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June 01, 2007
Yumondo Wows Bloggers - Its Backers Wow the a:c
Yumondo, a beta German social networking site, got write ups in ReadWrite and Mashable this week, which shows it knows its blog opinion-makers. Mashable says Yumondo helps its users get to know their cities better and ReadWrite says its reversing the “traditional Web 2.0 model” by building local communities that branch outward.
An alternative to Yumondo's way to get to know your city would be to go outside. But we're not here to give lifestyle advice, we're here to follow the money. The company behind Yumondo, is called Metaversum, and it has raised an undisclosed amount from Grazia.
The results of our research on its backer, Grazia Equity, impressed. Grazia we discover has been investing in entrepreneurs that you could characterize as able to build teams that execute - make money/find customers/create jobs - and establish themselves in tough, regulated, or risky markets.
It was an original backer of Conergy AG, a solar module integrator founded in 1998 that employs 1400 people, and boasts a €1.9B mkt cap – it just did a $150M private placement and it’s expanding into China where renewable energy interest is high as we hear from our moles.
In the meantime, it has co-invested with the likes of Venrock, Mohr Davidow, Benchmark (US), and Asia’s Mitsui.There are not too many early stage European VC types that invest alongside names like that.
In the US, Grazia is backing a la mobile (open source mobile tech) and Nanosolar ($100M in VC and counting), while in Germany it’s backing mobile TV pioneer MFD, which seems to have snagged some important licenses in its early days and is signing up TV stations and building a chain of retail outlets specialized in devices that support mobileTV; it has shares in VoiceTrust, a company we’ve been following for a couple of years now that does password voice authentification applications for the likes of Microsoft.
It also backed the company behind DVBN.de, an online platform for the German construction industry. And it even has a wireless sensor networking startup in its portfolio (the a:c euro is a WSN fan).
Grazia’s not a well-known name. But it’s doing what a lot of brand name VCs claim to do. If any LPs are reading this, you’re out of luck. Grazia doesn’t manage or raise a fund, it taps its network for the capital it needs.
Founded in 2006, Metaversum's first project was a 3D visually gallery (pictured nearby) in Second Life for a Berlin-based design collective. Launching multiple soc nets makes it a bit like Ekaabo, also German, but with cooler software.
Read Yumondo is an Urban Stylesharing Site (mashable)
View Metaversum
View Grazia Equity
Posted on June 1, 2007 07:18 AM | Posted to Web 2.0 | Permalink
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