Series B
FiveStars, a digital loyalty rewards platform for small businesses, has reeled in $25 million in Series B financing from lead investor Menlo Ventures and return backers Lightspeed Venture Partners, DCM, and Rogers Communications. The company is a 2011 graduate of Y Combinator. Since then, it has raised $42.7 million and has grown its network of small businesses to 5000. “FiveStars’ mission is to help local businesses turn every transaction into a relationship. This new round of funding brings us one step closer to making that vision a reality,” said Victor Ho, CEO and co-founder of FiveStars.
Series C
Intel Capital, Romulus Capital, TriplePoint Capital, and Y Combinator president Sam Altman all participated in E la Carte’s $35 million Series C round. The company develops tablets for restaurants that serve as both menus and payment mechanisms for customers. E la Carte, which was founded in 2008 at MIT but now operates out of offices in Redwood City, Calif., has now raised $52.5 million.
Dollar Shave Club, a subscription-based personal grooming delivery service, has secured $50 million in Series C financing from Pritzker Group Venture Capital and Venrock. The company has over 500,000 customers and has gained popularity in part through a series of web videos describing the product that have gone viral. The company’s seed round, back in 2012, was backed by Andreessen Horowitz and Kleiner Perkins, among others.
Miaopai, a video app company based in China, has raised $50 million from Kleiner Perkins (officially KPCB Holdings), Redpoint Ventures, Ren Quan Ventures, StarVC, and Sina.
Series D
The social media management platform Hootsuite has secured a $60 million investment from a host of backers, including Accel Partners, Insight Venture Partners, OMERS Ventures, Silicon Valley Bank, and likely Fidelity. While it is not yet profitable, Hootsuite has over 10 million enterprise (mostly SME) and individual customers. The Vancouver-based company has raised $285 million to date. It also announced that it had acquired Zeetl, another social media ad platform for enterprise. “This financing will help us scale even faster on a global level and bring the most innovative products to market. The strong commitment from investors during this time of amazing growth marks an exciting milestone for Hootsuite,” Ryan Holmes, CEO of Hootsuite said in a press release.