Jonathan Marino

Colorado-based publishing network Lijit scored a $10 million funding round from investors including new investor Highway 12 Ventures and includes existing investors Foundry Group, Boulder Ventures and Colorado Fund I, managed by High Country Venture. Specifics on the transaction were not publicized.

SmartKem, the UK-based developer of semiconductor components, has taken an unspecified investment from Porton Group and Finance Wales Limited. The company will use capital to speed along its tech developments. Specifics of the transaction and bankers on the deal were not publicized.

They “Like” Each Other: Is President Obama getting too chummy with Facebook? But Gibbs is Out: As communications chief with the social network, in part owing to the news of his pending deal being leaked In Case You Forgot: There’s a Too Big to Fail movie still coming iPhone!!!!! New iPhone is coming! New iPhone is coming!

Mariani Packaging, the California-based dried fruit packaging company, will buy Urban Processing LLC. The deal adds a dried cranberry product to Mariani Packaging’s product roster. Urban Packaging is based in Wisconsin. Terms of the transaction were not publicized. Advisors were not announced.

Headed South: With the market underperforming as of late, how are those PE and VC backed IPOs faring? Salmon’s Smackdown: My Reuters colleague gives Dennis Berman, and his lying grandmother, the third degree for the SharesPost piece Do Not Retweet: A flash mob ends tragically

O’Melveny & Myers LLP partner Mark Easton has been named deputy general counsel with Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. He will help staff identify long-term growth strategies and business plans for the company.

They might have been a little late to the party, but it’s still only just begun. Xpert Financial, which will soon launch a secondary shares trading platform similar to that of SecondMarket and SharesPost, is considering potential backers for a new round of capital. The company, which has already raised between $3 million and $5 […]

Got Our Emails? Get our emails. 2-7-ed: The DOJ shuts down online poker Funding: SilverRail Technologies raises $5M as it expands its rail ticket sales platform Will He, Won’t He, Should He? Nobody’s quite sure what to make of the Donald’s so-called presidential campaign

BlueRun Ventures, the California-based early-stage investor, hired Jay Jamison, a Microsoft veteran, as one of its venture partners. BlueRun has also promoted Andrew Thornborrow and Cheryl Cheng to Operating Partners. Thornborrow was BlueRun’s in house counsel and will now oversee both legal and finance. Cheng was Director of Marketing and will now manage marketing and business development.

IPO-Yeah! Blackstone, Warburg high-five as energy co. Kosmos preps $621M offering Deals Gone Bad: CVS-Caremark pharmacy-PBM deal comes under pressure to undo itself SF Roundup: Xconomy’s Timmerman serves up the latest in Bay Area life sciences funding I’m Sorry, What?? The forthcoming PlayBook only lets you email if it’s hooked up to a BlackBerry