Startup news round-up: May10, 2012

Pebble grabbed headlines recently for raising more than $10 million in a very short period on cowd funding site Kickstarter, the social media-powered venture capital raising site.

Time runs out on Pebble Kickstarter funding run

But all good things must come to an end. And today, the Palo Alto, Calif-based maker of smartphone-compatible watches announced that it has closed its fundraising efforts, according to a report from the Financial Post.

The company, founded by University of Waterloo grad Eric Migicovsky, has pre-sold 85,000 units of their product. The watches, designed to connect with iPhone and Android smartphones using Bluetooth technology, quickly took off, and less than a week into its social funding period and raised more than US$3.3-milion.

By Thursday morning, the Post said, no less than 66,356 backers had pledge $10,166,359 to support the project.

The Financial Post

PC fix-on-a-stick

Can’t wait for the IT guys? Is the tech support ticket tardy today?
Montreal-based startup FixMeStick, offers a quick solution if you ever want to remove pesky viruses from your PC, according to startup publication Next Montreal.

Multiple anti-virus engines increase the number of detectable viruses, and clean external scanning devices prevent viruses from hiding or from interfering with their removal. FixMeStick developed a ready-to-use USB device that enables non-tech savvy users to do all this by simply plugging the device into their computer.

The FixMeStick costs $49.99 for an unlimited number of uses on three PCs per year. Renewals can be purchased for $24.99 annually.

Next Montreal

It’s a hoot

Quickly now. Who’s following the most people on Twitter? No, it’s not President Obama, neither is it Justin Beiber, Lady Gaga and certainly not Revenue Canada.
Online tech magazine Techvibes, reports the title goes to Vancouver, B.C.-based startup HootSuite Media, Inc.

HootSuite is known for its social media management system for businesses which allows users to collaborate and execute campaigns across multiple social networks using a single and secure Web-based dashboard.
The company, now valued at $500 million is following nearly 800,000 people on Twitter. HootSuite has more than 2.6 million followers.
Techvibes

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Jim Love, Chief Content Officer, IT World Canada

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