SparkLabs Global Ventures' Technology and Internet Market Bi-Monthly Review 0310 2014

SparkLabs Global Ventures Technology and Internet Market Bi-Monthly Review
March 10, 2014
Weekly Highlights
Global Trends
Home energy management systems will reach US$2.8 billion in annual revenues by 2020 Until 2012, home energy management (HEM) systems, which help residential customers monitor and adjust their energy use, struggled to gain market traction. More recently, however, non-utility stakeholders have moved into the segment, increasing awareness of new tools and helping to drive steady growth. According to a recent report from Navigant Research, worldwide revenues from home energy management systems will grow from US$512 million in 2013 to US$2.8 billion in 2020. The market is expected to decline significantly after that, to US$1.8 billion in 2022, the firm added. "Companies like Comcast, ADT, Verizon, and AT&T in the US have added energy management as an option that can be bundled with home security, automation, or Internet access," said Neil Strother, senior research analyst with Navigant Research. Global LTE subscriptions to exceed 2 billion in 2019, driven by LTE-Advanced, says ABI Research Worldwide LTE-related subscriptions reached 229.7 million in 2013, and will continually grow at a CAGR of 43.6% between 2013 and 2019, to exceed 2 billion. Among the LTE subscription growth, Asia-Pacific contributes the most with a 49% market share. The second greatest contributor is North America with an 18% share. ABI Research forecasts that LTE-Advanced subscribers will grow to 750 million in 2019 accounting for 37.3% of overall LTE subscribers. North America will be the most aggressive LTE-Advanced market, followed by Asia-Pacific and Western Europe. Remarkably, the South Korean Operators, SK Telecom and LG U+, commercially launched LTE-Advanced networks in June 2013 and by the end of 2013, SK Telecom gained more than 1 million LTE-Advanced subscribers, which equates to 10% of all its LTE subscribers, says Jake Saunders, VP and practice director. Gartner: 195M tablets sold in 2013, Android grabs top spot from iPad with 62% share According to Gartner, Android has topped the list for the most popular platform for the first time, outselling Apples range of iPad tablets nearly twofold. Of the 195 million tablets sold in 2013, Android took nearly 62% of sales on 121 million tablets, while Apple sold 70 million iPad tablets for a 36% share. In comparison, last year, Apple led the tablet category with nearly 53% of sales on 61 million units, compared to Android at nearly 46% with 53 million tablets sold.
SparkLabs Global Ventures (http://www.sparklabsglobal.com) is a global seed-stage fund with partners in Silicon Valley, Chicago, London Tel Aviv, Singapore, and Seoul. 1

March 10, 2014
Asia Pacific
China
351 million new smartphones shipped in China in 2013, says IDC According to IDC, 351 million new smartphones shipped to stores across China in 2013. That means China accounts for just over one-third of all smartphone shipments around the world at the end of 2013. Smartphones now account for over 80% of Chinas total phone sales. Baidu reckons there are 270 million active Android users in China in 3Q13. IDC also added that there were 1 billion smartphones shipments globally in 2013, which is up from 752 million in 2012. Microsoft pushes Windows Phone in China and India in tie-ups with local phone-makers At the Mobile Congress 2014, Microsoft revealed that its pushing its Windows Phone OS even harder in China, India, and across Asia in eleven new tie-ups with homegrown phone-makers in the region. Soon well see Windows Phone devices from Chinas Foxconn, Gionee, JSR, Lenovo, and ZTE; Indias Karbonn, Longcheer, Xolo and Lava; plus Koreas LG and Taiwans HTC. LinkedIn launches beta in mainland China, but many social features missing LinkedIn has officially launched a Chinese beta version of its professional social network under the name Lingying. LinkedIn is one of the few western social networks that isnt blocked in China, and it reported 4 million registered users of its English version on the mainland. However, unlike the international version, on the Chinese desktop version, users will find Sina Weibo and Tencent Weibo instead of Twitter and Facebook. Similarly, the Groups feature and the option to self-publish articles on users profiles are also missing, although these could be added in later versions. LinkedIn has to walk a fine line between Chinas laws and regulations regarding user-generated content and creating a user experience equivalent to its global site. Boosted by WeChat sharing, Tencents fun video app hit 