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Lean-but-mean StylistPick guns for the competition with new war chest

Bringing US business models to Europe might seem an obvious move for some - but it's frequently far harder than it might appear. US incumbents can indeed try to expand, but some fall at the first hurdle. Exactly this happened on January 20 when Shoedazzle announced its closure in the UK. UK head Nigel Whiteoak has since admitted to me that the company was looking to make more of the continued opportunity in the US, versus trying to expand in the UK. Shades of the Romans over-reaching their borders? Maybe. Whatever the case, the news has been a boon to Stylistpick, the local UK player which is making hay in the UK and now heading to other markets with a war chest. StylistPick has now raised an $11million B round led by Fidelity Growth Partners Europe. The subscription-based fast fashion brand, kept existing investors Accel Partners and Index Ventures on board, who invested $8 million in a Series A in April 2011. The board of directors is now Davor Hebel (Fidelity), Sonali de Rycker (Accel), Robin Klein (Index) and Eileen Burbidge (Passion Capital).

Zendesk rolls out new round of partner programs: Ambassador, Authorised and Incubator

Help-desk software provider Zendesk today launched a series of partner programs in Europe, called Zendesk Ambassadors. Clients joining the program have the chance to earn money from referring new businesses to Zendesk. The program is open to businesses of any size and includes access to private forums and meet-ups with the Zendesk team. Members would usually hope to go on to become Authorised Partners, a step up on the partner ladder. Being invited (and there's no way in except by invitation) to join the Authorised Partners program means providing consulting, integration and migration services to Zendesk customers.

The 16-Year-Old Startup CEO and the Hong Kong Billionaire [TCTV]

We covered the launch of Summly an application that summarises text last year, but I recently caught up with Nick D'Aloisio, the16 year year-old programmer who came up with the application for a video interview. Its sounds almost boringly simple but the sheer amount of online content means the eco-system for these apps is rising. Formerly known as Trimit (which we covered back in July), Summly was developed by D'Aloisio from his bedroom in South London over a Summer break from school.

Media Behemoth Axel Springer Invests In AirBnB

German Media Conglomerate Axel Springer, which is next to Bertelsmann, one of Germany's most important and diversified media companies, has invested an undisclosed amount into AirBnB. It's an unusual deal, whereby the amount invested is based on the value of advertising space taken in Axel Springer media outlets, according to various German media reports. Furthermore, AirBnB offers will be included in Springer's real estate portals, such as Immonet. This seems to be a really intresting move, because psychologically AirBnB listings are now treated as professional real estate listings.

Wunderkit launches beta for its wunderbar-designed productivity platform

Berlin-based startup 6Wunderkinder has just launched their private beta for their productivity suite Wunderkit. This is an extension to their simple, yet well designed task list manager Wunderlist, which was acclaimed both by early adopters and users. With Wunderkit the startup is now taking a next step. They've stuck to the user experience that, while beautifully crafted on the one hand is surely tricky to get used to, and have taken their core task manager several steps further by wrapping a fully fledged social network around it. Whereas RememberTheMilk had been their primary competitor until now, the company is now directly competing with full virtual workspace apps such as Podio or Asana, all of them trying to re-invent peoples' work and organize their private and professional lives.

Videoplaza secures $12 million for ad platform led by Qualcomm, Innovacom

With the huge rise in the consumption of online video it follows that services to monetize that video are becoming hot properties. To that end, today Videoplaza, a 'sell side' ad management platform for video, has secured a Series B round of $12million led by Qualcomm Ventures and Innovacom. The company previously received rounds from VCs Creandum and Northzone, which also participated, which means VideoPlaza has received $18 million to date.

New accelerator launches in Europe offering Valley road trip

Accelerators, Accelerator, Accelerators! There's a rash of them appearing everywhere, and the latest is the Rockstart Accelerator, a new startup program aimed at Europeâ€™s most promising startups that want to hit a global scale (but then don't they all?). However, this one has some credible partners in the shape of Google, Microsoft BizSpark, Mozilla WebFWD and StartupHouse in San Francisco. Oscar Kneppers, founder of Rockstart says the program is for startups from the whole of Europe. Based in Amsterdam, it's looking for 10 teams of founders and will subject them to 99 mentors for 100 days, and combine that with an additional three-month summer program that culminates with a 25-day Silicon Valley road trip. That last point is probably not a bad idea, for obvious reasons, though Seedcamp has done this for the last few years.

GeeknRolla rocks into the London Web Summit, March 19

Way back in 2009 there was no large event dedicated to technology startups in the UK. TechCrunch, under Mike Arrington, was busy trying to get its TechCrunch50/Disrupt programme going in the US, and outside of local meetups, the TC event juggernaut still had yet to arrive in Europe. My friend and colleague Robin Wauters was doing Plugg in Brussels, but there wasn't a startup event in London. So I launched a personal project, an event I called GeeknRolla, the name for which I literally dreamt up in a London pub. Despite those amateurish beginnings, about 400 people turned up that year, and I ran it again for the next couple of years as a fun side project. But times move on and after running it single-handedly for three years in a row, I'm going to bring the GeeknRolla "mojo" to a new event (while we wait for the TC event machine to spin up in Europe, and more on that later so stay tuned). Thus, GeeknRolla and the Dublin Web Summit, are merging to create the London Web Summit. It'll be on March 19th in The Brewery Venue, in London's "Tech City" area.

