Mobile banking pioneer mFoundry nabs $18M from MasterCard, Intel Capital and others

You could say that mFoundry was totally into mobile payments before it was cool. Now the company is reaping the rewards of being an early adopter, announcing today that it has received $18 million in growth-capital funding led by MasterCard, following a recently announced partnership between the two companies.

mFoundry says the funds will be used to push development of new mobile payments products, as well as to expand its mobile banking business. The company … Continue Reading

Urban Airship CEO demos Rich Push, a brand-friendly alternative to MMS (video)

Urban Airship, a platform-as-a-service company for mobile developers, has soft-launched a new MMS-style notification feature called “Rich Push” to help app makers better engage mobile users.

Co-founder and CEO Scott Kveton demoed the company’s newest feature for VentureBeat at the Intel Capital Global Summit today in Calif.

For those unfamiliar, Urban Airship is the super buzzy platform that developers and brands — think ESPN, Groupon and The White House — are using to power things … Continue Reading

Intel Capital’s new $100M AppUp fund will finance application and content development

Intel Capital, the veteran investment arm of Intel, has announced the AppUp fund to invest $100 million in companies creating applications and digital content for multiple devices. The organization revealed the new fund today at the Intel Capital Global Summit in Huntington Beach, Calif.

Mobile platform-as-a-service startup Urban Airship and 4tiitoo, a German tablet operating system developer, are the first two companies to secure financing through the AppUp fund.

The AppUp fund is named after … Continue Reading

Virident raises $21M to replace thousands of hard drives with flash memory

Virident is announcing today that is has raised $21 million to launch its next-generation flash memory for enterprises.

The funding is a rare one for a chip maker, but Virident is playing in one of the hottest parts of the market, where data centers use more flash memory in their servers in order to reduce power consumption and improve their ability to process an enormous amount of data quickly.

Milpitas, Calif.-based Virident is introducing its … Continue Reading

SweetLabs raises $13M for desktop apps interface

SweetLabs has raised $13 million in funding to bring the one-click app experience to the desktop computer.

The San Diego, Calif. company makes an app platform called Pokki, which lets developers create and distribute rich connected desktop apps using standard web languages such as HTML5. e also runs the Open Candy ad network, which offers recommendations to users when they are downloading and installing apps. Open Candy has powered more than 400 million desktop app … Continue Reading

Intel Capital invests $24 million in seven new companies

Intel’s investment arm, Intel Capital, has invested $24 million in seven new startups, the company announced today.

So far this year, Intel said it has seen two initial public offerings and 10 acquisitions from its portfolio of investments in startups.

The new investments include five new software startups and two follow-on investments. Since the company is a strategic corporate investor, it shoots for both a financial return and investments that help Intel’s strategic interests. The … Continue Reading

Mocana gets funding Intel to protect smart devices from hackers

For all the talk about the “internet of things,” or web-connected sensors of all kinds, there’s a grim reality. Hackers are going to have a field day unless those things are protected from cyberattack. Mocana aims to protect all of those smart devices, from cars to smart meters, and that is why Intel Capital has just invested an undisclosed amount of money into the security startup.

The deal being announced today shows that smart devices … Continue Reading

Maker of virtual Zippo lighter app grabs $2.6M

At first glance, the news that the maker of an iPhone app that simulates a Zippo lighter received $2.6M in funding sounds like a joke.

Said company, Skyrockit, received the funding from Intel Capital to enhance what it calls its Mobile Entertainment Studio.

This studio includes the dubious centerpiece of Skyrockit’s offerings, the Zippo lighter app, along with the somewhat more sophisticated Romplr app. Romplr is a music remixing app that allows people to mix … Continue Reading

Social game firm CrowdStar moves into mobile with Top Girl

Already a big player in Facebook games, social game maker CrowdStar is expanding into mobile today with the launch of an iPhone game called Top Girl.

The title is the first one built by CrowdStar’s new mobile game studio, headed by Blair Hamilton. It is also the first one fueled by the company recent $23 million infusion of venture money. As such, the game is a big strategic move by CrowdStar, which was once ranked … Continue Reading