Chris Witkowsky
Optio Labs, which develops security and productivity technology for mobile and embedded systems, has closed a $10 million Series A funding round. Participants in the funding round include Optio Labs' parent company, Allied Minds Inc., as well as several private investors.
Avenida Capital has closed its debut Avenida Colombia Real Estate Fund I on $140 million, closing above its target. The fund primarily invests in the development of retail and residential projects in Colombia. Fund I has invested in 10 projects in nine different cities across the country.
Greenhill & Co. has hired Patricia Moran as a managing director and chief legal officer. Moran is a partner at Skadden, Arps, Meagher & Flom, where she began her career 30 years ago. She has experience in the areas of M&A, private equity, restructurings, corporate governance and general corporate and securities law. Gavin Solotar, who has worked as general counsel since 2012, will step down from the role into a managing director position in the firm's corporate advisory group.
Hammond, Kennedy, Whitney & Company portfolio company Mobile Technologies has acquired ArmorActive, a Salt Lake City-based business that specializes in tablet accessories and enclosures for business applications. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
F.N.B. Capital Partners has made an investment in The Shamrock Companies. F.N.B. has supported the recapitalization of Shamrock to provide management increased liquidity for future growth.
First Read brings you all the bitcoin angles this Friday morning, but also has news about Twitter's ad revenues that keep falling, a defense of carried interest, China suffering its first corporate bond default and Grunge-era epic Geek Love turning 25.
TPG has essentially hit its hard cap of $3.2 bln for its third Opportunities Partners fund after about six months in the market, with so much demand that most LPs could only get about half the commitment size they wanted.
SocietyOne, an Australia-based peer-to-peer lending company, has raised $8.5 million in a Series A funding round. Investors include newly launched Australian venture fund Reinventure, Munich-based Global Founders Capital and a private investment from Justin Reizes along with a number of existing investors.
Nokia Growth Partners, London Venture Partners and Kibo Ventures have invested $2 million in Omnidrone, a Barcelona-based mobile gaming company. The funding was Omnidrone's first institutional financing. The company was formed in August 2013.
True Ventures leads $4 million Series A funding round in TripleLift, an advertising technology platform for the visual web. Existing investors iNovia Capital, NextView Ventures, MESA+, Liberty City Ventures, Social Starts, Laconia Ventures, the Social Internet Fund and several ad tech angels participated in the funding round.