Hi, good morning, everyone! Thanks to those of you bought tickets yesterday for our fast-approaching event next month in San Francisco. We’re looking forwarding to seeing you soon.:) Thanks again, too, to our top sponsors Personal Capital and Amazon Web Services.

(For East Coast readers who might be wondering: We’re back to figuring out Boston in June. We’ll let you know more as we do.)

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Top News in the A.M.

Russian hackers accessed sensitive White House information last year, including real-time (non-classified) details of president’s schedule. More here.

Google appears to be developing a teleconferencing tool called GMeet.

Twitter is experimenting with more search filtering options.

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First Data Waves Its Flag in Silicon Valley

Soon after Frank Bisignano joined the payment processing giant First Data as CEO two years ago, Bisignano — who was formerly co-chief operating officer of JPMorgan Chase — set his sights on beefing up the company’s corporate venture firm. Among his first steps: appointing Pete Donat, a longtime VP at First Data (and a VP at both Visa and MasterCard before that), to lead a four-person team that now assesses startups and alerts different unit heads within the 23,000-person company to technologies that might benefit them.

“Frank really wanted to put extra emphasis on innovation in Silicon Valley,” says Donat, “so we hired a team out here, and we’ve been increasingly active over the last year.”

“Active” is somewhat subjective. The team saw 300 companies last year and invested in six – not exactly the blistering pace one might expect from the company, which has been owned by KKR since 2007.

Then again, First Data — which has struggled to find new areas of growth in recent years — is in the middle of a turnaround that involved a $3.5 billion private placement in the company last year, including more capital from KKR.

Some of the capital freed by that investment is now streaming into startups that the company hopes will help it develop more products. Among them is Booker, a four-year-old, New York-based online booking platform that helps small businesses sell their services online. “It’s a really cool company with lots of great potential and synergies that fit with First Data and our merchant clients,” says Donat.(First Data participated in Booker’s $35 million Series C round last month.)

That private placement should also help First Data when it comes to acquisitions, which are clearly of interest to the company. Over the last two-and-a-half years, First Data has acquired three startups: the cloud-based payment software developer Clover Network; Perka, a digital rewards-program designer; and the mobile-gift-card company Gyft. It also created Insightics, a business unit it developed with the analytics company Palantir Technologies to glean more insights into customer spending from its merchant customers’ credit-card records.

As for startups looking to get on First Data’s radar, approaching as a partner seems to be the best course. Donat says his team finds most of its investment opportunities from people who “knock on our door and say, ‘I need one of your capabilities.’” When the team does “go outbound,” he continues, “we go out with a short shopping list and the likelihood of a us doing a deal goes up.”

Asked if his group might adjust its pace to invest more actively, Donat says 2015 might see “slightly” more deals from the group, but that he doesn’t expect things to “change dramatically. Once we [back] a deal, we want to ensure that we’re supporting that company. We probably overinvest in the amount of time we spend, helping [founders use First Data] to grow their revenue.”

Either way, Donat notes, First Data is “very committed” to its venture arm and “very committed to growing its presence in the Bay Area.”

Indeed, he says that when he opened First Data’s office in Palo Alto in early 2013, there were three people in the office. Today, he says, between Gyft, Clover, Insightics, and a separate digital commerce unit, the office is home to more than 100 employees.

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New Fundings

IIX, a four-year-old, Palo Alto, Ca.-based Internet infrastructure company, has raised $20 million in fresh funding from TriplePoint Capital. The company also acquired smaller rival IX Reach for undisclosed terms. According to Crunchbase, IIX has raised roughly $36 million altogether, including from New Enterprise Associates.

Alzheon, a two-year-old, Framingham, Ma.-based clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on brain health, memory and aging, has raised $10 million in Series A funding led by Ally Bridge Group, with participation from other (unnamed) new and earlier investors.

DealStruck, a two-year-old, Carlsbad, Ca.-based online lending platform that caters to small businesses, has raised $58.3 million — $8.3 million in venture funding from Trinity Ventures, and a $50 million credit facility from Brevet Capital. The company had previously raised an undisclosed amount of seed funding from Peterson Ventures and Blackbird Ventures.

Euclises Pharmaceuticals, a four-year-old, St. Louis, Mo.-based company that’s developing pain and cancer medications, has added $700,000 to its Series A round, bringing its total haul to $2 million. Investors include BioGenerator, Cultivation Capital and St. Louis Arch Angels.

FirstFuel Software, a 3.5-year-old, Lexington, Ma.-based company whose software helps electric utilities manage energy use and businesses reduce energy bills, has raised $23 million in Series C funding led by Next World Capital, with participation from Electranova Capital, and earlier investors Battery Ventures, Rockport Capital, Nth Power and E. ON. The company has now raised roughly $44 million altogether, shows Crunchbase.

Folloze, a 1.5-year-old, Palo Alto, Ca.-based prospect engagement platform for B2B sales and marketing, has raised $3.3 million in seed funding led by New Enterprise Associates, Cervin Ventures and TriplePoint Ventures, with participation from unnamed angel investors.

FreeAgent, an eight-year-old, Edinburgh, Scotland-based online accounting and money management tool for freelancers and small businesses, has raised $5 million in debt financing from SaaS Capital. The company had previously raised an undisclosed amount of money from investors, including Lightbank, The Accelerator Group, and IRIS Software Group in the U.K.

Haystack TV, a two-year-old, Redwood City, Ca.-based personalized video news service, has raised $1.7 million in seed funding, including from Endeavor Global founder Peter Kellner, Flycast Networks cofounder Larry Braitman, and Stanford’s StartX Fund. TechCrunch has more here.

Kyriba, a 15-year-old, San Diego, Ca-based company whose software helps treasury departments plan for market volatility, regulation and more, has raised $21 million in Series C funding from HSBC, with the participation of earlier backers BRED Banque Populaire, Daher Capital, Iris Capital, and Upfront Ventures.

MobiKwik, a 5.5-year-old, Gurgaon, India-based mobile wallet company, has raised $25 million in new funding from the hedge fund Tree Line Asia Master Fund, Cisco Investments, American Express Ventures, and Sequoia Capital. Forbes has more here.

NSONE, a two-year-old, New York-based DNS and traffic management company, has raised $5.35 million in Series A funding co-led by Flybridge Capital Partners and Sigma Prime Ventures, with participation from Founder Collective and Center Electric.

Palerra, a two-year-old, Santa Clara, Ca.-based cloud-security company, has raised $17 million in Series B funding led by new investor August Capital, with participation from earlier backers Engineering Capital, Norwest Venture Partners and Wing Venture Capital. The company has now raised $25 million to date.

Patch of Land, a two-year-old, L.A.-based crowdfunding platform for real-estate financing, has raised $23.6 million in Series A funding led by SF Capital Group, with participation from individual investors. According to Crunchbase, the company had raised $1.2 million in seed funding in 2013.

Point.io, a two-year-old, Boston and Philadelphia-based company whose software platform aims to get mainstream enterprises into the API economy quickly and cheaply, has raised $4 million in Series B funding from unnamed strategic customers, Philadelphia “institutions,” and high net worth individuals. The company, which has now raised about $6.3 million altogether, has no traditional institutional investors, it says.

RealtyShares, a two-year-old, San Francisco-based online marketplace for real estate investing, has raised $10 million in Series A funding led by Menlo Ventures, with participation from earlier backer General Catalyst Partners. The company previously raised two rounds of seed funding, including a $1.9 million round last year.

RefME, a months-old, London-based book-barcode scanning app that speeds up the task of creating, formatting and managing citations, references lists and bibliographies, has raised $5 million in funding led by GEMS Global, a subsidiary of the education company Varkey Group. TechCrunch has more here.

Sharecare, a 5.5-year-old, Atlanta, Ga.-based company whose Q&A platform allows people to ask and learn about health and wellness issues, has raised $20 million in funding from Wellington Management. The company has now raised $160 million altogether, including from Heritage Group, TomorrowVentures, Galen Partners, and New Evolution Ventures.

Soha Systems, a two-year-old, Sunnyvale, Calif.-based cloud security startup, has raised $9.8 million in funding from Andreessen Horowitz, Cervin Ventures, Menlo Ventures and Moment Ventures. More here.

