Intuit to Acquire Demandforce for $424MM
This morning, Intuit announced its agreement to acquire one of Benchmark’s portfolio companies, Demandforce, for $424mm. As with Instagram, Benchmark Capital is the largest institutional investor in Demandforce. Unlike Instagram, which is a consumer application and is extremely well known, Demandforce focuses on local professional businesses and has chosen to keep an intentionally low profile [...]
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( 13 so far )Google’s Acquires ITA: Will Deeper Vertical Integration Lead to Higher Revenues?
“It’s funny how fallin feels like flyin, for a little while…” – Jeff Bridges, Crazy Heart Soundtrack On July 1st, Google announced its intention to acquire ITA Software. ITA owns a primarily B2B airfare search and pricing system called QPX. Several of the leading online travel sites, like Orbitz, Kayak, and Bing Travel, use information [...]
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( 18 so far )When It Comes to Television Content, Affiliate Fees Make the World Go ‘Round
“The clock on the wall’s moving slower My heart it sinks to the ground And the storm that I thought would blow over Clouds the light of the love that I found” – Fool in the Rain, Led Zeppelin More often than not, we here in Silicon Valley are prone to idealism. We see a [...]
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( 84 so far )Android or iPhone? Wrong Question
[Follow Me on Twitter] In a recent New York Times article, Kathryn Huberty, a Morgan Stanley analyst was quoted suggesting that Apple’s iPhone is the key catalyst for an important new technology trend. “Applications make the smartphone trend a revolutionary trend – one we haven’t seen in consumer technology for many years.” This argument rings [...]
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( 154 so far )Want To Know More About the Future of Internet TV?: Let’s Look to Korea
[Follow Me on Twitter] We are clearly at a very important point in time when it comes to Internet video, especially video that is served to your television, but over the Internet (also known as “over-the-top” Internet video). Christmas of 2009 and Christmas of 2010 will mark the point in time that Internet menus began [...]
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( 10 so far )Bill Gurley’s Online Video Market Snapshot
I recently spoke at AlwaysOn’s OnHollywood conference on the subject of today’s extremely dynamic online/Internet video world. Things are moving so amazingly fast that its extremely hard to predict specific outcomes. That said, I believe there are a number of critical issues to understand as we watch this market unfold over the next few years. [...]
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( 4 so far )Benchmark Capital: Open For Business
“People see you having fun Just a-lying in the sun Tell them that you like it this way” – BTO, Takin’ Care of Business The seemingly chronic state of our economy, combined with the thundering sound of dire financial news has left many in a state of shock. This unprecedented moment in time [...]
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