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Mobile Gaming Startup Red Hot Labs Raises $1.5 Million

Mike Isaac in Mobile on February 28 at 3:41 pm PT

Red Hot Labs, the gaming development startup founded by two ex-Zynga engineers who helped create FarmVille, announced Thursday it raised $1.5 million in seed funding. Investors include Andreessen Horowitz, Greylock Partners, SV Angel, General Catalyst Partners, Japan’s IT-Farm and others. The six-person outfit is currently working on a number of games under the Red Hot Labs banner.

News Byte

Nomi Raises $3 Million to Help Retailers Fight Amazon

Tricia Duryee in Commerce on February 11 at 5:00 am PT

Rather than compete with Amazon on price alone, Nomi wants to help retailers provide better service by tracking consumer behavior across in-store and online channels. It is announcing a $3 million round today, led by First Round Capital. Other investors include Greycroft Partners, SV Angel, Forerunner Ventures and several angels. The New York company was founded by former Salesforce.com and Buddy Media executives, including CEO Marc Ferrentino, who served as Salesforce’s chief technical architect.

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Motivational App Lift Closes $2.5 Million Round

Mike Isaac in Mobile on November 27, 2012 at 10:06 am PT

Lift, the personal motivational mobile app that helps users set and achieve goals for themselves, closed a $2.5 million Series A investment round, the company announced Tuesday. The round was led by Bijan Sabet of Spark Capital, who will join the board of the six-person start-up, reuniting with former Twitter board member and co-founder Evan Williams, whose Obvious Corp. has also invested in the company. Also involved in the round are SV Angel, Adam Ludwin from New York VC firm RRE and, appropriately enough, motivational speakers Tony Robbins, Tim Ferriss and David Allen.

News Byte

Education Start-Up Clever Scores $3 Million

Mike Isaac in News on October 22, 2012 at 8:26 am PT

Online education start-up Clever closed a $3 million seed round of funding, the company announced on Monday. Investors participating in the round include those from SV Angel, Y Combinator, Mike Maples, Jeff Clavier, Google, Ashton Kutcher and others. Clever — a company which provides tools to third-party ed-tech developers in order to better integrate into school system software — first launched at the end of June, a product of the Y Combinator startup-accelerator program.

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Ex-Twitter Employee Joins Social Start-Up Branch

Mike Isaac in Social on October 9, 2012 at 2:30 pm PT

Recent Twitter defector Ian Ownbey will soon join Branch, the New York-based start-up aimed at curating “high-quality public discourse.” Engineer Ownbey will move to the East Coast to join Branch’s eight-man outfit, which is backed and mentored by the Obvious Corporation, a group composed of ex-Twitterers Biz Stone, Evan Williams and Jason Goldman. Branch’s other investors include SV Angel, Betaworks and Lerer Ventures (and more), with advisers such as Jonah Peretti of BuzzFeed.

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Kabbage Raises $30 Million to Make Small Loans to Online Merchants

Tricia Duryee in Commerce on September 18, 2012 at 12:35 am PT

Kabbage, which helps small online merchants obtain working capital, has raised $30 million in a third round of capital. The Atlanta-based company will use the funding to fuel growth opportunities. The round was led by Thomvest Ventures. Other investors, including UPS Strategic Enterprise Fund, Mohr Davidow Ventures, BlueRun Ventures, Warren Stephens, David Bonderman and Ron Conway’s SV Angel, also participated. To date, Kabbage has raised $56 million. Since launching two years ago, the company says it is now lending money to companies, which earn a combined $800 million in annual sales.

News Byte

Warby Parker’s Future So Bright It Raises $37 Million to Sell More Shades

Tricia Duryee in Commerce on September 10, 2012 at 10:13 am PT

Warby Parker, which aims to build a trendy brand selling eyeglasses, has raised $36.8 million in venture capital, according to a regulatory filing. The filing was first noticed by Fortune, which reports that General Catalyst Partners appears to have led the round. Warby Parker previously raised about $12 million from Tiger Global Management, First Round Capital, Lerer Ventures, SV Angel, Menlo Ventures and Thrive Capital. The round, which is expected to close later this year, could increase to as much as $40 million.