White-hot microblogging startup Twitter has no plans to take the company public anytime soon and is not looking for outside funding right now, co-founder Biz Stone reportedly told Reuters at a business forum in Seoul today.

“We have so many other things before we even think about that,” said Stone (pictured). “We are not even discussing it internally. It’s too far off.”

Stone also put the kibosh on a story in the Financial Times earlier this week that the company is in talks with banking behemoth JPMorgan Chase & Co. to sell 10 percent of Twitter for an estimated $450 million.

Stone said the story was “made up” and that the company is currently making money and won’t be shopping around for supplemental funds for at least a year.

“We make money. We earn money from a suite of products … We have promoted tweets … promoted accounts, all of which are in our advertising mechanism,” said Stone. ”We are just really getting started. We have some internal forecasts [for advertising revenue for 2011], but nothing is really shared right now. We don’t need to set the world record or anything like that.”

Investors looking to get a piece of Twitter’s international buzz pre-IPO have been pouring money into the startup for the past year.

Last month, Netscape co-founder Marc Andreessen’s venture capital firm invested $80 million in Twitter via the secondary markets, while in December Twitter nabbed $200 million in a deal that valued the company at $3.7 billion.

The money at stake is significant.

Industry tracker eMarketer said in January that Twitter likely generated an estimated $45 million from advertising in 2010 and could generate about $150 million this year. The startup does not disclose its financial information.

The possibility of getting in early on a company that will possibly be one of the most anticipated IPOs ever has had plenty of investors looking to snap up shares of the Twitter on the secondary markets, where early investors and employees can sell off their stock in companies.

That trend has continued across the industry, as the darlings of Silicon Valley like gaming company Zynga and social network Facebook have watched investors grab chunks of their companies before going public.

The practice had become so prevalent that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said in December it was “investigating” how groups of investors were buying stock via the secondary markets — especially for tech firms.

San Francisco-based Twitter was created in 2006 and currently employs about 350 people.

Companies: Emarketer, Facebook, Financial Times, jpmorgan chase and co., netscape, Twitter, u.s. securities and exchange commission, Zynga

People: Biz Stone, mark andreesen

Article courtesy of VentureBeat » deals

All WW spokeswomen– lookin’ at you, Jennifer Hudson– are suspects.

A Weight Watchers International Inc. options investor earned a three-day paper profit of about $7.8 million after the stock surged the most ever today following the company’s higher-than-estimated forecast. A block of 4,273 February $45 calls were purchased for 95 cents each on Feb. 14, when the stock closed at $44.08. Calls give the right to buy 100 shares, meaning the contracts cost about $400,000. The Weight Watchers calls jumped 20-fold to $19.30 at 1 p.m. New York time today, driving their value up to $8.2 million.

“It was either the luckiest trade in a year and a half or it was someone who had inside information,” said Ophir Gottlieb, head of client services at Livevol Inc., a San Francisco-based provider of options market analytics. He cited the choice of a contract that was the closest out-of-the-money call to the stock price, and the options having an open interest more than quadruple the size of any other contract.

Weight Watchers Options Trade Makes $7.8 Million In 3 Days [Bloomberg]

Article courtesy of Dealbreaker

TuneUp Media, the company promising to provide the right information for the mislabeled and untitled songs in your music library, just announced that it has raised another $2 million of funding.

San Francisco-based TuneUp offers a plug-in for iTunes and Windows Media Player that identifies songs based on their “acoustic fingerprint.” The company says it has more than 3 million users who have used TuneUp to clean more than 1.5 billion tracks.

In addition to the core “clean up” ability, TuneUp has been adding features like music videos and concert alerts. TuneUp launched two of those additions, DeDuper for eliminating duplicate tracks and Lyrics for finding lyrics to a song, last September at the DEMO conference co-produced by VentureBeat.

The company also announced its $4.3 million round from IDG Ventures and KPG Ventures at the conference. With today’s announcement, IDG has added another $2 million to the round, bringing the total round size to $6.3 million and TuneUp’s total funding to $8.5 million.

Tags: iTunes, music library, Windows Media Player

Companies: Idg Ventures, TuneUp Media

Article courtesy of VentureBeat » deals

Today’s funding announcements include web sites that aggregate energy use, social media news and pop music stories:

Earth Aid brings in $4M to lower energy bills: The Washington, D.C.-based company has raised a first round of funding led by Point Judith Capital for its home energy management service, the company announced today. The web-based platform lets users monitor utility usage and spend without the need for new hardware or software, and the company rewards users when they save energy.

Storify gets $2M for social media-based news stories: The aggregation site has raised a first round of funding from Khosla Ventures. Co-founded by a former journalist, the site lets users pull content from Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and other sites together into a single story. Launched in September, the San Francisco-based startup’s stories have already been viewed more than 4.5M times.

Popdust grabs $1M for pop music news coverage: The publisher of original music content has raised a first round of funding led by Lerer Media Ventures to accelerate growth of the site. Based in New York, Popdust produces news with a focus on mainstream artists.

