UStream Inc., the Mountain View, Calif. startup that provides technology for streaming live video from a mobile phone, has received $75 million in funding from SoftBank of Japan.  The company has seen a significant increase in its customer base since offering a video application for the iPhone at the end of 2009.

San Francisco-based BrightRoll Inc. has closed $10 million in a Series C round of financing led by Scale Venture Partners.  Participants in the round include True Ventures, Adams Street Capital, and KPG Ventures.  Rob Theis, managing partner of Scale Venture, has joined the BrightRoll board.  The company is an aggregator of net-based video, and announced it has recently passed Hulu in unique user visits per month.

Better Place, the electric-car company llaunched by Shai Agassi with an ambitious plan to create a metropolitan network of charging stations, has raised an impressive $350 million in venture funding, including a $125 million investment from HSBC, which will own 10 percent of the company.  All of Better Place initial investors, including several Israeli venture funds as well as VantagePoint Ventures, participated in this round, as did new investors Morgan Stanley Investment Management and Lazard Asset Management.  Initial prototype networks of cars and charging stations are slated to be rolled out in Israel and Denmark in 2011.

ExteNet Systems Inc., a Lisle, IL developer of distributed antenna systems wireless infrastructure, has raised $128.4 million in a new round of funding led by SSP Offshore Inc., an affilliate of Soros Fund Management LLC.  Other investors include SBA Communications Corp., Centennial Ventures Inc., Columbia Capital, Seven Rosen Funds, CenterPoint Ventures, and Palomar Ventures.   As part of the funding, SBA will transfer its own distributed antenna systems to ExteNet.

 CoMet Solutions, Inc., an Albuquerque, NM developer of engineering simulation software, has closed a Series B round with $2 million in venture funding.  Previous investors Flywheel Ventures, ITU Ventures, and New Mexico Co-Investment Partners participated in the new round, while Athenian Venture Partners, Tri-State Growth Capital Fund, and Kentucky Co-Investment Partners joined as new investors.

Lumigent Technologies Inc. has closed a $3 million mezzanine round from its primary investor, North Bridge Venture Partners.  The Acton, MA-based financial-management software company completed a Series A round of $6 million with North Bridge last January.

SMS GupShup, a mobile social-network startup based in Mumbai, India, has raised $12 million in a Series D round that takes total capitalization to $37 million.  GlobeSpan Capital Partners led the round, and venture firms Charles River Ventures and Helion Venture Partners also participated.  SMS GupShup claims 26 million users of the SMS-based social network across India.

ReputationDefender Inc., an online reputation and privacy-management startup based in Redwood City, Calif., has closed a Series B round bringing the company $8.65 million in new funding.  The round was led by Bessemer Venture Partners and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers.  

Spiceworks Inc., an Austin, TX developer of IT management software, has raised $16 million in a Series C round led by Institutional Venture Partners.  Austin Ventures and Shasta Ventures also were participants.  Steve Harrick, general partner of IVP, will join Spiceworks' board of directors.

Rally Software Development Corp., a Boulder, CO developer of agile software development tools that aid programmers working in teams, closed $16 million in Series D venture funding.  The company already realized $20 million in revenue in 2009, and counts among its customers such large corporations as Hewlett-Packard, Microsoft, Cisco Systems Inc., and AOL.  Rally is reportedly considering an IPO this year.  Greylock Partners led the current round, and other investors include Mohr Davidow Ventures, Boulder Ventures, Foundry Group, and Vista Ventures.

Mobile search engine specialist ChaCha Search Inc. has closed a $7 million Series E round, bringing the Carmel, Ind. startup's total funding to $52 million.  Investors include Bezos Expeditions, Big Bend Investments, Explore Holdings, and Simon Search.  Dow Jones VentureWire reports that ChaCha's text-based search for mobile phones now exceeds Google's SMS-based search.

Pixtronix Inc., developer of the PerfectLight low-power MEMS display technology, has pulled in $19 million in new funding, led by Atlas Venture and Kleiner Perkins Caulfield Byers.  The Andover, Mass. company has raised $52.7 million since its founding in 2005.  Mass High Tech journal speculated Dec. 29 that the presence of a new board member from Samsung Venture Capital may indicate support from Samsung for use of the displays in smartphones.

