Samsung Electronics unveiled a $100 million seed fund to support innovation in components and subsystems related to its broad product line of televisions, cell phones, computers and other digital devices. The Korean manufacturer also said it plans to increase its corporate venture investing this year

YuMe, a provider of digital brand advertising software and services, has acquired Crowd Science, an audience targeting technology company. YuMe is backed by Accel Partners, BV Capital, DAG Ventures, Intel Capital, Khosla Ventures, Menlo Ventures, Samsung Ventures, Translink Capital and WestSummit Capital.

Bitcasa, a Mountain View, Calif.-based cloud storage company, has raised $7 million in its Series A funding round, bringing its total funding to $9 million. Pelion Venture Partners, an existing investor, and Horizons Ventures, a new investor, co-led the round, with Andreessen Horowitz, First Round Capital, CrunchFund and Samsung Ventures also participating.

Data storage company Pivot3 has announced a new, $23 million round of funding to fund its expansion and development. The round was led by Samsung Ventures, and included participation from all existing Pivot3 investors: Focus Ventures, InterWest Partners, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Mesirow Financial, Northleaf Capital Partners and Silver Creek Ventures. Nine-year-old Pivot3, based in Austin, [...]

California-based IntegenX Inc., maker of DNA identification technology, raised a $40 million Series C round led by new investor Essex Woodlands. Domain Associates, QuestMark Partners, Greenspring Associates, Cross Creek Capital, RONAholdings LLC, Samsung Ventures, and strategic partner In-Q-Tel also participated in the funding. Joining the company’s Board of Directors are Ronald Eastman of Essex Woodlands and Ben Shapiro of QuestMark Partners, the statement said.

YuMe said Wednesday that it has received $12 million in funding from Samsung Ventures and Translink Capital. YuMe provides video advertising technology and services.

Nuance Communications Inc. is paying $102.5 million to buy venture-backed Swype, Reuters reported Friday. Swype’s technology allows users to drag their finger across smart phone keyboards in one continuous motion to type words. Nuance has already paid $77.5 million toward the deal and will pay a remaining $25 million eighteen months after closing. Swype was backed by Samsung Ventures, Nokia Growth Partners, Benaroya Capital, DoCoMo Capital and Ignition Partners.

Mobeam, Inc. said it closed $4.9 million of Series A funding from yet2Ventures, Samsung Ventures, Mitsui and other investors. The Cupertino, Calif., company hopes to establish its light based communications technology in the mobile payments space by allowing mobile phones to easily interact with retail point of sale systems. PRESS RELEASE MOBEAM CLOSES INITIAL VENTURE [...]

GCT Semiconductor Inc., a maker of mobile semiconductor software, has filed with U.S. regulators to raise up to $100 million in an initial public offering. The company said it plans to use about $12.1 million of the proceeds to repay debt. The rest will go toward working capital and general corporate purposes. Goldman Sachs, BofA Merrill Lynch, Cowen and Co, and Oppenheimer & Co. are listed as underwriters. The company has reportedly raised more than $70 million in private capital from investors including Pequot Ventures, Samsung Ventures and Parakletos Ventures.

The Seattle-based startup Swype today announced that it raised an additional $2.5 million in Series C financing led by existing investors Samsung Ventures, Nokia Growth Partners, Benaroya Capital, DOCOMO Capital and Ignition Partners. This new financing adds to the existing $3.5 million raised in March with Ignition Partners and brings Swype’s total series C to [...]