The search engine, its venture unit, its early backers and its chief executive have been busy buying and hiring in recent days.

Washington Post-backed Fab.com reportedly takes its total raised in venture financing to $11.6m after metamorphosing into a design items sales website.

Sanjay Srivastava, general partner at SKS Capital and senior vice-president of research and development at Cadence Design Systems, said: "This new capital will enable Nvelo to accelerate the development of new and disruptive products for both the client and server markets."

Reese Schroeder, managing director of Motorola Solutions Venture Capital, said: "Indoor micro-location for shoppers and employees is a compelling solution for retailers."

International Data Group reportedly takes stakes in Secoo.com and iMedia.

Social gaming company CrowdStar sets up its own seed fund, after it secured backing from Intel Capital, Time Warner and The9.

The pharmaceutical conglomerates are among the participants in DVS Science's series A funding, which has raised $14.6m.

Fidelity's Moonray Investors and Arm have backed the smart grid company, with Moonray buying out previous seed investors.