160 million views on Valentines Day Tencent revealed that Weishi in which users can make eight-second videos hit a high of 160 million views on Valentines Day. The app had been prepped for the occasion with Valentines Day themes that put words like love and kiss in the corner of the screen, with the option of adding a sappy tune from the preset soundtrack options. On pace with Alibaba and Tencent, Baidu will continue its acquisition spree in 2014 Baidus revenues rose 50.3% YoY last quarter to RMB 9.52 billion (US$1.55 billion), according to its latest earnings report. Despite that strong performance driven largely by advertising, net profits dipped 0.4% to RMB 2.78 billion (US$454 million). The stunted profits were largely due to Baidus efforts to keep pace with Alibaba and Tencent. The three companies, collectively known as BAT, went on an acquisition spree in 2013 that led to some of the biggest deals in the history of Chinas tech industry. In 2013, Baidu bought Android app store 91 Wireless, group-buying site Nuomi, video portal PPS, and e-bookstore Zongheng. In late 2012, it also bought a full stake in video portal iQiyi. Shanghai issues new limits on transportation apps, which could affect Chinas taxi apps and Uber The Shanghai Municipal Transport and Port Authority issued a new set of regulations that could make it more difficult to hail a cab from ones smartphone. The government document states that popular taxi-booking apps have increased the efficiency of snagging a ride but have affected drivers ability to compete fairly. In particular, two regulations are worth taking note of. First, the Shanghai bureau has banned the use of taxi-booking apps during peak traffic hours (7:30 - 9:30 am and 6:30 - 8:30 pm). Drivers who are caught using the apps will be fined, and riders looking for a lift during those hours are encouraged to dial Shanghais city-sanctioned taxibooking hotline. In addition, drivers are not allowed to ignore ordinary street hails in favor of cruising around looking for bids from taxi-apps. Second, the bureau has banned the use of transportation-booking apps for private vehicles that are licensed to carry passengers. If enforced, this would directly affect Ubers ability to operate in the city. China Unicom posts 2013 revenues of over CNY295 billion China Unicom, the only WCDMA mobile telecom carrier in China, recorded consolidated revenues of CNY295.04 billion (US$47.97 billion) and net profit of CNY10.41 billion for 2013, growing on year by 18.5% and 46.7% respectively. China Unicom generated revenues of CNY151.13 billion from mobile communication

March 10, 2014 services, 59.4% of which were from 3G services, rising on year by 50.2%. The number of 3G subscribers increased to 123 million at the end of 2013, hiking 60.4% YoY. Chinese photo app Camera360 passes the 250 million user mark, hints at plans for more features Sichuan-based Pinguo Inc. has unveiled a 5.0 update to its popular Camera360 app, which to date has racked up 250 million registered users globally. Pinguo CEO Xu Hao recently told Chinese tech blog 36kr that half of the apps users are located overseas. Over 60 million of its users are active on a monthly basis, and over 15 million of its users are active on a daily basis. The app processes over 100 million photos every day. With pet ownership set to boom, Chinese pet product e-store nets $25 million in funding Shanghai-based pet products e-store Boqii has just completed a $25 million series B funding round, according Chinese tech blog 36kr. The investors are as-yet unnamed but reportedly hail from the US and possibly include Goldman Sachs, which also participated in the startups series A round last June. Established in 2008, Boqii originated as a retailer of pet foods and pet-related products. It had its own standalone website, but was best known in China for its outlets on Taobao, Tmall, Jingdong and other well-known Chinese e-commerce sites. 36kr states that Boqii has racked up over 3 million registered users to date. The newest funding will be used to ramp up marketing and branding, as well as moving into online-to-offline services. Chinese consumers will be able to buy almost anything inside WeChat WeChat is pushing even further into mobile commerce territory. Tencent added support for any brands to allow customers to purchase items or services inside the app. It works for both in-store payments or for purely online purchases thatll be delivered to you later. WeChat has done ecommerce before with things like flash sales of Xiaomi phones and paying for taxi rides. And Tencent already has Weixin Payments in place as the messaging apps main epayment option.
