What you need to know - Wednesday 01/05/11

Miso raised $1.5M; 33Across $9M; Symplified $9M; GroupMe $10.6M; Groupon sues Scoopon

Symplified, a maker of access management tools for cloud applications, raised $9 million in Series B funding. The round was led by Granite Ventures and Allegis Capital. Quest Software also participated.

PostUp, a Twitter-based search and advertising engine, purchased Echofon. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Millennial Media, an independent online ad network,  raised $27.5 million  from Bessemer Venture Partners, Columbia Capital, Charles River Ventures, and New Enterprise Associates.

Walker Digital has filed  a suit against Zynga, Activision and Blizzard Entertainment. The patent infringement suit is related to U.S. patent no. 6,425,828, also know as ‘DATABASE DRIVEN ONLINE DISTRIBUTED TOURNAMENT SYSTEM’.

Angry Birds is now avaliable for the PC via Intel’s AppUp store. This version is for users running Windows XP through Windows 7. It costs $9.99.

RootMusic, a San Francisco-based startup that helps bands look good on Facebook, raised $2.3 million. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. 

GroupMe, a no-cost, group-text-messaging and phone service, raised $10.6 million in a Series B round of funding. Investors in the round included Khosla Ventures, General Catalyst, First Round Capital, Lerer Ventures, and Betaworks.

33Across raised $9 million in a round led by Flybridge Capital Partners. Other investors included First Round Capital, and QED Investors. This was the Series B round of funding.

Amazon launched the developer side of a Amazon-run application marketplace. The consumer side of the marketplace is expected to launch later this year. Developers are welcome to submit applications for approval.

StumbleUpon has passed Facebook in referral traffic, according to data provided by StatCounter. StumbleUpon gets 43% of all traffic going to large social media sites. Facebook is at 38%.

Vator's very own Faith Merino takes a look at which electric cars will be a hit in 2011, and which will not. Models in the review include: the Nissan Leaf, the Chevy Volt, the Coda Sedan, and the Ford Focus Electric. 

Miso, a TV check-in app, raised $1.5 million. The round was led by Google Ventures. The only other investor in the round was Hearst Interactive Media. 

Groupon has filed a lawsuit against its Australian clone Scoopon. Scoopon purchased the Groupon.com.au domain name, and tried to register the Groupon trademark in Australia.

Immad Akhund was profiled in Vator's new series, "Today's entrepreneur." The series will look at different entrepreneurs point of view on life and leadership in the world of startups.