BrightEdge, a search engine optimization management (SEO) platform, said today it has become the first such platform to become fully social in a bid to help marketers optimize their social media activity, Jim Yu, founder and chief executive, told VentureBeat.

San Mateo, Calif.-based BrightEdge uses tools to help companies increase their prominence on search engines like Google.

The company said it is now integrating social media signals into its platform, giving marketers valuable insights that allow them to optimize their social media activity for SEO return on investment.

As such, BrightEdge will also analyze the content of Tweets and Facebook “likes” and “shares” to pinpoint the exact areas in social media that will boost SEO, and offer specific recommendations to increase activity in these places.

“Search is the starting point for the vast majority of transactions on the Internet,” said Yu. “With the top search result on Google receiving up to 10 times the clicks of the top pay per click ad, it’s critical for marketers to manage SEO and break their brands through increasing clutter on the Web.”

The money at stake is huge. The SEO market opportunity in the U.S. is greater than $40 billion, three to four times larger than paid search which, according to independent technology and market research company Forrester, was close to a $13 billion market in 2009.

Studies have shown that for every click on a paid ad, there are three clicks on natural search results. BrightEdge is now capitalizing on those metrics more cohesively, said Yu.

“This means that [our] social media teams, which have been siloed off from SEO and focused on generating conversations and sentiment, now have a huge opportunity to influence SEO, improve search rankings, and increase revenue coming from organic search,” he added.

The company uses a scalable infrastructure of crawlers that follows the latest “politeness” rules to deal with the challenge of frequent scans on a large number of keywords, pages, backlinks, and sites.

Its closest competitors are customized in-house solutions and similar SEO companies Covario and SearchLight.

BrightEdge has been growing at a rapid pace. In the last few months, the company says it became the first SEO platform with global capabilities; was joined by the former chief architect of Baidu to consult on international platform expansion; and introduced BrandSafe Link Audit to expose disreputable SEO techniques to brand marketers before they end up in the headlines.

Founded in 2007, BrightEdge has so far raised $8.5 million from Battery Ventures, Altos Ventures, and Illuminate Ventures.

Tags: advertising, search engine optimization, SEO, Social Media, social networking

Companies: Altos Ventures, Baidu, Battery Ventures, BrightEdge, Covario, Facebook, Forrester, Google, illuminate Ventures, SearchLight

People: Jim Yu

Article courtesy of VentureBeat » deals

It looks like early reports about social gaming giant Zynga’s new funding round were a little conservative.

Earlier this week, the Wall Street Journal reported that Zynga was raising $250 million at a valuation of $7 – $9 billion. Now both The New York Times and All Things Digital report that the funding round is almost completed, and that it gives Zynga a $10 billion valuation.

The reports differ on the funding amount, with The Times saying that it will be $250 million while All Things Digital says it’s $500 million.

Zynga’s 2010 revenue was estimated to be $850 million, so the company is being valued at more than 10 times that amount. VentureBeat’s Dean Takahashi said the rumored $7 billion valuation was “astounding” but that Zynga has attracted enormous investor interest since it cracked the free-to-play gaming model, where the games are free but players pay for virtual goods. It also helps that Zynga has moved past its first big hit, FarmVille, with its new game CityVille becoming the fastest-growing game ever. Plus, it’s getting serious about international expansion and mobile gaming (in the latter case through the acquisition of Words With Friends-maker Newtoy).

The other big-name social networking companies are seeing similarly elevated valuations, with Facebook valued at $50 billion after earning about $2 billion in revenue last year, and Twitter valued at $3.7 billion despite only recently getting serious about revenue.

Zynga’s new funding, like Facebook’s, is seen as a likely prelude to an initial public offering. Potential investors reportedly include Morgan Stanley, T. Rowe Price, and Fidelity Investments.

(Zynga founder and chief executive Mark Pincus is pictured above.)

Tags: CityVille, social games, Words With Friends

Companies: Fidelity Investments, Morgan Stanley, T. Rowe Price, Zynga

People: Mark Pincus

Article courtesy of VentureBeat » deals

Legendary venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers sat out most of the recent social networking craze, but it’s been catching up quickly over the past year. And the latest addition is Facebook, the social networking crown jewel.