Mobestream raises $1.75M to consolidate your loyalty cards: The developer of Key Ring, a free smart phone app, has raised a first round of funding from Austin Ventures to store all of a customer’s loyalty cards in a single place. The Dallas-based company plans to hire ten new employees with the funding.

Companies: Austin Ventures, Earth Aid, Key Ring, Khosla Ventures, Lerer Media Ventures, Mobestream, Point Judith Capital, Popdust, Storify

Article courtesy of VentureBeat » deals

Today’s funding announcements include sites that help users find a place to live at home and on vacation:

Wanderfly brings in $1M to simplify vacation planning: The travel recommendation site has raised a funding round led by Charles River Ventures to help users plan and book vacations. The site, currently in beta, makes destination suggestions after users answer a series of questions about budget, interests and timing. The New York-based startup has already partnered with Hotels.com and is in the process of partnering with members-only vacation site Jetsetter.

RentJuice grabs $6.3M for rental property tools: The San Francisco-based startup has raised a new round of funding from Highland Capital Partners and Tim Draper of Draper Fisher Jurvetson for its real estate management platform, according to a filing with the SEC. The company’s service, currently available in Chicago, Miami, Boston and New York City, connects property managers, brokers and renters online to streamline the process of advertising, lease paperwork and rentals.

Nicira Networks raises $26M for enterprise network virtualization: The Palo Alto, Calif.-based company, founded by researchers at Stanford University and the University of California, has raised $26M of an expected $47M in third round funding, according to a filing with the SEC. New investors in the company, which develops software to transition data centers to the cloud, include Lightspeed Venture Partners and NEA.

Offermobi gets $1M to deliver mobile ads: The mobile marketing network has raised a first funding round led by ARC Angel Fund for its performance-based ad campaigns. Launched in April 2010, the New York-based startup has generated more than 3M clicks per month from mobile users for actions like lead generation and connecting to a call center.

Companies: ARC Angel Fund, Charles River Ventures, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Highland Capital Partners, Lightspeed Venture Partners, NEA, Nicira Networks, Offermobi, RentJuice, Wanderfly

People: Tim Draper

Article courtesy of VentureBeat » deals

Path, a startup with an unusual take on mobile photosharing, just announced that it has raised $8.65 million in its first round of institutional funding.

Path was co-founded by Napster creator Shawn Fanning, former Facebook executive Dave Morin, and Dustin Mierau, so it’s no surprise that the company enlisted high-profile backers — prestigious venture firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (which has been making a big push to invest in social networking startups) and Index Ventures.

San Francisco-based Path calls its iOS app a “personal network”, because it’s supposed to help you interact with you family members and close friends, not the looser connections found on Facebook. (In fact, you can’t include more than 50 people in your network.) Path allows you to share photos and videos, then see who’s looking at a photo at a given moment, and also signal how a photo makes you feel.

In addition to announcing the funding, Path also said that more than 2 million moments (read: photos and videos) have been shared on the app. And it’s unveiling a feature that makes it possible to share content with friends who don’t have the Path app — you email your connections directly through.

Path previously raised $2.5 million from Index, First Round Capital, Founders Fund, and a number of angel investors. Kleiner’s Chi-Hua Chien and an Index’s Mike Volpi are joining Path’s board of directors, as is Mierau (previously the board was just Morin and Fanning).

Tags: photosharing

Companies: Index Ventures, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Path

People: Chi Hua Chien, Dave Morin, Dustin Mierau, Mike Volpi, Shawn Fanning

Article courtesy of VentureBeat » deals

Path, a startup with an unusual take on mobile photo sharing, just announced that it has raised $8.65 million in its first round of institutional funding.

Path was co-founded by Napster creator Shawn Fanning, former Facebook executive Dave Morin, and Dustin Mierau, so it’s no surprise that the company enlisted high-profile backers — prestigious venture firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (which has been making a big push to invest in social networking startups) and Index Ventures.

San Francisco-based Path calls its iOS app a “personal network”, because it’s supposed to help you interact with you family members and close friends, not the looser connections found on Facebook. (In fact, you can’t include more than 50 people in your network.) Path allows you to share photos and videos, then see who’s looking at a photo at a given moment, and also signal how a photo makes you feel.

In addition to announcing the funding, Path also said that more than 2 million moments (read: photos and videos) have been shared on the app. And it’s unveiling a feature that makes it possible to share content with friends who don’t have the Path app — you email your connections directly through.

Path previously raised $2.5 million from Index, First Round Capital, Founders Fund, and a number of angel investors. Kleiner’s Chi-Hua Chien and an Index’s Mike Volpi are joining Path’s board of directors, as is Mierau (previously the board was just Morin and Fanning).

Tags: photosharing

Companies: Index Ventures, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Path

People: Chi Hua Chien, Dave Morin, Dustin Mierau, Mike Volpi, Shawn Fanning

Article courtesy of VentureBeat » deals

Today’s funding announcements include two startups geared toward parents:

Plum District brings in $8.5M for family-focused offers: The provider of daily deals for mothers has raised a first round of funding led by Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers to expand the site to Portland, Dallas and Raleigh-Durham this year. A sales force of moms source the deals for the San Francisco-based startup, which has grown to more than 20 cities since launching in May.

