PLEASANTON, CA–(Marketwire -02/24/12)- Milyoni, the leader in social entertainment, today announced that it has secured $11 million in Series B financing led by Oak Investment Partners. Previous investors ATA Ventures and Thomvest Ventures also participated in the round. Milyoni will use the funding to further extend its product portfolio in bringing social entertainment experiences to fans on Facebook. The company will also expand its U.S. presence, with offices opening in Los Angeles and New York City.
“With more than 800 million users and growing, Facebook has established itself as a go-to platform for the discovery and consumption of content today,” said John Corpus, founder and CEO. “In 2012, we anticipate an even greater shift in behavior, with more entertainment companies putting the marketing muscle behind their Facebook presence to further expand their selections of movies, music and other content on the platform. The way we see it, we’re only in the first of a nine inning game.”
Milyoni provides a new way for entertainment companies to take their Facebook presence to the next level by providing a fun, unique, shared and social experience to users. Using Social Cinema and Social Live, fans can easily view, like and comment during particular points within a movie, TV show, sporting event or concert and chat with friends while watching. Over the last year, Milyoni has powered some of the biggest social entertainment campaigns on Facebook and has stamped a number of innovative firsts, including the first PPV movie on Facebook, the first live PPV concert on Facebook, the first socially interactive movie and the first day-and-date movie release on Facebook.
“Oak Investment Partners is excited to join the Milyoni team to further extend their stronghold in the social entertainment arena,” said Fred Harman, Managing Partner at Oak Investment Partners. “The company has shown tremendous traction and growth over the last year, hosting more than 100 titles on Facebook today. The audience for Milyoni’s technology continues to expand along with Facebook’s growth. We’re confident that the Milyoni team has both the passion and experience to propel the company forward.”
“We’ve believed in Milyoni from the beginning and have seen the company’s growth mirror that of the entertainment industry’s needs,” said Hatch Graham, Managing Director, ATA Ventures. “Milyoni’s technology has evolved into the powerhouse social entertainment platform it is today, and the company is poised to continue its leadership in the space. ATA Ventures is thrilled to be a supporting partner.”
Milyoni is primed for an impressive 2012 with 15 current studio partnerships and dozens more in the pipeline. The company has more than 3,000 Social Cinema titles and over 50 Social Live events slated by year’s end. Milyoni will continue to enrich studio interaction, administration and analytics functionality bringing unprecedented insight and engagement to the entertainment experience.
For more information, visit http://www.milyoni.com.
About MilyoniBased in the San Francisco Bay Area, Milyoni, Inc. is the leader in social entertainment. The company’s technology provides entertainment companies with a way to connect and engage with Facebook fans, and turn them into customers. Whether it’s watching a live concert, movie or sporting event or shopping your favorite brands, Milyoni enables companies to monetize fans pages through a unique level of engagement and a shared, social experience. Milyoni’s services reach over 150 million fans from industry leading customers, including Universal Pictures, Lionsgate, Paramount Studios, Big Air Studios, Austin City Limits Live, Turner Broadcasting, University of Oklahoma and The NBA to bring a variety of digital content and physical goods to fans on Facebook. For more information, visit www.milyoni.com.
About Oak Investment PartnersOak Investment Partners is a multistage venture capital firm and a lead investor in the next generation of enduring growth companies. Since 1978 the firm has invested $9 billion in nearly 500 companies around the world, earning the trust of entrepreneurs with a senior team that delivers steady guidance, deep domain expertise and a consistent investment philosophy. Its current portfolio includes Bleacher Report, Demand Media, Federated Media, Good Technology, KAYAK Software, MobiTV, Rearden Commerce, and Wonga. Oak Investment Partners is also known for its historical investments in aQuantive, Allyes, AthenaHealth, Gmarket, HuffingtonPost, Inktomi, Netspend, Polycom, Seagate, and TeleAtlas.
About ATA VenturesATA Ventures is a venture capital firm focused on seeking out early stage private companies that appear to offer above average prospects for capital growth. With over $450 Million of capital under management, ATA Ventures focuses on Information Technology (IT) and provides seed capital and early stages of financing to these companies. For more information, visit http://ataventures.com.