Kleiner is buying as much as $38 million in Facebook stock from other shareholders (which usually means employees and early investors) at a $52 billion valuation, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal’s Venture Capital Dispatch. That’s slightly higher than the company’s $50 billion valuation when it raised $1.5 billion from Goldman Sachs, DST, and Goldman clients in January.

The firm appears to be taking a similar strategy to another big-name firm, Andreessen Horowitz — since they missed out on most of the social networking superstars early on, they’re willing to put a lot more money into them now, at tremendous valuations. And if they can’t invest directly, they’re willing to buy shares on the secondary markets. For example, last fall Kleiner led a $200 million round in Twitter that valued the company at $3.6 billion. Andreessen Horowitz didn’t participate in that round, but it recently purchased more than $80 million in Twitter stock from existing shareholders.

Kleiner was less active on the social Web (with the notable exception of an investment in social gaming giant Zynga) until last year, due to its funding of Friendster and a focus on cleantech investments. Now, however, in addition to these bigger deals the firm has been investing in what it hopes will be the next wave of social networking hits through its sFund, which Facebook has also invested in. (In the photo above, Kleiner partners John Doerr and Bing Gordon bookend a lineup of sFund participants including Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg.) In fact, Kleiner and Andreessen Horowitz are the two firms that have a stake in Facebook, Twitter, Zynga, and Groupon.

Companies: Facebook, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers

People: Bing Gordon, John Doerr, Mark Zuckerberg

Article courtesy of VentureBeat » deals

Legendary venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers sat out most of the recent social networking craze, but it’s been catching up quickly over the past year. And the latest addition is Facebook, the social networking crown jewel.

Kleiner is buying as much as $38 million in Facebook stock from other shareholders (which usually means employees and early investors) at a $52 billion valuation, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal’s Venture Capital Dispatch. That’s slightly higher than the company’s $50 billion valuation when it raised $1.5 billion from Goldman Sachs, DST, and Goldman clients in January.

The firm appears to be taking a similar strategy to another big-name firm, Andreessen Horowitz — since they missed out on most of the social networking superstars early on, they’re willing to put a lot more money into them now, at tremendous valuations. And if they can’t invest directly, they’re willing to buy shares on the secondary markets. For example, last fall Kleiner led a $200 million round in Twitter that valued the company at $3.6 billion. Andreessen Horowitz didn’t participate in that round, but it recently purchased more than $80 million in Twitter stock from existing shareholders.

Kleiner was less active on the social Web (with the notable exception of an investment in social gaming giant Zynga) until last year, due to its funding of Friendster and a focus on cleantech investments. Now, however, in addition to these bigger deals the firm has been investing in what it hopes will be the next wave of social networking hits through its sFund, which Facebook has also invested in. (In the photo above, Kleiner partners John Doerr and Bing Gordon bookend a lineup of sFund participants including Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg.) In fact, Kleiner and Andreessen Horowitz are the two firms that have a stake in Facebook, Twitter, Zynga, and Groupon.

Companies: Facebook, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers

People: Bing Gordon, John Doerr, Mark Zuckerberg

Article courtesy of VentureBeat » deals

Today’s funding announcements include enterprise technology for geolocation apps and social networking:

DoubleDutch grabs funding to create check-in apps: The developer of mobile apps for businesses has raised a seed round of less than $1M from Charles River Ventures and others. The San Francisco-based startup, which announced its official launch at DEMO Fall 2010, is currently focused on building apps for enterprise events and field teams. One current implementation allows field technicians for a swimming pool company to check in to pools.

SpeakerText lands $600K to transcribe online videos: The San Francisco-based startup has raised funding to grow its web-based transcription service. The company’s tech, which uses speech recognition, natural language processing and machine learning algorithms, helps publishes improve SEO by making video text searchable.

Socialware raises $3M for safe social networking: The software developer has raised funding from FLOODGATE and others to help businesses remain compliant while using social networks. Based in Austin, Texas, the company helps customers like insurance companies manage social media while engaging with clients and partners.

Massive Health brings in $1.6M to help people lead healthy lives: The San Francisco-based health startup has raised $1.6M of an expected $2.3M in a first round of funding, according to a filing with the SEC. Founded this year and still in stealth mode, the company says it is focusing on mobile apps to help people manage their health.

