Series A
Course Hero, an online learning platform and Red Herring Top 100 winner, has closed a $15 million Series A round led by GSV Capital and IDG Capital. Existing investors SV Angel and Maveron also participated. The company, which offers crowdsourced study resources, will use the funds to expand its team and the reach of its services. “We’ve seen the extraordinary power of peer-to-peer marketplaces in transportation, lodging, and financial services. Course Hero has the potential to be the peer-to-peer marketplace in education by enabling millions of students worldwide to access the best crowdsourced learning tools and materials,” said Michael Moe, Chairman and CEO of GSV Capital.
Series B
Online pet care community DogVacay has raised $25 million in Series B funding, in a round led by OMERS Ventures with participation from GSV Capital and existing investors Science, First Round Capital, Benchmark, Foundation Capital, and DAG Ventures. The company’s platform offers pet owners a community to source pet sitters across the U.S. and has more than 20,000 vetted and insured sitters to date, according to a press release. Dogvacay has raises a total of $47 million to date. “From day one, the goal has been to build the DogVacay community into the world’s leading pet care company. We’re thrilled with how far we’ve come so fast, but this is a longterm business and still early days. OMERS is a partner that shares this vision with us and our investors, so for us, it was a decision about securing a great partner for years to come,” said Aaron Hirschhorn, CEO, DogVacay.
Skincare startup La Lumiere has secured $20 million in Series B financing, from investors including Johnson & Johnson Development Corporation and SWaN & Legend Venture Partners. The company’s main product is a wearable light therapy mask. “This funding will help our technologies to reach exponentially more people,” said Jay Tapper, Founder and CEO of La Lumiere, LLC and the illuMask brand. “We’re confident in the market potential, La Lumiere’s intellectual property and our numerous competitive advantages.”
Series C
Revel Systems, a Point of Sale (POS) platform for iPads, has raised $100 million in Series C funding from Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe (WCAS) and other investors. The funding includes $65 million in initial investment from WCAS and an additional $25 million equity line made available. Revel will use the funds to expand its support and operations. Of new investor WCAS, Lisa Falzone, Revel co-founder and CEO of Revel said: “Their deep investment expertise in the B2B services and payments industries, plus their proven track record for fueling company growth, will help us further cement Revel as the industry standard POS solution for both small businesses and enterprise customers. Our industry leadership and strategic position in the commerce space have allowed us to attract a top investor and have helped us achieve what appears to be the highest valuation in our industry.”