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Avant nets $339M more in debt financing as it continues to scale
Avant announced today is has closed two new debt-financing solutions that total $339 million. Today’s round of financing catapults Avant’s funding to $1.4 billion, with another $400 million in funds coming in through the Avant Institutional Marketplace. One of those transactions — the $139 million in debt financing provided by Jefferies LLC — is Avant’s very first asset-backed securitization. The other, a $200 million revolving warehouse with lenders like J.P. Morgan, Credit Suisse, and Waterfall Asset Management, will provide debt financing to US borrowers as Avant continues to scale. [Built In Chicago]
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Moxie Jean sold
Chicago-based Moxie Jean has been bought by Schoola, a San Francisco-based online consignment shop. The online reseller of children's clothing is a graduate of Techstars Chicago and has raised over $1.3 million to date. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
[Moxie Jean is sold to Schoola of San Francisco: Crain's][ibimage==50743==Original==none==self==ibimage_align-center]
PayPal acquires Harper Reed's Modest just months after emerging from stealth
PayPal acquired Modest this week, the reclusive brainchild of former Obama campaigners Harper Reed and Dylan Richard. Modest, which very quietly launched earlier this year after two years in stealth mode, embeds “buy” buttons directly into apps, enabling shoppers to make a purchase without ever having to leave an app. Modest brings that technology — along with other payment expertise like shipping and inventory management — to Braintree’s product suite. The financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed, but Modest employees — including both Reed and Richard — will be onboarded to the Braintree team at PayPal.
[Built In Chicago]
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SpotHero's adding 25 new positions thanks to a $20M Series B
On Wednesday the on-demand parking app announced the close of its Series B round, landing $20 million in funding. The round, which was led by Insight Venture Partners and a multifarious crew of existing investors like OCA Ventures and Pritzker Group Venture Capital (among others), brings SpotHero’s fundraising total to $27 million. Founded in 2011 in Chicago, SpotHero has already expanded to a number of other markets, including San Francisco (thanks in part to their acquisition of ParkPlease earlier this year), New York, Washington D.C., and Boston.
[Built In Chicago]
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Raise tastes its first acquisition with Tastebud Technologies
Raise announced today it has acquired Tastebud for an undisclosed amount. Raise, an online marketplace for buying and selling unused or unwanted gift cards for cash, is becoming somewhat of a mammoth in Chicago’s tech community. By adding Tastebud’s predictive geolocation technology to the mix, Raise continues to revolutionize the traditional shopping experience by sending gift card deals via push notification to shoppers based on their location, their style, and their shopping preferences. [Built In Chicago]
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FinancialForce opens Chicago office
FinancialForce.com, the cloud ERP provider on the Salesforce1 Platform, announced the opening of its first Midwest office in Chicago this week at 233 North Michigan Avenue. The new office is estimated to reach a headcount of 40 by the end of the year and is expected to become a major hub for the company’s U.S. operations, supporting all functions from sales to marketing, consulting and support.
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Iris Mobile rebrands to Persio
Introducing Persio and their new SaaS solution that empowers retail marketers to create more personalized content across all channels. With Persio, retailers can better engage with their customers on a personal level, directly targeting that consumer’s own style and preferences via web, app, email, and messaging. Besides personalization, Persio also enables marketers to automate their campaigns directly from the platform’s interface. Add that to the fact that Persio functions in tandem with the retailer’s existing tech partners, and you’ve got a system that’s engineered to deliver. [Built In Chicago]
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Kitchfix announces new funding, opens up shop in the Gold Coast
Kitchfix is opening up shop in Chicago. On August 21 at 7 a.m., healthy meal delivery service will open the doors to its new storefront in the Gold Coast. The company, which prepares ready-to-heat meals for working professional and busy families, also announced that it has raised $450,000 in funding to support its continued expansion, bringing the company’s total funding to $750,000.
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Olfactif introducing men's fragrence subscription Sept. 1
Olfactif, a Chicago-based month-to-month subscription service for perfume, is extending its services to men's fragrances on Sept. 1. Founded by Tara Swords, says subscribers will receive a gift box each month containing three samples of hard-to-find fragrances and artisan scents from around the world. The service is $18 a month, with discounts for long-term subscriptions. [
This app finds and vets the charity. You write the (virtual) check.: Crain's]
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Chicago investors raise $5M for Minneapolis' TrackIf
Minneapolis-based TrackIf, a leader in online tracking and intelligent alerting for future purchase intent, announced this week that it has raised a $5 million Series A round from Chicago investors like Origin Ventures and Chicago Ventures. Grotech Ventures also participated in the round.
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