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

Placester announced $2.5 million in seed financing led by new Boston seed fund, Romulus Capital. Founded in 2009, the Placester real estate marketing platform gives agents a way to quickly launch individual marketing sites that are dynamically driven by real estate multiple listing services (MLS), accessible across mobile devices and the web, and integrated with lead management and other marketing services.  READ MORE

Iora Health, a private healthcare company providing a radically different model of primary care, today announced that it has secured $14 million in series B growth financing. The financing, which included original investors Fidelity Biosciences, Polaris Partners, and .406 Ventures also included new investor Tony Hsieh, who oversees DowntownProject.com and is also the CEO of Zappos.

“We are tremendously excited by the value we are delivering to our patients through this proactive, relationship-centered care model,” said Iora Health CEO Rushika Fernandopulle, M.D., M.P.P. “Since our launch in 2011, the company has formed four large primary care partnerships across four states and our healthcare teams support over 4,000 patients nationally. Our goal is to transform health care delivery by showing there is a better way – changing the payment model, changing the staffing model and using cutting-edge technology to do it. With our new growth financing, we look forward to expanding our operations in all four markets where we currently operate practices.” 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."

WorldOne,the global leader in healthcare data collection, insights and intelligence, today announced that the company has secured $35 million in funding commitments from Deerfield Management Company. The capital will be allocated to accelerate the development of WorldOne's Data Collection and Interactive businesses. The focus of the investment will be on expansion of Sermo, which WorldOne acquired in July of last year, to offer physicians a global destination to participate in industry market research...READ MORE

TripAdvisor®, Inc., today announced it has acquired Tiny Post (tinypost.co), the highly acclaimed app that lets you write over photos and turn them into stories.  The Tiny Post team will be based in TripAdvisor's Palo Alto office.

"The Tiny Post team have created a wonderful app that shows the possibilities of combining travel photos with social and mobile," said Steve Kaufer , co-founder and CEO TripAdvisor, Inc.  "We think Tiny Post is a great fit with our continued drive to provide engaging and sharable content and I am happy to welcome this strong team to TripAdvisor."  READ MORE

Echo Global Logistics, Inc. (NASDAQ: ECHO), a leading provider of technology-enabled transportation and supply chain management services, has acquired Open Mile, Inc., a truckload brokerage headquartered in Boston, MA.

Founded in 2010, Open Mile is a non-asset transportation service provider that combines high tech automation with freight management expertise to create superior shipping services for clients and carriers.  READ MORE

Battery Ventures participated in a $1.2 million seed round for iPhone app Polar. Other investors in the round include Yahoo founder Jerry Yang at AME Cloud Ventures; John Lilly at Greylock Partners; Maynard Webb from Webb Investment Network; and Ash Patel at Morado Ventures. Polar is a super-fast and easy way to create and vote on great-looking photo polls.

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.

As reported by the Boston Business Journal, Consumer United has raised $52.5M in fudning led by Spark Capital and Thayer Street Partners.  Consumer United is a website focused on helping people shop online for personal auto and other insurance products by enabling shoppers to quickly compare rates and find better coverage from companies that best fit their individual and family needs.

Intrepid Pursuits LLC, maker of the location-based music discovery app Timbre, has secured a seed funding round of $360,000 to commercialize and further develop the app as it launches world-wide.  Atlas Venture, Boston Seed Capital, and Bantam Group led the round.

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.

Boston based Quantopian has raised initial funding from Spark Capital and GETCO.  Quantopian is a platform for you to build and test trading algorithms. It's a place to meet other algorithm writers, to share ideas, strategies, and trading experiences.

Care.com (http://www.Care.com), the largest online care destination in the world, has acquired Parents in a Pinch, a leading back-up child and adult care specialist, broadening its service offerings for employers and members. Terms of the transaction, which closed on December 31, 2012, were not disclosed. 

Parents in a Pinch, which is currently based in Brookline, MA and will relocate to Care.com's offices, is now a wholly owned subsidiary of Care.com and will continue to be run by co-founders Barbara Siegel and Davida Manon.

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.

PreSonus™ Audio Electronics, a leading designer and manufacturer of audio-recording software, hardware, and related accessories, today announced it has acquired Nimbit^®, Inc., the pioneers of direct-to-fan sales and promotion for the music industry. The Nimbit acquisition extends PreSonus’ strategic vision of empowering musicians and audio professionals with an ecosystem of products and services.

