VENTURE CAPITAL POST

Dallas, US-based female-focused crowdfunding platform MoolaHoop acquires New York-based small business crowdfunding site Lucky Ant for an undisclosed sum to facilitate easier management of crowdfunding campaigns.

World Bank Group member International Finance Corporation (IFC) invested an undisclosed amount in US-based submarine fiber optic cable system developer and operator Seaborn Network Holdings LLC.

While pushing for an acquisition deal, Charter Communications slammed the executives of New York, US-based cable operator Time Warner Cable for a "failed" operating plan resulting in low customer satisfaction ranking.

New York, US-based clothes retailer Aeropostale Inc contacted private equity groups amid pressure from investors to sell itself, according to sources cited in a Bloomberg report.

Social media giant Facebook acquired New York, US-based social conversations platform Branch Media in a deal reportedly worth $15 million to form a Facebook Conversations group.

Chicago-based daily deals firm Groupon purchased New York-based flash fashion site Ideeli in a deal valued at $43 million in cash in a bid to compete with Amazon and other retail businesses.

New York, US-based news giant NBCUniversal News Group announced a minority investment in mobile video news startup NowThisNews to co-produce original short news videos for social sites.

New York, US-based electronic trading firm Virtu Financial Inc filed confidential documents for an initial public offering (IPO), according to sources familiar with the situation.

Foreign-exchange broker Forex Capital Markets (FXCM) said it was in talks with high-speed trader Infinium Capital Management to buy its assets. FXCM last year bought a $12 million note issued by the struggling high-speed trader.

New York, US-based firm Apollo Global Management LLC announced on Thursday that it had raised $17.5 billion for the Apollo Investment Fund VIII, the largest private equity fund raised since the financial crisis.

New York, US-based small and medium business (SMB) capital provider CAN Capital scored $33 million in a funding round co-led by Meritech Capital Partners and Accel Partners.

Sydney, Australia-based investment manager AMP capital invested $100 million in subordinated financing for the fully operational Astoria Project Partners power plant in New York, USA.

Chinese billionaire Chen Guangbiao has dialed back his bid to acquire The New York Times Co. over a week after making his interest public, saying that the level of difficulty is great. Times chairman Arthur Ochs Sulzberger Jr. recently said that the prestigious media company is not for sale.

New York-based analytics software solutions provider Verint Systems plans to acquire Silicon Valley-based customer service solutions developer KANA Software in a deal valued at $514 million.

Launch Angels, a Boston-based investment platform focused on equity crowdfunding, closed its first venture fund called Where Angels Fund with nearly $1 million. Associates from Where Inc were the investors in the fund.