Happy Tuesday, dear readers!

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Top News in the A.M.

SurveyMonkey has a new CEO this morning: It’s former Hewlett-Packard executive Bill Veghte. Recode has the scoop here.

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Eric Vishria on Year One at Benchmark

In July of last year, Eric Vishria, a longtime Opsware executive who became co-founder and CEO of the social browsing startup Rockmelt, joined the Sand Hill Road firm Benchmark as its fifth general partner. It’s an enviable position, given the reputation of the 20-year-old firm, which has backed Uber, Snapchat, and the publicly traded companies Twitter, Hortonworks and Zendesk, among many others.

At Benchmark, which famously sticks to its early-stage knitting, with recent funds all closing at $425 million, general partners also have an equal share in the firm. That’s rather unlike most venture firms, where older partners typically receive outsize economics (and younger partners often hightail it for greener pastures).

That’s not to say the work is easy, exactly. We talked with Vishria yesterday about his first year on the job. Our chat has been edited for length.

How’s it going one year in?

It’s been really amazing. Don’t tell entrepreneurs this, but it’s the best job ever. Every meeting you walk into, you’re learning something. You’re meeting with an entrepreneur, learning about a new space or idea . . . It’s just such an intellectually stimulating job. I find it very inspiring.

How do you keep from getting overly excited about the new ideas you’re seeing? We’d think that would be tricky at first.

I’ve now seen about 180 companies – I track it – and in the first few weeks, I was like, “Oh my God, all of these ideas are investable!” And they weren’t.

More here.

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New Fundings

Bugsnap, a three-year-old, San Francisco-based company whose automated crash-detection platform helps developers quickly see and understand what’s causing “exceptions” to their service, has raised $7.2 million in Series A funding led by Benchmark, with participation from earlier investor Matrix Partners. The company had earlier raised $1.4 million in seed funding. More here.

Doppler Labs, a 1.5-year-old, New York-based maker of volume-reducing earplugs, has raised $17 million in Series B funding led by The Chernin Group,Wildcat Capital Management and Acequia Capital. Other participants in the round include Live National Entertainment, Universal Music Group and WME. TechCrunch has more here.

GlassesGlobalGroup, a two-year-old, Kuala Lumpur-based eyeglass retailer founded by a former Rocket Internet executive, has raised $3 million in Series A funding led by Caixa Capital and Nova Founders Capital, with participation from angel investors. The company has now raised $4.5 million altogether. TechCrunch has more here.

Harry’s, a 3.5-year-old, New York-based direct-to-consumer men’s razor company, has raised $75.6 million in Series C funding led by Wellington Management. A source tells TechCrunch that the company raised the round at a post-money valuation of $750 million. Harry’s has now raised around $287 million altogether.

Hector Beverages, a six-year-old, New Delhi, India-based maker of beverages for Indian consumers, has raised roughly $28.7 million in Series C funding led by the Belgian investor Sofina and by China’s Hillhouse Capital. Earlier backers Sequoia Capital and Catamaran Ventures also joined the round, which brings the company’s total funding to $36.7 million, shows Crunchbase. The Economic Times has more here.

Hotel Urbano, a three-year-old, Rio de Janerio, Brazil-based hotel search and booking platform, has raised $60 million in strategic funding from the discount travel outfit Priceline Group. The company had previously raised $75 million from Tiger Global Management and Insight Venture Partners.  TechCrunch has more here.

Liases Foras, a 16-year-old, Mumbai, India-based intelligence company focused on regional real estate data (it sells to banks, real estate developers, and government entities, among others), has raised $5 million in funding from Dmgi, the venture capital arm of Daily Mail and General Trust (DMGT), a publicly traded company. More here.

Saavn, an eight-year-old, New York-based streaming music service for Indian, Bollywood and international content, has raised $100 million in Series C funding led by Tiger Global Management. A spokesperson tells TechCrunch that the round values Saavn at between $300 million and $400 million. More here.

SlimPay, a five-year-old, Paris, France-based payment service provider, has just raised $16.6 million from Prime Ventures. TechCrunch has more here.

Talent.io, a months-old, Paris-based recruiting company focused on pairing clients with engineering talent, has raised $2.2 million from Alven Capital, Elaia Partners, Ventech, and angel investors, including Thierry Petit of Showroomprive. TechCrunch has more here.

Transifex, a six-year-old, Menlo Park, Ca.-based company whose open-source software helps developers translate websites and apps into multiple languages, has raised $4 million in Series A funding led by Toba Capital, with participation from earlier backers New Enterprise Associates, Arafura Ventures, and angel investors, including Parse founder Ilya Sukhar. The company, originally founded in Athens, Greece, has now raised $6.5 million altogether. More here.

