VENTURE CAPITAL POST

Texas, US-based crowdfunding company Junction Investments will begin operating on Wednesday to allow wealthy individuals to invest online in fully-funded Hollywood movies, starting with Tom Hanks' "A Hologram for the King."

Dublin, Ireland-based global communications services firm WPP Digital picked up a majority stake in London, UK-based digital consultancy firm Cognifide for an undisclosed sum in a deal that will deliver mutual benefits to both companies.

Tucson, Arizona-based destination marketing solutions provider Simpleview bought Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania-based customer relationship management (CRM) solutions firm Software Management Inc (SMI) for an undisclosed sum to expand its client base.

Glebe, Australia-based business-to-business (B2B) publishing firm The Intermedia Group added beer and cider consumer publication Beer & Brewer Magazine for an undisclosed sum to beef up its liquor title portfolio.

Berlin, Germany-based price comparison website PricePanda launched in Thailand after raising $3 million from Tengelmann Group, as part of its campaign to expand to South Asian countries.

London, UK-based e-commerce analtyics firm Ometria raised $1.5 million in a seed funding round from large group of angel investors to expand its workforce and develop its product.

Social media giant Facebook acquired California, US-based virtual reality headset maker Oculus VR in a deal valued at $2 billion to help the startup expand beyond non-gaming applications of its technology.

San Francisco, US-based virtual ad firm DemandBased raised $15 in a funding round led by Greenspring Associates to build the mobile ad capabilities of its B2B enterprise software platform.

In a bid to gain traction over its competitors, American software giant is rebranding its open cloud platform 'Windows Azure' to 'Microsoft Azure.' according to sources familiar with the matter cited by ZDNet.

Menlo Park, US-based venture capital firm Lightspeed Venture Partners (LSVP) closed $950 million for its new investment fund that will back early-stage companies in the consumer and tech sectors.

American Internet and tech giant Google struck a manufacture and distribution deal with Italian optical wear maker Luxottica for the future versions of its wearable Glass.

US President Barack Obama is getting ready to propose a legislation that will halt the bulk phone data collection of the National Security Agency (NSA) and instead let the agency procure individual court authorizations for every phone number to be investigated.

Illinois, US-based software systems provider Wellspring Worldwide bagged $3.5 million in funding from undisclosed investors, according to a document filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

Albany Molecular Research Inc bought Grafton, US-based pharmaceutical ingredients manufacturer Cedarburg Hauser Pharmaceuticals in a deal valued at $41 million that will up its 2014 revenue by $14 million.

Pennsylvania-based York Professional Baseball Club LLC added sports radio station WOYK AM 1350 from WOYK Inc for an undisclosed amount in a deal that will turn the latter in to an affiliate of the Hershey Bears Radio Network.