CustomMade, the online marketplace for one-of-a-kind goods, announced today that it has secured $18 million in additional funding. The round was led by Atlas Venture and returning investor, Google Ventures, with participation from Schooner Capital, Next View Ventures, First Round Capital and Launch Capital. As part of the financing, Fred Destin, a partner at Atlas Venture, and Rich Miner, a partner at Google Ventures, will join the board. The new funding will be used to expand on CustomMade’s already dominant position in the growing market for custom-made goods.  READ MORE

On June 1st, 2012, Swipely launched our platform to help local merchants accept payments, understand customers and grow sales. It’s been an exciting ride ever since, and we’re proud to have been named to Forbes’ 100 list of “America’s Most Promising Companies” and one of the “Best Places to Work in Rhode Island” by Providence Business News this year.

Swipely now manages more than $700 million in annual sales to help hundreds of merchants in 130 cities better understand 2 million customers. These merchants are the lifeblood of their neighborhoods, creating spots where we love to meet up, eat and shop.  READ MORE

Today Daily Grommet, the online marketplace and product launch platform for undiscovered consumer products, announces the second tranche of investment by Rakuten, the third largest online marketplace in the world, and a rebrand that includes a name change to The Grommet. This investment makes Rakuten the major stakeholder in the business. This significant news in The Grommet's history marks the company's success in levelling the playing field so that the best products and companies coming out of the "hardware renaissance" can succeed. The Grommet's disruptive business model gives consumers a trusted place to engage with the stories and people behind the explosion of new consumer products. It does so by discovering, launching, and sharing up-and-coming products with an emerging e-commerce shopper looking for meaningful products to buy online.  READ MORE

NetSuite Inc. (NYSE: N), the industry’s leading provider of cloud-based financials / ERP software suites, announced today that it acquired OrderMotion Inc., a leader in order management solutions based in Burlington, Mass. The acquisition of OrderMotion’s cloud-based Direct-to-Consumer (D2C) Order Management capabilities add to NetSuite’s cloud-based industry-leading order management system, furthering NetSuite’s focus on this increasingly important and complex business challenge. The terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.  READ MORE

DraftKings, Inc., a leading provider of daily fantasy sports online with offerings across the board in fantasy baseball, fantasy football, fantasy basketball, and fantasy hockey, has closed a $7M Series A round of funding led by Atlas Venture. DraftKings plans to use the money to continue to perfect the customer experience and to broadly market its online and mobile offerings in short-term fantasy sports play. Featuring daily fantasy sports contests and same-day settlement, DraftKings makes playing fantasy faster and more exciting for both seasoned and casual players. Launched on April 28, 2012, the funding announcement comes right as the company is celebrating its first anniversary. READ MORE

As reported by TechCrunch, Fashion Project in Boston, has raised $1.8M in funding from Atlas Venture, High Peak Ventures, Schooner Capital, and other angel investors.  Fashion Project is an eCommerce site where you can done and shop for designer labels with a portion of every sale going to charity.

TripAdvisor®, Inc. today announced it has acquired Jetsetter.com, a leading members-only private sale site for hotel bookings.  The Jetsetter brand will continue to operate out of New York City and will be incorporated into Smarter Travel Media.

"Jetsetter is an outstanding brand and I am absolutely delighted to welcome the Jetsetter team to the TripAdvisor family," said Steve Kaufer, co-founder and CEO TripAdvisor, Inc.  "With Jetsetter and our own SniqueAway brand, we now have two leading travel private sale sites under one roof.  We are excited by the opportunities this provides to continually help drive amazing value for our travelers staying at some of the world's most highly-rated hotels."

Plastiq, an online payments solution provider based in Boston, Massachusetts with offices in Toronto, Canada has closed a $6M round of Series A financing. The round was jointly led by venture capital firms Atlas Venture and Flybridge Capital Partners. Investors from the previous round, NextView Ventures and Greenoaks Capital Management LLC, also participated alongside angel investors including Harvey Golub, former Chairman and CEO of American Express.

Backstage, LLC, the world's most trusted name in casting, auditions and entertainment-industry opportunities, today announced that it has acquired Sonicbids, the leading platform for bands to connect with promoters and market themselves online. The deal, financed by Guggenheim Partners, combines the two leading entities for actors, musicians, casting directors and promoters to showcase and discover talent. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Backstage and Sonicbids come from the same heritage of matching artists with opportunities. For more than 50 years, Backstage has been the world’s most trusted name in casting, auditions and entertainment-industry opportunities. It helps actors, singers and dancers find opportunities, while connecting casting directors, producers, directors and choreographers with amazing talent.