Korrio grabs $3.3M to make sports leagues more efficient: The Seattle-based startup, founded by a dad involved in youth sports, has raised a first round of funding from Ignition Partners and private investors to develop software for sports leagues. The web site, which launched publicly this month, helps coaches manage registration, payment, rosters and scheduling so that they can concentrate on the competition.

StayClassy raises $1.25M to help charities collect: The San Diego-based startup has raised a first round of funding to help non-profits collect donations online. Since its launch in 2010, the company has helped more than 1,400 organizations accept donations and manage events using its free fundraising software. Looking forward, StayClassy plans to raise a larger funding round in about six months and expects to drive $20M in donations in 2011.

Liquid Robotics gets $18M for swimming vehicles: The company has raised $18M of an expected $23M in its fourth round of funding to develop the Wave Glider, an unmanned maritime vehicle, according to a filing with the SEC. Based in Sunnyvale, Calif. with a marine base in Hawaii, Liquid Robotics initially developed the Wave Glider to monitor humpback whales. Today, the self-sustaining vehicle, which propels itself using waves and sends data back to shore through satellites, has applications for the government, military and environment.

Companies: Ignition Partners, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Korrio, Liquid Robotics, Plum District, StayClassy

Article courtesy of VentureBeat » deals

Today’s funding announcements include free services for asking questions, talking to friends and meeting new people:

ChaCha raises $3M for quick online answers: The question-and-answer service has raised funding from Qualcomm Ventures, extending the $20M sixth round of funding the company raised in October. Based in Indianapolis, the free service pays its responders, called Guides, between 3 and 20 cents per answer and generates revenue through advertising. Self-described as a “smart friend,” the company says it has 32M unique monthly users and has raised $75M in funding to date.

CloudTalk brings in $5M to bring your voice online: The San Francisco-based startup has raised $3.8M in equity and $1.2M in debt, options, warrants or other securities for its free voice message and text service, according to filings with the SEC. Founded in 2009, the company enables “visually threaded” conversations on the web, iPhone and Android. The personal service, which allows for private and public conversations, is available today; services for web sites and businesses are in the works.

vChatter raises $350K for family friendly video chatting: The Menlo Park, Calif.-based startup has raised seed funding for its video chat service that lets users both talk with friends and meet new people, the company announced today. Founded in May 2010, the service began as a Facebook app but expanded to a standalone site in September, and the company boasts 4M registered users today.

Adteractive grabs $5.1M for lead generation: The company has raised equity and warrants in its first round of funding for a performance based marketing service, according to a filing with the SEC. Based in San Francisco and founded in 2000, Adteractive says it delivers more than 1.5M customers and leads each month to clients like Netflix, Time Inc. and Prudential.

Companies: Adteractive, ChaCha, CloudTalk, Facebook, Netflix, Prudential, Qualcomm Ventures, Time Inc, vChatter

Article courtesy of VentureBeat » deals

Scientific Conservation Inc. (SCI), which makes software that monitors energy use in commercial buildings, has raised $15.65 million in a second round of funding.

This marks the latest in a string of companies focusing on opportunities in the mammoth commercial buildings market, which SCI estimates as a $5 billion opportunity.

SCI’s software tracks and diagnoses energy use and problems across a building’s HVAC, refrigeration, lighting, and other systems. The latest funding round was led by Barry Schuler of the DFJ Growth Fund.

It’s rare to see energy efficiency succeed in residential markets, where savings are smaller and companies have to convince risk-averse utilities to try out new technologies. But commercial buildings are, by some accounts, responsible for 20 percent of all energy consumed in the U.S. — and 30 percent of energy used by those buildings is wasted. Companies that can offer energy efficiency and cost savings to commercial buildings are a playing in a sector expected to get hot this year.

Some of the hottest markets set to boom this year are geared toward commercial buildings — lighting systems, building controls and energy efficiency, and players include Serious Materials, Schneider Electric and Siemens. Investors TIAA-CREF and Good Energies also started a fund last year to put $50 million in venture capital into building controls and energy efficiency.

SCI, which won backing from GE in a round of GE’s Ecoimagination contest last year, approaches building energy efficiency using a software-as-a-service product using predictive diagnostics and automation. SCI says its product can help cut annual energy costs by 15 to 25 percent by predicting energy use and automating energy management tasks. It can also seek out weaknesses in the system and streamline maintenance issues.

The San Francisco-based company was founded in 2007 and has raised a total of $24.65 million; this round includes investment from DFJ Ventures and The Westly Group.

[Image via Flickr/ricardodiaz11]

Tags: building controls, ecoimagination, energy efficiency

Companies: DFJ, DFJ Growth Fund, DFJ Ventures, GE, Good Energies, Schneider Electric, SCI, Scientific Conservation, Serious Materials, The Westly Group, TIAA CREF

Article courtesy of VentureBeat » deals