Future Simple releases first full-blown CRM app for Android

Chicago-based but Israeli-founded Future Simple, a startup that creates products aimed at small businesses, has released an Android app which hooks into their small business CRM. It's the first Small Business CRM with a true full native Android app and appears to be the first CRM in the Android Market. They already had an iPhone app.

Podio adds new languages as it scales internationally

We first reviewed online workspace startup Podio on its launch in March last year, and it looked pretty promising. A little like Box.net or 37Signals, Podio is closer to a more sophisticated Yammer, with lots of customising possible via its own internal 'app' store. Today it launches in two new language, Brazilian Portuguese and Italian, adding to its existing English, German, French, Danish and Spanish translations. Spilt between San Francisco and Copenhagen offices, Podio is now in use in 170 countries so, as CEO Tommy Ahlers says, the translations now make a lot of sense. Though you would think Chinese might also be a good addition?

Hotel reputation management software maker Olery raises $1 million

Olery, an Amsterdam-based startup that offers reputation management and media monitoring tools for the leisure industry, has raised 750,000 euros ($1 million) to boost its international expansion and develop new products. Founded in 2010, Olery offers simple online brand, reputation management and performance benchmarking tools for hotels that help turn online reviews and social media feedback into actionable business intelligence.

Conceptboard receives funding from HighTech Gruenderfonds, Seedfonds

Conceptboard, a virtual whiteboard startup, which was in the news recently with their G+ Hangout feature, just announced that've raised "a 6-figure funding round" from two German investors. Details of the investment have not been shared publicly, but TechCrunch has learned that it was around 500.000 euros. It's the startups series A round, and was led by Germany's HighTech GrÃ¼nderfonds and Seedfonds BW - both semi-governmental funding institutions that have backed numerous German startups.

With the help of OpenBrand, is in-house branding killing the big agencies?

Every status has its symbol, says an advertising slogan. When starting a business, creating this symbol is part of the foundation. Yet, as essential a part of their identity as it is, most companies leave their branding in the hands of design agencies instead of keeping the process internal. Doesnâ€™t sound ideal? A small team of entrepreneurs in Prague think it does not. In response they developed OpenBrand, a brand building platform they dream will soon become the industry standard. Think of OpenBrand as the Google docs of branding. It provides businesses with a private space for their branding and marketing management, based on a set of smart tools guiding the user through the branding process.

European startup accelerators are gradually revealing their performance figures

With the rise of numerous accelerator programs in Europe one cannot help but wonder whether jumping through the application process hoops, sweating through the mentoring sessions and flirting with investors at demo days are all worth a foundersâ€™ time. When I attended the recent Startup Sauna demo day in Helsinki in December 2011, I met teams not only from Finland but also from Russia, Poland and the Baltic Rim. I was amazed how young many of the participating entrepreneurs were. So when the performance stats from Startup Sauna hit my mailbox I was curious to learn what actually happens to all those startups after they complete the seven-weeks-long coaching program in the startup co-working space Aalto Venture Garage.

Exclusive: Paulo Coelho at Davos â€“ on SOPA, piracy and life as an artist

Paulo Coelho, the world famous author of The Pilgrimage, The Alchemist and many other works which have in many ways become an inspiration for entrepreneurs, gave an exclusive and rare interview to TechCrunch at the World Economic Forum in Davos last night, the recording of which is published below. Coelho and I had previously been moderators at a dinner curated by Loic Le Meur on the future of social status and the interview took place in a taxi to another venue. (My write-up from the dinner will come later, suffice it to say that it was most entertaining and enlightening). Coelho last gave an interview to Mike Arrington in 2008 where he said "MySpace Is My wife, Facebook Is my mistress". Coelho has oft-repeated his view that artists and artistic works do no suffer when they are copied, quite the opposite. Their distribution becomes greater and the artist comes off better as a result. Coelho has even taken to pirating his own books on The Pirate Bay. What is interesting about our interview is his continuing vehement repudiation of the traditional book publishing industry's response to the new platform of the Internet.

Curated design shopping club MONOQI launches, raises funding (invites)

Exclusive - Yes, even more Berlin startups with news to share. MONOQI is today launching an exclusive online shopping platform where select designers can present their wares and buyers can purchase them at reasonable prices.

Online video marketer Clipkit raises funding from T-Venture, IBB Beteiligungsgesellschaft

Exclusive - Yet another funding round for a Berlin-based tech startup. T-Venture, Deutsche Telekom's venture arm, and IBB Beteiligungsgesellschaft have co-invested in privately-held online video syndication and marketing company Clipkit. The size of the round was not disclosed, but we're told that it was a "mid-seven-digit euros" figure.

