By Nitasha Tiku 4/09/12 1:28pm

Acquisitions

Cheers, Mr. Systrom!

Facebook Acquires Instagram For $1 B. Just Days After a $50 M. Investment From Sequoia, Thrive, and Greylock [UPDATED]

Things sure do happen fast when you’re wicked popular. On Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg just announced that his social network has agreed to acquire the photo-sharing darling Instagram, adding that “their talented team will be joining Facebook.” In a press release, Facebook says the deal was for a jaw-decimating $1 billion “in a combination of cash and shares of Facebook.”

The news follows a whirlwind week for the clubby favorite. After launching on Android last Tuesday,  the startup picked up an additional million users (it already had 30 million iPhone users) in 12 hours. That kicked off rumors via AllThingsD on Friday that Sequoia was close to investing $50 million for a Series B round that valued the startup at $500 million, which TechCrunch just confirmed. Read More

By Nitasha Tiku 7/08/11 10:41am

Funding

Big Dog Little Puppy

Big Firms are Giving Smaller VCs Exit Envy

Betabeat has already noted the prevailing winds of venture capital class warfare–with equity in hot start-ups, access to dealflow, and ability to raise capital separates “the haves from the have nots.” But as the IPO wave has started to crest, even fewer names have risen to the top. And if the Wall Street Journal‘s numbers are any indicator, it’s given some VCs cause for a little reverse schadenfreude. Read More