Gomez found Postcard on the Run while fiddling with her iPhone on tour, she told AllThingsD on Wednesday. She “fell in love with it, and told all my friends about it.” Then she emailed the company and told them she wanted to help.

Gomez, the star of the Disney Channel series “Wizards of Waverly Place,” has now participated in a $750,000 funding round for the start-up — its first outside investment, and her first-ever tech investment.

People in Silicon Valley like to talk smack about celebrity tech investors, but with the power of social media, they’re not quite as much of a vanity move for all involved anymore. Gomez has more than eight million Twitter followers and nearly 25 million Facebook “Like”-ers.

A little light promotion by Gomez has already been really effective, said Postcard on the Run founder and CEO Josh Brooks. A single post on her Facebook page led to 20,000 app downloads in 24 hours.

And she’s been using the app herself, Gomez added. She said she has sent at least 12 postcards to her grandmother, and she’s sending cards to fans, as well — 25,000 of them signed up for the chance during a recent promotion.

Postcard on the Run competes with Postagram and the new Apple Cards. What is Postcard on the Run’s standout feature? Scratch-and-smell scents on your postcards.

No, really. For an extra 50 cents, on top of the usual $1.49, you can embed the scent of sunscreen into the wish-you-were-here card you send from Hawaii. Other fragrances include chocolate, popcorn and holiday spice.

Gomez joins a new class of celebrity tech investors — most prominent among them Ashton Kutcher, who has made tons of investments in companies like Airbnb, Zaarly and Hipmunk. In addition to money and advice, Kutcher famously promotes his portfolio companies through social media, in print and on his TV show. Others celeb investors include Kim Kardashian (ShoeDazzle), Justin Timberlake (Myspace and others) and Leonardo DiCaprio (Mobli). Mashable has been saying that a start-up investment by Gomez’s boyfriend Justin Bieber is imminent.

Brooks, meanwhile, is not just some up-and-coming app developer meeting a celebrity for the first time. (Which is kind of too bad, right? I’d like to imagine Selena Gomez plucking a nobody from obscurity as she’s trying new apps on her tour bus.) He was formerly VP of programming and music at Myspace and head of content and programing for Project Playlist; before that, he was a talent manager.

Brooks’s other investors include Crosscut Ventures, Mike Jones, Kamran Pourzanjani, Yves Sisteron, Aber Whitcomb, Brian Fitzgerald, Ryan Steelberg, Colin Digiaro, Brian Lee, Chris DeWolfe and Jarl Mohn.

Will Gomez keep investing? “Maybe,” she said, “but at the moment, I’m good. I don’t like overwhelming myself, I like to focus and put my all in, so that’s what I’m doing.”

In-image ad network GumGum has raised $7 million in new funding from NEA with GRP and First Round Capital participating in the round. This brings GumGum’s total funding to $11 million.

GumGum’s in-image ad platform reaches 110 million unique visitors and serves billions of in-image ads per month. Co-Founded in 2007 by Ophir Tanz, GumGum works with online publishers like Time Warner, Hearst Corporation, Tribune, TMZ, Gannett and Glam Network to turn photographs into interactive experiences by overlaying text, banner or Flash ad units on top of the images.

For advertisers, GumGum’s proprietary image recognition and targeting technology aims to garner engagement through highly targeted campaigns. GumGum says that its campaigns yield 20 times the click-through rates than traditional ad networks. And the company has been profitable since early 2011.

The new funding will be used to grow the ad sales infrastructure and team, towards the development of proprietary image recognition, ad serving, and ad matching technologies and for the expansion into additional territories.

GumGum faces competition from Luminate and Image Space Media.

The GraphEffect platform is built on top of Facebook’s marketing APIs, including the Facebook Ads API, which allows developers to integrate into the Facebook Ads system and provide marketers with new solutions to manage Facebook Ads.

GraphEffect is the leading social ad management and analytics platform for agencies and Fortune 500 brands. The GraphEffect platform optimizes content, creative, and audience to find the perfect audience at massive scale on behalf of brands such as American Express, General Electric, Microsoft, and Clinique.