Tags: DEMO, DEMO Fall 2010

Companies: Charles River Ventures, Doubledutch, Floodgate, Massive Health, Socialware, SpeakerText

Article courtesy of VentureBeat » deals

Today’s funding announcements include enterprise technology for geolocation apps and social networking:

DoubleDutch grabs funding to create check-in apps: The developer of mobile apps for businesses has raised a seed round of less than $1M from Charles River Ventures and others. The San Francisco-based startup, which announced its official launch at DEMO Fall 2010, is currently focused on building apps for enterprise events and field teams. One current implementation allows field technicians for a swimming pool company to check in to pools.

SpeakerText lands $600K to transcribe online videos: The San Francisco-based startup has raised funding to grow its web-based transcription service. The company’s technology, which uses speech recognition, natural language processing and machine learning algorithms, helps publishers increase site traffic and engagement by making video text searchable.

Socialware raises $3M for safe social networking: The software developer has raised funding from FLOODGATE and others to help businesses remain compliant while using social networks. Based in Austin, Texas, the company helps customers such as insurance companies manage social media while engaging with clients and partners.

Massive Health brings in $1.6M to help people lead healthy lives: The San Francisco-based health startup has raised $1.6M of an expected $2.3M in a first round of funding, according to a filing with the SEC. Founded this year and still in stealth mode, the company says it is focusing on mobile apps to help people manage their health.

Tags: DEMO, DEMO Fall 2010

Companies: Charles River Ventures, Doubledutch, Floodgate, Massive Health, Socialware, SpeakerText

Article courtesy of VentureBeat » deals

Search behemoth Google is back on the prowl again, today snapping up microblogging Twitter recommendation service Fflick for around $10 million, the companies confirmed this morning.

Fflick uses Twitter to show you what movies the people you follow are recommending as well as what movies they’ve commented on positively or negatively. It also lets you browse a pre-set list of top-ranked movies, helping you decide what movies you may want to rent or go see at a movie theater.

You can also buy movie tickets on Fflick, add certain films to your Netflix queue, and retweet anyone else’s tweets that you think are relevant to a particular film.

So far, neither company is commenting on whether Google will keep the service up and running or if it is primarily attracted to the “sentiment analysis” engine that spits out its recommendations.

Google may also be interested in acquiring the team’s talent. Fflick, launched in August 2010, is the work of four former Digg employees.

TechCrunch reports that the deal is expected to close later this week.

Tags: deal, Mergers and Acquisitions, Social Media, social networking

Companies: digg, fflick, Google, techcrunch, Twitter

Article courtesy of VentureBeat » deals

Tapjoy, a transaction provider for games and sites that use virtual currencies, announced today that it has picked up $21 million in its third round of fundraising after shedding a bit of a dirty image in its old incarnation.

Tapjoy was originally called Offerpal — a name synonymous with somewhat shady deals in social games. Offerpal worked with companies to get users to sign up for deals ranging from credit cards to Netflix subscriptions. Users earned Farmville cash and other types of virtual currencies after signing up. Critics said the deals sometimes tricked users into signing up for things they didn’t want.

Offerpal bought Tapjoy in February last year, and changed its name to Tapjoy as part of a renewed focus on mobile applications that use virtual currencies. But it was more about shifting away from that image associated with inappropriate promotions and tricky situations on social networks. As of October, the company was managing around 250,000 virtual transactions each day from apps running on Apple’s iPhone operating system.

Advertising deals that give users a way to “earn” virtual currencies like Farmville cash are still a big part of the company, said Shannon Jessup, vice president of global sales and marketing for Tapjoy. The company still works with retailers like The Gap and Blockbuster to give users access to deals and other ways to earn virtual currencies. There are around 1,200 different advertising deals available to users.

Facebook plans to migrate its entire system over to Facebook Credits, an official virtual currency for all the applications running on the social network. But that hasn’t happened just yet, leading Tapjoy to bringing in its best month of virtual currency transactions yet in December, Jessup said. Tapjoy is already prepared for the upcoming switch over to Facebook credits, and is used on a number of other social networking sites like MySpace and Yahoo. It’s also the transaction method for some stand-alone games like Gaia Online.

