Intelligent search startup Coveo has raised $35 million in Series D funding. The round was led yb IQ Venture Capital, with participation from existing investors Tandem Expansion Fund, BDC Capital, Propulsion Ventures SEC, Fonds de solidarité FTQ, and Coveo CEO Louis Tetu. The company has now raised $75 million to date. “There is incredibly strong demand for intelligent search-based apps, which enable more relevant, digital customer engagement and a more agile and engaging digital workplace,” said Louis Tetu, CEO of Coveo. “Coveo helps to engage customers with more relevancy and upskill employees everywhere they work, with the insights that matter. With this round of funding, we will invest to bring these data-powered experiences to entirely new areas and ecosystems, replicating the immense success we have had to date, at scale.”
Chinese question and answer platform Zhihu has completed a $55 million Series C financing round led by Tencent Holdings. An announcement by the company’s co-founder Zhou Yuan, reported by China Money Network, said the funding values Zhihu at over $300 million. Sogou, SAIF Partners, Innovation Works and Qiming Venture Partners all participated in the round. Zhihu was founded in 2010 and raised $22 million in Series B funding in 2014.
Cask Data, a provider of an open source platform to build applications on Hadoop software, has announced a $20 million Series B financing round led by Safeguard Scientifics. Battery Ventures, Ignition Partners and other existing investors also participated. “Big data has moved into the mainstream, but enterprises continue to struggle with the complexities and new skill sets required in the Hadoop ecosystem,” said Cask Founder and CEO, Jonathan Gray. “Because our platform can layer on top of any distribution, instantly integrate with new and existing data stores, and easily support both Spark or MapReduce, it delivers real value for enterprises in a data-heavy environment, slashing development and deployment timelines. We are excited to be a part of the Safeguard family of partner companies. This financing, along with the operational expertise and guidance from our new board members Phil and Frank, will allow us to take Cask to the next level.”
M.Gemi, a direct-to-consumer provider of handcrafted Italian shoes, has closed an $18 million Series B investment round. Accel led the round, with participation from all existing investors, including General Catalyst Partners, Forerunner Ventures and Breakaway Ventures. M.Gemi has now raised a total of $32 million. “The luxury category has sold at high price points with high margins for so long that it obscured the need to innovate,” CEO Ben Fischman said. “We saw this void and set out to offer clients with a uniquely compelling way to satisfy her appetite for high-quality shoes.”