andreessen

The Kim Kardashian-backed venture called ShoeDazzle gets a makeover today. This online customer-focused shoe boutique for women is debuting a new CEO, changing its payment structure, and venturing into clothing as well as shoes.

"We are taking this business to a whole other level," said ShoeDazzle's new CEO, Bill Strauss, who joined the company after being CEO of Provide Commerce. "We want to increase our 'share of closet.'"

For those who haven't heard of this e-commerce site, it's backed by the powerful Silicon Valley venture firm Andreessen Horowitz, which threw down a $40 … Read more

The free iPhone photo sharing app that boasts users such as President Obama, skateboarder Tony Hawk, singer Justin Bieber, actress Zooey Deschanel, and rapper Snoop Dogg might be getting new funding that will value it at $500 million, according to The Wall Street Journal.

One year ago, Instagram was valued at just $25 million. Despite this enormous growth and a base of more than 15 million users, the popular app has struggled to make money since its inception in March 2010.

Unlike other apps and social-networking sites, Instagram isn't well positioned to feature advertising, paid content, or other e-commerce … Read more

The team of Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz, a duo since the go-go Netscape days of the mid-1990s, is on fire.

Today, their 3-year-old venture capital firm, Andreessen Horowitz, announced that it has closed its third fund--this one, $1.5 billion, brings the total amount they've raised to $2.7 billion, which isn't bad for a time when VC returns have been lackluster, at best.

Andreessen Horowitz now has stakes in 90 consumer and enterprise businesses, including some of the hottest names in tech: Zynga, Facebook, Twitter, Airbnb, Foursquare, Box, Groupon, Fab, Uber, and on and on. … Read more

One of the most prominent venture capital firms in the online world has raised a huge sum of cash.

Andreessen Horowitz (or a16z, as it's sometimes called) announced today that it has raised $1.5 billion for its Fund III. The venture capital firm has now raised a total of $2.7 billion since its founding in June 2009.

Last week, the New York Times reported that Andreessen Horowitz was looking to raise $1.5 billion to continue in its venture capital endeavors. At the time, the company declined to comment.

Today was the day to lay it all … Read more

Fab.com, a design focused e-commerce site that runs flash sales, is doing an impressive job racking up really big numbers.

The site, in its current iteration, is just eight months old and is already boasting that it's about to hit 2 million members, likely making it the fastest growing e-commerce site on the planet.

That's impressive, for sure, especially given that until Wednesday, Fab.com wasn't open to all; you had to request an invite and Fab would send you an e-mail within a day or two welcoming you to the party.

That in itself was … Read more

One of Silicon Valley's most successful venture capital firms could become quite a bit richer if rumors that its founder is trying raise $1.5 billion are true.

The New York Times reported today that one of tech's most influential investors, Marc Andreessen, is looking to raise $1.5 billion for his Andreessen Horowitz investment firm. According to the Times, if Andreessen comes up with the funds, it could more than double the firm's assets. Right now, Andreessen Horowitz has $1.2 billion distributed between three funds.

Since launching in 2009, Andreessen Horowitz has been one of … Read more

The IPO market may have regained its footing--sort of--but clearly not fast enough for some wanting to sell their private shares.

Trading on SecondMarket soared 55 percent in 2011 to a total of $558 million in transactions, as ex-employees, founders and others connected with hot startups cashed out shares. The company creates a marketplace for stock in private companies.

Demand, meanwhile, was huge, with those trying to buy private shares--measured by what SecondMarket calls "indications of interest"--offering more than $6 billion during the year.

SecondMarket says it's now completed more than $1 billion in private company … Read more

Yahoo's hiring of Scott Thompson as its new chief executive may grease the skids for an investment in the Web giant from the Andreessen Horowitz venture capital firm.

Andreessen Horowitz has already submitted a bid for a piece of Yahoo. Thompson has a connection to the firm. The former PayPal president was hired at the online payment service by then-PayPal President Jeff Jordan. These days, Jordan is a partner at Andreessen Horowitz and reportedly among those working on the firm's bid for a Yahoo stake.

Jordan was effusive, in a press release, when PayPal hired Thompson as senior … Read more

Pinterest, an invitation-only site that describes itself as a pinboard to organize and share things you love, is growing at a phenomenal pace.

The site received nearly 11 million visits in the week that ended December 17, almost 40 times the number of visits it received during a single week six months earlier, according to Experian Hitwise, which measures and analyzes consumer behavior on the Web.

That's a 4,000 percent increase and lands Pinterest as the No. 10 social site among the 6,581 properties that Hitwise tracks. (See chart below.) It was beat out by the likes … Read more