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Investors fund the darnedest things.
Cricket cookies? Yup. Read on for detail on funding for Exo, which includes cricket protein in its cookies.
IronSource nabs $85M
IronSource today announced an $85 million funding round led by “strategic and institutional investors” based in the U.S., China, and Europe. IronSource, based in Tel Aviv, offers ad-tech and software distribution services that are largely focused on mobile. In a vague statement, IronSource says its new round will be used to “further expand its international presence and offering, and drive adoption of its solution.” Earlier this month, IronSource acquired mobile gaming company Upopa. IronSource is said to be planning an initial public offering, slated for 2015.
Read more on VentureBeat: Ad delivery and software distribution startup IronSource nabs $85M
Radius scores $54.7M
Digital marketing lives on insights derived from its accumulated data. Today, marketing intelligence provider Radius, which gathers and assesses that information, announced it has landed $54.7 million to help make more marketers even smarter. The most recent funding came from previous investors BlueRun Ventures and Formation 8 Partners as well as Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund, Glynn Capital Management, Slow Ventures, Western Technology Investments, and Yuan Capital, former Morgan Stanley Chairman John Mack, former Microsoft Corporate Vice President Charles Songhurst, and entrepreneur Jared Leto.
Read more on VentureBeat: Radius scores $54.7M as it helps make marketers smarter
Teladoc raises $50M
In one of the largest raises of the year in the digital health space, telehealth company Teladoc says today it has raised $50 million from Jafco Ventures and others. The funding was made public in a regulatory filing on September 18, in which Teladoc also reported that its revenues are between $25 million and $100 million a year. Other investors in Teladoc’s new funding round include FLAG Capital Management, Greenspring Associates, Mellon and QuestMark Partners, as well as its current investors Cardinal Partners, HLM Venture Partners, Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers, New Capital Partners, and Trident Capital.
Read more on VentureBeat: Teladoc raises $50M for telemedicine platform
Invoice2go scores $35M
For small businesses, easy and effective invoicing is essential to cash flow. And for many small businesses, Invoice2go is essential to invoicing, a central reason why the 12-year-old company has nabbed $35 million in financing. This is the first round of financing since the company’s founding in 2002, new CEO Greg Waldorf told VentureBeat. Previously, Waldorf had been CEO at eHarmony, Lead Director at real estate site Trulia, and CEO-in-Residence at venture capital firm Accel Partners. The new money — from Accel Partners, Ribbit Capital, and Waldorf — is being used in part to move the company’s headquarters from Sydney, Australia to Palo Alto, Calif. Although founded in Australia, it is now a U.S. company with an Australian subsidiary. Product development and engineering will remain in Sydney under Strode’s direction, while Palo Alto will handle marketing and growth.
Read more on VentureBeat: Invoice2go, founded in 2002, scores first financing — $35M
Jiff raises $18M
Despite all the changes in American healthcare over the past few years, half of all Americans still get their insurance from their employer. As more large employers self-insure, they’re under pressure to manage the health care costs racked up by their employees — in short, to keep them from running up so many doctor bills. This creates a nice opportunity for companies that make technology platforms designed to engage employees in health and wellness programs. One such company, Jiff, builds connected health platforms for large companies (5,000 to 50,000 employees). The company’s white-label platform integrates with an employer’s existing benefits programs on one side, and connects with a variety of consumer health apps and devices on the other. Jiff says it’s now raised an $18 million round led by Venrock. Aberdare Ventures and Aeris Capital also threw in.
Read more on VentureBeat: Jiff raises $18M
Agari scores $15M
Wouldn’t it be great if email was safe from phishing and other cyber attacks? Security provider Agari has just raised $15 million to try to make that happen. Scale Venture Partners led the Series C funding round, with participation from existing investors Alloy Ventures, Battery Ventures, First Round Capital, and others. ScaleVP partner Ariel Tseitlin will join the board of directors.