Korea
Kakao Close to Signing Morgan Stanley, Samsung Securities as IPO Advisers Kakao Corp. is close to signing Morgan Stanley and Samsung Securities Co. as advisers for an initial public offering that could value South Korea's dominant text messaging firm at more than $2 billion, according to people familiar with the matter. One person said Kakao could raise as much as $1 billion, which would be the country's largest IPO since May 2010, when Samsung Life Insurance raised 4.9 trillion Korean won ($4.6 billion). Kakao, based in Pangyo, South Korea, is planning its IPO to fuel expansion in Southeast Asia, and to fund its push into new business lines in its native South Korea, where it has a stranglehold on the personal messaging industry. The company said that it currently has 133 million registered users. Kakao has so far struggled to grow beyond Korea's home market, which has a population of about 50 million people, thanks to deeply entrenched competitors in neighboring China and Japan. KakaoTalk to allow cash gifting between users Sirgoo Lee, the co-CEO of KakaoTalk, announced at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona that his company is creating a feature that will allow money gifting between KakaoTalk users. Lee says the service will allow modest amounts of money to be sent between users of the messaging app. There are cases where financial services woven into other messaging apps like Japans Line and Chinas WeChat. Five million users participated in a Chinese New Years money gifting scheme on WeChat earlier this month. Both Line and WeChat are used by companies for e-commerce purchases, and both have performed especially well when it comes to flash sales. With the recent acquisitions of Viber and WhatsApp, KakaoTalk has largely been left out of the international news loop. While it dominates South Korea and has a few million users spread out among Southeast Asia, its struggling to gain significant traction compared to its competitors.
Japan
Mobile messaging app Line claims 2M new users in 24-hour period after WhatsApp outage Line, a WhatsApp rival thats very popular in Japan but is also gunning for global growth, has claimed it acquired 2 million new registered users in a 24-hour period after WhatsApps recent 210-minute service outage.

March 10, 2014 Line said the record 2 million sign-ups-in-one-day figure is five times its usual user acquisition rate outside its home region of Asia. Line is not the only messaging app to be benefitting from a WhatsApp-related boost. Telegram, for instance, saw its user acquisition rate spike 3x after WhatsApps Facebook acquisition was announced propelling it to the top of the App Store rankings and bringing it some 8 million new users in a handful of days. Line to open its sticker market to all designers, launch Skype competitor Line announced at a press conference in Tokyo that it will open its sticker marketplace to all designers and companies. The platform was previously available only to Lines partners. The open marketplace, called the Line Creators Market, will launch in April. Revenue will be divided evenly between designers and Line. Line Game is still its biggest moneymaker and accounts for 60% of total revenue. But stickers make up 20% of Lines revenue and 1.8 billion are sent per day. Opening up the marketplace is a good way for Line to serve users who have not installed Line Game, as well as companies that want to create stickers for tie-ins and other promotions. Line also announced that it will release a voice-calling service, similar to Skype that will let users call landlines and cell phones. It will be available first in the US, Japan, Mexico, Spain, Thailand, and the Philippines. Sony to close two-thirds of its US retail stores, laying off 1,000 workers Sony announced that it is shuttering 20 of its 31 retail stores located throughout the States. The 11 remaining stores remain open are in California, New York, Florida, and Texas. "While these moves were extremely tough, they were absolutely necessary to position us in the best possible place for future growth," said Sony Electronics president Mike Fasulo. Mt. Gox Bitcoin exchange ends week of turmoil, files for bankruptcy The Tokyo-based Mt. Gox Bitcoin exchange has filed for bankruptcy protection, exactly one week after shutting down under mysterious circumstances, causing a huge drop in Bitcoin prices. Mt. Gox Bitcoin exchange was the worlds top Bitcoin trading facility. It has lost 850,000 Bitcoins, 750,000 of which belonged to the exchanges customers. Mt. Goxs lawyer filed at a Tokyo district court and revealed that the troubled exchange has an outstanding debt of about JPY 6.5 billion ($63.6 million). Japan rules on bitcoin, says its not a currency Japans government has finally spoken out on the crypto-currency. Japanese authorities stated that Bitcoin will not be classed as a currency in the country however, it will not be regulated as a financial product. So while Bitcoin is not outlawed in Japan, it is not permitted as a currency, and Japanese banks may not deal with it. Instead, its left classified as an unregulated service or investment product. Thats broadly in line with how its being treated in other Asian nations, such as China. Japan remains unclear on how it might regulate Bitcoins and other crypto-currencies, as well as which government agency would be responsible for doing so.
