Kleer: The Cupertino company, which designs chips for wireless audio headsets, has drawn down $7 million of its previously announced $13 million second round, PEWeek wire reported. Return investors include TL Ventures and U.S. Venture Partners.
The company previously raised $30 million from TL, USVP, NIF Ventures, BDC and VenGrowth. The company says its chips can send the highest-quality digital stereo audio over wireless connections.
Demand Media: One of the most heavily funded companies on the Internet, Demand has boosted its lifetime total to $355 million with a new $35 million investment reported by peHUB.
While the amount would be shockingly large for almost any other company, it's a relatively small funding for Demand; for perspective, the new investment is about half what the company paid for social-media tool provider Pluck in a deal reported earlier this month.
Demand is better known for buying large numbers of generic Web sites based on the value of their names, then plastering them with advertisements. The acquisition of Pluck makes Demand look as if it might finally be moving to build out its portfolio of domains with content, perhaps partially user-generated.
The source of the newest funding was not disclosed. Demand is based in Los Angeles.
SpongeFish: The San Francisco-based Web site, which features user-generated how-to
SpongeFish claims to stand out by offering the best content in the widest range of formats - not just videos, but also documents, photos and other rich media. Users can rate the usefulness of each lesson.
SpongeFish has some fun with the concept, too - right now, it's hosting a "So good it could be Mom's" life advice contest. The site only officially launched this week, but it's been up for several months, and had 250,000 unique visitors in February.
NanoInk: The company is a developer of tools used to write with nanoscale "ink" for medical and security purposes. It has raised a round of $12 million, according to VentureWire.
The company appears to have raised a large amount to date. The Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University reported that it has taken $50 million, although that may or may not have included the current round. NanoInk is based in the Chicago area, with an office in Campbell. It was founded in 2001.
Appirio: A San Mateo provider of front-ends and interfaces for businesses using Salesforce.com, Appirio has raised its first round of funding from Salesforce itself and some angel investors, according to VentureWire.
The company so far has a Google Gadget builder that can create a Salesforce-based widget for iGoogle pages, a "Professional Services Automation" tool for enterprise use, and Appirio Labs, where smaller applications are developed.
Genesis Partners: An Israeli venture firm with ties to Silicon Valley, Genesis is raising $150 million for its fourth fund, according to Globes.
Most Genesis investments are in semiconductors and wireless technology. However, the company also funds some software makers, and was an investor in Kidaro, which was just sold to Microsoft.
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