Series A
Drive Capital led a $4 million Series A round for Ann Arbor-based software company FarmLogs, which provides digital solutions to farmers. Huron River Ventures, Hyde Park Venture Partners and Hyde Park Angels contributed. The company had previously raised $1 million in seed funding last year. Net income for farms in the U.S. as of November, 2013 stood at $131 billion, according to data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
San Francisco-based mobile tech company Nextbit Systems, though still in stealth mode, has announced an $18 million Series A led by Accel Partners and Google Ventures. The startup has ties to Accel as both founders Tom Moss and Mike Chan serve as Entrepreneurs-in-Residence at the firm. Nextbit’s team of former Amazon, Apple, Dropbox and Google engineers are developing a product that will reportedly disrupt mobile’s core technology.
Series B
Contently, “the storytelling platform,” has raised $9 million Series B from Sigma Prime, Sigma West, Lightbank, Contour Ventures and angel investor David Lerner. The New York-based company first raised a $2 million Series A in 2012. Revenues at the publishing platform for companies and journalists have ramped up 400 percent since last year. Contently caters to nearly 30,000 freelancers and 40+ Fortune 500 businesses.
Series C
Bullpen Capital has led a $20 million Series C round of funding for email marketing company, LiveIntent. Alpha Capital, Valor Capital, and VR also pumped money into the New York-based company, whose total funding now exceeds $32 million. LiveIntent counts The Weather Channel, Kraft and Chrysler as among its customers, and the company reports revenues have tripled over the last year. LiveIntent also pursues programmatic marketing, a segment which industry research indicates drew the participation of 85 percent of marketers in 2013.
FRX Polymers, Inc., which creates clean flame retardant products, has received $12 million in Series C funding. Evonik Venture Capital GMBH led the round while Capricorn Venture Partners, DB Masdar Cleantech Fund, SAM Private Equity, BASF Venture Capital, Israel Cleantech Ventures and Triton Systems among others participated. The company has also opened a new, green polymer plant in Antwerp.
EquityMetrix LLC, which furnishes big data solutions for the oil and gas industry, has gained $5 million in growth funding. Capital came from Peterson Partners. The company claims it helps customers recover 1 percent their total revenues. That’s no small amount with the global gas and oil market valued in the trillions of dollars.
Funding
Technology Crossover Ventures led a $30 million funding in Australian web portal SiteMinder for online hotel distribution. In the last year, SiteMinder has launched in the U.S. and ramped up revenues by 70 percent. The company drove revenues upwards of $5 billion to hotel customers for the same period, twice that of the year before.
De Hoge Dennen Capital and Global Cleantech Capital have injected €9 million ($11.8 million) into Eyefreight, the Utrecht, Netherlands-based SaaS transportation company. Money will go toward establishing an American headquarters in Evanston, IL. ARC Advisory Group forecasted in 2011 that the total business for worldwide Transportation Management Systems (TMS) software and services would exceed $1.3 billion dollars.
Tencent injected HK$1.5 billion ($195 million) into logistics company, China South City Holdings. The Chinese companies will partner up to deploy cohesive online and IRL services. Shenzhen-headquartered Tencent, perhaps most famous for its WeChat app, now plays strategic investor to China South City holdings and looks to take on a rival titan: Alibaba.
M&A
U.K.-based flash sales travel site Secret Escapes has scooped up JustBook of Germany, which concentrates on mobile booking. The move hints at consolidation activity in the worldwide travel industry. Revenues at Secret Escapes increased year-over-year by 400 percent.