QD Vision, a Watertown, Mass. company developing quantum-dot LEDs, has completed a $10 million round of financing in which the CIA's venture arm, In-Q-Tel, was a participant.  Lead investors were North Bridge Venture Partners and Highland Capital Partners.  QD has raised a total of $30 million since 2004 to develop its Quantum Light LEDs.

SmartDrive Systems Inc., a San Diego-based developer of video safety-management tools for transportation fleets, has closed a $25 million fifth round of financing led by Oak Investment Partners and New Enterprise Associates.  SmartDrive also added Dave Vucina, former CEO of Wayport, as its chairman of the board.

On-Q-ity Inc., a Waltham, Mass. developer of oncology diagnostic tools, has added $5 million from Atlas Ventures to its Series A tranche, bringing total first-round funding to $26 million.  MDR-Mohr Davidow Ventures was the lead investor of Series A, joined by Bessemer Venture Partners, Physic Ventures, and Northgate Capital.

Transaction Wireless, a wireless infrastructure CRM software startup developing the wGift platform for mobile gift cards, has gained $2 million in mezzanine funding from Mission Ventures and Okapi Ventures.  The San Diego company will use the funding for further development of both wGift and the wCharge credit card terminal.

Palisade Systems Inc., Des Moines, IA developer of the PacketSure data loss prevention system for small and medium enterprises, as completed a $2.6 million round of funding, led by DeWaay Investment Partners, Cedar Valley Venture Fund, and Principal Life Insurance Company.

 Agilence Inc., a Camden, NJ developer of POS software, has raised $2 million in a new round of funding led by NextStage Capital, Granite Ventures, and Schneider Electric Ventures.  Agilence's application compares video taken at cash registers to the data collected at the POS terminal.

JanRain, a Portland, OR startup working on online identity software, has raised $3.25 million in Series A funding led by DFJ Frontier.  Other investors include RPM Ventures and Anthem Venture Partners.

Indianapolis-based ExactTarget Inc., a specialist in email-based marketing tools, has raised $75 million in a two-stage fall tranche, bringing total funding in the last six months to $145 million.  Technology Crossover Ventures led the current round, joined by Scale Venture Partners, Montague Newhall Associates, and Battery Ventures.

Zoosk Inc., a San Francisco startup focused on online dating software for social networks, has picked up $30 million in Series D funding led by Bessemer Venture Partners.  Other investors joining this round, which takes total capitalization to $45 million, include Canaan Partners and ATA Ventures.

SimpleGeo Inc., a Boulder, Colo. startup developing ways to integrate location-based services into mobile applications, has closed a Series A round of undisclosed size, led by First Round Capital.  Other participants include Redpoint Ventures and Freestyle Capital.

Social business software specialist Jive Software Inc. has closed a Series B round of funding totaling $12 million, led by investor Sequoia Capital.  The Palo Alto, Calif. company will use the capital in part to hire up to 20 new marketing and development employees at its headquarters.

Leostream Corp. has garnered $2 million in a follow-on round led by its sole VC investor, Becker Venture Capital.  The Waltham, Mass. company develops virtual desktop software tools.

Sun Catalytix Corp., spun from a group at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, has garnered $1 million in venture funding a month after winning a Department of Energy grant, for its work in catalytic tools, based on work by MIT Professor Dan Nocera.  Polaris Venture Partners led the Series A round, and Polaris partner Bob Metcalfe (founder of 3Com) serves as a director, while Polaris partner Amir Nashat serves as CEO.  MIT has an exclusive license to use some Sun Catalytix patents.

British wireless chip leader picoChip, which recently has focused on femtocell subsystem opportunities, has competed a round of financing valued at $20 million US, or 12 million pounds.  Corporate investors include AT&T, Intel, and Samsung, while VC firms participating included Atlas Venture, Highland Capital Partners, Pond Venture Partners, Scottish Equity Partners, and Rothschild.  Nigel Toon, CEO of picoChip, said the current round should carry the company to an IPO.

