After a successful recent IPO launch, deal-of-the-day website Groupon is now in a talent-buying mood.  According to technology site TechCrunch, Groupon recently purchased a Silicon Valley startup Campfire Labs for an undisclosed amount. Campfire Labs was founded by Sakina Arsiwala, an ex-Google executive and former head of International at YouTube, and social search technology expert Naveen Koorakula. Prior to starting Campfire Labs, Koorakula worked at search companies like Inktomi, Yahoo and Picch.

Aydin Senkut's early stage investment firm, Felicis Ventures, just moved into a bigger office last week, for more room to bring in founders of his portfolio companies. Senkut's firm was an early investor in Rovio, and it's clear the firm is proud of its investment from the number of fluffy Angry Birds scattered throughout. "Everybody says that they are different. It's like when you walk to an Apple store versus when you walk into any other retail store. The first thing we want people to see is that this is not set up like a typical venture fund, it looks like a living room," Senkut said.

There's a race going on to be the best peer-to-peer car sharing service, with almost half a dozen getting fueled up with financing over the last six months. On Wednesday, yet another one got some fuel in the tank to take off, this time across college universities. Palo Alto, Calif.-based Wheelz, a relatively new peer-to-peer car-sharing service dedicated to college campuses, announced Wednesday that it's received $13.7 million in a Series A round of funding, led by ZipCar, and participation from Fontinalis Partners, a transportation technology strategic investment firm based in Detroit. The new amount brings Wheelz total amount of funding to $15 million, including a $2 million seed round from angel investors, including Chamath Palihapitiya, who recently started his own fund called The Social+Capital Partnership, as well as Aydin Senkut (of Felicis Ventures) and Red Swan Ventures, run by Andy Dunn, the founder of Bonobos.

By Michelle Hammond - Apple has acquired Australian start-up Chomp for around $US50 million but is remaining tight-lipped over what it plans to do with the Chomp app, which is used to search the App Store. Chomp’s software allows people to search through downloadable applications available for Apple’s iPad and iPhone, as well as gadgets running Google’s Android operating system. Users can enter queries such as “tip calculator” or “kids’ games” to get different options of apps that fit those descriptions. Founded by Ben Keighran and Cathy Edwards, Chomp’s investors include BlueRun Ventures, SV Angel founder Ron Conway, Aydin Senkut, David Lee and Brian Pokorny.