Temando, a nearly six-year-old, Brisbane, Australia-based supply chain startup, has raised $50 million in Series B funding from Neopost S.A. The company had earlier raised $6 million in funding, including from Ellerston Capital.

TriPlay, a 10-year-old, New York-based developer of cloud services that enable people to consume music and other media across different devices, has raised $11 million from funds managed by Fortress Investment Group, as well as earlier backer Kenges Rakishev. The company has raised $16 million altogether, according to Crunchbase.

Vidme, a 16-month-old, L.A.-based online video sharing platform that has emerged as the go-to video platform on Reddit, has raised $3.2 million in new funding from Upfront Ventures, First Round Capital, Initialized (a fund from Reddit cofounder Alexis Ohanian), SV Angel, Lowercase Capital, Mucker Capital, and Launchpad Capital. Variety has more here.

Yeloha, a new, Boston-based peer-to-peer solar-sharing network created by the Israeli company Generaytor, has raised $3.5 million in Series A funding led by Carmel Ventures. Venture Capital Dispatch has more here.

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Exits

Informatica said yesterday that it will go private in a deal valued at about $5.3 billion. The enterprise data integration vendor is being acquired by the private equity firm Permira, and the Canadian Pension Plan Investment Board, for $48.75 a share. (The development is very good for venture-backed MuleSoft, argues Business Insider.)

Reserve, the San Francisco-based restaurant reservation company that launched this past fall, has acquired two fellow startups in the dining space: Zurvu, a New York-based startup that also manages online restaurant reservations; and HAIL, an L.A.-based startup whose app helps diners split the check. TechCrunch has more here.

Singapore Telecommunications is acquiring Trustwave, a Chicago-based managed-security services specialist, in a deal valued at $810 million. Morningstar has more here.

Sprinklr, the social media management firm, has acquired GetSatisfaction, an online community platform used to connect customers and companies. Terms of the deal aren’t being disclosed. GetSatisfaction had raised nearly $21 million from investors, shows Crunchbase. Its backers include InterWest Partners, Azure Capital Partners, O’Reilly AlphaTech Ventures, and First Round Capital. More here.

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People

“I’m going to end up with a lot more money than I feel like I’m entitled to given how hard I work,” Slack founder and CEO Stewart Butterfield tells Inc. in a candid interview. More here.

Billionaire investor Mark Cuban on why he’s betting on specific ed tech startups: “There are going to be a lot of universities that go out of business. I’m not talking about the Apollos and the University of Phoenix, but [traditional, brick-and-mortar] schools.” More here.

Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe partner Lynn Hermle shares whether she thinks the Ellen Pao case — which she argued for Kleiner Perkins — will have the outsize impact on Silicon Valley that many expect: “It’s not going to happen. Cases don’t change industries. That’s not what they’re about; that’s not what they do.”

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Job Listings

Microsoft is hiring a senior tech evangelist who will work within its Microsoft Ventures group and engage with “thought leaders” in the venture industry. The job is in Redmond, Wa.

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Essential Reads

Uber now accounts for nearly half of all ground transportation business expenses at many companies in North America.

Ride, a two-year-old, New York-based service for organizing co-workers at the same company into carpooling groups, opened to U.S. businesses yesterday and launched a new app for Apple devices. The WSJ has the story about the company — which is majority owned by TPG Growth and employs Uber’s first technology chief, Oscar Salazar — here.

“Let’s just get this out of the way: the Apple Watch, as I reviewed it for the past week and a half, is kind of slow. There’s no getting around it . . .”

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Detours

Rolls-Royce takes the first step in building . . . an SUV.

Seth Myers brings Jon Snow to a dinner party.

What is a species, really?

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Retail Therapy

Icon Trucks. [Heart flutter.] More here.

Hi, and happy Tuesday, everyone!

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Top News in the A.M.

Consumer and child advocacy groups are today asking the FCC to investigate Google’s new YouTube Kids application, arguing that the company is unfairly and deceptively targeting toddlers with advertising on tablets and smartphones. More here.

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A VC Adds a Thesis: “Wrist First”

Peter Relan, a veteran of Hewlett-Packard and Oracle, has spent the last decade nurturing young companies at his YouWeb incubator in Mountain View, Ca. At first, he focused on mobile social gaming companies, investing $2 million across a variety of startups and enjoying at least one big hit when OpenFeint, a social gaming network, was acquired in 2011 by the Japan-based Internet media company Gree for $104 million.

In 2013, Relan raised a separate $10 million from wealthy individuals for a sub-brand of YouWeb called 9+, an incubator and accelerator that focuses on marketplaces, wearables, and so-called Internet of Things technologies.

A number of highly promising companies are again emerging from the outfit, insists Relan, including the online video gaming company Hammer & Chisel, launched by OpenFeint founder Jason Citron. (It has raised $12 million in funding from 9+, IDG Ventures, Accel Partners, Benchmark, and Tencent.)

Relan also points to GotIt, a seed-funded photo-based on-demand marketplace that’s begun talking with investors about a Series A, and the “connected kitchen” startup Camellia Labs, founded by former Salesforce senior engineering manager Guarav Chawla. (“Everybody in Silicon Valley who’s in the design business is stumbling over themselves, trying to be the product design shop for [Chawla],” says Relan.)

Still, what’s capturing much of Relan’s attention these days, he says, are “wrist-first” technologies — apps developed expressly for smartwatches, which he expects will represent a huge opportunity over the next couple of years as the Apple Watch streams into the marketplace.

One of his bets, for example, is on a nascent company called Awear, whose app enables users to send and receive SMS messages with a couple of clicks. It doesn’t sound terribly revolutionary, but it represents a “10x” leap in terms of speed, says Relan, who notes that it’s a lot easier to tap a watch than “fish a phone out of your pocket or handbag, then unlock it, open the right app, and respond.” (Awear first launched on the Pebble smartwatch and 10 percent of Pebble customers have downloaded the app, says Relan.)

Relan thinks the possibilities extend far beyond communications, too. “Think of games that are easy to play in one or two clicks. Or the B2B app that notifies an executive that he received 400 orders during an important meeting. Or an app that can deliver an EKG to your doctor with the tap of a button.”

Smartwatches may have low computing power, he notes, but smartwatches combined with the power of the cloud begin to look pretty compelling.

More, says Relan, he has seen this movie before.

“When the iPhone was just being introduced [and we began focusing on mobile social gaming], the hard-core gamers laughed at us. They said, ‘[The phone] is tiny. It has no keyboard, no controls.’ But I said it would be 10 times more convenient to play, and now mobile social gaming is multibillion-dollar industry.”

“Whenever a new platform succeeds, it’s because it improves [on the status quo] by at least a factor of 10,” Relan continues. The Apple Watch might not be 10 times better than the smartphone, but he fully expects it to let users do things 10 times faster — and that’s enough to get him excited about what’s next.

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New Fundings

AssetAvenue, a 1.5-year-old, L.A.-based online peer-to-peer platform focused on the commercial real estate market, has raised $11 million in Series A funding led by DCM, with participation from earlier backers Matrix Partners, NetEase, and Prosper Marketplace CEO Ron Suber. The company has now raised at least $15 million to date, shows Crunchbase.

CoreOS, a two-year-old, San Francisco-based company that builds a lightweight version of the operating system Linux, helping reduce the amount of hardware needed to run applications in big data centers, has raised $12 million in funding led by Google Ventures, with participation by Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Fuel Capital and Accel Partners. The company has now raised $20 million altogether. TechCrunch hasmore here.

Custora, a four-year-old, New York-based predictive analytics company that helps brands anticipate and influence their customers’ spending, has raised $6.5 million in fresh funding led by Foundation Capital, with participation from Greycroft Partners and Valhalla Partners. The company, a Y Combinator alum, had earlier raised $1 million in seed funding. Venture Capital Dispatch has the story here.

D3O, a 14-year-old, U.K.-based developer of shock-absorbing smart materials that are used in products across the motorcycle, sport, footwear, electronics, military and work-wear sectors, has raised $19 million in funding led by Beringea, with participation from Entrepreneurs Fund.