Chelsio Communications Inc., whose 10-Gbit network interface cards are leaders in data center and server-blade applications, has completed a $17 million Series F round of financing, bringing total funding to more than $100 million.  Participants in this round included New Enterprise Associates, LSI Corp., INVESCO Private Capital, Investor Growth Capital, NTT Finance, Vendanta Capital, Abacus Capital Group, Pacesetter Capital Group, Horizon Ventures, and newcomer Mobile Internet Capital.

Fate Thereapeutics,  a La Jolla, Calif. company spun from Scripps Research Institute, has raised $30 million in Series B funding led by OVP Venture Partners.  Fate is working on an "induced pluripotency" process to spur stem cells back to an embryonic-like state, and the funding will be used to further develop this process.  Other investors in Series B include Astellas Venture Management, Genzyme Ventures, ARCH Venture Partners, Polaris Venture Partners, and Venrock.

Millennial Media Inc., a Baltimore specialist in advertising networks for mobile devices, has completed a Series C round totaling $16 million.  The round was led by New Enterprise Associates, with returning investors Bessemer Venture Partners, Columbia Capital, and Charles River Partners also participating.

BioVex Inc. has added an additional $30 million to its sixth round of financing, giving this round a value of $70 million.  The round was co-led by VenTech and MVM Life Science Partners, and includes new investors Sectoral Asset Managment and Ysios Capital Partners.   The Woburn, Mass. company has raised more than $160 million since its founding in 2000, and is developing a range of cancer-fighting drugs, including OncoVEX for melanoma treatment.

Zyngenia, Inc., a Rockville, MD specialist in antibody biotherapeutics, has raised $10 million in Series A funding from New Enterprise Associates.  The money will be used to create unique antibody-like molecules that address two or more biological targets with one agent.  NEA General Partner David Mott will become chairman of Zyngenia's board.

Vdopia Inc. has raised $4 million in first-round funding led by Nexus Venture Partners.  The Palo Alto, Calif. company, which makes a video advertising platform specific to the iPhone, has named Mohr Davidow partner Rohit Sharma as its president and CEO.

Toronto-based Varicent Software Inc. has raised an impressive $35 million (US) in first-round funding led by FTV Capital.  Varicent, developer of sales performance management software, also listed RBC Venture Partners and EdgeStone Capital Partners as participants in the round.

Netpulse Inc., a San Francisco company developing media platforms for fitness centers, has pulled in $3.1 million in Series A funding led by Javelin Venture Partners.  DFJ Frontier also participated in the funding, which will be used to help Netpulse develop its entertainment platform, intended for integration into fitness equipment and cardio machines.

PacketMotion has added Reservoir Venture Partners to the venture team funding the company in a $5 million Series C round.  PacketMotion developed the PacketSentry monitor and probe for compliance and audit requirements, creating a market sector the company calls "User Activity Management."  Returning venture funds participating in Series C include Intel Capital, Mohr Davidow Ventures, and Onset Ventures.

Facebook's $100 million venture funding was beaten in size by a solar panel specialist ($286m), a cancer-drug startup ($146m), an orthopedic company ($108m) - and the funding amount was tied by a car battery manufacturer.  The Wall Street Journal provides a recap of the Dow Jones Venture Source list of Top Ten venture recipients of the year.

Tower Cloud Inc. of St. Petersburg, Fla., which manufactures backhaul equipment for 4G wireless service providers, has raised $20 million in a new round led by El Dorado Ventures and Sutter Hill Ventures, participants in the first round.  New investors in this round include Ballast Point Ventures, Kinetic Ventures, Knology, ITC Partners Funds, Noro-Mosely Partners, and The Burton Partnership.

Synageva BioPharma Inc. has received $12 million in Series F funding, bringing total funding to $45 million.  Participants included New Leaf Venture Partners, Hunt BioVentures, Yasuda Enterprise Development, Baker Brothers Investments, Tullis Dickerson, and Four Partners.  The Waltham, Mass. company specializes in developing drugs at reasonable cost for patients with rare diseases.

