Here’s a list of today’s tech funding stories, updated as the day unfolds. Tip us here if you have a deal to share.
Uber may have a new rival in China, as Yidao Yongche to raise $700M
China ride-hailing app Yidao Yongche said that a unit of Beijing-based technology company LeTV has agreed to invest $700 million in the firm in return for a 70 percent stake, according to an emailed statement on Tuesday.
LeTV, which includes Shenzhen-listed Leshi Internet Information and Technology Corp Beijing, earlier on Tuesday said it would acquire the stake, becoming the controlling shareholder, without disclosing the size of its investment.
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Collective Health takes $81M from Google Ventures, others, to go nationwide
Collective Health said today it’s taking a large new funding round from Google Ventures and others to offer its health insurance management platform to employers nationwide in 2016.
The $81 million funding round comes from first-time investor Google Ventures and existing investors NEA and Founders Fund, along with Maverick Capital, Redpoint Ventures, and RRE Ventures.
Ensighten raises $53M to help companies manage sea of marketing data, vendors
The whole idea behind the Ensighten platform is to provide an “open marketing platform” where its client companies can pull in many different kinds of first- and third-party personalization and targeting data. The company has also launched a real-time mobile app optimization and deployment platform, which is designed to help developers and brands amp up in-app purchases.
The new funding round, a combination of debt and equity, totals $53 million, bringing the company’s funding total up to $108.5 million. The round was led by existing investors Insight Venture Partners, Lead Edge Capital, Mack Capital, and Volition Capital, with Silicon Valley Bank participating.
Developer of selling-tools Stitch Labs raises $15M led by Triangle Peak Partners
Stitch Labs, the developer of selling tools for retail businesses, announced today that it closed a $15 million series B round led by Triangle Peak Partners. The startup said it will use the funds from the round on user expansion.
Stitch Labs has raised at least $23 million to date.
More: Stitch Lab
Ampush gets $15M from partner Red Ventures for mobile social advertising software
Former Goldman Sachs investment banker Jesse Pujji, along with college friends Chris Amos and Nick Shah, began building a software program to help companies buy and manage mobile ads that are slipped into the news feeds on social apps.
The resulting company, San Francisco-based Ampush, is seeing some impressive growth this year, and has taken a $15 million investment from Red Ventures to continue developing its software and extending its reach to international markets. (Red Ventures, which operates a sales and marketing platform, itself scored a monstrous $250 million round in January 2015.)
Citus Data snags $9.5M round led by Khosla Ventures
Citus Data secures a $9.5 million series A funding round led by Khosla Ventures, the startup announced today. Data Collective and Vaizra Investments also participated in the investment.
The funds, Citus Data CEO Umur Cubukcu told VentureBeat, will be used to work on software’s updates and extensions.
“Early in 2016, we have our CitusDB 5.0 release coming up, which adds even more exciting high availability and write scalability features,” Cubukcu said.
Citus Data has a total of $14.4 million in venture capital.
More: Citus Data
Slack bot maker Howdy launches with $1.5M
On the strength of its bot — software that runs automated tasks — for team communication app Slack that can run virtual meetings, startup Howdy is launching today with $1.5 million in seed funding.
Bloomberg Beta, True Ventures, Betaworks, and angel investors participated in Howdy’s seed round.
Brideside closes a $1.5M round
Ecommerce service for wedding planning, Brideside, closed its seed round with $1.5 million in its pocket, the startup announced last week. The investment was led by multiple angel investors including including COO of Trunk Club and Genevieve Theirs Rob Chesney.
DreamIt Ventures also participated with a follow-on investment.
More: Brideside
Highway1 raises investment in its hardware accelerator startups to $100k
Hardware accelerator Highway1 has opened up applications for its sixth batch, but this time there’s a twist: The organization is increasing its investment up from $50,000 to $100,000 for each participating startup.
From now until November 16, startups can apply for a spot in this program run by Highway1’s Brady Forrest (the cofounder of the Ignite talk series and a former technical evangelist for O’Reilly Media). Eligible startups can elect to receive $50,000 in funding from the program in exchange for 5 percent equity, or $100,000 for 8 percent.
This list will be updated with breaking funding news all day. Check back for more.
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