Livongo Health, a year-old, Chicago-based digital health company whose cloud-enabled glucose meter helps people (and their family, friends, and physicians) manage their diabetes, has raised $20 million in funding from Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, DFJ, and earlier backer General Catalyst Partners. The company had previously raised $10 million, including from Slow Ventures.

Natera, an 11-year-old, San Carlos, Ca.-based company whose technology diagnoses genetic diseases with a noninvasive DNA test, has raised $55.5 million led by new investor Sofinnova Ventures, with participation from Capital Research and Management, Franklin Templeton Investments, Jennison Associates, RA Capital Management, HealthCor Partners, and OrbiMed Advisors. The company has now raised $154.1 million, according to Crunchbase.

OYO Rooms, a two-year-old, Bangalore, India-based platform for low-cost, standardized hospitality bookings throughout SouthEast Asia, has raised $25 million in funding from Lightspeed Venture Partners, Sequoia Capital and Greenoaks Capital Management. More here.

Placester, a five-year-old, Boston-based marketing-automation platform that gives real-estate agents and brokers tools to build websites and mobile sites for $10 per month, has raised $15 million in new funding led by New Enterprise Associates, with participation from previous investor Romulus Capital. The company has now raised $22 million altogether.

Quikr, a seven-year-old, Mumbai, India-based classified ads site that helps people find and sell products and services, has raised $150 million in new funding from Steadview Capital, as well as earlier investors Tiger Global Management and Investment AB Kinnevik. The company has now raised $350 million altogether. TechCrunch has more here.

RebelMouse, a three-year-old, New York-based content publishing platform, has raised $16 million in Series B funding from previous investors Softbank Capital and Oak Investment Partners, with additional participation from Buddy Media cofounder Mike Lazerow. The round quietly closed earlier this year, TechCrunch reported yesterday. The company has now raised $18.8 million altogether.

RedSeal, an 11-year-old, Sunnyvale, Ca.-based cybersecurity company, has raised $17 million in Series C funding from Tyco International, MATH Venture Partners, DRW Venture Partners, and Pallasite Ventures, along with earlier backers Icon Ventures, Leapfrog, Olympic Ventures, Sutter Hill Ventures and Venrock. Ray Rothrock, a former Venrock partner and former chair of the National Venture Capital Association, came out of retirement last year to relaunch the then-troubled company. Silicon Valley Business Journal has more here.

True North Therapeutics, a two-year-old, South San Francisco, Ca.-based biotechnology company that’s developing therapies for rare hematologic, renal, and neurological diseases, has raised $35 million in Series B funding led by OrbiMed, with the participation of earlier investors Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, MPM Capital, SR One, and Baxter Ventures.

WaterSmart Software, a six-year-old, San Francisco-based software company that helps utilities better understand and use the information they glean from millions of water meters, has raised $7 million in Series B funding from an unnamed family office, with participation from earlier backers Apsara Capital, DFJ, Physic Ventures and The Westly Group. The company has now raised $13.9 million altogether. Venture Capital Dispatch has more here.

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New Funds

Google’s former Android boss, Andy Rubin, has launched a new firm called Playground Global that plans to help hardware entrepreneurs with “distribution, manufacturing, financing and ways to integrate their devices with remote computing resources” in exchange for equity in their companies, reports the WSJ. (It will not make direct investments.) The outfit has raised $48 million from investors, including Google, Hewlett-Packard, Hon Hai Precision Industry, Tencent Holdings, Seagate Technology, and Redpoint Ventures, a venture-capital firm where Rubin will also be spending one day a week as a venture partner. The WSJ has much more here.

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IPOs

Cidara Therapeutics, a three-year-old, San Diego-based company that’s developing therapies for fungal infections, announced terms for its IPO yesterday, revealing plans to raise $60 million by offering 4 million shares at a price range of $14 to $16.

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Exits

Boundless, a four-year-old, Boston-based online textbook publishing startup, has been acquired by online education company Valore for undisclosed terms. Boundless had raised roughly $10 million in funding from Venrock, NextView Ventures, Kepha Partners, Founder Collective and SV Angel. Boston Business Journal has more here.

OttoCat, an Oakland, Ca.-based startup that was founded in 2012 to organize the App Store into lots of categories and make finding good apps easier, was quietly acquired by Apple “some time ago,” reports TechCrunch. In fact, adds its report, the company might have been acquired as long ago as 2013. (It’s still something, right?)

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People

Institutional Venture Partners has made a couple of hires that we’d forgotten to mention yesterday: Roseanne Wincek joins the late-stage growth firm as a VP from Canaan Partners, where she was a principal. The firm has also hired Alexander Lim, who joins as an associate; Lim previously worked in the tech investment banking group at Credit Suisse.

Matt Murphy, a general partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers who recently became known as the person who gave Ellen Pao her walking papers, is leaving the venture firm after 16 years to pursue a new opportunity, he says. Murphy — who was moved from Kleiner’s early-stage group to its growth investing team in 2013 — tells the WSJ that he’s taking his inspiration from several friends and former colleagues who’ve launched their own “smaller, more focused funds” in recent years, including Chi-Hua Chien, who recently cofounded Goodwater Capital, and Aileen Lee, who founded Cowboy Ventures in 2013. More here.

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Job Listings

Capital One Ventures is looking to hire an associate in New York.

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Essential Reads

Microsoft is working on its own Apple Pay.

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Detours

Ray Rice’s redemption campaign.

Planes without pilots.

Child spa.

How to supercharge your iPhone in only five minutes.

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Retail Therapy

It’s a flashlight. It’s a flask. It’s, erm, the flasklight!

A smart stove knob from Pinterest’s former head of engineering. (We’d use one of these.)

Hi, everyone! Welcome back. Hope you had a terrific break. (Pst, web visitors, this is a little easier to read than what you see below.)

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Top News in the A.M.

Twitter and YouTube have been blocked again in Turkey.

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Hummer Winblad Reboots

Like many venture firms founded before the last tech boom, the San Francisco-based outfit Hummer Winblad Venture Partners seemed, for a time, to be staring death in the face owing to the market’s implosion, uneven returns, and a drawn-out lawsuit with two major record labels over its 2000 investment in the now defunct file-swapping service Napster.

The 26-year-old firm made it through the to the other side, though, and today, it’s in remarkably good shape, newly rebranding itself as HWVP and, this morning, launching a snazzy new site to mark the occasion.

The changes are more than cosmetic. HWVP is, like other firms of its vintage, a lot smaller than it used to be. The firm once employed a deep bench of managing directors and associates. Now it employs three managing directors: Mitchell Kertzman, a serial CEO (Liberate Technologies, Sybase, Powersoft Corp.) who joined the firm 12 years ago; Lars Leckie, who joined the firm a decade ago and was promoted to managing director in 2011; and Steven Kishi, who has spent the last 20 years bouncing between Hummer Winblad and various operating roles. (Most recently, Kishi was VP of product management at the cloud services company Altiscale.)

Even firm cofounders John Hummer and Ann Winblad are no longer “managing directors” but are listed at the new site instead as “founding partners.”

The amount of capital that HWVP has to invest is far less, too. The firm closed its sixth fund with $201 million in late 2007, down from the $424 million it had raised for its fifth fund in 2000.

Leckie suggests the firm will look to close its next fund with between $105 million and $150 million. (Leckie declines to discuss HWVP’s specific fundraising plans, but he offers that he believes that “small, focused funds do the best by their investors,” saying he thinks that “$35 million to $50 million” per partner is ideal.)

The firm’s prospects would seem pretty promising. Though forced to retrench, HWVP has never veered from its core thesis of investing in enterprise software companies. And while it missed the consumer wave as a result, its bets look pretty prescient right now. For example, the firm was the first investor in the 11-year-old, SaaS-based sales platform InsideSales, which last month raised $60 million at a valuation north of $1 billion. (The company has raised $200 million altogether.)

That bet alone will “return our [sixth] fund,” says Leckie, who says that HWVP owns “two times what everyone else owns” of the company.

HWVP is also among the earliest investors in Five9, MuleSoft, and Birst, among others. Five9, a San Ramon, Ca.-based call center company, went public last year. (Its market cap is $272 million, as of this writing.) MuleSoft, the San Francisco-based integration platform for connecting enterprise applications in the cloud, has raised well over $100 million from investors, closing its last round of $50 million last year at a post-money valuation of $800 million. Meanwhile, Birst, a San Francisco-based business intelligence and analytics business, just raised $65 million in Series F funding last month, bringing its total funding to $156 million. (Leckie declined to discuss its valuation.)

