Series A
Xapo, which keeps Bitcoins safe both online and offline, has announced a $20 million Series A investment. Benchmark led the round; Fortress Investment Group and Ribbit Capital participated. The Palo Alto-based company combines a bitcoin wallet with a fully-insured cold storage vault, according to a blog post by the company. Security reform in the area of cryptocurrency is especially relevant considering recent hacks on Bitcoin exchanges.
Series B
ByeCity, a company that delivers online-to-offline outbound travel solutions, has raised a Series B round of funding worth almost $20 million from Alibaba Group and CBC Capital. The Beijing-based company offers travel visa services.
Synthesio, which provides social media information to brands, has gained $20 million in a Series B investment from Idinvest Partners. The New York company doubled clients and revenue in 2013, and has teamed up with IBM Connections. Synthesio leverages a platform for tracking and analyzing what’s being said about companies’ brands on myriad media platforms, according to a press release.
San Francisco-based Premise has secured $11 million in a Series B funding round. The Social+Capital Partnership led the round, which saw contributions from prior backers Harrison Metal, Google Ventures, and Bowery Capital. The company offers software and mobile infrastructure that helps its customers comprehend and negotiate “unprecedented volatility in global inflation, industry competitive dynamics, and food security,” according to its web site. Andreessen Horowitz has also invested in Premise.
Funding
Secret, the app where users can post secrets anonymously, has unveiled funding news. The company raised $8.6 million “with support from” a multitude of backers: Garry Tan and Alexis Ohanian of Initialized Capital, MG Siegler of Google Ventures, Bing Gordon and Megan Quinn of Kleiner Perkins, Ashton Kutcher of of A-Grade Investments, and SV Angel among others, according to the company. San Francisco-based Secret is 45 days old.
According to reports, Boston cable company Layer3 TV has gained $21 million in Series A backing. North Bridge Venture Partners and Evolution Media Growth Partners led the investment. The company “is a next generation cable provider spearheading a new era of home media,” according to its website. Revenue from the smart homes market could hit $51.77 billion by 2020, according to MarketsandMarkets.
ZanttZ, Inc., the company now known as Shadow Networks, has revealed a $10.2 million funding round via an SEC filing. According to the Santa Clara security company, organizations drop $9 billion on overall network security.
M&A
San Francisco music company Rdio will buy Dhingana, which used to be India’s biggest music streaming service, according to the acquisition announcement. Rdio will debut in India later on in 2014. Financial terms were not disclosed.
Backers have provided Stockholm-based financial services company Klarna €90 million to fund the company’s purchase of SOFORT, a German payment company. Klarna’s founders led the funding, while current investors including Sequoia, Atomico and General Atlantic participated. “The acquisition of SOFORT was completed in early March, when the two companies formed Klarna Group, Europe’s leading alternative online payments provider,” according to a press release.