Salesforce made its name originally with cloud-based software to help salespeople manage their leads and close deals; and today the company took a big step into the business of sales itself. Today the company announced that it would spend $2.8 billion to acquire Demandware, a cloud-based provider of e-commerce services to businesses big and small. The deal also will spearhead a new business… Read More
from TechCrunch
Romulus Capital has raised its third—and largest—fund to back early-stage startups, many sourced in labs at MIT, the alma mater of the firm’s two young General Partners, Neil Chheda and Krishna K. Gupta.
The duo closed their newest fund, Romulus Capital III LP, at $75 million. They intend to lead seed or series A deals in 15 to 20 companies from it, they said.
The general… Read More
from TechCrunch
Back in April Nokia announced it was buying health and fitness focused gadget maker Withings for €170 million (~$190M). At the time it was expecting the acquisition to close in Q3 but it has now confirmed the close of the transaction ahead of schedule. Following the acquisition, Withings co-founder and CEO Cedric Hutchings has been made head of a new Digital Health business unit at… Read More
from TechCrunch
Lost My Name, the London-based “full-stack” publisher and kids content startup, has added a new investor to its impressive list of backers that already includes Google Ventures, Greycroft and Forward Parters. This time Berlin-based Project A Ventures has invested €4 million in the company in what is being described as an extension to Lost My Name’s original $9 million Series… Read More
from TechCrunch
There’s a new early-stage fund in town — town being Southeast Asia. Singapore-based Jungle Ventures, the VC firm that launched a $100 million fund last year, today announced a new fund focused on seed stage investments in the region. Read More
from TechCrunch
Whill, a startup dedicated to building better wheelchairs and mobility devices, plans to enter the European market after raising a $17.5 million Series B. The round was led by Eight Road Ventures with participation from other investors including Mirai Creation Investment Limited Partnership and Golden Asia Fund II. Read More
from TechCrunch
Marketo, the marketing software giant that went public in 2013, is being taken private again: PE firm Vista Equity Partners has acquired the company for $1.79 billion in an all-cash deal. The news ends weeks of speculation in which people guessed that Marketo would be snapped up potentially by strategics like Microsoft (who is a big partner of Marketo) or SAP. In the end, it’s a PE… Read More
from TechCrunch
Twiggle, a Tel Aviv-based startup that is developing a new e-commerce search engine, announced today that it has added Alibaba Group as a new investor. Alibaba’s funding counts as the second tranche of Twiggle’s Series A round. Read More
from TechCrunch
Tynker, a startup that creates apps and curricula that teach kids the basics of coding using games and real-world gadgets, is looking to grow — and has raised $7.1 million in a Series A funding round to do so. Read More
from TechCrunch
Lalamove, one of a number of companies offering logistics on-demand in China and across Asia, has closed $10 million in funding as it targets profitability this year. Read More
from TechCrunch