Venture Capital Update

Pixazza, a web service platform that provides shoppers the chance to buy products from photos seen on websites raised $12 million in Series B funding. Shasta Ventures led the round, and was joined by return backers August Capital, CMEA Capital and Google Ventures.

“Images dominate the Internet and comprise the most visually appealing aspects of many websites, yet images have remained static for more than 15 years,” said Bob Lisbonne, CEO of Pixazza.

Pixazza plans to use its new funds to capitalize on its early market leadership position, fuel product growth, and facilitate category and geographic expansion.

cMoney Inc., a Houston-based mobile payment platform secured a staggering $100 million funding deal from AGS Capital Group. The investment is expected to support the expansion of the company as well as the launch of C$ cMoney, an innovative mobile platform for the financial services industry.

“We are excited to partner with C$ cMoney by providing funding to support the growth of the company and the introduction of its new mobile application,” said Allen Silberstein, principal, CEO and CIO of AGS Capital Group, LLC. “We are very impressed with the proprietary technology that C$ cMoney is bringing to market and believe C$ cMoney could be the next Google in terms of marketing play.”

FarFetch.com, a top UK-based provider of an online market platform for fashion boutiques in Europe and North America raised $4.5 million in VC funding from Advent Venture Partners.

Advent’s new investment will be used by FarFetch.com for their expansion in their operations in Europe and North America.

Aurora Feint Inc., a Burlingame, Calif.-based social gaming platform for the iPhone raised an $5 Million VC funding from The9 Ltd.

Mr. Jun Zhu, The9’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, commented, “We are confident of the prospect for this mobile platform and believe it will play an important role in the future development of global mobile internet. The investment in Aurora Feint is an important step of The9’s establishment of a mobile gaming platform and is also an integral part of our global strategy.”

BuyWithMe.com, a New York-based top community based buying and marketing solutions using announced that Bain Capital Ventures has led its recent $16 million Series B round and was supported by existing investor Matrix Partners.

Under the terms of the agreement, Jeffrey Glass, Managing Director, Bain Capital Ventures will join BuyWithMe’s board of directors alongside Nicholas Beim, General Partner at Matrix Partners, Cheryl Rosner, CEO, and the company’s founder, Andrew Moss.

Dayforce, a leading provider of on-demand workforce management solutions raised $10 million in new VC funding led by Bridgescale Partners. The round is divided into a two term of $5 million.
Howard Gwin and Rob Chaplinsky of Bridgescale Partners will join Dayforce’s Board of Directors. The investment will provide the necessary resources for Dayforce to rapidly grow its user base of industry-leading organizations.

GroupSpaces received $1.3 million investment round from Index Ventures and from a group of investor which includes Dave McClure, Chris Sacca, Simon Levene, Meagan Marks, Ariel Poler and Quincy Smith.

Mike Volpi, board member and partner at Index Ventures, said: “GroupSpaces is a terrific start to the Index Seed Fund. We are very impressed with this entrepreneurial team and see great potential for GroupSpaces as a one-stop-shop for groups worldwide.”

Rocket Lawyer, a San Francisco-based online legal service platform has raised $7 million in Series C funding led by Investor Growth Capital. The new funding will be used for expansion of its online legal documents services and for the expansion of their technologies and workforce.

Lijit Networks Inc., a Boulder, Colorado-based provider of innovative content discovery search tools and statistics for online publishers has raised $6 million in series D funding. Foundry Group led the deal, and was joined by fellow return backers Boulder Ventures and High Country Venture.

Brand.net, a San Mateo, California-based online display and video advertising platform has raised $14 million in Series C funding. Focus Ventures led the round and was participated by return backers Norwest Venture Partners and InterWest Partners.

“Online brand advertising is a multi-billion dollar opportunity, and Brand.net possesses a rare combination: a proven track record with the brand advertising community and technology that enables a scalable, profitable business,” said Kevin J. McQuillan, co-founder and General Partner of Focus Ventures. “We believe that Brand.net’s proven ability to drive high ROI offline sales at maximum impact and minimum cost will accelerate brand advertisers’ budget shift from traditional to online media.”