As Matt Marshall notes, Zvents’ ability to raise a first round of $7 million also raises questions about the business model and how the investors will make back their money. VantagePoint Venture Partners led the round with previous investors Red Rock Ventures and NetService Ventures Group participating; David Carlick of VantagePoint Venture Partners and Laura Brege of Red Rock Ventures are joining the Zvents board. Founded by Ethan Stock and Tyler Kovacs in March 2005, San Mateo-based Zvents promises partners more pageviews by transforming events calendars into local event search engines. Its Ajax-based Zvents Media Platform launched with the Mercury News in 2006 and is being used by three other metros dailies with launches in Boston and the LA area by the end of 2006. It offers behavioral ad targeting.
—Some of the funds are going to bringing on Gordon Rios, most recently a principal scientist for Yahoo Search, as CTO.
—The site itself is slick—and almost creepy. I never registered or accepted a cookie but it instantly detected my location and showed this message: “We’re sorry. We currently don’t have any events listed for Saint Louis, MO. We’re expanding to other metros, but until we get to your preferred part of the planet, maybe you could… Jump start us in Saint Louis, MO”