Read more on VentureBeat: On a mission to end email cyber attacks, Agari scores $15M
BetterWorks pulls in $15M
For almost a year, a startup called BetterWorks has been quietly crafting a web-based service big companies can use to store employees’ goals and measure their progress. Today BetterWorks is finally showing the app to the world. And the startup is also announcing a $15 million round of funding from big-name investors that it took on last year but never talked about. John Doerr and Bing Gordon of Kleiner Perkins Caulfield & Byers led the round. Joe Lonsdale from Formation 8 also participated.
Read more on VentureBeat: BetterWorks’ app for tracking employee goals pulls in $15M
Robinhood snags $13M to make stock trading hip
You have to wonder why a startup is named after an English folklore hero who stole from the rich to give to the poor. For the founders of Robinhood, the inspiration came from the fees that stock brokerage firms charge their customers simply for making trades. To fight these fees, the company announced today that it has raised $13 million in new funding. Index Ventures led the round, with Ribbit Capital, Howard Lindzon, Aaron Levie, Dave Morin, Jared Leto, Snoop Dogg, and Nasir Jones (rapper Nas) also chipping in. Index Ventures’ Jan Hammer will be joining the board as part of the round.
Read more on VentureBeat: Robinhood snags $13M to make stock trading hip
Kinvey gets $10.8M
The people at Kinvey, a startup with a cloud service for constructing and running mobile applications, have watched competitors get acquired, one after another. Now some key investors are placing bets on the startup in a $10.8 million round Kinvey is announcing today. NTT Docomo Ventures and Verizon Ventures are leading the round, acknowledging that “mobile is driving the adoption of cloud in enterprises,” Kinvey’s chief executive, Sravish Sridhar, told VentureBeat in an interview. Avalon Ventures and Atlas Venture also participated in the new round.
Read more on VentureBeat: Kinvey gets $10.8M because even big businesses want to make mobile apps
Performance Horizon Group grabs $10M
Affiliate marketing might not be the sexiest thing, but it works, and someone has to build the tech to enable big companies to manage that part of their marketing strategies. Performance Horizon Group (PHG), which does just that, announced today that it has raised $10 million in a second round of funding, led by Mithril Capital Management. PHG’s tools, which include tracking, partner management, data optimization, local language support and partner payments and settlement, enable big brands such as Adidas, British Airways, McAfee, Westfield, and Westpac to connect with more than 100,000 web and mobile partners. The company will use the money to continue growing its U.S. operations and presence, and to expand internationally. Existing investors DN Capital and Greycroft Partners also participated in the round, and Mithril managing general partner Ajay Royan is joining PHG’s board as part of the deal.
Read the press release.
Gametime raises $4M
Gametime has raised $4 million from Accel Partners and some prominent pro sports team investors to create a mobile platform so that you no longer have print tickets for sports events. San Francisco-based Gametime is an Android and iOS app that makes it easier to purchase last-minute tickets using your mobile device. Besides Accel, investors include Jeff Mallett, a principal partner of the San Francisco Giants; Vivek Ranadive, CEO and founder of Tibco and owner of the Sacramento Kings; Sam Shank, cofounder and CEO of HotelTonight; Jared Simon, cofounder and COO of HotelTonight; Aaron Levie, founder of Box; and Colin Evans, founding executive at StubHub.
Read more on VentureBeat: Gametime raises $4M to make it easy to get mobile tickets for sports events
Grantoo raises $3.5M, renames itself Fuel
Grantoo started as a game platform that enabled college students to play games and raise money for their education. But it never quite caught on, so the company has rebranded itself as Fuel. It has raised $3.5 million and is now focused on providing social multiplayer gaming for mobile-game developers. The funding for the San Francisco company comes from Middle East Venture Partners and Rising Tide Fund. Mikhael Naayem, the founder of Fuel, told GamesBeat that the company hopes to offload the task of building a multiplayer platform from game developers so they can concentrate on making their games. Fuel believes it can help developers make more money by improving the engagement of users, which results in longer retention and better monetization.
