By Evan Vitale
Here’s the latest in a variety of venture capital news.
According to “The Daily Startup” (via WSJ.com), the former security leads at Etsy have planned to publicly launch a new security product for teams that are quickly creating and shipping new software. Signal Sciences wants to provide a next-generation Web application firewall to developers who are creating and modifying applications multiple times a day. The Venice Beach, Calif., company grabbed a $9.7 million Series A funding round led by Index Ventures. Chief Executive Andrew Peterson, a former Etsy product manager, and Chief Security Officer Zane Lackey, Etsy’s former security lead, said they saw firsthand in their former roles that security information needs to be brought closer to the developers. “What was out there didn’t solve our problems,” Mr. Lackey said. “We have a deep empathy with our customers, we’ve lived the life that they live.”
Catch the rest of the story and others on WSJ here: on.wsj.com/1RqhQWX
Meanwhile, Reuters is reporting that venture capital groups invested $1.8 billion in commercial space startups in 2015, more than in the last 15 years combined, according to a report by aerospace consultants the Tauri Group. The full report is here: reut.rs/21Bh3qT
Cnet.com has reported that the US Labor Department concludes that Fenox Venture Capital illegally labeled 56 employees as interns. Now, the firm must pay them for three years of unpaid work. According to US law, specifically the Fair Labor Standards Act, companies are required to pay interns if they’re performing work that the company would hire someone to do, among other criteria. The full report is here: cnet.co/1TEeFy6
Venture capitalists are investing $75 million to launch Forty Seven Inc., a startup out of Stanford University, that has joined a race to defeat cancer by engaging the immune system in the fight against tumors. The full story is here: on.wsj.com/1S332zI