About Thomvest VenturesThomvest Ventures is an early-stage venture capital firm committed to the success of our entrepreneur partners. We primarily focus on investments in areas where we have deep expertise and experience, including software, technology-enabled services, and hardware businesses. The capital we invest is our own, enabling us to be more creative, flexible and patient than many venture investors. More than two-thirds of the companies we have funded in the last decade have either gone public, been acquired, or continue to grow as independent businesses. For more information, visit www.thomvest.com.
Facebook® is a registered trademark of Facebook Inc.
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2012年2月24日星期五
Aircraft unit misses take-off nod
Patna. Feb. 23: The State Investment Promotion Board (SIPB), which held its meeting today after a gap of almost five months, cleared all 116 proposals, except about half-a-dozen that have been put on hold.
Among the proposals that were set aside for the time being included one that talked about setting up of an aircraft manufacturing unit in the state.
Beltronics Techno Pvt Ltd, Patna, had come up with an investment proposal to set up a manufacturing unit of aeroplane and air taxi, besides carrying out maintenance work of aircraft in the vicinity of the state capital.
The company, which claimed that it has already entered into a tie-up with a UK-based firm for financing the project, said it would pump in Rs 92,000 crore for the purpose.
“We have asked them (the company) to give a presentation before the board. We want to see their project details. We would like to know what it wants to do and how it plans to go about? We also want to know what are the land and other requirements of the entrepreneur?” principal secretary (industries) C.K. Mishra told The Telegraph.
SIPB was set up by the Nitish Kumar-led NDA government after assuming power in November 2005 with an aim to promote private investment in the state.
The board has, so far, approved 603 project proposals, which entail an investment of Rs 2.48 lakh crore with a capacity to generate 1.85 lakh jobs.
Sources said if the aircraft manufacturing unit gets the board’s approval, the chances of which are very bleak, it would bring Rs 92,000 crore in investment alone to the state.
In the wake of entrepreneurs, especially Aditya Birla Group chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla who made a fervent appeal to the government at the just concluded “Global Bihar Summit” for speedy approval of the project, the SIPB decided to hold regular meetings in order to avoid delay in giving approvals to proposals.
Bihar Industries Association (BIA) president KPS Keshri, who is also a member of the SIPB, told The Telegraph: “SIPB meeting would now be held twice a month. The aim is to ensure that the proposed projects do not get delayed in getting the board’s approval.”
He added, “It was also decided that those entrepreneurs, who could not apply to the SIPB, would be given a chance to apply to the board.”
According to the industrial incentive policy of 2011, projects having SIPB’s approval would get incentives.
Since there was no fixed time-frame for holding the meeting of the board for approving the investment projects, it led to accumulation of a long list (116) of investment proposals requiring the board’s approval.
The last time a meeting of the board was held was in the last week of September last year
Any fresh investment proposal, once cleared by the SIPB, of up to Rs 100 crore investment would be put up before chief minister Nitsih Kumar for his approval, whereas proposals of over Rs 100 crore would be sent to the cabinet for the necessary approval.
The proposals, which got the board’s approval included investments from sectors like food processing, power, cold storage, flour mills, rice mills, beer factories and others.
http://tourism9.com/ http://vkins.com/
Among the proposals that were set aside for the time being included one that talked about setting up of an aircraft manufacturing unit in the state.
Beltronics Techno Pvt Ltd, Patna, had come up with an investment proposal to set up a manufacturing unit of aeroplane and air taxi, besides carrying out maintenance work of aircraft in the vicinity of the state capital.
The company, which claimed that it has already entered into a tie-up with a UK-based firm for financing the project, said it would pump in Rs 92,000 crore for the purpose.
“We have asked them (the company) to give a presentation before the board. We want to see their project details. We would like to know what it wants to do and how it plans to go about? We also want to know what are the land and other requirements of the entrepreneur?” principal secretary (industries) C.K. Mishra told The Telegraph.
SIPB was set up by the Nitish Kumar-led NDA government after assuming power in November 2005 with an aim to promote private investment in the state.
The board has, so far, approved 603 project proposals, which entail an investment of Rs 2.48 lakh crore with a capacity to generate 1.85 lakh jobs.
Sources said if the aircraft manufacturing unit gets the board’s approval, the chances of which are very bleak, it would bring Rs 92,000 crore in investment alone to the state.