India
Target Accelerators first batch in India bets big on social commerce, mobile and analytics Target is finally launching its Accelerator Program for Indian startups with five companies that can help the retailer test and build technology solutions across 3D imaging, mobility, personalized search and social media conversations with customers. The Minneapolis-based retailer has been facing heat recently because of a large data breach last year, and had to delay the launch of its accelerator by a month. The accelerator will be managed by Lalit Ahuja, an Indian technology industry veteran who also helped the retailer set up its technology captive centre in Bangalore few years ago. Ahuja runs an accelerator of his own called Kyron, which will run the program for Target. The first five companies selected to join the four-month programs are: Turnaround Innovision, Konotor, MuHive, Unbxd, and InstaClique. Some sources say that Target wanted a couple of more mature startups such as TookiTaki (social audience discovery and retargeting platform) and PugMarks (offers a smart browser) to join the accelerator program, but a final decision is yet to be made. eBay leads a $134M round in India e-commerce site Snapdeal eBay is leading a $133.8 million funding round in Snapdeal, Indias fast-growing shopping site. This could lead to a buyout of Snapdeal further down the line, which eBay has done in other markets. eBay has already invested $50 million into Sanpdeal and contributed the majority of this current round. According to Snapdeals

March 10, 2014 CEO, Kunal Bahl, the company is set to pull in $500 million in revenue this fical year, and is preparing for an IPO in the U.S. market within the next 24 months. Snapdeal was founded in 2010 and competes with Flipkart, Amazons India site and eBay India. 4.14 million new tablets shipped in India last year, iPad is third most popular According to IDC, 4.14 million tablets were shipped in India in 2013, up 56.4% from 2012. The boost in numbers is driven mostly by affordable, low-end tablets. By market share, Samsung has number 1 market share with 19%, followed by Micromax (9%) and Apple (8%). 44 million new smartphones shipped in India in 2013, but feature phones still prevail According to IDC, a total of 44 million smartphones shipped to stores in India in 2013. That contrasts with 212.3 million sub-$100 feature phones shipped across India last year. Indias phone market is still very malleable and at an early stage compared to China market (351 million smartphones were shipped in China in 2013). Samsung, Micromax, and Karbonn cornered 64% of Indian smartphone sales in 4Q13. Samsung leads the way with 38%, strongly ahead of Micromax and Karbonn. Sony is fourth and Lava is fifth. 78% of phones shipped in India last year were feature phones, but thats down from 90% in 2012. Indian fashion e-store Koovs files for London IPO to keep pace with Myntra Koovs, an online fashion store in India, has filed for an IPO on Londons junior stock market AIM. The company aims to raise $37 million. Koovs, specializing in high street brands, especially from the UK, launches over 150 new products every week, featuring catwalk videos and 360-degree product views. Because Indian law prohibits foreign direct investment into ecommerce, Koovs will be restructured to allow for the funding to come through. The company will operate as a wholesale trading entity called Marble, which will operate Koovs website under license from Koovs India. This is a fairly common workaround for domestic Indian ecommerce companies to legitimize their foreign funding.
