News Byte

Braintree Officially Joins PayPal as $800 Million eBay Acquisition Closes

EBay’s $800 million purchase of payments startup Braintree on behalf of its Paypal subsidiary has closed, according to a PayPal blog post. The acquisition gives Paypal a strong foothold in the world of mobile app payments, which it hopes to bolster with the smaller acquisition of StackMob, announced earlier this week.

Lasso Promises to Deliver Wine and Cheese Within Two Hours for Free

A new company called Lasso thinks it has found the perfect slice of the market to make same-day delivery work: Wine, spirits and specialty foods.

Voices

On Road to IPO, Shopify Raises $100M to “Bridge Clicks and Bricks”

The Canadian startup will use the funds to challenge juggernauts like Amazon and eBay in the arena of merchant software and services.

Twitter Dethrones Facebook as 2014’s Best Tech Company to Work For

Spoiler: It’s the food.

Dough Boys: Here’s Benchmark’s $425 Million Fund Filing Document

Take the money and run!

Rhode Island School of Design President John Maeda Departs for Roles at Kleiner Perkins and eBay

Design fever in the Valley continues with a new addition to a familiar firm.

Grokker Gets $5.5 Million to Build Out Expert Video Network — Here’s Founder Lorna Borenstein (Video)

Trying to intro passions to the passionate.

Square Has Jumped on the E-Commerce Curation Bandwagon, Starring a Wacky Lumberjack Video

If you’re an e-commerce marketplace and you don’t “curate” your goods into “collections,” do you really exist?

In Battle for E-Commerce Dollars, Free Shipping Is Payment Networks’ Weapon of Choice

Call it the Amazon Prime Effect.

Apple Store a Big Source of Cellphone Sales; Best Buy Is Key for Carriers

AT&T, Sprint, Verizon and T-Mobile still get half or more of sales from their own stores, but a couple of other retailers have emerged as significant players in the cellphone-selling business.