CareZone, A Service For...

CareZone has been busy discovering a few key markets since launching in February , chief executive Jonathan Schwartz tells me. And the results are good enough to warrant a big round of funding: nearly $13 million from New Enterprise Associates , Catamount Ventures , and Schwartz himself. Founded as an intranet for people who are taking care of aging parents, children, or anyone else in need of special attention, it has connected with communities around autism, Parkinson’s disease, and other illnesses. But the service, which includes user profiles, a message board, and features for tracking medicine consumption, is getting used in different ways by each group — that’s resulting in new directions for the product. “Each community we talk to gives us input about what’s unique. Those with Parkinson’s tend to take the same medicine and step up dosage over time. That’ll fold into medication tracking.” Meanwhile, he says, “The autism community is much more subjective. It’s been vocal about wanting journal entries that can be tagged, to allow caregivers to note diet, behavior changes and other trends in a more subjective way.” Usage patterns are also changing as the product matures. The average number of Beloveds [those being cared for] climbs over time, he says. “Now that you’re taking care of a child, you might as well use it to take care of dad.” The ratio of caregiver to beloveds starts off close to 1, but then goes up as the caregiver begins using it for more beloveds, or adds others to help them out. The communities themselves are also helping to drive new users, Schwartz adds, like Autism Speaks talking about it on its Facebook page. So, the new funding. This first venture round is going towards engineer hiring in San Francisco and Seattle, and product and partner development. New features are coming, that include more granular security for managing your parent(s) bank accounts/passwords, and Spanish-language translation. Also as a result of the funding, Schwartz (the former CEO of Sun Microsystems) is bringing on his old CTO, current NEA partner Greg Papadopolous. Catamount, meanwhile, is adding partner James Joaquin, who met Carezone’s other cofounder, Walter Smith, back when they both worked at Apple. So, an old crew is getting back together to go after a big problem — but something a little closer to home.

Want FounderDating In Y...

FounderDating , which helps entrepreneurs with co-founders through online networking and offline events, announced a big geographic expansion earlier this year. But what if you don’t live in a traditionally startup-heavy city like San Francisco, New York, or Boston? Do you have to slave away on your awesome idea all by yourself? Not necessarily. To figure out where to go next, FounderDating is launching an initiative called Unlock Entrepreneurship In Your City . Founder Jessica Alter says she and her team have been inundated with requests for new locations, with people claiming that Portland, Tel Aviv, and Detroit (for example) are all hotbeds of entrepreneurship. In essence, Alter is now responding, “That’s awesome. Just show us.” So if you want FounderDating to start operating in your city, just go to the Unlock Entrepreneurship website and apply, and convince other entrepreneurs to do the same. If there are at least 50 unique applications from a city, Alter says FounderDating will set up shop there. She’s not committing to a specific timeframe for any of those cities, especially since she has to locate a managing director to run the program from each location, but she says that it will happen, and that if FounderDating expands somewhere, “We want to be there long-term.” Meanwhile, the startup is also trying to ramp up its presence in cities that it has already expanded into, by increasing the frequency of its application rounds. Now there’s a round each week (though in different geographies), so if you’re geographically flexible, you could theoretically apply at any time, rather than waiting for a specific window to open. The next FounderDating rounds are: San Francisco & NYC May 17th (Apply by May 7th), Los Angeles June 6th (Apply by May 23rd), Austin May 23rd (Apply by May 15th), Seattle June 11th (Apply by June 3rd), Boston June 26th (Apply by June 16th). FounderDating success stories including YC-backed Curebit and Sorced , whose co-founder Elizabeth Knopf wrote a blog post about the experience .

HTC Is Done With QWERTY...

Touchscreens killed the keypad star. HTC is reportedly done with physical keypads and will instead focus on better on-screen keypad technology. The word comes from HTC creative director Claude Zellweger speaking at a Seattle press event. “As a company the QWERTY keyboard we’re moving away from in general.” This likely doesn’t mean HTC won’t release another QWERTY phone in the near future but rather the company is shifting development focus away from physical keys. This shouldn’t come as a surprise. The entire smartphone market started moving away physical keys as a response to the iPhone’s rise to the top. Even RIM followed this trend with its line of Storm smartphones. For better or worse, ditching physical buttons in favor for on-screen keyboards allow for thinner more stylish phones. MobileBurn quotes Zellweger saying “putting too much effort into that [QWERTY phones] would take away from our devices.” This shows that HTC understands that the company needs a unified brand rather than a gaggle of phones. In previous years HTC seemingly released a new Android handset every three weeks. During Android’s roaring early days, this strategy helped grow the platform by enticing new buyers with fresh phones built on the latest technology. But now, as Samsung and Motorola have slowed their roll, HTC needs to do the same and it seems the QWERTY phones are getting the ax.

