Funding Daily: Today’s tech funding news, in one place

Kia Kokalitcheva @imkialikethecar December 9, 2014 8:57 AM

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.

Change.org raises $25M as it prepares to release a mobile app

Almost every hour, one petition on Change.org convinces decision-makers to take the action it asks of them. The company, whose service enables people and organizations to set up online petitions, is also fast approaching its eighth birthday, and announced today it has raised $25 million in new funding.

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Nginx gets $20M, because an open-source web server is just the beginning

Developers know Nginx as a popular open-source web server they can use to run websites. But some of the people behind Nginx, at the startup by the same name, aren’t content with that achievement on its own. They want to build a big company around the technology. Which is why investors are now giving the startup $20 million, Nginx announced in a statement today.

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Samsung drives $17M investment round in Seeo to help build better batteries for electric cars

Batteries offer perhaps the greatest opportunity for innovation in the technology realm. Whoever figures out a way to pack a bigger punch into a smaller space will undoubtedly make a lot of money, which perhaps explains why Seeo is seeing so much interest from investors. The Hayward, California-based company develops rechargeable lithium-ion batteries, and it has just announced the closure of a $17 million Series E round.

Hired raises $15M

Hired, a hiring and recruiting marketplace for software engineers, designers, and technical sales, announced it has raised $15 million in new funding from Crosslink Capital, Sierra Ventures, SoftTech, SherpaVentures, Silicon Valley Bank, Comcast Ventures, and Lumia Capital. The company is also launching a new two sided marketplace for hiring.

Trackmaven raises $14M

Trackmaven, a company that provides marketers with tools to “identify marketing opportunities, optimize content distribution, and track real-time progress,” as it describes itself, announced that it has raised $14 million in new funding. New Enterprise Associates (NEA) led the round, with additional participation from Silicon Valley Bank and Bowery Capital.

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Addvocate and Trapit merge to create a brand advocacy super-engine, raise $10M

Addvocate, a startup helping companies evangelize through employees’ social media presence, is merging with Trapit, a content recommendation engine. The new company, Addvocate-Trapit, also announced it has raised $10 million in new funding.

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Nok Nok Labs raises $8.25M to enable biometric authentication for enterprise

Most people know that user ID and password authentication is a pretty weak way to secure your accounts. Nok Nok Labs wants to help usher in a new era of fingerprint and multi-factored authentication, and it just landed $8.25 million to grow its cross platform standard. Nok Nok Labs is a part of a consortium called Fast Identity Online Alliance (FIDO), which today is unveiling a new standard of strong authentication — one that doesn’t involve a password. Essentially, the organization has created a public road map for how identity authentication should be implemented across platform, quite like Secure Socket Layer (SSL) did for web communication encryption.

Kitchit raises $7.5M

Kitchit, a San Francisco-based startup that lets people book a chef for a home dinner experience or at a different venue, announced it has raised $7.5 million in new funding. Javelin Venture Partners led the round, which brings Kitchit’s total funding to $8.1 million.

VaycayHero grabs $2.8M to take the pain out of vacation rentals

Uncertainty is the last thing you want to worry about when traveling, especially when it comes to where you’re staying. VaycayHero offers a happy medium between renting home properties and ensuring that customer service is on par with hotel chains, and today the company announced that it’s closed a fresh $2.8 million seed round of funding. The consumer-facing service (formerly called Zaranga) only lists professionally managed vacation properties that it’s vetted ahead of time, which means there’s typically a team of people around to make sure your trip is pretty hassle-free.

UpCounsel grabs $2.4M, plans to expand its legal marketplace to Illinois, Texas, and more

Entrepreneurs don’t have a lot of time, and dealing with attorneys takes plenty of it. Enter UpCounsel, a two-year old startup in San Francisco, that’s created a marketplace of attorneys for business owners seeking legal help, big or small. And today, the company is announcing it has raised $2.4 million in additional seed funding.

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This list will be updated with breaking funding news all day. Check back for more.

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