Of course, mark-ups are one thing. Actual exits are another. It remains to be seen whether HWVP will see the profits it’s expecting, particularly given the widening gap between the number of richly valued late-stage, still-private companies and those going public.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Leckie is highly optimistic about the firm’s odds. “We’re having a kick ass first quarter,” he tells StrictlyVC. “Valuations will fall where they fall. But it is a very good time to be quietly investing in enterprise and SaaS infrastructure.”

Luckily for HWVP, it’s been doing it for years.

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New Fundings

Caribou Biosciences, a four-year-old, Berkeley, Ca.-based biotech startup focused on precise gene editing, has raised $11 million in Series A funding from the Swiss drug giant Novartis, along with Fidelity Biosciences, Novartis, Mission Bay Capital, 5 Prime Ventures, and an undisclosed strategic partner. Xconomy has more here.

DraftKings, the four-year-old, Boston-based online fantasy sports business that lets fans play with real money, is raising $250 million fromWalt Disney Co. at a roughly $900 million valuation, reports the WSJ. In return, DraftKings has committed to spend more than $500 million in advertising on ESPN’s platforms in coming years, says the report. The company had previously raised roughly $75 million from investors, including The Raine Group, Redpoint Ventures, GGV Capital and Atlas Venture.

Educents, a two-year-old, Oakland, Ca.-based online marketplace for educational products, has raised $2.9 million in seed funding led bySoftTech VC, with participation from Crosslink Capital, Deep Fork Capital, Kapor Capital and Learn Capital. Individual backers, including angel investor Joanne Wilson, also joined the round.

Mojix, an 11-year-old, L.A.-based developer of wide area sensor networks, has raised $14 million in Series D funding led by OMERS Ventures, with participation from Mercury Ventures and earlier backers Oak Investment Partners, Red Rock Ventures, and InnoCal Venture Capital.

PicnicHealth, a nine-month-old, San Francisco-based company whose subscription-based service helps chronically ill patients track and store their medical records, has raised $2 million in seed funding, including from The Social+Capital Partnership, Great Oaks Venture Capital, Slow Ventures, Standford’s StartX Fund, and a long list of individual investors, including Y Combinator partner Paul Buchheit and former Facebook executive Sam Lessin. TechCrunch has more here.

SeatGeek, a nearly six-year-old, New York-based ticket search engine that aggregates listings for live sports, concert, and theater events, has raised $62 million in Series C funding led by Technology Crossover Ventures, with participation from earlier backers Accel Partners, Causeway Media Partners, Mousse Partners and QueensBridge Venture Partners. The company has now raised at least $103 million to date, shows Crunchbase.

Shyp, the two-year-old, San Francisco-based shipping service whose users can photograph items they want to ship, after which the service picks up the items, packs them, and delivers them, has raised roughly $50 million at a valuation of $250 million, reports TechCrunch. According to the outlet’s sources, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers may be leading the round. To date, the company has raised $12.1 million, including from Homebrew, Winklevoss Capital, and SherpaVentures.

Swiggy, an eight-month-old, Bangalore, India-based food ordering and delivery app, has reportedly raised $2 million in funding from Accel Partners and SAIF Partners.

Upstart, a three-year-old, Palo Alto, Ca.-based lending platform that provides loans to individuals based on variety of less traditional signals, has tightened its relationship with Victory Park Capital, the Chicago-based asset management firm. Last summer, Victory Park announced it would invest $100 million in Upstart loans over a two-year period; this morning, the companies are announcing that Victory Park will increase its investment in Upstart loans to $500 million.

VarageSale, a 2.5-year-old, Toronto, Ontario-based online marketplace that’s focused around local communities and competes with Craigslist, has raised $34 million in funding from Sequoia Capital and Lightspeed Venture Partners. Bloomberg has more here.

Zebra Medical Vision, a year-old, Israel-based startup building a database of anonymous medical images, has raised $8 million in funding led by Khosla Ventures. Venture Capital Dispatch has more here.

ZenPayroll, a three-year-old, San Francisco-based company whose cloud-based software system automates tax calculations and payroll payments for small and mid-size businesses, has raised $60 million in Series B funding led by Google Capital. Other participants in the round include Emergence Capital Partners, Ribbit Capital, General Catalyst Partners, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, and Google Ventures. The company has now raised $86.1 million altogether.

Zenefits, the two-year-old, San Francisco-based HR and benefits software provider, is beginning conversations with investors about a new financing round that could value the company at more than $3 billion, reports The Information. The company raised its most recent round last summer — $66.5 million in Series B funding from Andreessen Horowitz and Institutional Venture Partners — at a $500 million pre-money valuation. (Zenefits founder and CEO Parker Conrad will be the first speaker at StrictlyVC’s event next month. Tickets are available here.)

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New Fundings

Freestyle Capital, a six-year-old, San Francisco-based early-stage venture firm, has closed its third fund with $57 million. The firm, founded by serial entrepreneurs and longtime business partners Josh Felser and Dave Samuel, have also named Jenny Lefcourt as their third partner, roughly a year after Lefcourt joined the firm as an investor. She previously cofounded WeddingChannel.com, acquired by TheKnot in 2006; the wedding photo company Bella Pictures, acquired by a St. Louis-based photography service called CPI; and an e-commerce company, Markkit. Freestyle says it plans to use the fund to invest in up to 14 companies a year. It has now raised $126 million altogether.

Founder’s Co-op, a seven-year-old, Seattle-based seed-stage venture fund founded by longtime business partners Andy Sack and Chris DeVore, has raised a new, $20 million fund, up from its last, $8 million, fund closed in 2012. Investors include the Oregon Growth Board. Geekwire has more here.

—–

IPOs

Collegium Pharmaceutical, a 13-year-old, Canton, Ma.-based pain therapeutics company that has developed an opioid pain medication designed to deter abuse, has filed to go public — just one month after raising $50 million in funding. That last outside round was led by TPG Biotech. The company has raised $77.5 million altogether. According to its S-1, its biggest shareholders include Longitude Capital Partners, which owns 22.4 percent of the company; Skyline Venture Partners, which owns 20 percent; Frazier Healthcare, which owns 12.4; TPG, which owns 8.7 percent; Boston Millennia Partners, which owns 7.8 percent; and RA Capital Management, which owns 6.1 percent.

Infraredx, a 17-year-old, Burlington, Ma.-based ultrasound diagnostic company that filed to go public last December and hoped to raise as much as $55 million in its offering, has withdrawn those plans, citing “unfavorable market conditions.”

Virtu Financial, an electronic trading firm that’s partly owned by Silver Lake Partners, said it expects to raise up to $314 million in an IPO. It planned to go public roughly a year ago but postponed that attempt amid a furor over high-frequency trading fueled by Michael Lewis’s book Flash Boys. Reuters has more here.

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Exits

Buttercoin, a two-year-old, Palo Alto, Ca.-based bitcoin exchange startup, is shutting down, saying it was unable to raise follow-on funding owing to a “dip in bitcoin interest among Silicon Valley investors.” TechCrunch has the story here. Buttercoin had raised at least $1.3 million, including from Y Combinator, Google Ventures, Floodgate, Initialized Capital, and Rothenberg Ventures.

OnLive, a 7.5-year-old, Mountain View, Ca.-based streaming games company that was long troubled, is shutting down its service and selling its patents to Sony. Ars Technica has the story here. OnLive, founded by serial entrepreneur Steve Perlman, had raised at least $56.5 million from investors over the years, shows Crunchbase. Backers included HTC Corp, Time Warner, Autodesk, Maverick Capital, and Lauder Partners.

—–

People

Meet Jay Edelson, the class-action lawyer who Silicon Valley loves to hate.

Lazlo Block, the head of people operations at Google, on why 399 out of every 400 people who apply for jobs at the company do not make the cut.

According to the SEC, longtime friends Ifty Ahmed and Amit Kanodia illegally profited from insider trading on news of a proposed acquisition of Cooper Tire and Rubber Company by Apollo Tyres. Ahmed is a general partner at Oak Investment Partners, where he has reportedly just been placed on leave of absence. Kanodia is a managing partner at Lincoln Ventures.

