Funding roundup - week ending 6/20/15
Doctor On Demand, Softbank, Namely, Mezaaj, Are You A Human, Framebridge, Spacious, MentAd, GoFundMe
Read more...Seed stage
Quikkly, which creates personalized action tags, received $1 million in seed funding in a round led by Initial Capital, along with a number of angel investors.
Geenio, a cloud-based full cycle learning system for the enterprise, raised a $2 million seed round from several individual private investors.
Estonian taxi company Taxify raised €1.4 million in funding from Adcash, Rubylight and TMT Investments.
Hampton Creek, a food technology company, raised $90 million from Marc Benioff, Eduardo Saverin, Bryan Johnson, Tao Capital Partners, Bryan Meehan, Jean Pigozzi, WP Global, Far East Organization and Uni-President Enterprises Corporation.
Skytap, a provider of on-demand Environments as a Service, raised a $35 million round led by Insight Venture Partners with participation from all existing investors, including OpenView Venture Partners, Ignition Partners, Madrona Venture Group, and Washington Research Foundation.
Code Kingdoms, a game that teaches children how to code, raised $420,000 in seed funding from SparkLabs Global Ventures .
MangoPlate, a restaurant search and discovery mobile app, raised $600,000 in seed funding from SparkLabs Global Ventures .
Inbox Messenger, a design-centric messaging app, raised $3.9 million in seed funding from unnamed investors.
Business voice platform Truly Wireless raised $1.4 million in seed funding from Index Ventures, Greylock Partners, Boldstart Ventures and Eniac Ventures.
Lendable, a peer-to-peer lending platform for personal loans, raised a £2.5 million seed round from Eileen Burbidge, Robert Dighero, Stefan Glaenzer, Will Kirby and Adam Knight.
Lift, a self improvement app, raised a $1.1 million funding round from Obvious and Spark Capital.
Digit, a service that automates people’s savings, raised $2.5 million in seed funding led by Baseline Ventures, with participation from Freestyle Capital, Upside Partnership, Google Ventures, Operative Capital, Garry Tan and Alexis Ohanian.
Infinity Levels Studio, a Thailand-based gaming start-up, received $500,000 in funding from InVent.
Hubba, a Product Information Network, raised a $3.1 million seed round from Brightspark and The Social + Capital Partnership, as well as angels who serve or have served in leadership positions at Facebook, Instagram, Uber, Airbnb, Baidu, PayPal and EMC.
Early stage
First Opinion, an app for users to get personal health consultations from doctors, raised $6 million in Series A funding led by Polaris Partners, with participation from True Ventures, Felicis Ventures, Scrum Ventures and Monashees Capital.
Boxbee, an on-demand valet storage solution, raised $5 million in Series A funding led by Metamorphic Ventures, with participation from Floodgate, Northgate and a home improvement giant, in addition to previous investors.
Expect Labs, the company behind the MindMeld platform for building intelligent voice interfaces, raised a $13 million Series A round led by IDG Ventures and a subsidiary of USAA, along with Intel Capital, Samsung Ventures, Telefonica Digital, Liberty Global Ventures, Fenox Ventures, Westcott LLC, and Quest Venture Partners.
Open Garden, a startup that connects mobile devices with peer-to-peer connections, raised a $10.8 million round led by August Capital, along with Firebolt Ventures, Future Perfect Ventures, Kima Ventures, Tseung Kwan Ventures and Sherpalo.
GameAnalytics, a free analytics platform for games developers, raised a $5.5 million Series A round from Sunstone Capital, CrunchFund, Jimmy Maymann, René Rechmann, Beta Angels, and the company’s newly-recruited management team.
Piccing, a social-shopping platform, raised $3.6 million in Series A funding from a group of undisclosed investors.
Chatous, a social messaging app that matches people in one-on-one conversations, raised $2.1 million in funding from General Catalyst, XSeed Capital, and Slow Ventures.
Mattermark, a data platform used by investors to track private companies, raised a $6.5 million Series A round led by Foundry Group. 500 Startups, Andreessen Horowitz, Data Collective, Sherpa Ventures, Felicis Ventures, New Enterprise Associates, Version One Ventures and individuals, including Jeff Lawson, Carter Rabasa, Damien Tanner, Daniel Clark, Eileen Burbidge, Elliot Loh, Enrico Pandian, Eric Ries, Ullas Naik and others also participated.
Swap.com, an online consignment shop for kids, raised $4 million from Marc Onetto, Cleantech Invest Plc., Ari Hypponen, Ahti Heinla and Jaan Tallinn.
Talkspace, an app that lets people connect and communicate with licensed therapists, raised $1 million from Metamorphic Ventures.
Venture capital firm Upfront Ventures raised a new $280 million fund early stage, called Upfront V.
