ZocDoc Secures $15 Million in Series B Funding to Accelerate Nationwide Coverage

New York, NY (PRWEB) July 14, 2010

ZocDoc (http://www.ZocDoc.com), the award-winning website where consumers can find and book doctor appointments online, today announced it has completed a $ 15 million Series B round of financing. The round was led by Founders Fund; Khosla Ventures, which led ZocDoc's Series A funding, participates in the round. The Series B funding will help ZocDoc expand its network of practitioners and accelerate its nationwide growth.

Through an easy one-step online appointment booking system, ZocDoc helps improve patient access to quality healthcare. Patients can see real-time availability of doctors in their area, confirm who accepts their insurance plan and read feedback from real patients. Most importantly, patients can book appointments instantly online, including same-day and next-day appointments. Prior to ZocDoc, patients had to wait more than 20 days on average to see a primary care physician. With the ZocDoc service, patients can find open appointments at all times searching the availability of thousands of doctors with a single click, completely transforming the patient experience.

"We are excited to be part of an amazing company that is truly reforming healthcare," said Ken Howery, Managing Partner of Founders Fund. "Since their inception ZocDoc has helped hundreds of thousands of patients obtain access to quality healthcare and we look forward to supporting their nationwide growth to provide access for all Americans. It's a major innovation in healthcare efficiency and we hope it will transform the way people interact with their doctors."

Today, patients use ZocDoc to find doctors in New York, San Francisco, Washington, D.C., and Chicago. The service offers patients more than 1 million available appointments across 20 specialties.

With the recent passage of healthcare reform, an estimated 30 million new patients will have access to healthcare while the number of doctors will remain the same. It's widely acknowledged that it will be even harder for consumers to find open doctor appointments. ZocDoc helps mitigate this problem by uncovering a "hidden supply" of healthcare by accessing doctor's schedules electronically and exposing times available from last minute cancellations which happens 10-20% of the time and typically go unfilled.

"Our mission is to simplify healthcare and make it more accessible," said Cyrus Massoumi, ZocDoc cofounder and CEO. "We are thrilled to have backing from Founders Fund; they really understand our mission, support it fully, and have already been tremendous partners for us. And we're excited to have the continued support of our existing investors, to help us expand ZocDoc across the country."

Based in Manhattan, ZocDoc is currently available in New York City, Washington D.C., San Francisco, and

Chicago. The company is expanding nationwide and is offering patients in cities across the United States an opportunity to vote at ZocDoc.com/vote on the next market launch. Since launching at TechCrunch40 in 2007, ZocDoc has been named one of PC Magazine's "Top Web Sites of 2008," won the Forbes.com's "Boost Your Business" competition, was a finalist in The Industry Standard's "Innovation100 Awards," won CNET's "Webware 100 Awards," and was named a Webby's honoree.

About ZocDoc, Inc.

ZocDoc's mission is to use the Web to make healthcare simple. For patients, ZocDoc is an online service that helps them find and book doctor and dentist appointments instantly, 24/7. For doctors, ZocDoc is an innovative channel to help them easily reach prospective patients and maximize the efficiency of their practice by filling open appointments. ZocDoc is a NYC-based start-up founded in April 2007 by serial entrepreneurs Cyrus Massoumi and Oliver Kharraz, MD, who combine to bring 9 years healthcare technology experience from McKinsey. For more information, visit ZocDoc.com, read the company's blog (blog.ZocDoc.com), follow ZocDoc on Twitter (twitter.com/ZocDoc) or find them on Facebook (facebook.com/ZocDoc). A press kit is available at ZocDoc.com/press.

About Founders Fund

Founders Fund is managed by seasoned entrepreneurs Peter Thiel, Ken Howery, Luke Nosek (co-founders, PayPal) and Sean Parker (founding president, Facebook; co-founder Plaxo, Causes, Napster) to support early-stage companies. Founders Fund has made early investments in some of the most prominent ventures of the past decade, including Facebook, Causes, Palantir Technologies, Quantcast, and SpaceX. The firm, headquartered in San Francisco, pursues a founder-friendly investment strategy that provides maximum support and minimum interference to world-class entrepreneurs.