“You have this needle that you have to thread, and sometimes it feels like there’s no hole in the needle,” says Reddit‘s interim CEO Ellen Pao in her first interview since the conclusion of her case against Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. “From what I’ve heard from women, they do feel like there’s no way to win.”

Jim Tananbaum, the venture capitalist whom Bloomberg dubbed “the Google bus of Burning Man,” has resigned from the festival’s board of directors. More here.

—–

Job Listings

Madrona Venture Group, the Seattle-based early stage VC firm, is looking to add an associate to its team. Email resumes to david (at) madrona (dot) com.

—–

Data

The mobile ad market is set to surpass $100 billion next year, according toeMarketer.

Gulp. According to new data out from Thomson Reuters and the National Venture Capital Association, just 17 venture-backed IPOs raised $1.4 billion during the first quarter of this year, a 54 percent decrease, by number of offerings, from the first quarter of 2014 and a 58 percent drop in terms of dollars. Only two of those offerings were information technology companies, including the biggest IPO of the quarter, Box, the cloud platform services company. Two others were non-tech related. The rest were life sciences companies.

—–

Essential Reads

Remember that Pinterest-specific fund that Andreessen Horowitz recently raised? It’s one of many one-off funds that VCs are forming to take direct stakes in single startups. The WSJ has more here.

America remains deeply ambivalent about using new medical treatments to live radically longer lives. That’s not stopping tech titans from chasing them anyway.

Meerkat, the live broadcasting app, isn’t alone is seeing its popularity plunge. The explosive usage of its Twitter-owned competitor, Periscope, is petering out, too.

—–

Detours

An office transformed by Post-It notes.

The salary required to be “middle class” in each state.

—–

Retail Therapy

McLaren’s latest creation.

Hi, happy Thursday!

Two quick programming items. A very persuasive seven-year-old dragged us off to an amusement park for all of yesterday. (We do not have a feature story is what we are saying.) Stay tuned; we have great stuff coming next week.

Also, note that we aren’t publishing tomorrow for Good Friday and Passover.

Hope you have a wonderful holiday weekend, everyone!

—–

Top News in the A.M.

The EU is reportedly laying the groundwork for antitrust charges against Google.

Stanford just expanded its family aid packages, making tuition free to students whose families earn less than $125,000 per year.

Airbnb is now available in Cuba.

—–

New Fundings

Bica Studios, a two-year-old, Lisbon, Portugal-based gaming studio, has raised an undisclosed amount of seed funding led by Portugal Ventures. More here.

CodeFights, a year-old, San Francisco-based startup that turns testing one’s programming skills into a game, has raised $2.4 million in seed funding from a long list of investors, including Felicis Ventures, Sutter Hill Ventures, and Quora CEO Adam D’Angelo. TechCrunch has more here.

Dianping, a 12-year-old, Shanghai, China-based restaurant review and group-buying service that’s often likened to both Yelp and Groupon, has officially closed on $850 million from investors, including smartphone maker Xiaomi, at a $4 billion valuation. (China-based press outlets had reported on the round earlier in the month, without noting Xiaomi’s involvement or the company’s valuation.) The company has now raised $1 billion altogether, including from FountainVest Partners, Temasek Holdings, Qiming Ventures, and Lightspeed Venture Partners, shows Crunchbase. The WSJ has more here.

Duriana, a two-year-old, Singapore-based mobile marketplace that allows users to buy and sell items, has raised $2.5 million in Series A funding led by Beenos Asia, with participation from Alps Ventures. The company has now raised $3.3 million to date. DealStreetAsia has the story here.

Ello, the two-year-old, Burlington, Vt.-based ad-free social network, has raised $5 million in funding led by its earlier backers Foundry Group, TechStars, and FreshTracks Capital. The company has now raised $11 million altogether. (If you’re curious about its money-making strategy, it says it’s stealing a page from the gaming industry and developing a freemium model that will allow users to sign in for multiple accounts, invert the site’s color scheme, and so on, for nominal dollar amounts.) The Observer has the story.

Fyusion, a two-year-old, San Francisco-based developer of a new mobile photo app platform, has raised $13 million in Series B funding led by New Enterprise Associates and The University of Tokyo Edge Capital, with participation from angel investors. The company has now raised roughly $16.5 million altogether, shows Crunchbase. More here.

Honor, an eight-month-old, San Francisco-based company with big ambitions to help the elderly to live independently longer — via screened health-care professionals, an appliance that acts as a reminder about appointments and more, and an app that makes it easier for remote family members to keep tabs on what’s happening — has raised $20 million in Series A funding led by Andreessen Horowitz. Other participants include Kapor Capital, Ron Johnson, Max Levchin, Max Ventilla, Senator Bob Kerrey, Jeremy Stoppelman, Andrew Conrad, Jessica Alba and Cash Warren. The company was founded by veteran co- founders, including Seth Sternberg (Meebo), Cameron Ring (Plaxo), and Sandy Jen (Meebo). Forbes has more here.

Hudl, a nine-year-old, Lincoln, Ne.-based company whose platform and software provides video analysis and coaching tools for sports teams around the country, has raised $72.5 million in funding led by Accel Partners. Previously, the company had raised just $3 million in seed funding. TechCrunch has much more here.

HyTrust, a seven-year-old, Mountain View, Ca.-based cloud security automation company, just raised $25 million in Series D funding led by Accelerate-IT Ventures, with participation from Vanedge Capital, Trident Capital, Epic Ventures, Granite Ventures, Cisco, Fortinet, Intel and VMware. The company also secured up to $8 million in venture debt and credit facilities. HyTrust has raised $84.5 million in equity to date, shows Crunchbase.

Ola, the four-year-old, Bangalore, India-based taxi hailing service, is reportedly about to announce $400 million in financing led by DST Global, with participation from Accel Partners and the New York-based hedge fund Falcon Edge. Times of India has more here. Ola’s earlier backers, including Tiger Global Management, Matrix Partners, and Steadview Capital, are also reportedly joining the round.

Oscar, the two-year-old, New York-based health insurance startup, is in talks to raise a new round of venture funding at a valuation of “significantly more than $1 billion,” according to Bloomberg. Oscar has already raised $150 million from investors, including Khosla Ventures, General Catalyst Partners, Founders Fund and Thrive Capital (whose cofounder, Joshua Kushner, also cofounded Oscar).

Quartet Health, a year-old, New York-based health IT company whose platform allows medical and behavioral health clinicians to work collaboratively on shared treatment goals, has raised $7 million in new funding led by Oak HC/FT, with participation from Shulman Ventures, Fidelity Biosciences, Polaris Partners and numerous individual investors.

ReadyPulse, a 4.5-year-old, San Carlos, Ca.-based company that helps digital marketers find so-called brand ambassadors across social media, has raised $5 million in Series A funding led by Walden Venture Capital and Rally Ventures. The company has now raised $7 million altogether, including from Divergent Ventures.

Reformation, a 5.5-year-old, L.A.-based eco-friendly clothing company, has raised $12 million in Series A funding led by Stripes Group and 14W, with numerous individuals participating, including fashion model Karlie Kloss.

SupportPay, a four-year-old, Santa Monica, Ca.-based child-support payment app, has raised $1.5 million in seed funding from a New York-based venture firm called T5 Capital Partners, with participation from earlier backers. The company has raised $2.8 million to date.

Tapingo, a three-year-old, San Francisco-based mobile ordering technology for campuses and campus dining, has raised $22 million in Series B funding led by Qualcomm Ventures, with participation from DCM Ventures, Kinzon Capital, and earlier backers Khosla Ventures and Carmel Ventures. The company has now raised $36 million altogether.

Via, a three-year-old, New York-based startup that offers SUV rides to groups of passengers with compatible destinations (in New York but soon to be elsewhere), has raised $27 million in new funding led by Pitango Venture Capital, with participation from Hearst Ventures, Ervington Investments, and 83North. Via has now raised $37 million altogether. VentureBeat has more here.

ZappRx, a three-year-old, Cambridge, Ma.-based company that automates the prescription refilling process, has raised $5.6 million in Series A funding from return investors Atlas Venture and SR One.