DailyDeal Founders Invest In Hotel Booking App JustBook

JustBook, a mobile app that allows you to book hotel nights at a heavily reduced rate, secured their first angel round, coming from a diverse group of german business angels. Among the group are Ferry and Fabian Heilemann, the brothers who co-founded Dailydeal and sold it to Google in 2011, Amiando founder Felix Haas, Torsten Oelke, Matthias Hunecke, Stefan Zoller and Manuel Nothelfer.

Between nothing and a blog: check out CheckThis, a cool new micro-publishing tool

I don't often get a chance to write about a startup from my home country (Belgium) that I'm super excited about, so consider me a happy camper. Meet CheckThis.com, a new micro-publishing service that lets you create and share a single, good-looking Web page in mere seconds. CheckThis is designed for people who need a little more space than a tweet but don't want to go through the hassle of setting up a new blog. In literally instants, you can use CheckThis to create a stand-alone page to sell your bike, hire a new developer for your startup, tell people what you've been up to today, set up a really quick poll, share an Instragram or Flickr photo, a party invitation with a map, a Vimeo video or whatever other casual need you might have. Quick, simple, beautiful.

Moscowâ€™s online travel market is booming, Ostrovok.ru raises new round of funding

Ostrovok.ru, the Moscow-based hotel booking service, just raised a triple funding boost from three of the most respected names in online travel. Erik Blachfold, CEO of Expedia, Hotwire and Tripit founder Gregg Brockway and Altimeter Capitalâ€™s Brad Gerstner all agreed to invest in the travel company. Travel is a hot industry to invest in and Ostrovok earned the title of Russiaâ€™s fastest growing travel company. Launched in October 2010, the booking service quickly piqued the interest of some of the most experienced investors around, including Esther Dyson, General Catalyst Partners, Accel Partners, Atomico Ventures and the Founders Fund.

CouchSurfing gets more cash as Point Nine Capital becomes its first European investor

Exclusive - Berlin-based early-stage venture capital firm Point Nine Capital has become the first European investor in CouchSurfing, a site that helps travelers connect with locals worldwide to share accommodation, experiences and whatnot. The investment is in fact an extension of the $7.6 million Series A round raised from Benchmark Capital and Omidyar Network in August 2011.

3DayStartup in Paris â€“ Smarter than your average startup weekend?

This is a guest post by Liam Boogar of RudeBaguette. When I first heard about 3DayStartup last September, it was being pitched by the organisers of 3DayStartup Paris at FailCon. Listening to the idea, I thought what most people probably think at first: "Oh great, another StartupWeekend knock off." I quickly jotted down the differences in my head: not backed by Kauffman Foundation, no winners*, and you have to apply and get accepted - sounded like a losing combination, which is how I went into their end of the weekend pitch session this past Sunday.

Evi arrives in town to go toe-to-toe with Siri

When Siri arrived on the iPhone 4S I thought to myself, who else could do this? It would need to be a search engine with natural language processing, but also behave in the manner of artificial intelligence and respond to voice recognition. One company that sprung to mind was True Knowledge. I pinged them. Are you working on a Siri type application, I asked? Interesting question, was their response. And then they went quiet. Now they can reveal what they've been building. Evi is a new iPhone (iTunes link) and Android app in Beta (link) which might just give Apple's Siri a run for her money. She - we'll call this Artificial Intelligence a she - returns amazing results when consulted. Given that Siri is just not very good at giving answers which aren't about the US, Evi might just be the Siri for the rest of the world, especially since Evi wil run on any Andoid or iPhone, and not just the 4S. I've seen her in action and Evi is very, very smart.

SoundCloud hits 10 million users, releases new sounds+slides feature

SoundCloud still isn't conforming our story that they recently raised a $50 million round led by Kleiner Perkins - but today at the DLD conference in Munich they have announced a pretty significant milestone - hitting 10 million users. SoundCloud is gunning to be a kind of YouTube for sound, but with a wide variety of apps that can plug into its platform, and a business model which encourages upgrades to a premium paid experience. It competes with the like of Audioboo to some extent, but that is on a much lower 300,000 users and focuses on speech.

Fantasy Shopper becomes one of Europeâ€™s hottest startups with $3.3m from Accel and NEA

Fantasy Shopper is a social shopping game where players discover and share the latest fashion from real-world online and offline retailers. It's gained a lot of traction since it's launch last October, especially amongst women and we've heard on the grapevine that it was piquing the interest of investors for some months since emerging from the European Seed accelerator HackFWD. Today that intense interest has been confirmed with a first round of funding led by top tier venture firms Accel Partners and NEA (one of the key investors in Groupon) to enable it to build out engineering and expand into new cities other than London. With NEA co-leading the investment, clearly there is a big opportunity to scale in US cities and elsewhere. The investment is based on a convertible note not equity, which is standard practise when investors want in fast and the round is hotly contested.

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