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Searching for an apartment or getting away on a vacation — either way, VCs gotcha covered. Here are the day’s funding stories:
Urban Compass nabs $40M
Home buying and apartment rental company Urban Compass just raised $40 million from investors, bringing its total valuation to $360 million. Urban Compass streamlines the apartment renting process. Prospective renters and home buyers can search listings and arrange viewings on the website and mobile app. When the company first started its brokers worked on salary, not commission. The hope was that brokers would be more inclined to find the right apartment for you rather than pressing you to sign a lease. However, they've since moved to a commission based model. "We wanted to recruit the best, most experienced agents out there. And to attract the best and the brightest, we changed our compensation model to that of commission-based," says Sofia Song, head of research and external affairs at Urban Compass.
Read more on VentureBeat: Urban Compass nabs $40M to take personalized apartment search national
Intent Media raises $22.7M
Advertising firm Intent Media has raised a fresh $22.7 million in funding, the company announced today. Intent Media focuses on advertising and marketing in the travel industry, specifically for travel-related tech companies. It's clients include Orbitz, Expedia, Hotwire, Travelocity, and Hipmunk. Intent said it plans to use the additional capital to continue its international expansion, having already launched into Europe earlier in the year. It also plans to use the money to hire more engineers and data scientists to boost its ad platform.
Read more on VentureBeat: Travel advertising firm Intent Media raises $22.7M
Supersonic scores $15M
In the busy mobile monetization space, advertising platform developer Supersonic (based in Tel Aviv and San Francisco) has closed a $15 million in its second round of institutional funding. Supersonic's chief product is a cloud-based software development kit that enables mobile application developers to include robust streaming interactive ads inside their apps. Among its uses, the SDK enables online monetization by engaging mobile users in games and virtual worlds as well as social networks. Virtual currency is earned when mobile users watch branded ads, play a game, or complete offers.
Read more on VentureBeat: Supersonic scores $15M, begins Asia Pacific expansion
Threadflip grabs $13M
Fashion marketplace Threadflip today announced a $13 million funding round to expand its online consignment shop. Founded in 2012, Threadflip is a marketplace where women, for a fee, can list fashion items they'd like to sell, as well as purchase items from other sellers, like a fashion Craigslist. The company also offers a concierge service, launched a few months ago, that takes care of the entire selling process for its customers, and takes 40 percent of the sale, a bigger cut than the 20 percent it otherwise takes. The concierge service really took off around March, co-founder Manik Singh told VentureBeat, prompting the company to raise new funding in order to grow the service.
Read more on VentureBeat: Threadflip sells fashionistas' clothes for them, grabs $13M to scale
ParkWhiz snares $10M
Looking to secure its share of the estimated $30 billion US parking industry, Chicago-based ParkWhiz hauled in a $10 million second round of funding Monday. Jump Capital led the round. Other investors include Hyde Park Venture Partners, Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian, former Nokia/Navteq CTO Amreesh Modi, former Technology Crossover Ventures Partner Henry Feinberg, and Hyde Park Angels. "With our Series B round, we can give drivers one-touch access to low-priced options through our free mobile app, with a secure, frictionless parking experience," Aashish Dalal, ParkWhiz chief executive and co-founder, said in a statement on the news.
Read more on VentureBeat: ParkWhiz makes parking easy, snares $10 million
Epion health scores $4.5M
Epion Health sells a patient engagement platform (as a software as a service) that replaces clipboards with iPads and can send patient information into the electronic health record. This is more fun for the patient and improves record accuracy and compliance. Patients can even take care of their payment using the iPad.
Epion has its believers. The company has taken a $4.5 million funding round, its first, from Deerfield Management Company, a New York City based investment firm.
Read more on VentureBeat: Epion Health puts iPads in the waiting room, scores $4.5M
Canva raises $3.6M
Apparently, people like being able to create attractive graphics without a design degree. Canva, the web-based graphic design platform, has just raised an additional $3.6 million in funding. Canva makes it simple for people without a design background to create high-quality graphics using a drag-and-drop tool and its robust gallery of photos, illustrations, and fonts. The end result can be used in print or online.
Read more on VentureBeat: Graphic-design-for-anyone tool Canva raises additional $3.6M, launches plugin for third-party sites