“We are extremely excited to add Stephano to our team,” said James Borow, CEO of GraphEffect. “We are very fortunate to add an executive of his skill set and character to the company – he will play a big role in achieving our goal of providing the best social advertising platform to brands and agencies.”

“I’m very excited to join an extremely bright and motivated team that has already accomplished so much in such a short period of time,” said Mr. Kim. “GraphEffect is leading the pack in delivering powerful tools and scalable performance to brands and agencies in an increasingly important medium.”

“Stephano brings a wealth of relevant operating experience to the company,” added Clark Landry, Executive Chairman of GraphEffect. “We are thrilled to add him as a core member of our executive team.”

About GraphEffect

GraphEffect is the leading social ad management and analytics platform for agencies and Fortune 500 brands. The GraphEffect platform optimizes content, creative, and audience to find the perfect audience at massive scale on behalf of brands such as American Express, General Electric, Microsoft, and Clinique.

Photography by David Johnson

When he was 13, Ophir Tanz decided he’d never be able to work for anyone else. By 15, he had started his first company, an interactive branding agency called Fluidesign, which he sold before heading off to college. After graduating from Carnegie Mellon in 2004 with both bachelor’s and master’s degrees, a brief 10-month stint at the Bridgewater Associates hedge fund confirmed what he had long known: “It was a great salary, I learned a lot, but I just couldn’t help myself,” he says of his entrepreneurial leanings.

Now 29, Tanz runs Santa Monica, Calif.-based GumGum, a digital network that places targeted advertisements over pictures online. “Basically, we pioneered a way for publishers to make money through ads on images,” he says.

GumGum claims to reach 110 million unique visitors per month and says its smoothly integrated, in-image ads are clicked on as much as 20 times more than traditional online spots. This has enticed premium publishers like Gannett, Time Warner, TMZ and Hearst to sign on with the network, which hosts big-name advertisers such as Sony, Jack in the Box and Curves.

Tanz came up with the idea in 2007, after realizing that photographs were the only juicy piece of web page real estate that hadn’t been monetized. He spent the next year studying how images are displayed and figuring out how to reliably place ads on top of them.

In addition to employing image recognition and clustering techniques, GumGum’s proprietary technology assigns contextual keywords to images by scanning the text on a page and analyzing incoming search traffic and metadata. The results allow advertisers to target keywords that will match their marketing messages to the right audiences.

For example, American Apparel might target a youthful, hipster-leaning demographic with keywords such as “jeans” or “Zooey Deschanel.” GumGum then places the fashion retailer’s ads on related images across the sites of its publisher clients. The system is user-friendly: Much like Google AdSense, publishers embed a code that causes ads on the GumGum network to automatically appear on their web pages. (The publishers keep 60 percent of ad revenues.) On the other end, advertisers buy access to GumGum’s network and target the most relevant images.

“In the beginning we had to knock down people’s doors,” Tanz says. Now, things are different. GumGum has raised $4 million in venture funding and attracted tech veterans like David Sacks (PayPal and Yammer), Michael Jones (Myspace) and Vince Thompson (AOL and Facebook) as advisors and board members. Tanz projects GumGum’s 2011 annual run rate at, conservatively, $10 million. Later this year, GumGum will leap forward with an expansion effort and introduce a self-service platform, inspired by Google AdWords, which will allow businesses of any size to buy advertising space across the network.

GumGum has never sought the media spotlight, but the company is on a hiring spree of late that includes a CFO and communications strategist. And Tanz is far more confident about drawing attention to his efforts.

“The communications piece hasn’t always been important to us because we were bottom-line-focused and resource-strapped,” he says, “and the story is always sort of shaky at the beginning.”

Facebook advertising is exploding, with ad spend on the network expected to hit $4 billion in 2011. Clearly, brands and companies are flocking to Facebook to reach users. And startups like GraphEffect are trying to help advertisers serve in more-highly targeted advertising on network. Today, GraphEffect, which is backed by Founder Collective, Lerer Ventures, and others, is launching its intelligent targeting system to the public.

