Four years ago, Maria Alegre landed her first job in Silicon Valley, as the first person in the business department of iPhone gaming startup Tapulous. Today, the 27-year-old is the cofounder and CEO of 14-month-old Chartboost, a company she believes will fundamentally change the way that game developers operate.

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.

The San Francisco-based startup Chartboost has raised a $19 million Series B round of funding led by Sequoia Capital, which was joined by existing investors TransLink Capital and SK Telecom Ventures. Chartboost allows game developers to reach new users through cross-promotion, make money from their games, and collaborate directly with fellow developers. The company had previously raised $2 million in funding, a round that closed in October 2011.

Appcelerator, a Mountain View, Calif.-based mobile platform company, is acquiring Cocoafish, a so-called cloud service that lets developers build top network features into mobile apps without writing any server code. Terms of the deal aren’t being disclosed. Cocoafish, founded in late 2010, never disclosed any outside funding. Appcelerator, founded in late 2006, raised a $15 [...]

Menlo Ventures led a $21 million Series C round for Mountain View, Calif.-based storage company Nexenta Systems. Sierra Ventures and Razor’s Edge Ventures also participated, joining existing shareholders Javelin Venture Partners and TransLink Capital. The Series C round will be used for growth.

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

Appcelerator, maker of a development platform for mobile web applications, has raised $15 million in a third round led by Mayfield Fund, Translink Capital and Red Hat. Existing investors eBay Inc., Sierra Ventures and Storm Ventures also participated. The company, based in Mountain View, Calif., has now raised a total of $31.5 million. The latest infusion will be used for international expansion and continued development of the company’s mobile development platform.

Publicly traded LSI Corp. is paying $322 million in cash to buy SandForce Inc., a maker of flash storage processors and solid state drives. Founded in 2006, SandForce has raised money from venture capital investors DCM, Storm Ventures, Translink Capital and Canaan Partners.

Chartboost has raised $2 million in a first round of funding from TransLink Capital, SK Telecom Ventures and XG Venture. The company has created a direct-deal advertising marketplace for game publishers. Chartboost is based in San Francisco.

You wouldn’t know the IPO market remains so sluggish — not by the new $39 million Series C just closed by Livescribe, the Oakland-based maker of two so-called smartpens, the Echo and Pulse. The round — led by Crosslink Capital, with participation from Scale Venture Partners, Qualcomm, TransLink Capital, Presidio Ventures, Keating Capital and existing investors VantagePoint Venture Partners, Lionhart, and Aeris Capital – not only enticed an almost ridiculous number of investors; it brings the company’s total funding to a stunning $100 million. Livescribe is just three years old.