Daily funding roundup - July 21, 2015

Bright.md raises $3.5M; Medallia bagged $150M; BrightBytes landed $33M

• Bright.md, which makes software that enables communication between doctors and patients, closed a $3.5 million Series A funding round. Oregon Angel Fund led the round, with participation from Seven Peaks Ventures and Stanford-StartX Fund.
  
  
• Adphorus, an Istanbul, Turkey-based performance marketing platform and Facebook Marketing Partner, raised $1 million in seed funding. The round was led by European angel investors and 500 Startups. In conjunction with the funding, Şekip Can Gökalp, founder of premium mobile ad network mobilike (recently sold to Opera Mediaworks) and Adphorus investor, joined the board of directors.
  
  
• Delhi-based Joy bynature, an online store owned by Pavitra Retail, selling natural and organic products has raised angel investment of $1 million or Rs 6 crore from Contrarian Vriddhi Fund, Mumbai Angels, and a clutch of high networth individuals (HNIs). HNIs in this round include Abhimanyu Munjal of Hero Group and Vaaman Sehgal from Sam vardhana Motherson Group who have invested through ad vantEdge, their personal fund.
  
  
• Online hiring platform ZenRadius, which assists startups to find talent through social networks, has raised an undisclosed amount in seed funding from startup incubator Tracxn Labs and recruitment solutions firm Anzy Careers' founder Deepak Singh. The Bangalore-based company will use the money to build what it claims to be a differentiated platform for networked hiring. One can log in to the platform using Google sign-in API.
  
  
• Verbling, a marketplace that allows its users to find a language teacher — from the comfort of their PJs at home — who can tailor a class to the student’s proficiency level and schedule, landed $2.7 million in a Series A round led by Bullpen Capital. James Conlon, the firm’s partner, will join Verbling’s board.. 
  
  
• KFit, a startup in Malaysia that offers users unlimited access to gyms and fitness classes for a monthly fee, has scored a coup. It today announced a $3.25 million funding round led by Sequoia Capital.
  
  
• Booktrack, a startup out of New Zealand that creates soundtracks to accompany e-books, secured another $5 million in funding to make sure that reading is no longer a quiet activity. Led by COENT Venture Partners and Sparkbox Ventures, the Series B round brings Booktrack’s funding total to $10 million.
  
  
• Dauntless Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of specialty drugs, closed a  $12 million Series A financing. The Company was started by Joel F. Martin, PhD, Co-Founder, President and CEO, and Sofinnova Ventures, the sole institutional investor in the Series A financing. Michael Powell, PhD, Sofinnova general partner, is a Co-Founder and will also serve as Chairman. David Kabakoff, PhD, Sofinnova executive partner, will also serve on the Company's board of directors.
  
  
• Photo community and marketplace 500px raised $13 million in new funding in a round led by strategic investor Visual China Group. The company says that it will be expanding its presence in the Greater China market while also working to grow its community of photographers.
  
  
• Organica Water, a Princeton, NJ-based provider of innovative solutions for the treatment and recycling of wastewater, completed a $9.1 million Series C financing, with a second tranche to follow. The round was led by XPV Capital Corporation (XPV), with participation from Paris-based Idinvest Partners, through its Electranova Fund, and existing investors International Finance Corporation (IFC) and Gamma Capital Partners. As part of the financing Khalil Malouf, Managing Director of XPV and Julien Mialaret, Investment Director of Idinvest, will join Organica’s Board of Directors.
  
  
• BrightBytes, an award-winning educational research and analysis organization, announced a $33 million Series C financing. New York-based private equity and venture capital firm Insight Venture Partners led the round, with Bessemer Venture Partners, Rethink Education and Learn Capital also participating. The capital will be used to expand BrightBytes' Clarity platform for K-12 leaders, continue globalization of its customer base and develop engineering and customer success teams. As part of the transaction Nick Sinai, Venture Partner at Insight Venture Partners will join the BrightBytes board of directors.
  
  
• Apprenda, an enterprise Platform as a Service (PaaS), snagged a $24 million funding round led by Safeguard Scientifics (NYSE: SFE), with participation from New Enterprise Associates (NEA) and Ignition Partners.  Apprenda will use the funding to further the adoption of its enterprise PaaS, which helps large organizations—including JPMorgan Chase, McKesson, and AmerisourceBergen—transform into software-defined enterprises and save money.
  
  
• IP Group plc, a developer of intellectual property-based businesses, invested in Oxford Nanopore Technologies Limited, raised $109.1 million in a new financing round via a private placement of ordinary shares. Both new and existing investors in the UK, US and mainland Europe subscribed to the fundraising to support the Company's development and commercialisation of electronic molecular analysis systems. Funds will be used to support improvements to Oxford Nanopore's existing range of products and services and to further develop and expand the Company's innovative pipeline. Manufacturing and commercial activities will be expanded.
   
• Palo Alto, Calif.-based customer experience management (CXM) provider Medallia bagged $150 million from investors in a round led by VC firm Sequoia Capital, a previous investor. Medallia first raised venture funding in late 2011, and has now raised a total of $255 million. It plans to use the latest investment for research and development in the B2B Software-as-a-Software (SaaS) market and to further what an official called a clear lead among enterprise clients in customer experience management software.
   
• Venture capital firm .406 Ventures has raised its third pool of investment cash, pulling together a new $217 million fund earmarked for early stage companies in digital security and other behind-the-scenes tech sectors.
  

If you are interested in being included in our funding roundup, submit your press release or blog post about your financing round to mitos@vator.tv. 

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