News Byte

QuizUp Creator Plain Vanilla Games Raises Another $22 Million

On top of a $1.2 million seed round, a $2.5 million Series A and then a $2 million extension to that Series A, Plain Vanilla Games has just raised another bundle of money for its mobile trivia game QuizUp: A $22 million Series B, led by Sequoia Capital. The company’s previous investors, including Tencent Holdings, also participated in the round. The app now has five million active users, according to a press release.

Big Money for Mobile Crowdsourced Transit App Moovit, With Sequoia Leading $28M Round

The stakes go up for a previously small company that had called itself “Waze for transit.”

Stealth Networking Startup VIPtela Raises $33 Million From Sequoia

Another secretive startup working on software-defined networks.

News Byte

Plain Vanilla Scores Another $2 Million for QuizUp

Plain Vanilla Games, the studio behind mobile trivia game QuizUp, has raised a $2 million extension to its earlier $2.5 million Series A. The new funding, led by Sequoia Capital and eVentures, closed before QuizUp launched earlier this month. A spokesperson said that as of Monday, the game has 1.5 million registered users and has been played 70 million times.

Wunderlist To-Do App Checks Off $19M Raised From Sequoia

“We see the product as the third leg of the stool,” said Sequoia’s Michael Moritz.

How Do You Get VCs to Invest in a New Videogame? QuizUp Did It With “Twilight.”

And no, VCs does not mean “vampire capitalists.”

Sequoia Capital Hires Blair Shane as CMO

Shane previously ran marketing for the Stanford Graduate School of Business and the California Academy of Sciences.

Druva, a Data Protection Platform, Lands $25 Million Series C

Protecting and tracking corporate data wherever it goes.

Chartboost Taps Chung-Man Tam to Help Its Ad Products Cohere

The mobile ad network says it wants to do a better job of growing in tandem with its customers.

Voices

Sequoia Capital Values Skyscanner at $800 Million in Mobile Travel Search Deal

The worldwide use of mobile devices to search for flights, hotels and other travel information is growing, and the Silicon Valley venture firm is betting on one mobile app maker to become the leader in the sector.

Google Acquires Bump for at Least $30M