Jive Software Inc. of Portland, OR has received $12 million in new funding from Sequoia Capital.  The company develops collaborative software for businesses, and will use the new capital to expand R&D.

GlycoMimetics Inc. of Gaithersburg, MD, has received $38 million in a third round of funding, bringing total funding to $63 million.  New Venture Associates continued its role as lead investor, augmented by The Novartis Venture Fund, Anthem Capital, Alliance Technology Ventures, and Genzyme Ventures.  The specialist in sickle-cell anemia drugs will use the money on two midstage clinical trials.

Dailymotion Inc., a Paris-based video-sharing web site, picked up $25 million in a global funding round, led by the FSI French Sovereign Fund, and including Advent Venture Partners, AGF Private Equity, Atlas Venture, and Partech International.

 Avere Systems Inc., a Network Attached Storage company founded by executives from Spinnaker Networks, has secured $15 million in Series A financing, in a round led by Menlo Ventures and Norwest Venture Partners, who also funded Spinnaker.

XConnect, a London-based leader in IP multimedia hub and ENUM-registry services, has raised $10 million in Series B financing, from a global consortium including Venrock Associates, Accel Partners, Grazia Equity, and Crescent Point Group.

Ozmo Devices Inc., which develops Wi-Fi Personal Area Network systems, has secured $7.5 million in Series C funding, in a round led by Intel Capital, Tallwood Venture Capital, and Granite Ventures.

Medsphere Systems Corp., a specialist in enterprise healthcare IT systems, has closed an impressive $12 million round that will allow the Carlsbad Calif. company to develop its OpenVista electronic medical records software.  Participants in the round include Azure Capital Partners, Thomas Weisel Venture Partners, and EPIC Ventures.

Moneta Inc., a company formed from the former Checkfree, has become the second online payments startup in two weeks to receive new venture funding, following Jambool/Social Gold.  Moneta's Series A round of $4 million was led by ENG.

Queplix Corp., which announced its QueCloud platform Aug. 31 at VMWorld, also revealed the completion of a $1.5 million Series A round of funding, led by Javelin Venture Partners.  QueCloud accelerates legacy IT applications as they are ported to distributed cloud processing.  The company named Mark Cashman its CEO.

VitalMedix, a Minneapolis startup developing a drug that lowers metabolism for use by first-responders and emergency medicine specialists, has raised $1 million in a funding round led by Capital Midwest Funds.  VitalMedix also expects to raise $1.7 million in Defense Department and US Army grants.

Smith & Tinker have shown that online gaming and high-tech toys can bring in large sums, as the company closed a $29 million round led by DCM, that included by Vulcan Capital, Alsop Louise Partners, Foundry Group, and Leo Capital Holdings.

On a sobering front, network-access control specialist ConSentry Networks Inc. has closed its doors, according to Network World and Venture Capital Dispatch.  The company, founded by networking pioneer Jeff Prince, won high praise for its switches and controllers, but could not fight the recession-based slump in NAC security tools, that earlier closed Nevis Networks and Autonomic Networks.

NanoSteel Co. Inc. of Providence, RI, which uses nanoparticles to create a super-hard spray-on steel coating, has raised $8 million of a planned $11 million venture round in which EnerTech Capital is a participant, according to Mass High Tech.

Jambool Inc., a developer of micropayments and virtual-currency infrastructure used on social networks under the brand Social Gold, has raised $5 million in a financing round led by Madrona Group, with participation by Bay Partners.

Semiconductor testing, often seen to be a moribund market, has shown new signs of life with a second-round capture of $11 million by Advanced Inquiry Systems Inc. of Hillsboro, Ore.  The memory-chip testing specialist is backed by OVP Venture Partners, TL Ventures, Intel Capital, Applied Ventures, KT Ventures, and Northwest Ventures, and has raised a total of $33 million to date.

Digital-payments specialist Edo Interactive Inc. of Nashville has raised $8.5 million in a round led by First Avenue, bringing total venture funding for the company to $14 million.