StrictlyVC: January 12, 2016

Hi, everyone, happy Tuesday!

We’ve been juggling a few calls this a.m., so no column today.

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Top News in the A.M.

Uber says its China division has raised funding that values that part of the ride-hailing company’s operation at $7 billion. Bloomberg has more here.

Like GIFs and Vines before it, Periscope streams will now show up and play directly in the Twitter timeline on iOS. Engadget has more here.

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New Fundings

AiCure, a five-year-old, New York-based company whose artificial intelligence technology visually confirms medication ingestion on smartphones, has raised $12.3 million in Series A funding led by New Leaf Venture Partners, with additional participation from Pritzker Group Venture Capital, Tribeca Venture Partners, and Biomatics Capital. More here.

Datadog, a five-year-old, New York-based monitoring service that helps customers bring together data from a variety of infrastructure and software, has raised $94.5 million in Series D funding led by ICONIQ Capital. Earlier investors Index Ventures, OpenView Ventures, Amplify Partners, Contour Ventures and other unnamed investors also participated. The company has now raised just less than $148 million altogether. TechCrunch has more here.

Diablo Technologies, a 16-year-old, Quebec, Canada-based flash memory maker, has raised $19 million in new funding led by ICV Partners, with participation from earlier backers Battery Ventures, BDC Capital, Celtic House and Hasso Plattner Ventures. More here.

Evergage, a 5.5-year-old, Somerville, Ma.-based startup that uses behavioral data to personalize web surfers’ engagement, has raised $10 million in Series B funding led by Arrowroot Capital, with participation from earlier backers G20 Ventures and Point Judith Capital. VentureBeat has more here.

The Big Know, a Minneapolis-based digital learning platform whose content is created by brands that are looking to better engage with their customers, has raised $3 million in Series A funding led by LFE Capital. More here.

FinanceFox, a 1.5-year-old, Berlin, Germany-based startup whose mobile app helps users manage of all their existing insurance, as well a provides advice regarding gaps in their coverage, has raised $5.5 million in funding led by Salesforce Ventures, with participation from AngelList, IdinvestSeedcamp and Speedinvest. TechCrunch has more here.

Grindr, the six-year-old, L.A.-based all-male social network, has sold a 60 percent stake in its business to the Chinese gaming company Beijing Kunlun Tech for $93 million. The deal, which values Grindr at $155 million, represents the first outside investment for the company. TechCrunch has more here.

Hubba, a 3.5-year-old, Toronto, Canada-based online product-information platform, is raising $45 million in new venture funding from VCs in Silicon Valley, New York and the U.K, as well as some of its earlier backers, including Canada’s Canso Investment Counsel, Brightspark Ventures, Real Ventures and Kensington Capital Partners. Venture Capital Dispatch hasmore here.

Import.io, a 3.5-year-old, London-based web data extraction platform, raised $13 million in Series A funding led by London’s Imperial Innovations, with participation from Wellington Partners, Oxford Capital, Delin Capital and AME Cloud Ventures. Th round brings the company’s total funding to $17.5 million. TechCrunch has more here.

Lodo Therapeutics, a new, New York-based small molecule discovery platform spun out of the Seattle-based development company Accelerator Corp., has raised $17 million in Series A funding from Accelerator New York’s investment syndicate partners: ARCH Venture Partners, Eli Lilly and Company, Harris & Harris Group, Innovate NY Fund, Johnson & Johnson Development Corp., The Partnership Fund for New York City, Pfizer Venture Investments, Watson Fund and WuXi PharmaTech. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation also participated. Xconomy has more here.

Original Stitch, a 1.5-year-old, San Francisco-based company that works with Japanese tailors and factories to make custom shirts for about $75 each, has raised $1.1 million from Inspire Ventures, NTT Docomo, and private investor Bill Lohse.  TechCrunch has more here.

Shopclues, a four-year-old, Gurgaon, India-based e-commerce marketplace, has raised an undisclosed amount of Series E funding that the company claims has boosted its valuation to $1.1 billion. The round was led by GIC, the Singaporean government’s sovereign wealth fund, with participation from returning investors Tiger Global and Nexus Venture Partners. TechCrunch has more here.

Skyscanner, a 13-year-old, Edinburgh, Scotland-based travel search engine, has raised £128 million (about $192 million) from Khazanah Nasional Berhad, the Malaysian government’s strategic investment fund, and Yahoo! Japan, which was already one of Skyscanner’s venture partners. Fund manager Artemis, independent investment manager Baillie Gifford, and the private equity firm Vitruvian Partners also participated. According to the Financial Times, the company is now worth $1.6 billion. TechCrunch has more here.

Syapse, a seven-year-old, Palo Alto, Ca.-based data platform that integrates genomic and clinical data with care pathways and other medical knowledge to give healthcare workers actionable insights, has raised $25 million in Series C funding led by Ascension Ventures, the investment arm of nonprofit Catholic health system Ascension. Earlier backers Social+Capital Partnership and Safeguard Scientifics also joined the round. MedCity News has more here.

Vivino, a six-year-old, San Francisco-based mobile app for wine reviews and shopping, has raised $25 million in Series B funding led by SCP Neptune International, an investment vehicle of Moet Hennessy CEO Christophe Navarre. Other investors in the round included Balderton Capital and Melo7 Tech Partners. The company has now raised $37 million altogether. VentureBeat has more here.

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The New Funds

The global venture capital firm 500 Startups may have put on hold plans for an India fund, according to The Economic Times, which reports that conversations with LPs around an India fund have slowed down considerably. More here.

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People

Dr. Ezekiel “Zeke” Emanuel, who helped shape the Affordable Care Act (and has some famous brothers in Rahm and Ari Emanuel), is entering the private sector. Yesterday, he announced that he has joined Oak HC/FT, the Greenwich, Conn.-base venture growth-equity firm. Fortune talked with him about the move here.

Chris Hughes, the Facebook cofounder who bought a majority stake in political mag The New Republic in 2012, is putting the magazine back up for sale, says the WSJ. (Dealbooks’ Andrew Ross Sorkin notes Hughes isn’t the only “restless billionaire” to “trip” on his newest “toy.”)

23andMe CEO Anne Wojcicki was shushed yesterday during her own company’s presentation at the J.P Morgan Healthcare conference in San Francisco.

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Jobs

Greylock Partners is looking to add someone to its consumer investment team. Much more here.

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Data

U.S. venture capital firms raised $5 billion across 46 funds in the fourth quarter of last year, according to new data from Thomson Reuters and the National Venture Capital Association. Overall, VCs raised $28.2 million in 2015, and roughly one-third of the funds raised were first-time efforts. More here.

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Essential Reads

Amazon is expected to acquire French shipping company Colis Privé, as part of a plan to take on FedEx and UPS, says The Seattle Times.

An eye-opening new survey of more than 200 women in the tech industry finds that an astonishing 60 percent have received unwanted advances and one in three have feared for their personal safety in the workplace. More here.

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Detours

The 40,000-mile volcano.

Please. No. Anti-grooming is reportedly the biggest trend of 2016.

Illustrated tributes to David Bowie.

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Retail Therapy

Buick pays tribute to Tesla’s Model S.

 


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