VENTURE CAPITAL POST

A Mannheim court dismissed the $2.2 billion lawsuit filed against it by patent holding firm IPCom in Germany on one of the "100" series patents the latter acquired from Robert Bosch GmBH, Bloomberg reported.

Sony will shut down two-thirds of its retail outlets located across the US, with 11 out of the 31 stores near major markets to remain open, as part of its move to offload unprofitable units and reduce liabilities.

Android still remains at the top for smartphone sales, getting 70% of sales in the last three months that ended January. However, the real war is among Android makers, TechCrunch reported citing data from Kantar.

Sunnyvale, US-based mobile security solutions provider Good Technology announced its purchase of Columbia, Maryland-based enterprise mobility management software maker Boxtone for an undisclosed amount to boost security in joint products and widen its client base.

Tech giant Apple added app testing platform maker Burstly, owner of mobile app testing tool TestFlight, for an undisclosed amount, according to sources.

Toronto, Canada-based personalized comic strip app Bitstrips is raising $15 million in a Series B funding round reportedly led by Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers to address growth and scaling issues.

InMobi has only been in business for less than a decade but it has already proven to be a worthy contender to tech giants in the mobile ad space, Voice & Data reported.

In a bid to attract more startups, Walldorf, Germany-based sofware giant SAP planned to open a cafe in Palo Alto, California, where startups companies can hang out, collaborate, and connect to over 1,000 companies worldwide.

San Francisco, California-based wearable tech firm Basis Science put itself up for sale and is currently in acquisition talks with Google, Apple, Samsung, and Microsoft, according to two sources familiar with the situation.

Cupertino, US-based smartphone giant Apple considered purchasing Palo Alto, California-based electric car manufacturer Tesla, according to a San Francisco Chronicle report citing an unnamed source.

E-commerce giant eBay and iPhone maker Apple Inc were beloved bets among top US hedge funds like that of activist investor Carl Icahn in the fourth quarter of last year, Reuters reported.

New Mexico, US-based app design and development startup ByteWare Apps launched Superflat, its first iPad gaming app, which is a supplement to the construction-based computer game Minecraft.

HTC Corp intends to expand its range of more affordable smartphones after the losses it experienced last year for its high-end product offerings, Reuters reported.

Tokyo, Japan-based Bitcoin exchange Mt Gox announced on its site that it temporarily halted Bitcoin withdrawals to resolve a technical problem that arose from the increased withdrawal traffic.

Tech giant Apple has cleared the App Store of all Bitcoin mobile wallet apps by pulling Blockchain from the store on Wednesday without a clear explanation for the move, but retained other non-wallet Bitcoin apps in the said store.