Whipclip, a year-old, Santa Monica, Ca.-based company whose mobile application lets users quickly and legally share clips from their favorite TV shows and music videos, has raised $40 million in Series C funding led by Eminence Capital, with participation from earlier backers Institutional Venture Partners and Raine Ventures. More here.

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New Funds

Costanoa Venture Capital, a three-year-old, Palo Alto, Ca.-based early stage investor in cloud-based services for businesses and consumers leveraging data and analytics, has closed its second fund with $135 million, bringing its total capital under management to $325 million. Costanoa was founded by Greg Sands, who was previously a longtime managing director at Sutter Hill Ventures. The firm has made four bets from its new fund, including Alation, Apptimize, Bugcrowd, and Directly. (Winter Mead, a senior associate at Sapphire Ventures, talked with Sands recently about the new fund and Sands’s specific approach to VC. You can check that out here.)

Unicorn Capital Partners, a seven-month-old, Hong Kong-based venture firm that apparently aspires to fund billion-dollar companies in China, has raised $12 million in capital committments per an SEC filing flagged by Fortune. More here. The firm is reportedly led by Kah Fai Low, most recently the executive director of Singapore-based Eagle Asia Partners, and Tommy Yip, previously head of North Asia for the private equity fund-of-funds manager Emerald Hill Capital Partners.

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IPOs

So, how serious is that SEC probe of pre-IPO shares?

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People

Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg is taking a seat on the board ofSurveyMonkey, her late husband’s online survey and polling company, reports the New York Times. Goldberg, who passed away while on vacation in May, spent six years as CEO of SurveyMonkey, which is considered likely to go public soon. The company has also appointed David Ebersman to its board. Ebersman is the co-founder and current CEO of Lyra Health and was previously CFO of Facebook. (As noted in “top news in the a.m.,” the company just named a new CEO, too.)

A look at the “insanely successful life” of Uber‘s billionaire CEO, Travis Kalanick, via Business Insider.

Notable angel investors, per the New York Times.

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Jobs

Lightbank, the venture firm founded by serial entrepreneurs Eric Lefkofsky and Brad Keywell, is looking to hire an associate. The job is in Chicago.

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Essential Reads

For startups, how many angels is too many?

Probing the dark side of Google’s ad-targeting program.

The mob’s IT department.

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Detours

Greece’s debt crisis explained.

A world of driverless cars would reduce emissions by 90 percent, says Lawrence Berkeley National Labs.

Loving Lanka.

Evil cat ruins yoga video.

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Retail Therapy

Calvin Klein’s Miami beach house. It can be yours for $16 million (though note, its “Zestimate” is $10.5 million). H/T: Uncrate.

Welcome back, everyone. Hope you had a terrific Fourth of July weekend.:)

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Top News in the A.M.

Google is testing a carpooling service for commuters in Israel.

Apple just filed a new patent that will let people send money to one another directly.

Yesterday, while millions watched the Women’s World Cup, one of the world’s most notorious security firms was being hacked. More here.

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China-Based Firms Backing Out of U.S. Indices? Maybe Not

It’s been a big story of late. As of mid-June, 14 U.S.-traded China-based companies had received buyout offers valued at a collective $22.4 billion, according to Dealogic. The highest profile of the bunch is Internet services provider Qihoo 360, which, several weeks ago, announced it had received a buyout offer led by its chairman and CEO — one that would make it the “largest take-private deal of a U.S.-listed company,” said the WSJ.

The reason for all the take-private talk? China’s stock market, which has roared along for much of this year, thanks to a series of moves by the Chinese government, including cutting benchmark interest rates, reducing stock market transaction fees — even reconsidering its stance on what are called variable interest entity structures, which are used by China-based companies to list in the U.S. and are hard to unwind.

China, in short, wants its companies to come home.

“The government wants to build its own capital markets,” says Glenn Solomon, a managing partner of the cross-border venture firm GGV Capital who we talked with last week. “It wants to see capital stay in China and continue to be invested in China.”

The question is whether companies are smart to listen.

(More on what’s changing fast in China here.)

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New Fundings

23andMe, the nine-year-old, Mountain View, Ca.-based human genome research company, is raising a giant new round of funding, shows an SEC filingthat says it’s targeting $150 million and has so far raised $79.1 million. The company had previously raised $111.9 million in funding from investors, including Google Ventures, New Enterprise Associates, Genentech, Johnson and Johnson, and Yuri Milner. Fortune has more here.

AffinityLive, a four-year-old, San Francisco-based company that helps service businesses via its cloud-based technologies that run sales, projects and billing on the same platform, has raised $2 million in seed funding led by the Australian venture firm Blackbird Ventures, with participation from Rothenberg Ventures and a handful of angels. TechCrunch has more here.

BankBazaar, a seven-year-old, Chennai, India-based startup that helps users compare financial products online, has raised $60 million in Series C funding led by Amazon, with participation from Fidelity Growth Partners, Mousse Partners, and returning investors Sequoia Capital and Walden International. TechCrunch has more here.

Bizzy, a months-old, Jakarta, Indonesia-based business-to-business marketplace, has raised $2.5 million from regional venture firm Ardent Capital. TechCrunch has more here.

CultureAlley, a three-year-old, Jaipur, India-based online language learning platform, has raised $6.5 million in Series A funding from Tiger Global Management, with participation from earlier backers Kae Capital and 500 Startups. VCCircle has the story here.

eTouches, a seven-year-old, Norwalk, Ct.-based in-cloud event management software maker, has raised $10 million in new funding shows an SEC filing. The company had previously raised $22 million from investors, including Cava Capital and Greycroft Partners.

HandyHome, a six-month-old, Mumbai, India-based company whose service sounds a bit like that of Geek Squad (the Best Buy subsidiary), has raised $500,000 in seed funding from Bessemer Venture Partners and Kae Capital. More here.

Kuldat, a three-year-old, Boston, Ma.- and Milan, Italy-based maker of marketing and sales software, has raised €1.5 million ($1.7 million) in funding from United Ventures. More here.

Sailsquare, a three-year-old, Milan, Italy-based platform focused on sailing holidays (it presents uses with profiles of skippers, boats, user reviews and a payment platform), has raised €500,000 ($555,700) in seed funding from backers, including Ligurcapital.

Salsify, a nearly three-year-old, Boston, Ma.-based company whose software helps businesses manage the content about their products, has raised $16.6 million in Series B funding led by Venrock, with participation from earlier investors Matrix Partners, North Bridge Venture Partners, and investor Michael Skok (formerly of North Bridge). The company has now raised $24.6 million altogether.

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New Funds

The private equity firm Cathay Capital Private Equity has launched Sino-French Innovation Fund, a cross-border investment vehicle that plans to fund start-ups in France and China, and to raise between €200 million to €250 million ($277 million) in funding toward that end. China Money Network has more here.

There’s a new venture fund in town called Crystal Towers, reports TechCrunch. Backed by several early Y Combinator alums, it will start out with between $90 million and $100 million to invest in the most promising companies in every batch of startups to pass through the famed accelerator program. More here.

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Exits

Publicly traded Allergan is acquiring Oculeve, a development-stage medical device company focused on developing treatments for dry eye disease. The purchase price for the all-cash transaction: a $125 million upfront payment, with the possibility of future, milestone payments related to Oculeve’s lead development program. Oculeve had raised at least $32.3 million from investors, shows Crunchbase, including Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and New Enterprise Associates.

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People

Ratan Tata, the famed chairman emeritus of the software conglomerate Tata Sons, has joined the Singapore-based venture firm Jungle Ventures as a special advisor just a few weeks after accepting a similar role with the firm Kalaari Capital in Bangalore, India. The Economic Times has the story here.

Industry observers seem convinced anew that the responsibilities of Jony Ive, Apple‘s newly appointed Chief Design Officer, are shrinking — not growing. More here.

Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers gives Business Insider a peek into its “thrilling” summer internship program.

Pejman Mar Ventures, the seed-stage fund, is launching a $250,000 startup competition. Any student, faculty or alum of UC Berkeley can win it. More here.

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Jobs

Cisco Investments is looking to add an associate. The job is in San Jose.

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Essential Reads

Securities regulators have launched a broad investigation into whether hedge funds and other investors are improperly selling hot private technology stocks,reports the WSJ.

Can Lyft pull an Avis?

Barron’s takes readers inside Legacy Venture, a Silicon Valley-based fund-of-funds with $1 billion under management that funnels investors’ original capital, along with any profits earned, into their favorite causes and charities. Though Barron’s dubs it “high-risk” philanthropy, its performance sounds pretty strong, with holdings that include low-cost stakes in Uber, Airbnb and Dropbox.

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Detours

Before there was Wired, there was Mondo 2000.

The science of Pixar’s “Inside Out.”

Reviving a masterwork.

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Retail Therapy

The smallest GoPro yet.

Coloring books for adults.

When Mister Whiskers deserves the very best.

Hi, everyone! Happy first day of July.:)

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Top News in the A.M.

According to famed investor Steve Jurvetson (who is speaking at our September 16 event!), Google may be more serious about competing directly with Uber than it let on earlier this year when it dismissed a Bloomberg Business report that it had developed a commercial ride-share app. In fact, on Bloomberg TV yesterday, Jurvetson suggested that Google could end up undercutting Uber’s revenue by offering a service for free. “Google may very well beat them at their own game because they can get down to zero. They can take zero cut and offer a free app, which they are considering launching, called Free Ride, so this game could get very interesting,” he said. “They are considering it, they’re debating it. They’re on the fence as to whether they should offer it, but the go-to-market would be: Offer the free app, get people used to it while there are still human drivers and then flip them over to the Google autonomous cars.” Business Insider caught the exchange (and has the clip) here. Google — which invested $258 million in Uber in 2013 — isn’t responding to media inquiries for more information.

According to the (reliably accurate) blog 9to5Mac, the new iPhone 6S, expected to be announced this fall, looks pretty much exactly like the iPhone 6, but it will feature some “major internal changes.” More here.

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A Stanford Dean on the Danger of Overparenting By Parents, and Startups

In her new book, “How to Raise an Adult,” former Stanford University Dean of Freshmen Julie Lythcott-Haims argues that overparenting has grown to worrying extremes over the last decade-plus and that unchecked, it will be the ruin of society as we know it.

She noticed it in her own parenting, in fact. “There was a time when I was a finger-wagging dean, then realized: I’m still cutting my kids’ own meat, and they’re 8 and 10. I’m not judgmental, but I got this wonderful glimpse into the future where when too much is done for children, it makes them less capable.”

In conversation with this reporter, Lythcott-Haims explained how startups that similarly coddle their workers –- for the sake of making them more productive – aren’t helping things much, either.

You were at Stanford a long while. At what point did you think: It’s weird how involved all these parents have become?

I began to see it more and more over time – parents who were coming to the university with their sons and daughters and sticking around, sometimes literally and often virtually. I found it bewildering. My own experience as a student in the ‘80s didn’t include much involvement from my parents at all, and I began wondering what if my parents had been expected to register for my courses, settle roommate disputes, talk with my professors about my grades. Not that long ago, 18- to 20-year-olds had the capacity to do those things for themselves, and now, they seemed not to.

(You can read the rest of our chat here in TechCrunch.)

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New Fundings

Chrome River Technologies, an eight-year-old, L.A.-based maker of online expense reporting and automated invoice processing software, has raised $100 million in Series D funding from Great Hill Partners. Venture Capital Dispatch has more here.

Rocket Internet’s Global Fashion Group, a 10-month-old, Berlin-based umbrella group that includes Rocket Internet’s fashion-focused e-commerce services for emerging markets, has raised a fresh €150 million ($167 million) in funding, at a valuation of  €2.8 billion ($3 billion). The money comes from earlier backers Kinnevik, the Stockholm, Sweden-based investment group, and Rocket Internet itself, which now reportedly owns 24.2 percent of the company. TechCrunch has more here.

Kentik, a year-old, San Francisco-based cloud-based networking analytics company, has raised $12.1 million in Series A funding led by August Capital, with participation from First Round Capital and Data Collective. TechCrunch has more here.

MangoPlate, a two-year-old, Seoul-based service akin to Yelp in Korea, has raised $6.1 million in Series A funding led by Qualcomm Ventures, with participation from SoftBank Ventures Korea and YJ Capital, a venture capital firm established by Yahoo Japan. The company has now raised $7.2 million altogether. TechCrunch has more here.

Nativo, a five-year-old, El Segundo, Ca.-based company that enables online publishers to deploy and manage native ad placements across the Web, has raised $20 million in new funding led by Advance Vixeid Partners. Nativo had previously raised $11.2 million. Venture Capital Dispatch has more here.

Pneuron, a five-year-old, Nashua, N.H.-based company whose platform is used by organizations wanting to leverage their existing systems and infrastructure to connect data, applications, processes, and analytics, has raised $5 million in Series B-1 funding led by Safeguard Scientifics, with participation from Osage Partners and Scott Group. The company has now raised $13.2 million altogether. More here.

PubNub, a five-year-old, San Francisco-based data stream network for mobile applications and connected devices (it helps its customers scale and manage their applications), has raised $20 million in Series C funding led by Sapphire Ventures, with participation from earlier backers Relay Ventures and Scale Venture Partners. According to Crunchbase, the company has now raised $35 million altogether.

RadiumOne, a six-year-old, San Francisco, Ca.-based company that makes programmatic marketing automation software, has raised $54 million in equity and debt funding. The round was led by Harmony Partners, with participation from Industry Ventures and earlier backers Adams Street Partners, Crosslink Capital, Trinity Ventures, and DFJ Esprit. The company has now raised $87.5 million altogether, shows Crunchbase. Business Insider has more here.

ScoreBeyond, a 2.5-year-old service that helps students prepare for standardized tests like the SAT, has raised $2.8 million in funding led by Khosla Ventures. TechCrunch has more here.

SeeClickFix, a 6.5-year-old, New Haven, Ct.-based company whose platform helps citizens to report and monitor non-emergency issues in their local communities, has raised $1.6 million in funding led by Elm Street Ventures, with participation from earlier backers O’Reilly AlphaTech Ventures and Omidyar Network, as well as new investors Connecticut Innovations and LaunchCapital.

Shapeways, an eight-year-old, New York-based 3D printing marketplace, has raised $30 million in funding from investors including Andreessen Horowitz, Lux Capital, INKEF Capital, and Hewlett-Packard. Business Insider hasmore here.

SkyKick, a 3.5-year-old. Seattle, Wa.-based cloud management software company, has raised $10 million in funding from investors, including Navin Thukkaram, Tim Ferriss, Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg, and several (unnamed) strategic private equity investors. The company has now raised $17.2 million altogether.

Smartspot, a seven-month-old, New York-based computer-vision company whose smart mirror for gyms monitors a person’s workout and ensures he or she is training correctly, has raised $1.85 million in funding from from Khosla Ventures and Signalfire. TechCrunch has more here.

Sweetgreen, an eight-year-old, Washington, D.C.-based farm-to-table chain of restaurants that prepare healthy and affordable salads, has raised $35 million in new funding led by T. Rowe Price, with participation from prior investor Revolution Growth. The company has now raised $95 million altogether. TechCrunch has more here.

Trucker Path, a 1.5-year-old, San Jose, Ca.-based marketplace that connects shippers and truckers who are available to move their cargo, has raised $20 million in Series A funding led by Wicklow Capital of Chicago, with participation from China’s Renren. TechCrunch has more here.

Unikrn, a 10-month-old, Seattle-based gaming startup that’s focused on e-sports betting, has raised $7 million in funding led by Binary Capital. The company has now raised $10 million altogether, incuding from Mark Cuban, Advancit Capital, Freelands Group, 500 Startups, Indicator Ventures and Tabcorp. Gamer Network has more here.

Venafi, an 11-year-old, Salt Lake City, Ut.-based encryption key and security certificate manager, has raised $39 million in funding from Intel Capital, QuestMark Partners, and Silver Lake Waterman. The company has now raised $55 million altogether, shows Crunchbase. VentureBeat has more here.

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New Funds

Adam Hopkins, who has spent the last 11 years at Elevation Partners, including as a managing director (he joined as a principal, coming out of Silver Lake Partners), has created a new firm with Fred Anderson, a former Apple exec who cofounded Elevation. According to an SEC filing, the firm is called NextEquity Partners. It’s based in Menlo Park, Ca. And it’s not saying how much it’s raising.

Allegis Capital, a 19-year-old, Palo Alto, Ca.-based early-stage venture firm, has closed on $100 million toward a $150 million fund, it tells Venture Capital Dispatch. It also says that, more than ever, it will be investing its capital in cybersecurity startups. More here.

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Exits

Adam Hopkins, who has spent the last 11 years at Elevation Partners, including as a managing director (he joined as a principal, coming out of Silver Lake Partners), has created a new firm with Fred Anderson, a former Apple exec who cofounded Elevation. According to an SEC filing, the firm is called NextEquity Partners. It’s based in Menlo Park, Ca. And it’s not saying how much it’s raising.

Allegis Capital, a 19-year-old, Palo Alto, Ca.-based early-stage venture firm, has closed on $100 million toward a $150 million fund, it tells Venture Capital Dispatch. It also says that, more than ever, it will be investing its capital in cybersecurity startups. More here.

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People

In his last day at Twitter yesterday, outgoing CEO Dick Costolo said he underestimated the pressures that going public would place on the company and warned that things will only grow harder for his successor. More here, in the Guardian.