GraphEffect’s platform allows advertisers to target Facebook ads using behavioral characteristics that are not explicitly expressed on the platform. So the company mines performance data and allows companies to hyper-target users in a way that Facebook doesn’t offer through its advertising platform. For example, based on likes and interests, GraphEffect can identify the type of user who would by virtual currency and target those users.

The key to GraphEffect us that it identifies certain traits of Facebook users, including likes, interests and demographics, and creates what the startup calls ‘lookalike’ models. Brands can then target to ‘lookalikes’ based on this data.

Co-founder James Borow tells me the mechanics of GraphEffect are similar in theory to the way Pandora decides to serve similar songs on its intelligent music platform. He explains that Pandora isn’t one hundred percent sure you may like a certain song that is similar to a chosen one, but serves it because the likelihood that a user would enjoy a song is strong. GraphEffect is applying this model to user data on Facebook and targeting.

The GraphEffect platform is actually built on top of Facebook’s marketing APIs and while in private beta for the past year, has helped brands like American Express, Live Nation, GE, Microsoft, Clinique, and others by optimizing their media spend to convert the type of users who buy and interact with their products and services.

GraphEffect has also announced that it has added four digital media and ad executives to its advisory board. Brandon Berger, Bob Dees, Peter Hershberg, and Dave Knox have joined the GraphEffect advisory board, and will be providing strategic counsel and guidance to the GraphEffect executive team.

San Diego, CA and Washington DC – June 27, 2011 – Verve Wireless, Inc. the leading mobile advertising platform for local media, released their quarterly Local Mobile Index report today which shows a significant increase in overall local advertising spending in mobile from the previous quarter.

Some key findings include:

- Automotive was the top category with 28% of local mobile ad spends
- St. Louis was the leading emerging metro area for local campaigns
- Wednesday is the biggest day for local content consumption on mobile
- Local display ads on Android platforms performed 52% better than on Apple’s iPhone®

Verve defines local advertising spends as small and medium businesses purchasing mobile media within their respective markets. It does not include national advertisers spending in specific local markets, which Verve instead classifies as national advertising.

“Even we were surprised by the substantial increase in local ad spend,” states Greg Hallinan, Chief Marketing Officer for Verve, “we expected growth, but an 82% increase really demonstrates how fast local ad dollars are shifting to mobile. In some respects, ‘Main St.’ is moving faster than ‘Madison Ave.’ into mobile advertising.”

Verve’s Q1 Local Mobile Index™ seems to substantiate the recent analysts forecasts calling for U.S. Mobile Local Ad Revenues to Grow From $404 Million in 2010 to $2.8 Billion in 2015. (BIA/Kelsey-06.11)

The Verve Local Mobile Index (LMI) is a quarterly report showing the latest trends and insights in local mobile advertising. Derived from data collected on the Verve Network during Q1 2011, the report pulls from the more than 60 million active local mobile users consuming more than 1 billion pages of mobile content, along with analysis of over 3,900 local campaigns placed during the reporting period. Data is a combination of Omniture, comScore, and Verve reporting.

Download the complete report (www.vervewireless.com/lmi)

Santa Monica, CA (May 27, 2011) – ShoeDazzle, the largest online-only fashion brand, announced today a sweepstakes to thank its loyal clients for helping them reach one million fans on Facebook in record time. The “THANKS A MILLION” sweepstakes includes 101 ShoeDazzle prizes, including a fashionable Los Angeles getaway for two.

Over one million fashionistas continuously contribute to the ShoeDazzle Facebook page to create a lively, style-centric community. ShoeDazzle recently launched a shop-with-friends feature which allows clients to engage with their Facebook friends within their ShoeDazzle accounts, thereby creating a unique social-shopping experience.

Commemorating its millionth fan, ShoeDazzle is asking fans and members to “connect” on the site with their Facebook friends to enter the “THANKS A MILLION” giveaway which offers 101 ways to win amazing ShoeDazzle prizes!!

When a client “connects” with their friends on Facebook they are able to share their monthly Showrooms with other connected members, engage in fashion savvy conversations, as well as shop each other’s showrooms all from the comfort of their own homes. ShoeDazzle is social shopping at its best.

