Daily funding roundup: April 21, 2016

Mitos Suson · April 21, 2016 · Short URL: https://vator.tv/n/44f2

Kueski closed $35M; Acorns received $30M investment; Forter raised $32M Series C funding

  • Fraud detection company Forter has the idea that fraud prevention ought to be in line with wider company goals, enabling sales and a great customer experience. The company has closed $32 million in Series C funding, in a round that was led by Scale Venture Partners,with participation from previous investors Sequoia Capital and New Enterprise Associates (NEA). With this funding the company has now $50 million in venture capital.

  • Human, Inc. raised $5 million in seed funding. The funds will enable the Seattle-based company to further expand its 40-person team of industry-leading designers and engineers and continue development of its yet-to-be announced technology. While not yet offering specifics or confirming timing of a future product launch, Human has offered glimpses into its plan to transform today's audio industry. Funding was led by several accomplished super angels and serial entrepreneurs, including Fred Warren, former Co-Founder and Managing Director of Los Angeles firm, Brentwood Associates. Other round leaders include Kurt Beecher Dammeier, CEO of Sugar Mountain Capital. Daniel Darling, Managing Director of Darling Ventures, a San Francisco Bay firm specializing in early-stage startups and technical entrepreneurs, also led the round.

  • Zengaming, a social network for gamers looking to make a name for themselves in the esports world, raised $2.8 million in funding. Crown Resorts Limited, a casino and entertainment company, led the round as it pushes further into the video game space. Zengaming will use this influx of cash to bring on new talent and to expand its support for important esports games like Dota 2, League of Legends, and Starcraft.

  • Nginx, Inc., a San Francisco, CA-based provider of a platform that enables flawless application delivery for websites and apps, received $8 million in funding. The round was led by telecommunications provider Telstra via Telstra Ventures, its ventures investment arm, with participation from existing investors New Enterprise Assciates, e.ventures, Runa Capital, and Index Ventures. In addition to the deal, the company appointed industry veteran Tom Hull to its Board of Directors.

  • San Francisco-based Preempt Security closed their Series A funding round, bringing in $8 million in new financing. The round attracted a cadre of well respected investors. Led by General Catalyst Partners, seed backers Mickey Boodaei and Rakesh Loonkar of Trusteer and Paul Sagan of Akamai Technologies also took part in the funding.

  • Lanham, Md.-based custom framing tech startup Framebridge closed a new $9 million funding round led by SWaN & Legend Venture Partners and including previous investors New Enterprise Associates and Revolution Ventures. The new funding brings Framebridge's total funding to about $20.5 million. The new funding fits in with Framebridge's scaling plans, which includes a new 100,000 square-foot framing facility in Kentucky that goes live this week. 

  • Acorns, an app that aims to simplify personal investing, raised $30 million. PayPal, Rakuten, and Greycroft participated in the round. The company declined to share what, exactly, it plans to do with the $30 million, aside from saying that the cash will enable it to expand. Acorns has publicly raised more than $60 million since 2012, including a $23 million raise in April 2015.

  • Kueski, an online lending company in Mexico offering real-time, micro loans to Mexican consumers, closed $35 million round of equity and debt funding, with the potential to increase to $100 million in total funding, the largest capital funding in Mexico for a fintech startup. The $10 million equity investment was co-led by investors Richmond Global Ventures, Rise Capital, CrunchFund and Variv Capital, with participation from Victory Park Capital and existing investors Angel Ventures Mexico, Core Ventures Group and Auria Capital.
    VC's Raising Funds
  • Felicis Ventures, a decade-old venture capital firm headquartered in Palo Alto, closed a new $200 million fund. Not only is this the fifth fund for Felicis, but it is the largest ever raised for the firm. Though Felicis originally focused on seed-stage companies, the firm eventually branched out to other stages and a wide variety of sectors. The company says its 180 investments have led to 60 exits and three IPOs.

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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Mitos Suson

I produce Vator Events and enjoy the challenge. I am learning and growing a lot, being involved with Vator and loving every moment of it!

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