It’s Tuesday! Holla! Hope you’re enjoying yours.:)
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Top News in the A.M.
Amazon has, at long last, banned reviews tied to free or discounted products.
So Google had some announcements this morning. You can learn about its answer to Amazon’s Echo here, its new VR headset here, and its new phone, called Pixel, here.
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Another Former Rothenberg Employee Sues, Citing Wage Abuse
Katie Fanelli — a former chief of staff of Rothenberg Ventures — has brought a proposed class-action lawsuit against the beleaguered San Francisco-based investing outfit, saying it routinely failed to pay contract workers their final paycheck across its four-year history, and that it failed to compensate Fanelli and other hourly workers for overtime.
The suit aims to address anyone who failed to receive final or overtime pay from Rothenberg Ventures Management Company and whose individual claims fall below $75,000. That isn’t an arbitrary distinction. Federal courts may hear suits only where “the matter in controversy exceeds the sum or value of $75,000,” while California law and statutes protect plaintiffs who are seeking less.
Fanelli’s suit employs both colorful prose — and some brow-raising accusations. Describing Rothenberg’s business practices as “lucrative, repressive, and unlawful,” it goes on to say that as part of a “systemic scheme of wage abuse,” Fanelli’s employment was terminated, after which Rothenberg Ventures failed to provide her with a final paycheck covering the hours she had worked in her final pay period.
The lawsuit seeks to represent “all California-based employees who worked any time during the four years preceding” the suit and who “were not paid their final paycheck upon separation and/or termination” from Rothenberg Ventures Management Company.
Fanelli is also accusing Rothenberg of not paying herself and others deserved overtime wages.
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New Fundings
AppsDaily, an eight-year-old, Mumbai, India-based mobile application development and distribution company, has raised roughly $3.75 million from earlier backers, including Zodius Capital, Kalaari Capital, Qualcomm Ventures, Ru-Net and Mumbai Angels. LiveMint has more here.
Aspire Health, a 3.5-year-old, Nashville, Tn.-based palliative care provider, has landed $32 million in fresh funding led by GV. Aspire was co-founded by former U.S. Senator Bill Frist. The Daily Tennessean has more here.
Eatigo, a three-year-old, Bangkok, Thailand-based discount restaurant booking service that bills itself as an anti-Groupon, has raised more than $10 million in fresh funding from travel giant TripAdvisor. TechCrunch has more here.
Grana, a two-year-old, Hong Kong-based online fashion retailer, has raised $10 million in new funding led by Alibaba’s entrepreneurship fund, with participation from earlier backers Golden Gate Ventures (in Singapore) and MindWorks Ventures (Hong Kong). TechCrunch has more here.
GoEuro, a four-year-old, Berlin-based travel planner and booking platform, has raised $70 million in new funding led by Silver Lake Kraftwerk and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. TechCrunch has more here.
Paperspace, a two-year-old, Brooklyn, N.Y.-based startup that aims to bring the virtual desktop experience to the enterprise, has raised $4 million in funding from Ludlow Ventures, Data Collective and Initialized Capital. Individual investors also participated, including Digital Ocean co-founder Jeff Carr. TechCrunch has more here.
Restless Bandit, a two-year-old, San Francisco-based startup that says it finds the highest-potential job candidates from the pool of people who’ve applied for positions previously with a company, has raised $8 million in fresh funding fromGGV Capital and Toba Capital. The company has now raised $10 million altogether. TechCrunch has more here.
Saldum Ventures, a three-year-old, Spain-based startup whose digital-first, vertically integrated sunglasses business — called Hawkers — wants to take on the big brands like Ray-Ban, has raised $56 million in funding. The round was led by Félix Ruiz and Hugo Arévalo, the founders of Tuenti, a social networking app in Spain that was acquired by Telefonica and has since expanded into other mobile services like calls. Others investing include O’Hara, an investment group controlled by Venezuelan businessman Alejandro Betancourt, and unnamed private investors. TechCrunch has more here.
Source{d}, a two-year-old, Madrid, Spain-based AI-driven recruitment startup, has raised $6 million in Series A funding from Xavier Niel, Otium Venture, and Sunstone Capital. TechCrunch has more here.
Stripe, the six-year-old, San Francisco-based online payments platform, has raised an undisclosed amount of new funding from Sumitomo Mitsui Card Company. TechCrunch has more here.
Tannico, a four-year-old, Milan, Italy-based wine e-commerce platform, has raised $4.3 million from investors, including the Italy-based venture firm VC P101, and Stefano Saccardi, a managing director at Campari. TechCrunch has more here.
Tock, a two-year-old, Chicago-based company whose software helps restaurants sell and manage bookings in advance, has raised $7.5 million in funding led by Origin Ventures, with participation from restaurateurs, chefs, and hospitality groups, including Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises and Will Guidara and Daniel Humm of Eleven Madison Park.
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New Funds
Xiaodong Jiang, a longtime managing director in China for venture capital firm New Enterprise Associates, is leaving to launch a new firm called Long Hill Capital Partners. Long Hill plans to raise up to $125 million for its debut fund, which will invest in Chinese startups, with NEA being among its investors. Fortune has more here.
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Exits
Salesforce is spending $700 million in cash and stock to acquire the San Francisco-based ad tech company Krux; the move aims to bolster its marketing-data and analytics segment. According to CrunchBase, Krux had raised raised roughly $50 million from investors, including Sapphire Ventures. The WSJ has more here.
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People
In a new Recode podcast, renowned investor Aileen Lee notes that, from what she has seen, men can get roped in as investors in a hot deal just for being fun to socialize with; she says that women meanwhile have to have specific domain expertise, typically, along with a strong professional network. More here.
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Jobs
CSC Venture Capital, the venture arm of CSC Group, one of the largest private equity and venture capital firms in China, is looking to hire a quantitative analyst. The job is in Palo Alto.
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Essential Reads
Whoa. Reuters is reporting that Yahoo last year agreed to demands by U.S. intelligence officials to create a kind of backdoor, one that let the NSA and FBI scan all off its customers’ incoming emails for specific information. More here.
The anything-goes web property 4chan is facing collapse (but not for the reasons you think).
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Detours
Can’t hear in noisy places? It’s a real medical condition.
How to raise kinder, less entitled, kids, according to science.
“Before the Flood” trailer.
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Retail Therapy
The unapologetically impractical Renault Trezor Concept car.