Indonesia
Thanks to merger, KapanLagi Network claims to be biggest digital media company in Indonesia KapanLagi Network, a company combining news portal sites KapanLagi Group and Fimela Network, announced the merger is complete. Financial details of the deal were not disclosed. Now KapanLagi Network boasts 36 million monthly unique visitors. KapanLagi Network is now Indonesias biggest online news media in terms of monthly unique visitors, overcoming media giants Kompas and Detik. KapanLagi Network now has more than 400 employees, 10 media portals, and 4 production divisions that include branded content, TV and video production, and third-party services. As the merger process is over, Fimela Group CEO Ben Soebiakto will lead the sales and marketing division in KapanLagi Networks while Christian will lead the innovation team and continue to optimize the KapanLagi Groups products. With new $6.5 million, car classifieds site Mobil123 gets more aggressive in Indonesia Mobil123s announced that its Malaysian parent company iCar Asia (ICQ:ASX), which is listed on the Australian Stock Exchange, received an additional investment of A$7.2 million (US$6.5 million) from Australian site CarSales.com. The money will be used for Mobil123s product development and marketing activities. Mobil123 is arguably Indonesias leading car classifieds site. It now has over 200,000 live car listings, more than one million monthly unique visitors, 8.2 million pageviews, as well as over 165,000 leads. The sites listing grew by 138% YoY while unique visitors grew 600%.
Thailand
Thailand continues Instagram love affair as it reaches 1.5 million users According to data from Zocial Inc., Thailand now has 1.5 million Instagram users. The number of Instagram users in Thailand shot up from 240,000 in 2012 to 1,551,649 in 2013. Fast smartphone uptake will have helped the Facebook-owned photo app. 48% of Instagram members were active in the past three months. In 2013, there were a total of 36.4 million photos and videos uploaded on Instagram and 96% were photos. Zocial Inc

March 10, 2014 says that celebrities make up 0.26% of the apps user-base in Thailand. They have an average of 172,013 followers. Meanwhile, 10% are influencers who have an average of 5,636 followers. SoftBank invests in Thailands Ini3, marking the second investment in Southeast Asia Ini3 Digital, one of Thailands main online game operators, announced that SoftBank Ventures Korea, a venture capital arm of SoftBank Group, has invested an undisclosed amount that accounts for 23% of the companys equity. A SoftBank partner will join the companys board. Ini3 started up about a decade ago. Now it operates 24 games in Thailand with over 17 million registered users. Ini3 marks the second company that SoftBank has invested in Southeast Asia, after Indonesias Tokopedia. Finally, Uber launches in Bangkok Uber has officially launched in Bangkok. This is just a soft launch for now, with limited cars available. Uber car prices start at 45 Baht (US$1.50), which is reasonable considering a normal cab starts at 35 Baht (US$1). But Ubers minimum fare is 75 Baht (US$2.30). From downtown to the airport will cost about 1,000 Baht (US$35). With this launch, Bangkok is the 17th city in Asia Pacific to have the service.
