Google has participated in a new round of funding for Symphony Communication Services, valuing the company at $650 million, reports Dow Jones. The deal is expected to close this week. Launched last year, the Palo Alto-based messaging service has previously received financing from Wall Street giants including Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, JP Morgan and BlackRock. Symphony hopes its… Read More
from TechCrunch
This morning IBM announced plans to acquire Cleversafe, a Chicago-based data storage vendor. The move appears to be a way to sure up IBM’s hybrid cloud storage chops. Terms of the deal were not available. Cleversafe was founded in 2004, and was well ahead of its time when it came to anticipating the big data revolution. According to its website, the company foresaw the coming data… Read More
from TechCrunch
Neumob, a service that helps mobile app developers get their in-app content to users faster, today announced that it has raised an $8.5 million Series A round led by Accel Partners. Additional investors include Shasta Ventures, Eniac Ventures and Lightbank Ventures, as well as a number of private investors, including RealNetworks founder and CEO Rob Glaser. Read More
from TechCrunch
Today Google was granted a patent for using holograms in a head mounted display like Google Glass. It would effectively let Google create augmented reality experiences that superimpose computer-generated imagery (CGI) atop the real world. Filed in March 2014, the patent shows Google’s research into how it could merge its head mounted display technology with AR. But what’s perhaps… Read More
from TechCrunch
Brilliant entrepreneurs are wasting their talents trapped inside Seattle’s big tech companies like Microsoft and Amazon. Pioneer Square Labs wants to give them a startup to run. Today with $12.5 million from 12 VCs and 50 angels, Pioneer Square Labs launches its startup studio. Based in Seattle, PSL’s team of experienced founders, investors, and former CTOs will test tons of… Read More
from TechCrunch
French dating app Happn just raised a $14 million Series B round from Idinvest with participation from Alven Capital, DN Capital, Raine Ventures and business angels, such as Fabrice Grinda, David Wolfson and Gil Penchina. Previously, the company had raised an $8 million Series A round.
As a reminder, Happn uses your phone’s location to show you potential matches. Every time you cross… Read More
from TechCrunch
Today, educational startup General Assembly announced a series D round of funding of $70M.
Here’s what CEO Jake Schwartz had to say about the news, including the addition of a new board member:
Today we are announcing a new round of funding for General Assembly, representing over $70 million in capital from a group of leading investors. Our new investors are Advance Publications and… Read More
from TechCrunch
Today, Google announced that it will be adopting a new standard for carrier messaging called Rich Communications Services (RCS), thus eventually moving on from SMS. The company also announced the acquisition of Jibe Mobile to help bring RCS to its Android products. Here’s what Mike Dodd, Android RCS Software Engineer and Minister of Messaging had to say (and how cool is his title?):… Read More
from TechCrunch
There’s no shortage of services trying to drive traditional financial planners into extinction. Think Wealthfront, Personal Capital, Betterment and Intuit-owned Mint.com, among them. Today, another company personal finance tools company is publicly joining the fray: aboutLife, a three-year-old, San Francisco-based, eight-person startup that quietly raised $3 million in Series A funding… Read More
from TechCrunch
French startup accelerator Numa started as a nonprofit organization 15 years ago. Since then, everything has changed in the French tech ecosystem. Numa doesn’t have the same name, office, business model and now shareholders. After successfully raising $1.1 million (1 million euros) in a crowdfunding campaign, the organization has sold more equity to third-party investors — this… Read More
from TechCrunch