Good Thursday morning, everyone! No column today.
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Top News in the A.M.
Avago Technologies is buying rival Broadcom for $37 billion in cash and stock, the latest in a wave of deals for giant chip makers. The combined company will be called Broadcom. More here from the WSJ.
Amazon isn’t messing around when it comes to the same-day delivery wars. It announced today that it’s expanding its same-day delivery service to two new markets — San Diego and Tampa Bay — while also making the service free to customers whose orders exceed $35. The service is now available in roughly 15 cities across the country. TechCrunch has more here.
Jawbone has sued its rival Fitbit, accusing it of “systematically plundering” confidential information by hiring Jawbone employees who downloaded sensitive materials shortly before leaving, including, in one case, a market trends and opportunities presentation, and, in another, confidential information about future products. Dealbook has the story here. (Interestingly, among Jawbone’s specific allegations, it says Fitbit poached one employee owing to his expertise in audio design, saying in its complaint that audio projects now appear to be a strategic initiative of Fitbit. Recode examines the claim here.)
A Canadian man was just ticketed for playing with his Apple Watch while driving. (He’s contesting the ticket, saying the watch does not qualify as a handheld device, which are illegal to operate in Quebec while at the wheel.)
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New Fundings
AutoGraph, a four-year-old, Seattle-based company whose technology enables users to get targeted deals without giving up personal information, has raised $2.7 million in funding from earlier backers Voyager Capital and members of the Alliance of Angels. The company has now raised $7.4 million altogether. GeekWire has more here.
BarTendr, a five-year-old, Oakland, Ca.-based social app centered around drinking (really; it analyzes the user-generated information and sells its findings about users’ habits and preferences to the beverage industry), has raised $1 million in seed funding New York Angels and Band of Angels. The company has now raised $2.3 million altogether.
Calimmune, a nine-year-old Tucson, Az.-based clinical-stage company whose lead therapy was engineered to control HIV infection and protect individuals with HIV from progressing to AIDS, has raised $15 million in Series B funding by a large (unnamed) pharmaceutical company, with participation from Alexandria Venture Investments and earlier backers RA Capital Healthcare Fund and Translational Accelerator.
Carvana, a three-year-old, Phoenix, Az.-based company that sells used cars online, is attempting to raise $300 million in growth funding to ramp up operations, reports TechCrunch. To date, the company has been financed by DriveTime, a Phoenix-based network of used-car dealerships.
CitizenShipper, a seven-year-old, Austin, Tex.-based online shipping marketplace that uses a peer-to-peer, auction-style platform to connect people in need of shipping services with drivers, haulers and transporters, has raised $500,000 in funding, including from Marvel Venture Partners.
ClearDATA, a 16-year-old, Tempe, Az.-based company that sells HIPAA-compliant cloud hosting and information security services to the healthcare industry, has raised $25 million in Series C funding from Heritage Group, HLM Venture Partners and Flare Capital Partners, along with earlier backers Norwest VenturePartners, Merck Global Health Innovation Fund and Excel Venture Management.
Complete, a new, Palo Alto, Ca.-based platform for people to share their to-do lists, has raised $1 million in funding led by Alloy Ventures, Structure Capital, and Red Eagle Ventures. The San Francisco Chronicle has more here.
Dockwa, a 10-month-old, Newport, R.I.-based mobile app providing reservations to boaters and the marine industry, has raised $1.1 million in seed funding, including from David Skok of Matrix Partners, HubSpot executives Brian Halligan and Mike Volpe, and other individual investors. The company has now raised $1.4 million altogether.
Flat4Day, a three-year-old Istanbul, Turkey-based vacation rental website that lists nearly 30,000 properties, most of them homes in Turkey and elswhere in Europe, has raised $2 million in funding led by publicly traded HomeAway, with participation from regional venture capital fund 212. The company has now raised just more than $6 million altogether.
Freedom Meditech, a nine-year-old, San Diego-based medical device company whose first product is a non-invasive tool that measures the autofluorescence in the eye, has raised $4.8 million in Series C funding from undisclosed sources. The company has now raised $14 million altogether, it says.
GumGum, an eight-year-old, Santa Monica, Ca.-based “in-image” advertising provider for publishers and brands, has raised $26 milion in new funding at a $200 million valuation led by Morgan Stanley Expansion Capital, with participation from New Enterprise Associates, Upfront Ventures and First Round Capital. The company, which had previously raised $10.8 million participating, says it chose Morgan Stanley with the hope that the bank will help take it public in 2017 — assuming ad tech stocks have rebounded by then. “The reality is that we’ve been around for a while and we want to provide some liquidity to our shareholders,” CEO Ophir Tanz tells Venture Capital Dispatch.
LifeIMAGE, a seven-year-old, Newton, Ma.-based network for exchanging medical imaging, has raised $17.5 million in new funding led by Cambia Health Solutions, with participation from earlier backers Cardinal Partners,Galen Partners, Long River Ventures, Mass Ventures, and Partners Innovation Fund.