Redstar Ventures, a Cambridge-based “venture foundry” announced on Wednesday that the early-stage venture capital fund Avalon Ventures has led an investment in LoopIt, an operating company from Redstar Ventures. The investment is the first external seed funding for LoopIt and will be used for research and development of its “conversation engine,” which is designed to help consumers tap friends across their social networks for advice when shopping online. Redstar said LoopIt is just one of the operating companies it will formally announce in 2013.

Kitsy Lane, a Maynard, MA-provider of a social commerce platform for at-home entrepreneurs, has raised $3.5m in a Series A funding.  The round was co-led by Data Point Capital and Longworth Venture Partners, with participation from existing investor Point Judith Capital.  In conjunction with the funding, Data Point Capital’s Scott Savitz, will be joining the company’s Board of Directors.

Launched in July 2012 by CEO Andy Fox, Kitsy Lane provides a social commerce platform that is designed to enable store operators to quickly launch their own Internet jewelry and accessories boutique. In just five months since the launch, the Kitsy Lane community has grown to over 22,000 women owned and operated businesses.

Priceline.com Inc. plans to buy online travel-research company Kayak Software Corp. for $1.8 billion to expand its travel business.

Priceline will pay about $500 million in cash and $1.3 billion in stock and assumed options. The deal values Kayak at $40 a share, a 29 percent premium over its closing price Thursday.

Shares of Kayak — which also reported a 78 percent jump in third-quarter earnings — soared in after-hours trading while Priceline shares fell.

Vantiv, Inc. (NYSE: VNTV), a leading provider of payment processing services and related technology solutions for merchants and financial institutions of all sizes, announced today that it has signed an agreement to acquire Litle & Co. for $361 million.  Litle & Co. is a leading independent eCommerce payment processor, providing a fully-integrated payments solution for companies that sell goods and services to consumers over the internet and through direct response marketing.

The acquisition of Litle & Co. significantly increases Vantiv's capabilities in eCommerce, expands its customer base of online merchants, and enables the delivery of Litle's innovative, best-in-class eCommerce solutions to Vantiv's merchant and financial institution clients.  The combined service offering will leverage Vantiv's scale, extensive distribution channels, and support capabilities, to address the evolving payments needs of businesses in multiple channels, and offer merchants a "one-stop" suite of Point-of-Sale, eCommerce and Direct Response payment processing solutions.

Zmags, provider of commerce-enabled digital catalogs and publications, today announced that it has completed a $6 million investment led by North Atlantic Capital. The firm’s managing director, David Coit, joins Zmags’ board of directors. Zmags’ previous investors – OpenView Venture Partners and NorthCap Partners – also participated in the round, which will be used to accelerate growth and fuel product innovation to meet the needs of large retail and consumer brands looking to engage with shoppers across mobile, social and online channels. This brings Zmags’ total funding to $18 million.

Zmags is the only technology provider that enables retailers and brands to build engagement and commerce directly into digital catalog and publication experiences across all channels and devices from a single platform. In Q3 2012, the company signed 74 new accounts, representing a 28 percent increase year over year. Additionally, Zmags continued to deliver bespoke digital shopping experiences for world-class brands such as Musician’s Friend, Harper’s BAZAAR, Kenneth Cole, Express, The Container Store, Serena & Lily and PartyLite.

Daily Grommet, an online shopping site and marketing platform for innovative and undiscovered products, today announces a round of Series B funding led by Rakuten, one of the world’s largest online marketplaces. Daily Grommet plans to use the capital to further expand its highly curated e-commerce site and product launch platform.

Together, the companies provide significant benefits to one another, as Daily Grommet will allow Rakuten to advance its sourcing, curation, and storytelling capabilities and deepen consumer connections to its merchant partners. Daily Grommet has gained a large and influential following because of its proven ability to expertly source and vet high potential unknown products. Since its launch in 2008, over 1,000 products and emerging companies have been featured on DailyGrommet.com, many of which have become household names. The company’s “Citizen Commerce” movement creates connections between inventors and consumers, by enabling product purchases that express powerful contemporary values around sustainability, quality, technology and social enterprise.

FashionPlaytes, the retail industry's first engagement-driven e-commerce company to target the tween consumers, today announced its $5 million Series B financing. New investors Leo Capital Holdings and Spindrift Equities participated in the financing alongside existing investors Fairhaven Capital, New Atlantic Ventures and Golden Seeds. At the leading edge of digital fashion design for tween girls, FashionPlaytes will use this funding to continue to enhance the engagement, social interaction and educational components of its FPGirl site.

Dyn, the world leader in Internet Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), announced today that it has acquired the talent of the SEO/SEM and ecommerce development arm of Incutio LTD, a growth engine company.

