October 7, 2008

Monster Venture Partners buys Bitwine

Filed under: Monster Venture Partners — admin @ 10:40 am

Monster Venture Partners has acquired a controlling position in Bitwine and named former Expedia manager Ronnie Gurion as CEO.

Click here to read the full story from Puget Sound Business Journal

August 21, 2008

Patents.com Beta Launch

Filed under: MVP, Monster Venture Partners, Patents — admin @ 8:12 am

Providing the world’s most complete solution for patent search.

STERLING, VA – August 19, 2008 – Today Patents.com announced the beta launch of their global patent search site as part of a platform comprised of over 12 million searchable patent documents in 3 languages. In the coming months, the company will add 12 more languages and continue growing the number of patent and translated patent documents to over 450 million. Patents.com is a valued resource for scientists, engineers and patent professionals, providing them not only with data, but ultimately with a place to connect with other professionals and a place to buy, sell, license and service patents.

“Patents are currently a very large business – an estimated $500 billion in 2007. Patents.com aims to be a catalyst for accelerated global growth of the market for intellectual property. We will do this by simplifying key processes related to patent discovery, communication, and transactions. And we will do much of this free of charge, thereby making advanced global patent search accessible to all,” said Rob Monster, Co-Founder and Chairman of Patents.com.”

“Patents.com will be a valuable source for university researchers, patent lawyers, and garage inventors,” said Paul Ratcliffe, Co-Founder and CEO of Patents.com. “The site will be a ‘one stop shop’ for all IP needs from data and translation and ultimately to the licensing and sale of IP through a global patent exchange.”

Patents.com is launching a beta version of the site today which allows users to search for patents in English, Japanese and Korean. This includes data search and translation functionality. In the coming months features will be added to the site providing a platform for the IP community to connect, learn, and search in the user’s preferred language.

About Patents.com
Patents.com is building the most comprehensive worldwide source of patent data – to ultimately include 450 million searchable indexed patent pages available in 15 native languages. It is a source for both large and small companies, inventors and patent professionals to search, connect with like professionals through a hosted community platform enabling them to generate business opportunities, including the licensing and sale of intellectual property.

Media contact:
Jennifer Curley (202) 422-6244
Jennifer@curleycompany.com

April 2, 2008

freeIDENTITYprotect Announces Upgrade

Filed under: Demoxi, MVP, Monster Venture Partners — admin @ 4:00 am

Site Provides Customers Identity Theft Alerts, Insurance, and Restoration

April 2, 2008 – Bellevue, WAfreeIDENTITYprotect.com is now offering customers even more to protect against identity theft. The upgrade adds insurance, theft alerts and identity theft restoration to the already free services of freeIDENTITYprotect.com. The existing free services are still free.

“According to the Federal Trade Commission ¹, identity theft is on the rise – and people are rightly looking to protect themselves. We created an upgrade to www.freeidentityprotect.com to provide our customers the highest level of protection available,” said Jim Adler, CEO Demoxi, Inc., the parent company of www.freeidentityprotect.com. “For some customers freeIDENTITYprotect will take care of all their needs but for those customers who are at risk of identity theft or just want extra protection, this upgrade will provide that within the same easy to use site.”

The premium upgrade monitors the Internet black market for compromised personal information, and alerts the consumer if their personal information such as credit card and social security numbers are found. This will enable consumers to proactively take action and help prevent an identity thief from using their good credit. It also provides a $1 million service guarantee, $25,000 of identity theft insurance, and access to identity theft specialists to help consumers restore their good credit and name should an identity theft occur.

This service builds on www.freeidentityprotect.com, a free service which provides access to the leading protection services from the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, the Direct Marketing Association, and the National Credit Reporting Agencies. The service includes access to free credit reports from all three credit bureaus, credit bureau fraud alerts, credit card offer reduction, National Do-Not-Call List access and a junk email reduction service. Consumers are provided with step-by-step instructions, instructional videos, and alerts for obtaining their next free credit report and for re-registering for a fraud alert.

“Just as with freeIDENTITYprotect, we looked for the best available services to provide to our customers so they can easily get all the identity protection they need in one comprehensive site. The Premium upgrade adds the best insurance, fraud detection and credit restoration options available,” said Craig Muller, Vice President Identity Services for Demoxi, Inc. and freeIDENTITYprotect.

