that he would often do development on the product on a large screen in the living room, and his children came to see books as just “another channel” on TV.

We’re pleased to report that 20×200 made The Wall Street Journal‘s very short list of places to buy art online, along with the VIP Art Fair, Artnet and Art.sy.

In the article, William Wegman provides his own perspective on why his prints have done well:

Mr. Wegman attributes his strong online sales partly to the way his images look on a computer screen. “It’s kind of luminous, in a way—it’s very attractive, almost more than printed,” he says.

Check out the video and slideshow to see all of the 20×200 artists and editions highlighted in WSJ: ny.08.#14 by Jennifer Sanchez, Game Board by William Wegman, Praia Piquinia 02/08/07 15h16 by Christian Chaize and The Sledding Hill (Dusk) by Joseph O. Holmes.

20X200 was one of the start-ups in the First Growth Venture Network inaugural 2009 vintage.  You can learn more about 20X200 including their funding, team info, and investors at CrunchBase.