Washington-based tech firm Opscode has raised USD32 million in a Series D funding round and changed its name to Chef after its configuration management and IT automation "cookbook" has become popular in the enterprise market.

Palo Alto, California-based digital magazine service Flipboard has confirmed with VentureBeat that it is raising a further USD50 million as the second half of its third funding round.

The HKD 2.8 billion or USD 364 million investment that Alibaba will make in appliance maker Haier will enable China's leading ecommerce firm to enhance its logistics and distribution network.

Lazada, the "Amazon of Asia" has raised USD250 million from Rocket Internet to mainstream the company's position as the largest online retailer in Southeast Asia.

HealthLoop, a maker of an automated patient health assessment platform, received USD10 million in Series A funding from investors led by Canvas Venture Fund and also participated by Subtraction Capital and other institutional investors.

Newcastle-based tech firm Three Motion Media has invested GBP150,000 to set up a brand that will help small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the healthcare sector gain access to high quality yet affordable training courses.

Institutional investors were putting more money to private equity funds as they bet on improved dealmaking in the next two years, according to a report.

Bob Diamond, the former Chief Executive of Barclays, will be returning to banking by listing a company that will be investing in the African financial sector, a source interviewed by Reuters said.

Programming toy robot maker Play-i raised USD1.4 million from investors all over the world via its crowdfunding campaign on its website that lasted 31 days.

Kidozen, a maker of software designed to create custom-made mobile apps, received USD5 million to scale its business after emerging from private beta in February this year.