(TECH) Driving Safety Technology Provider GreenRoad Secured $10 Million From Al Gore Fund

"Driving safety technology provider GreenRoad has secured $10 million in financing from Generation, an investment management fund co-founded in 2004 by Al Gore and David Blood.

On May 2009, GreenRoad has raised $15 million from DAG Ventures, Benchmark Capital, Virgin Green Fund, and Amadeus Capital and Balderton Capital.

The new funding round aim to accelerate the deployment of its GreenRoad 360 service among existing and new customers. GreenRoad 360, its proprietary technology-based service, provides drivers and fleet managers with real-time, comprehensive and preventative feedback, analysis, reporting and coaching on drivers’ abilities, maneuvers and patterns.

GreenRoad provides the industry’s first driving behavior improvement service with real-time in-vehicle feedback and comprehensive visibility into those maneuvers which most impact safe driving, fuel efficiency and emissions.

GreenRoad (formally DriveDiagnostics) was founded in 2003 by Hod Fleishman, the Chief of Safety of GreenRoad, and Ofer Raz, the company CTO. The company is headquartered in Redwood Shores, California, with sales offices throughout the U.S. and UK and an R&D Center in Israel." (source)

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(TECH) TuneWiki Gets Funding From Motorola, Docomo & TeliaSonera

"Social media music player provider TuneWiki completed a second round of financing, which was led by Motorola Ventures, Motorola's strategic investment arm. Other participants in the investment round include DOCOMO Capital, the corporate venture arm of NTT DOCOMO, Intellect Capital Ventures, a venture fund controlled by Nordic operator TeliaSonera, HillsVen Capital, Novel TMT, and Benchmark Israel.

The investment will help TuneWiki develop new products and expand its current offerings for mobile and Web platforms. Using its patented technology for timed and subtitled music lyrics, TuneWiki plans to launch a mobile game and significantly upgrade the TuneWiki social media player features.

"Music is rapidly emerging as a key feature for smartphones, and TuneWiki is changing the experience of listening to music from a solitary experience to a social one," said Reese Schroeder, managing director of Motorola Ventures. "We believe that TuneWiki has developed an innovative interactive social media player that can dramatically change the way people will listen to and interact with music."

"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," said Rani Cohen, CEO of TuneWiki. "Japan is one of 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."

TuneWiki developed a social media music player with the largest legally-licensed lyrics database in the world. TuneWiki is enhancing the mobile music experience by combining subtitled lyrics with music and music videos, lyrics translations into over 45 languages, real-time mapping, geographical charting and social networking.

Founded in 2007, the company is headquartered in the British Virgin Islands and has offices in Los Angeles, California; Bellbrook, Ohio; and Tel Aviv, Israel." (source)

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(TECH) Social Network Analysis Solution Provider 'Pursway' Raises $6 Million From Battery Ventures

"Social network analysis solution provider Pursway raised a $6 million in a first investment round from Battery Ventures. The new funds will support the company's growth in the U.S. and Europe, as it plan to open new offices in the Boston area and in London.

The Pursway solution enables companies to identify the influencers and followers for each product or offer within their customer database. They can then create campaigns that utilize this information in a measurable fashion that can be tied to success metrics. Leading mobile network operators including Vodafone and Orange, are already working with the Pursway's solution.

"It is well-documented that most buying decisions are made as a result of recommendations from friends, family, and colleagues," said Elery Pfeffer, Pursway's Co-founder and CEO. "Our solution enables companies to close the gap between how they market their products and services and the way consumers really make their buying decision. Working with some of the leading global retail, financial, and telecommunication companies worldwide, the results show 5-10 times improvement in marketing ROI in as short as 3 months."

Pursway Influencer Marketing solution enables companies to identify the millions of influencers using only data that already exists in their customer database, without infringing on the privacy of online conversations. Pursway works closely with chief marketing officers and heads of customer relationship management (CRM) to establish best practices that amplify the viral effect through campaigns and customer experiences that motivates influencers to spread the word and become evangelists for a company's products and services.

Pursway (previously known as Datanetis) was founded in June 2008 by Pfeffer, Guy Gildor, current company CTO, and Ran Shaul, EVP Customer Solutions at Pursway. The company is headquartered in Herzeliya, Israel, with offices in Waltham, Massachusetts, US and London, UK." (source)

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