A fresh investment fund, innovation in TV, more cash for hearing tech, and some courtroom maneuvers in this midweek collection of Boston-area headlines:
—Volition Capital has raised $80 million for a second investment fund that could reach $150 million, according to this SEC filing. The Boston-based firm, as noted by the Boston Business Journal, is a spinout from Fidelity Investments’ venture operation.
—Tivli, a streaming TV service targeted at universities, has raised a $6.3 million Series A investment round. The startup streams university-based TV feeds over IP connections, allowing students to watch programs on computers. New Enterprise Associates led the investment, with Felicis Ventures, Rho Ventures, CBC New Media Group, HBO, WME, and Radical Investments, which is headed by Mark Cuban, also participating. Tivli was one of the first investments from NEA’s Harvard Experiment Fund.
—Lantos Technologies, developer of a 3D scanner for fitting patients with hearing aids, has raised $5.1 million, according to a new SEC filing. Last month, Lantos said it was moving to a larger headquarters building in Wakefield, MA, as it prepared for commercialization of its scanner.
—Aereo, a New York-based streaming TV startup with employees in Boston, is being sued again. This time, Bloomberg reports, it’s Hearst-owned Boston ABC affiliate WCVB that is trying to stop Aereo from streaming over-the-air broadcasts to Internet-connected devices. Broadcasters have been targeting Aereo in court for months, contending that the startup is distributing their broadcasts without permission.
—Wired magazine reports that a federal judge has ordered the Secret Service to turn over documents about its investigation of Aaron Swartz, the Internet entrepreneur and activist who killed himself earlier this year after being prosecuted for unauthorized downloads of academic articles over MIT’s public network. Wired investigations editor Kevin Poulsen, who worked on a secure online file-sharing service with Swartz, is suing the Department of Homeland Security for access to the Secret Service files on Swartz’s case. MIT’s president has promised a full investigation of the university’s role in pressing criminal charges against Swartz.
