The Walt Disney Co. has invested another $200 million in publisher Vice Media, valuing the company at more than $4 billion, according to the Financial Times. Disney invested $200 million in Vice in November and has pumped in the same amount again to bring its ownership stake to almost one-fifth. Vice says it will use new funds for international expansion and programming.
Travel booking startup GoEuro has raised $45 million in funding in a round led by an arm of Goldman Sachs. GoEuro allows users to book rail, bus and air transport across Europe and operates across 11 European markets. The Berlin-based company said investors included Goldman Sachs IP Private Investments, Atomico, Yuri Milner, Tom Stafford, Sebastian Siemiatkowski, chief executive of Swedish payments company Klarna, and Ilkka Paananen, the chief executive of Finnish mobile gaming company Supercell. GoEuro has now raised a total of $76 million.
GPS accuracy startup Swift Navigation has raised $11 million in a Series A round led by Lior Susan and Pierre Lamond of Eclipse. New Enterprise Associates and Promus Ventures and previous backers First Round Capital, Felicis Ventures, Fall Line Capital, Qualcomm Ventures and Lemnos Labs all participated. The company has now raised a total of $13.6 million in funding. “This is not your cell phone’s GPS, which is accurate to about 10 feet. That’s good enough if you’re looking for a restaurant, but doesn’t come close to helping autonomous vehicles navigate the world,” said Tim Harris, CEO of Swift Navigation. “With our centimeter-accurate GPS, a car knows what lane it’s in, a tractor knows what row it’s in, and a drone can drop the package on your doorstep, not in your neighbor’s pool.”
Media startup Dose, formerly called Spartz Media, has closed a $25 million Series B round of funding led by Tribune Media Company and joined by Tayori LLC. The company will use the funds to launch a video studio and grow its audience. “There’s no one in the industry today who knows how to engineer virality better than the Dose team,” said Josh Cogswell, Tribune Media’s Chief Product Officer. “Now working hand-in-hand with our award-winning journalists and storytellers, Emerson and his technologists are primed to reshape the way media is created and optimized for the next demanding audience and sophisticated marketer.”