VENTURE CAPITAL POST

Following slow start of the year, tech companies began to come to life. As Palo Alto Networks, Splunk and Salesforce.com brought Nasdaq to soar 2% in the last five trading days.

American technology giant in global database industry Oracle Corporation is shifting its focus on cloud offerings. Of late the database major has been facing stiff competition from new technology companies which offer cost-effective solutions via the internet. The shift to cloud could affect Oracle's revenues coming from business fee from existing customers running Oracle software at their data centers, analyses technology experts.

ZeroCater , the on-site catering service, has gained revenue of $100M in four years with $1.5M funds from Y Combinator and other individual investors. Founder Arram Sabeti started the company with only $7000.

German business software company SAP (SAPG.DE) said on Friday it is not considering acquiring online rival Salesforce.com Inc (CRM.N), after a news report suggested the leaders of the two companies had held talks about strategic alliances last year.

Business software maker SAP SE (SAPG.DE) will cut about 2,250 posts, or around 3 percent of its global workforce, while creating a similar number in expanding parts of the company, as it accelerates a push to sell its products via the Internet.

The CRM giant Salesforce would invest in a new building tower in San Francisco valued USD560 million, reported TechCrunch.

The Board of Directors of Salesforce.com now has its 11th member in the person of General Colin Powell, a highly-accomplished four-star general in the US Army, TechCrunch reported.

FireLayers, a cloud security startup backed by YL Ventures, has taken itself out of stealth mode. The startup provides tools that allow companies to securely use cloud applications.

Menlo Park, California-based security startup Adallom bagged $15 million in a Series B funding round led by Index Ventures to boost its sales presence and development projects.

Menlo Park, California-based security startup Adallom bagged $15 million in a Series B funding round led by Index Ventures to boost its sales presence and development projects.

California, US-based call marketing company Invoca raised $20 million in a Series C funding round led by Accel Partners for its workforce expansion and product development.

Illinois, US-based marketing technology company Ifbyphone raised $9 million in a Series D funding round led by growth equity firm River Cities Capital Funds to beef up its workforce.

Seattle, US-based customer relationship management (CRM) company Stride has been acquired by KISSmetrics and Crazy Egg founders Neil Patel and Hiten Shan, who plan to market the service and make it easier to use.

California-based company Selligy raised USD2.8 million in a Series A round to fund the integration of its customer relationship management (CRM) app with iPad and Android devices.

Oracle signed a nine-year deal with Salesforce to boost its efforts on cloud computing and hardware enterprise.