In case you’ve been wondering what Spark is working on or rather, who we’re working with, to put it simply, we’re lucky enough to work with the most innovative organizations in fast-growing market segments including: advertising & media, consumer, consumer electronics, embedded technologies, enterprise & open source, entertainment, gaming, green tech, mobile & wireless, social media & networking and venture capital & financial. To break it down even further, here’s our current Sparkpr client roster.
Sparkpr Client List: April 2009
Social Networks:
MyHeritage – My Heritage provides a solution for families trying to keep in touch throughout the US and throughout the world. The site has quickly become a leading online destination that helps families discover, connect and communicate with their extended family network. Families can easily research their family history and family tree, as well as share photos, update each other on recent news, and organize family reunions and events. With its facial recognition technology, My Heritage has revolutionized how people interact with and share photos with their family. The innovative technology is used to automatically tag photos on My Heritage or on other photo sharing websites, and can also match family trees and suggest people who may be related based on connections and facts like names, dates and locations. My Heritage is available in 25 languages and boasts a network of more than 25 million family members, more than 260 million profiles, and 230 million photos.
Stardoll – Is the largest online community for young woman interested in fashion, fame and friends with more than 22 million members in 200+ countries. Stardoll empowers users to express their creativity within a unique “social play” environment that blends childlike play with social networking to deliver a playful, fun-filled approach to fashion, celebrity and dress-up.Drawing a core worldwide audience of girls aged 9-17, the site enables kids to build stunning likenesses of themselves while offering them an extensive collection of thousands of garments, accessories and other virtual goods from a variety of real world brands
Online Printing/Personalized Greetings with Photos and Designs:
MOO – Moo is a unique printing company, offering different ways for people to bring their digital photos to life with unique, personalized print products perfect for gifting family and friends and adding flair to entertaining, decorating, wrapping and greetings (www.moo.com). MOO cards are a global cult phenomenon in 120 countries as people have bastardized the traditional business card as non-representative of all their online and offline identities.
Predictive Technologies:
Farecast – Farecast is the smart travel search site that helps consumers buy travel with confidence. In addition to providing flight and hotel search, Farecast helps consumers know when to buy with airfare predictions and know where to stay with Hotel Rate Keys. Farecast has been recognized as the 2008 Webby Award Travel winner, named Condé Nast Traveler’s “Best Site for Knowing When to Book” in 2008, named one of Travel + Leisure’s Top 25 Travel Websites in 2007, awarded Budget Travel’s 2007 Extra Mile Award, named one of PC World’s 20 Most Innovative Products for 2006, listed in “Best of What’s New 2006” by Popular Science, named one of TIME Magazine’s “50 Coolest Websites” in 2006, and named one of the “Best Trip Planning Tools” by BusinessWeek readers in 2006. Farecast was acquired by Microsoft in 2008.
Gaming:
Conduit Labs is a social entertainment company headquartered in Boston. Conduit Labs is the company behind Loudcrowd, a music and gaming community that gives users a fun place to actively engage with and discover new music through social interaction and online gaming with friends and the community. In partnership with music labels including DFA, Downtown Records and Modular, Loudcrowd offers a new channel for artists and labels to monetize their music. Conduit Labs has received funding from Charles River Ventures and Prism VentureWorks.
EA Mobile – EA Mobile is the worldwide leader in mobile gaming, selling more than one billion units to date which far surpasses console deployments. The company has about 30% market share and allows gamers to play popular franchises like The Sims, SPORE, Madden NFL, The Simpsons, Monopoly and Scrabble on their phones for less that $10. EA Mobile launched games for the iPhone and iPod touch in summer 2008, and by December six out of seven EA Mobile games available were featured in the Top 25 Paid Apps chart in the Apple App Store.
IGN – IGN Entertainment, a unit of Fox Interactive Media, Inc., is a leading Internet media and services provider focused on the videogame and entertainment enthusiast markets. IGN’s properties collectively attract more than 31 million unique monthly users worldwide. Our network of videogame-related properties (IGN.com, GameSpy, FilePlanet, TeamXbox, 3D Gamers, Direct2Drive and others) comprises the web’s number one videogame information destination and attracts one of the largest concentrated audiences of young males on the Internet. We also own and operate the popular movie-related website, Rotten Tomatoes, and one of the leading male lifestyle websites, AskMen.com. In addition, we provide technology for online game play in videogames.
