I Love Rewards Closes Series B Round With $8.7 Million in Financing

Toronto, Ontario and Boston, MA (PRWEB) June 18, 2009

I Love Rewards (http://www.iloverewards.com), North America's fastest growing rewards and recognition program provider, today announced that it has closed its Series B financing round with $ 8.7 million in funding, following an investment by the Ontario Venture Capital Fund (OVCF) of $ 1.8 million. Today's funding announcement marks the first direct co-investment made to a company by the OVCF. I Love Rewards received its first Series B funding last month, with $ 6.9 million from GrandBanks Capital, a Boston-based venture capital firm, along with participation by prior investors JLA Ventures and Laurence Capital.

This financing round caps off a tremendous last 12 months of growth for the company. Despite expectations set by the current state of the economy, I Love Rewards has seen a 187% growth in gross billings and a 253% increase in customer acquisition. The company has raised a total of $ 13.6 million in the past 18 months, including a successful series A financing round in 2008 led by JLA Ventures.

"Now more than ever, companies need to find solutions to retain their best people and drive productivity with less manpower and resources," said Razor Suleman, Founder and CEO of I Love Rewards. "Our investors recognize this growing need, and with their commitment, we will enhance our capabilities as we realize our vision of being the global leader in web-based rewards and recognition."

"We are very happy to share the news of our investment in I Love Rewards, and are delighted to include this high-potential Ontario-based company in the OVCF portfolio," said Melissa McJannet of TD Capital Private Equity Investors, manager of OVCF. "Razor and the I Love Rewards team have proven that they have what it takes to continue to grow and prosper in Canada, and we look forward to supporting them as they expand into the United States and beyond."

In addition to their successful funding round, I Love Rewards was recently the recipient of the Top 10 Technology Companies award and WorldBlu's 10 Most Democratic Workplaces award, and was named one of the Top 50 Small and Medium-Sized Employers.

I Love Rewards is a web-based provider of employee rewards and recognition, sales incentive and service award programs that works with top employers and leading companies such as Microsoft, Marriott, ConAgra and Bell. For more information please visit http://www.iloverewards.com.

GrandBanks Capital invests in early stage technology companies located primarily in the eastern part of the United States and Canada. With headquarters outside of Boston, the firm has proven investment expertise in Internet infrastructure, software, security and storage applications, media and wireless technologies and services, and financial services. The GrandBanks Capital portfolio includes: Coradiant, Ember Corporation, First Coverage, GlassHouse Technologies, I Love Rewards, Incipient, OutStart, SendMe, uLocate Communications, Vela Systems, Vivox, and xkoto.

JLA Ventures is one of Canada's foremost venture capital firms. They invest in growth companies that are focused on Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), new and digital media, communications and mobile computing companies. JLA Ventures is also a co-manager of the Blackberry Partners Fund.

The $ 205 million Ontario Venture Capital Fund is a joint initiative between the Government of Ontario and leading institutional investors to invest primarily in Ontario-based and Ontario-focused venture capital and growth equity funds that support innovative, high growth companies. OVCF is structured as a fund of funds with the primary objective of generating attractive returns for its investors. The Fund is managed by TD Capital Private Equity Investors. For more information on OVCF, go to http://www.ovcf.com.

For press inquiries, please contact:

Christina Weber

christina.weber @ iloverewards.com

416-531-1531 ext. 299

###

The 2 Young Foundation Hits a Homerun Against Brain Cancer With Their 15th Annual Wiffle

Vienna, VA (Vocus) August 26, 2010

Waters Field was the place to be on Saturday, August 7th, for The 15th Annual Northern Virginia Wiffle

Convey Computer Secures $24 Million Series B Financing for Greener, High Performance Computers

Richardson, TX (PRWEB) July 29, 2009

Convey Computer Corporation, the pioneer of hybrid-core computing - a technology designed to help high-performance computers run faster while significantly reducing the energy they use - announced today it has closed $ 24.15 million in Series B financing. Additionally, the company announced two new board members with extensive technology experience: Jiong Ma, Ph.D., of Braemar Energy Ventures (http://www.braemarenergy.com ) and Joshua Ruch of Rho Ventures (http://www.rho.com ).

