Series A
Closely, a mobile-first marketing technology company, has secured $3 million in Series A funding. The round was led by Grotech Ventures and Steadfast Venture Capital and CNF Investments also participated. The funds will be used to build out the company’s SMB platform and expand its support for small businesses in North America, according to a press release.
GrabTaxi, a taxi hailing app which claims to be the largest in Southeast Asia, has raised a Series A round by Singapore government-backed Vertex Ventures. The exact amount of funding raised was not disclosed, although TechCrunch reports CEO and founder Anthony Tan revealed it was more than $10 million. The app currently has 250,000 monthly users and over 1 million downloads.
Updater, which offers a complete dashboard for people moving house, has raised $8 million in a Series A round from SoftBank, Second Century Ventures, IA Ventures and Commerce Ventures. The service makes the moving process easier by aggregating the various vendors needed onto one platform. Founder David Greenberg says 45 million Americans will move this year, and will each use between 10 and 15 vendors and services for each move.
Series B
EatStreet, an online and mobile food ordering platform, has raised $6 million in Series B funding. Existing investors Cornerstone Opportunity Partners, Independence Equity, Great Oaks Venture Capital participated, as did CSA Partners, Silicon Valley Bank, and other angels. The company is enjoying rapid expansion and added 3,000 new restaurants to its service in the past three months, reports TechCrunch.
Panoramic camera maker Altia Systems has raised a Series B funding round worth $10.5 million. The round was led by Intel Capital and will be used to help the Cupertino, California–based company expand its PanaCast Personal Panoramic Video System, which offers a panoramic high-definition video stream.
Series C
Social writing platform WattPad raised a Series C funding round worth $46 million. The round was led by OMERS Ventures and included August Capital, Raine Ventures and Northleaf Venture Catalyst Fund, as well as all existing investors. Wattpad has around 25 million monthly active users, according to its CEO Allen Lau, and has previously raised a $17.3 million Series B round in 2012.
NetProspex, which provides a business to business contact information solution, has raised a $13 million Series C funding round. Spring Lake Equity Partners and Edison Ventures participated, among others. The company plans to use the funding to boost its product, sales and marketing. NetProspex revealed a 72 percent increase in quarter over quarter bookings for the first quarter of 2014.
Series F
Tel Aviv, Israel-based marketing technology company Kenshoo has raised a $20 million Series F round. The round puts the company’s valuation at between $400 million and $500 million, according to the Wall Street Journal. It was also reported that the company’s annual revenue is between $50 million and $100 million. The round was led by Bain Capital Ventures, Bain partner Deepak Sindwani will join the Kenshoo board. Existing investors Sequoia Capital, Arts Alliancce and Tenaya Capital also participated in the round.
Funding
Internet of Things early stage technology company Neura has attracted $2 million in funding, led by venture capital firm Greenhouse Capital Partners, alongsideSingTel Innov8 Ventures, Pitango Venture Capital, TriplePoint Ventures, and prominent angel investors, including Ben Narasin and Isaac Applbaum. Research by Gartner has predicted the Internet of Things installed base will grow to 26 billion units by 2020.