Funding daily: $17M promises to help mine data for farmers

Here are the latest funding stories for today. If you have funding news to share, send it to tips@venturebeat.com.

Affinity gets $14.5M to help businesses sell you more stuff

Marketing technology startup Affinity Solutions closed a $14.5 million round of financing from Chestnut Hill Ventures. Affinity Solutions analyzes credit card transactions and leverages that data to help companies delivering relevant offers to consumers. It serves as an intermediary between banks and retailers, and helps drive card-focused loyalty marketing programs. Clients include over 4,000 banks and 25,000 retail partners, including major corporations like Sephora, PETCO, Target, and Walmart.

$17 million invested in something we actually need: food

Data analytics are all the rage these days, with startups chomping at the bit to analyze and leverage tweets, likes, and vague online transactions into money. But there is no replacement for good, old-fashioned industry, even in the technology world. Solum, which provides advanced field measurements for commercial agriculture, just closed $17 million in a second round led by VC heavyweight Andreessen Horowitz. The concept is simple: Solum provides data to help commercial farms maximize productivity, increase profitability, and manage resources. Clearly, its investors are aware that every person on the planet relies on food to survive. Solum will use the money to continue expanding into the global food production industry.

Avalara makes taxes less painful for businesses

Death and taxes. They are unavoidable and generally painful. Unless you are Avalara, a provider of cloud-based sales tax automation, and just raised $20 million. Avalara’s oftware calculates VAT, sales, and use taxes for small to mid-sized businesses, helping them manage indirect taxes and keep track of how transitional taxes effect their finances. The company currently serves tens of thousands of registered users. The round was led by Battery Ventures.

Big Frame draws in $3M to help you become a YouTube star

Los-Angeles based YouTube media company Big Frame received $3 million in seed funding in an effort to help aspiring artists develop careers in online video production. Big Frame works with clients to find and expand audiences, grow revenue, and produce quality content. The company currently works with over 100 channels, and its network comprises over 8 million monthly unique viewers.

Big Frame also works to connect brands with talent and has created original content for over 100 global clients, including 20th Century Fox, Levis, and The Home Depot. Anthem Venture Partners, Daher Capital, DFJ Frontier, LaunchPad LA, New World Ventures, and The Media Farm contributed to this first round.

[Top image credit: Dwight Smith/Shutterstock]