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Yahoo completes blockbuster $1.1 billion Tumblr acquisition

Exactly one month after announcing plans to acquire microblogging platform Tumblr for $1.1 billion, Yahoo has closed the deal.
The Internet giant announced Thursday that it officially owns Tumblr. The company announced the acquisition last month, saying that the $1.1 billion purchase price would be "substantially all...in cash." The company also promised at that time "not to screw [Tumblr] up."
Tumblr is highly popular site with over 300 million monthly unique visitors. The company was founded in 2007. Under the terms of the deal, Tumblr will remain its own entity under the Yahoo … Read more

TripAdvisor gobbles up GateGuru for better flight, airport info

TripAdivsor has acquired a small mobile startup in the travel industry.
The travel company announced on Wednesday that it has acquired GateGuru, a mobile platform that provides a wide range of information for travelers, including details on itineraries, airports, and rental cars.
In a statement, TripAdvisor said that GateGuru will complement its other popular application, SeatGuru, which tells people the best spots to sit on a plane. TripAdvisor didn't announce the terms of its deal with GateGuru, but did say that the app maker will continue to operate its business out of its headquarters in New York City.

Yahoo's buying spree continues with Rondee acquisition

Yahoo has been on an acquisition spree lately, and it's not done yet.
The latest catch: Rondee, a free conference-call service provider. The service announced the deal Wednesday on its Web site, saying simply that it's been acquired by Yahoo and will join the online giant's Small Business team. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.
With the Yahoo acquisition complete, Rondee is no longer accepting new users. Current users can continue to create their free conference calls until July 12. Data from past calls will be available until August 12. After that, Rondee is going … Read more

WhatsApp sets new record with 27 billion messages in a day

WhatsApp, the mobile service that has established itself as a free alternative to texting, has reached new heights.
The company announced on its Twitter page on Wednesday that in the previous 24-hour period, it had set a new one-day record of handling 27 billion messages. According to the company, its users sent over 10 billion messages during the period, and received 17 billion messages.
WhatsApp has been growing by leaps and bounds. On December 31, the company hit a new record for itself of handling 18 billion messages in a day.

Bloomberg launches $75M venture capital fund

Media outlet Bloomberg will launch a $75 million venture capital fund to invest in early-stage companies.
The fund, called Bloomberg Beta, is expected to launch Wednesday, according to various media reports, but has already invested in nine companies, including Newsle, Nodejitsu, Codecademy, Errplane, and ProsperWorks, according to VentureBeat.
The independent venture will focus on startups that are "producing insights from data" and "making the experience of work better," according to a news release cited by VentureBeat.
Bloomberg has invested in tech companies before through Bloomberg Ventures, an incubator that helped companies that could be combined with … Read more

Yahoo confirms $1.1B Tumblr buy, promises 'not to screw it up'

Microblogging service Tumblr is being acquired by Yahoo.
Yahoo announced the deal early Monday, along with a "promise not to screw it up." The Internet pioneer is paying $1.1 billion for Tumblr, "substantially all of which is payable in cash," Yahoo said.
The news had been expected. The Wall Street Journal reported Sunday that the Yahoo board had approved the deal.
Under the terms of the deal, Yahoo will allow Tumblr, which has over 300 million monthly unique visitors, to operate as a completely separate entity that retains "the same Tumblr irreverence, wit, and … Read more

Andreessen Horowitz raises funding for drone software

Andreessen Horowitz, one of the most prominent Silicon Valley investors, is leading an investment round in a company that's developing software for the commercial use of drones.
Called Airware, the Newport Beach, Calif., company provides several different platforms and tools for companies that want to invest in unmanned aerial systems (UAS), otherwise known as drones. Andreessen Horowitz led the funding round in the drone company, which raised $10.7 million. Google Ventures also participated in the round, according to All Things Digital, which was first to report on the news.
The key difference between Airware and the drones we … Read more

Peter Thiel leads $6M funding round for TransferWise

TransferWise, a London-based peer-to-peer currency exchange, announced Monday that it has closed a $6 million Series A funding round led by PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel's Valar Ventures.
The investment in the company, which seeks to use the Internet to make it easier to transfer funds among currencies, marks Valar Ventures' first foray into Europe. Thiel, who was Facebook's first outside investor, was joined in the round by SV Angel and previous investors IA Ventures, Index, Seedcamp, and early stage investment firm TAG.
Coupled with a previous seed round, the recent investment brings TransferWise's funds raised to $7.… Read more

Google drops cash into Lending Club for minority interest

Google has dropped a significant investment into loan-pairing company Lending Club, the companies announced today.
Lending Club announced today that Google has invested in its operation to take a minority stake in the company. Lending Club didn't say exactly how much Google invested, but did say that it was part of a $125 million round of financing. Google and another investor, Foundation Capital, acquired shares from existing investors.
Since its founding in 2007, Lending Club has been growing significantly. The company facilitates loan transactions between those who need cash and those who are willing to dole it out. Lending … Read more

Nokia to invest in array camera start-up Pelican Imaging

Nokia's VC arm, Nokia Growth Partners, is set to invest in an imaging start-up.
According to Bloomberg, Nokia Growth Partners plans to put funds into array camera company Pelican Imaging. Based in Mountain View, Calif., Pelican Imaging created its first array camera for smartphones in 2011. Rather than using a single lens, array cameras are made up of a series of lenses and build up a picture from the images taken by each. As well as being thinner than a traditional smartphone camera, arrays open up the possibility of post-capture focusing -- similar to what Lytro does with traditional … Read more