InstantAction – InstantAction, a new IAC property, is an online gaming innovator that brings 3D multi-player console-quality games to the web, playable through a browser. It brings together the best of gaming with the best of web combining the web’s accessibility and social interaction with high end graphics and competitive game play. InstantAction.com, the online gaming destination, has more than 1.4 million registrations, with users spending on average over 30 minutes a day on the site. InstantAction.com is powered by InstantAction Technology, a newly available suite of tools and services that enables developers to deploy any game, made with any technology, to any destination on the web.
Playfish – Playfish, one of the world’s largest and fastest growing social games companies, creates games for people to play together using social networks and platforms such as Facebook, MySpace, Bebo, Yahoo!, iPhone and iPod touch. The company’s mission is to change the way people play games by creating more social and connected experiences. With 5 of the ten most popular social games on Facebook, based on monthly activity, Playfish titles are enjoyed by more than 25 million people every month and 4.5 million every day. Since 2007, over 60 million people have installed Playfish games to compete against their friends. Playfish is backed by Accel Partners and Index Ventures, and has offices in London, San Francisco, Beijing and Tromso, Norway.
Devices:
Sony PSP (PlayStation Portable) – Consumers know it as the ultimate handheld gaming system—the place to play the very best in portable games. They may even know that the PSP system can do a bunch of other things as well, including:
o Gaming – Over 350 titles
o Video – More than 460 feature films, TV programs and music videos available on UMD™ disc (each sold seperately)
o Music – It plays MP3s, WAVs, WMAs, ATRAC3+ and MP4s and you can also access thousands of Internet Radio stations
o Photo – Create a slide show of your photos or beam them to friends via Wi-Fi
o Network – Communicate with other PSP® systems, play games online, browse the Web and more
o RSS – Stay up-to-the-minute with your fave blogs, podcasts and news feeds
o Skype – Stay in touch through Skype on your PSP
Services:
Skydeck – Skydeck is an online service that helps people to take control of their cell phones and their cell phone bills. Skydeck unlocks the valuable information hidden in your cell phone bill by turning that boring list of numbers into a rich history of your conversations with friends, colleagues, customers, and other contacts. The downloadable Skydeck toolbar includes a meter that checks your minutes and text messages once a day so that you’ll avoid overage fees and never get a surprise bill again.
Driverside – DriverSide is the first and only website dedicated to the car owner. Founded in fall 2007 by Internet entrepreneurs Trevor Traina, Adam Jackson, and Jad Dunning, DriverSide allows consumers to save time and money on every aspect of auto ownership. From information on servicing and maintenance costs, to alerts on recalls, to free advice from a panel of expert mechanics, DriverSide offers every tool imaginable. With an in-house editorial staff, DriverSide also offers useful advice on how to own and operate a vehicle as well as reviews on new and used cars. DriverSide’s community allow consumers to participate in forums, meet other owners of a particular vehicle, share knowledge, and post reviews on mechanics and dealers.
Shortcovers — Shortcovers is a new digital destination developed by Indigo Books & Music Inc., offering both an online and mobile service. Shortcovers allows users to find their next great read, sample and purchase for immediate download. The service will provide instant access to the newest books, hottest authors and most popular articles and blogs. Not just for avid readers, Shortcovers is for consumers who want the convenience of accessing and reading their favorite content, anytime, anywhere, on the mobile devices they already own.
YouMail provides a free, cell phone voicemail service that allows every consumer to completely customize their voicemail experience, significantly increasing their productivity. YouMail users can retrieve their voicemail online, in e-mail, on their mobile phones, or by calling in, and choose to listen or read their messages. YouMail users can also determine which callers get which greetings and when, how they are notified about voicemail, which callers can leave voicemail and even how voicemails are picked up – in e-mail, online, or over the phone. The service is being adopted rapidly by consumers, and the company has a growing set of distribution partnerships with wireless carriers. YouMail, Inc., headquartered in Aliso Viejo, CA, was founded in January, 2007. The company is backed by Vantage Point Venture Partners and Tech Coast Angels.
People’s Music Store – is the first music store entirely powered by music fans. With People’s Music Store, fans can set up their own record stores, design the storefronts, choose music from the catalogue of more than 250,000 songs, write their own reviews, and market their store online. Storekeepers earn points for everything they sell, which can be used to buy more music. People’s Music Store has already more than 650 stores online and hundreds of fans.