In the wake of entrepreneurs, especially Aditya Birla Group chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla who made a fervent appeal to the government at the just concluded “Global Bihar Summit” for speedy approval of the project, the SIPB decided to hold regular meetings in order to avoid delay in giving approvals to proposals.
Bihar Industries Association (BIA) president KPS Keshri, who is also a member of the SIPB, told The Telegraph: “SIPB meeting would now be held twice a month. The aim is to ensure that the proposed projects do not get delayed in getting the board’s approval.”
He added, “It was also decided that those entrepreneurs, who could not apply to the SIPB, would be given a chance to apply to the board.”
According to the industrial incentive policy of 2011, projects having SIPB’s approval would get incentives.
Since there was no fixed time-frame for holding the meeting of the board for approving the investment projects, it led to accumulation of a long list (116) of investment proposals requiring the board’s approval.
The last time a meeting of the board was held was in the last week of September last year
Any fresh investment proposal, once cleared by the SIPB, of up to Rs 100 crore investment would be put up before chief minister Nitsih Kumar for his approval, whereas proposals of over Rs 100 crore would be sent to the cabinet for the necessary approval.
The proposals, which got the board’s approval included investments from sectors like food processing, power, cold storage, flour mills, rice mills, beer factories and others.
http://tourism9.com/ http://vkins.com/
Aircraft unit misses take-off nod
Patna. Feb. 23: The State Investment Promotion Board (SIPB), which held its meeting today after a gap of almost five months, cleared all 116 proposals, except about half-a-dozen that have been put on hold.
Among the proposals that were set aside for the time being included one that talked about setting up of an aircraft manufacturing unit in the state.
Beltronics Techno Pvt Ltd, Patna, had come up with an investment proposal to set up a manufacturing unit of aeroplane and air taxi, besides carrying out maintenance work of aircraft in the vicinity of the state capital.
The company, which claimed that it has already entered into a tie-up with a UK-based firm for financing the project, said it would pump in Rs 92,000 crore for the purpose.
“We have asked them (the company) to give a presentation before the board. We want to see their project details. We would like to know what it wants to do and how it plans to go about? We also want to know what are the land and other requirements of the entrepreneur?” principal secretary (industries) C.K. Mishra told The Telegraph.
SIPB was set up by the Nitish Kumar-led NDA government after assuming power in November 2005 with an aim to promote private investment in the state.
The board has, so far, approved 603 project proposals, which entail an investment of Rs 2.48 lakh crore with a capacity to generate 1.85 lakh jobs.
Sources said if the aircraft manufacturing unit gets the board’s approval, the chances of which are very bleak, it would bring Rs 92,000 crore in investment alone to the state.
In the wake of entrepreneurs, especially Aditya Birla Group chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla who made a fervent appeal to the government at the just concluded “Global Bihar Summit” for speedy approval of the project, the SIPB decided to hold regular meetings in order to avoid delay in giving approvals to proposals.
Bihar Industries Association (BIA) president KPS Keshri, who is also a member of the SIPB, told The Telegraph: “SIPB meeting would now be held twice a month. The aim is to ensure that the proposed projects do not get delayed in getting the board’s approval.”
He added, “It was also decided that those entrepreneurs, who could not apply to the SIPB, would be given a chance to apply to the board.”
According to the industrial incentive policy of 2011, projects having SIPB’s approval would get incentives.
Since there was no fixed time-frame for holding the meeting of the board for approving the investment projects, it led to accumulation of a long list (116) of investment proposals requiring the board’s approval.
The last time a meeting of the board was held was in the last week of September last year
Any fresh investment proposal, once cleared by the SIPB, of up to Rs 100 crore investment would be put up before chief minister Nitsih Kumar for his approval, whereas proposals of over Rs 100 crore would be sent to the cabinet for the necessary approval.
The proposals, which got the board’s approval included investments from sectors like food processing, power, cold storage, flour mills, rice mills, beer factories and others.
http://tourism9.com/ http://vkins.com/
Among the proposals that were set aside for the time being included one that talked about setting up of an aircraft manufacturing unit in the state.
Beltronics Techno Pvt Ltd, Patna, had come up with an investment proposal to set up a manufacturing unit of aeroplane and air taxi, besides carrying out maintenance work of aircraft in the vicinity of the state capital.
