Profitable for Three Years, Apartment List Raises $15M Series A Round

Unlike some other up-and-comers in the space, Apartment List never scraped Craigslist to boost its inventory.

Yves Behar’s “Smart” Lock Startup August Raises $8 Million

Open sez-VCs.

Voices

The Value of a Board at the Seed Stage

Thinking about boards makes entrepreneurs imagine spending hours drafting lengthy board presentations and potentially losing control of their startups.

Good Eggs Nabs $8.5 Million from Sequoia and Others for Local Farm-to-Fridge Effort (Video)

Founder Rob Spiro talks about getting sustainable food to consumers.

Grovo, a “How-To” Video Company for Web Services and Apps, Raises $5.5 Million in Funding

Video tutorials are growing quickly online.

News Byte

Confirmed: Oculus VR Raises $16 Million Series A for Virtual Reality Gaming

Irvine, Calif.-based Oculus VR has closed a $16 million series A funding round co-led by Spark Capital and Matrix Partners, the company confirmed today. Leaked news of the round was first reported by PandoDaily. Oculus VR is the maker of the Oculus Rift, a forthcoming consumer-priced virtual gaming headset. Prototype “dev kit” versions of the headset are currently being sold to software developers for $300 apiece. A price and release date for the first consumer version has not yet been announced.

News Byte

Jelly, Biz Stone’s Startup, Raises a Round (With a Little Help From Friends)

Jelly, the stealthy startup founded by Twitter co-founder Biz Stone, announced Thursday that the company just closed its Series A round of venture capital. The round was led by Spark Capital; Bijan Sabet — an early Twitter investor — will join Jelly’s board. Other noteworthy investors include Jack Dorsey, U2’s Bono, Reid Hoffman, Steven Johnson, Evan Williams and Jason Goldman, Roya Mahboob, Greg Yaitanes and former vice president Al Gore.

News Byte

Predictive Data Startup Infer Raises $10M From Redpoint

Infer, a Palo Alto, Calif., startup that makes data-focused business apps to help companies target their best potential customers, said it has raised $10 million in a Series A funding led by Redpoint Ventures. Andreessen Horowitz, Social+Capital Partnership, Sutter Hill Ventures and angel investors also participated in the round. Infer, which is profitable, mines a range of data to determine those with the highest propensity to buy. Along with the funding for its “predictive customer scoring model,” Satish Dharmaraj of Redpoint Ventures will join the company’s board.

News Byte

App Discovery Startup AppGratis Nabs $13.5 Million

AppGratis, a discovery platform to help users find mobile apps more easily amid a crowded app marketplace, announced on Thursday the closing of its $13.5 million series A round of financing. Iris Capital led the round, with participation from the Orange Publicis Fund. AppGratis claims a strong footing in the space, with more than seven million users globally, and upward of $1 million in monthly revenue.

1000Memories Funded by Greylock, Angels

Foodspotting Captures $3M Series A