Funding Daily: Dancing on my own

I love to dance. This does not mean I am good at it. Sure I used to take jazz and hip hop classes at summer camp and swung dance myself into a tizzy at Bar and Bat Mitzvahs, but I wouldn’t exactly call myself a “good dancer.” Still, I couldn’t conduct important research for my article on ChaCha’s round of funding without practicing a few dance steps. That is hard core journalism right there. 1, 2, cha cha cha.

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You got questions? ChaCha’s got $14M and answers

Curiosity may have killed the cat, but it’s what keeps ChaCha chugging along. This human powered Q&A service, in which humans answer other humans’ questions in real time, has raised a new round of $14 million. This is its seventh round of institutional funding since it was founded in 2006. This investment came from VantagePoint Capital Partners, Rho Ventures, and Qualcomm. Previous investors include Amazon’s Jeff Bezos and Morton Meyerson. ChaCha has raised a total of $82 million to date. Read more on VentureBeat.

Seagate dumps $40M into Flash-storage startup Virident

Today, hard drive giant Seagate announced it’s investing a huge $40 million chunk of change in Virident, a startup focused on Flash storage. A rep for the companies said via email that as of the deal’s announcement, Seagate will immediately start selling a complete line of Flash-based technologies to its other partners (including OEMs), and Virident will be using Seagate’s ample marketing and distribution channels. Both companies will collaborate on next-gen hardware and software designs. Virident, based in Milpitas, Calif., was founded in 2006. To date, the company has taken $103.7 million in four rounds of institutional funding. Previous investors include Sequoia Capital, Intel, and Cisco. Read more on VentureBeat.

SALT sprinkles $2 million to flavor up its payments platform

Payments startup SALT Technology has received $2 million in its first round of financing. Its platform enables carriers, banks, and merchants to quickly set up secure mobile payments, including branded mobile wallets, QR-codes, and Near Field Communication, or peer-to-peer systems. SALT did not reveal the investors, although it claims it is an “impressive list of private investors formerly from organizations including Apple and PayPal.” Read the press release. 

FarmLogs yields $1M in seed funding

FarmLogs is a Y Combinator alum that seeks to modernize the farming industry.  FarmLogs’ software helps farmers manage their farm. Today, the company based out of Ann Arbor, Mich., announced it’s harvesting $1 million in seed funding, which is led by Huron River Ventures and Hyde Park Ventures. With this investment, FarmLogs will expand its team of four and accelerate development of mobile applications for the 2013 planting season. Read more on VentureBeat.

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Photo Courtesy of Flickr user NRK P3.