About Khosla Ventures

Khosla Ventures helps entrepreneurs deliver lasting change through technological innovation. The firm, founded in 2004 by Vinod Khosla, co-founder of Sun Microsystems, offers venture assistance, strategic advice and capital to entrepreneurs with the audacity to take on what others may call insoluble dilemmas. Khosla Ventures' team members have known the stress of working through a crisis and the thrill of growing an idea into a multi-billion dollar company. The firm leverages that experience to help entrepreneurs turn technological risk into new opportunities. Today Khosla Ventures has one of the largest and broadest clean technology portfolios (including solar, energy storage, nuclear power, wind and high-efficiency engines), as well as holdings in traditional technology sectors such as mobility, Internet and silicon.

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PlayON! Sports Raises $2.8 Million in Series B Financing

Atlanta, GA (PRWEB) August 2, 2010

Atlanta based 2080 Media, Inc., which operates as PlayON! Sports, today announced the completion of a Series B round of financing totaling $ 2.8 million. New investor Hamilton Ventures joined the round with existing investors Buckhead Investment Partners (BIP Opportunities Fund, LP) and Imlay Investments. PlayON! will use the funding to support its rapid growth and leadership position in the high school sports category.

Through partnerships with state high school athletic associations and individual high schools within those states, PlayON! Sports is the nations leader in producing, distributing, and monetizing video content in the high school category. PlayON! provides value to its partners through rights management, high quality video production, television and Internet content distribution, and incremental revenue creation.

2080 Media used the proceeds from its Series A funding in December 2008 to acquire the assets of PlayON! from Turner Broadcasting. After assembling a veteran management team, PlayON! turned its focus to the high school market and signed its first high school association in May 2009. The company has experienced rapid growth over the past 14 months, expanding to 10 states and more than 10,000 events.

High school is the explosive growth area for the sports and media industry, said David Rudolph, President and CEO of PlayON! Sports. We are allowing students, families, and communities to have access to their schools sports programs, while showcasing student athletes in a manner that was not possible before. This access is generating unprecedented exposure for our partners and creating significant new revenue. Our growth this past year is proof of the immediate opportunities in the high school market.

As part of the financing, PlayON! will add Jamie Hamilton of Hamilton Ventures to its board of directors.

We see a substantial growth opportunity for PlayON! Sports, said Jamie Hamilton, Managing Partner, of Hamilton Ventures. The technology platform is proven, the market is ready, and the management team has the experience and expertise to grow the company to its full potential. Were excited by the progress and momentum PlayON! has demonstrated since their inception and look forward to partnering in their future success.

About PlayON! Sports:

PlayON! Sports is an Atlanta-based digital media company and technology provider specializing in the production, distribution, and monetization of high school sports. PlayON! Sports proprietary platform includes video production capabilities and a multiplatform distribution system. For more information, contact PlayON! Sports at info(at)playonsports(dot)com, or visit http://www.playonsports.com.

About Hamilton Ventures, LLC:

Hamilton Ventures, LLC is a privately held investment company actively engaged in making investments on behalf of its principals and its co-investment partners, with a focus on providing expansion capital to rapidly growing companies. Since its formation, Hamilton Ventures has established over 30 individual partnerships that have reached a combined aggregate value in excess of $ 100 million. Hamilton Ventures provides investment services exclusively to the Hamilton Ventures sponsored investments. Among the services provided are identification of investment opportunities, evaluation of prospective investments for conformance with portfolio objectives, negotiation and consummation of transactions and ongoing asset management.

About BIP Opportunities Fund, LP:

BIP Opportunities Fund is an Atlanta-based investment firm focused on providing capital and operational support to emerging, high-growth companies. We seek to invest between $ 2 million to $ 5 million in companies with revenues up to $ 15 million. Investments will generally be based within the Southeast but we remain opportunistic to other domestically-based investment opportunities. Industry sectors covered include technology, healthcare, business services, franchising, and specialty finance. Please contact Shawn Welch on 404.495.5233 or visit http://www.bipfund.com for more information on BIP Opportunities Fund.

