KPCB, NVIDIA, Shasta Ventures, and Occam Partners Follow Successful OUYA Kickstarter Crowdfunding Campaign with Venture Capital Investments Bringing the Total of $15 Million in New Funding Raised

By Robert Hoskins

In a sign of thing to come for the infant Crowdfunding industry, video game startup OUYA announced $15 million in new venture capital funding led by Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (KPCB), with participation from the Mayfield Fund, NVIDIA, Shasta Ventures, and Occam Partners. The company intends to use the additional funding to support OUYA’s growing game development community, and meet increased demand for the upcoming retail launch. KPCB General Partner Bing Gordon will join the company’s board of directors, which also includes Julie Uhrman , OUYA founder and CEO, and Roy Bahat , chairman of the Board.

KPCB, NVIDIA, Shasta Ventures, and Occam Partners Follow Successful #OUYA #Kickstarter Crowdfunding Campaign with Venture Capital Investments Bringing the New Total of $15 Million in New Funding Raised

OUYA’s vision for a new kind of game console, open to all game developers, was brought to life through the support of early backers who crowdfunded the initial product development on Kickstarter. The crowdfunding effort set Kickstarter records, and delivered $8.6 million – almost nine times the target raise – signaling strong consumer demand for the console.  Venture funding validates the business strategy.

“We want OUYA to be here for a long time to come,” said Uhrman.  “The message is clear: people want OUYA.  We first heard this from Kickstarter backers who provided more than $8 million to help us build OUYA, then from over 12,000 developers who have registered to make an OUYA game, next from retailers who are carrying OUYA online and soon on store shelves, and now from top pioneering investors.”

Before joining KPCB where Gordon is focused on digital investments, he was a long-time executive at Electronic Arts, beginning with EA’s founding in 1982 which had initial funding from KPCB. As an OUYA board member, Gordon will advise the company as it scales its development community and executes its retail strategy and product development plans. Gordon also serves on the board of directors of Amazon, Klout, Lockerz, MEVIO, Zazzle and Zynga.

“OUYA’s open source platform creates a new world of opportunity for established and emerging independent game creators and gamers alike,” said Gordon.  “There are some types of games that can only be experienced on a TV, and OUYA is squarely focused on bringing back the living room gaming experience. OUYA will allow game developers to unleash their most creative ideas and satisfy gamers craving a new kind of experience.”

OUYA’s appeal lies in its unique philosophy within the console market. On OUYA, every game is free to try, and any developer can publish a game. OUYA is powerful enough to run 3D games in beautiful 1080p HD with its NVIDIA Tegra-3 processor, and open enough to invite game developers to bring their most creative inventions back to the television. More than 12,000 game creators worldwide have registered to make an OUYA game, from AAA studios to new entrants, including Square Enix, Inc., Double Fine Productions, Tripwire Interactive, Vlambeer, Kim Swift ‘s Airtight Games, Mighty Rabbit Studios, nWay, Polytron Corporation, and many others.

OUYA is now shipping exclusively to early backers as part of a preview program.  On June 25th, OUYA will be available for purchase in the U.S., Canada, and the U.K. through retailers Amazon, Best Buy, GAME, GameStop, and Target, and on OUYA.tv for $99.99. Additional controllers will retail for $49.99.  Through these retailers, consumers can pre-order OUYA today.

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Skydog Successful Kickstarter Crowdfunding Campaign Allows Home Wi-Fi Business to Expand Operations

By Robert Hoskins

PowerCloud Systems announced that Skydog reached its $75,000 funding goal on Kickstarter, and will now extend its home network offering to larger homes and small businesses. Skydog is a Wi-Fi router and mobile companion app that brings a user-friendly approach and innovative management functionality to home networking.  With one week left to raise post-goal funds, PowerCloud Systems has unveiled two new offers available via Kickstarter: a Skydog Wi-Fi Range Extender Kit, ideal for large homes and small businesses, and a Multi-Dwelling Skydog Four-Pack, for those who want to manage multiple networks, such as adult parents’ homes, on a single account.

The Power of the Skydog’s Cloud Delivers Wi-Fi to Your Wireless Mobile Users

Both new offers were created in response to requests and feedback from Kickstarter backers to broaden the reach of Skydog’s unique network visibility and control features.  The extender kit will allow users to cover up to 6,000 square feet with wireless internet access and all of Skydog’s control and management functionality.  This range comfortably covers large houses and many small business, such as restaurants and professional offices, where the ability to offer firewalled Wi-Fi access to customers, clients or patients is increasingly important.

The Skydog router four-pack enables simple, single-account management for multiple networks and locations, such as a second home, vacation cabin, or parent’s home across the country. The Skydog Wi-Fi Range Extender Kit is available for a pledge of $299, while a four pack of Skydog routers is available for pledges of $399 or more.

“We were thrilled to have reached our funding goal so quickly because it proved that Skydog addresses an unmet need for simple visibility and control of personal Wi-Fi networks,” said Jeff Abramowitz , founder and CEO of PowerCloud Systems. “We are very grateful to our backers and look forward to getting Skydog into their homes. With our new offers, we can better serve those with larger homes and multiple dwellings, as well as provide an easy-to-use solution for small businesses.”

The proliferation of connected devices in homes and small businesses is creating a complexity challenge for anyone responsible for managing a network. PowerCloud Systems, with its extensive experience providing Networking-as-a-Service to the enterprise, has the expertise and, with the success of Skydog’s Kickstarter campaign, the consumer validation to disrupt the home, and now small business, networking space.

The Skydog solution represents a new era in network management, enabling users in households and small businesses to improve their connected experiences. The solution gives real-time visibility to network administrators, who can monitor their network in terms of which users and specific devices are connected to it, for how long, and for what purposes. With Skydog, heads of households can even manage broadband usage by setting up zones which place bandwidth priority on certain functions, like the home office during the day and streaming video at night. Furthermore, all of this can be done anytime and anywhere via the Skydog mobile companion, an HTML5 app that works on any smartphone or tablet.

PowerCloud Systems is a leader and industry pioneer for cloud-powered wireless networking. The company’s patented and award-winning CloudCommand™ technology was invented at the Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) and makes deploying and monitoring Wi-Fi networks and services easy for businesses with mobile customers. The CloudCommand platform is deployed worldwide in hotels, schools, retail chains, managed care facilities and other businesses seeking truly affordable, enterprise-grade Wi-Fi. Investors include PARC, Qualcomm Ventures, Javelin Venture Partners and Walden Venture Capital.

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