Shopify, a leading ecommerce platform used to create and power online stores, today announced that it closed a $ 15 million Series B growth investment from Bessemer Venture Partners, FirstMark Capital, Felicis Ventures, and Georgian Partners. This new investment adds to the $ 7 million of Series A funding received last year, providing a sizable balance to fund continued growth.
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SecretBuilders, a game world for children with an emphasis on creativity and historical adventure, was selected by Parents Magazine, the leading parenting magazine in the world, as one of the Top 10 kids websites for 2011, alongside PBS Kids, National Geographics Animal Jam, Nickleodeons Monkeyquest, and Pearsons Poptropica.
Parents Magazine noted that, on SecretBuilders, there is so much to do, see, and learn that he will find something to keep him engaged, whether it's endlessly remodeling his tree house, going on quests, sharing poetry, or having an informative chat with Isaac Newton. The criteria for selection of SecretBuilders included fun, safety, and learning-oriented content. The story appears online and in the September issue of the print magazine.
The recognition by Parents Magazine capped an amazing summer that saw us cross the 5 million member mark, said Umair Khan, CEO of SecretBuilders. Our growth and industry recognition underscore the hunger for premium childrens content on millions of electronic babysitting devices. They also show that we are succeeding in our mission to create kids game content that is both engaging and enriching.
Besides being in millions of homes, SecretBuilders is also used in schools throughout the world. In particular, SecretBuilders Virtual Rewards for Students programs allows teachers to reward their students for good performance with much sought after virtual goods via a Teacher Console account.
We are thankful to Parents Magazine for highlighting SecretBuilders among the ten best games for kids, said Bob Brattesani, Chief Creative Officer. By spotlighting SecretBuilders, they help our mission to bring role models from the arts and humanities into the lives of our children.
About SecretBuilders
SecretBuilders provides premium content that is both engaging and enriching for children on all screens. SecretBuilders is a casual game where children live and play among fictional and historical characters and learn concepts from the arts and humanities. Children enjoy quests that expose them to classic books such as "Treasure Island" and "Alice in Wonderland." Other favorite activities include getting published in the online magazine, taking care of cute virtual pets, hovering around famous art work in Frank 'n' Stein's Gallery, chatting with Sherlock Holmes, and visiting Copernicus' home to take a challenge quiz.
SecretBuilders has raised over $ 4 million to date from The Entrepreneurs Fund, Launch Capital, Scott Hassan (co-founder eGroups, founding team member of Google), Carlos Cashman (CEO ConstellationCK, former CEO CourseAdvisor), Greg Titus (The Washington Post Company) Michael Tanne (former CEO of Adforce), David Jeske (former Director of Applications, Google), Sheila Marcelo (CEO of Care.com), John Welch (CEO of MakingFun, former CEO, Playfirst), Sohaib Abbasi (CEO of Informatica), Ken Morse (co-founder of 3COM) and several other angel investors. The company headquartered in San Mateo, CA.
About Parents Magazine
Parents Magazine is the largest circulating parenting magazine in the US with over 2.2 million monthly subscribers. Parents Magazine is a celebration of today's mother: the woman who understands that taking care of her family also means taking care of herself. With breakthrough content that informs, inspires and entertains, Parents Magazine is for every woman who lives and parents in her own authentic way.
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Defen-G Astro, a strategy game for the iTunes, Android and Samsung market, recently experienced an enormous rise in popularity and downloads. The mobile application, which launched September of this year, reached 2.7 million downloads this week. Defen-G Astro was featured in the iTunes Whats Hot section in Strategy Games at #6 in United States earlier this month, as well as several other high ranks in other categories. The app has also received rave reviews from notable media, including The iPhone App Review, PocketGamer, and TheAppShack.
Garden Seo, marketing team manager at Defen-G development company innodis, believes the apps success is due its engaging content and high-quality design.
We are very fortunate to have such a significant amount of users for such a new app, said Seo of Defen-G Astro. We attest this success and broad user base to the quality and design of the app, which is of the highest standards. We made sure to incorporate Facebook connectivity inside Defen-G Astro, which has helped our loyal fan base spread the word about Defen-G Astro tremendously.
