Monday, May 14, 2007

Swedish Game Site Power Challenge Raises $8 Million From Benchmark Capital

Benchmark Capital put $8 million to work with Swedish game site Power Challenge, the company will announce today. Power Challenge is a rich Internet application - a game that runs in java and plays very much like a video game. Users build and customize their teams and play against others for points and status. The quality of game play is high and is designed to push the boundaries between traditional PC gaming and online gaming.

Power Challenge, along with its sister site Manager Zone (acquired earlier this year), says it is adding 4,000 new players daily. They’ll use the cash from the financing to fund the development of new games titles, which are currently limited to soccer and hockey. The games are currently playable only on Windows PCs.

The company was founded in 2004.

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Friday, May 11, 2007

Infinity Watch Concept : MP3, Video, Curves-A-Plenty

infinitywatch1.jpg When you design a gadget that tries to do everything under the sun, it invariably both sucks and blows. At the very least, this 3D render of the Infinity doesn't hurt our eyes. To the contrary, it soothes them. The wristwatch has a display on the front that you can use to show off digital photos and video clips. That, and it plays MP3s. Since it's still just an artist's rendering, we'll likely never see it in the local Wal-Merde anytime soon. 'tis a shame, since they're so many quality wristwatch review sites out there. – Nicholas Deleon

Swatch Infinity, Mp3/Video/Photo Player Watch [Yanko Design]

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Pixsy multi-repository image search

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Ringtone/Mobile Game Retailer Playphone Does Big Round

playphone.png
PlayPhone strikes us as another startup whose core strength is not technology but deal making. The company has done deals on the content side to bring in famous name brands and then gone out to do the distribution deals.

PlayPhone.com drives traffic to its own destination site and powers mobile destinations for SEGA, ABC, Bandai, Lycos and RealNetworks. Regarding a recent Bandai deal, PlayPhone and Bandai expect to sell 100K units of their pre-paid Tamagotchi phone within 12 months of its July launch in the US.

PlayPhone has secured $18.75M in Series C funding led by Scale Venture Partners and joined by existing investors, Cardinal Venture Partners and Menlo Ventures. The startups says the funding will allow PlayPhone to expand into additional international markets this year.

playphone grab.png

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B and C List VCs Sucking Wind

nytimes grab.png The New York Times today provides more reportage on the woes of the venture capital sector. Unless you are a top 40 venture firm, you are in a world of hurt.

“It’s been almost a decade,” said Eric Doppstadt, director of private equity for the Ford Foundation, which invests in venture capital firms. “I find it shocking that an asset class that has provided so little payback continues to attract so much capital.”

Read - Some Unrest Is Bubbling Beneath the Top Tier (NY Times)

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