Singapore
Xiaomis Mi3 sells out in 2 minutes in Singapore debut, but no word on how many phones available Xiaomi started selling its flagship phone, the Mi3, in Singapore in March 7th. As Xiaomi prefers to sell via online flash sales, the first batch of Mi3 phones were snapped up quickly from the official Xiaomi site. A representative in Singapore says they were all sold out in two minutes. Xiaomi has not revealed how many of the phones it had available for sale. Xiaomi first launched in Singapore with its budget Redmi phone on February 21. That first batch sold out quickly too. Just as the Redmi is sold at Starhub stores in the country, the Mi3 might soon appear in shops as well. Uber brings cheaper rides to Singapore with closed beta launch of UberX Uber has upped the ante on its Asia presence with a closed beta launch of its low-cost UberX service in Singapore. The quiet roll-out marks UberXs first-ever appearance on the continent. Fares remain well below those of Ubers flagship UberBlack tier UberBlack charges a base rate of SG $7.00 and a per-kilometer fee of SG $1.95, while UberX charges a base fare of SG $3.50 and a per-kilometer fee of $0.70. UberX drivers in Singapore operate Toyota Corrollas and Camrys. Singapore marked Ubers intial entry point into Asia when it launched UberBlack there in early 2013. Asian independent film platform Viddsee lands content deal with Yahoo Back in November, Viddsee, the Singapore-based startup, launched its Channels program to work with content partners. Now Viddsee has signed its biggest content partnership to-date with Yahoo. The Yahoo-Viddsee deal will bring award-winning short films to a significantly larger audience, says co-founder Derek Tan. Viddsees Asian Short Films channel will be featured on Yahoos entertainment portals for Singapore, Malaysia, and the Philippines. Viddsee originally focused on indie filmmakers in Southeast Asia, but now also includes content from Japan, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. Eventually, Viddsee hopes that its partnerships with Yahoo and other sites and organizations will create a strong network that will allow it to distribute films to audiences in other parts of Asia, as well as bring short films from those areas to Southeast Asia.
Taiwan
Foxconn to land 90 million iPhone 6 orders, says paper Foxconn Electronics is expected to land orders for 90 million units of the iPhone 6 from Apple in 2014, the Chinese-language Commercial Times cited data from Citigroup Global Markets as indicating. Buoyed by shipments of iPhone 6, Apple's smartphone shipments are expected to rise 23% in 2014 compared to 13% growth posted a year earlier. However, the growth rate of global smartphone shipments is expected to slow to 28% in 2014 compared to 40% in 2013, while sales of smartphones in mature markets are likely to edge up only 4%, down from 5% a year ago.

March 10, 2014
United States
Elon Musk tells Congress: Space would be cheaper if the govt supported competition SpaceX CEO Elon Musk testified before the U.S. Senate with harsh words about the artificially inflated cost of launching spacecraft. At the heart of Musks criticisms is the United Launch Alliance (ULA), a private company that provides the U.S. government with launch services. Musk claims that in comparison to the ULA, SpaceX launches cost $280 million less per launch. Musk stated that the Air Force is paying too high a price for launch, and named his company as an alternative to the ULA. Tesla unveils $5 billion plan for massive 'Gigafactory' to manufacture batteries Tesla Motors announced a plan to build a $5 billion "Gigafactory" for batteries, saying the massive facility by 2020 will produce more lithium-ion batteries than the entire global supply for 2013. That will be enough, it said, to power 500,000 electric vehicles annually. A final site has not yet been chosen for the enormous factory, which will occupy roughly 10 million square feet and eventually employ 6,500 workers. But Tesla has narrowed its options to four states - Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico and Texas - setting off fierce competition among them to seal the deal. The "green" factory will be largely powered by renewable sources of energy like solar and wind, making any of those states a good location. Tesla expects to sell 35,000 all-electric Model S sedans in 2014 and is gearing up production of its Model X SUV, which will hit the market in early 2015. By 2017, it plans to begin delivery of its more affordable "Gen III" sedan, which it hopes to sell for about $35,000, about half the cost of the cheapest Model S. But driving down the cost of battery packs is key to making electric cars more affordable. CloudBees grabs $11.2M funding round led by Verizon Ventures CloudBees announced that it has closed an #11.2 million Series C round led by Verizon Ventures only a couple of weeks after the two companies partnered to bring the CloudBees platform-as-a-service (PaaS) offering to the new Verizon