Hi, everyone, happy Wednesday! Sorry for the super abbreviated newsletter this a.m; running off to yet another field trip. More tomorrow!
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Top News in the A.M.
Google Search now has travel guides to help plan your vacation.
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NewCo Raises New Funding Led by True Ventures
NewCo, a nearly four-year-old, San Francisco-based company that produces city-like festivals that acquaint attendees with local businesses, has raised roughly $4.3 million in fresh funding, shows a new SEC filing that states the outfit has raised just north of $6 million to date.
Cofounder and CEO John Battelle tells us larger number includes an earlier convertible note that’s been turned into equity. (The company received that note of $1.7 million early last year.)
The new funding was led by earlier investor True Ventures, and included participation from other previous backers Obvious Ventures, Transmedia Capital, Bloomberg Beta, other early angel investors, and Battelle himself.
NewCo organizes its events around target cities, with participating companies planning events for attendees in their offices. Last year, the 17-person startup orchestrated 11 events. This year, says Battelle, NewCo has plans for 15 cities, including in hubs where it hasn’t hosted events in the past, including London, Detroit, Toronto, and Mexico City.
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New Fundings
iFlix, a year-old, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia-based company that rivals Netflix in Southeast Asia, has raised $45 million in new funding from the British satellite TV operator Sky. TechCrunch has more here.
Indochino, a nine-year-old, Vancouver, B.C.-based made-to-measure menswear brand, has raised $30 million in funding from China-based clothing manufacturer Dayang Group. The company had previously raised more than $17 million in funding from Highland Capital Partners and Madrona Venture Group, among others. TechCrunch has more here.
Intersec, and 11-year-old, Paris-based data analytics company focused on telecom customers, has raised $10 million in funding co-led by Cisco Systems and the French private equity firm Omnes Capital. Other participants in the round include Harbert European Growth Capital, Innovacom, Highland Capital Partners Europe, and CMC-CIC Innovation. More here.
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New Funds
Cisco Systems announced plans this morning to invest $500 million in Germany over three years and $150 million to help bolster its challenger to business-messaging specialist Slack. More here.
Lightspeed Venture Partners, the 16-year-old, Menlo Park, Ca.-based early-stage venture firm, has raised two new funds totaling $1.2 billion, according to two new SEC filings. One filing, for the firm’s 11th fund, shows a close of $715 million. Lightspeed has also raised $500 million for its second “Select” fund for later-stage companies. More here.
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Exits
Cisco Systems has acquired Synata, a San Francisco startup that offers technology to let companies search data stored on their own premises and at external cloud services. Financial terms weren’t disclosed. More here.
Facebook has made an image filtering acquisition, buying Masquerade, an app that adds fantastical filters to smartphone-generated images. Much more here.
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Jobs
AltspaceVR, a venture-backed virtual reality communications company, is looking to hire a business development manager. The job is in Redwood City, Ca.
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Essential Reads
Amazon is stepping up plans to build its own air delivery network, saying it will lease 20 Boeing Co. 767 freighters toward that end.
Also: How Amazon shames its warehouse workers for alleged theft.
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Detours
Why you forget why you entered a room the minute you entered it.
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Retail Therapy
Air purifying sphere. For parents of teenage boys.