What you need to know - 09/15/11

The Sims Social reaches second place among Facebook apps; Facebook gets Twitter-like

The Sims Social, the latest release out of EA’s social gaming studio, has claimed second place on Facebook’s app leaderboard. In less than a month, the app has accumulated 40.2 million active users, with 10.7 million--more than a quarter--returning to play daily.

The Justice Department has launched an investigation into claims that eBay used its seat on Craigslist’s board of directors to steal proprietary information in order to launch its own competing classifieds service.

Facebook, which had previously hinted that its initial public offering would come in early 2012 at the latest, may now be putting off its IPO as late as end of next year. Meanwhile, the social network launched some suspiciously Twitter-like tools.

FireHost, a secure cloud hosting company, raised a $10 million Series B from The Stephens Group, LLC, as well as earlier-round investors.

InMobi, the self-proclaimed “largest independent mobile ad network” in the world, received an impressive $200 million cash infusion from Softbank Corp., which owns Yahoo Japan along with a number of other properties.

Social shopping company Mertado launched Mertado TV and raised a $2.3 million Series A from Rustin Canyon Partners, Blumberg Capital, and Redpoint Ventures.

Actor LeVar Burton, executive producer of Reading Rainbow from 1983 to 2006, is launching a new digital education product: RRKidz, a new app that will take the Reading Rainbow experience into the digital age.

SaveUp, aiming to gamify good financial behavior by rewarding people for saving their money, raised $2 million in seed funding from BlueRun Ventures and True Ventures.

Unigo.com closed its first round of institutional funding, $1.6 million led by The McGraw-Hill Companies. Powered by a network of college counselors and enrolled college students, Unigo is a resource of information to find, get in and pay for college.