Search:
blinkx – blinkx plc (LSE AIM: BLNX) is the world’s largest and most advanced video search engine. Today, blinkx has indexed more than 35 million hours of audio, video, viral and TV content, and made it fully searchable and available on demand. blinkx’s founders set out to solve a significant challenge – as TV and user-generated content on the Web explode, keyword-based search technologies only scratch the surface. blinkx’s patented search technologies listen to – and even see – the Web, helping users enjoy a breadth and accuracy of search results not available elsewhere. In addition, blinkx powers the video search for many of the world’s most frequented sites. blinkx is based in San Francisco and London.
True Knowledge – Based in Cambridge, U.K. True Knowledge wants users to be able to ask any question at all, phrased in any manner and get the correct answer immediately. Founder and CEO William Tunstall-Pedoe, a serial entrepreneur with a string of highly successful Artificial Intelligence based projects under his belt, has been working on the technology behind True Knowledge since 1998. True Knowledge is backed by Octopus Ventures and angel investors. For more information about True Knowledge, please visit http://www.trueknowledge.com.
Food & Beverage:
Zola Açaí – Zola Açaí is a beverage company creating Brazilian Superfruit beverages with extraordinary healthy benefits to promote optimum health and performance. Founded in 2002 with the goal of creating products that are “Good for You and Good for the Planet,” Zola offers a line of Açaí Superfruit Juices and functional Brazilian Superfruit Smoothies sourced from the Amazon Rainforest in Brazil. Committed to social responsibility, Project Zola was created to provide funds to the school in the local community where Zola’s açaí berries are grown. Zola always sustainably harvests its açaí berries, which puts the trees at their highest and best use and ultimately helps protect the trees of the Amazon.
Venture Capital & Financial Services
Azure Capital Partners – Azure Capital Partners is a venture capital (VC) firm with over $650 million under management, headquartered in San Francisco, California. The firm’s goal is to identify, invest in and help build early stage information technology companies that are at the forefront of a transformative opportunity for growth. Azure’s partners have a long track record of identifying and helping to build some of the most successful companies in communications, consumer, enterprise and Internet technology segments. The Azure team is recognized for industry thought leadership and a unique professional investment approach to venture investing. A proven methodology and primary research enable Azure to identify young companies in attractive markets whose business models provide sustainable competitive advantage. Portfolio companies include Bill Me Later, Calix, Education.com, Fonality and Zend.
Index – Index is one of the top global venture capital (VC) firms, investing in a range of tech and biotech sectors. The firm is known for its recent exits such as Skype (eBay), Tellme (Microsoft), Last.fm (CBS) and other hot portfolio companies such as MySQL, Trolltech, NetVibes, FON, Zend, Rebtel, Viagogo, DoubleTwist, B-Hive, OpenX and more. For a complete list, visit www.indexventures.com
Crosslink Capital – Founded in 1989, Crosslink Capital is a leading multi-stage technology venture capital and growth equity firm with over $1.4 billion in capital under management. Crosslink was among the first investment firms in the U.S. to integrate public and private technology investing. This strategy allows Crosslink to partner with its portfolio companies on a long-term basis. With more than 17 years behind it, Crosslink Capital has invested in over 90 private equity portfolio companies, including such industry leaders as Equinix (Nasdaq: EQIX), BlueArc, Magma Design Automation (Nasdaq: LAVA), Miller Heiman and Yipes (acquired by Reliance Communications).
DCM – DCM is a Venture Capital firm that partners with exceptional entrepreneurs to bring disruptive products and services to global markets. With offices in Silicon Valley, Beijing and Tokyo, DCM invests primarily in early-stage companies (and selectively in strategic late-stage opportunities) and applies its expertise in the following core technology sectors: Business Software and Services, Cleantech, Consumer/Digital Media, Communications/Networking, Components, and Security and Storage. DCM has invested in and provided guidance to more than 120 companies since 1996. DCM currently manages U.S. $1.6 billion in assets. For more information, please visit www.dcm.com.
Barclaycard – Headquartered in Wilmington, Del., Barclaycard US creates customized co-branded credit card programs for some of the country’s most successful travel, entertainment, retail and financial institutions, including US Airways, Best Western, Carnival Cruise Lines, Travelocity, L.L.Bean, Barnes & Noble, BJ’s Wholesale Club and UBS. The company employs 1,200 associates and was named a Top Employer in Delaware in 2008. Barclaycard is a division of Barclays PLC, a major global financial services provider engaged in retail and commercial banking, credit cards, investment banking, wealth management and investment management services. With over 300 years of history and expertise in banking, Barclays operates in over 50 countries, employs 135,000 people and services accounts for over 27 million customers and clients worldwide.
