Phones have been ringing off the hook at Juice Wireless.
The L.A.-based software application company for cell phones has expanded to Europe and India, increased staff by 60 percent, and more than doubled its office space in the past two months.
“The economy is apparently shrinking, but we’re going crazy over here,” said Nick Desai, chief executive of Juice Wireless.
In December, it also received $6 million in venture capital led by 21Ventures. That brings the company’s total amount of funding to $15 million. Juice Wireless is also backed by Qualcomm and Citizen’s Communications.
Last year, the company launched JuiceCaster, which allows anyone with a camera-enabled mobile phone to create and share media content. For example, it automatically connects a user’s photos and videos with social networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook.
Users can subscribe to the service for $3 a month on cell phone plans provided by T-Mobile, US Cellular, Alltel and Cricket Wireless. Juice Wireless has 67,000 subscribers.
The company hired Daniel Matray to head JuiceCaster Europe in London, and is in talks with major cell phone carriers across Europe. It is also negotiating with two of India’s largest phone service providers. The company will head to Asia in the third quarter of this year.
Founded in 2004, Juice Wireless now has 55 employees total, with 40 in Los Angeles. It recently moved its headquarters to a 6,500-square-foot space near Los Angeles International Airport to accommodate recent and future hires.
Wheels of Fortune
Overstock.com, a popular closeout merchandise Web site that sells everything from books to furniture, is now adding cars to its inventory, thanks to Santa Monica-based Zag.
Until now, the B-to-B car-shopping Web site, headed by former CarsDirect founder Scott Painter, could only be used by consumers through groups such as AAA, Capital One and USAA Worldwide Insurance for military families.
Primarily a lead-generation business used by car dealers, Zag runs sophisticated car-shopping sites under private labels of insurance and lending companies. This is the first time Zag is available to consumers without the need to go through a group.
Since the company launched in 2005, Zag has raised $45 million in venture capital, backed by investors such as Capricorn Management LLC, headed by Jeff Skoll, co-founder of eBay.
Painter founded CarsDirect in 1998 and raised $350 million in funding before leaving the company in 2000. Internet Brands, the parent company of CarsDirect, went public last year.
Wiring Obama
A local bootstrapped tech startup of eight employees is running a Web-based information management system for Barack Obama’s presidential campaign in California.
Pasadena-based Central Desktop produces an Internet application that streamlines the process of hiring and training, and managing information online.
During the height of the California primary campaign, the application allowed Obama’s 6,000 precinct captains in the state quickly to create a Web site to share files, download campaign posters and manage task lists.
What stands out about Central Desktop’s program is that anyone with a log-in to the site can update it with new information.
“Organizing precincts is a challenge because they’re so scattered in California,” said Isaac Garcia, chief executive of Central Desktop. “A collaborative Web site is an easy, fast way to get everyone on the same page.”
Central Desktop is Garcia’s third startup. Garcia and his partner sold their previous two software companies to CNET.com a few years ago.
The company, founded in 2005, already has 1,800 accounts, including Allied Barton Security Services, Webcore Builders, and Cornell and Harvard universities. There are about 100,000 users on the company’s Web-based software at any given time.
Excited With Bored
It may be called Bored, but it’s not boring: Domain name Bored.com is apparently worth $4 million.
Oversee.net’s recently acquired Moniker, which is accustomed to selling virtual real estate for millions of dollars, was behind the deal. But even its most high-profile sales have been considerably less expensive than Bored.com. Last year, Moniker sold the domain name Seniors.com for $1.8 million and Computer.com for $2.2 million.
Last week, Moniker also sold 170 other Web sites for a total of $500,000. JW Media, which also owns BuyShoes.com and Campout.com, was the purchaser of Bored, a pop culture and humor site.
L.A.-based Oversee’s acquisition of Moniker last month served as evidence of boom times in the world of online real estate. Oversee’s goal in acquiring Moniker was to add high-priced premium domain names to Oversee’s inventory, and bolster its long-term plan of becoming a one-stop shop for domain name owners for buying, monetizing and selling domain names.
Staff reporter Booyeon Lee can be reached at (323) 549-5225, ext. 230, or at
[email protected]
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