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Capital Gains: Reese Witherspoon Raises Money, So Does the Fake Meat of the Future and More

Also, Android “father” Andy Rubin delivered some big news onstage at Code/Mobile.

Todd Bernard

In the past week, startups that do everything from offering manicures on demand to creating faux-meat burgers revealed big funding rounds. So did Reese Witherspoon. Here’s what happened on the funding front:

  • Onstage at the Code/Mobile conference this week, Android creator and Redpoint Ventures partner Andy Rubin announced that his hardware startup accelerator, Playground Global, closed a $300 million funding round.
  • Impossible Foods, a startup that makes entirely plant-based food products, raised $108 million in a new round of funding. Investors include Khosla Ventures, Bill Gates, Viking Global and Horizon Ventures (TakePart).
  • The data security and storage company Code42 raised $85 million from a group of investors that includes NEA, JMI Equity, Accel Partners, Ninvestors and Split Rock Partners (VentureBeat).
  • EzCater, a Boston-based service that lets businesses order catered food from local restaurants and caterers, unveiled a $28 million Series C round led by Insight Venture Partners. The company has raised $35 million in total (Fortune).
  • The customer data collection and management company Segment raised a $27 million Series B round led by Thrive Capital. Other investors in the Y Combinator graduate include Accel Partners, Kleiner Perkins and ex-Goldman Sachs President Jon Winkelried (Silicon Valley Business Journal).
  • Glamsquad, which is an on-demand beauty services company (manicures, blowouts, etc.), revealed a $15 million Series B round led by NEA. The company has raised $24 million in total (Women’s Wear Daily).
  • YouNow, a livestreaming social network that’s very popular with teenagers, raised $15 million in a round led by Venrock and angel investor Oren Zeev. The company didn’t disclose the valuation, but it’s likely somewhere around $150 million.
  • Following Gwyneth Paltrow, Blake Lively tried (and failed) to launch a lifestyle brand. The latest celeb to expand such a business? Reese Witherspoon! Her company, Draper James, nabbed $10 million this week in a Series B round led by Warby Parker investor Forerunner Ventures (Fast Company).
  • Clue, a German startup that tracks women’s menstrual and fertility cycles, raised $7 million in a round led by Union Square Ventures and London’s Mosaic Ventures (Bloomberg Business).

This article originally appeared on Recode.net.

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