VENTURE CAPITAL POST

Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE)-based firm Abraaj Group picked up a stake in Casablanca, Morocco-based chocolate manufacturer Kool Food for an undisclosed amount to back the latter's international distribution plans.

Missouri, US-based holding company Enterprise Holdings, the operator of the Enterprise Rent-A-Car and National Car Rental, purchased Denver-based car-sharing services provider OccasionalCar for an undisclosed sum to widen its local network of transportation options.

Two coincidental events took place as Weibo executives rejoiced the warm welcome it received from the international financial markets after its IPO on the NASDAQ and the release of venture capitalist and Weibo user Charles Xue.

Doha Bank, a Qatar based lender, has entered into a definite acquisition agreement with HSBC Holdings Plc's HSBC Bank Oman to purchase its lending arm in India pending regulatory approvals in India, Jersey, Qatar and Oman.

Preact announced releasing a new software platform that makes uses of "leading-edge behavioral science, machine learning, and big data analytics" along with receiving a Series A funding round valued USD4.6 million led by Trinity Ventures.

Today, home-rental Airbnb has received a rare funding that reached a hefty USD500 million from a funding round from investors led by TPG, Dragoneer Investment Group and T. Rowe Price along with other mutual funds.

Orlando, US-based sports footwear, apparel, and accessories maker Nike is about to cut off 70 out of the 200 members of its Digital Sport unit in a bold move to stop manufacturing hardware and focus its wearable tech efforts on software.

Cloud storage giant Dropbox spent an undisclosed amount to add San Francisco, US-based photo and video cloud storage and smart collaborative tool Hackpad to expand its product offering and improve its auto-upload features.

Mountain View, US-based business-oriented social networking service LinkedIn already reached the 300-million mark in registered users worldwide, with half of that number coming from countries outside of its home country.

Santa Clara, US-based semiconductor chip maker Intel Corp shelled out $100 million to establish an innovation center in China to accelerate the innovation of smart equipment in the Asian country.

Kansas, US-based wire rope manufacturer WireCo WorldGroup Inc acquired the assets of Gouda, Netherlands-based construction and transport materials supplier Endenburg BV for an undisclosed amount to beef up its delivery system.

While news have already spread about Google's plan to bring the Internet to more people using high-altitude balloons in its "Project Loon" initiative, the search giant has finally started testing the solar-powered balloons over Nevada.

Tuition.io announced that it has received a new investor following its management of more than USD1 billion student loans and finding ways to monetize the site through ads posted on its blogs.

Chinese microblogging site Weibo has cut its offered IPO size after a shaky start taking in only USD286 million from 16.8 million depository shares sold which was far from the expectations on Wall Street.

AngelPad has been rearing startups prior to their public debut and today, during its Spring Demo Day, the company would launch 11 startups to a roomful of investors, techies and the media.

Encana Corp has been aiming to get CAD700 million from a planned IPO which was also seen to be the biggest sale of shares since 2010 in Canada's oil and gas industry.