LearnZillion said it raised $7 million of Series A funding in a deal led by DCM and joined by O’Reilly Alpha Tech Ventures, NewSchools Venture Fund, Calvert Social Investment Fund, and D.C. Community Ventures. The new round brings total funding to date to $9.4 million. The company raised a $2.4 million seed round.

Nok Nok Labs, which develops authentication technology for the cloud, came out of stealth today and launched its product and services. The venture-backed company was founded by CEO Phillip Dunkelberger, who previously launched encryption company PGP Corp. He founded Nok Nok in 2011 and raised a $15 million Series A round that same year from ONSET Ventures and DCM.

Venture capital activity in China is at a low ebb, with deal making down, valuations soft and exits markets bottled up. So when will the good times roll in? The answer has a lot to do with whether you believe business cycles in China remain compressed or start to resemble the longer ones of the United States and Europe.

The Loveland, Colo., company announced on its Web site today that it ceased operations and intended to file for bankruptcy next week, laying off its 125 employees. Abound is another victim of the sharp decline in the price of solar modules.

Bridgelux, hoping to leapfrog competitors in the LED lighting business, is pioneering a new technology for LED chip making and betting the company on its success. The company that has received $296 million in venture funding took another step toward that goal by announcing a key deal with its new technology partner Toshiba

AHAlife.com said it raised $10.1 million in Series B funding in a deal led by Japanese e-commerce company Rakuten. Existing investors DCM and FirstMark Capital also participated. The company, which operates an e-commerce site for luxury goods, has now raised a total of $19.1 million. PRESS RELEASE AHAlife.com Raises $10.1m Series B Round From Japan-based [...]

Existing investors Battery Ventures, DCM and Globespan Capital Partners invested $20 million in Amalfi Semiconductor, a maker of power amplification solutions for cellular handsets. Amalfi is based in Los Gatos, California. PRESS RELEASE: LOS GATOS, CA, Apr 24, 2012 — Amalfi(R) Semiconductor, an emerging leader in cost effective, high performance power amplifier solutions for cellular [...]

Like many LPs, the Indiana Public Retirement System pulled back on its venture investments when the global crisis up ended financial markets in 2009 and 2010. But not as much as you might think.

Venture capitalist Kate Mitchell has scored a coveted invitation to President Obama’s signing of the JOBS Act, tentatively scheduled for this Thursday. Mitchell is co-founder of Scale Venture Partners and was chairman of the 17-member IPO Task Force that drafted the recommendations that went into the JOBS Act.

With the memory of the stock market bust just beginning to fade, the INPRS stepped up venture investing in 2005, matched the pace in 2006 and maintained a steady clip of fund sign-ups through 2009, according to a peHUB analysis of its recent private equity portfolio report.