VENTURE CAPITAL POST

Sydney, Australia-based music streaming firm Spotify snapped up Somerville, US-based music discovery engine The Echo Nest for an undisclosed amount to create an improved music discovery service for its clients.

San Francisco, US-based business social network Townsquared bagged $5.26 million in its first funding round from undisclosed investors to allow business owners and employees connect and engage with each other.

San Francisco, US-based ad-tech startup TripleLift scored $4 million in a Series A funding round led by True Ventures to expand its workforce and automate native advertising.

San Francisco, US-based venture capital firm Founders Fund gathered $1 billion for its fifth investment fund called Founder Fund V which will back startups from various sectors.

San Francisco, US-based home search startup Zumper raised $6.5 million in a Series A funding round led by Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (KPCB) to build its web and mobile platform for apartment rental.

San Francisco, US-based startup ClassDojo bagged $8.5M in its first institutional funding round to develop its mobile platform that provides an easier way of managing and monitoring the behavior of students inside the classroom.

The gift of $6.8 million from search giant Google to San Francisco for its Free MUNI for Low-Income Youth program is one way that the tech industry can help the city deal with its gentrification problem, TechCrunch reported.

Mountain View, US-based investment firm 500 startups organized Rainbow Round, a monthly meeting where members of the LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender) community from the tech sector can talk about their interests and struggles.

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.

Donna, the personal assistant app made by San Francisco, US-based mobile app creator Incredible Labs, is retiring starting February 28, just a month after search giant Yahoo acqui-hired the company.

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.

San Francisco, US-based sales communication platform ClearSlide landed $50 million in a Series C funding round led by Social+Capital Partnership to provide a service that boosts productivity of salespeople.

Paris, France-based event planning mobile app WePopp paired up with San Francisco, US-based restaurant booking app OpenTable to integrate restaurant booking service into the steps required to plan for a given event.

San Francisco, US-based software development project web hosting service GitHub built a new browser-based text editor called Atom that allows developers to write and edit code at the same time in a bid to combine all the best features of the available text editors in the market.

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.