- SOCi, provider of a social media management tool, raised a $2.25 million round of funding to tack onto its $1.5 million Series A from November 2014. The original round was led by angel investor Peter Fisher with participation from Silicon Valley Growth Syndicate. New investors include Taner Halicioglu (Facebook’s first hire), Doug Hecht (former COO and President of Digitaria, which was acquired by J. Walter Thompson), and the seed-stage firm GrowthX.
- Team8, an Israel-based cybersecurity firm, secured a $23 million strategic round of funding from a long list of big-name investors, including Accenture, Nokia, Mitsui, and Temasek as well as previously announced investors Cisco, Alcatel-Lucent, Bessemer Venture Partners, Marker LLC, and Innovation Endeavors (an early-stage venture capital firm co-founded by Google chairman Eric Schmidt).
- MOVO, a Bay Area payments startup – delivering fully-featured mobile banking and payments services to further financial inclusion for billions of Underserved consumers, raised an initial $700,000 to finalize the development of its beta product, scheduled to launch this spring in the US. Investors in the company, incorporated as MovoCash, Inc., include Eric Solis (co-founder & CEO), Daniel Kjellen (co-founder & CMO), Cox Orange Investment Ltd. and some undisclosed private investors.
- Chinese virtual reality startup KAT received $1 million in a round of angel investment led by Unity Ventures. The startup’s flagship product, KAT WALK, is an omni-directional ‘treadmill’ that lets users physically explore worlds in virtual reality. KAT WALK primarily targets small businesses, such as internet cafes, which can house the product and offer gamers more active VR content, like first-person-shooter (FPS) games.
- Digital insurance distributor Hepstar received $2 million in funding from UK-based technology investor Amadeus Capital Partners. Amadeus Capital Partners’ investment into Hepstar is provided for by their Digital Prosperity Fund, which is backed by the MTN Group. With the new funding, the company will expand its global reach, accelerate development, and grow its brand.
- TodayTix, a mobile app that provides on-demand access to the best prices on last-minute theater tickets, raised a $9 million Series B round of funding co-led by Walden Venture Capital and TYLT Ventures, with participation from existing investors and influential leaders in the theater and entertainment industry. The company also revealed the growth of its user base to more than one million users since launching in December 2013.
- Silicon Valley startup MasterClass, which is teaming with celebrities to produce and sell educational video courses, raised $15 million in Series B funding. The funding was led by New Enterprise Associates with participation from Michael Bloomberg’s Bloomberg Beta, Novel TMT Ventures, Advancit Capital, WME Ventures, Robert Downey Jr.’s Downey Ventures, and individual investors including Casper CEO Philip Krim.
- Reflektion, a provider of predictive analytics for retailers, raised $18 million in Series B financing, bringing the company’s total funding to $29.3 million. Battery Ventures led the round with participation from Hasso Plattner Ventures and Intel Capital. Thakker joins the board of directors, which includes Steve Papa and Eduardo Castro-Wright. Notable prior private investors, including Marc Benioff and Ray Lane, also participated in the round.
- Namely, a New York City-based provider of a HR software platform for mid-market companies, raised an additional $30 million in funding. The round was led by existing investor Sequoia Capital with participation from Matrix Partners, True Ventures and Greenspring Associates. The company, which has raised $107.8m in total funding to date, intends to use the capital to invest in its core HR, payroll, and benefits technology and operations, and expand its integrations.
- Razer, a gaming technology company based out of Southern California, raised another round of funding, a Series C that values it at $1.5 billion. The backing comes in part from China, specifically the Digital Grid subsidiary of IT company Hangzhou Liaison Interactive. Yesterday, Hangzhou published a statement confirming the 5.01%, $75 million investment in Razer, as well as its valuation.
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: lightercapital.com