—–

New Funds

Correlation Ventures, the four-year-old, San Diego-based venture firm that says it uses predictive analytics in its investment decisions, is raising a second fund, shows an SEC filing that states the first sale has yet to occur. The firm is targeting $170 million. Correlation closed its debut fund with $165 million in early 2012.

Index Ventures, the 19-year-old venture firm, with offices in Geneva, London, and San Francisco, has just raised $706 million for a new growth fund, according to an SEC filing. Last year Index, which focuses on both tech and life sciences companies, closed a $542 million fund for early-stage startups. VentureBeat has more here.

Lux Capital, the 15-year-old venture firm, with offices in New York and Menlo Park, Ca. , has closed its fourth fund with $350 million to invest in early-stage science and technology ventures. The fund was meaningfully oversubscribed from the firm’s initial target of $245 million, the firm says. Dealbook has much more here.

—–

IPOs

GoDaddy’s IPO by the numbers.

—–

Exits

Blekko, an eight-year-old, Redwood Shores, Ca.-based web search engine and social news platform, has been acquired by IBM for undisclosed terms. The company had raised roughly $60 million from investors, including SoftTech VC, Baseline Ventures, PivotNorth Capital, U.S. Venture Partners, CMEA Capital, and Yandex. Silicon Angle has more here.

Chango, a seven-year-old, Toronto-based programmatic ad platform, has been acquired by the publicly traded, L.A.-based ad company Rubicon Project for a reported $122 million. According to Crunchbase, Chango had raised $18.6 million from investors, including iNovia Capital, Rho Canada, Metamorphic Ventures, Extreme Venture Partners, and Mantella Venture Partners. More here.

Embrane, a five-year-old, Santa Clara, Ca.-based startup with an architecture for virtualized network appliances, has been acquired for undisclosed terms by Cisco, which was an investor in the company. Altogether, says Crunchbase, Embrane had raised $32 million, including from Lightspeed Venture Partners, New Enterprise Associates, and Presidio Ventures.

Two of the many investors in Flipkart, one of India’s largest e-commerce companies, have reportedly cashed out of their investments. Helion Venture Partners has sold its entire stake to secondary buyers; meanwhile IDG Ventures has sold part of its holdings, says DealCurry.More here.

Lacoon Mobile Security, a four-year-old, San Francisco-based mobile threat management platform, has been acquired by Check Point Software Technologies for undisclosed terms that earlier reports pegged at $80 million. Lacoon had raised $8 million from Index Ventures and numerous individual investors.

Moment.me, a three-year-old, New York-based company that recently pivoted to build mobile websites for events, has been acquired by publicly traded site builder Wix for $10 million, reports TechCrunch. According to Crunchbase, Moment.me had raised $3.2 million from Blumberg Capital and SingTel Innov8.

Refresh.io, a startup and iOS app of the same name that surfaces insights about people in your networks right before you meet them, has been acquired by LinkedIn for undisclosed terms. (TechCrunch is calling it a talent and technology acquisition.) Crunchbase shows the company had raised $10 million from investors, including Haystack, Foundation Capital, CRV, and Redpoint Ventures.

TenXer, a 3.5-year-old, San Francisco-based startup whose productivity tool helps programmers analyze their performance, has been acquired by Twitter for undisclosed terms. The company had raised $4.7 million from investors, including Webb Investment Network, Khosla Ventures, Radar Partners, and True Ventures. VentureBeat has more here.

Toopher, a 3.5-year-old, Austin, Tx.-based two-factor authentication startup, has been acquired by Salesforce for undisclosed terms. The company had raised roughly $3 million, shows Crunchbase. Its venture backers include Alsop Louie Partners and Corsa Ventures. VentureBeat has the story here.

—–

People

A growing list of Silicon Valley CEOs, VCs and other leaders have signed a statement demanding that states considering so-called religious freedom legislation also pass laws banning discrimination against people who are gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender. In an interview with Recode, entrepreneur Max Levchin, who is leading the effort, hints that states that don’t act may have more to worry about than a statement. “I am asking all CEOs to evaluate their relationships and investments in states that do not specifically protect LGBT people from discrimination.”

Motionloft founder Jon Mills — who was accused of defrauding investors and spending their money for his lavish personal use — has been found guilty on two counts of wire fraud, and ordered to serve 24 months in jail, reports TechCrunch. Mills was also ordered to cough up $6,000 in fines and to pay restitution to his victims in the amount of $572,039. More here.

Nebula, a four-year-old, Mountain View, Ca.-based company that promised its customers the ability to easily build a massive private computing cloud from hundreds or thousands of inexpensive computers, has gone out of business. Nebula had raised nearly $40 million from investors, including Webb Investment Network, Comcast Ventures, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, and Highland Capital Partners. Business Insider has the story here.

—–

Happenings

StrictlyVC’s next INSIDER event is suddenly just six weeks away. Information is here. Tickets are here. Space is limited. Much thanks to our terrific sponsors, Amazon Web Services, Personal Capital, and Galvanize for helping us put together what’s going to be a great night.

—–

Essential Reads

JD.com, among China’s largest e-commerce companies, is branching out into crowdfunding for startups. The site isn’t the first startup crowdfunding site in China, but with its resources, it claims to already be the largest.

The inside story of the Apple Watch: the people who made it, why it’s important, and just how much Apple has riding on it.

Meerkat, the live broadcasting startup, better have another trick up its sleeve. A week after snatching up $14 million in funding, the company’s popularity is suddenly plunging.

—–

Detours

The 19 hottest property markets in the world.

Norwegians, soaring through the air at 60 miles per hour on their skis.

Entertainer Chris Rock is taking a selfie every time he gets pulled over by police.

—–

Retail Therapy

This chainless, folding, electric bike is cool. Maybe not quite as cool as its promotional video suggests(!), but pretty cool.

Happy Wednesday, dear readers! We were planning an April Fools’ prank, but we’ve run out of time and, speaking frankly, the story we were writing was not terribly hilarious. Put another way: no column today.:)

—–

Top New in the A.M.

President Obama just signed an executive order establishing the first sanctions program to impose penalties on individuals overseas who engage in destructive attacks or commercial espionage in cyberspace. More here.

—–

New Fundings

17zuoye, an eight-year-old, Shanghai, China-based online learning platform for parents, teachers, and students K-12, has raised $100 million in Series D financing led by H Capital, according to China Money Network. Temasek Holdings, DST Global, and Shunwei Capital also participated in the round. According to Crunchbase, the company has now raised at least $135 million altogether.

Advanced Practice Strategies, a 20-year-old, Boston-based e-learning and talent management platform provider for clinicians, has raised $12 million in Series C funding led by River Cities Capital Funds, with participation from Ascension Ventures.

AppsDaily, a seven-year-old, Mumbai, India-based mobile app development and distribution company, has raised $16 million in Series C funding led by Zodius Technology Fund, with participation from earlier backers ru-Net, Kalaari Capital and Qualcomm Ventures. The company had previously raised $6 million, according to the outlet e27.

aTyr Pharma, a 10-year-old, San Diego-based biotherapeutics company that discovers and develops protein biologics for human therapeutics, has raised $76 million in Series E funding led by Sofinnova Ventures and an undisclosed large institutional investor in the biotechnology industry. Other new investors taking part in the round include funds and accounts advised by T. Rowe Price Associates, Federated Investors, Deerfield, Rock Springs Capital Management, EcoR1 Capital, Sphera Global Healthcare, and two additional undisclosed institutional investors.

Beequick, a ten-month-old, Beijing, China-based startup that currently provides one-hour delivery of fresh produce and other products from community convenience stores, has raised $20 million in Series B funding led by Hillhouse Capital, according to China Money Network. Earlier backer Sequoia Capital also participated in the round, which reportedly values the young company at $200 million. The company has raised $40 million to date.

CafeX, a two-year-old, New York-based company whose technology helps enable contextual real-time communication experiences within enterprise applications, has raised $21 million in Series B funding from Intel Capital and a subsidiary of USAA, with return backing by Illuminate Ventures and other angel investors. The company has now raised at least $31.5 million, shows Crunchbase.

