Cloud storage company Box has acquired HTML5 document embedding service and Y Combinator alum Crocodoc, both companies announced in a press briefing today. Financial terms of the deal, which was a cash and stock transaction, were not disclosed; however, Box CEO and co-founder Aaron Levie said that it was a successful exit for investors. Crocodoc has raised a little over $1 million funding from Y… → Read More

After losing mobile product head and Facebook Home team member Charles Jolley to Battery Ventures, Facebook is facing another departure from a previous Home staffer. Draper Fisher Jurvetson announced today that Facebook’s head of product for Android, Bubba Murarka, has joined the firm as General Partner and Managing Director. → Read More

Online payments startup WePay is announcing the launch of Veda, an intelligent social risk engine that leverages social media data as well as traditional business data to catch merchant fraudsters. → Read More

Square has made another key hire today — Demetrios J. Marantis will be leading the company’s international government, regulatory and policy work. Marantis most recently served in President Barack Obama’s Cabinet as the Acting United States Trade Representative, and was the U.S.’s chief trade negotiator. → Read More

Shopping search engine TheFind is debuting a more personalized search feature today. Personalized search sifts through the millions of online products available to give you personal results based on a combination of both your Facebook “Likes” and past shopping searches and clicks on TheFind.com. → Read More

After a brief hiatus for TechCrunch Disrupt, Ask A VC is back this week with two all-star guests in the investing world. First up we have Freestyle Capital’s Dave Samuel. Later in the week, Redpoint Partner Chris Moore will be joining us in the studio. As you may remember, you can submit questions for our guests either in the comments or here and we’ll ask them during the show. → Read More

It’s no secret that the amount of time that tech companies are spending in Washington, D.C., is at a high. And money spent on lobbying has also been reaching peaks for a number of well-known technology giants, including Facebook. In the first quarter of 2013, Facebook spent $2.45 million on lobbying efforts, a 277 percent increase from $650,000 a year earlier. In the fourth quarter of 2012… → Read More

Peer-to-peer lending platform Lending Club is announcing a huge new investor today: Google. Google and existing investor Foundation Capital have put $125 million in Lending Club, which was valued at $1.55 billion in the round. As part of this investment Google will take an observer seat on the Lending Club Board alongside existing Board members including Kleiner Perkins’ Mary Meeker, ex-chairman… → Read More

VC firm First Round Capital has steadily expanded its The Dorm Room Fund from Philadelphia, to New York. And today, the firm is heading west with its latest Silicon Valley and San Francisco Bay Area-based initiative, which is a $500,000 fund run by an all-student investment team to invest purely in student-run startups in the area. You can find out more about the Bay Area Fund here. → Read More

After bringing on a new global business lead from Google, Square is making another key executive hire today. The payments company is announcing that Alex Petrov, a former PayPal exec, will be Square’s Vice President of Partnerships. → Read More

Asana, the high-profile productivity startup that’s trying to redesign the workplace around tasks (instead of email), is tackling the scale of its productivity app with a new announcement today.

Last year, Asana announced premium plans, which allowed larger teams larger than 30 members to use the cloud-based app. Co-founder Justin Rosenstein says that there has been rapid adoption of Asana in… → Read More

Back in 2011, PayPal debuted PayPal Access, a payments identity technology that would allow you to carry your payments identity to various retailers on the web. It’s essentially a cross between Amazon’s payments platform and Facebook Connect. Today, the payments giant is announcing a new name for the product, Log In With PayPal, and adding a number of new features including mobile support. → Read More

Design-focused retail site Fab has announced its new pivot, along with an acquisition and much more.

As we reported last week, Fab now has 12 million users and is continuing to grow at a fast clip after its initial pivot. Last year, the company saw $150 million in revenue, and revealed in February that sales were up by nearly 300% in January 2013 over January 2012. International is also a huge… → Read More

Accel Partners is making a big talent announcement today, with former Groupon COO and Yahoo exec Rob Solomon joining the firm as a venture partner.

Solomon last served as Accel-backed Groupon’s President and COO. As AllThingsD reported, Solomon left the deals company in 2011. → Read More

Square’s point-of-sale technology and iPad-powered register, Square Register is getting a big update today targeted at better serving restaurants. New features in the release include custom order modifiers and customizable kitchen tickets that allow restaurants to make taking orders and serving food more efficient. → Read More

Considering the gold rush around peer-to-peer currency Bitcoin, it’s not surprising that one of the hackers at the Disrupt NY hackathon created an application around the currency. Pay With Bits was to be a Square for Bitcoin. The startup essentially allows Bitcoins to be transfered between parties via their mobile phones. → Read More

We decided to feature nerd fashion at this year’s hackathon at Disrupt NY, and what better statement is there these days than eyeglasses? Obligatory Google Glass sighting aside, these hackers definitely had noteworthy eyewear. We’ve showcased some of our favorites below. → Read More

Swifto, a startup that wants to be the Uber for dog walking, has raised $2.5 million from Benchmark Capital. We’re told that the funding round previously closed but the startup didn’t want to announce to the public for fear of attracting competitors. → Read More

Cloud storage company Box is making a big push into the healthcare sector today. Not only has Box received HIPAA compliance, but the company has announcing a new set of partners in the space, as well as an equity investment in drchrono, a startup that simplifies the professional lives of doctors by bringing electronic health records and much more to the iPad. → Read More

Soleil Moon Frye (a.k.a. the actress that played Punky Brewster in the hit TV show from the Eighties) and former IAC exec Kara Nortman have raised new funding for Moonfrye, a startup aimed at bringing creative, DIY and interactive experiences to families and parents. The startup is announcing $2.5 million in funding led by GRP Partners with participation from Greycroft, Daher Capital, and Google… → Read More

PresenceLearning, a startup that helps connect students with special needs with online speech and occupational therapy services has raised $8 million in funding led by New Markets Venture Partners with participation from Blue Heron Capital, Birchmere Ventures and returning investors, including Catamount Ventures, Calvert Funds, and Allen & Company. → Read More

In December, AngelList, a service that matches early stage startups with investors, debuted the ability to allow accredited investors to actually invest in startups on the platform with as little as $1,000. AngelList also partnered with SecondMarket to create an investment vehicle for these investments. Since December, the company is announcing that it has seen 1,100 investment commitments… → Read More

VoloMetrix, an enterprise analytics application that helps businesses streamline their communications and performance, has raised $3.3 million in a Series A financing round led by Shasta Ventures. The startup previously raised $1.6 million from Shasta Ventures last year.

VoloMetrix essentially analyzes various business applications to help managers understand what’s going on in a business. → Read More

After announcing a new branding and American Express in March, luxury vacation club Inspirato is debuting a new solution targeted specifically for businesses. The new product, aptly called ‘Inspirato for Business,’ is a SaaS that allows companies to book luxury homes for corporate meetings, incentives and reward travel. → Read More

We’re hearing from multiple sources that design-focused retail site Fab is raising a new round of funding at a $1 billion valuation. The company has previously raised $171 million in funding and we’re hearing it seeks to raise more than $100 million in this round. At Fab’s last round of financing, the company was worth around $600 million.

Twelve million users strong, Fab is continuing to grow… → Read More