Cloud. The financing round, which also included existing investors Matrix Partners and LightSpeed Venture Partners, as well as new investor Blue Cloud Ventures, will bring the total investment in CloudBees to $25.7 million. The new funds will be used to bring additional product capabilities to market, fund sales expansion and extend the reach of the CloudBees brand. The financing will also be used to support CloudBees channel partners. CloudBees allows developers to build and test their apps on the companys platform. Lyft funding official: documents filed for new $150M round Lyft, the ride-sharing app that is locked in an expensive competition with rival Uber, filed a document associated with a Series D round worth $150 million. The new round is for 14.8 million shares with a liquidation preference of $10.13. Earlier shares are valued at 22 cents to $4.25. The round is supposed to give Lyft a premoney valuation of $700 million, a source said, which is much lower than some familiar with the transaction had expected. In comparison, Uber raised $250 million at a $3.5 billion valuation last summer. Secret set to raise nearly $10 million at $40 million valuation Secret, maker of a mobile app that lets people anonymously share information with friends, is set to raise almost $10 million of venture capital in a deal valuing the young startup at more than $40 million, according to a source. Google Ventures is leading the round, which will include previous investor Kleiner Perkins Caulfield & Byers. The more than $40 million valuation includes the investment. In December, the firms seeded Secret with $1.2 million alongside angel investors. Coupons.com shares nearly double in debut On its first day of trading Friday, the Mountain View, Calif.-based company's shares jumped 88% to $30, nearly doubling their $16 initial price. The IPO raised $168 million for the company, and after the first-day "pop," Coupons.com has a stock-market value of about $2.2 billion. In 2013, Coupons.com recorded $168 million in sales, an increase of 50% from the prior year, on 1.3 billion revenue-generating transactions, up 43%. The company posted a loss last year, $11.2 million, though it was profitable in the fourth quarter, which Mr. Boal attributed to a pickup in the holiday season. Apple starts 2014 with 41.6% US smartphone share, Samsung at 26.7%; BlackBerry falls below Windows Phone Apples dominance as the top smartphone OEM in the US has started off strong in the first month of this year

March 10, 2014 with 41.6% share. Samsung is gaining share faster than its main competitor, hitting a new high at 26.7%. Rounding out the top five were LG, Motorola, and HTC. In the platform wars, Google was still first with Android, and Apple took second with iOS. Yet Googles mobile platform slipped at the start of the year, while Apples continued to plow forward. Rounding out the top five were Microsoft (which managed to sneak into third place), BlackBerry, and Symbian. 159.8 million Americans owned smartphones (66.8% mobile market penetration) in January, up 7% since October. Twitters ad rates continue falling, down 18% last quarter Twitters advertising rate keeps falling. The average cost to advertise on Twitters website and mobile apps dropped 18% in 4Q13, according to the companys annual report. The average ad rate has been declining since at least the beginning of 2012. Its down 81% from that point. Twitter says that rates have been falling because its inventorythe supply of available space to advertise on Twitteris increasing. It also says that lower rates appeal to small businesses and international advertisers.
Europe
Tradeshift secures $75M to expand its invoicing platform globally Tradeshift, the SF-based enterprise invoicing startup that originally emerged from Copenhagen, has now closed $75 million in Series C growth funding from Singapores Scentan Ventures. The company will use the new funds for global expansion, including developing and growing a new partnership with Scentan, initially in Japan. Tradeshift will also open offices in Tokyo. Tradeshift has raised $112 million to date. Previous investors included Notion Capital, Ru-net, Kite Ventures, Intuit and PayPal, while it has been backed by Angels including early Skype investor Morten Lund. Tradeshift lets businesses send invoices and get payments from suppliers via its platform, using connections between companies to verify the transactions in a manner similar to social networks. Its revenues are based on charging some clients a fee and charging third-party developers to use the platform. Launched in 2010, Tradeshift connects 500,000 companies across 190 countries, and claims to have over 10,000 join every month. Businesses on the platform include DHL, the National Health Service (NHS), the French government, CBRE and Vestas Wind Systems. Google moves in on publishing, launches Global Exchange with Time Inc. to merge ad sales in the U.S. and UK Google announced the launch of the Time Inc. Global