InternetNews Staff

Brazilian ISP and portal site operator UOL (Universo Online) said it has signed an agreement to raise $100 million through a private equity placement with institutional investors led by Morgan Stanley Dean Witter Private Equity. The money will be used to pay for the company’s growth in Brazil and to expand UOL’s operations throughout Latin […]

Online gift service Flooz.com Inc. said it has received a first round of venture capital financing valued at $16.5 million. The investment round was led by Oak Investment Partners and also included Brentwood Venture Capital, Maveron Equity Partners and Venture Strategy Partners LP. Jim Manzi, an investor in Internet-related businesses who is the former chairman […]

Community site operation KOZ.com launched Community Commerce for small- to mid-sized businesses. In partnership with Orbit Commerce Inc., an e-commerce application service provider, and Vicinity Corp., the venture combines community interaction and local e-commerce. Financial arrangements were not disclosed. It will be available to businesses through KOZ.com’s network of more than 300 local media affiliates […]

first-e, Europe’s first Internet-only bank, Wednesday announced that it has raised 45 million euros (US$46 million) in second round financing as it prepares for its official launch next week. Three new investors — Capital Z Financial Services Fund II llc, CGU PLC and Morgan Stanley & Co. International Ltd. — will join the board of […]

EDS launched its Interactive Billing Services in Europe, offering an electronic bill payment and presentment (EBPP) service that allows businesses to send interactive bills and statements using e-mail, corporate intranets and other Web-based applications. In Europe, more than 20 billion bills are produced every year, EDS said. The company is already delivering electronic bill presentment […]

Web focus group firm VRROOM launched a Shopping Audience Net Transaction Analysis (SANTA) program to provide live feedback to e-commerce site operators during online focus groups. SANTA will use Electronically Linked Virtual Evaluation Shoppers (ELVES) to help Web marketers achieve their visions of a successful holiday shopping season, the company said. “Experts predict explosive online […]

E-commerce solution provider Internet Tradeline Inc. (ITI) signed a deal with Times Company Digital (TCD), the Internet business unit of The New York Times Co., to offer its services to clients of New York Today and boston.com. In addition, ITI will serve as the recommended e-commerce provider for the Web sites of the 21 newspapers […]

NetObjects Tuesday unveiled its Authoring Server Suite 2000 which represents its move to become the leader in development and maintenance applications for enterprise Web sites. NetObjects

With 80 sites and 300 million monthly page views in Asia, Hong Kong Internet ad firm Space Asia Media is giving U.S.-based ad giants 24/7 Media and DoubleClick a run for their money in Asia. Space Asia has also signed up some key online publishers to its network that include Sohu, Alta Vista Asia, ZDNet […]

Regional broadband player Pacific Century CyberWorks will raise over HK$2 billion (US$258 million) from a placement of 360 million new shares. The shares are selling at HK$5.55, a 10 percent discount off PCCW’s quoted price of $6.15. Controlled by Star TV founder Richard Li, CyberWork’s plans to deliver broadband access and content services to home […]

Microsoft’s BizTalk JumpStart Kit launched this week as a free download to assist developers in creating Internet applications that utilize the BizTalk Framework. Announced earlier this year, the BizTalk framework consists of a design specification for the creation of XML schemas to be used in the communication of information between separate Internet applications. The kit […]

MasterCard International Inc. and e-commerce solutions company Commerce One said they plan to team up to co-market a complete purchasing solution for businesses and state and local governments. The planned arrangement would call for the MasterCard Corporate Purchasing Card to be an online payment service for Commerce One’s BuySite and MarketSite services. The card features […]