The round of funding was led by new investor, Braemar Energy Ventures. Series A investors CenterPoint Ventures, Intel Capital, InterWest Partners, Rho Ventures, and Xilinx

TuneUp Announces Series C Round of Funding Led by IDG Ventures with Participation by KPG Ventures

San Francisco, CA (PRWEB) September 15, 2010

TuneUp Media, the #1 plug-in for iTunes, today announced the company has raised a $ 4.3 million Series C round of funding, led by IDG Ventures with strong participation from original seed-funder KPG Ventures.

To date TuneUp has amassed over 1.5 million registered users internationally and has AutomagicallyTM cleaned over 1.2 billion mislabeled music tracks. Beyond correcting music metadata, TuneUp fills in missing album art and offers a suite of infotainment features for users rapidly growing music collections. These features include personalized concert notifications, Facebook and Twitter integration, and Tuniverse, which instantly provides the most up-to-date music related content from the web, right within the media player ecosystem.

This round of funding is a great vote of confidence in TuneUp and supports our vision of providing the best possible music management tools and discovery resources for music collections worldwide, said Gabriel Adiv, Founder and CEO of TuneUp Media. We are very excited to expand our product-line and to bring these new innovations to music lovers everywhere.

TuneUp goes beyond simply cleaning up a music library; it provides a unique service for users to access the information they want about their favorite artists and songs directly within their music player, said Phil Sanderson, Managing Director of IDG Ventures in San Francisco. They are a valued addition to the IDG portfolio in their driving force to satisfy a previously ignored need for music fans everywhere.

Selected to present at DEMO Fall 2010 on September 15th, TuneUp Media will preview the latest features and sharing capabilities within Tuniverse, plus a hint at the exciting products in development for Q4 2010. TuneUp is available for download for both iTunes and Windows Media Player at http://www.tuneupmedia.com.

Important Links

Download TuneUp http://www.tuneupmedia.com/download

About TuneUp http://www.tuneupmedia.com/about.php

About TuneUp Media

TuneUp Media, the music lovers behind TuneUp, created the #1 selling plug-in for iTunes, with a rapidly growing Windows Media Player user base. TuneUp offers must-have digital music management and music discovery tools that let digital music consumers get more from the music they love. TuneUp Automatically "cleans" mislabeled song information using acoustic fingerprint technology against a robust database; fills in missing cover art and presents an ever-growing suite of infotainment features. These features include personalized concert alerts, music videos, artist bios and news, as well as Twitter and Facebook integration. TuneUp Media is based in San Francisco; Gabriel Adiv and Raza Zaidi founded the company in 2007.

http://www.tuneupmedia.com

About IDG Ventures

IDG Ventures SF is an early-stage venture capital firm investing in New Media and IT companies in the US. As a global network of technology venture funds with over $ 2 billion under management and 10 offices across Asia and North America, the fund works closely with International Data Group (IDG), the world's largest IT media company and one of the firm's Limited Partners. By combining the IDG platform - an unparalleled combination of global publishing, market research (IDC), conferences and exhibition resources - with years of hands-on experience in early-stage company building, IDG Ventures help their portfolio companies understand and leverage markets better and faster. IDG has invested in leading technology companies: Netscape, Excite, Infoseek, Epiphany, F5 Networks, BabyCenter, Service Metrics, and Spinner.com in North America.

http://www.idgvsf.com

About KPG Ventures

Founded in 2006, KPG Ventures is a venture capital firm based in San Francisco. KPG focuses on the consumer Internet sector of technology-driven businesses, investing at the seed-stage cycle of a company's development. With a proven track record of selecting promising teams focused on lucrative opportunities that require little capital to reach profitability, KPG has launched many successful companies. By concentrating its efforts on a small handful of companies at a time, they are able to leverage the strategic and operating expertise of its general partners. For more information about KPG Ventures please visit http://www.kpgventures.com

Contact:

Meghan Murphy

415.448.6158

###

More Series C Funding Press Releases

Bookstores Are Stocking Up on Celebrated Danny the Dragon Childrens Book Series and DVD

Los Angeles (PRWEB) October 13, 2011

Imagination Publishing Group (IPG) has announced bookstores are stocking up on award-winning childrens author Tina Turbins illustrated kids book Danny the Dragon Meets Jimmy and Danny the Dragon Dreams CD in anticipation of the upcoming holiday season.