Game developer Playdots raised $10 million from Northzone and CrunchFund, along with an Alphaworks syndicate that includes Slow Ventures, Li Ruigang, Susan Lyne, and other notable investors and game industry executives.
Scandinavian venture capital firm Northzone closed its new fund, called Northzone VII, at $325 million.
iFit, an online fitness and weight loss community, raised a $3 million Series A led by Cherubic Ventures, along with Yuan-jin Capital, Sino Strategy Group, Alan Chien, and Ming-zhe Ou.
Carwow, a UK-based online platform for buying new cars, has secured £4.6 million in Series A funding led by Balderton Capital, with participation from Episode 1 Ventures and Samos Investments.
P97 Networks, developers of mobile commerce and behavioral marketing platform PetroZone, raised $8 million Series A funding round led by Emerald Technology Ventures, with American Trading and Production Corporation also participating.
EdgeWave, a cyber security firm, raised a $2 million round from TVC Capital, Northgate, and Bill Baumel and RWI Ventures’ partners.
Mavrck, a social influence marketing platform provider, raised a $2.5 million Series A financing round from GrandBanks Capital
CardCash.com, a secondary gift card marketplace, raised $6 million in debt financing from Sterling National Bank.
Late stage
Serviz, an on-demand home services provider, raised a $12.5 million Series B round of funding led by PointGuard Ventures, with Andy Sheehan, Jeff Stibel, Zorik Gordon and Michael Kline also participating.
Educational app platform provider Clever raised $30 million in funding came from Lightspeed Venture Partners, Sequoia Capital, GSV Capital and Peter Thiel.
Online survey development company SurveyMonkey raised a $250 million round from institutional funds and accounts managed by T. Rowe Price Associates, Inc., Morgan Stanley Investment Management, Inc., and Baillie Gifford & Co, as well as from Tiger Global Management, Dave Goldberg, ICONIQ Capital, Google Capital, Social+Capital Partnership, Ryan and Chris Finley, and Laurel Crown Partners.
Adyen, a global payments technology company, raised $250 million in funding led by General Atlantic, with additional participation from Temasek, Index Ventures and Felicis Ventures.
Customer-first real estate brokerage Redfin raised $70.9 million, led Wellington Management Company, LLP, as well as Glynn Capital Management. Brothers Brook and Annox Capital Management, as well as dunds and accounts managed by T. Rowe Price Associates and Tiger Global Management participated.
Mixpanel, an analytics platform for the mobile and web, raised $65 million from Andreessen Horowitz.
Bustle, a news website catered toward women, raised $15.5 million in a round led by General Catalyst. Time Warner Investments, Rothenberg Ventures, 500 Startups and The Social+Capital Fund also participated.
Ridibooks, a South Korean e-book vendor, raised $8 million in Series B funding led by NeoPlux, along with Company K, Mirae Asset Venture Investment, and Atinum Investment.
Agricultural tech start-up FarmLogs, raised $10 million in Series B funding from Drive Capital, Huron River Ventures, Hyde Park Venture Partners, SV Angel and Sam Altman.
NowThis Media, a news videos website, raised $6 million in a Series C funding round led by Oak Investment Partners, with participation from NBC Universal, SoftBank Capital, and Lerer Hippeau.
House hunting platform Housing.com raised $90 million in a round led by SoftBank Group, along with Falcon Edge and other investors.
Miyabaobei, a Chinese website for baby items, raised a $60 million Series C round from H Capital, with participation from Sequoia Capital and ZhenFund.
Healthcare information technology company Predilytics raised $10 million in additional funding in a round led by Qualcomm Ventures. Flybridge Capital Partners, Foundation Medical, and Highland Capital also participated.
Midea, a home appliance firm, raised over $200 in a million funding round from Xiaomi.
Doctor On Demand, Softbank, Namely, Mezaaj, Are You A Human, Framebridge, Spacious, MentAd, GoFundMe
Read more...Duolingo, Vinli, Jimdo, Dalia Research, Procore Technologies, Colabo, Menlo Security, Enervee, Tile
Read more...DocuSig, Flywheel, Enervee, Notion, VitalFields, jobandtalent, EverCompliant, Tegile Systems, Ubimo
Read more...Startup/Business
Joined Vator on
SERVIZ is an on-demand home services company that aims to disrupt the $400 billion home repair industry by offering a faster and less expensive way to book and pay for home services online. From handyman work to plumbing, carpet cleaning, electrical work and appliance repair, SERVIZ provides background checked and licensed professionals at unbeatable, upfront prices, all at the click of a button. SERVIZ is headquartered in Sherman Oaks, CA and currently serves the greater Los Angeles area, including Orange County, with plans to expand nationwide. For more information about SERVIZ, please visit www.serviz.com or download the SERVIZ iOS app.
Angel group/VC
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Upfront Ventures, previously GRP Partners, is an LA based Venture Capital firm that focuses on early stage investments (mostly Seed & Series A).
