NTT Docomo wants TuneWiki to power Karaoke on Japan’s Mobiles
TuneWiki continues its fundraising success. Only a week after theon the $7 million series B led by Motorola Ventures, last week Japan’s NTT Docomo has announced an undisclosed round in the company led by NTT Docomo Capital, the giant’s US based investment arm.
In the official announcement, Rani Cohen, TuneWiki’s CEO said:
“With TuneWiki’s ability to translate and subtitle lyrics in more than 40 languages, we were looking for strategic partners to help us expand into new markets. Japan is one the most advanced markets in the world for Karaoke applications; and we believe that with the help of DOCOMO Capital, we can introduce lyrics to the majority of cell phone owners in Japan.”
Greenroad Gets $10 million from Al Gore and Sir Richard Branson to make roads safer
Israeli start-up GreenRoad Technologies raised a $10 million round led by Al Gore’s Generation Investment Management and joined by previous investors Benchmark Capital, DAG Ventures, Balderton Capital, Amadeus, and Branson’s Virgin Green Ventures. Per the company’s announcement, the proceeds will be allocated to accelerate the deployment of GreenRoad 360, Greenroad’s flagship commercial service. To date, GreenRoad has raised $48 million, including this round (see previous coverage on VC Cafe). GreenRoad is led by CEO Dan Steere and has a headcount of 90. More on Globes and Techcrunch.
Another Israeli start up in the road safety space is Road-Guard, provider of ‘driver attention solutions’. Last year, Road-Guard ‘s GreenDrive, an eco driving application aimed at saving fuel costs and reducing the car’s mileage per gallon,was the grand prize winner of Nokia’s International competition during the 2009 Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.
Motorola Buys BitBand
Motorola completed the previously announced acquisition of Israel’sBitBand, provider of cross platform video content delivery network (CDN) solutions, specializing in video on demand for IPTV. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.
I'm a former general partner at google ventures, head of Google for Entrepreneurs in Europe and founding head of Campus London, Google's first physical hub for startups.
I'm also the founder of Techbikers, a non-profit bringing together the startup ecosystem on cycling challenges in support of Room to Read. Since inception in 2012 we've built 11 schools and 50 libraries in the developing world.
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