Defen-G Astro is available on the iPhone, iPad, iPod, Android market and Samsung Bada. To support their fan base, Defen-G has a Facebook page and YouTube Channel which they update regularly.
About Innodis: Since its establishment in October 2003, WASA Research Institute of innodis has been active in the provision for the emerging industry trends in the area of game technology. Beginning with the game HappyCity, innodis launched in October 2001. For more information, please visit http://www.innodis.co.kr/
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SpareFoot.com, the leading online marketplace for self storage, announced today the closing of a $ 1.5M extension to its Series B round of funding, bringing the total round size to $ 3.5M. Silverton Partners and FLOODGATE led the round with participation from Capital Factory. SpareFoot will use the proceeds to diversify its product offering.
Across SpareFoot.com, SelfStorage.com and our other properties, we have the most consumer self storage traffic in the US of any independent site, said founder and CEO Chuck Gordon. Were looking forward to using the proceeds from this round to grow that business even more.
SpareFoot, founded in 2008, has grown to be the largest advertising network for self storage in the country.
SpareFoot is an exciting company because they have executed well enough to demonstrate market leadership in a short time," Kip McClanahan of Silverton Partners said. "The team and the culture are such that SpareFoot will likely become a real thought leader in the market as well."
About SpareFoot:
SpareFoot is the leading online marketplace for self storage. With more than 5,000 self storage facilities listed nationwide, SpareFoot offers consumers the most complete comparison shopping experience in the storage industry. Across multiple properties including SpareFoot.com, SelfStorage.com, Apartments.com, and many others, SpareFoot helps self storage facility operators find new tenants all through an entirely pay-for-performance model. SpareFoot is backed by Silverton Partners, FLOODGATE and Capital Factory. To start generating more tenants now, call (512) 705-6208 or visit http://www.sparefoot.com/signup.
About Silverton Partners:
Silverton Partners is an early stage venture capital firm based in Austin, Texas. Silverton collaborates with exceptional entrepreneurs who are committed to attacking growth markets with cutting-edge products or services. The principals of Silverton Partners have over two decades of venture experience in IT infrastructure and management software, having been the start-up investors in Tivoli Systems (IPO/acquired by IBM), Motive Communications (IPO/acquired by Alcatel-Lucent), Waveset (acquired by Sun Microsystems) and SailPoint (privately held). Visit http://www.silvertonpartners.com for more information.
About FLOODGATE:
FLOODGATE is a Silicon Valley based, early-stage Super Angel fund focused on start-ups that fundamentally disrupt existing large markets or create new market categories. The firm currently works with consumer-focused companies such as Twitter, Chegg, ngmoco, digg, Kongregate, IMVU, and Smule, as well as business-focused companies such as SwiftTest, Solarwinds, Spiceworks, Demandforce, and YuMe Networks.
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Belk is offering an enticing incentive for customers to come shopping on Black Friday, November 25, when its stores open at 3 a.m. $ 1 million worth of free Belk Gift Cards.
Each of the 303 Belk stores located in 16 Southern states will give away a minimum of 250 Belk Gift Cards to the first customers arriving when stores open at 3 a.m. The cards awarded in each location will range in value from $ 5 to $ 1,000 and can be redeemed for purchases in any Belk store. Customers receiving the Gift Cards must be age 18 or older.
Our After Thanksgiving Sale on November 25th will offer unprecedented values and saving opportunities, and well be open from 3 a.m. to 10 p.m. for the convenience of our customers, said Kathryn Bufano, Belk, Inc. president and chief merchandising officer. We want to show our appreciation to customers in a big way by giving away $ 1 million in Belk Gift Cards to those who come early to help us kick off the sale. To add to the excitement, we guarantee that every store will have a $ 1,000 Belk Gift Card winner.
This is our best After Thanksgiving sales ever with hundreds of outstanding EarlyBird Specials and great values and gift choices throughout the store, Bufano continued. Were giving customers more reasons than ever to shop with us this holiday season and we look forward to serving them and providing the fashion and value that they deserve.
The Belk After-Thanksgiving Sale features more than 285 EarlyBird specials available in stores while supplies last from 3 a.m. - 1 p.m., along with hundreds of other great buys offered throughout the day. Examples of the EarlyBird specials include:
