VENTURE CAPITAL POST

Egypt plans to build a new Suez Canal alongside the existing 145-year-old historic waterway in a multi-billion dollar project aimed at expanding trade along the fastest shipping route between Europe and Asia.

iZettle, Swedish mobile company, pockets $55.5 million in a series C round led by Zouk Capital with other participants such as Dawn Capital, Intel Capital, Creandum, Greylock, Index, Northzone, and SEB.

Paris-l’hospital, France-based car rental startup Drivy secured $8.3 million (€6 million) in a new funding round with Index Ventures and Alven Capital as lead investors to fuel its expansion in Europe.

Dublin, Ireland-based medical startup Mainstay Medical raised €18M as it completed a listing in the Iris Stock Exchange (ISE) to fund the clinical trials for its product in the US and Europe next year.

DollarPhotoClub announced yesterday their plans to move into 13 new markets like Italy and Poland with over 11,000 subscribers.

London, UK-based venture capital firm Amadeus Capital picked up an undisclosed stake in Sao Paulo, Brazil-based online insurance broker Bidu.com for $4.5 million to take advantage of the growth in emerging markets.

Caving in to public pressure, San Francisco, US-based marketing automation firm RadiumOne terminated its chief executive officer (CEO) Gurbaksh Chahal after he pled guilty to domestic violence and battery charges recently filed against him.

Startup Lifesum has taken in investment from Bauer Media Group and SparkLabs Global Ventures valued USD6.7 million, reported Bloomberg.

Amsterdam, Netherlands-based business services provider TMF Group acquired Jakarta, Indonesia-based payroll and HR administration services provider PT Tass Axia Solusi for an undisclosed amount to expand its client base.

Stamford, US-based collaborative business intelligence (BI) platform Decisyon Inc landed $22 million in its Series B financing led by Catalyst Investors to support its global expansion.

California, US-based social network giant Facebook announced that it will pull Messenger from its mobile app to boost the usage of the standalone Messenger, starting with European users before rolling out the change worldwide.

Vantaa, Finland-based international rental giant Cramo purchased Klaukkala-based earthmoving equipment rental specialist OptiRent for an undisclosed amount to gain traction over its competitors in the earthmoving industry.

Mars Inc. announced on Wednesday that it would acquire the pet care brand names of Procter&Gamble in a deal valued USD2.9 billion, reported Reuters.

San Francisco, US-based mobile app performance startup Crittercism took home $30 million in a funding round led by Scale Venture Partners for its expansion and enterprise initiatives.

Redwood City, US-based remote home monitoring company iControl Networks acquired Ottawa, Canada-based home automation device maker Blacksumac for an undisclosed amount to expand its product portfolio.