According to IPG, perhaps best known for its cherished childrens titles, their distributor, Ingram, Baker & Taylor has been receiving more orders for Danny the Dragon titles, in particular Danny the Dragon Meets Jimmy, the first book in Turbins kids book series, and the critically-acclaimed Danny the Dragon Dreams CD.

We were expecting a lot of Danny the Dragon orders for the holiday season due to the authors recent tours and numerous awards generating more sales, said an Imagination Publishing Group representative. According to IPG executive Alan Wayne, all this attention can be attributed to Turbins busy West Coast and European Book Tours as well as the authors impressive number of awards earned throughout the year.

Turbin called her jam-packed tours in the West U.S. and the European continent a tremendous success. According to author, who visited devoted Danny the Dragon fans in libraries, schools with the book prominently displayed in book fairs It was wonderful to reach out to my fans and see what an impact the adventures of Danny the Dragon have made on children and their families.

The author is not only cherished by children and their parents but by critics as well. This past year Turbin added several prestigious awards to her already enormous number of accolades, including the 2011 Media of the Year Award by Creative Child Magazine and First Prize for Best Illustrations in the prestigious Purple Dragonfly Book Awards for her illustrations by renowned illustrator Aija Jasuna. Turbins other some awards include the iParenting Media Awards and the Moms Choice Awards.

As for the author herself, Turbin says she is extremely pleased and honored with the enormous anticipation of her childrens book series this holiday season. Turbin plans to spend the part of her holidays working on more Danny the Dragons adventures, new titles and eBooks. Her first eBook is a finalist with Florida Publishers Association ( FPA), winner to be announced in November. Her fans can stay up-to-date with the author by visiting her popular Danny the Dragon blog at http://www.DannytheDragon.com/blog.

TO BOOK TINA TURBIN FOR AN INTERVIEW OR SPEAKING ENGAGEMENT: Contact ImaginationPublishingGroup(at)gmail.com

TO LEARN MORE ABOUT DANNY THE DRAGON: Visit http://www.DannytheDragon.com.

TO PURCHASE DANNY THE DRAGON PRODUCTS: Contact Imagination Publishing Group at ImaginationPublishingGroup@gmail.com or call 888-701-6481. Also available through: Amazon.com, Victory Multimedia, Barnes and Noble, Blockbuster Video, Baker and Taylor, and other major distributors.

Danny the Dragon Meets Jimmy DVD: 837654741191, $ 24.95

Danny the Dragon Meets Jimmy paperback: 978-0-9800-721-0-5, $ 8.95

Danny the Dragon Dreams CD/Audiobook: 978-0-9800-721-3-6, $ 8.95

ABOUT TINA TURBIN: Tina Turbin wrote her first story at age sixteen, and has since gone on to enjoy tremendous success as a multi-award-winning author, humanitarian, and researcher. Working for many years in Los Angeles with children in the Entertainment Business, she remains an active supporter of children, families, and education and works as an advocate in the many arenas of literacy and celiac disease. The Danny the Dragon series fulfills a passion of hers to delight and entertain through her enchanting characters. Her many styles of writing convey to the young and young at heart. Turbin resides in her East and West Coast studios.

For more information or to schedule an interview, please contact Miranda Jade 888-701-6481 or ImaginationPublishingGroup(at)gmail.com.

###

The Girls Bathroom, Web Series Sneak Peek Labor Day @ 4pm EST

New York, NY (PRWEB) September 03, 2011

The Girls Bathroom is a web series on http://www.chapter3.tv that follows four teenagers; Red, Blondie, Brownie and Noir, at the beginning of their Senior Year. Sneak Peeks Launch on September 5th, (Labor Day) at 4 p.m. (EST). Each episode follows the conversation after assembly, as the girls get ready for the day. Topics of discussion include boys, hair, make-up and fashion as well as other hot topics that are popular amongst todays teens.