GRP, rebranded as Upfront Ventures in June 2013, has been operating since 1996, making investments in tech companies like Overture, CitySearch, BillMeLater, Envestnet, DealerTrack, CyberSource, Qualys, and HDI in that time. For the firm, the rebrand represents its movement toward a new, 21st-century style of investing, emphasizing openness and transparency.
Startup/Business
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Redfin is the industry's first online brokerage for residential real estate. We believe that technology and a consumer-centered business model mean that we can get better results for our customers, at a completely different price.
How it Works: Buying a Home
Customers search for homes on our website, arrange home tours with Redfin and, when they've found a home they like, get started on an offer via our website. For each transaction, the same Redfin real estate agent handles the negotiations, contingencies and paperwork. The average customer saves more than $10,000 in commissions.
How it Works: Selling a Home
Customers use our website to tell us they'd like to sell a home, and then begin working with their Redfin team to get the home ready to sell and set the price. Once an offer comes in, Redfin negotiates on behalf of the customer and makes sure all the paperwork is taken care of. The average customer saves more than $10,000 in commissions.
Our Business Model
Our service is half on the Internet, half personal. Redfin's technology combines listings with objective data, including maps, property outlines, third-party appraisals and tax records. We base our service on data-driven best practices for buying and selling a home. Our business model focuses our personnel on customer service. We employ agents directly, and we compensate agents based on customer satisfaction. We believe this approach is not only more efficient, but leads to better service.
Our core value is consumer-driven innovation. We were the first to launch a map-driven search application in 2004, and the first to offer an online home-buying service in 2006. By January of 2008, we had refunded more than $10 million in commissions to home-buyers. According to MLS records, we were also able to negotiate a lower price for our customers than other brokerages could. We offer a 100% satisfaction guarantee.
Redfin earns fees from buyers or sellers that we represent in a real estate transaction. In Seattle, we have begun an experimental program to provide a mortgage service, charging a flat fee to act as a mortgage broker. These are the only ways today that we generate revenue.
Our History
The company is led by technology entrepreneurs from Plumtree Software and Applied Discovery, and backed by Madrona Venture Group, the original investor in Amazon.com. Other investors include Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Vulcan Capital, BEV Capital and The Hillman Company. We offer local service in Seattle, San Francisco, San Jose, Los Angeles, Orange County, San Diego, Boston and Washington, DC; we are expanding nationwide over the next two years, moving next to Chicago.
* About Redfin
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Redfin Direct Agent
Donald DeSantis, Seattle
"After spending years at big name brokerages, I wanted something fresh. This company spearheads change and makes the industry perform better. I’m proud to be part of the team."
The Redfin Advantage
The Redfin Advantage Graph
We negotiate better together.
Broker records show that Redfin agents and their customers negotiate a better price when buying a home.
* Find out why.
Redfin: About | We're Hiring | Forums | Sweet Digs | Disclaimers | Feedback | Contact Us | Site
Startup/Business
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Truly Wireless brings the feature suite of a Cisco enterprise phone system to smartphones at a fraction of the cost.
Small and Medium sized enterprises spend $4.5B+ each year on wired telecom systems and services to supplement feature and infrastructure gaps on mobile devices. We bridge these gaps to enable true enterprise mobility on a radically simpler, cheaper and more scalable telecom stack.
AngelHack NY 2012 winner
Startup/Business
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Expect Labs has been widely recognized as a leader in the fast-emerging field of anticipatory computing. MIT Technology Review named them as one of the world’s “50 Smartest Companies” of 2014, and they were included in Gartner’s “Cool Vendors of 2013” list. MindMeld was selected as “Best in Show” at the 2013 Consumer Electronics Show and was featured by Popular Science as one of the “Hottest Gadgets” of 2013. They were also selected as a finalist for the 2013 CODiE Award for best mobile device application, in addition to being finalists at the 2012 TechCrunch Disrupt startup competition, the 2013 CES Mobile App Showdown, and the 2013 SXSW Innovative Technology Accelerator.
Expect Labs is the creator of the MindMeld app and API. The MindMeld app is the first intelligent assistant that can understand your conversations and find information you need before you have to search for it. The MindMeld API is an advanced developer platform and cloud-based service to power a new generation of anticipatory computing applications.
Expect Labs was founded in 2011 by successful, repeat entrepreneurs, and the team includes PhDs and world-class researchers from places like the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab, Stanford, Carnegie Mellon, and Bell Labs. Expect Labs is backed by some of Silicon Valley’s most well-known investors and some of the technology industry’s largest and most influential companies, including Google, Samsung, Intel, Telefónica, Liberty Global, Greylock Partners, Bessemer Venture Partners, IDG Ventures, KPG Ventures, Quest Venture Partners, and several prominent angels.
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Managing Partner, Founders Fund