VENTURE CAPITAL POST

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.

New York, US-based coding school The Flatiron School raised $5.5 million in a recent financing led by Charles River Ventures (CRV) and Matrix Partners to improve the quality of its educational services.

Cupertino, US-based smartphone giant Apple launched its iPhone trade-in program in Germany to allow its customers to purchase a new iPhone at a discounted price when they trade in a qualifying old device.

Atlanta, US-based Internet-based TV service provider YuppTV Inc pocketed $2.5 million in its first funding round from Indian early stage investor Sashi Reddi to scale up and expand its client base.

US-based electronics giant Apple Inc acquired British automatic speech recognition startup Novauris Technologies for an undisclosed amount more than a year ago to gain traction over Google Now and Microsoft Cortana.

BlackBerry's new chief John Chen revealed that its messaging app BBM now has 85 million monthly active users and a steady growth in its user base after the app was released to the Android and iOS platform in October.

After releasing the Office for iPad, software giant Microsoft made Office Mobile for iPhone and Office Mobile for Android free for home use to, but businesses still have to subscribe to use the Office 365.

US-based shipping startup Shyp came out of private beta mode today to deliver hassle-free posting and packaging service to business offices and individual consumers in San Francisco.

In its first foray outside of North America for its premium video syndication platform, New York, US-based multinational mass media firm AOL Inc launched the AOL On Nework in the UK.

London, UK-based social shopping startup Nuji nabbed $2 million in a seed funding round from TAG, Seedcamp, Samos, and other angel investors to launch an iOS app this April.

Raleigh, US-based wedding photo and video-sharing app WedPics scored $1.5 million in its Series A financing round led by IDEA Fund Partners to scale up its platform and beef up its workforce.

Starting April, United Airlines will roll out a free in-flight entertainment service for iOS devices and laptops that has more than 150 movies and 200 TV shows that passengers can stream.

Facebook Messenger can now be downloaded for free on the Windows Phone via the Windows Phone Store, the software giant has confirmed the news through its blog.

Cupertino, US-based tech giant Apple launched its new CarPlay feature for safer in-car iPhone use, which will be integrated first into Ferrari, Mercedes-Benz, and Volvo vehicles.

Penzance, UK-based firm Acoustic Stream launched a $50,000 crowdfunding campaign via Kickstarter to develop a 4-in-1 device that allows guitarists to tune their guitar, and record, stream, and share their performances to the world.