Things were interesting on the funding front in Silicon Valley this week! The online retailer Nasty Gal landed an eight-figure investment led by Apple’s former retail chief, and the desiccated carcass of the TV streaming service Aereo sold for around $2 million. Here’s all that went down:
Capital Gains: Nasty Gal Raises $16 Million, the Aereo Fire Sale and More
The photo tech company Lytro also raised $50 million and announced layoffs.
Vjeran Pavic
- The Israeli software company IronSource raised $105 million in funding from a group of investors including J.P. Morgan, Morgan Stanley and others. The reportedly already profitable company has secured a $1 billion valuation and is preparing for a late-2015 IPO (Forbes).
- Google Ventures led a $60 million investment in the music publisher Kobalt, which works with music rights holders to make money from their songs. The company has now raised more than $120 million to date.
- The photo technology startup Lytro raised $50 million in a funding round led by GSV Capital. The company also announced it would be laying off a few dozen workers as it changes its focus to virtual reality and video technology.
- The real estate startup Opendoor closed a $20 million Series B round led by GGV capital. This brings the company’s total funding to $30 million (Wall Street Journal).
- The Canadian enterprise technology company SecureKey raised $19 million in a Series C funding round. The lead investors were Blue Sky Capital and Rogers Venture Partners (Reuters).
- Ron Johnson, the former Apple retail exec who knows a thing or two about setting up brick-and-mortar stores, led a $16 million investment in the women’s clothing retailer Nasty Gal. This a Series C funding; the company last raised $40 million in a 2012 Series B round.
- Dtex Systems, which develops security technology for businesses, raised $15 million in a Series A round. The round was led by Norwest Venture Partners and Wing Venture Partners, with partners from both firms joining the Dtex board (GigaOm).
- 3-D printed shoe insoles maker SOLS raised $11.1 million in a Series B funding round with investment from Founders Fund and Lux Capital. Last April, the company raised $6.4 million.
- The gaming technology company PlayFab raised $7.4 million in a Series A round led by Benchmark Capital. In 2014, PlayFab raised $2.5 million.
- Chefs Feed is a startup that runs a restaurant reviewing service populated with reviews by chefs. The company has secured $4 million in Series A funding, in a round led by Artis Ventures (SFGate).
- The ed tech startup LocoMotive Labs, which makes games focusing on math education, raised $4 million in a Series A round that will help the developer expand into Asian markets. Softbank Ventures Korea and TAL Education Group led the round, and brings total funding to just over $5 million (TechCrunch).
- Mack Weldon, an e-commerce site that specializes in men’s underwear, raised $4 million in a Series A funding round. Investors include RiverPark Ventures, Bridge Investments and Lyrical Partners (Wall Street Journal).
- Aereo, the Web-TV streaming company with $100 million in VC that was effectively shut down by a Supreme Court decision, sold its remaining assets to several different buyers for under $2 million at an auction this week.
This article originally appeared on Recode.net.
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