Virgin Green Fund (VGF) – VGF is one of the world’s leading investors in the fight against global warming. Through its investments, the firm aims to help the world achieve energy independence in an environmentally conscious manner; replace depleting reserves of conventional energy with renewable sources; and aid efficient management of finite natural resources.
Zetta, Inc. is a leading provider of enterprise cloud storage solutions. Headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, Zetta Inc. was established in 2007 by successful serial entrepreneurs. The company has raised $11 million to date. Zetta is backed by Sigma Partners, Foundation Capital and angel investors including Ron Conway, John Zeisler and Amidzad.
Alien Technology – Alien Technology provides UHF Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) products and services to customers in retail, consumer goods, manufacturing, defense, transportation and logistics, pharmaceuticals and other industries. Organizations use Alien’s RFID products and services to improve the effectiveness, efficiency and security of their supply chains, logistics and asset tracking operations. Alien’s products include RFID tags, RFID readers and related training and professional services.
Aravo – Aravo, a Supplier Information Management (SIM) company provides a single unified platform to bring together internal users, suppliers, and third-party data and service providers. Organizations use Aravo to centralize the management of all supplier information, simplify and improve the oversight and management of global factory audits and site inspections, empower supply chain professionals to manage suppliers by exception, greatly improving operational productivity, and proactively manage supplier risk and improve supplier development initiatives
Darkstrand, Inc. leverages enterprise-level network bandwidth to close the collaboration gap between corporations and research communities. Darkstrand is a pivotal corporate partner for solving real workflow, development and collaborative challenges, linking teams, facilities and suppliers into one ecosystem in a high-speed, networked grid environment via the National LambdaRail (NLR), a vast 15,000-route mile optical network spread across 30 U.S. cities. Darkstrand shortens time to insight and expands productivity for companies wanting a competitive edge. Based in Chicago, Illinois, Darkstrand was established in 2005, and has raised $12 million to date from private investors.
Jigsaw – Jigsaw is a leading provider of business information and data services leveraging user-generated content contributed by its global business-to-business community of more than 700,000 members. Today, the Jigsaw community and more than 600 enterprises use the Jigsaw directory to access information for 12 million business contacts and 2 million companies. Jigsaw delivers low-cost and easy access to high-value business information that can be used to identify key decision makers and people for purposes such as sales, marketing, recruiting and customer service. Founded in 2004, Jigsaw is located in San Mateo, Calif. and is funded by Austin Ventures, El Dorado Ventures, and Norwest Venture Partners.
Sungevity – Sungevity was founded in 2007 with the goal of convincing homeowners that solar is affordable, a good investment, and a viable way to reduce carbon emissions. Sungevity’s team is led by President and CXO Danny Kennedy, a long time social entrepreneur and former manager of Greenpeace Australia and Pacific. In 2001, Kennedy led Greenpeace’s California Clean Energy Campaign, which helped create the current California Solar Initiative. Sungevity’s team also includes JP Ross formerly of Vote Solar, Martha Belcher formerly of the David Brower Center, and Alec Guettel, co-founder and CFO of Axiom Legal Solutions, Inc.
Sustainable Spaces – Based in San Francisco and founded in 2004, Sustainable Spaces is the leading provider of home performance services, helping homeowners and homebuilders create homes that are comfortable, healthy and energy efficient. A licensed general and solar contractor, the company specializes in home testing and building performance retrofitting for existing homes. Sustainable Spaces applies building science to quantitatively analyze a home’s performance as a dynamic system, so as to tailor a solution to the client’s goals, budget, and priorities. The company has been recognized by the U.S. Green Building Council as the case study in their REGREEN Green Remodeling Best Practice Guidelines. www.sustainablespaces.com
Innovalight – Innovalight is focused on bringing ultra low-cost solar power modules to the marketplace. Innovalight is harnessing a proprietary silicon-ink process, developed by the company to print thin-film solar power modules. Leveraging the advantages of solvent-based processing, Innovalight will help accelerate the promise of more affordable solar power solutions for residential and commercial application. The Company was recognized as a 2006 Technology Pioneer winner at the 2006 Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum held in Davos, Switzerland.
Latest Comments