IT Venture Capital Investment News Round Up – 10 July 2012
by Burak Alpar • July 10, 2012 • IT Venture Capital News, News
Highlights from recent IT venture capital investment activity.
VM Index subscribers see full details of all IT Venture Capital deals from the past week plus profiles and analysis of thousands of investors and venture-backed companies.
July 2nd, 2012 – Cambridge, MA
Jumptap Adds $27.5M to Expand Mobile Ad Network
Jumptap, the leader in targeted mobile advertising, today announced the completion of a $27.5 million financing round. Existing investors including General Catalyst Partners, Redpoint Ventures, Summerhill Ventures, Valhalla Partners, and WPP; as well as two new investors — Keating Capital and a large, institutional investor — participated in the round. The capital will be used to accelerate growth through additional investments in product and technology development and prepare for a public offering.
http://www.jumptap.com/about-us/news-events/press-releases/
July 2nd, 2012 – Salt Lake City, UT
Needle raises $10.5M in Series B Funding
Needle, a Salt Lake City, UT-based social commerce platform, has raised $10.5m in Series B funding. The round was co-led by Shasta Ventures and Rembrandt Venture Partners. The company intends to use the funding to accelerate the adoption of its social selling platform and expand its pool of brand experts and fans for its ecommerce clients.
http://www.finsmes.com/2012/07/needle-raises-10-5m-series-funding.html
July 3rd, 2012 – Boston, MA
Fiksu, Mobile App Marketing Platform, Secures $10M in Series B Funding Led by Qualcomm and Charles River Ventures
Fiksu, Inc., the industry’s first cost-effective mobile app user acquisition platform spanning the global mobile ecosystem, today announced it has secured $10 million in Series B financing, led by new investor Qualcomm Incorporated, acting through its venture investment arm, Qualcomm Ventures and existing investor Charles River Ventures. This funding brings Fiksu’s total raised to $17.8M and comes on the heels of a surge in global customer demand. The new funds will be used to accelerate Fiksu’s already significant growth, with a specific focus on propelling European and Asia-Pac expansion, fueling further development of its optimization platform, and driving strategic partnerships with agencies and brands.
July 2nd, 2012 – Palo Alto, CA
Pie Digital, Inc. Raises $8 Million to Fuel Development and Market Expansion
Pie Digital, Inc. announced today that it raised an additional $8 million in financing to support technology development and market expansion for its customer care solution. Pie’s cloud-based software services management platform is the best way for broadband and premium service providers to manage and support home and small business networks and connected devices. With Pie’s solution, service providers reduce support costs while improving the consumer experience.
The funding is a follow-on investment from existing investors and will accelerate Pie’s aggressive technology development effort and expand sales and marketing.
http://piedigital.com/company-overview/press-2/
July 2nd, 2012 – Boston, MA
OwnerIQ Secures New Round of Funding, Doubles Valuation
OwnerIQ, the inventor of Ownership Targeted media and developer of one of the most advanced Real-Time media buying platforms in the industry, announced today that it has closed a $7.5 million expansion round. All existing investors participated, and the investment doubled the company’s valuation.
http://www.owneriq.com/newsroom/
Europe
July 2nd, 2012 – Stockholm, Sweden
Apica Raises $5M in Series C Financing Led by SEB Venture Capital
Apica, a leading load testing and performance monitoring provider for cloud and mobile applications, has closed a $5 million Series C financing led by SEB Venture Capital. Existing Swedish investors Industrifonden, ALMI Invest, and KTH Chalmers Capital also participated in this round and will maintain their respective shareholdings. Apica will use the funds for product development, marketing support, and expanding server and testing capacity for the company’s cloud and mobile testing and monitoring services worldwide, especially in the U.S.
http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20120702006111/en/…
June 29th, 2012 – Madrid, Spain
Ambar injects €1.1m into ProtOn
Ambar Venture Capital has invested €1.1m in Spanish online security company Protección On-Line (ProtOn). The investment will allow the firm to hire a development team. Ambar invests €500,000-5m in companies with a focus on technology within ICT and ICT applications, energy management and transport.
http://www.unquote.com/southern-europe/official-record/2187967/ambar-injects-eur11m-proton
July 3rd, 2012 – Israel
E-commerce personalization co Commerce Sciences raises $1.8m
E-commerce personalization start-up Commerce Sciences Ltd. has raised $1.8 million in seed funding from Eric Schmidt’s Innovation Endeavors, Genesis Partners, T5 Capital, and angel investors, including Backplane chairman and Palantir Technologies co-founder Joe Lonsdale. Commerce Sciences, founded in late 2011, is currently operating in stealth mode, from which it is due to emerge in a few weeks.
http://www.globes.co.il/serveen/globes/docview.asp?did=1000762256
July 4th, 2012 – London, UK
MOVE Guides Secures Seed Funding To Revolutionise International Relocations
MOVE Guides, which competes with Moveline (a TechStars company), is about moving people and families for work internationally – business relocation in other words. Today MOVE Guides announces it’s raised £400,000 seed funding – all while founder Brynne Herbert successfully completed her MBA at London Business School.
The round was led by Kevin Eyres (ex-LinkedIn MD, Europe). Others who participated include Sherry Coutu, Sean Park (Zoopla, MyBuilder, Anthemis, etc.), Dale Murray (co-founder of pay-as-you-go technology company, Omega Logic), Alex Viall (co-founder of Complinet), Tom Hulme of IDEO and others.
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