Never mind that exits are now at a six-year low and that venture capitalists themselves continue to struggle to raise money. For the second quarter in a row, confidence among VCs in the Valley is up. The streak follows six consecutive quarters of decline starting in mid-2007, according to an…

Collective Intellect, a Boulder, CO-based provider of social media monitoring services for businesses, has raised another $3.1 million in funding, according to an SEC filing just filed (embedded below). This adds to the $9.6 million it has raised in two previous rounds, from investors such as Grotech Capital, Appian Ventures,…

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CoTweet, a startup whose software is behind many high-profile corporate Twitter accounts, has raised $1.1 million in a first round of funding. Investors include Baseline Ventures, Founders Fund, First Round Capital, SV Angel, Maples Investments, and Freestyle Capital. The company’s platform provides multiple tools for corporate Twitter users, including the…

While sources tell paidContent Publicis Groupe still appears to be winning the tug of war for Microsoft’s Razorfish, two WPP Group execs insist the UK ad holding company is still very much in the running. Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) did have a set of talks with WPP about buying Razorfish last…

Mobile video streaming service Qik has raised just under $5.5 million in funding, according to an SEC filing, which the company has confirmed. This round’s backers include Quest Venture Partners, CampVentures, and private investors. The Redwood City, Calif.-based startup raised an undisclosed amount of funding from Marc Andreessen and Ben…

Digital content licensing startup GumGum has raised $2.6 million in funding, according to an SEC filing just filed. GRP Venture Partners led the round, with participation from previous backer First Round Capital. The L.A.-based startup has raised around $3.8 million in total, including the first tranche of a $1 million…

Wordnik, the online dictionary site which has been under some controversy due to this NYT story last weekend about its P.R. strategy, has raised $3.7 million in funding, according to an SEC filing just filed. The site, based in Chicago and started by Erin McKean, former editor in chief for…

Another acquisition by Thomson Reuters: it has acquired private equity backed Indlaw Communications, a Delhi-based legal information company, for an undisclosed amount. Indlaw runs a legal, tax and regulatory information database website at Indlaw.com. The site, founded by lawyer Joseph Pookkatt in 2002, had received early stage investment from private…

Bertelsmann, who all but exited out of music business when it sold its portion in Sony (NYSE: SNE) BMG back to Sony last year, is back in it: it is ramping up its new-ish music rights/publishing venture BMG Rights Management in a deal with PE firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts &…

Audience researcher Quantcast is in the process of raising a $50 million third round funding, PE Hub reported, citing an unidentified source. A rep for the company could not be reached for comment. Estimated at a $300 pre-funding valuation, Quantcast has been evolving beyond its primary role as a web…

Austin Ventures has invested about $20 million more in Asset International, the B2B online/print financial information provider headed by Jim Casella, the former CEO of Reed Business U.S. The company confirmed the new funding to me, after an SEC filing on it came out yesterday. This is in addition to…

Performance based ad net Q Interactive has acquired e-mail marketer Postmaster Direct. Since Q Interactive is focused on behavioral targeting, which is receiving a great deal of scrutiny from federal legislators and regulators, Postmaster Direct’s emphasis on “double opt-in” marketing programs is designed to insulate it from the sort of…

Financial details about ZeniMax Media’s acquisition of Quake-developer id Software were kept under wraps—but a new SEC filing reveals that ZeniMax raised $105 million in debt financing to facilitate the deal. We’re working on confirmation regarding where the funds came from.

After failing to be sold itself, Reed Business Information is now selling TWgroup, its travel publishing unit including Travel Weekly, Gazetteers.com, Travolution, the Globe Travel Awards and associated websites and events. The group is going to Holiday Autos founder Clive Jacobs (yes, a car hire businessman is buying a travel…

Broad-based online dating site Match.com is buying into the targeted subscription dating business with the acquisition of People Media from private equity firm American Capital Ltd. and various investors for $80 million in cash. The deal will add 27 dating sites with a combined 255,000 paying subs to the IAC…

It was almost inevitable. This time last year widget-maker (because that’s what they were called, then) Slide was sitting on $50 million worth of new funding from Fidelity and T-Rowe Price. Now, the S.F.-based startup is slashing its sales force, GigaOm reports, in what CEO Max Levchin says is a…

Thomson Reuters (NSDQ: TRIN) has acquired the Toronto-based webcasting software firm Streamlogics, for an undisclosed sum. Streamlogics, founded in 1999, provides webcasting applications and services in North America, focusing on financial, healthcare and technology sectors; Reuters will use the tech to provide these applications to its current batch of clients.…

Since filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in December, The Tribune Company has been burning through cash and though still profitable, the publisher is significantly less so than it was six months ago, Morningstar Inc. analyst Tom Corbett told Crain’s Chicago Business. To be sure, bankruptcy doesn’t mean you’re not…