Www.chapter3.tv is the creative collaboration between Detroiter, Darralynn Hutson and New Yorker, Michael Negri launched at the end of June. The new network boasts both original and branded programs, specifically produced for mobile device viewing. Other shows that are soon launching are THE BLACK WOMEN ROCK EXPERIENCE! a collaboration with jessica Care moore and the Black Women Rock Orchestra, TAWTK-The Audience Wants to Know, a Live movie Q&A show and WTF? A daily dose of stupid.

Veteran journalist and TV producer, Darralynn Hutson states, If youre looking for a group of entrepreneurs thats committed to Detroit and fostering national relationships to bring business and positive focus to our city; look no further. She goes on to say, This production company exists despite our governor destroying the tax incentive because the creative vision is still very much alive.

The Branded Entertainment concept sprung out of an immediate need to engage their corporate relationships with their wealth of experiences developing audiences for film, TV, events and publishing. The first set of brand partners to be integrated in the first 3 programs include Bronner Brothers, Upscale Magazine, Heys Luggage, Radio One, 102.7 FM and Faygo soda.

The first season of slated shows include:

Video Series Illustrates the Potential of Next-Generation Assessments

Bloomington, MN (PRWEB) June 09, 2011

Pearson today unveiled a new video series illustrating and explaining many of the concepts that underpin next-generation assessments, including the use of multimedia in test items, measuring student growth, and increased student engagement. These first three videos are part of an ongoing series that is now available on Pearsons Next Generation Assessments website, which is dedicated to resources that assist and support the education community in moving from paper-and-pencil to online assessments and in taking full advantage of the potential technology has to transform the cycle of teaching and learning.

Just as students will be better able to understand and demonstrate knowledge when they can interact with test items on a computer screen in front of them, these videos help illustrate the tangible methods that are part of next-generation assessments to the broadest possible audience, said Shilpi Niyogi, Executive Vice President, National Services, Pearson Assessment & Information. The series features some of the leading research and content experts in the field of assessment and makes their insight and expertise widely available. Via graphics, simulations and direct explanations, the videos help make complex and abstract concepts concrete for parents, teachers, administrators, policymakers and students. We invite you to watch the videos and share with others to collectively build greater understanding about the potential of next generation of assessments.

Videos now available are:

The Power of Technology to Improve Assessment: The Water Cycle
Presented by Jon Twing, Executive Vice President and Chief Measurement Officer

In this video, Twing demonstrates one way Pearson is using technology to improve teaching and personalize learning. Through the use of a water cycle example he illustrates the power of technology to engage students through an interactive environment.

Measuring Student Growth
Presented by Kimberly O'Malley, Vice President, Psychometric Services

College and career readiness reforms are driving changes in the ways in which the nation uses student test data. In this video, OMalley defines, compares and contrasts the terms: student growth, value-added models, and teacher effectiveness.

Authentic Uses of Modern Media in Assessment
Presented by Randy Craighead, Senior Content Specialist

Next generation assessments need to measure a broader range of English-language arts skills including speaking, listening and research skills. In this video, Craighead demonstrates a computer-enhanced item which includes audio, animation, and text, to show the power of technology in measuring what a student knows and can do.

Future videos in the series will include demonstrations of innovative item types designed specifically to measure standards in math, science and English-language arts, and applications for universal design to maximize the accessibility of the assessments for all students.To view these videos and access the growing library of materials Pearson has developed to support the development of next-generation assessments, visit the web site, Next Generation Assessments, and the video series can be accessed in the Tools and Resources section located to the left.

About Pearson

Pearson (NYSE:PSO), the global leader in education services, education technology and school solutions, provides innovative print and digital education materials for preK through college, student information systems and learning management systems, teacher professional development, career certification programs, and testing and assessment products that set the standard for the industry. Pearsons other primary businesses include the Financial Times Group and the Penguin Group. For more information, go to http://www.pearsonassessments.com.

For more information:

Adam Gaber, Pearson

800-745-8489 / adam.gaber(at)pearson(dot)com / @apgaber (twitter)

###

More College Text Press Releases