index ventures - Internet Marketing News and Blogs

P2P internet TV service Joost has received $45m (£22.6m) in funding to aid its expansion and product development.

Index Ventures led the funding round with Sequoia Capital, while other investors included Hutchison Whampoa Limited and Cheung Kong Holdings, through the Li Ka-Shing Foundation.

Rusian book, music and game retailer Ozon.ru has landed £9.1m in an investment round led by Index Ventures, and also involving Holtzbrinck Ventures and Cisco Systems.

Ozon.ru intends to use the capital to develop its logistics, expand product lines and establish new distribution centres across Russia.

Serial web investor Saul Klein was recently appointed as a venture partner by London-based VC firm Index Ventures. Saul is planning to help Index spend its new technology fund and he will also work with its existing portfolio.

He spoke to us about why European start-ups need better access to experienced entrepreneurs, why he thinks social shopping is over-hyped, and what's driving the renewed interest in internet companies from investors.

Former Skype VP of marketing and Video Island founder Saul Klein has joined Index Ventures to help the VC firm’s hunt for new web investments.

The London-based company has just announced the closure of a EU350m fund – its fourth - to focus on European firms in IT, life sciences and clean tech.

Klein, who will be based in Index’s London office, will help spend the new cashpile as well as working on Index’s existing portfolio, which includes the likes of Betfair, Netvibes and Last.fm.

Skype founder Niklas Zennström recently named AllPeers among Europe’s four most innovative tech start-ups - and you can't really argue with him.

Launched at the end of August after four years of development work, AllPeers’ private P2P platform allows users to share videos, photos, webpages and other paraphernalia with their family and friends.

But next year, it also intends to expand its technology to allow files to be shared publicly, and to offer content creators a chance to earn money through micro-payments, rather than through advertising.

We met up with CEO Cedric Maloux and CTO Matt Gertner to find out more.