The company, which claimed that it has already entered into a tie-up with a UK-based firm for financing the project, said it would pump in Rs 92,000 crore for the purpose.
“We have asked them (the company) to give a presentation before the board. We want to see their project details. We would like to know what it wants to do and how it plans to go about? We also want to know what are the land and other requirements of the entrepreneur?” principal secretary (industries) C.K. Mishra told The Telegraph.
SIPB was set up by the Nitish Kumar-led NDA government after assuming power in November 2005 with an aim to promote private investment in the state.
The board has, so far, approved 603 project proposals, which entail an investment of Rs 2.48 lakh crore with a capacity to generate 1.85 lakh jobs.
Sources said if the aircraft manufacturing unit gets the board’s approval, the chances of which are very bleak, it would bring Rs 92,000 crore in investment alone to the state.
In the wake of entrepreneurs, especially Aditya Birla Group chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla who made a fervent appeal to the government at the just concluded “Global Bihar Summit” for speedy approval of the project, the SIPB decided to hold regular meetings in order to avoid delay in giving approvals to proposals.
Bihar Industries Association (BIA) president KPS Keshri, who is also a member of the SIPB, told The Telegraph: “SIPB meeting would now be held twice a month. The aim is to ensure that the proposed projects do not get delayed in getting the board’s approval.”
He added, “It was also decided that those entrepreneurs, who could not apply to the SIPB, would be given a chance to apply to the board.”
According to the industrial incentive policy of 2011, projects having SIPB’s approval would get incentives.
Since there was no fixed time-frame for holding the meeting of the board for approving the investment projects, it led to accumulation of a long list (116) of investment proposals requiring the board’s approval.
The last time a meeting of the board was held was in the last week of September last year
Any fresh investment proposal, once cleared by the SIPB, of up to Rs 100 crore investment would be put up before chief minister Nitsih Kumar for his approval, whereas proposals of over Rs 100 crore would be sent to the cabinet for the necessary approval.
The proposals, which got the board’s approval included investments from sectors like food processing, power, cold storage, flour mills, rice mills, beer factories and others.
http://tourism9.com/ http://vkins.com/
2012年1月17日星期二
Movement under way to ease investment by Web
OAKLAND, Calif. – Ian Schuster and his business partners have raised almost a quarter of a million dollars to launch their craft beer brewery company, but if they had more money, they could grow the business much faster.
Bryan Brumfield has poured most of his life savings into the artisanal wine business he plans to launch after he retires as an Oakland firefighter in March, and needs additional capital to bring in outside expertise.
Each would love to tap the power of social media to find additional investors online who would each put up small amounts of money in exchange for equity stakes in their companies, a concept called “crowdfunding.”
But they can’t do so under current law. Companies can sell shares to what the SEC calls “accredited investors” – seasoned, high-net-worth people who understand the risks. But financial stakes for small-time investors are limited to 35 people (fewer in some states), just enough to enable some friends-and-family funding, but not enough to harness the Internet’s reach to attract a larger number of equity investors.
Popular websites like Kickstarter and IndieGoGo show the power of crowdfunding, by letting people request funds online from strangers to back specific projects – a theater performance, for instance. But the people who pledge money can only receive perks like T-shirts, not equity shares, in exchange.
Then there are lending websites like Prosper.com that allow for person-to-person loans. People ask to borrow money for anything from plastic surgery to starting a company and offer a fixed interest rate in return. But again, equity stakes are not allowed.
Now, legislation pending in Congress that enjoys strong bipartisan support and Obama administration backing may make crowdfunding possible for entrepreneurs.
Crowdfunding “has the potential to be a powerful new venture capital model for the Facebook and Twitter age, and its potential to create jobs is enormous,” said Sen. Scott Brown, R-Mass., in congressional testimony last month.
“But crowdfunding is currently illegal because of obsolete regulations, some dating back to the 1930s.”
Brown is sponsoring the Democratization of Capital Bill, which would let small companies sell up to $1 million in equity online in chunks of $1,000 or less. It is under review by the Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs.
A similar bill, the Entrepreneur Access to Capital Act, passed the House in November by a wide margin. It would allow up to $2 million in crowdfunded investments in $10,000 increments.
But some worry that crowdfunding would entice online hucksters to set up shop.
