Happy Wednesday!

Thank you very much to the many of you who wrote yesterday with help for our new TechCrunch “Founders’ Questions” column. You’re such a great crew.

Also, our next StrictlyVC Insider event is coming up in about two weeks. Woot! We released a handful of tickets to those of you on the waitlist last night. Hopefully, we can let a few more of you into the event, too, over the next week or so. We wish we could let in many more guests, but the Autodesk Gallery has attendee limits and for good reason, we’re guessing. Thanks again to our friends and sponsors at Bolt, Ludlow Ventures, and GLG for all of their help; we couldn’t do it without you.

(No column today, btw.)

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Top News in the A.M.

There’s a new, long-awaited feature coming to the new Apple TV: universal search. Buzzfeed has the story here.

Amazon is expanding its “Dash Buttons” program, it announced this morning. TechCrunch has more here.

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New Fundings

Aquicore, a three-year-old, Washington, D.C.-based company that makes analytics software for energy efficiency management, has raised $3.1 million in seed funding led by 1776, an incubator in Washington. (We mentioned its new fund to you yesterday.) TechCrunch has more on the deal here.

Area360, a three-year-old, Seattle, Wa.-based mobile location technology platform (it improves visitor experiences at museums, hospitals, airports and the like using location data), has raised $3.5 million in Series A funding led by Madrona Venture Group. GeekWire has more here.

Capillary Technologies, a seven-year-old Singapore-based social CRM company, has raised $45 million in Series C funding led by Warburg Pincus, with participation from returning investors Sequoia Capital and Norwest Venture Partners. The company has now raised $79.1 million altogether. TechCrunch has more here.

Crosswise, a two-year-old, Tel Aviv, Israel-based company that provides cross-device mapping data, has raised $3 million in Series A funding led by Pereq Ventures, with participation from ZhenFund, Emerge, and earlier backers Giza Venture Capital, OurCrowd and Horizons Ventures. MediaPost has more here.

DecisionSim, a 5.5-year-old, Chadds Ford, Pa.-based maker of health care simulation-based learnings tools, has raised $1.85 million in Series A funding led by Philadelphia-based Rittenhouse Ventures, with participation from Ben Franklin Technology Partners. Philadelpia Business Journal has more here.

Exosome Diagnostics, a seven-year-old, New York-based company that develops and commercializes blood-based cancer molecular diagnostics for disease monitoring, has raise $17.6 million in Series B-1 funding that brings the entire round to $44.7 million. Participants in this newest financing included Forbion Capital Partners, NGN Capital, Arcus Ventures, Tiger Global Management, and CD Ventures.

Instabridge, a three-year-old, Stockholm, Sweden-based startup whose app helps users find solid, free WiFi spots, has raised $3 million in Series A funding led by Stockholm-based Moor (the fund of Rovio co-founder Kaj Hed) and London-based Balderton Capital.  The round also included Creandum and Swisscom Ventures. More here.

InVenture Capital, a four-year-old, Santa Monica, Ca.-based provider of small loans by cellphones that’s targeting the developing world, has raised $10 million in Series A funding led by Data Collective, with participation from Collaborative Fund, Female Founders Fund and individual investors.

Lengow, a six-year-old, Nantes, France-based company whose software helps e-commerce sites centralize, optimize and track the distribution of their product catalogues, has raised €10 million ($11.2 million) in Series B funding from Serena Capital, BPI, and earlier backer Alven Capital. TechCrunch has more here.

NewsCred, a seven-year-old, New York-based content marketing platform, has raised $42 million led by FTV Capital, with participation from earlier backers FirstMark Capital, InterWest Partners, and Mayfield Fund. The company has now raised roughly $90 million altogether. Techcrunch has more here.

Qnovo, a five-year-old, Freemont, Ca.-based company that develops electronic management systems for lithium ion batteries, has raised $8.6 million in Series B funding from Intel Capital, RockPort Capital, US Venture Partners and Blue Run Ventures. More here.

Quovo, a six-year-old, New York-based data aggregation and analytics platform, has raised $4.75 million in funding led by Fintech Collective, with participation from numerous angel investors. The company had earlier raised $1.5 million in seed funding. WealthManagement has more here.

Saucey, a two-year-old, L.A.-based on-demand alcohol delivery startup, has raised $4.5 million in seed funding led by Blumberg Capital, with participation from Structure Capital, Altpoint Ventures, T5 Captial, HashTagOne and numerous celebrity investors, including Scooter Braun. TechCrunch has more here.

Tanium, the eight-year-old, Emeryville, Ca.-based security and systems management startup run by father and son David and Orion Hindawi, has raised $120 million in new funding led by TPG and Institutional Venture Partners. The round comes seven months after the company raised $52 million from Andreessen Horowitz (which had also made an even earlier bet on the company). More here.

Universal Avenue, a year-old,  Stockholm, Sweden -based startup that lets customers hire salespeople (or “brand ambassadors”) on demand, has raised $5 million in funding from Northzone and Salesforce Ventures, with participation from Moor (see earlier mention above). TechCrunch has more here.

Voalte, a seven-year-old, Sarasota, Fla.-based startup offering secure communications programs for doctors and nurses with smartphones, has raised $17 million in Series D funding led by Ascension Ventures and Cerner Capital, with participation from earlier backer Bedford Funding.

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New Funds

Billionaire Sajjan Jindal of JSW Steel, India’s largest private steel producer, has formed a venture capital fund called JSW Venture Fund. Gaurav Sachdeva, formerly the general manager of strategic investments at Brand Capital, has been hired to run it, alongside Jindal’s son, Parth, who is reportedly enrolled at Harvard Business School currently. The Economic Times has the story here. The fund, it says, will not be a strategic investor; rather, it will look to fund a broad array of startups and sectors.

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People

Michael Bell, an Intel VP who helped lead the company’s push into the Internet of Things and who’d previously spent many years as an executive at both Apple and Palm, has has left Intel join Silver Spring Networks as CEO. The WSJ has more here.

Contrary to reports, Forbes wants you to know that singer-investor Bono is not a billionaire.

Josh Miller, 24, who sold his company, Branch, to Facebook in January of last year for a reported $15 million, announced last week that he was leaving the social network for something new. That endeavor, he disclosed yesterday, is as the White House’s first Director of Product. TechCrunch has more here.

Former MoPub CEO Jim Payne has joined Accel Partners as an entrepreneur-in-residence. The idea: to start his next company there. Fortune has more here.

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Essential Reads

Google‘s driverless cars are getting involved in minor accidents because they observe traffic laws to the letter — and people don’t.

Hulu is starting a commercial-free version of its streaming service to rival Amazon and Netflix.

China‘s economic uncertainties. How bad is it?

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Detours

The 11 greatest moments Apple’s ever had on stage.

A behavioral scientist on how you see you versus how everyone else sees you.

Time travel to-do list.

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Retail Therapy

Gateway founder Ted Waitt just put his Hollywood Hills home on the market for $20 million. To us, it looks like a very nice prison from the outside. But the views? Spectacular.

Happy Tuesday, everyone!

Two quick things. First, happy birthday to one of our most beloved readers.:)

Second, on a programming note, we’re starting a Founders’ Questions column over at TechCrunch. The idea: to answer entrepeneurs’ burning questions or, more aptly, for you — sophisticated investors, entrepreneurs, attorneys (and more) — to offer your insights. This week’s question: “How do you establish a valuation for a nascent SaaS startup when there are no similar products?” Thank you in advance!

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Top News in the A.M.

U.S. and European markets are dropping again after a report from China showed activity in August slipped to a three-year low.

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IDG Ventures Closes Third Fund with $120 Million

IDG Ventures, an early-stage venture firm that was among the first VC outfits to plant its flag in San Francisco instead of Silicon Valley, has raised $120 million for its third and newest fund, according to cofounders Phil Sanderson and Alex Rosen.

The two longtime VCs came together with a third partner, Pat Kenealy, in 2008; their previous fund closed with $100 million.

IDG Ventures is an interesting outfit in a number of ways. It’s kind of a corporate fund, but not really.

More here.

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New Fundings

Apptus, a nine-year-old, San Mateo, Ca.-based SaaS company whose sales-management software is built on Salesforce’s platform, has raised $108 million in funding from Salesforce Ventures, Iconiq Capital, K1 Capital and KIA. The company has now raised $186 million altogether. TechCrunch has more here.

Ele.me, a six-year-old, Shanghai, China-based online food ordering platform, has raised $630 million from investors including CITIC Private Equity, department store chain Hualian Group, China Media Capital and the private equity firm Gopher Asset. (We told you last week that it had raised $90 million from Hualian Group; looks like that was just part of the story.) The company is now valued at more than $3 billion; Forbes has more here.

Guru, a nearly two-year-old, Philadelphia, Pa.-based Chrome web extension that aims to surface important information as users need it, has raised $2.7 million in seed funding led by FirstMark Capital, with participation from MSD Capital, Salesforce Ventures, and other angels. TechCrunch has more here.

