Today’s funding announcements include services for finding jobs, analyzing data and conducting scientific research:

BranchOut brings in $18M for Facebook jobs service: The career networking service has raised a second round of funding led by Redpoint Ventures with participation from Accel Partners, Norwest Venture Partners and Floodgate Fund. The company, which launched in July 2010, raised its first funding round of $6M in September. Today, the San Francisco-based company also announced Jobs Tab, a new enterprise product that allows companies to publish job openings to their Facebook pages.

Concurrent gets $900K to help companies work with large data sets: The San Francisco-based company has raised seed funding to help large businesses with data processing, according to a filing with the SEC. The company’s first publicly available tool, Cascading, is open-source software for creating data processing applications. The company was founded in 2008.

Lyncean Technologies raises $1M for X-rays: The Palo Alto-based company has raised a new round of equity funding to develop compact X-ray sources, according to a filing with the SEC. The company, whose name means keen-sighted, is developing an X-ray technology that will allow scientists to use radiation applications in their own labs. The company has previously received several grants from the National Institutes of Health.

Speechbobble gets $1.5M to bring social networking to the office: The enterprise social network has raised a round of seed funding from a group of Canadian investors. Based in Toronto, the company is developing software that will facilitate employee communication and collaboration in the office.

Companies: Accel Partners, BranchOut, Concurrent, Floodgate Fund, Lyncean Technologies, Norwest Venture Partners, Redpoint Ventures, Speechbobble

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Disqus, a startup offering a commenting system across a number of sites (including VentureBeat), says it’s turning four years old this week, and it’s using the occasion to reveal some big numbers. Not quite the biggest, but perhaps the most important is the fact that the company has raised $10 million in new funding from North Bridge Venture Partners and Union Square Venture Partners.

The company says it’s seeing rapid growth, having more than doubled the amount of unique visitors to Disqus sites since November 2010, from 200 million to nearly 500 million. There are now 750,000 “communities” using Disqus and 35 million commenters have created profiles. The company is also pointing to a recent study by Lijit showing that 75 percent of sites using a third-party commenting system use Disqus.

All of that adds a little substance to the comments earlier this year by co-founder and chief executive Daniel Ha (no relation to me) that he wasn’t too worried about the threat from Facebook’s new commenting system for publishers.

“They’ve put a stake in the ground –- they see a lot of value in what we do,” Ha said at the time. “But we haven’t seen [Facebook] make a dent in our traction, which is why we aren’t shaking in our boots.”

San Francisco-based Disqus was incubated at Y Combinator. It previously raised a $500,000 round from backers including Union Square, Knight’s Bridge Capital Partners, Naval Ravikant, and Aydin Senkut (who is also an investor in VentureBeat).

[image via Flickr/Robert Scoble]

Tags: commenting systems

Companies: Disqus

People: Daniel Ha

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Here’s one from the rumor mill: Facebook may be acquiring a San Francisco-based social media company in the type of “talent acquisition” transaction that has become the trademark of the social web giant.

This rumor falls under the same category as the Zuckerberg $1 billion Mexican meal story (which shall henceforth be referred to as “TacoTip”): an item that could turn out to be interesting, or it could turn out to be nothing at all.

A reader told us that he overheard a conversation in his San Francisco-based dentist’s office between a patient and the receptionist. The patient told the receptionist that her social media company was being acquired by Facebook, but only the employees were being acquired and not the company itself. The reader was under the assumption that the patient’s company is based in San Francisco.

Who do you think Facebook is acquiring now? Tell us in the comments below.

[Image via outcast104/Flickr]

Companies: Facebook

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Today’s funding announcements include services for sharing photos and predicting solar energy:

CrowdOptic lands $1M for photo service: The mobile app developer has raised a first round of funding led by its co-founder and CEO Jon Fisher with participation from angel investors and one of the company’s customers. The San Francisco-based company has developed an app that lets users get information on moving objects, such as baseball players or race cars, by taking a picture. The company has partnered with Moon Express, a lunar transportation service, to track the launch of its lunar lander.

Humble Bundle grabs $4.5M for pick-your-price games: The games site, which lets users decide how much they want to pay to play, has raised funding, according to a filing with the SEC. Founded in 2010, the Y-Combinator alum is based in San Francisco and launched its second official batch of games, created by indie developer Frozenbyte, this month.

Geostellar brings in $2M to compute solar energy potential: The Reston, Virginia-based company has raised a new round of funding led by Flash Forward Ventures to determine the ideal location for solar plants. The company has created solar mapping models of Washington, D.C., Philadelphia and Indianapolis and has plans to produce models for the rest of the United States and Western Europe.

