FullContact, a cloud-based contact management service and TechStars graduate, has secured $7 million in Series B led by Foundry Group. High Country Venture, Nancy Pierce, Walter Winshall, Jove Equity Partners, Bullet Time Ventures, 500 Startups, SK Ventures, Zelkova Ventures also backed the company. PRESS RELEASE FullContact, the cloud based contact management service and TechStars graduate, [...]

LinkSmart, a new, Boulder-based maker of “text linking optimization” software for publishers, has raised $4.7 million in funding from Foundry Group, Sutter Hill Ventures, and Costanoa Venture Capital. Seth Levine, a managing director at Foundry, describes the technology as “an intuitive, scalable, automated platform that analyzes and controls keyword text linking with the goal of optimizing [...]

Jirafe, an analytics provider to ecommerce retailers, has completed a Series A round of funding for $7 million in growth capital from Foundry Group and FirstMark Capital. FirstRound Capital and O’Reilly Alpha Tech Ventures also participated. Jirafe is headquartered in New York City. PRESS RELEASE Jirafe, the leading analytics provider to ecommerce retailers, today announced [...]

Yesware, a service that helps salespeople make more money, has secured $4 million in Series A funding. IDG Ventures led the round with seed round investors Google Ventures, Foundry Group and Golden Venture Partners also participating. PRESS RELEASE Yesware, the service that helps salespeople make more money, has secured $4 million in Series A funding. [...]

Vintage 2007 is a stand-out year for venture funds in CalPERS’ Grove Street Advisors portfolio, according to a peHUB analysis of the California Public Employees’ Retirement System’s most recent fund performance report.

Foundry Group releases its first batch of its Foundry Group beer, and a label featuring the bobbleheads of the four managing directors.

Venture capital returns have begun to recover with exits from companies such as LinkedIn, Zynga, Jive Software and Imperva fueling liquidity. Funds from 2007 and 2008 are good examples of the renewal.

The recently surffaced “scouting” affair may remind some of the scene in Casablanca when Captain Renault, feigning horror before the Gestapo, says aloud to Rick: “I’m shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on in here!”

The endowment committed $337.5 million to 11 funds in 2010 and 2011, according to its November portfolio report. Nine focus on technology or allocate some portion of their funds to tech. Two zero in on health care.

The Foundry Group said on its blog that it invested in Singly, a San Francisco company making personal data more accessible to developers. No terms were disclosed. “With Singly, developers can skip the hassle of building custom code and data connectors for each service they support,” wrote Managing Director Jason Mendelson. It is an enormous [...]