Boston, US-based app analytics and marketing platform Localytics secured $16 million in a Series C funding round led by Foundation Capital for its product development and international expansion.

Boulder, Colorado-based startup TeamSnap scored $7.5 million in a Series B funding round to develop its app that helps sports coaches and league officials manage the schedule of their sports teams.

California, US-based enterprise software startup Elementum, a spinoff from Singaporean firm Flextronics International Inc, bagged $44 million in a Series A funding round led by Lightspeed Venture Partners for a cloud-based supply chain tracking software.

San Francisco, US-based reading app FarFaria raised $3.25 million in a Series A funding round led by Inventus Capital Partners to launch a children's subscription book service for the iPad.

Tech giant Microsoft invested $15 million in location-based social networking app Foursquare and inked a licensing deal to use the latter's places database in their products and services.

Australia-listed coal mining firm Universal Coal agreed to acquire the assets and liabilities of Exxaro Resources' New Clydesdale colliery (NCC) in South Africa for an undisclosed amount.

Former Whyte & Mackay chief Vivian Imerman grabbed a majority stake in South Africa-based spirits firm TNB through his own company Vasari for an undisclosed sum to expand his portfolio of liquors and spirits.

Saudi Arabia-based development and investment firm Technology Development & Investment Co (TAQNIA) picked up a 50% stake in Sun & Life, the solar energy unit of power and water company Acwa.

African mineral exploration activity is poised to drop by 15% to 20% in 2014 as sources of funding have dried up due to difficult economic problems, according to David Cox, senior sales executive of SNL Metals Economic Group.

New York, US-based social intelligence startup 4C snagged $4 million in funding from venture capital firm Jump Capital for its expansion, and sales and product development.

California, US-based optical communications network product designer and manufacturer JDS Uniphase Corp (JDSU) bought Boulder, Colorado-based real-time intelligence software solutions provider Trendium for an undisclosed amount.

New York, US-based education solutions provider McGraw-Hill Education purchased Los Angeles, California-based online curriculum tool developer Engrade for an undisclosed amount to meet the increasing demand for digital educational content.

Hollywood, US-based digital media firm SpinMedia Group acquired SpinMedia LLC for an undisclosed amount, and poured in $10 million in funding to deal with the company's debts.

USA Hockey uses Intelligym, a game-like program that helps improve mental performance and team work, to train the U17 and U18 teams for the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics.

San Francisco, US-based cloud storage service Dropbox inked a 12-year lease on a huge second office at 333 Brannan, just near its Berry St headquarters, to house the spillover of its 500-person workforce.

Austin, Texas-based incubator Capital Factory struck a partnership with venture firms Silverton Partners and Floodgate to support tech startups in Austin and trigger and investing "snowball effect."

Tech and Internet giant Google released a new software development kit (SDK) that allows developers to build their own apps for the Chromecast streaming media dongle.

Georg Petschnigg, Chief Executive Officer of creativity tool Paper, wants Facebook to change the name of the new mobile news app that it launched last week, which is also called Paper.

San Francisco, US-based sports-centered social networking platform Sqor raised over $4.4 million out of the targeted $13 million funding round ahead of a major platform update set to take place in February.

Palo Alto, US-based legal search and analytics startup Ravel Law raised $8.1 million in funding to build a tool that will help lawyers cut research time and cut costs, according to an exclusive report by VentureBeat.

U.S. stocks slumped on Monday, with the S&P 500 suffering its worst drop since June, after weaker-than-expected data on the factory sector in the world's largest economyprovided investors with the latest reason to move away from riskier assets.

According to a report on Benzinga by Tim Melvin, individual investors may want to heed to private equity firms' strategies with regard to investing assets, citing the industry's record gains it posted last year.

UK firm Weedingtech's recent fundraising campaign was supported by high-profile private equity movers like British venture capitalist Jon Moulton and Millhouse LLC owner Roman Abramovich.

Sundar Pichai, a senior vice president at Google, has reportedly emerged as the leading candidate for Microsoft's chief executive officer post. Pichai is competing head-to-head with Microsoft insider Satya Nadella.

Clothing retailer Jos. A. Bank, which is in a takeover war with Men's Wearhouse, is reportedly in talks to buy Washington-based peer Eddie Bauer. Eddie Bauer is owned by New York hedge fund Golden Gate Capital.

Total Gaming Technologies Inc (TGTI), a subsidiary of Philippine-based lotto operator Pacific Online Systems Corp (LOTO) purchased 1,544,700 common shares of its parent firm for PHP23.29 million for investment purposes.

India's Public Sector Undertaking (PSU) banks initiated a process to offload their shares in credit ratings agency CARE Ratings, according to sources knowledgeable on the situation.

Spokane, Washington-based startup iCPooch launched a crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter to raise $20,000 for the production of a device that allows dog owners to send treats or conduct facetime with their dogs when they are away from home.

Winterthur, Switzerland-based industrial engineering and manufacturing firm Sulzer Ltd inked a deal to purchase a 75% interest in Saudi Pump Factory together with the latter's owner Nabil Al Hashim, in a deal valued at CHF33 million.

Exploration company Xanadu Mines, together with its joint venture firm Mongol Metals, have agreed to purchase a 90% stake in the Kharmagtai copper-gold project in Mongolia from Turquoise Hill Resources in a $14-million deal.