Mobile Payments Startup...

Mobile payments platform Beamit , which focuses on international money transfers between the U.S. and developing markets, has just closed a $2.4 million seed round led by Founder’s Co-op , with participation from Bezos Expeditions (the personal investment company of Jeff Bezos), TomorrowVentures  (the investment vehicle for Eric Schmidt) and a small group of angel investors. The funds will be used to further product development as the company moves towards public availability, currently slated for Q3 2012. The company says the first market being targeted is the Philippines. Beamit CEO  Matt Oppenheimer formerly ran Barclays Bank’s mobile banking unit in Kenya, which has given him first-hand experience in both mobile banking and the challenges that come from working in developing markets. “Before starting Beamit, I was living in Nairobi, Kenya where I was running Mobile and Internet Banking Initiatives for Barclay’s Bank Kenya,” explains Oppenheimer. “Many Kenyans received money in an old and antiquated way using a cash-based system on both ends but it was an expensive and a painful customer experience. I knew that there was the opportunity to leverage digital channels, including mobile phones, to improve the lives of our customers, so I returned to the USA in May 2011 to start Beamit.” Oppenheimer partnered with Josh Hug , Chief Product Officer, during the TechStars Seattle 2011 program. Hug, whose past experience was CEO and co-founder of Shelfari , a social reading startup acquired by Amazon in 2008, gives Beamit its Bezos connection. Says Oppenheimer of his partner, “he is committed to reducing inefficiencies across borders and bringing transparency to this market. His decision to partner with me was a game changer as his product and startup experience perfectly compliment my financial services and emerging markets background.” He also notes that Hug’s passion for the space arises from his partner’s own global travels (Oppenheimer says he himself has visited 30 countries and worked in three), as well as his family connections. The startup is all about meeting the demand for international remittances – that is, the sending and receiving of funds internationally, which today is still often done through physical branches for both the deposits and withdrawal of the cash. According to the World Bank, $374 billion in remittances are transfered home every year, with the average cost of a $300 transfer over $27 (9.3%). As Beamit rolls into beta, the startup is now inviting a select number of customers to transfer money from the U.S. to the Philippines, a country that receives roughly $7 billion in annual transfers from the U.S. Sign up to get on the waiting list here . Seattle-based Beamit had previously raised $750,000 in angel financing. The new $2.4M round of equity financing includes the conversion of the $750K convertible note.

The ‘Dogbnb’ Wars Escal...

Finding a place for your pooch while you’re away should be getting easier. Rover , a Seattle-based startup that is trying to disrupt the kennel market, said it has raised $3.4 million in a round led by Madrona Venture Group. It’s one of several startups that are vying to be the online marketplace for pet owners that need a sitter or a place for their dogs to stay when they’re out of town. “This addresses a real, concrete problem,” said the company’s chief executive Aaron Easterly. “There are more dog-owning households than households with children in the U.S.” Easterly said that kennels or pet hotels are often too pricey to be reasonable. It can range from being about $30 a night to upwards of $80 or 90 at higher-end places. Plus, they might charge extra for walks or playing fetch. “It’s a pretty wild scenario, but you could end up paying $100 per night. The existing commercial solutions fail 90 percent of the market,” Easterly said. “Then there’s this untapped skilled labor force that loves to do this.” Madrona was an easy pick to lead Rover’s round because of the company’s unusual history. The idea for the startup actually came from a Madrona managing director, Greg Gottesman, during a Seattle Startup Weekend after he had a terrible experience with a commercial kennel.  Gottesman later found Easterly, a former general manager of network strategy and monetization at Microsoft, to run the company. CrunchFund is also participating in the round. With the funding, Rover plans to roll out to more locations. The company already has a presence in 500 cities and has about 10,000 active members. Rover partners closely with dog care professional organizations to find qualified sitters. Rover’s revenue share starts at 15 percent, but it can go lower to about 3 percent. “We filter and vet base all of the sitters,” Easterly said. “Only a minority of people who want to become sitters actually get displayed and put on the site.” Rover faces competition from companies like DogVacay out of Los Angeles, but Easterly is mostly concerned about the bigger market out there and getting pet owners to consider more than just using kennels or their neighbors and friends.