Exchange, a new ad exchange, powered by DoubleClick, that will let advertisers buy ad placements across not just Times online publications in the U.S. but in other countries, and across multiple platforms (mainly desktop and mobile). That will begin first with the UK Time Inc.s IPC Media division. In total, the exchange will cover some 116 million consumers, the companies say one of the largest premium exchanges on the market today. Ttis deal is probably most beneficial to Time Inc.s interests outside of the U.S. In its home market, the company has 130 million unique users monthly across its dozens of titles and screens. IPC Media, on the other hand, has traffic of only about 26 million monthly uniques across its 60 titles. Dattch, the dating app for gay women, launches in San Francisco Aimed exclusively at lesbians, bisexual and/or bi-curious women, the Dattch dating app ought to be a shoo-in for the large San Francisco market. The startup after raising money and honing its product in London has now launched in the California city. The product emphasizes photos - not just profile photos but photos of where someone lives, what they wear, what they like etc. - and thus draws comparisons with Pinterest in user interface. The mostly female team was one of 17 startups in the Wayra London incubator, and has also closed a small $160,000 Angel round, alongside Wayras !40,000. Indian business Angel Network makes first investment in UKs SwiftShift Indias largest business angels group has made its first investment in a UK startup, investing in London-based company SwiftShift. The amount was not disclosed. The Indian Angel Network (IAN) is Asias largest angel network of over 250 investors spread across 10 countries. SwiftShift allows companies to quickly fill shortnotice shifts using their own staff through SMS, email, and mobile technology. The Indian Angel Network decided to invest in SwiftShift following a pitching session in London organized by UKTI where seven

March 10, 2014 companies presented to the investors. According to UK government figures, Indian firms are now the fifth largest investors in the UK and more than 50% of Indian investment into Europe goes to the UK. Hotel metasearch Top10.com closes $8M series B, led by Balderton, to expand in Europe The UK based hotel metasearch startup, Top10.com, has closed an $8 million Series B funding round, led by Balderton Capital, following rapid growth over the past 12 months. Its total funding raised to date is now $12.5 million, including this latest chunk. The Top10.com service draws on multiple hotel recommendation datapoints such as review scores, location, popularity (based on impressions, clicks & bookings) and price to create a shortlist of 10 recommendations for users, saving them the bother of wading through multiple sites and reading scores of reviews. Top10.com says its now generating $1m per month in hotel bookings via its metasearch engine, and driving more than 3,000 hotel bookings per month. This new Series B investment round will be used to expand the team, with an emphasis on hiring more engineers and also to expand in Europe. TVSmiles closes $7M Series A to take its second-screen TV ad loyalty program beyond Germany Berlin-based startup TVSmiles, which has built a second-screen app-based loyalty program to encourage people to watch TV ads, has closed a $7 million Series A funding round, from prior investors Ventech. The new funding brings its total capital raised to $8M. TVSmiles tech analyzes the audio signature of the TV ad the phone user is watching to identify it. It then pushes additional branded and campaign content to their phone so interactions can be tracked and rewarded with virtual currency. The virtual currency (Smiles) can then be redeemed by the user against partner products/at retail brand shops. The company plans to use the new Series A funding to scale its business model in Germany, and also to launch into its first foreign markets this year. U.K IoT startups & projects to get 46M More Government Cash By 2015 The U.K. Prime Minister, David Cameron, announced an additional 45 million in funding for research in areas linked to the Internet of Things (IoT) - taking the total pot of cash sloshing around the U.K. for helping to develop connected cutlery and the like to 73 million (factoring in a series of previous funding announcements in this area). The majority of the new IoT money is being put up by the government-funded Technology Strategy Board and is being earmarked for spending on new projects that will be included in the TSBs 2014/15 Delivery Plan or else projects which launched during the closing months of the 2013/14 plan. The U.K. PM also announced a 1 million European Internet of Things grant fund aimed at supporting early-stage Internet of Things startups. This grant fund is separate to the 45 million detailed above, hence the 46M tally for this tranche of government IoT backing.

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March 10, 2014