Series B
App video-advertising company Vungle has secured $17 million in a Series B funding round led by Thomvest Ventures. Google Ventures, Crosslink Capital, Webb Investment Network, AOL Ventures, and SoftTech VC participated in the investment. The San Francisco company just raised $6.5 million this past August; total funding at that time was at $8.5 million. The company, which deploys in-app video ads, reports 100 million people view a Vungle ad every month.
Funding
PayNearMe, which helps facilitate cash payment transactions, has raised $20 million. GSV Capital led the investment while Maveron, True Ventures, August Capital and Khosla Ventures contributed. The funding news comes in conjunction with reports of a partnership with Family Dollar. Sunnyvale, CA-based PayNearMe now allows people to make cash payments through 17,000-plus 7-Eleven, ACE Cash Express, and Family Dollar stores.
Stockholm-based Truecaller, which can block spam calls and helps users screen others, has gained $18.8 million in funding. Sequoia Capital led the investment. The company is also partnering with Yelp to leverage the search platform’s information on businesses, including their rating on Yelp. Truecaller recently debuted its 4.0 application.
Troy, New York healthcare IT company Etransmedia Technology, Inc. has received $8.3 million in funding from Praesidian Capital and Kemper Insurance. Praesidian had originally invested $16.0 million in subordinated debt last year, according to Vikash Agrawal, co-founder and chairman of Etransmedia, in a press release. MarketsandMarkets reported healthcare IT market will become a $56.7 billion market by 2017.
Nairobi, Kenya solar systems seller M-KOPA Solar has raised $20 million to increase its customer base 20-fold by 2018. The investment consisted of a $10 million commercial-grade syndicated debt facility “fronted by” Commercial Bank of Africa (other backers in the compnay’s debt facility were the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Imprint Capital, Netri Foundation and LGT Venture Philanthropy); grants from the Shell Foundation, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and DFID UK; and re-investment from Gray Ghost Ventures. M-KOPA’s co-founder and managing director, Jesse Moore, said in a press release that Kenyans drop upwards of $1 billion each year on kerosene.
Apartment search platform Apartment List has received $6 million in a follow-on funding round led by Passport Capital and Glynn Capital. A multitude of individual investors participated in the investment. The San Francisco company, which saw revenues increase 75 percent year over year, raised $15 million in a Series A funding round this past November.
M&A
Amazon has scooped up Irvine game developer Double Helix Games. The acquisition heightens speculation that the e-commerce behemoth may be gearing up to launch its own gaming console, according to TechCrunch. Double Helix developed Xbox One game Killer Instinct, which will stay at Microsoft Studios.
China Huaxin hopes to buy Parisian Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise valued at €268 million “for 100 percent on an enterprise value basis,” according a press release. The report states Alcatel-Lucent would keep a 15 percent stake in the business.