Series A
Gene-therapy startup AAVLife has raised $12 million in a Series A funding round led by Versant Ventures. Inserm Transfert Initiative contributed to the investment. The Paris-based company concentrates on rare diseases.
Car buying and selling company Beepi has gained $5 million in its second round of funding, its Series A. Jeff Brody of Redpoint Ventures led the investment, which was joined by Fabrice Grinda, Jose Marin, Tina Sharkey, Rich Boyle, Brian Sharples and Silicon Valley Bank. The company had earlier secured $1.2 million in seed funding. The company is based in Los Altos, California.
Series C
Mobile Smart Services company ItsOn Inc. has gained $12.5 million in Series C funding. Tenaya Capital led the round, which saw contributions from current backer Andreessen Horowitz. The Redwood City company had raised $15.5 million in its Series B round from Andreessen Horowitz, SV Angel and an investor group led by Jim Davidson, according to a press release. Total VC backing comes to $40 million.
Woburn, MA-based SilverRail, which delivers passenger rail search and distribution technologies, has received $40 million in a Series C investment round, says a press release. Mithril Capital Management led the funding; current backers Canaan Partners, Brook Ventures, and Sutter Hill Ventures contributed. “Today, the SilverRail platform is connected to markets accounting for $60 billion in rail transactions throughout North America and Europe,” according to a press release.
According to reports, Betterment has received $32 million in a Series C funding round. Northwestern Mutual Capital, Globespan Capital Partners, Citi Ventures, Bessemer Venture Partners, Anthemis Group, and Menlo Ventures invested. Total backing comes to $45 million. New York-based Betterment is an online investment account, says its LinkedIn.
Funding
New York-based personal finance company LearnVest has raised $28 million in fresh funding, according to reports. Northwestern Mutual Capital led the investment; American Express Ventures and Accel Partners participated. Total backing behind LearnVest now exceeds $72 million.
Marketing automation company Act-On Software has gained $42 million in a funding round led by Technology Crossover Ventures (TCV). Norwest Venture Partners, US Venture Partners, Trinity Ventures and Voyager Capital contributed. The marketing automation industry will swell to $1.2 billion this year, says Raab Associates Inc. “Act-On grew at almost twice that rate in 2013 and expects this rate of growth to continue,” the Beaverton, Oregon company said in a press release.
Avvo, Inc., the biggest legal marketplace, Q&A forum and directory in the world, has realized a $37.5 million funding round, according to a press release. Coatue Management led the investment; Benchmark Capital, DAG Ventures and Ignition Partners contributed. Total backing behind the Seattle company now reaches $60.5 million. The company rates nearly all, 97 percent, of America’s lawyers.
M&A
Zebra Technologies Corporation will pick up Schaumburg, Illinois-based Motorola’s Enterprise business at a cost of $3.45 billion, with the deal made up entirely of cash. The Enterprise business had around $2.5 billion pro-forma sales last year, excluding sales of its iDEN products, according to a press release. Meanwhile, Zebra Technologies, a Lincolnshire, IL-based “industry leader in barcode and enterprise printing, asset tracking, Internet of Things (IoT) solutions, and motion and location sensing,” did sales of $1.0 billion in the same period.
San Francisco-based Twitter has agreed to pick up its partner, Gnip. The latter company, which has worked with the microblogging platform for four years, has provided upwards of 2.3 trillion Tweets to customers across 42 countries, says Boulder, CO-based Gnip in a blog post.
Titan Aerospace is joining Mountain View-based Google, the company announced on its website. The Moriarty, New Mexico-based drone startup also said in a statement that “it’s still early days for the technology we’re developing, and there are a lot of ways that we think we could help people, whether it’s providing Internet connections in remote areas or helping monitor environmental damage like oil spills and deforestation.”
Bazaarvoice, Inc., which links brands and retailers with real consumers’ voices where they shop, has purchased social media curation venture FeedMagnet, according to a press release. The deal’s value came to $9 million, cash. Both companies are based in Austin, Texas.