About Imlay Investments, Inc:

Imlay Investments, Inc., an Atlanta-based venture/angel capital firm founded by John P. Imlay, Jr., former Chairman of Dun and Bradstreet Software, was developed to encourage the development of high technology companies based predominantly in the Atlanta area. Imlay's prior portfolio companies include Internet Security Systems, Knowledgestorm, Synchrologic, and Tradex Technologies.

Contacts:

PlayON! Sports

David Rudolph

404-920-3192

david(dot)rudolph(at)playonsports(dot)com

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ShopOnPurpose Announces the Million Dollar Charity Giveaway

Ocala, FL (PRWEB) November 09, 2011

When ShopOnPurpose founder Kevin Reed finally located his uncle, the reunion was bittersweet. Instead of seeing the eccentric prankster he remembered from his youth, his eyes fell upon a very sick man confined to a hospital bed. Three weeks later, Mr. Reed watched his uncle die peacefully in a Hospice house after suffering through a lifetime of drug and alcohol addiction that sometimes drove him to living on the streets. The cause of death was officially listed as lung cancer but the real story was much more complicated says Mr. Reed. The question that really haunted me was what else could I have done to make a difference in his life? He answered that question a few months later when he launched ShopOnPurpose.com.

Mr. Reeds company donates between 1% and 31% of every dollar a shopper spends at hundreds of participating stores, from iTunes to Walmart. Now, he is launching a campaign to give away $ 1,000,000 to encourage people to use ShopOnPurpose.com every time they shop online. We will give away $ 50,000 to the first charity that gets 100,000 supporters on ShopOnPurpose. The next ten get $ 25,000 and everyone else gets $ 10,000. To keep it fair for smaller charities, he is also giving away $ 5,000 to the first ten small charities that get 10,000 supporters, $ 2,500 to the next 100, and $ 1,000 to every other small charity that get 10,000 supporters on ShopOnPurpose. All people have to do is spread the word about ShopOnPurpose. There isnt an easier way to earn money for your favorite cause.

A few months before my uncle died, I was reading another article about Warren Buffett giving away billions of dollars. It really struck a nerve with me because everyone wants to be charitable but a lot of folks are struggling to just pay their mortgage. Even if Warren follows through with his pledge to give away 99% of his wealth, hell still be able to eke out a pretty comfortable living on the $ 400 million he will have left Kevin says with a wry smile. Competitive to a fault, (Kevin just completed an Ironman Triathlon, a grueling one day event consisting of a 2.4 mile ocean swim and a 112 mile bike race followed by a full 26.2 mile marathon) Mr. Reed set out to find a way to beat the billionaires at the philanthropy game. It didnt take Kevin, an MBA candidate at the University of Florida, very long to map out a plan to give everyone whos not on the Forbes List a chance to experience the joy of making a difference.

ShopOnPurpose.com is a platform that lets shoppers designate a worthy cause to receive a percentage of every dollar spent at hundreds of popular online stores. We had already established marketing relationships with dozens of retailers. They were paying us to drive traffic to their stores, so for the retailers, its just another cost of doing business. ShopOnPurpose directs those marketing fees to thousands of great causes, from local homeless shelters to international relief agencies. The exciting thing about ShopOnPurpose is that any person can launch a worldwide fundraising campaign for a cause that matters to them. Yesterday, I saw a coffee can in a restaurant with a picture of a very sick baby on it. Someone was collecting donations so this child could get the medical care she needed. ShopOnPurpose is like a virtual coffee can that you help fill up every time you buy something online. It costs nothing but can make a huge difference to someone in need.

To learn more about ShopOnPurpose and the Million Dollar Giveaway, visit http://www.ShopOnPurpose.com or email pr(at)shoponpurpose(dot)com.

