Alastair Goldfisher

Mobile payment network developer LevelUp raises $50 mln

Boston-based LevelUp, a provider of mobile payment network technology, announced that it has raised a $50 million round. Investors include JPMorgan Chase, US Boston and CentroCredit Bank.

VR vision company raises $2.2 mln led by Jeff Clavier

San Francisco-based Vivid Vision, a developer of virtual reality technologies to treat bincoular vision problems, has raised $2.2 million in seed funding. SoftTech VC’s Jeff Clavier led the funding round, which also included the Venture Reality Fund, CRCM Ventures, SOS Ventures, Anorak Ventures and Liquid 2 Ventures, a seed-stage venture firm co-founded by Hall of Fame NFL quarterback Joe Montana. The company was founded in 2014 by Chief Executive James Blaha, a programmer and lifelong sufferer of lazy eye.

March Capital, GE Ventures invest in IoTium

Santa Clara, California-based IoTium, developer of secure network infrastructure, announced that it has raised $8.39 million in a Series A round of funding led by March Capital Partners and GE Ventures. Investors in the round also included Pankaj Patel, former executive vice president and chief development officer at Cisco Systems; OpenSource Ventures; and Juniper Networks.

Impulse VC backs facial recognition provider

Moscow-based NtechLab, a provider of facial recognition technology, announced it has raised $1.5 million in a funding round led by Impulse VC. NtechLab focuses on such businesses as customs, security and law enforcement. Impulse, founded in 2013 by the Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich, invests in U.S., U.K. and Russian companies.

Scott Kupor named chair of the NVCA board

Scott Kupor was named chair of the National Venture Capital Association board for the 2017-18 period, the organization announced at its annual meeting in Washington. Kupor, a managing partner at Andreessen Horowitz, succeeds Venky Ganesan, a managing director at Menlo Ventures. The NVCA also named Alexis Borisy, partner at Third Rock Ventures, as chair-elect for 2018-19.

Obvious Ventures closes Fund II with $191,919,191. (Read on.)

Cockroach raises $27 mln in Series B

New York-based Cockroach Labs, a provider of open source infrastructure solutions, has raised $27 million in Series B funding from Redpoint Ventures, GV, Benchmark, Index Ventures and FirstMark Capital. The company previously raised $26.5 million in funding. As part of the latest round, Redpoint General Partner Satish Dharamaj has joined the board.

Meditation platform Simple Habit raises $2.5 mln in seed funding

San Francisco-based Simple Habit, a provider of a meditation platform offering 5-minute teachings, announced a $2.5 million seed-stage funding round from New Enterprise Associates, Fabrice Grinda's FJ Labs, Foundation Capital and founders of Dropbox and Gusto. The company, which was in a recent Y Combinator class, was founded by Chief Executive Yunha Kim. Kim was previously the co-founder and CEO of VC-backed Locket, a developer of an Android lock screen app that was purchased by Wish in 2015.

Signal Sciences raises $15 mln led by CRV

Venice, California-based Signal Sciences, a developer of Web application security services, announced it has raised $15 million in a Series B funding round led by CRV. Harrison Metal, Index Ventures and O'Reilly AlphaTech Ventures also participated in the round. The company was founded by former Etsy engineers.

Grammarly scores $110 mln in funding

San Francisco-based Grammarly, which provides an AI-powered communication assistant that helps correct grammar and typos in word processing, has raised $110 million in growth equity funding. General Catalyst led the funding. Breyer Capital, IVP, SignalFire and Spark Capital also participated.