Denver-based NewsGator Technologies, which makes one of the leading RSS news feed aggregators as well as other products designed to allow users keep up with online information, announced today that it has closed a $12 million funding round. The financing was led by new investor Vista Ventures of Boulder, CO. But it includes existing investor Mobius Venture Capital, also of Boulder, and Cambridge-based Masthead Venture Partners.
We couldn’t help but noticing that representing Masthead on the NewsGator board is Rich Levandov, the would-be tattooee behind Extreme VC: The Tale of the Tacoda Tattoo. That story chronicled Levandov’s bet with Tacoda founder and chairman Dave Morgan, wherein Levandov said he would get the Tacoda logo tattooed on his body if the company brought him a 10X return on his investment. When Tacoda was sold to AOL this past July for around $275 million, the price was high enough that Levandov got his 10X return. The tattooing is supposed to happen soon.
Given today’s news, we e-mailed Levandov about his NewsGator plans (as well as for an update on his Tacoda tattoo). His BlackBerried response:
“Dave Morgan and I are still looking for the perfect evening to do this.
As for Newsgator, I am upping my bets to 20x :)”
You hear that, AOL?
Author: Robert Buderi
Bob is Xconomy's founder and chairman. He is one of the country's foremost journalists covering business and technology. As a noted author and magazine editor, he is a sought-after commentator on innovation and global competitiveness. Before taking his most recent position as a research fellow in MIT's Center for International Studies, Bob served as Editor in Chief of MIT's Technology Review, then a 10-times-a-year publication with a circulation of 315,000. Bob led the magazine to numerous editorial and design awards and oversaw its expansion into three foreign editions, electronic newsletters, and highly successful conferences. As BusinessWeek's technology editor, he shared in the 1992 National Magazine Award for The Quality Imperative.
Bob is the author of four books about technology and innovation. Naval Innovation for the 21st Century (2013) is a post-Cold War account of the Office of Naval Research. Guanxi (2006) focuses on Microsoft's Beijing research lab as a metaphor for global competitiveness. Engines of Tomorrow (2000) describes the evolution of corporate research. The Invention That Changed the World (1996) covered a secret lab at MIT during WWII. Bob served on the Council on Competitiveness-sponsored National Innovation Initiative and is an advisor to the Draper Prize Nominating Committee. He has been a regular guest of CNBC's Strategy Session and has spoken about innovation at many venues, including the Business Council, Amazon, eBay, Google, IBM, and Microsoft.
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