ChanelInsight raises $10M: The Denver, Colo.-based sales channel management company was previously known as InfoNow, but just rebranded under the new name. ChannelInsight says it wants to take the “guesswork” out of channel sales, making them “as productive as direct sales.” The round was led by Rho Ventures with participation from Sevin Rosen Funds, Sequel Venture Partners and Vedanta Capital. The company has now raised $21 million.

Companies: crowdoptic, Flash Forward Ventures, Frozenbyte, Geostellar, Humble Bundle, Moon Express, Rho Ventures, Sequel Venture Partners, Sevin Rosen Funds, Vedanta Capital

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Mr. Number, an all-in-one mobile phone productivity service, announced today that it has reached its 2 millionth user and released a completely revamped version of  it application for iPhone and Android smartphones.

A version for BlackBerry smartphones will be available within two weeks, said the company.

Its new apps intend to bring the concept of status from instant messaging to mobile voice and text, thus allowing a user to let their friends know when they are free for a call, when a text is preferred, or when they are busy.

It also now has the added functionality of telling Mr. Number to send all a user’s calls to voicemail and then lets friends know when a they are free again.

The San Francisco-based startup already blocks calls and texts from people and companies that a user has specified they do not want to hear from again.

It also sends alerts about who is calling when an unrecognizable number crops up.

The company says it does this by using crowd-sourced caller ID, spam detection and automated identification of telemarketers and other heavy dialers.

The chance to “go undercover,” as it were, is clearly paying off: Mr. Number has tens of thousands of customers who pay between $1.99 per month and $9.99 per month for Caller ID, depending on the platform.

The company also has a dedicated reverse lookup app on iPhone that is one of the top 10 paid apps in its category.

Free versions of the service include advertising.

Mr. Number used to be well-known startup Skydeck, which offered caller ID, human-written transcriptions from voicemail to text, and Web-based management. It also had a free, Google-powered transcription service for people unwilling to pay for the company’s human transcribers.

However, when Skydeck launched the caller ID service in October of 2009, it became the most popular feature, with 250,000 users to date. So, founder Jason Devitt renamed and refocused the company in June to leverage its obvious hit.

“It took us a year to reach 1 million users but only four months to get to 2 million,” said Devitt. “People tell their friends about us because we solve real problems, identifying mystery numbers and blocking spam calls and texts completely. The new version brings you more calls and texts from the people you actually want to hear from, by letting your friends know when you’re free to talk.”

Devitt will be a chairman of VentureBeat’s Mobile Summit next week.

Thus far, Skydeck has received one round of $4 million series A funding from Saban Ventures in 2008.

This April 25-26, VentureBeat is hosting its inaugural VentureBeat Mobile Summit, where we’ll debate the five key business and policy challenges facing the mobile industry today. Participants will develop concrete, actionable solutions that will shape the future of the mobile industry. The invitation-only event, located at the scenic and relaxing Cavallo Point Resort in Sausalito, Calif., is limited to 180 mobile executives, investors and policymakers.

Companies: Mr. Number, Skydeck

People: Jason Devitt

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Social networking connector Tagged has acquired instant messaging and social aggregator Digsby as it attempts to give users more tools to manage their instant messaging, emails, tweets and social networks all in one place.

Terms, including the acquisition price, were not disclosed. The deal is the first acquisition for Tagged.

“The

Today’s funding announcements include companies offering ad campaign management, mobile game advertising and electronic medical records:

Marin Software brings in $16M for search ad tools: The San Francisco-based company has raised a fifth round of funding led by Crosslink Capital to help advertisers and agencies manage online ad campaigns. The company, which works with 800 clients on search campaigns in 160 countries, expanded its service to Facebook last August and plans to use the latest funding in part to focus on international growth. Marin Software also announced today that John Kaelle, formerly VP of finance at Shutterfly, has joined the Marin Software team as executive vice president and chief financial officer.

Kiip raises $3.6M for in-game advertising: The startup founded by teenage entrepreneur Brian Wong has raised a new round of equity funding led by Hummer Winblad with participation from True Ventures, Crosslink Capital and others, according to a filing with the SEC. Founded in 2010, the San Francisco-based company says it is looking to hire business development employees and iPhone developers.

Practice Fusion grabs $23M for free online medical records: The provider of a web-based electronic medical record (EMR) system has raised a second round of funding led by Facebook and Founders Fund. The San Francisco-based company says more than 75,000 healthcare professionals use its free network to support more than 60,000 patient visits each day.

HouseTrip lands $2.7M for short-term apartment rentals: The apartment rentals website has raised a first round of funding led by Index Ventures to match apartment owners with travelers looking for a place to stay. Founded in 2009 and based in London, the company has listings in more than 350 destinations globally and lets owners list their apartments for free on the site.

