Mental health chat startup Talkspace (Groop Internet Platform Inc.) has raised $9.5 million Series A in a round led by Spark Capital that included SoftBank, Metamorphic Ventures and TheTime. Based in New York City Talkspace is a global online therapy platform that connects people with licensed therapists. Users access the service via the website or mobile ...

Verizon Communications, Inc. has entered an agreement to acquire AOL, Inc. for $4.4 billion. The deal is reported to have Verizon paying $50 a share for AOL stock, a premium on top of its closing price of $42.59 Monday. Verizon’s vision   “Verizon’s vision is to provide customers with a premium digital experience based on a global ...

E-commerce startup Coupang, often described as the Amazon of South Korea, is said to be close to raising $1 billion in a private equity round led by Japan’s SoftBank Corp. According to a report in the South Korean press (link in Korean,) the two parties are said to be in the process of due-diligence prior ...

Any doubt that streaming music is the one and only future for the music industry was knocked on its head Monday with figures from Warner Music Group Corp. showing that the revenue from streaming services surpassed digital downloads for the first time. Warner reported that overall digital revenue was up 7 percent for the quarter, ...

Enterprise NoSQL database company MarkLogic Corp. has raised $102 million in a private equity round that included Gary Bloom, Tenaya Capital, Sequoia Capital, Northgate Capital Group, Arrowpoint Partners and Wellington Management Co. Although not officially disclosed, the round is said to be on a valuation “of more than $1 billion,” giving MarkLogic Unicorn status for ...

Mysterious Bitcoin startup 21 Inc. may be coming to a toaster near you, with a report over the weekend perhaps disclosing clearly for the first time what the company with $121 million in the bank is planning to do. According to a report from Coinspeak, 21 Inc. is building “new technology that is expected to ...

Two men accused of hacking photo-sharing service Photobucket.com, Inc. were indicted and arrested Friday by the Federau Buerau of Investigation (FBI.) Brandon Bourret, 39, of Colorado Springs, Colorado and Athanasios Andrianakis, 26, of Sunnyvale, California, are accused of knowingly conspiring to commit acts and offenses against the United States, namely computer fraud and abuse, access device ...

Thursday was a big day for New York-based Bitcoin exchange itBit Trust Company LLC with the startup announcing a new round, and regulatory approval to start taking U.S. customers. The company announced that it has raised $25 million Series A in a round that included existing investors RRE Ventures, Liberty City Ventures and Jay W. Jordan II, ...

Would you like video with your streaming music? If you’re music streaming giant Spotify AB the answer to that question may well be yes with multiple reports Thursday that the company is in talks to enter the competitive online video market. The Wall Street Journal quoted “people familiar with the matter” saying that the Stockholm, Sweden based ...

Fitness tracking startup Fitbit Inc. is making a bold dash to Wall Street with a filing lodged with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Thursday to take the company public. The initial public offering (IPO) filing states that the company is chasing $100 million from the public in an offering that will be underwritten by Morgan Stanley, ...