$41M for Color’s Photo App

Palo Alto, CA, startup Color, founded by Lala.com creator Bill Nguyen, has raised $41 million in venture financing from Sequoia Capital, Bain Capital, and Silicon Valley Bank for a new photo-sharing app for the Apple iPhone and Android phones. The Web has been ablaze with chatter over the startup and the size of the round since TechCrunch broke the news Thursday night; a Forbes commentator praises the app for its “awesome possibilities” while Business Insider calls it “a strange experience, not worth $41 million.” There’s already a parody slide deck and a roaring debate at Hacker News over whether the funding, which automatically shares photos between smartphones based on proximity, is the definitive sign that a perceived bubble in Silicon Valley tech financings is about to burst.

Author: Wade Roush

Between 2007 and 2014, I was a staff editor for Xconomy in Boston and San Francisco. Since 2008 I've been writing a weekly opinion/review column called VOX: The Voice of Xperience. (From 2008 to 2013 the column was known as World Wide Wade.) I've been writing about science and technology professionally since 1994. Before joining Xconomy in 2007, I was a staff member at MIT’s Technology Review from 2001 to 2006, serving as senior editor, San Francisco bureau chief, and executive editor of TechnologyReview.com. Before that, I was the Boston bureau reporter for Science, managing editor of supercomputing publications at NASA Ames Research Center, and Web editor at e-book pioneer NuvoMedia. I have a B.A. in the history of science from Harvard College and a PhD in the history and social study of science and technology from MIT. I've published articles in Science, Technology Review, IEEE Spectrum, Encyclopaedia Brittanica, Technology and Culture, Alaska Airlines Magazine, and World Business, and I've been a guest of NPR, CNN, CNBC, NECN, WGBH and the PBS NewsHour. I'm a frequent conference participant and enjoy opportunities to moderate panel discussions and on-stage chats. My personal site: waderoush.com My social media coordinates: Twitter: @wroush Facebook: facebook.com/wade.roush LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/waderoush Google+ : google.com/+WadeRoush YouTube: youtube.com/wroush1967 Flickr: flickr.com/photos/wroush/ Pinterest: pinterest.com/waderoush/