News Byte

Co.Lab Classmate Kidaptive Raises $10 Million Series B

Kidaptive, an education-gaming startup and one of the first five companies to go through the Zynga-New Schools accelerator Co.Lab, announced today that it has raised a $10.1 million Series B. Formation 8 led the round, backed up by Menlo Ventures and Stanford University’s StartX accelerator. Kidaptive’s first app, Leo’s Pad, uses interactive stories to test kids’ educational development, giving parents data about that growth to help keep them on track. The new funding will finance 25 animated episodes for Leo’s Pad.

Longtime Online Exec Tina Sharkey Joins Sherpa Foundry as CEO

An inside/outside exec will lead an effort to get corporations to think more like startups — or get out of the way. (From someone who knows: Good luck with that!)

Sherpa Ventures Starts $150M Fundraising With $15M Infusion From TPG

Now the well-known Silicon Valley pair will have some walking-around money.

News Byte

Menlo Ventures Leads $24 Million Investment in Mobile Bill-Payment Startup Check

Check, formerly Pageonce, has secured $24 million in a Series C round led by Menlo Ventures. The company is the maker of the Check – Bills & Money mobile bill-payment app, which currently sits at No. 26 on Apple’s list of free finance apps. Past investors Morgenthaler Ventures and Pitango Venture Capital also participated in the round, which brings total funding to $49 million.

Silicon Valley Venture Capitalist Wants to Get a Million Programmers to “Code for India”

Karl Mehta aims to get a million programmers to donate eight hours a month to help create mobile apps that can solve basic problems in the developing world, especially in his native India.
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Fast Car: Uber Funding Auction Could Reach a $3.5B Valuation

The ride-logistics app maker could be raising a very big amount of money.

Actian to Acquire Big-Data Startup ParAccel

Actian rolls up its third acquisition in five months.

Vidyo Raises $17 Million in Round Led by Triangle Peak

A new investor.

Voices

10 Million Jobs in 10 Years

“10 for 10” proposes that the government join forces with the American business and entrepreneurship community to create 10 million new U.S. jobs in the next 10 years.

Menlo Ventures’ Pishevar and Goldman’s Stanford to Found Sherpa, a Startup Aimed at Making New Startups

Can the pair carry the load for new companies?

Cinemagram Raises $8.5M Led by Menlo Ventures

The “B” Word