L.L. Bean adds Reviews via Bazaarvoice

L.L. Bean is "a trusted source for quality apparel, reliable outdoor equipment and expert advice", so it makes sense that they would use a trusted source for customer ratings and reviews management...Bazaarvoice.

Leading retailer encourages customers to tell other people about the L.L.Bean products they own; more than 13,000 reviews submitted to www.llbean.com within one week

Another Round for Bazaarvoice

The Austin Business Journal is reporting that Austin-based Austin Ventured-backed Bazaarvoice has closed on $7.1 million in a Series C round of funding. This infusion will be used to accelerate international growth and increase headcount.

Here's the full article: Bazaarvoice gets $7 million infusion

Congrats to Brett Hurt and his team! (Checkout job openings here: Bazaarvoice Jobs)

Homeaway Buys Yet Another

EscapeHomes latest buy for fast-growing HomeAway

Like BarCamp but for Products

Paul Young, Director of Product Management at NetStreams, just sent me a note in regards to this upcoming product management/marketing event...it's sponsored by Austin Ventures, Pragmatic Marketing, and others.

"ProductCamp is Austin's first community organized unconference on Product Marketing and Management topics. We are modeling ProductCamp after the popular BarCamp concept (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BarCamp) and the whole event is being developed by and for professionals involved in the product management, marketing, and development process. This is a free event that is open to the public - the only cost is participation."

When = Saturday June 14th, 2008, 8:00 AM - 6:00 PM
Where = St. Edward's University Professional Education Center (PEC)
Website = Product Camp Austin

Did I mention that it is sponsored by Austin Ventures? :-)

Austin Venture's $50m Dump into Social Networking

Austin Ventures recruits Razorfish founder for new $50 million venture

Lucky Mother Pluck-ers

Austin-based web 2.0 company Pluck, who was recently purchased by Demand Media, made a bunch of Pluck-ers happy early last week. Word on the street is that Pluck-ers were paid cash money for their vested "shares" of Pluck and were given "shares" of Demand Media for their non-vested Pluck "shares".

Ok, so this is not earth-shattering news, but I think it's great to see a post-dot-com-bust company do well and reward its employees while other companies are failing or laying people off or selling out for low amounts.

Click Forensics gets $10 million infusion

Austin-based and Austin Ventures backed Click Forensics has landed $10 million in venture funding which puts its raised total to $15 million in the last two years. The company develops software that detects fraudulent internet activity. Their main focus is detective fraud in the paid search arena. The Click Fraud Network, as they call it, uses algorithms to sniff out suspicious clicks and other possible problems. Other investors include Shasta Ventures and Sierra Ventures.

HomeAway Ranked 8th Most-Visited U.S. Travel Information Website

Was just sent this press release from Austin-Based and Austin Ventures backed HomeAway:

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HomeAway, Inc., which operates the world’s largest network of vacation rental websites, today announced it ranked 8th among the Top 10 Most Visited Travel Information Websites in the United States and 14th in the world in January 2008, according to comScore Media Metrix.

“With nearly 5 million unique visitors in January and listing more than 255,000 properties, the HomeAway sites, including HomeAway.com, VRBO.com and VacationRentals.com, have rapidly become an information resource for many travelers drawn to the diverse selection of vacation rental homes,” says Mike Butler, HomeAway’s chief marketing officer.

Travel analysts predict hotel rates will increase 5 to 8 percent in the United States this year. That, coupled with the overall increase of travel, has experts touting the value of vacation rentals and adding to the interest in alternative accommodations, Butler says. HomeAway research indicates vacation rentals, on average, cost 50 percent less per square foot than hotels.

“HomeAway’s U.S. and global rankings reinforce the opportunity the sites give advertisers looking to reach both the traveler and second home owner demographic,” says Steven Goldberg, Vice President of Advertising Sales and Strategy.

The U.S. comScore Media Metrix report indicates that nearly one third of the HomeAway travel audience earns more than $100,000 per year. On average, travelers spend approximately $1,600 per week to stay in a vacation rental, according to HomeAway.

The National Association of Realtors reports baby boomers are more active than any other group in the second home market, owning 57 percent of all vacation/seasonal homes and 58 percent of rental property.