Companies: CrossLink Capital, Facebook, Founders Fund, HouseTrip, Index Ventures, Kiip, Marin Software, Practice Fusion, Shutterfly, Spacex

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Today’s funding announcements include services for ordering food, buying gifts and getting advice from doctors:

Just-Eat raises $48M for easy restaurant orders: The London-based website for online ordering and delivery has raised a new round of funding led by Greylock Partners and Redpoint Ventures with participation from Index Ventures. The company, which already has a presence in ten countries on three continents, plans to expand further internationally using this investment.

GoLocal grabs $2M for personalized gifts: GoLocal, parent company of San Francisco-based gift site Giftly, has raised a first round of funding, according to a filing with the SEC. Founded by the first employee at social search engine Aardvark, the site lets users deliver gift cards for any store or stores through email or Facebook. Rather than redeeming a physical gift card at the store, recipients pay as usual, then get a refund from Giftly after using the gift.

Doximity gets $10.8M to connect doctors via mobile: The developer of a communications platform for physicians has raised a first round of funding from Emergence Capital Partners and InterWest Partners. The San Mateo, Calif.-based company, started by the founders of health software maker Epocrates, allows doctors to quickly collaborate using mobile devices for patient referrals. More than 7,000 doctors are currently using the company’s free mobile app.

Conference Hound lands $135K for global conference directory: The San Francisco-based startup has raised a round of seed funding from angel investors for its free, searchable web and mobile platform. The service, which the company says is a resource for conference attendees and organizers alike, has more than 45,000 global conference listings and is integrated with social media tools like LinkedIn and Twitter.

Companies: Aardvark, Conference Hound, Doximity, Emergence Capital Partners, Epocrates, Giftly, GoLocal, Greylock Partners, Index Ventures, Interwest Partners, Just-Eat, linkedin, Redpoint Ventures, Twitter

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Today’s funding announcements include companies that provide advertising text, online ticketing and scientific hair products:

BoostCTR lands $1.6M for copywriter community: The ad service has raised a round of seed funding from investors including 500 Startups, Javelin Venture Partners and Founder Collective. The startup helps enterprise advertisers optimize ad performance by allowing a group of copywriters to produce the text for ads. The San Francisco-based company claims that its clients on average see a 30 percent lift in click-through rates and sales volume by using the service.

ShowClix brings in $1.7M for ticketing service: The Pittsburgh, Penn.-based startup has raised a second round of funding led by Swallow Point Ventures to increase sales and brand awareness of its online event ticketing business. The company, which says it had a 650 percent increase in ticket sales last year, works with more than 1,800 clients to offer online and telephone ticket sales, box office management and promotion of events.

Living proof gets $16M for frizz-free hair: The developer of innovative beauty products has raised a second round of funding from Piper Jaffray and Polaris Venture Partners. Founded by Polaris and an MIT biomedical scientist, the company uses new scientific materials and technologies to develop its hair care products.

BridgePoint Medical grabs $9.1M for interventional cardiology tech: The Minneapolis, Minn.-based biotech startup has raised a third round of funding from investors including New Enterprise Associates, Polaris Venture Partners and Foundation Medical Partners, peHUB reports. The company is developing a treatment for chronic total occlusion, which occurs in coronary arteries and other blood vessels when they become obstructed by plaques.

Companies: 500 Startups, BoostCTR, BridgePoint Medical, Foundation Medical Partners, Founder Collective, Javelin Venture Partners, Living proof, New Enterprise Associates, Piper Jaffray, Polaris Venture Partners, ShowClix, Swallow Point Ventures

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Today’s funding announcements include products for monitoring health, communicating with friends and finding student loans:

BAM Labs brings in $2.4M to keep an eye on people as they sleep: The Los Gatos, Calif.-based company has raised equity and securities for its “24/7 digital health assistant,” according to a filing with the SEC. Founded in 2006, the company has developed a biometric sensor that can detect heart and breathing rates when placed under a mattress. The product can be used by caregivers to remotely monitor patients during the night.

DailyBooth snags $6M for real-time photo sharing: The San Francisco-based startup has raised a first round of funding led by Ignition Partners with participation from Sequoia Capital and others, peHUB reports. The company, which originally raised funding from Y Combinator, connects users via pictures and status updates.

EduLender raises $1M to simplify student loans: The developer of a student loan search engine has raised a round of funding using AngelList, an online community of investors and startups. Based in Chicago, the startup launched in 2010 to serve as an unbiased source of information on the college financial aid process. The company launched EduLender OnePay, a product to help students consolidate existing federal student loans, yesterday.

NextSpace grabs $425K for alternative offices: The San Francisco-based creator of shared office spaces has raised a second round of angel funding to build coworking environments for freelancers and entrepreneurs. The startup, which currently has offices in San Francisco and Santa Cruz and works with about 300 clients today, plans to use the funds to open new offices in Silicon Valley and Southern California.

Companies: AngelList, BAM Labs, Dailybooth, EduLender, Ignition Partners, NextSpace, Sequoia Capital, Y Combinator

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