As per SEC filings, MustBin has raised $1.4M in funding.  MustBin is a stealth mode startup that is founded by serial entrepreneur Brian Shin, who is the founder & CEO of Visible Measures.  According to his LinkedIn profile, MustBin is solving a big consumer problem and is backed by leading VC's and angel investors.

As per SEC filings, PatientsLikeMe in Cambridge, MA has added another $3M to a previous round of funding back in August.  PatientsLikeMe is the world's leading online health data sharing platform. PatientsLikeMe creates new knowledge by charting the real-world course of disease through the shared experiences of patients. While patients interact to help improve their outcomes, the data they provide helps researchers learn how these diseases act in the real world and accelerate the discovery of new, more effective treatments. 

As per SEC filings, Consumer United in Boston, MA has raised $21.2M in funding.  Consumer United is a website focused on helping people shop online for personal auto and other insurance products by enabling shoppers to quickly compare rates and find better coverage from companies that best fit their individual and family needs.

As reported by the Boston Business Journal, Nara is Cambridge has raised $3M in funding, which was led by Account Management LLC.  Nara is a consumer based recommendations service.

RallyPoint, the Boston-based provider of a LinkedIn-type online service exclusively for U.S. military service members, announced on Tuesday it raised $1 million from a group of angel investors in December.

Founded by two veterans who met first while in Iraq and reunited at Harvard Business School, RallyPoint is designed to help service members advance their careers. The service launched onNov. 12, Veteran’s Day.

Testive, a 2012 TechStars Boston alumus, announced a $500K seed round lead by prominent Boston angels. Testive builds educational testing and test prep software. Testive's TurboTest™ platform was developed at MIT and can accurately predict students’ scores on the SAT® and other tests 3x faster than traditional practice tests.

Testive’s fundraising round was led by several prominent Boston Angels including Jean Hammond (an active angel and early investor in ZipCar and Pixibiity), Eileen Rudden (Former Chief Officer of Chicago Public School’s College and Career Prep Office), Dharmesh Shah (co-founder of Hubspot), and Bill Warner (founder of Avid and active Boston Angel). Don McLagan, an investor and the former CEO of Compete.com, has joined Testive’s Board as an observer.

As per SEC filings, Fancred in Brookline, MA has raised $500K in funding.  Fancred is a social sports app that connects friends who want to talk sports.

Spindle in Boston, MA has raised $2.3M in funding.  Investors in Spindle include Polaris Venture Partners, Atlas Venture, Greylock Partners, Lerer Ventures, SV Angel, Broad Beach Ventures, Project 11, Ray Ozzie, and Raman Narayanan.  Spindle is building products that weave the online social world together with the world around you.

As per PandoDaily, CoachUp in Boston, MA has raised $2.2M in funding from General Catalyst.  CoachUp helps athletes achieve their full potential by connecting them with great private coaches.  They recently graduated from the TechStars Boston accelerator program.

Flashnotes, the online student-to-student marketplace for buying and selling class material, has closed a seed round of $1.8M. The financing was led by Ryan Moore of Atlas Venture and Jordan Levy of Softbank Capital, with participation from angel investors Michael Lazerow (Founder, Buddy Media), Paul Sethi (Founder, RedBooks) and Paul Tedeschi (Founder, Mr. Youth), Sachin Jade (Klifer Capital) and Abigail Coxsen.

Carbonite, Inc. (NASDAQ: CARB), a leading provider of online backup solutions for consumers and small to medium sized businesses, and Zmanda, Inc., a leading global provider of open source and cloud backup solutions have announced that the companies have entered into a definitive agreement whereby Carbonite will acquire Zmanda.

"Zmanda is a great strategic fit for Carbonite. Carbonite has focused on backing up computers and mobile devices, while Zmanda has focused on backing up servers and databases. In the small to medium business (SMB) market, most companies need both," said David Friend, Chairman and CEO of Carbonite.  "Furthermore, IT resellers and MSPs want to be able to offer their clients a complete cloud backup solution from one vendor that protects both computers and servers. We believe that adding in the Zmanda capabilities to Carbonite Business significantly expands our opportunity and will enable us to further capture the emerging and fast growing SMB cloud backup market."

As reported by TechCrunch, Handybook in Cambridge, MA has raised $2M in funding from Highland Capital Partners & General Catalyst.  Handybook makes booking household services faster and simpler.