US-based investment firms Benchmark Capital, Fortress Investment Group, and Ribbit Capital are buying a stake in Pantera Capital's Bitcoin fund called Pantera Bitcoin and committed to conduct virtual currency transactions through Pantera.

Bedford, US-based SQL database startup VoltDB raised $8 million in a Series B funding round led by an unnamed investor from Silicon Valley to scale databases both up and out.

San Francisco, US-based cloud storage giant Dropbox acquired Cambridge, Massachusetts-based stealthy workplace chat solution Zulip for an undisclosed amount to integrate its services into its product offering.

Thousand Oaks, US-based agricultural biotechnology seed firm Ceres Inc got $23 million from a recent public offering of common stock to be used for its operations and other corporate purposes.

Star Scientific Inc, a dietary supplements maker based in Henrico County, US, secured $9.3 million through equity and funding deals from its investors as it struggles to achieve profitability and conquer liquidity problems.

California, US-based semiconductor startup Aquantia Corp closed $16 million in a Series G funding round led by Xilinx Inc as it prepares for its initial public offering (IPO) in the US.

Cupertino, US-based electronics giant Apple started selling the 8GB version of iPhone 5C in Apple stores in the UK at £40 less than the original cost to make up for the low sales of the said device.

San Leandro, US-based hearing product developer iHear Medical launched a crowdfunding campaign via Indiegogo to make personalized hearing aids available for 350 people worldwide with hearing impairment.

Palo Alto, US-based video discovery startup Boxfish bagged $7 million in a Series B funding round led by Atlantic Bridge to beef up its workforce and expand into new markets.

Minneapolis, US-based health insurance marketplace Gravie scored $10,5 million in its first funding round which was led by Aberdare Ventures to help its clients understand their best option for coverage.