About freeIDENTITYprotect and Demoxi, Inc.

freeIDENTITYprotect is a comprehensive identity theft protection service provided by Demoxi, Inc. It is the only service to provide a comprehensive best-of-breed resource for consumers to proactively protect themselves from identity theft. Located in Bellevue, Washington, company leadership has well-over 2 decades of experience in the areas of identity services and Internet security technology. For more information please visit: www.freeidentityprotect.com or www.demoxi.com.

Media contact:

Jennifer Curley (202) 422-6244

Jennifer@curleycompany.com

¹ According to the Federal Trade Commission, nearly 10 million Americans became victims of identity theft last year— a 41 percent increase over the year before — making identity theft the fastest growing crime in the U.S.

February 29, 2008

Monster Venture Partners Announces Former Real Networks, Yahoo! Executive To Join As Partner

Filed under: MVP, Monster Venture Partners — admin @ 1:00 am

jeff-schrock.jpgSEATTLE, Washington. February 29, 2008 – Monster Venture Partners (MVP), a venture capital firm focused on early stage investments, today announced that Jeff Schrock has joined the firm as Venture Partner.

Schrock, a former executive at RealNetworks and Yahoo! as well as a successful Seattle-based entrepreneur, will take an active role investing in and guiding portfolio companies through their growth and corporate development. He will identify promising companies focused on digital media, consumer Internet, mobile, as well as enterprise software. Schrock will be able to offer MVP portfolio companies the benefits of his considerable experience guiding companies through the startup lifecycle.

“I’ve been an entrepreneur, an investor, a corporate executive and a dealmaker.” said Mr. Schrock “This role leverages all of these experiences at an exciting time. I’m thrilled to be joining Rob, as a Venture partner, in his quest to expand the capital markets addressing the seed and early stage. There are many worthy companies in the Pacific Northwest, and around the world, which have been financially and strategically underserved. Without question, there is a large and growing gap between founding capital and traditional venture capital. MVP is filling that void using a combination of capital, process innovation and personal leadership.”

“Jeff brings deep industry knowledge and an active, hands-on approach to working with founders and management teams,” stated Rob Monster, Managing Director of MVP. “His experience, reputation and relationships will bring tremendous value to our portfolio companies throughout their development. Jeff, as a past entrepreneur himself, shares MVP’s founder-friendly approach to growing world class companies.”

Schrock will continue to periodically invest in seed stage and early stage opportunities alongside MVP’s own fund. Schrock currently serves on the boards of Transpera, funded by Intel Capital, IDG and FirstRound Capital, as well as LearnLive Technologies, based in Seattle. He will play an active board and advisory role in many MVP Portfolio companies as well as spearhead initiatives aimed to support the development of a vibrant startup community in Greater Seattle.

More About Jeff Schrock

Prior to joining Monster Venture Partners, Mr. Schrock was the Vice President of Corporate Development for RealNetworks. During his tenure, Real’s corporate development team executed multiple transactions including the $600 million joint venture between MTV Networks (Viacom) and Rhapsody as well as the $350 million acquisition of WiderThan. Mr. Schrock also led content licensing and distribution negotiations for RealNetwork’s consumer business.

Prior to joining Real, Schrock worked in corporate development for Yahoo! and also served as Vice President and General Manager of Yahoo! Broadcast following it’s acquisition of Broadcast.com.

Before joining Yahoo!, Mr. Schrock was an entrepreneur. He co-founded and served as CEO of Activate, from 1996 to 2001. Under his leadership, Activate was the second fastest growing private company in Washington state from 1998-2000. The company was financed by leading venture capitalists, including Madrona Venture Group, until it was sold to CMGI in 1999 for $100 Million.

About Monster Venture Partners

Monster Venture Partners is a new breed of early-stage venture capital firm based in Seattle. Our investment philosophy is to engage in a genuine hands-on partnership with founders to jointly create value for all stakeholders. For larger opportunities, we co-invest with leading investors from around the world, selecting from a universe of like-minded investors who are able to add strategic value. We are focused on three primary verticals: (1) marketing technology, (2) consumer healthcare, and (3) global consumer internet.