The funding is intended to help market Tapjoy’s services internationally. The company especially wants to expand in Asia, where social games and virtual currencies are prevalent, Jessup said. The company also plans to hire additional staff.

The San Francisco, Calif.- based company has raised $40 million to date. Rho Ventures led the latest round of fundraising. Existing investors InterWest Partners, North Bridge Venture Partners and D. E. Shaw Ventures also participated in the round.

Tags: social games, social networking, virtual currencies

Companies: Facebook, MySpace, Offerpal, Tapjoy, Yahoo

People: Shannon Jessup

Article courtesy of VentureBeat » deals

The world’s largest social consultancy, Dachis Group, got a late Christmas present today, receiving $30 million in second round funding from previous backers Austin Ventures, CEO Jeff Dachis told VentureBeat.

Dachis Group sells software to corporations looking to better use social networking to advance their brands.

It was founded in 2008 by Silicon Valley and “new media” guru Dachis, who is best known for co-founding the then-white hot Web shop Razorfish in 1995.

Dachis has been adamant in the past that his new company is not just a consultancy but instead focuses on three key themes: social business strategy, social business engagement and social business intelligence, to help businesses navigate an “increasingly connected social world” to become “social businesses.”

The two-year-old shop has parlayed that “everything that can be social, will be” philosophy into building a stable of marquee-name clients at a scorching pace.

Dachis Group has been snapping up social-business consultancies along the way, including acquiring Portland, Ore.-based Xplane, an information-design consultancy in April, after its first, $50 million round of funding from Austin Ventures in June of 2008.

It also put some of that money to work last month when it grabbed Austin-based Powered, which creates social marketing programs for more than 200 customers, its seventh acquisition since its founding.

The company currently has 300 clients, including Microsoft, American Express, AOL, AT&T, Bud Light, Calvin Klein, Chevrolet, Chrysler, Cisco, Citibank, The Coca-Cola Company, McDonald’s, HBO and Procter and Gamble.

It also estimates it services 15 percent of the Fortune 500 and operates the largest Facebook Preferred Developer services group in the world through its subsidiaries.

Dachis said it would use the money to grow most areas of its business, including attracting new talent and investing in process development, knowledge sharing systems and quality control.

It will also be aiming to expand its international presence: Dachis Group has 220 employees in offices in 10 cities across five countries, including New York, Philadelphia, Portland, London, Sydney, Amsterdam and Madrid.

Tags: Venture Capital

Companies: American Express, aol, AT&T, Austin Ventures, Bud Light, Calvin Klein, Chevrolet, Chrysler, Cisco, Citibank, Dachis Group, Facebook, Hbo, Mcdonald’s, Microsoft, Powered, Procter and Gamble, razorfish, The Coca-Cola Company, Xplane

People: Jeff Dachis

Article courtesy of VentureBeat » deals

Facebook is now worth $50 billion, according to a report in The New York Times that says the company has raised $500 million in new funding from Goldman Sachs and Russian firm Digital Sky Technologies.

Goldman invested $450 million, while DST (which has already invested about $500 million into Facebook) provided the remaining $50 million. Goldman also plans to create a “special purpose vehicle” to pool its clients and invest another $1.5 billion in Facebook without triggering the Securities and Exchange Commission’s 500-shareholder threshold, The Times says. (Companies that break the threshold are required to disclose more information publicly.)

When I emailed Facebook for confirmation, a spokesman told me the company has no comment.

Facebook’s valuation has been climbing steadily on the secondary markets where shares are sold. (The SEC is now investigating those markets.) Early Facebook investor Accel Partners recently sold off some of its shares at a $34 billion valuation.

Facebook is expected to have its initial public offering as soon as 2012, although the company hasn’t said anything specific on the matter. It reportedly brought in $2 billion in revenue in 2010, and chief Mark Zuckerberg has said that the company is barely profitable, because it’s not focused on profits yet.

Last month, the second-hottest social networking company, Twitter, raised $200 million at a $3.7 billion valuation.

Companies: Digital Sky Technologies, Facebook, Goldman Sachs

People: Mark Zuckerberg

Article courtesy of VentureBeat » deals