Spice Digital, a subsidiary of mobile phone maker Spice Mobility, has paid an undisclosed amount for a 26% stake in Vavia, the India-based creator of Txtbrowser, a text message-based search engine, according to a stock market filing on Tuesday. Vavia is also the developer of an anonymous social networking app called Confess.
US-based app-centric software developer LiveAction has secured $5.35m in series A funding from networking technology company Cisco, which invested through its Cisco Investments unit, as well as AITV and Enerdigm Ventures, the venture firm that funded LiveAction’s $500,000 seed round in June 2013. The cash will go to sales and marketing, and to accelerating product development.
AltspaceVR, a US-based social platform for virtual reality, raised $5.2m in seed funding on Thursday from Google Ventures, which acts as internet company Google’s corporate venturing fund, China-based internet company Tencent, Dolby Family Ventures, Formation 8, Lux Capital, Foundation Capital, Rothenberg Ventures, SV Angel, Haystack Fund, Raine Ventures, Promus Ventures and Western Technology Investment.
Japan-based media company Nikkei has acquired a 5% stake in UK-based global lifestyle magazine Monocle at a valuation of $100m, according to the Straits Times. The investment was made as part of a strategic partnership that will enable Monocle to enhance its global reach.
Delta ID, a US-based developer of biometric authentication technology for computing devices, has raised $5m in series A funding from investors including Intel Capital, the corporate venturing arm of semiconductor company Intel. The company, which has now raised $6.1m in total, will use the money to meet demand for its product from device makers.
Canada-based renewable fuel producer CelluFuel has secured $5m in funding from renewable energy developer Boralex and commercial trucking company Tatro Group. CelluFuel, launched in 2013, will use the funds to begin construction of a demonstration-scale production plant for renewable diesel fuel sourced from woody biomass.
US-based, animal-focused online media company TheDodo raised $4.7m today in a series A round led by media company Discovery Communications that also featured SoftBank Capital, which acts as the corporate venturing arm of telecommunications company SoftBank, Greycroft Partners, RRE Ventures, Sterling Equities and Bruce Wilpon. SoftBank Capital previously contributed to a $1m seed round for TheDodo in September 2013 alongside Lerer Hippeau Ventures, Greycroft Partners and RRE Ventures.
E-book publisher Vook acquired US-based online longform journalism publisher Byliner on Thursday for an undisclosed sum. Byliner had raised an undisclosed amount from investors including publisher Random House, AOL-backed venture firm Crunchfund, Avalon Ventures, Freestyle Capital, SoftTechVC, Bullpen Capital and ICG Ventures.
US-based mobile financial services provider Cignifi has closed a series B round, raising an undisclosed sum from backers including American Express Ventures, the corporate venturing unit of payment services firm American Express, and Omidyar Network. Omidyar previously provided an undisclosed amount of seed funding for Cignifi in 2012.
Authy, a US-based developer of cloud-based authentication technology, closed a $3m seed round on Monday, which TechCrunch stated was backed by internet company Digital Garage, cloud computing firm Salesforce.com, CrunchFund, Winklevoss Capital, Data Collective, AngelList and angel investors including Aaron Levie and Sam Yagan.
US-based peer-to-peer lending platform AssetAvenue secured $3m today in a seed round backed by internet company Netease, Matrix Partners, Vectr Ventures, Bam Ventures, Launchpad LA and Russ Meyer. AssetAvenue, which focuses its lending on real estate, will utilise the funds to enhance its investor base and strategic partnerships with lenders.
TheTake, a US-based ecommerce site that sells products featured in motion pictures, has raised $2m in seed funding from investors including film studio Demarest Films and angel investor Ben Silverman, TechCrunch reported on Monday. The cash will be used to launch TheTake’s mobile app, and to build out its content recognition system, which will be able to identify a film and link specific scenes to products available for sale.
Australia-based database services provider Instaclustr secured $2m on Thursday in a seed round backed by big data company DataStax and ANU Connect Ventures. Instaclustr provides a cloud-based managed service for both DataStax Enterprise and the Apache Cassandra open source software it uses.
Doutissima, a Brazil-based online health and wellbeing forum, signed a strategic agreement on Thursday with Wayra, the incubator for telecom network Telefonica. The agreement was disclosed at the same time as Doutissima revealed it has raised an undisclosed amount in a seed round backed by DFJ Esprit and Breega Capital.
US-based cancer treatment developer Euclises Pharmaceuticals closed a $1.3m series A round on Tuesday backed by contract pharmaceutical research company ABC Laboratories. Cultivation Capital led the round, which also included BioGenerator, Missouri Technology Corporation, the St. Louis County Port Authority-backed Helix Fund and St. Louis Arch Angels.
US-based music-as-a-service provider Feed.fm has secured $1.2m in a round backed by CrunchFund, KEC Ventures, Allegro Venture Partners, Core Ventures Group and Streamlined Ventures, according to VentureBeat. The funding will go to expanding Feed’s engineering and sales teams.
IDG Ventures, a corporate venturing subsidiary of data and publishing group IDG, has led a $1.1m seed round for Sobrr, the US-based creator of a social networking app where all data expires within 24 hours. The app, initially only available on the iOS platform, is being released in beta later this month.