Google Ventures, Maveron and others bankroll crowdfunding platform CircleUp

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Maveron, the Seattle venture capital firm led by Starbucks Chairman Howard Schultz and former investment banker Dan Levitan, has joined with Union Square Ventures, Google Ventures and Clayton Christensen’s Rose Park Advisors to bankroll crowdfunding startup CircleUp. The San Francisco company is bringing in $7.5 million in series A funding, described as the largest fundraising for an… Read More…

Panna brings celeb chefs into home kitchens with digital tutorials, raises $1.35M

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From cooking shows to cooking competitions, it’s no secret we like watching chefs at work — it’s nearly as exciting as the dish itself. Maybe it’s something about the live action of it all, a sort of performance art of ladles and cast iron. Maybe we just like to feel like there’s visual evidence the… Read More…

Ignition Partners raises $150M fund, opens new Silicon Valley office

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It’s a new era for Ignition Partners. The Bellevue venture capital firm has a new fund, new offices and a new direction as it celebrates its 13th year. Today, the firm — an investor in companies such as Glympse, DocuSign and Splunk — is announcing that it has closed on a $150 million fund. Ignition’s… Read More…

Rosetta Stone cracks Livemocha, buys language community for $8.5 million

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Seattle online language community Livemocha has been acquired by Rosetta Stone for $8.5 million in cash. The deal is hardly a home run, given that Livemocha had raised more than $19 million in venture capital from Maveron, August Capital and others since it was founded by entrepreneur Shirish Nadkarni six years ago. It’s also an… Read More…

Maveron to plant a seed each month, unveils plan to sprout early-stage consumer startups

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Maveron struck gold a few years ago when it provided the initial seed funding to a young e-commerce startup by the name of Zulily, housing the startup at its offices as entrepreneurs Darrell Cavens and Mark Vadon got the idea off the ground. Of course, that’s proven to be a very, very good investment for Maveron,… Read More…

Decide.com lands $8 million, names former drugstore.com CEO to board

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Decide.com has reeled in $8 million in fresh funding, money that the Seattle startup will use to hire more engineers and developers to crunch data in order to tell consumers what products to buy.  Paul Allen’s Vulcan Capital led the deal, making the round a decidedly Seattle affair. Other investors included Seattle venture capital firms… Read More…

Andreessen Horowitz, Jay-Z’s VC firm invest $10M in cosmetics startup Julep

Julep founder Jane Park

Julep founder Jane Park pauses near the end of our interview, and just lays it out straight when it comes to her recent venture capital fundraising efforts. “There’s nothing like talking to a roomful of men about nail polish,” says Park with a laugh. Obviously, the men were paying close attention to Park, who is… Read More…

Cash-based payment platform PayNearMe lands funding from Maveron

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PayNearMe, a cash-based payment platform based in Silicon Valley, just raised a $10 million Series D round from investors including Seattle-based Maveron. This is interesting to note because Maveron, the consumer tech-focused VC firm, is co-led by Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz. Back in August, Starbucks invested $25 million in Square, the well-known mobile payments company…. Read More…

Red Tricycle pedals ahead with $1.5M from Maveron and Zulily to help parents discover more family fun

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Jacqui Boland started Red Tricycle in Seattle six years ago when she was pregnant with her son, creating an online city guide for new parents who wanted to discover restaurants, day trips, events and other activities for families. Today, Red Tricycle boasts nearly 400,000 email subscribers, attracting about a million page views per month to… Read More…

Prepping for the holiday shopping season, Decide.com rolls out updated app

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Decide.com is getting ready for some serious holiday shopping. The Seattle startup, backed by Madrona Venture Group and Maveron and led by former Farecast executive Mike Fridgen, today is rolling out a new iPhone app that’s designed to help shoppers find the best deals on gadgets, appliances, tools and other products. The app comes as… Read More…