“A lot of people believe everything they see on the Internet, so we are concerned about fraud,” said Jack Herstein, president of the North American Securities Administrators Association. “Scam artists follow the hottest trends. They could make up fraudulent websites. … Once you push the button and send your credit card number, your money is gone.”
Still, he said, he is not opposed to crowdfunding. He just wants built-in safeguards.
“Everybody should be behind anything that helps the economy,” he said.
At a time when banks can be reluctant to make loans, letting small enterprises solicit funds online so they can start up and grow makes sense, crowdfunding supporters say.
“Crowd sourcing for us would be a dream come true,” Schuster said. His Schubros Brewery, based in San Ramon, will start beer production in March after getting its government license. The five partners have done well raising money from themselves, friends and family and a couple of accredited investors.
“We have enough to get started,” he said. “But if we could get more money, we would be more stable from Day 1. We could hire full-time salespeople and grow faster than planned.”
Brumfield, the Oakland firefighter, said crowdfunding would make a huge difference to him. “Unless things change in the banking world, crowdfunding would be the best opportunity besides friends and family for the additional capital I need to launch,” he said.
csaid@sfchronicle.com
http://tourism9.cm/ http://vkins.com/
Bryan Brumfield has poured most of his life savings into the artisanal wine business he plans to launch after he retires as an Oakland firefighter in March, and needs additional capital to bring in outside expertise.
Each would love to tap the power of social media to find additional investors online who would each put up small amounts of money in exchange for equity stakes in their companies, a concept called “crowdfunding.”
But they can’t do so under current law. Companies can sell shares to what the SEC calls “accredited investors” – seasoned, high-net-worth people who understand the risks. But financial stakes for small-time investors are limited to 35 people (fewer in some states), just enough to enable some friends-and-family funding, but not enough to harness the Internet’s reach to attract a larger number of equity investors.
Popular websites like Kickstarter and IndieGoGo show the power of crowdfunding, by letting people request funds online from strangers to back specific projects – a theater performance, for instance. But the people who pledge money can only receive perks like T-shirts, not equity shares, in exchange.
Then there are lending websites like Prosper.com that allow for person-to-person loans. People ask to borrow money for anything from plastic surgery to starting a company and offer a fixed interest rate in return. But again, equity stakes are not allowed.
Now, legislation pending in Congress that enjoys strong bipartisan support and Obama administration backing may make crowdfunding possible for entrepreneurs.
Crowdfunding “has the potential to be a powerful new venture capital model for the Facebook and Twitter age, and its potential to create jobs is enormous,” said Sen. Scott Brown, R-Mass., in congressional testimony last month.
“But crowdfunding is currently illegal because of obsolete regulations, some dating back to the 1930s.”
Brown is sponsoring the Democratization of Capital Bill, which would let small companies sell up to $1 million in equity online in chunks of $1,000 or less. It is under review by the Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs.
A similar bill, the Entrepreneur Access to Capital Act, passed the House in November by a wide margin. It would allow up to $2 million in crowdfunded investments in $10,000 increments.
But some worry that crowdfunding would entice online hucksters to set up shop.
“A lot of people believe everything they see on the Internet, so we are concerned about fraud,” said Jack Herstein, president of the North American Securities Administrators Association. “Scam artists follow the hottest trends. They could make up fraudulent websites. … Once you push the button and send your credit card number, your money is gone.”
Still, he said, he is not opposed to crowdfunding. He just wants built-in safeguards.
“Everybody should be behind anything that helps the economy,” he said.
At a time when banks can be reluctant to make loans, letting small enterprises solicit funds online so they can start up and grow makes sense, crowdfunding supporters say.
“Crowd sourcing for us would be a dream come true,” Schuster said. His Schubros Brewery, based in San Ramon, will start beer production in March after getting its government license. The five partners have done well raising money from themselves, friends and family and a couple of accredited investors.
“We have enough to get started,” he said. “But if we could get more money, we would be more stable from Day 1. We could hire full-time salespeople and grow faster than planned.”
Brumfield, the Oakland firefighter, said crowdfunding would make a huge difference to him. “Unless things change in the banking world, crowdfunding would be the best opportunity besides friends and family for the additional capital I need to launch,” he said.
csaid@sfchronicle.com
http://tourism9.cm/ http://vkins.com/
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