Alastair Goldfisher

On the Bleeding Edge: Menlo's team strategy, angels in the field and Foundation’s Paul Holland on industry transition and pizza

Greylock leads Series A funding in self-storage provider Trove

San Francisco-based Trove, a provider of self-storage services, has raised an $8 million Series A round led by Greylock Partners. Angel investors also participated in the round. As part of the funding, Greylock Partner Simon Rothman has joined the board.

Balderton leads funding in Frontier Auto Group

Berlin-based Frontier Auto Group, which operates online marketplaces for the used auto sector in emerging markets, announced it has raised $22 million in funding. Balderton Capital led the round, which also included New Enterprise Associates, TPG/Satya Capital, EchoVC, Partech Ventures and a few large global family offices. The company said it will use the funds to grow in Mexico, Chile, Turkey, Nigeria and Pakistan.

Benchmark invests $8.1 mln in marijuana breathalyzer

Oakland-based Hound Labs, developer of a marijuana breathalyzer, has raised $8.1 million from Benchmark. As part of the funding, Mitch Lasky, general partner at Benchmark, has joined the board.

Montage Ventures seeks $37.5 million

Palo Alto, California-based Montage Ventures is seeking to raise $37.5 million for its second fund, according to a regulatory filing. The firm invests in financial services, e-commerce, marketplaces and healthcare startups. Montage is led by Managing Partner Todd Kimmel, a former partner with Mayfield and a onetime principal with Advanced Technology Ventures.

Prezi buys data visualization company Infogram for its first acquisition

Venture-backed Prezi, a provider of a visual presentation platform, announced its first acquisition with the purchase of Infogram, a data visualization company from Latvia. Financial terms were not disclosed. San Francisco-based Prezi, founded in 2009, has raised more than $70 million to date from Accel Partners, Spectrum Equity, TED Conferences and Sunstone Capital. Infogram is also VC-backed, having raised more than $1.8 million in capital from Point Nine Capital, Connect Ventures and HackFwd GmbH, according to Thomson Reuters.

Mode raises $13 mln led by REV Venture Partners

San Francisco-based Mode, a provider of an analytics platform, announced it has raised $13 million in Series B funding led by REV Venture Partners in London. Also participating in the round was Foundation Capital, which led Mode's Series A, and Goldcrest. As part of the latest funding, Kevin Brown, founder partner at REV, has joined the company board.

Security company Mocana raises $11 mln

San Francisco-based Mocana Corp, a provider of IoT security solutions, announced it has raised $11 million in funding from Sway Ventures, Shasta Ventures, Trident Capital Fund and GE Ventures. The company has now raised $93.6 million in total financing.

Blue Cloud Ventures more than halfway to target

Growth-stage SaaS investor Blue Cloud Ventures has raised more than $52.5 million toward a $100 million target, according to a regulatory filing. The New York firm raised more than $50 million for Fund II, which was its first institutional fund, in 2016.

AngelList launches Angel Funds

AngelList, which operates an investment syndicate and helps job seekers find employment at startups, announced today it was launching Angel Funds to help angels start venture funds without the overhead. Venture firm Maiden Lane, an AngelList backer, has committed $35 million to help back angel funds. AngelList co-founder Babak Nivi wrote in a blog post that Angel Funds will provide the infrastructure and capital.