According to comScore Media Metrix, HomeAway ranks #14 among popular travel information sites in the world, and #8 in the United States, for January 2008:
1. Yahoo! Travel
2. Travel Ad Network
3. Trip Advisor Sites
4. AOL Travel
5. About.com Travel
6. Vacations To Go.com Sites
7. MSN Travel
8. HomeAway
9. Away.com
10. Cheapflights.com
About HomeAway, Inc.:

The HomeAway, Inc. websites connect homeowners and property managers with travelers who seek the space, value and amenities of vacation rental homes as an alternative to hotels. With more than 255,000 global listings across the sites, travelers may easily search for budget to luxury-priced vacation rentals on HomeAway.com, VRBO.com, VacationRentals.com, CyberRentals.com, A1Vacations.com, GreatRentals.com, TripHomes.com, Holiday-Rentals.co.uk, OwnersDirect.co.uk, FeWo-direkt.de and Abritel.fr. The sites also feature Reviews and the HomeAway Rent with Confidence Guarantee™, which help ensure a memorable HomeAway from home® experience. HomeAway is headquartered in Austin, Texas and funded by Austin Ventures, Redpoint Ventures, American Capital, Institutional Venture Partners and Trident Capital.

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Demand Media Acquires Pluck Corporation

I was just sent this press release and a quick Google search puts the price paid at $67 million. Demand Media is the group who is helping Lance Armstrong and his foundation with the creation/build-out of LiveStrong.com.

SANTA MONICA, CA, March 4, 2008 -- Demand Media, Inc., the next-generation social media company, announced today that it has acquired Pluck Corporation, a leading provider of social media tools and technologies, serving more than 200 media websites, reaching over 100 million users, and serving over 1.5 billion interactions per month. The acquisition expands Demand Media’s social media platform beyond its owned network of web sites to power leading media properties and brands worldwide including Gannett/USA TODAY, Guardian Unlimited, Hearst Corporation, Fox, The Washington Post, Scotts and Circuit City.

“We founded the company with a vision for expanding social media beyond the traditional social networking portals. To that end, we have acquired and developed the components necessary to create, distribute and monetize web sites and content,” said Richard Rosenblatt, co-founder, CEO and chairman of Demand Media. “Now, we are ready to expand the platform and model beyond our proprietary network. Pluck provides the technologies, people and partners to accomplish this vision.”

Demand Media’s social media platform currently supports more than 64 million unique visitors per month.* The platform features multiple social media applications such as social Q&A and a vast wholly-owned and rights-cleared content library of Pro Amateur text and video. All this will be enhanced by Pluck’s widget and API-based social media technologies.

“This combination will allow us to provide our customers with an even broader suite of social media products and monetizable content,” said Dave Panos, CEO of Pluck and executive vice president for Demand Media. “The combined expertise of our two companies in platform technology development, content creation and community management is truly un-matched.”

Since its inception in May 2006, Demand Media has raised over $350 million in equity capital and pioneered a new formula for building an interactive media company. Through its social media platform, Demand Media has grown its vertical network into one of the Internet’s largest.

Pluck was founded in 2003 and built a world-class social media platform that enables leading publishers, brands, and retailers to grow their audiences by seamlessly integrating content, community and social media technologies directly into their existing web properties.

About Demand Media, Inc. Demand Media™ is a leading social media company that provides an interactive, personalized and vertically-focused media experience for over 64 million unique users. By using its proprietary social media tools and the unique distribution platform of the world’s second largest domain registrar, the company connects content creators and audiences to grow its network of vertical media web properties. The privately held company was founded in May 2006 and is based in Santa Monica, CA, with offices in Bellevue, WA, Austin, TX and San Francisco, CA.

Vote for your favorite Web 2.0 sites @ Webware

Webware.com is a CNET site that covers the world of web-based productivity, data-driven, and community services applications. Voting is currently open for their annual Webware 100, which is basically a who's-who of the top Web 2.0 sites. Thousands of nominations were submitted, the Webware editors selected the 300 finalist and now, we the people get to pick our favorite 100.


Austin's own and Austin Ventures backed Spiceworks is in the running in the Utility and Security category.

Austin Ventures - Not all about profits

Austin, Texas-based Austin Ventures has been chosen to receive the Torch of Liberty Award from the Anti-Defamation League.

Read the Austin American Statesman article here: Austin Ventures to get human rights honor

Of course, Austin Ventures also keeps busy spreading the venture capital around. Here are a few web-based investments that are rather interesting:

Bazaarvoice - User Generate Content
Convio - Helps non-profits use the internet strategically
Homeaway - Offers vacation rental listings on the internet
ON Networks - HD online based TV shows
Pluck - Next generation internet search, information presentation, and personalized content syndication
Spiceworks - Free IT management software for the SMB crowd
Sportvision - Innovative sports and entertainment marketing