Lystable, a seven-month-old, London-based startup whose cloud-based workflow management platform helps enterprises evaluate and manage contracts with external parties like freelancers, has raised $1.5 million in funding led by Valar Ventures, with participation from Backed, Playfair Capital, and numerous individual investors.
Monese, a 1.5-year-old, U.K.-based soon-to-launch mobile banking service for immigrants and expats who might otherwise find it difficult to open a bank account outside of their home country, has raised $1.8 million in backing from Seedcamp, SmartCap, and Spotify advisor and investor Shakil Khan, among others. More here.
NeuWave Medical, an 11-year-old, Madison, Wi.-based medical device company focused on the ablation of soft-tissue lesions, has raised $25 million in Series C funding led by Versant Ventures, with participation from earlier backers H.I.G. BioVentures, Venture Investors and others. The company has now raised at least $57.4 million, shows Crunchbase.
Pronutria Biosciences, a five-year-old Cambridge Ma.-based biotechnology company developing a new class of therapeutics to mediate amino acid biology, has raised $39 million in Series C funding led by Fidelity Management & Research Company, with participation from founding investor Flagship Ventures, among others. The company has now raised $62.1 million altogether, shows Crunchbase.
Tapad, a five-year-old, New York-based cross-screen marketing technology platform, has raised $18.5 million in B-2 funding led by Blue Cloud Ventures, with participation from Avalon Ventures, FirstMark Capital, G&H Partners, KnightEnterprise Fund, Silicon Valley Bank and Zanadu Capital Partners. The company has now raised $26.8 million altogether, shows Crunchbase.
Tegile Systems, a five-year-old, Newark, Ca.-based company that makes flash-driven storage arrays for databases, virtualized server and virtual desktop environments, has raised $70 million in new funding. The capital comes from Capricorn Investment Group, Cross Creek Advisors and Pine River Capital Management, along with earlier backers August Capital, Meritech Capital Partners, Western Digital and SanDisk. The company has now raised $117.5 million altogether.
Trustpilot, an eight-year-old, Copenhagen-based online source of user-generated reviews of (primarily online) businesses, has raised $73.5 million in Series D funding led by Virtruvian Partners, with participation from earlier backers DFJ Esprit, Index Ventures, Northzone and SEED Capital Denmark. The company has now raised $118 million to date. Venture Capital Dispatch has more here.
Virgin Pulse, the 11-year-old, Framingham, Ma.-based corporate wellness arm of Richard Branson’s Virgin Group, has raised $92 million in funding led byInsight Venture Partners, with participation from Virgin Group. BetaBoston has more here.
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New Funds
Next Frontier Capital, a new, Montana-based venture firm, has closed its debut fund with $20 million. The outfit plans to invest between $200,000 and $1.5 million in startup it backs — all based in Montana.
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Exits
CA Technologies is acquiring Rally Software, a provider of Agile development software and services, for approximately $480 million. Rally had gone public in 2013. EWeek has more here.
InsideSales, an 11-year-old, Provo, Ut.-based sales acceleration platform, has acquired the eight-year-old, San Mateo, Ca.-based predictive sales company C9for undisclosed terms. C9 had raised roughly $40 million from investors, including Mayfield Fund, InterWest Partners and Leapfrog Ventures. InsideSales has raised $199 million, including from HWVP, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, and Zetta Venture Partners. Venture Capital Dispatch has more color here.
Sony has acquired the optical data storage company Optical Archive, founded by Frank Frankovsky, a former VP of hardware design and supply chain operations for Facebook. The deal — whose terms aren’t being disclosed — is expected to help Sony market new products to business customers. The WSJ has the story here.
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People
Reddit‘s interim CEO, Ellen Pao, said yesterday that she has no regrets about suing her former employer, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. You can find her comments here.
Apple expert John Gruber dissects what Jony Ive’s promotion to chief design officer at the company really means.
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Happenings
Tonight in San Francisco, a Tedx event designed to champion the issues of women in tech. More information is available here.
Coming up June 12: the PreMoney conference, featuring Dave Morin, Ellen Pao, Naval Ravikant, Kate Mitchell and many others. Register here and use the code STRICTLYVC for a $150 discount.
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Jobs
Hulu is hiring a corporate development associate. The job is in Santa Monica, Ca.
Visa‘s corporate development and M&A unit is hiring an associate. The job is in San Francisco.
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Essential Reads
Google is set to unveil plans for an overhaul of its mobile payment products today at the company’s biggest event of the year. (The Verge is live-blogging the event right here, by the way.)
Self-driving cars are “farther out than some people are predicting,” says GM CEO Mary Barry. More here.
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Detours
A map that compares the gross domestic product of each U.S. state with the national GDPs of other nations.
How family incomes affect children’s college chances.
One of the best police blotters in America.
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Retail Therapy
You’ll be able to buy your virtual reality Oculus headset soon, but it won’t come cheap. CEO Brendan Iribe said at Recode’s conference yesterday that he expects consumers will have to shell out $1,500 — a price he hopes will fall to below $1,000 over time.
Ecocapsule. Just in case.