alarm:clock

Euro Ventures - Friday, September 28, 2007

This Week in Euro Tech Ventures

Investments
+ Dutch eBook reader maker iRex gains more funding.

+ Private investors put SFr6.5M into Nivio's virtual desktop ambition.

+ Mobile SocNet's TruTap raises $6.5M.

+ The UK's MirriAd funded for embedded video ads business.

+ VoluBill, a French startup in the mobile data charging business, has raised €10.5M.

+ Purple Labs Linux phones cause investors to link up again.

+ Seznam, probably the biggest player on Czech web today, has acquired a stake in video sharing site Stream.

M&A
+ Lithuania's One.lt buys stake in Russian Facebook clone.

+ Venture capital firm Arts Alliance wrote in to say that it had sold portfolio company PrePay Technologies for £50M to Accor's Services subsidiary, which is in the voucher business.

+ Atlanta, GA-based EyeWonder has bought Cologne, Germany-based digital interactive advertising firm and online-streaming-spot seller Vendi Interactive.

+ Fimatex, ultimately majority-owned by Societe Generale in France, has made a bid for OnVista valuing the company at about €138M.

News & Analysis
+ Meet CSR, Intel, and PicoChip Execs in Edinburgh at the Bridging the Gap event.

+ Euro VC fund news: DFJ goes to russia and UK gets giant cleantech fund.

+ alarm:clock euro puzzler - A Turing Test. Name the venture whose founder was inspired by Alan Turing's legacy when he named his current company. The startup's name references Turing's efforts during WWII?

+ Hot betas: MindMeister, Restorm.tv, and RapidObject.

+ Being European:
" We’re in Clerkenwell, which is the literal and spiritual home of print. It’s home to the oldest printing business on the planet, it’s fantastic. We wanted to be somewhere with some significance; Silicon Valley’s not known for its printing..."
Richard Moross co-founder of Moo, the online business card print service backed by Index Ventures

"A lot of people in Europe think entrepreneurs are thieves..."
Martin Varsavsky, FON founder, serial entrepreneur, and business angel.

"Basically I'm just trying to understand all aspects of the game, but of course I find the trade and marketing aspects of the game most interesting. It's also fun to go out there and shoot at somebody, of course..."
Eyjolfur Gudmundsson CCP's Chief Economist aka EVE Online's Central Banker