A contestant will receive one entry for being connected to Facebook and an additional entry for every Facebook Friend that is connected to him or her on ShoeDazzle.

To participate visit www.shoedazzle.com and click “Connect on Facebook.”

Prizes Include:
Grand Prize: One winner will win a two-night trip for two to Los Angeles, CA and a $3,000.00 shopping spree with a ShoeDazzle celebrity Stylist! Prize includes round-trip airfare for two as well  as accommodations at a chic hotel in Los Angeles. (Approximate Retail Value: $5,700.00)
15 First Prizes: Winners will each receive a promotional code good for 6 credits on ShoeDazzle.com. (ARV: $239.70 each)
35 Second Prizes: Winners will each receive a promotional code good towards 3 ShoeDazzle credits. (ARV: $119.85 each)
50 Third Prizes: Winners will each receive a promotional code good toward 1 ShoeDazzle credit. (ARV: $39.95 each)

Facebook-integrated ShoeDazzle has created a daily rapport with over 1/3 of its 3 million members through frequent and relevant posts about ShoeDazzle products as well as pop-culture, style advice, and regular deals. It has successfully leveraged its Facebook page to create a unique and instantaneous client services platform where in clients can post questions or product requests and see a response from a ShoeDazzle representative in a timely manner.

The $40 million in funding, which brings ShoeDazzle’s total investment to date to $60 million, will allow the company to further advance its innovative, industry-leading model and provide existing and prospective members with greater high fashion choices while continuing to deliver the high touch service and affordability customers have grown accustomed to receiving. The latest round of funding will permit the company to expand its market share with new categories and continue to dominate the category it pioneered with new product launches both within and outside the US.

“Andreessen Horowitz seeks out investments in market leaders,” said Brian Lee, Founder of ShoeDazzle. “This significant investment is a strong endorsement of our business model, strategy and management team and gives us the capital to continue to grow and innovate in the social shopping arena.”

ShoeDazzle, which now boasts more than 3 million members, has experienced strong demand, thanks to its unique, customer-driven shopping experience that truly integrates a customer’s social graph. The company’s innovative technology platform and proprietary algorithm allows a team of leading stylists to recommend multiple fashion choices based on customers’ individual preferences on a monthly subscription basis. Furthermore, the company’s innovative soft-subscription model provides it with a recurring revenue stream, while at the same time offering its customers affordable fashion choices and significant flexibility.

The Andreessen Horowitz-led investment represents ShoeDazzle’s largest round of financing. ShoeDazzle had two previous venture-based rounds. Polaris Venture Partners was its initial investor in November 2009 with $7 million, with Lightspeed Venture Partners leading a $13 million round in April 2010. Both firms participated in the latest round.

“ShoeDazzle’s innovative model and outstanding execution have positioned the company as the clear market leader in offering online fashion and styling services to women,” said John O’Farrell of Andreessen Horowitz. “We believe the company, anchored by strong management, is poised for continued strong growth as it continues its relentless focus on providing a customer-centric solution to fashion shoppers.”

“We are pleased to welcome Andreessen Horowitz to the ShoeDazzle family,” said Jason Trevisan, principal, Polaris Venture Partners. “We recognized something special in ShoeDazzle at its earliest stage and this latest investment led by Andreessen Horowitz both validates the traction we have garnered and will permit the company to grow quickly to an even greater position of strength and innovation.”

“When people say that they like to shop, they are not talking about visiting the supermarket. Shopping is about going to the mall with friends and finding a great pair of shoes. ShoeDazzle is the first to bring that sense of social and entertainment shopping to the web, and now has millions of women looking forward to their shoe selection each month. There has been tremendous growth since we invested last year, and much more to come with the latest round of funding,” offered Jeremy Liew, Managing Director, Lightspeed Venture Partners.

