Bridge
E-Grocer RedMart has raised a $5.4 million bridge round led by a list of notable investors. Chief among them: Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin. Other leaders included Lion Rock Capital, Steve Melhuish and Jani Rautiainen (founders of Property Guru), Meng Weng Wong (co-founder, JFDI), Wee Teng Wen (founder, The Lo & Behold Group). The Singaporean company had previously received $4.6 million in a Series A investment this past July. Red Herring reported at the time the online vendor was looking to tap a $5.2 billion market opportunity.
Series B
Sports technology company Zepp Labs has announced a $15 million Series B round, which closed last year, led by GGV Capital and joined by Legend Capital, Bertelsmann and Cherubic Ventures. The Los Gatos company, which sells products like sensors to help athletes analyze their game, raised $20 million in 2013. Plunkett Research, Ltd. gauged the total American sports market value at between $440 billion and $470 billion.
Lyst, which puts the world’s fashion items at users’ fingertips, has secured $14 million for its Series B funding round, led by Balderton Capital. Accel, DFJ Esprit, and prominent angel investors (including Carmen Busquets from Net-A-Porter) contributed. The e-commerce aggregator brings together products from a myriad of other sites. The London-based company will team with PayPal to leverage Beacon technology and bring Lyst’s services offline.
Mendix, the Boston-based app platform company for businesses, has raised a $25 million Series B funding round led by Battery Ventures. Prime Ventures joined in the investment. Worldwide SaaS revenues ramped up by 115 percent over the 2012, the company notes in its press release. Mendix counts Sprint, TNT and Liberty Mutual among its customers.
Series C
InterWest Partners has led a $25 million Series C funding round in marketing company NewsCred. Mayfield Fund, IA Ventures and FirstMark Capital participated in the investment. The New York-based company leverages licensed content from 4,000+ publishers and a freelance network called the NewsRoom, and serves customers like Bank of America, Time Inc. and P&G.
Funding
Stripe, the PayPal challenger with roots in Y Combinator, received $80 million in a funding round led by Founders Fund. Khosla Ventures, Sequoia and Allen & Co. participated in the round, which came at a $1.75 billion valuation. The San Francisco company had previously raised $50 million, according to its website. Capgemini’s World Payments report 2013 forecasts e-payments will increase by 18.1 percent yearly in 2014 to 34.8 billion transactions.
GoEuro, the Berlin-based travel comparison engine, has raised millions in an undisclosed, funding from Lakestar and others, including Charles Petruccelli (former President, Global Business Travel for American Express) and John Owen (part of team that founded JetBlue Airways). The company aggregates flight, train and bus information in one place, allowing users to plan complete trips from A to B instead of airport to airport. GoEuro had previously raised $4 million in a seed round led by Hasso Plattner Ventures and Battery Ventures.
Software and iBeacon provider Sensorberg has gained €750,000 ($1 million) in funding from angel investors and Technologie Holding GmbH. The Berlin-based company sells sensors that broadcast info to enabled mobile devices that pass by, and the tools to manage them. Gartner predicts that worldwide, the mobile advertising market will grow to $18 billion this year.
M&A
San Francisco-based ServiceSource which helps manage companies’ recurring revenues has acquired Scout Analytics, the Issaquah, WA predictive analytics company operating in the same space. Together, the two handle upwards of $3.5 billion in recurring revenue and approach a $600 billion total addressable market.
AdRoll, the retargeting advertising company, has acquired email marketer and SaaS product userfox. AdRoll has reached a $100 million revenue run rate and provides advertising solutions to giants like Salesforce.com, American Apparel and Benefit. Both companies are based in San Francisco. Deal terms were not disclosed.
AOL will pay $83 million now and $7.7 million over the next two years for Gravity, which personalizes the online experience for users. Santa Monica-based Gravity boosts engagement by 240 percent on sites with no personalization technology, and serves clients like Intel and Sony. The company had previously raised upwards of $20 million in VC funding.