Source: Growth funding image via Shutterstock
Here are the day’s funding stories:
Google Capital invests $40 million in Renaissance Learning
Google is betting big on the online education sector. Google Capital, one of the Mountain View, Calif.-company’s venture arms, announced today it is investing $40 million into Wisconsin-based Renaissance Learning, a K-12 cloud-based assessment and learning analytics company with over 1,000 employees. Read the rest on VentureBeat.
Investors deposit $20M in ZenPayroll
Some software vendors grow by saving companies money or finding new business opportunities. ZenPayroll has been picking up speed by making it easier to pay employees. Today, the startup, which sells monthly subscriptions to a cloud-based tool to run payroll for small businesses, announced $20 million in fresh funding. Get the rest of the story on VentureBeat.
Kapitall gets $13M
Online investing platform Kapitall has raised $13 million in a round that Linden Venture Fund led. This brings the company’s total funding to date to $25 million. Kapitall offers a “gaming interface designed for the emerging investor – Generation Y, people in their 20s-30s, and like-minded individuals,” a rep told VentureBeat via email.
NewSchools raises $12M
NewSchools, a seed fund for ed-tech startups, has raised $12 million. “Seed Fund is one of the most active investors in ed-tech, having seeded a quarter of all new ed-tech seed investments in 2013. Seed Fund has already invested in more than 22 ventures, leading 17 seed rounds of financing and co-investing alongside other firms, including Kapor Capital, Rethink Education, Relay Ventures, and Accel Partners. The fund has a goal of providing capital and support to 55 ed-tech ventures by the end of 2015.” Read the rest of the press release.
Nativeflow takes $7.5M
Quite a few companies in mobile security focus on protecting corporate data on phones. But at a time when we use an increasing number of devices interchangeably at work and at home, what’s next? The newcomer to the mobile security space is Nativeflow, an Israeli company that veteran technology entrepreneurs Avi Yehuda and Eitan Bauch formed. Nativeflow’s founders revealed exclusively to VentureBeat that they have raised $7.5 million in funding to date from Jerusalem Venture Partners and OurCrowd. Read more on VentureBeat.
Crayon Data raises $1.2M
Singaporean big data startup Crayon Data has taken $1.2 million in funding from Jungle Ventures and Spring Seeds Capital. The company makes products “to help traditional enterprises tap into the power of Amazon-like analytics.” This round brings the startup’s total funding to date to $2.6 million. Read the press release for more.
ShareDesk closes $1.1M
ShareDesk, a startup that makes a “flexible workplaces” platform, today announced a $1.1 million seed fundraise as well as the launch of a new product, ShareDesk Optix. DFJ’s Tim Draper led the funding, with participation from other strategic investors, such as HotelTonight COO Jared Simon, Scripted CEO Sunil Rajaraman, and SAP veteran Raul Vejar.