Further information is available in a blog post from General Partner John O’Farrell: http://john.a16z.com/2011/05/16/from-jazz-to-sole—introducing-shoedazzle

About ShoeDazzle®

ShoeDazzle is the leading online fashion brand delivering personalized monthly shoe, handbag and jewelry selections to members by its team of top celebrity stylists. Each recommendation speaks to au courant fashion trends and is selected based on each member’s own distinctive sense of style. The company, which was founded by Brian Lee, Robert Shapiro, MJ Eng, and Kim Kardashian, who serves as the site’s Chief Fashion Stylist, was launched in March 2009 and now boasts nearly one million Facebook fans. ShoeDazzle, the first and most successful online styling service, allows members to experience the personalized service of shopping on Rodeo Drive at an affordable cost. ShoeDazzle’s no-obligation monthly membership cost of $39.95 includes the stylists’ service, your choice of a pair of shoes, a handbag or a jewelry set, and free shipping both ways with easy returns. Visit http://shoedazzle.com for more information.

About Andreessen Horowitz

Andreessen Horowitz is a stage-agnostic venture capital firm that provides seed, venture and growth-stage funding to the best new technology companies. Founded by Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz, Andreessen Horowitz helps entrepreneurs become successful CEOs and build important and enduring companies. Its general partners are Marc Andreessen, Ben Horowitz, John O’Farrell and Scott Weiss, all widely recognized experts in the creation, scaling, and operation of high growth technology companies. The firm has $1.2 billion under management across two funds. Among its 30 investments are Facebook, Foursquare, Groupon, Skype, Twitter, and Zynga. The firm was established in June 2009 and is located in Menlo Park, CA.

Docstoc is a document sharing site that offers users free and premium business documents. Though its main target is small business, the site can be a godsend to freelance professionals as well. Today the site has launched its official iPad app, which puts over 10,000 business and professional documents at your fingertips.

Document categories include everything from Career Development to various legal documents and financial planning forms, plus many more. The app also lets you search and download over 20 million library documents. Of the 10,000 documents included in the app, about 2,000 are free, with access to the other 8,000 (and all of the site’s other downloadable premium documents) costing only US$19.95 per month or $119.95 for an annual subscription.

Docstoc for iPad is a free download.

“Pulpo Media had the strategic vision to create new technology and offer online media to a remarkably under-served yet booming segment. Advertisers interested in driving greater ROI by communicating efficiently and with hyper-relevance to online Hispanics now have a clear choice.” said CEO and Founder Justin Kuykendall. “We can communicate to individual Hispanics via: language preference, demographics, geography, and online behavioral knowledge. Waste is minimized and return is maximized.”

Online media entrepreneur Kuykendall saw the potential for advertisers to communicate with what he believed was an under-represented internet audience segment. In 2008, he convinced top Silicon Valley Internet investors of the need for a media and technology services company to serve the fast-growing Hispanic internet user audience.

Today, according to comScore Media Metrix Hispanic Ad-Focus, Pulpo Media is ranked No. 1 as the Spanish language dominant media services provider, and No. 2 as the English language dominant media services provider, online. Major Hispanic advertisers such as McDonald’s, Toyota, Comcast, Verizon, Metro PCS, and Universal Pictures are partnering with Pulpo Media.

The Rapid Rise of the U.S. Hispanic Internet Market.

In the U.S. alone, the Census Bureau reports that there are 50.5 million Hispanics, with an estimated purchasing power of more than $700 billion. In 2009, the U.S. Hispanic online population reached 20.3 million visitors. This rapid growth has outpaced the total U.S. online population in terms of number of visitors, time spent, and pages consumed, according to comScore.

While U.S.Hispanics now account for one in four people under age 18, comScore reports that the top-ranked category in terms of time spent online was the Community – Teens category with 18%.

The total amount of time spent online by U.S. Hispanics increased 6.9% in 2009 (3.9 times faster than the total U.S. online population), while total pages consumed grew 6% (3.6 times faster than the overall U.S. online population).

Globally, the online Hispanic population numbers are even more impressive. In 2008, the Latin American Internet user population was estimated at 179 million, with a 30% Internet penetration. Latin America alone makes up 10% of the world Internet population experiencing 890% growth between 2000-2009.