VENTURE CAPITAL POST

Sunnyvale, California-based Internet giant Yahoo snapped up Portland, Oregon-based automated graphic design startup Vizify for an undisclosed amount as part of its on-going acquisition spree of design-focused startups.

California, US-based Internet provider FreedomPop introduced Privacy Phone, a smartphone that promises fully encrypted voice and text communications that costs $10 a month and can be purchased using Bitcoin.

Auburn, US-based disaster-proof hardware maker ioSafe Inc landed $2.5 million in funding to expand its indestructible external hard drives into network attached storage market for safer data storage.

Irvine, California-based real estate marketplace Auction.com nabbed $50 million in investment from the newly launched growth equity fund Google Capital for its expansion and marketing campaigns.

New York, US-based stock photography agency Shutterstock is acquiring San Mateo, California-based digital asset management software maker WebDAM for an undisclosed amount to widen its market reach.

San Mateo, US-based predictive analytics startup Reflektion scored $8 million in its second funding round led by Intel Capital and Nike to ramp up its sales and marketing activities.

California, US-based electronics giant Apple is currently working on a software update that will improve the fingerprint recognition ability of its Touch ID system, based on a report by AppleInsider citing a source familiar with the situation.

Engineers of California, US-based on-demand Internet streaming service Netflix hacked a Fitbit activity tracking device and activated a feature that auto-pauses the video when the watcher falls asleep and allows him to resume watching when he wakes up.

California, US-based next generation fitness tracking device Moov attained its $40,000 target within just 90 minutes and will begin shipping the pre-ordered product by summer this year.

San Francisco, US-based Internet radio startup 8tracks, a music service that is not yet widely known but already has 8 million active users, provides unique and awesome playlists and successfully maintains its profitability at the same time.

Redwood City, California-based mobile finance app Robinhood emerged out of its private beta to let signed-up users trade stocks for free instead of paying a fee for every transaction done.

California, US-based human management and financial management software vendor Workday acquired San Francisco-based predictive analytics human resources software firm Identified for an undisclosed amount to enhance its product portfolio.

Mountain View, US-based mobile marketing startup Kahuna bagged $11 million in a Series A funding round from Sequoia Capital to create more effective marketing messages to customers.

Menlo Park, US-based fitness startup GOQii is helping people stay motivated with their healthy endeavors by combining its fitness wristband with human coaches who will provide advice and help them set their health objectives.

A high profile global wealth and asset management firm in Western Europe spent $4 million to acquire the licenses and related services for Kofax TotalAgility 7.0 and Kofax Analytics, which are products created by California, US-based business software firm Kofax Ltd.