Alastair Goldfisher

Zendesk, a provider of on-demand, help desk, customer services support network, has raised $60 million in new funding including $45 million in equity. Investors include new investors Index Ventures, GGV Capital, Goldman Sachs and existing investors Charles River Ventures, Benchmark Capital and Matrix Partners. The San Francisco-based company also secured $15 million in debt from Silicon Valley Bank. Zendesk has now raised more than $80 million in total funding since it was founded in 2007. CEO Mikkel Svane told peHUB in an email that the conmpany doesn't have any acquisitions planned. "But we are focusing heavily on attracting the right talent and DNA to the company. We need a bigger pile of chips on the table to continue to execute at the pace we're executing," he said.

Beijing-based WestSummit Capital announced that it has backed Chinese optical lens provider Union Optech, which develops lenses and sensors used in security cameras, smartphones, and other mobile devices. Terms of the funding were not disclosed. Beijing-based WestSummit also invests in U.S. companies from its location in Palo Alto, Calif. PRESS RELEASE WestSummit Capital Expands Mobile Ecosystem Portfolio […]

Adelphic Mobile today launched its intelligent Predictive Data Platform to allow companies to buy and sell mobile advertising at scale and optimize those campaigns. The company, which raised $2 million in seed funding from Matrix Partners, is founded by mobile advertising vets Jennifer Lum and Changfeng Wang. PRESS RELEASE Adelphic Mobile Introduces Intelligent Predictive Data PlatformTM for […]

Dallas-based ZenCash has launched on Monday, providing small business payment management services for startups and others. The company’s co-founders (eight guys in three countries) launched the company with $500,000 of their own money, VentureBeat reported. PRESS RELEASE ZenCash Launches New Service To Help Businesses Get Paid Cloud-based Service Connects to QuickBooks, Clio, Freshbooks, and other […]

The new big data analytics and machine learning company Skytree launched today and announced that Javelin Venture Partners has backed it with a $1.5 million Series A round. The company’s team includes co-founder and CEO Martin Hack, co-founder and CTO Alex Gray, who teaches machine learning at Georgia Tech. In addition to Gray, Noah Doyle of Javelin and David Toth, […]

San Francisco-based Scan Inc., maker of the popular QR code reader app for iOS, has raised a $1.7 million seed round led by Menlo Ventures. Other investors include Google Ventures, Charles River Ventures, Yuri Milner’s Start Fund, Social + Capital Partnership, Transmedia Capital, Ludlow Ventures. PRESS RELEASE Scan Closes $1.7 Million Seed Funding Led by Menlo Ventures; […]

In an effort to better its mobile transactions, JPMorgan Chase & Co. invested an undisclosed amount in GoPago, a San Francisco-based provider of mobile payment solutions. The GoPago service allows consumers to use mobile phones to order and pay for local goods or services and then show the merchant a receipt on the smartphone’s screen when […]

Rumgr, a Las Vegas-based app developer that allows users to sell items on their mobile phones, has raised $500,000 in seed funding from Zappos executives Tony Hsieh, CEO; Arun Rajan, CTO; and Fred Mossler. Also joining the round is Andrew Donner, CEO and owner of Resort Gaming Group. Rumgr is currently only available on the […]

I’m ready to declare 2011 as the year of the pivot. I haven’t kept any stats on it, but the term “pivot” came up at least once a week. Or so it seemed. Sometimes, it was in the negative context of, say, a Color Labs and what that company was going to do now with […]

Salesforce.com announced it has agreed to buy Toronto-based Rypple, a provider of human resources software-as-a-service. Rypple, which has raised $13 million in funding from Bridgescale Partners, Edgestone Capital Ventures and Extreme Venture Partners, including a $7 million Series B round last year. Individual investors of Rypple include Peter Thiel (an early Facebook investor) and Roger […]