Fuze adds another $30M in funding, sparking talks of IPO
Fuze, the Cambridge-based startup that provides communication software to big businesses, announced Wednesday that it added another $30 million to a $104 million round of funding announced in February. With more than $334 million in funding since the company’s founding in 2006, Fuze is considered one of the most likely IPO candidates in Boston tech. [Built In Boston]
You can now order food on TripAdvisor, thanks to a Grubhub partnership
Needham-based TripAdvisor signed a partnership with food delivery service Grubhub this week, allowing consumers to order food from U.S. restaurants found on the travel booking platform. To place their order, users click the new “order online” button and are redirected to Grubhub’s platform. Though this is TripAdvisor’s first partnership with a food delivery service, the travel company already has deals with hotels around the globe, including Marriott and Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide. [Boston Business Journal]
Somerville’s Owl Labs busts out of stealth mode with $6M Series A
Founded by iRobot alumni Max Makeev and Mark Schnittman, Somerville-based startup Owl Labs is on a mission to create a video conferencing solution that better supports remote employees everywhere. Owl Labs launched out of stealth mode this week with $6 million in Series A financing led by Matrix Partners. The startup hopes to bring its first product — Owl, an IoT video conferencing hardware tool designed to improve meetings for remote workers via a USB audio and video device — to market by summer 2017. [Built In Boston]
Cambridge startup Soofa nabs $2.5M for ‘smart benches’
Soofa, a startup that makes solar-powered, sensor-equipped benches that act as charging stations for phones, announced a $2.5 million funding round this week. The funding, led by local firms Underscore.vc and Pillar, will go toward investing in the company’s “smart” benches, which help communities and other partners measure the amount of activity at parks, bus stops and other communal spaces. Soofa also makes solar-powered signs that are connected to the Internet with digital displays that provide real-time info to passersby about public transit and local events. [Xconomy]
Polaris Partners closes its 8th fund for $435M
Boston-based Polaris Partners unveiled its newest and eighth investment fund last week, which has over $435 million ready to use. Founded in 1996, the firm has raised more than $4.3 billion total. Its portfolio of active investments in the tech, biotech and healthtech sector includes ClearSky Data, Drizly, Iora Health, Localytics and Qstream. [BostInno]
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