This talent acquisition is the culmination of a long-time relationship between Dyn and Incutio, one of Dyn’s first 50 enterprise Managed DNS customers. The addition of Incutio team talent will strengthen Dyn’s ecommerce and online advertising efforts and enable the company to internally focus growing those areas.

Smart Lunches, one of the Internet's fastest growing providers of healthy meal options for children outside of the home, announced today that it closed a Series A investment round, securing over $1 million in additional capital. Investors included Boston-based Data Point Capital, Jonathan Kraft, President of The Kraft Group, and Lon Chow, General Partner of Apex Venture Partners, based in Chicago. Smart Lunches partners with schools, daycare centers and camps to serve children fresh, nutritious meals that parents can order 24 hours a day with the click of a mouse. These meals are delivered free to the facility each day, relieving the Smart Lunches partner -- and parents -- of the responsibilities that go along with daily lunch planning and preparation.

Swirl, a tech start-up that is harnessing the power of mobile, social and web technologies to reignite consumer's love of in-store shopping, has raised $6M in funding.  Swirl's investors include SoftBank Capital, General Catalyst Partners and Longworth Venture Partners. 

SCVNGR / LevelUp announced today that is has raised an additional $9M in funding from T-Venture.  This additional $9M is part of their Series D round of funding, which now stands at $21M and was announced in June.   Since 2008, SCVNGR / LevelUp has raised $41M in funding.  LevelUp is a mobile app that lets you pay with your phone to save time and money.

CashStar today announced that it has raised $5 million in funding to help drive continued growth, mobile innovation and adoption in the digital gifting and incentives market. The round includes Intel Capital, along with existing investors Passport Ventures, FTV Capital and Steven Boal, Co-founder and Chairman of CashStar, and president and CEO of Coupons.com, Inc.

With the eGift Card market expected to breach $11 billion by 2014, more than 250 brands in the CashStar network already leverage eGifts via web, social media and mobile channels to increase sales and build loyalty with consumers. Mobile eGifting continues to experience rapid adoption with one major CashStar retailer alone experiencing a 240 percent increase this Father’s Day over last year.

Paydiant, the provider of a cloud-based, white label mobile payment and offer redemption platform for retailers, banks and payment processors, today announced that it closed a $12 million round of funding led by Stage 1 Ventures. The Series B round also included existing investors North Bridge Venture Partners and General Catalyst Partners. Paydiant raised $7.6 million in February 2011. The new investment will be used to accelerate product development, sales and marketing. David Baum, Managing Director of Stage 1 Ventures, will join Paydiant's board of directors.

SCVNGR, makers of SCVNGR, the mobile game, and LevelUp, the app that lets you pay with your phone to save time and money, today announced that it has raised $12 million in funding with participation from existing investors Highland Capital Partners, Google Ventures, Balderton Capital and new investors Continental Investors and Transmedia Capital.

Gemvara, Inc., the leading online retailer of customizable fine jewelry, announces the closing of a $25 million oversubscribed round of Series D funding. Led by Norwest Venture Partners (NVP), a global venture and growth equity investment firm, the round also involves participation from all existing investors including Highland Capital Partners, Canaan Partners and Balderton Capital. Sergio Monsalve of Norwest Venture Partners will join Gemvara’s Board of Directors. Gemvara plans to use the capital to further enhance all aspects of the customer shopping experience and continue to drive innovation that will bring the jewelry industry to the cutting edge of commerce.

As per SEC filings, Quick Technologies in Boston, has raised $1.6M in funding.  Quick Technologies is building an online marketing place to buy and sell anything quickly.

As reported by Scott Kirsner, TurningArt in Boston, MA has raised $1.5M in funding.  The round included, NextView Ventures, who participated in the company's previous seed round.  TurningArt is a subcription based eCommerce company that provides customers the ability to try artwork in their home before they buy.

As per SEC filings, Evoqu in Maynard, MA has raised $1.45M in funding.  Evoqu Inc. is a start-up focused on building a cloud based platform for deferred shopping (remember things you want to buy later) called ShopAdvisor.  This service alerts you when it finds a good deal or important new information about the product.

As per SEC filings, PLASTIQ in Cambridge, MA has raised $2.3M in funding.  In addition to Eliot Buchanan (CEO) & Daniel Choi (Co-Founder & CTO), the filing include Jeff Bussgang of Flybridge Capital Partners and Ryan Moore of Atlas Venture. 

PLASTIQ is a payments startup where you can make large purchases (college tuition, cars, taxes, real estate) via credit card and benefit from rewards programs.

As per SEC filings, CustomMade in Cambridge, MA has raised $4M in funding.  CustomMade.com is the first online peer-to-peer marketplace connecting shoppers with skilled artisans who create unique luxury custom goods including furniture, cabinetry and jewelry.