Didi Dache and Kuaidi Dache, the three-year-old, China-based taxi-hailing companies that merged in February (though they remain separately operated), are selling $600 million worth of common shares to an investor consortium led by Coatue Management in a transaction that values the combined companies at $8.75 billion. The WSJ has more here. Coatue is reportedly putting in about $250 million, while the investment firm Farallon Capital Management invests roughly another $75 million. Unnamed institutional and individual investors are acquiring the rest of the stakes. The deal is interesting for numerous reasons, not least because it represents Coatue’s third China-based deal in the last month. The hedge fund’s other recent bets include the online travel information and service platform Mafengwo and the online used car auction company Youxinpai. (Coatue hired Tony Zhang from DCM Ventures last year to gain a foothold in China, notes the WSJ.)

Genshuixue, a year-old, China-based online education startup, has raised $50 million in Series A funding at valuation of $250 million led by Hillhouse Capital. Tech in Asia has more here.

Instabrand, a two-year-old, L.A.-based start-up that helps strike deals between advertisers and individuals with large social media followings, has raised $2.5 million in funding led by TI Capital, which is funded by a Santa Monica-based family. The L.A. Times has the story here.

Noom, a 7.5-year-old, New York-based company whose smartphone apps promote healthy living, has raised $16.2 million in Series B funding led byInterVest, a Seoul, Korea-based venture capital firm. Other investors in the round include LB Investment; Hanmi IT, a subsidiary company of Hanmi Pharmaceutical Co.; RRE Ventures; TransLink Capital; andQualcomm Ventures. The company has raised at least $24 million to date, shows Crunchbase.

PeerNova, a year-old, San Jose, Ca.-based blockchain technology specialist, has raised $5 million in funding from the retail company Overstock as part of its second tranche of Series A financing. Formed through a merger of the cloud mining contract company CloudHashing and ASIC hardware designer HighBitcoin, PeerNova raised $8.6 million in funding in December led by Mosiak Partners, with participation from angel investor Steve Case, FireEye founder Ashar Aziz, veteran investor Pierre Lamond, Crypto Currency Partners and others. Coindesk has the story here.

Signal, a year-old, London-based company that specializes in media monitoring and market intelligence, has raised $1.8 million in seed funding led by Frontline Ventures, with participation from Samos Investments,Reed Ventures and individual investors. The Irish Times has more here.

TripHobo, a three-year-old, Pune, India-based repository of user-generated travel itineraries, has raised $3 million in Series B funding led by Mayfield, with participation from earlier investor Kalaari Capital. The company has now raised roughly $5.5 million altogether, shows Crunchbase.

Yuantiku, a three-year-old, Beijing-based online education platform, has raised $60 million in Series D funding led by CMC Capital Partners and New Horizon Capital, with participation from Matrix Partners China and IDG Capital Partners. The company has raised $84.2 million to date, shows Crunchbase. China Money Network has more here.

Zhan.com, a four-year-old, Shanghai, China-based online education firm (yes, another China-based online education deal), has raised $29 million in Series B financing led by GGV Capital and Shunwei Capital.

—–

New Funds

Chrysalix, the 14-year-old, Vancouver, B.C.-based venture firm, is approaching a first close on Chrysalix Energy LP IV, reports peHUB. The firm hopes to raise between $150 million and $250 million for the fund.

Comcast, the 52-year-old, Philadelphia-headquartered broadcasting and cable giant, is launching a new, growth-stage investment group to be headed by Comcast‘s CFO, Michael Angelakis, who will leave his current post to lead it. Angelakis’s team will reportedly have up to $4.1 billion to invest. It isn’t yet clear how closely it will work with Comcast Ventures, the company’s venture capital arm. More here.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has struck a deal with lawmakers to include a $100 million venture capital fund in the state budget, according to Bloomberg. The fund will be used to support startups engaged in biotechnology and advanced materials.

—–

IPOs

Etsy, the 10-year-old, Brooklyn-based crafts marketplace, thinks it’s worth $1.78 billion. After filing its S1 in early March, the company announced yesterday that it would launch its IPO roadshow today, offering 16.67 million shares at an initial offering price of between $14 and $16 per share. Business Insider has the story here.

GoDaddy, the 18-year-old, Scottsdale, Az.-based online service that helps people and businesses set up web sites, just debuted on the New York Stock Exchange this morning, after raising $440 million in its initial public offering. GoDaddy wound up pricing its shares at $20, above an earlier targeted range of $17 to $19 a share. At its IPO price, the company has a market value of more than $3 billion (though as of this writing, the stock is trading at $26). Stay tuned!

—–

Exits

Trada, a seven-year-old, Boulder, Co.based company that crowdsourced search-engine ad purchasing, has shut down its operations, saying it was unable to pay its creditors. The company reportedly employed nearly 100 people at one point. According to Crunchbase, Trada raised at least $19 million from investors, including Foundry Group and Google Ventures. Denver Business Journal has the story.

—–

People

CEOs who made their fortune before age 30.

Fiksu, a 6.5-year-old, Boston-based mobile marketing technology company that last year said it had surpassed $100 million in annual revenue, has laid off about 10 percent of its workforce as part of a reorganization, and CFO Ken Goldman — brought aboard less than a year ago to help it prepare for a possible IPO — has left. BetaBoston has the story here.

Roger McNamee, cofounder of Elevation Partners, told CNBC yesterday that the lack of women at the top of venture capital firms is “tragic.” One of the problems, McNamee offered, is that many people in engineering “his age” likely never interacted much with women in a professional setting. “You almost need a generational change to get past that fear of treating women as real people,” he said.

Entrepreneur Sean Parker and investor Ron Conway are throwing their weight behind a new think tank in Washington that aims to craft centrist proposals to stimulate the economy and press Congress to enact them. It’s called the Economic Innovation Group and it launched yesterday after a reported 18 months of behind-the-scenes preparation. Politico has more here.

Behind that Forbes cover story on investor Chris Sacca (video).

—–

Data

The folks at Silk analyzed Angel.co, CrunchBase and LinkedIn to build a nifty picture of the drone startup landscape, breaking the companies down by field, location, and fundraising.

—–

Essential Reads

The anonymous messaging app Yik Yak is testing a photo feature. The company says it will moderate and approve all photos, which sounds like a nightmare but would prevent photos that feature faces — or worse — to make it into users’ feeds.

—–

Detours

Cool pies.

Pawculus Rift.

The man who makes Hollywood’s smallest sounds.

—–

Retail Therapy

Now this manifesto, we can get behind.

 

Hi, all, happy Tuesday! (Web visitors, here’s an easer-to-read version of today’s email.)

—–

Top News in the A.M.

Charter Communications, the fourth-largest cable provider in the U.S., has just agreed to purchase the sixth-largest U.S. provider, Bright House Networks, for $10.4 billion. If approved, says Charter, the deal will create the second biggest cable operator by customer volume.

Two federal agents were charged yesterday for diverting valuable bitcoin into their personal accounts during their investigation of the black-market site Silk Road. As shocking, one is accused of acting as as a paid informant for Silk Road’s recently convicted administrator, Ross Ulbricht.

—–

Andreessen Horowitz Bets Big on Tanium — Again

Tanium, an eight-year-old, Emeryville, Ca.-based company founded by father and son David and Orion Hindawi, has landed $52 million from Andreessen Horowitz less than a year after raising $90 million from the Sand Hill Road firm.

Somewhat amazingly, it hasn’t touched a penny of it, either, says Orion Hindawi, the company’s CTO.

In fact, Tanium — whose security and systems management software can deliver all kinds of information about every machine and device running on a corporate network within seconds – has been profitable since 2012, says Hindawi, and it’s growing fast. Last year, it increased its total billings by 400 percent and grew its employee base from 25 to 175. (It plans to employ between 500 and 600 people by year end.)

So why raise so much? Two reasons, says Hindawi. The company is seeing an “immense amount of opportunity” that it wants to “even more aggressively” pursue — particularly in international markets like Japan, England, and Australia, where its business has begun to take off.

Tanium has also mapped out how much it needs to survive for three years without revenue in the case of a “black swan” event. “I like real cushions,” says Hindawi, who cofounded an earlier company with his father called BigFix that launched in 1999. BigFix survived the dot com boom and bust, eventually selling to IBM in 2010 for a reported $400 million. But the downturn also made Hindawi acutely aware of how challenging it is to survive lousy market conditions.

