New Context, a wholly owned subsidiary of Tokyo-based Digital Garage has changed its name to Neo. Neo helps startups, enterprises and governments bring products to market faster through agile software development and lean design. Digital Garage is a global incubation and investment company founded by Joichi Ito and Kaoru Hayashi.

FundersClub, a marketplace for private investing, has closed a significant round of seed funding. Investors in the round included First Round Capital, Y Combinator, Draper Associates, Felicis Ventures, Spark Capital, Digital Garage, Intel Capital, Y Combinator-affiliated funds (Andreessen Horowitz, Start Fund, SV Angel, and General Catalyst Partners), Investmon Sarl, NetPrice, Global Venture Alliance and Plug and Play Tech Center.

Mobile rewards network Kiip has secured financing from Japanese Internet business Digital Garage. The strategic investor joins the company’s most recent $11 million round of Series B funding. The company is backed by Relay Ventures, Hummer Winblad, True Ventures, Verizon Ventures, Crosslink Capital and others.

Open Garden, which provides a crowdsourcing platform to connect mobile devices, announced it has raised $2 million in seed funding. Investors include individuals Allan Green, David Ulevitch and Derek Parham, as well as Digital Garage, a Tokyo-based early investor in Twitter and Path. Open Garden was founded in 2011 by former employees of Skype and BitTorrent. [...]

DoubleRecall, the YCombinator-backed startup that looks to replace paywalls, bagged $1.6 million in funding from Silicon Valley investors. It launched fundraising at the YCombinator Demo Day in August 2011, and since then, has added other investors Start Fund, SV Angel, Digital Garage, Itochu Ventures, Mentor Equity and TEEC Angel. PRESS RELEASE: NEW YORK, NY (February [...]

Online accessories marketplace Boticca.com has closed on $2.5 million in funding. French investor ISAI led the round, with participation from Annoushka Ducas and John Ayton, the founders and former owners of Links of London; Bobby Yazdani, founder and CEO of Saba; and Japanese Internet incubator Digital Garage. The money will help the London-based company expand its team and its platform, which aims to connect customers to independent designers around the world.