Venture Capital Update

New York, New York - Ideeli, an on line members-only shopping destination that engages consumers with the most sought after brands at preferred prices has raised $41 M of series C funding from Next World Capital with Cue Ball Capital, StarVest Partners, Constellation Growth Capital and Kodiak Venture Partner participating in the venture capital funding.

The new funding will be used for category expansions, partnerships, technology enhancements, marketing campaigns, attracting talent and enhancing the Ideeli member experience.

New York, New York - Crisp Media, an innovative rich media advertising provider and empowers brands to engage with consumers and drive interaction across multiple platforms has raised $6 Million of series C funding from Meritage Funds, Intel Capital, and EDBI.

The funding will be used to scale its recently launched rich media ad management platform, Crisp Engage which uses HTML 5-based ad software to provide optimum internet advertising delivery. The round brings Crisp’s total investment to $17 million.

New York, New York - Extension Entertainment or ExFm, a browser extension for Chrome that turns the entire web into your personal music library has raised $750,000 of seed funding from venture capital firms Spark Capital, Betaworks and Founder Collective and angel investor Dave Morgan.

The funding will be used for team expansion and releasing platforms like mobile apps for iOS and Android, and expand its offerings beyond the Chrome extension.

London, United Kingdom - Funding Circle, a social lending platform for small businesses in UK has raised £2.5m or $3.6 M of series A funding from venture capital firm Index Ventures and from other unnamed VC firms and angels. Neil Rimer, co-founder and Partner of Index, will take a seat on the Board as part of the deal.

Funding Circle platform is unique because it is possible for lenders to get their money back before a loan is repaid by reselling their part of the loan onto other lenders.

Chantilly, VA - Digital Signal Corporation, the leader in three-dimensional facial recognition systems for the department of defense and other federal agencies and commercial clients has raised $15 M of Series C Funding. The funding was led by Columbia Capital and backed up by venture capital firms City Light Capital and SilverHaze Partners. Previous backers Novak Biddle Venture Partners and Paladin Capital Group also supported the round.

The new funding will be used to increase infrastructure, including manufacturing, to meet the growing market demands in facial recognition systems.

Oneonta, New York - Ioxus, the only company that develops, manufactures and commercializes innovative ultracapacitor technologies entirely in the United States has raised $21 M of series A funding from from Energy Technology Ventures, Northwater Capital, Aster Capital and existing backer Braemar Energy Ventures.

The funding will be used for the development of new generation ultracapacitor cells to be released this year.

Moscow, Russia - KupiVIP, an online shopping club in Russia which provides online sales in designer brands and fashion accessories with discounts of up to 70% off boutique prices has raised $55 M of series C funding, a record breaking funding in the russian e-commerce. The venture capital funding came from new backers Balderton Capital, Bessemer Venture Partners and Russia Partners. Existing investors including Accel Partners and Mangrove Capital Partners also participated in the funding.

The funding will be used to fund more goods and more discounted designer fashion and luxury brands. KupiVIP is dubbed as the Amazon in Russia due to its rapid growth and seed funding.

Tel Aviv, Israel - Astrolome, a horoscope service provider with social networking feature has raised a $300,000 of Seed Funding from Kima Ventures and some VC angels for the development of a real time, accurate and interactive horoscope platform.

The new horoscope platform is currently in beta and an iPhone app version is available for free. The funding will be used to support the platform enhancement and marketing strategy.

Boulder, Colorado - Orbotix, a smart toy company that has created a robotic ball which is controlled via a smartphone or other mobile device has raised $5 M of Series B Funding from venture capital firms Foundry Group and Highway 12 Ventures.

The funding will be used to finance the marketing and promotion of its flagship product Sphero. Sphero is an smartphone app which is a robotic ball controlled by iOS and Android smartphones.

Brooklyn, New York - SocialGuide, the first real-time social guide for TV and social TV platform that makes every show across every network instantly social has raised $1.5 Million of Seed Funding from the Senior Advisor of Rhone Group Alex Zubillaga.

The funding will be used for platform developments and business expansion.