Berkeley, Calif.-based SpoonRocket, which provides an on-demand meal delivery service, said it has raised an $11 million Series A round. Foundation Capital led the round and was joined by General Catalyst Partners. The company said it previously raised $2.5 million in seed funding from FundersClub, Y Combinator and individual investors. As part of the funding, Paul Holland, general partner of Foundation, has joined the board.
1 min read · 15 May 2014
New Enterprise Associates General Partner Scott Sandell assumed the chairmanship of the National Venture Capital Association, as six new board members are also announced at the organization's annual meeting, called VentureScape, in San Francisco.
4 min read · 14 May 2014
Mark Heesen, former president of the National Venture Capital Association, was honored at the group's annual meeting in San Francisco with its Lifetime Achievement Award. At the group's VentureScape conference, Heesen was praised for his commitment to transparency and for helping to establish the NVCA as the definitive source for data, commentary and insight about the venture community. Heesen was with the NVCA for more than 20 years, including 14 years as its president. He announced last year his retirement from the nation’s top lobbyist organization for the venture industry.
3 min read · 14 May 2014
SOLS, which focuses on orthotics, is the latest 3D printing startup to secure capital from VCs
3 min read · 13 May 2014
Instart Logic, which provides a cloud-based service for Web publishers to improve site performance over mobile and WiFi networks, has raised $26 million in Series C funding. Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers led the round, which included prior investors Andreessen Horowitz, Greylock Partners, Sutter Hill Ventures and Tenaya Capital. The Mountain View, Calif.-based company has now raised $43 million in total funding.
3 min read · 13 May 2014
Norwest Venture Partners, which has enjoyed a number of sizable liquidity events recently, announced it has raised a $1.2 billion fund to make multi-stage investments worldwide. The firm said that it achieved 11 exits in 2013 with a combined market cap of $10 billion. Exits last year include the IPOs of FireEye, RetailMeNot and Cyan. Acquisitions include the $525 million sale in late October of Virtela Technology Services to NTT Communications Corp and the acquisition of 41st Parameter to Experian for $324 million. Palo Alto, Calif.-based Norwest, which also has offices in India and Israel, similarly raised $1.2 billion for its 11th fund, which closed in late 2009.
5 min read · 13 May 2014
Although large venture-backed acquisitions like WhatsApp and Nest Labs have dominated the headlines, most deals so far in 2014 are modest in size, an analysis by affiliate publication Venture Capital Journal has found.
2 min read · 08 May 2014
Institutional Venture Partners announced it has appointed Saydeah Howard as vice president of talent and venture services, in which she'll help advise the firm’s portfolio companies on recruiting and HR issues. Howard was previously vice president of human resources at LeapFrog Enterprises.
3 min read · 07 May 2014
Outside of Nest Labs and Air Watch, most VC-backed deals year-to-date are smaller in size
3 min read · 06 May 2014
Optimizely, which provides website optimization tools, has raised a $57 million Series B round of financing led by Andreessen Horowitz, with participation from Benchmark Capital and Bain Capital Ventures. As part of the round, Scott Weiss, general partner at Andreessen Horowitz, has joined the board. San Francisco-based Optimizely has now raised $88 million in total funding.
3 min read · 05 May 2014
