Funding Daily: A Japanese gaming company pours big bucks into a newsreader

Here are today’s funding deals:

SmartNews snatches up $36M

Japanese news reading app SmartNews just received a fat $36 million in second round funding from International investment firm Atomico and mobile-social gaming company Gree to push its product outside the borders of Japan. SmartNews finds and categorizes trending news using algorithms, like Flipboard, but also mines Twitter for hot comments. The app, available on iOS and Android, carries news from over 100 sources, according to TechinAsia.

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Read more on VentureBeat: Japanese newsreader SmartNews snatches up $36M to go global

Quettra grabs $2.9M

And you think apps that track your location are bad! Quettra, a mobile intelligence startup that compiles massive amounts of information about mobile users, just closed a seed round in the amount of $2.9 million. Quettra knows that mobile advertisers can never have enough data about customers. And investors know that, too. This explains why several big names threw down dollars at the startup during the funding round, including Google Ventures, Horizon Ventures, Data Collective, Miramar Digital Ventures, CrunchFund, and SV Angel. Several angel investors participated, too.

Read more on VentureBeat: Quettra gets $2.9M in new funding to give advertisers more customer data

Chupamobile raises $1.3M

The next viral game hit might come from … an app template? That’s the model behind app-in-a-box startup Chupamobile, which today announced a $1.3 million raise to expand its catalog of app templates. The London-based Chupamobile operates a site where developers can sell the source code for their apps and games. There, customers without programming skills or a copious supply of capital can cheaply purchase a stock app template, make a few tweaks, throw in a few ads, and release the app on iOS and Android.

Read more on VentureBeat: Pay $100 for a Flappy Bird knockoff, reskin it, and cross your fingers for a hit