It’s s’mores time! It’s chilly enough to make a fire, get cozy around it and start squishing some roasted marshmellows between delicious graham crackers.
Let’s go ahead and make the sappy connection to funding. You’ve got your venture capitalists (the sturdy graham crackers), the startups (the exciting chocolate), and the money (obviously the over-inflated marshmallow). Individually all of these things are great, but combined, they can do amazing things.
[aditude-amp id="flyingcarpet" targeting='{"env":"staging","page_type":"article","post_id":827382,"post_type":"story","post_chan":"none","tags":null,"ai":false,"category":"none","all_categories":"entrepreneur,","session":"D"}']For more funding news as it happens, subscribe to our Deals Channel feed. You can also follow VentureBeat on Twitter, @venturebeat, to view funding news as it’s published.
Mobile app search engine Quixey scores $50M led by Alibaba
AI Weekly
The must-read newsletter for AI and Big Data industry written by Khari Johnson, Kyle Wiggers, and Seth Colaner.
Included with VentureBeat Insider and VentureBeat VIP memberships.
Quixey announced today that it has raised $50 million in a third round of funding led by China’s Alibaba Group. That’s a big leap over its last few rounds, and it’s a sign that the company is on to something with its “Functional Search” technology, which lets you search for apps by describing what you’d like them to do. (For example, you can search for an app to “track my running routes.”) Read the full story on VentureBeat.
Netskope tracks cloud app usage, even ‘shadow IT’
Netskope tracks the use (and misuse) of these myriad apps, providing IT departments with enough information to keep companies efficient and safe. With a fresh $15.9 million in its coffers, the cloud analytics company emerged from stealth mode today, promising IT managers more fine-tuned control of employees’ applications than competing services like Skyhigh. Founded last year, Netskope has raised $21.4 million from The Social+Capital Partnership and Lightspeed Venture Partners. It targets enterprises with more than 500 employees. For its own part, it currently employs 50. Read the full story on VentureBeat.
Why wait for the bartender when you can pay with an app?
Tabbedout has raised $7.75 million so you can pay your bar tab from your phone. The Austin-based company’s mobile payment solution integrates with the point-of-sale systems in participating bars and restaurants, and businesses can use Tabbedout to collect data on their customers and deliver targeted rewards. It has integrated with over 70% of the hospitality POS providers in the U.S. and is available at thousands of locations nationwide. NEA, Heartland Payment Systems® and Morgan Creek Capital contributed to this round.
Pursway nabs $7.2M
[aditude-amp id="medium1" targeting='{"env":"staging","page_type":"article","post_id":827382,"post_type":"story","post_chan":"none","tags":null,"ai":false,"category":"none","all_categories":"entrepreneur,","session":"D"}']
Big-data marketing analytics company Pursway has raised a nice, big $7.2 million round of funding. The cash comes from existing investors Battery Ventures and Globespan Capital Partners and will be used to grow the team and the technology. The Pursway product was created to help companies get and keep more customers (and sell them more stuff) through the magic of big data and influencer-targeting.
The retirement crisis is coming: Jemstep can help you save for the future
Jemstep has raised $4.5 million to help people build their retirement nest egg. The company powers an online portfolio manager that looks at your existing investment portfolio and uses data analytics to recommend how to best invest your 401K savings. Jemstep’s technology compares data about every mutual fund/ETF with data about every other mutual fund/ETF to provide up-to-date market data. It combines this information with investor profiles, including financial goals, current situation, and investment preferences to make personalized recommendations for each investor.
Caleo Capital led this round, which brings its total capital raised to $15 million. It will be used to expand distribution, enhance the service, and make hires. Read the full story on VentureBeat.
Tulip gets $2.4M to be your retailer’s central online hub
Tulip wants to be the central hub for e-commerce companies. It allows retailers to bring a lot of its data, such as transactions, product information, customer information, and more into one platform as a service product. Tulip launched the platform today and also received $2.4 million in a seed round. SoftTech led the round with participation from Founder Collective, BoxGroup, Lerer Ventures, iNovia, Promus Ventures, KIMA Ventures, Matt Mullenweg, the founders of Bufferbox, and Greg Kidd.
Koality raises $1.8M
Software-testing platform Koality has raised a wee $1.8 million round led by seed-stage fund FF Angel with participation from Index Ventures and Felicis, among others. The Koality product helps large companies increase the productivity of their software development teams by giving them cloud-based, production-like environments in which to run and test code. And there’s nothing hotter right now than developer tools. If Koality’s product is as good as its word, expect to be hearing more fundraising news from this startup soon.
Gobstopper raises $1.5M to make e-reading everlasting
Gobstopper has raised $1.5 million to help teachers track their students reading. Its platform allows educators to put questions and quizzes they would normally put in worksheets into digital text. Kevin Talbot from Relay Ventures was listed on the filing.
Cohealo raises $1.5M to help hospitals manage medical equipment
A startup that bills itself as the “Uber for medical devices” just secured $750,000 in funding, bringing its total seed funding to $1.5 million. Boca Rotan, Fla.-based Cohealo isn’t a traditional medical device company. Instead, the team has developed a set of technology tools to help hospitals fully utilize their most expensive assets: medical equipment. The company’s first product informs hospitals when it’s the right time to move expensive medical technology between locations. The seed round was led by Romulus Capital in Boston, and also includes participation from several angel investors. Read the full story on VentureBeat.
VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact. Learn More