A bunch of fashion and social investments from the world of TechCrunch’s start-up scene today… —ShowroomPrive.com, a French group fashion buying site that claims to be the sector’s number-two behind VentePrivee, has raised €37 million from Accel, to invest in a new warehouse and in acquisitions. Via.

Crafts buying site Etsy has raised a fifth VC round of $20 million from Index Ventures, the investor announced through TechCrunch, though not its own site.

Naspers, the South African media company which owns stakes in a number of digital properties, including Facbeook-backer Digital Sky Technologies, has made a “strategic investment” in classifieds site OLX. Founder Fabrice Grinda tells us Naspers made the investment “both by investing and by buying shares from existing shareholders.”

PayPal co-founder (and early Facebook investor) Peter Thiel is backing a new social network, which restricts membership to students with verified college e-mail addresses—much like Facebook did in its first year and a half. CollegeOnly‘s pitch: “Our site is the only one that is free from parents, potential employers, and…

Brand Affinity Technologies (BAT), which uses research and interactive technology to market a massive roster of celebrities, has closed a $20 million third round led by Miramar Venture Partners. Other participants in the round included existing investors Newport Coast Investments (the private investment fund of BAT co-founders Chad and Ryan…

In an eye-catching report earlier this week, New York investment bank Peachtree Media Advisors said there had been a surge in digital media deal-making during the first half of the year; the volume of transactions was up 68 percent, the bank said, while their total dollar value more than doubled.…

Real-time bidding is already a common feature of online advertising, but rich media ads aren’t often used for these generally low-cost plays. Rich media provider OggiFinogi hopes to change that a bit, now that it has raised a $2 million first round. The round was led by Greycroft Partners, with…

Yet another micro-transactions and payment platform has raised a significant wad of money. This time it is PlaySpan, which has received $18 million in a third round from Vodafone (NYSE: VOD) Ventures and Softbank Bodhi Fund, and existing investors Menlo Ventures, Novel TMT Ventures, STIC, and others. The Santa Clara,…

A year-and-a-half after putting itself up for sale in the midst of a fall off in its business, in-game ad network IGA Worldwide says it has “streamlined its business model” and has raised a “significant” new round of funding. Like other in-game advertisers, IGA Worldwide, which has the rights to…

BringMeTheNews, a local news startup based in Minneapolis, has raised $1 million in funding from business information firm The Dolan Company and Twin Cities’ PR firm Padilla Speer Beardsley. The startup primarily aggregates news pieces from local publications like Minn Post and the Star Tribune on its flagship site; it…

Ngmoco, the games developer focused on iPhone platform and venture-backed by the iFund, has gotten some unspecified funding from Google (NSDQ: GOOG) Ventures, TechCrunch reports, citing unidentified sources. The capital comes just several months after the San Francisco company raised a significant $25 million third round.

Softbank CEO Mike Perlis has agreed to serve as chairman of Spanfeller Media Group as the online content startup prepares to launch its first site, a food vertical early next month. The site’s name and editorial director have been chosen, but the company, which was started by former Forbes.com CEO…

“I don’t understand why they need to IPO,” Mike Chalfen, a partner with Advent Venture Partners, tells paidContent:UK, after Skype filed for a $100 million public flotation... “The company isn’t yet as profitable as it will be in a couple of years. If it was more fully maturing into its…

The mobile ad space is continuing its rapid growth and so Medialets has chosen a good time to close a $6 million second round funding. The round was led by the Foundry Group, with participation from DFJ Gotham, 500 Startups and former Gannett (NYSE: GCI) chief digital officer Chris Saridakis,…

Chinese video site Tudou, which says it’s trying to transform itself into a “media house” complete with original video programming, has raised yet another huge round of funding: The company has raised $50 million in a fifth round, bringing its total backing to $135 million since its start five years…

C2Call, a startup behind a fast-growing internet calling service called FriendCaller, has raised $2 (£1.28) million in a first round of funding. FriendCaller users can send friends links, which recipients can click on to call them via the web. Internet calls are free, although the company charges for calls to…

WeShop is the latest social shopper to hit the scene, having just closed a $4.25 million first round, paidContent has learned. But the startup has an important attribute that ties in nicely to the current mania about behavioral targeting and user data. The New York company, currently in beta, is…

The “shadowy” world of selling and using online audience data has been in discussion a lot lately, and investors have been taking notice. This morning, eXelate, which operates an open marketplace for audience targeting data, said it closed a $15 million second round of funding to help expand its technology…

VigLink, a Google-backed startup that helps publishers monetize the traffic they send to e-commerce sites, is buying more established rival DrivingRevenue. Like VigLink, which launched its service earlier this year, DrivingRevenue provides customers with a few lines of code which they embed on their sites in order to automaticalaly enroll…