Not that he needs to worry this time around, seemingly.

Andreessen Horowitz is so taken by Tanium’s technology that despite its enormous investment in the company, it owns “substantially less than 25 percent,” says Hindawi.

Perhaps it’s no wonder that Hindawi thinks highly of Andreessen Horowitz, too. He points to the expertise of of Andreessen partner and former Microsoft executive Steven Sinofksy, who sits on Tanium’s board. (“Usually, I’ve dealt with VCs who didn’t have direct knowledge of our space,” Hindawi says.)

He also cites Andreessen Horowitz’s “executive briefing center,” a low-flying, 50-person unit that focuses narrowly on bringing in customers to the firm’s enterprise portfolio companies.

It’s “one of the most amazing things I’ve ever seen,” says Hindawi, who says that half of Tanium’s customers have come from its own pipeline. The other half, he says, have come through Andreessen Horowitz.

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New Fundings

Augure, a 13-year-old, Paris-based company whose marketing software helps its clients better connect with so-called influencers, has raised $16.1 million in Series E funding from previous backers Serena Capital, Ventech, OTC Agregator, and Amundi private equity funds, along with two new investors: Seventure Partners and Bpifrance International. Rude Baguette has more here.

Drifty, a three-year-old, Madison, Wi.-based company that helps web developers build native mobile applications that can then be published to the major app stores, has raised $2.6 million in new funding led by Lightbank, with participation from Founder Collective and earlier backer Arthur Ventures, which provided Drifty with $1 million in seed funding last year. TechCrunch has the story here.

DroneDeploy, a two-year-old, San Francisco-based smart drone management system, has raised $9 million in Series A funding led by Emergence Capital, with participation from earlier backers SoftTech VC, Data Collective and AngelPad. The company has now raised $11 million altogether. More here.

Enbala Power Networks, a 12-year-old, Vancouver, B.C. -based developer of distributed energy resource management software, has raised $11 million in new funding led by GE Ventures and Edison Energy, a subsidiary of Edison International. Earlier investors also joined the round, including Export Development Canada, EnerTech Capital Partners, Sorfina Capital and Chrysalix EVC. The company has now raised roughly $27 million to date, shows Crunchbase.

GlassesUSA, a six-year-old, New York-based online retailer specializing in prescription eyewear, has raised $12.5 million in new funding led by Viola Private Equity. Geektime has more here.

GoFormz, a three-year-old, San Diego-based company that turns paper forms into “smart” mobile forms, has raised $3 million in Series A funding from Cloud Apps Capital Partners and Floodgate. More here.

KeepTrax, a 1.5-year-old, Dallas-based company that leverages GPS and mobile device sensors to convert physical location visits into digital “pins” for a variety of use cases, has raised $1 million in seed funding led by Naya Ventures.

Laundrapp, a year-old, London-based on-demand laundry startup, has raised $5.9 million in new funding from a group of investors including Michael Spencer, founder of interdealer broker ICAP. More here.

Novan, a seven-year-old, Raleigh, N.C.-based company that’s developing deliverable nitric oxide for dermatological purposes, has raised $50 million from the publicly traded company Malin Corporation, with participation from Novan’s existing private investors through the Research Triangle area of North Carolina. The company has now raised roughly $85 million altogether, shows Crunchbase.

PlayVox, a three-year-old, San Francisco-based company whose engagement software aims to make it more fun for call center workers to achieve their goals, has raised $1.5 million from a corporate venture investor in Colombia called FCP Innovacion. (PlayVox founder, Oscar Giraldo, is a systems engineer from Colombia.) The company has now raised $2.2 million to date. Venture Capital Dispatch has more here.

ProsperWorks, a four-year-old, San Mateo, Ca.-based company that sells its customer relationship management software to companies that use Google Apps, has raised $7.5 million in Series A funding led by True Ventures, with participation from earlier backers Bloomberg Beta and Crunchfund. The company has now raised $10 million altogether. Silicon Angle has more here.

Raptr, an eight-year-old, Mountain View, Ca.-based social platform that automatically updates a person’s gaming status in real-time, has raised $14 million in Series D funding led by earlier backer Accel Partners, with participation from AMD Ventures and other previous investors DAG Ventures and Tenaya Capital. The company has now raised $41 million altogether. This latest round values it at $170 million, VentureWire reports.More here.

SmartNews, a 2.5-year-old, Tokyo-based news recommendation and reading app, has raised $10 million in funding from earlier backers, including the games company GREE, Globis Capital Partners, Atomico,Mixi and Social Venture Partners. To date, SmartNews has raised $50 million. More here.

Sprinklr, a 5.5-year-old, New York-based maker of social media management software, has raised $46 million in Series E funding from earlier backers Intel Capital, Battery Ventures, and Iconiq Capital. The company has now raised $123.5 million altogether, shows Crunchbase.

Spruce, a two-year-old, San Francisco-based telemedicine company that’s focused on connecting people with board-certified dermatologists whenever they need them, has raised $15 million in Series A funding from earlier backers Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Google Ventures, Baseline Ventures and Cowboy Ventures. The company has now raised $17 million altogether. StrictlyVC talked with Spruce last year.

Thrasos Therapeutics, a 13-year-old, Montreal-based biotech startup focused on kidney disease, has raised $16.5 million in Series D funding co-led by BDC Capital and SR One, with participation from earlier backersAdvanced Technology Ventures, Fonds de solidarite FTQ, Lumira Capital, MP Healthcare Venture Management, Pappas Ventures, and SW Co.

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IPOs

CoLucid Pharmaceuticals, a 10-year-old, Durham, N.C.-based company focusing on therapies for central nervous system disorders, has filed plans to raise up to $86.25 million in an IPO. The company has raised roughly $56 million in funding across four rounds, including from Novo Ventures, Auriga Partners, Pappas Ventures, Domain Associates, Care Capital, Triathlon Medical Venture Partners, and Pearl Street Venture Funds.

Renaissance Capital just released its IPO review of the first quarter. In a nutshell, the market “slowed dramatically” owing to a variety of factors. You can download the specifics here.

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Exits

ReadyForZero, a nearly five-year-old, San Francisco-based Y Combinator-backed company that helps consumers better manage their personal debit and credit using online financial software, has been acquired by the online lending platform Avant, itself a Y Combinator alum. Financial terms are not being disclosed. Avant, a 2.5-year-old, Chicago-based company has raised roughly $333 million in equity and another billion dollars in debt, says TechCrunch. According to Crunchbase, ReadyForZero had raised $4.8 million in funding from Citi Ventures, Polaris Ventures, 500 Startups, and others.

RupeePower, a four-year-old, Gurgaon, India-based marketplace for loans, credit card and other personal finance product offers, has been acquired for undisclosed terms by India’s Snapdeal, the e-commerce giant. Snapdeal plans to use the acquisition to launch a financial services marketplace. TechCrunch has more here.

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People

Move over Tiger Global Management. Legendary hedge fund manager Steve Cohen is getting into the venture business. According to Bloomberg, Point72 Asset Management, the firm that manages his fortune, has started a venture capital unit called Honeycomb Ventures and it aims to back still-private growth-stage technology companies.

A first look at Facebook‘s new mothership, into which 2,800 employees will soon move.

Lynn Hermle, a star partner with Orrick, Herringto & Sutcliffe, talks with the Recorder about the Kleiner Perkins trial and what was going through her mind at various times. “I thought there was a universe between what happened in the courtroom and what the media said happened,” says Hermle of the case’s media coverage. “Like one of those Venn diagrams that don’t connect in any way.”

Yesterday, Tesla CEO Elon Musk tweeted that his company will unveil a new product — “not a car” —on April 30. Most bets are on a Tesla home battery that would be for use in people’s houses and which Musk said last month is coming “fairly soon.” Company watchers are meanwhile having fun speculating about other possibilities.

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Essential Reads

Introducing Amazon “dash.”

Microsoft’s brand-new tablet could be a MacBook Air killer. It hopes.

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Detours

The 25 most expensive homes for sale in San Francisco right now.

The Passover menu is getting a foodie update.

Popular chicken recipes.

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Retail Therapy

Balloon lamps.

Yellow submarines.