The free mobile communication service, which has secured funding from Qualcomm and Access Industries in the past, has raised $280m in its latest venture round.

Four years after establishing the European branch of electronics producer Samsung's corporate venturing arm, Michael Jeon will be moving to the US to oversee its mobile and digital investments.

When Google Capital decided to invest $40m in US educational assessment company Renaissance Learning in February of this year, it perhaps did not consider a chunk of that investment would be realised about a month later. At the time of the investment the business was valued at $1bn and just a month later the business saw its value hit the $1.1bn mark when it was acquired by private equity firm Hellman & Friedman.

Google Capital, one of the corporate venturing units of the eponymous internet search engine, has invested $50m in US online real estate auction site, Auction.com. The company has sold nearly $20bn in assets since 2010. With this latest investment, the company is valued at over $1.2bn.

DocuSign, an electronic signature platform, has raised $85m in deal led by a group of large institutional funds that are choosing to remain undisclosed. Google Ventures, SAP Ventures, and Comcast Ventures also participated.

Venturing in the services sector was on a roll last year, as
the intermediaries that help the business world function
capitalised on their strong relationships.