Intellia Therapeutics, a 1.5-year-old, Cambridge, Ma.-based gene editing startup focused on treating cancer and other diseases, has raised $70 million in Series B funding led by OrbiMed HealthCare Fund Management, with participation from EcoR1 Capital, Fidelity Management, Foresite Capital,Janus Capital Management, Sectoral Asset Management and earlier backers Atlas Venture and Novartis AG. Intellia has now raised $85 million altogether. More here.

LotusFlare, a year-old, Palo Alto, Ca.-based mobile growth and engagement platform that was founded by three former Facebookers, has raised $6 million in Series A funding led by Social + Capital, with participation from Google Ventures and Metamorphic Ventures. The company has now raised $10 million altogether. TechCrunch has more here.

Shift, a 22-month-old, San Francisco-based online used car marketplace, has raised $50 million in new funding led by Goldman Sachs, with participation from Shift’s Series A investors DFJ and Highland Capital Partners. TechCrunch has more here.

Super League Gaming, a year-old, Santa Monica, Ca.-based startup that transforms movie theaters into interactive, multiplayer gaming arenas, has raised an undisclosed amount of Series B funding from the theater chain Cinemark Theatres, a SoftBank affiliated fund, and multiple (unnamed) institutions in Hong Kong and Singapore. More here.

Take Eat Easy, a two-year-old, Brussels-based food delivery startup backed by Rocket Internet, has raised €10 million ($11.2 million) in Series B funding led byEight Roads Ventures (previously Fidelity Growth Partners), and earlier backers Rocket Internet, DN Capital, and Piton Capital. TechCrunch has more here.

Water Planet, a four-year-old, L.A.-based company that makes water treatment membrane products, has raised an undisclosed amount of Series B funding from Air Liquide Venture Capital, Bluestem Capital, and UCLA Venture Fund. More here.

WellAware, a three-year-old, San Antonio, Tex.-based provider of monitoring and management services for oil wells, pipelines, and refining and chemical facilities, has raised $16 million in Series B-1 funding from strategic investors Mitsui Corp. and Genscape, a provider of information for the commodities and energy industries. TechCrunch has more here.

Yummly, a six-year-old, Redwood City, Ca.-based online recipe recommendation and food delivery service, has raised $15 million in new funding led by Bauer Venture Partners, with participation Physic Ventures,Unilever Ventures and earlier investors. The company is now reportedly valued at $100 million. TechCrunch has more here.

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New Funds

1776, a 2.5-year-old, Washington, D.C.-based incubator, has announced the final closing of a new, $12.5 million seed fund. The outfit will focus on investments in pre-Series A startups in highly regulated industries like health, education, energy, transportation, and smart cities. 1776 was founded byDonna Harris, a former managing director of the Startup America Partnership, and Evan Burfield, who founded netDecide, which makes enterprise wealth management software, and the consulting firm Synteractive.

Cloud Apps Capital Partners, a nearly two-year-old, San Francisco-based venture firm founded by longtime VC Matt Holleran, has raised $53.7 million for its debut fund, he tells us. The single GP firm makes classic Series A stage investments, meaning “leading financings of $3 millionish.” It also typically takes a board seat. Judy Loehr, a former senior director at Salesforce, has joined Holleran as a venture partner. Cloud Apps Capital Partners has so far made seven investments, including in Insightly, GoFormz, ServiceMax, and Hootsuite. More here.

Edison Nation, a seven-year-old, Charlotte, N.C.-based outfit that helps get a lot of those “As Seen on TV” type products made, then sold by big retailers, has raised $50 million from a group of undisclosed backers. TechCrunch has more here.

Sigma West, an independent venture firm that spun out of Sigma Partners four years ago, has rebranded itself as Jackson Square Ventures. (The San Francisco-based firm has an office in San Francisco’s Jackson Square.) “We probably should have done this before,” writes managing director Josh Breinlinger. “[I]t turns out that being tied to the legacy name created confusion.” But now the firm is “choosing a name that fits us.”

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People

Nice news: Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer is expecting twin girls in December, she announced late last night.

Investor Marc Andreessen talks with Bloomberg about Silicon Valley’s relationship with the Pentagon, market volatility in China, and Twitter’s ongoing CEO search.

VC Tim Draper, who appears on the ABC Family series “Startup U,” has offered to donate $1 million to charity if the show can attract 1 million viewers this week.

Silicon Valley loves this presidential candidate six times more than any other.

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Essential Reads

Apple is reportedly eyeing a move into original programming. Variety has more here.

Hotels long welcomed sites like Expedia and Priceline. Now, they’re (finally) fighting against them.

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Detours

The college fallacy.

Intriguingly mundane moments from Hillary Clinton’s email.

Seoul, day to night.

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Retail Therapy

The newest Nest thermostat. A lot like the old Nest thermostat — but a little bit better!