Weekly Money Trail- July 18, 2008

Seattle Comcast’s The Platform goes social with Chirp Social media start-up Chirp Interactive Inc. has sold some of its assets to Comcast Corp.’s thePlatform just six months after a seed funding. Financial terms were not disclosed, but we can only assume with Comcast deep pockets, and social media on fire, the investors should be singing like birds! http://www.chirp.com

Hillsboro, NexPlanar Nabs $14.5M For Semiconductor Polishing NexPlanar Corp., a maker of polishing pads for semiconductor wafers, has secured $14.5 million in Series C financing. http://www.nexplanar.com

San Jose, Virtual World Gaia Goes For $11M in REAL MONEY

Virtual world start-up Gaia Interactive Inc. has added an $11 million Series C round of funding after announcing in January a $12 million second round proving virtual worlds are still on VC’s radar. http://www.gaiaonline.com

Paris Monte Cristo Games Scores with $7M in funding Monte Cristo Games said it has received EUR4.5 million ($7 million) from Arts Alliance, 360 degrees Capital Partners and Innoven Partenaires. http://www.citiesxl.com

Alpharetta, OpenSpan Expands Globally With 13 Million in Series C To spur general growth and international expansion, OpenSpan Inc., a developer of software to integrate applications, has raised a $13 million Series C financing round. http://www.openspan.com

San Francisco, Clickability has clicked yes to $3.5M Debt Round Clickability Inc., a Web content management company, has taken in $3.5 million in debt financing from SaaS Capital Inc., a specialty finance company exclusively serving software-as-a-service companies. http://www.clickability.com http://www.saas-capital.com

Boston, Sand raise oney for Tiny Wireless Components Seeking to build ultra-small components for wireless devices, Sand 9 Inc. has raised an $8 million Series A round from several leading venture firms. http://www.sand9.com

Cambridge, Think Magic tunes investors in with 9.5 Million

ThingMagic, which develops radio frequency identification technology, has raised a $9.5 million Series B round from three previous backers and one new investor. The Series B, which brings the company’s total venture funding to just over $30 million, was provided by insiders Tudor Ventures, Exxel Group and Morningside Technology Ventures, along with newcomer .406 Ventures. http://www.thingmagic.com

San Jose, A10 Networks raises $23M for Server Load Balancer A10 Networks Inc., a maker of Web application delivery equipment, has secured $23 million in its Series C round. http://www.a10networks.com

New York, Airline-backed Sojern Takes Off With $16M As the airline industry struggles to keep up with skyrocketing fuel costs, one start-up offers a new source of revenue. http://www.sojern.com

Portsmouth, NitroSecurity Raises Cash And Buys RippleTech Having withdraws its initial public offering in May, NitroSecurity Inc., a provider of network security monitoring and analysis software, has acquired RippleTech Inc. and raised fresh capital. http://www.rippletech.com http://www.nitrosecurity.com

San Francisco, Bezos Plays Games With SGN Bezos Expeditions has made another bet on a popular social media company, this time on Social Gaming Network Inc. http://www.socialgn.com

Palo Alto, ATV Leads Investments In Two Cleantech Cos. Advanced Technology Ventures will today announce investments in two cleantech companies: Wakonda Technologies Inc., a developer of solar photovoltaic products, and Nuventix Inc., an electronic cooling device maker. http://www.atvcapital.com http://www.nuventix.com http://wakondatech.com

El Dorado Hills, Laru Picks Up Series A Cash From Velocity Laru Corp., a provider of risk and compliance management software for financial institutions, said regional investor Velocity Venture Capital has increased its undisclosed Series A investment in the company. http://www.larucorp.com

San Francisco, Twitter Acquires Summize For Search Tech Twitter Inc., the popular micro-blogging service, has acquired search-technology company Summize Inc. http://twitter.com

Mountain View, Become Inc raises $8 Million

Shopping comparison service Become Inc. has raised $8 million in Series D funding from European Founders Fund as it expands into the European market.

http://become.com

San Francisco, Hudson Fund Invest in Solar Start Up Recurrent Hudson Clean Energy Partners, a clean technology-focused private equity fund, has made its first investment in the U.S. with a $75 million commitment to venture-backed solar energy project developer and financier Recurrent Energy Inc. http://www.recurrentenergy.com http://www.hudsoncep.com

Redwood City, BlogHer Serves Ads With NBC, Scores $5M BlogHer Inc., a network of 2,200 women’s blogs, has secured a $5 million Series B round of funding and announced a new partnership to syndicate content to NBC-owned online properties iVillage, Oxygen.com and BravoTV.com. http://www.blogher.com

Provo, Translation Co. Lingotek Taps In-Q-Tel With Series B As part of a Series B investment round, translation company Lingotek Inc. has added In-Q-Tel to its roster of investors to gain access to government agencies. http://www.lingotek.com

El Segundo, OGPlanet Nabs DFJ Cash To Remake Korean Online Games When designing graphically rich online games, some companies believe it’s better not to reinvent the wheel. That often means importing from Asia. http://www.ogplanet.com

Ruby managed services start up raises $15 million

Engine Yard, a provider of Ruby On Rails Web application deployment and hosting, has raised $15 million in Series B funding, just six months after raising a previous round.
http://engineyard.com/

Austin, Austin Logistics raises funds and Replaces CEO Austin Logistics Inc., provider of collections and service center analytic software, has ushered in a new chief executive while announcing a Series C inside round of funding. http://www.austinlogistics.com

New York, Silicon Alley Media Boosts Editorial Team With Series A Online publisher Silicon Alley Media has secured an undisclosed Series A round of funding. http://alleycorp.com

Cambridge, GenArts Funded For Special Effects Technology

GenArts Inc. Chief Executive Katherine Hays has an interesting idea for a highlight reel for the provider of visual effects software. http://genarts.com

About the Author
I am the founder of Urban Technology Ventures I love to cook, and I been doing web development and networking since 1996.
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