Symphony Communication Services, a secure messaging service, has raised more than $100 million in funding. New investors including Google, Lakestar, Natixis, Societe Generale and UBS participated in the investment round, as did previous backers such as Merus Capital. The company previously raised a total of $66 million. “This financing is a vote of confidence in Symphony’s value proposition and benefits to business users,” said David Gurle, founder and CEO of Symphony. “We are making a major leap toward a safer and more productive method of communication for individuals, teams and businesses. We are delighted to have the support of our new and existing investors to enhance our market leadership.”
China’s 58.com, an online marketplace, has announced it subsidiary 58 Daojia has raised a $300 million Series A funding round. Alibaba, KKR and Ping An Group all participated in the investment round. 58 Daojia provides information and access to offline services such as cleaning, moving and babysitting. Michael Jinbo Yao, Chairman and CEO of 58.com, commented, “We are excited to welcome Alibaba, KKR and Ping An as partners as we develop 58 Home into an ecosystem that efficiently matches our many users with local service providers. The 300 million and growing population of digitally literate middle class consumers in China has created a huge but still nearly untapped market for online-to-offline home services. There is a strong need for experienced, trustworthy and effective home service professionals in China, and 58 Home is in a unique position to lead this local services revolution.”
Wynd, a French startup offering discovery, ordering, payment and reward solutions to restaurants, has raised $7.8 million Series A funding round, TechCrunch reports. Wynd looks to target larger chains of restaurants which have not updated their different systems in a long time. Alven Capital provided the funding, with participation from Orange Digital Ventures. The company aims to use the finds to hire more people, improve its product and expand.
Cabify, a Spanish private driver and taxi ride application, has raised $12 million in Series B funding. Rakuten, the Asian –ecommerce company, led the round, with participation from Seaya Ventures and others. The company will use the funds to expand its operations in the 11 cities it currently operates in, which includes Spain, Chile, Peru, Colombia and Mexico. Cabify also plans to begin operating in several new cities across Latin America.