Daily funding roundup - August 26, 2015

Fanatics secured $300M; Spoonflower announced $25M; Velostrata raised $14M

• Velostrata  provides on-demand hybrid cloud software that decouples compute from storage. What that does is enable enterprises to stream production workloads to and from the cloud in minutes, leave the storage on-premises and optimize performance end-to-end. The company, which came out of stealth mode on Wednesday, also announced that it has raised $14 million in a Series A funding round led by Norwest Venture Partners and Greylock IL Partners (83North). The company plans to use the funding to further build out its sales, marketing and support teams in North America and Europe, doubling its 25 person team over the next year.
  
  
• Charge Communication Inc. a messaging app, just announced $1.7 million in seed funding and a new web client that lets users sync chats on their iOS and Android devices to desktop. The startup’s current investors and advisors include Pelion Venture Partners, Atlas Venture, Maiden Lane Ventures, Metamorphic Ventures, Cherubic Ventures, Craig Walker, the founder of GrandCentral (renamed Google Voice after its acquisition by the tech giant), Twilio co-founder John Wolthuis, and Slicehost co-founder Matt Tanase
  
  
• Kolkata-based educational startup EazyCoach which is led by a 22-year-old city boy Om Agarwal has received angel funding from businessman Ravi Agarwal. Of the 200-odd startups incubating at the Nasscom 10,000 Startups Warehouse in the IT hub at Salt Lake, Kolkata EazyCoach.com was considered one of the brightest ideas with high business potential. EazyCoach help college aspirants get into their desired college, by providing them with dedicated help from admission experts, via an open marketplace. Incorporated in 2013, the team at EazyCoach has been visiting schools and colleges globally, from India to China to United States, to get a hands-on knowledge of an aspirant’s expectations.
  
  
• The E.W. Scripps Co. has invested in Cintric, an Over-the-Rhine based consumer intelligence company that helps brands, publishers and retailers analyze rich behavioral data from potential customers and act on those insights with personalized experiences and messaging. Downtown-based Scripps invested $500,000 as part of a larger seed round of funding.
  
  
• Docady, an iOS app that lets you store and manage all your important documents, has been doing well in the App Store since its official launch in mid-July, including being featured by Apple as a ‘best new app’ for the last few weeks. And to help continue with that momentum, the Tel Aviv-based startup has just closed a $1.5 million funding round. Investors include Pitango Ventures, and Disruptive, the VC fund from Tal Barnoach, Eilon Tirosh and various unnamed former AOL video execs. The new investment will be used to bring the app to more platforms, with Android up next, and for the development of additional ‘smart’ features to make your documents work harder for you.
  
  
• BasharSoft, the startup behind leading Egyptian recruiting Wuzzuf, has spent the last 5 years surviving the turmoil of Egypt’s recent history. But it’s come through that to become a rare-commodity: An Egyptian company that has raised significant European VC cash. It’s just closed a Series A of $1.7 million from Sweden-based Vostok New Ventures and UK-based Piton Capital, in addition to previous investment from 500 Startups and Endure Capital. 
  
  
• Palo Alto, California-based MocaCare, which has developed a device that tracks cardiovascular health, raised $2 million in a round led by JDM Mobile Internet Solutions with participation from EMB International and Atom Health Corporation. This brings the company’s total funding to $4 million to date. MocaCare will use the funds for growth in North America and China. 
  
  
• Klaviyo, an intelligent platform for email, is setting its sights on changing that — which requires rethinking the space entirely, bringing complex data integrations into one-click switches for marketers, not engineers, to set up and use. The company announced a  $1.5 million funding round from Accomplice and select angels, including David Cancel (chief product officer at Hubspot), Elias Torres (founded marketing automation platform, Performable, acquired by Hubspot) and TJ Mahoney. Klaviyo will use the funding to build on an already impressive list of third-party one-click data integrations and expand sales and marketing efforts.
  
  
• Resolution Games, a Stockholm, Sweden-based virtual reality (VR) games studio, closed a $6 million Series A funding round. The round was led by Google Ventures with participation from Creandum, Initial Capital, Bonnier Growth Media, Partech Ventures and others. The company intends to use the funds to grow its development teams to drive multiple games production while building a quality portfolio of IP for the VR market.
  
  
• Benson Hill Biosystems, a Photosynthesis Company, secured an investment of $7.3 million in its Series A round of financing.  The funding will be used to further advance its PSKbase, a computational and systems biology-based platform that helps technology developers and breeders identify promising strategies to increase genetic gain in crop plants. The capital will also support additional field trials and other product development activities for traits that increase crop productivity by improving photosynthesis. The financing was led by Middleland Capital, an agriculture-focused venture capital firm, with co-investors Mercury Fund, Prelude Ventures, Prolog Ventures, Alexandria Venture Investments, Cultivation Capital, and TechAccel.
  
  
• Providence Medical Technology, Inc., an innovator in tissue-sparing cervical spine technology, announced the closing of $12 million in new financing for the company. The proceeds will be used to further commercialize and expand its portfolio of DTRAX cervical fusion products designed to help patients suffering from cervical degenerative disc disease. The new financing of $12 million includes equity participation from existing investors Stanmore Medical Investments, Aphelion Capital and other existing private investors, and the establishment of a new debt facility with Silicon Valley Bank.
  
  
• Spoonflower, an on-demand digital printing of custom fabric, wallpaper and gift wrap, announced a $25 million minority investment led by North Bridge Growth Equity, a leading growth equity firm based in Boston, with participation by Durham-based Bull City Venture Partners. The company plans to use the infusion of capital to increase the pace of innovation and introduction of new product offerings, and to fuel international expansion.
  
  
• Intercom, a startup promising businesses a “fundamentally new” approach to communicating with their customers, has raised $35 million in Series C funding. The company has now raised a total of $66 million. The Series C was led by Iconiq Capital, with participation from past investors The Social + Capital Partnership and Bessemer Venture Partners.
  
  
• ServiceMax, a Pleasanton, California-based provider of field service management solutions, landed $82 million in Series F funding. The round was led by Premji Invest with participation from new investors GE Ventures, PTC Inc., and Cloud Apps Capital, and existing investors Emergence Capital Partners, KPCB, Mayfield, Meritech, Adams Street Partners, Crosslink Capital, Questmark Partners, Sozo Ventures, and Trinity Ventures. The company, which has raised $202m in total, intends to use the funds to continue expansion of its global operations, grow sales, support, and marketing worldwide, and increase product development.
   
• After backing a cannabis brand, a rocket manufacturer, and a creator of plant-based food alternatives, Peter Thiel's Founders Fund is continuing its push into uncharted VC territory. Today, the firm led a $33.5M Series A round for Modumetal, a materials sciences company making nanolaminated metals for the oil and gas industry. Other investors include Sunshine Tech Limited, Steve Singh, Catamount Ventures, Second Avenue Partners, Goldenseeds and members of the Alliance of Angels. Hercules Technology Growth Capital, Inc. also participated as a debt investor.
  
  
• Fanatics Inc., an e-commerce company focused on sports merchandise, has sold a minority ownership stake to private equity firm Silver Lake for $300 million. The Silver Lake investment is all for primary shares, meaning that existing Fanatics investors will hold onto their stock. It is not clear how large Silver Lake’s minority position would be, or if Kynetic would remain majority shareholder.

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. 

Image Source: naviganancial.com