Read more on VentureBeat: Grantoo pivots into multiplayer mobile gaming, raises $3.5M, and renames itself Fuel
Wedding Spot raises $3M
In case you’ve never done it, getting married is really expensive. It’s a once in a lifetime experience, so the parties involved often shell out megabucks to make it just right. The top expense on the list is usually the cost of the venue. And rounding up quotes and comparing venues can be a real hassle. Seizing on this pain point, the wedding venue shopping site Wedding Spot allows wedding shoppers to pick out, compare and price wedding venues in an orderly fashion. A recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission states that the company has raised $1.22 million of a $3.388 million round, although the company told VentureBeat that the round is now closed and was just over $3 million. Atlas Venture and KEC Ventures led the round. Great Oaks Venture Capital, Maiden Lane, Canyon Creek Capital, Erik Blachford (of Technology Crossover Ventures), Eric Liaw, Yidrienne Lai, and David Rodnitzky also participated.
Read more on VentureBeat: Wedding Spot raises $3M to disrupt weddings — and, soon, all events
Branch Metrics grabs $3M
Our shift to mobile might mean a lot of wonderful things, but mobile is still not as easy to organize as the Web is when it comes to linking. The inability to transmit data through the app store means that downloading an app doesn’t take you to a specific or personalized piece of content the way clicking on a web link for a referral does, and that’s a huge problem for companies. But Branch Metrics, a small company that has just completed StartX’s summer accelerator program, is working to make that possible. And its fresh $3 million in funding could be a sign that it’s onto something. NEA led this round of funding, with additional participation from Mar Hershenson and Pejman Nozad from Pejman Mar Ventures, Ben Narasin from TriplePoint Capital, and other angel investors.
Read more on VentureBeat: Branch Metrics grabs $3M to make mobile app referrals work in one click
OmnyPay raises $1.5M
As the payments industry reinvents itself, investors can’t get enough of the sector.Global Internet Ventures (GIV) has invested up to $1.5 million in stealth payments startup OmnyPay, according to an SEC filing made public today. San Francisco-based OmnyPay was created by Ashok Narasimhan, the founder of sales optimization company Runa — a startup that was sold to Staples for an undisclosed sum in October 2013. The filing names William Melton, a partner at GIV. Melton’s firm has previously backed PayPal, Acer, and AOL.
Read more on VentureBeat: New stealth payments startup OmnyPay raises $1.5M
Exo raises $1.2M
Traditional office snacks can be a productivity killer. Bins of sugary granola bars and sweetened drinks have nasty effects on blood sugar and cognitive focus. Last year, I reviewed a rather interesting alternative that packed protein and healthy sweeteners into an office snack: Exo, the cricket-based cookie. Unlike the typical office snack, the Exo cookies didn’t raise my blood sugar (which I measured with a glucometer). It wasn’t the tastiest snack I’d ever eaten, but the delightful mix of cricket protein, dates, cocoa, coconut, and almond butter didn’t leave me feeling sluggish — which is far more valuable than satisfying my mid-afternoon sweet tooth. I’m a tad bit of health nut, so I wasn’t sure if Exo’s Kickstarter project was going to excite a mainstream audience. But Exo has raised $1.2 million in funding to expand its vision of a global cricket takeover with noted health author, Tim Ferris. Collaborative Fund led the round. Ferris was a part of a syndicate round from AngelList that raised $250,000.
Read more on VentureBeat: $1M for cookies made from … crickets? Tim Ferris thinks these will jump into our diets
CrowdStreet grabs $800K
Crowdfunding has opened up new funding models for everything from hardware gadgets to philanthropy. So why not real estate? Oregon-based company CrowdStreet thinks so. And it announced today that it has raised $800,000 in seed funding as it works to grow its portal. Green Visor Capital and Seven Peaks Ventures led the round, with additional participation from Portland Seed Fund. Seven Peaks Ventures general partner Dino Vendetti and Green Visor Capital managing partner Simon Yoo are joining the company’s board of directors.
Read more on VentureBeat: CrowdStreet grabs $800K for its real estate crowdfunding site
Cribspot takes $660K
Cribspot, a startup that helps students find cool places to live while helping small landlords manage their properties, raised $660,000 in seed money in a round led by Huron River Ventures and Detroit’s First Step Fund.
Read more on VentureBeat: Cribspot takes in $660,000 to help college kids find a suitable home