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The Penn Mutual Life Insurance Company Announces $1 Million Pledge to Continue Sponsorship of Vision 2020 Initiative

Horsham, PA (Vocus/PRWEB) March 31, 2011

The Penn Mutual Life Insurance Company is pleased to announce that it has committed $ 1 million to extend for an additional three-year term its sponsorship of Vision 2020, a national initiative created by the Institute for Womens Health and Leadership at Drexel University College of Medicine to bring about significant progress in advancing equality and womens leadership by the year 2020. Penn Mutuals sponsorship extends into the year 2014.

Eileen McDonnell, president and CEO of Penn Mutual, and a committed National Advisor of Vision 2020 since 2009, said of last nights announcement: We support Vision 2020 because we can imagine a world where each and every one of us has the opportunity to reach our individual potential in ways that benefit all of us for generations to come. The ideas and initiatives coming from Vision 2020 make us proud of our participation.

Penn Mutuals support will enable Vision 2020and the country as a wholeto move closer to accomplishing the following five national goals, which are to be attained by the year 2020, the centennial of the 19th Amendment:

ChallengePost Secures $4.1 Million Series A Round of Venture Funding from Opus Capital for Platform Expansion

New York, NY (PRWEB) August 09, 2011

ChallengePost, a public platform that enables competitive problem-solving, today announced that it has secured $ 4.1 million in a Series A round of venture funding led by Opus Capital. Participants in this round of funding also included Betaworks, Richmond Park Partners, and a number of angel investors, including Esther Dyson, Joshua Schachter, Irwin Jacobs, Jason Calacanis, and more.

The Series A funding follows a seed round of $ 775,000 in 2008 to 2009 by several of the same investors, bringing the companys total financing to $ 4,875,000. The funds will be used to acquire new talent and to develop tools for expanding community involvement in problem sourcing and solving.

ChallengePost has successfully built a platform where individuals, nonprofits, businesses, and government agencies can challenge the public to solve problems and innovate, said Brandon Kessler, CEO and Founder of ChallengePost. Were honored to have Opus Capital and other world-class investors on board as we become the premier site for identifying and solving problems people are passionate about.

Founded in 2009, ChallengePost has powered more than 200 challenges to date for government agencies, corporations, nonprofits, and individuals, including the City of New York, First Lady Michelle Obama, the World Bank, Samsung, Elsevier, the MTA, Thomson Reuters, Lollapalooza, and more. ChallengePost created and powers the governmentwide competition platform for all federal agencies, Challenge.gov. The ChallengePost platform has showcased nearly 4000 user-submitted solutions, and challengers have offered more than $ 40 million in prize money to ChallengePosts diverse community of talented problem-solvers.

ChallengePost is helping prominent government agencies and multinational organizations solve problems, said Opus Capital Partner Bob Borchers. Through ChallengePost, people and organizations have an opportunity to create massive change by working on what matters most to them. Were thrilled to fund ChallengePost and take part in meaningful and innovative problem-solving.

The investment in ChallengePost reflects Opus Capitals focus on early-stage innovation agents and high-integrity entrepreneurs. To learn more about ChallengePost, visit ChallengePost.com.

About ChallengePost

ChallengePost is a platform that enables government agencies, corporations, nonprofits, and individuals to challenge the public to solve problems. Challenge sponsors receive innovative solutions and increased awareness around important initiatives. Members of the public receive recognition and rewards. ChallengePost is headquartered in New York City.

For more information, visit http://www.challengepost.com/.

About Opus Capital

Opus Capital is an early-stage venture capital firm with more than $ 1 billion of committed capital under management, investing in committed, high-integrity entrepreneurs building market-leading technology companies.

The team has strong operational expertise and has partnered with entrepreneurs to create successful outcomes for more than 80 companies (including 50 IPOs) in the U.S. and in Israel, including Adaptec, AirGate PCS, BlueNile, Brocade, Ciena, DoubleClick, Electronics for Imaging, FedEx, Genesys, Harmonic, Informatica, Kidaro, and Vantive. Opus Capital is headquartered on Sand Hill Road in Menlo Park, California.

For more information, visit http://www.opuscapitalventures.com.

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