Follow The Money: 10 VC Investments to Watch In April
Show Me The Money
April was a busy month for venture capital investments, bringing in interesting investments in problem-solving applications, Internet of Things technologies, software delivery, business intelligence and much more. Take a look at 10 CRN venture capital favorites from this month.
Neura
Headquarters: San Francisco
CEO: Gilad Meiri
New Funding: $2 million
Round: Undisclosed
Backers: Greenhouse Capital Partners, alongside SingTel Innov8 Ventures, Pitango Venture Capital, TriplePoint Ventures, angel investors including Ben Narasin and Isaac Applbaum
A graduate of Silicon Valley-based accelerator UpWest Labs, Neura has raised $2 million in venture capital funding to fuel the development of the company's Internet of Things technology. Neura's technology acts as the "connective tissue" between devices and the Web.
"This funding will allow our team to finally develop the solution in which devices are empowered with intelligence and cooperate to understand the human element behind behavioral patterns," CEO Gilad Meiri said in a statement.
FinancialForce.com
Headquarters: San Francisco
CEO: Jeremy Roche
New Funding: $50 million
Round: Undisclosed
Backers: Advent International, Unit4, Salesforce.com
Leading cloud ERP provider FinancialForce.com received a $50 million venture capital investment from Advent International, adding to investment funds it already has received from Unit4 and Salesforce.com. It will use the funding to expand its cloud ERP offering, which is based on the Salesforce1 Platform, and improve marketing and customer support. The investment comes after the company reported 80 percent year-over-year growth in 2013 and made two acquisitions -- Vana Workforce and Less Software.
Electric Cloud
Headquarters: San Francisco
CEO: Steve Brodie
New Funding: $4 million
Round: E
Backers: Siemens Venture Capital, US Venture Partners, Mayfield Fund, RRE Ventures, Rembrandt Venture Partners
Electric Cloud added an additional $4 million to the $8 million already raised for its Series E funding. Electric Cloud helps automate and speed up time to delivery of software. The company has seen growth as the market for Agile and DevOps initiatives continue to build out. The new funding will help further accelerate company growth.
Recore Systems
Headquarters: Enschede, Netherlands
CEO: Dirk Logie
New Funding: $2 million
Round: B
Backers: Point One Innovation Fund, Participatiemaatschappij Oost Nederland, Twente Technology Fund
Netherlands-based Recore Systems raised $2 million for its heterogeneous many-core systems, built on its many-core processor subsystem IP,l bringing its total funding raised to $5 million. The technology is still in its "infancy," Recore Systems CEO Dirk Logie said, but Recore is working to package all the known information into a many-core system for program, software and operating system development.
Betterment
Headquarters: New York
CEO: Jon Stein
New Funding: $32 million
Round: C
Backers: Citi Ventures, Northwestern Mutual Capital, Globespan Capital Partners, Bessemer Venture Partners, Menlo Ventures, Anthemis Group
With a goal of managing $100 billion in investments by 2020, Betterment has raised $32 million in Series C funding to help it get there. The company currently manages around $500 million, and is growing that number 10 percent monthly. The company's Web-based money management service automates the role of wealth advisers through the app. Next up on the company's plate is an investment adviser tool, called Betterment Institutional.
Omada
Headquarters: San Francisco
CEO: Sean Duffy
New Funding: $23 million
Round: B
Backers: Andreessen Horowitz, Kaiser Permanente Ventures, U.S. Venture Partners, The Vertical Group
San Francisco-based Omada Health has raised $23 million for its digital health therapy programs, which are specifically designed to help people with Type 2 diabetes deal with their condition. In particular, Omada Health works to bridge the gap between traditional medicine and new technologies. The flagship treatment Prevent, a 16-week Web program, is piquing the interest of insurance providers, who might cover the program costs. The latest investment brings the company's total funding raised to $28.5 million.
Decisyon
Headquarters: Stamford, Conn.
CEO: Ron Rose
New Funding: $22 million
Round: B
Backers: Catalyst Investors
Just a few months after it launched Decisyon 360, its flagship platform that brings together collaborative business intelligence such as analytics, process and execution, Decisyon raised $22 million in Series B funding. The company's offering allows for code-free development of business intelligence and planning solutions. The funding will be used to continue to "transform the BI industry and provide customer teams with powerful collaborative decision-making and execution capabilities," CEO Ron Rose said in a statement.
freee
Headquarters: Japan
CEO: Daisuke Sasaki
New Funding: $8 million
Round: B
Backers: DCM, Infinity Venture Partners
Founded by ex-Google SMB marketing exec Daisuke Sasaki, freee provides online accounting Software-as-a-Service for small businesses. The software is already integrated into 1,600 banks in Japan and more than 70,000 small and medium businesses. The latest round of funding will help accelerate the product development.
The Currency Cloud
Headquarters: London
CEO: Mike Laven
New Funding: $10 million
Round: B
Backers: Atlas Venture, Anthemis Group, Notion Capital, XAnge Private Equity, Silicon Valley Bank
International payments engine The Currency Cloud is working to update traditional channels to create a less expensive and more effective way to transfer money using better technology. Over the past 18 months, The Currency Cloud has seen transactions skyrocket, multiplying 12 times and moving billions of dollars. The investment will allow the company to expand geographies and invest further in its product.
ItsOn
Headquarters: Redwood City, Calif.
CEO: Greg Raleigh
New Funding: $12.5 million
Round: C
Backers: Andreessen Horowitz
ItsOn is a smart mobile services provider that is working to "re-imagine mobile" by allowing mobile services to come as retailers and other companies want it. Created by former wireless and data communications executives, the company said it plans to use the new funding to accelerate the release of cloud-based virtual OSS & BSS platform as well as boost growth in EMEA and South America.