THE NEWS WRAP: Bright Spark raises $5 million for Internet of Things operating system

Spark Labs has raised almost $5 million in funding to help with plans to develop an Internet of Things operating system.

Last year the company built a development board that lets people make connected devices that could connect to a cloud service. It has raised $4.9 million in Series A funding from Lion Wells Capital, O’Reilly AlphaTech Ventures, SOSventures and Collaborative Fund as well as a consortium of angel investors.

Spark Labs chief executive officer and founder Zach Supalla wants to build Spark OS, which will consist of a messaging framework, data storage options, an application layer and then finally a management layer for connected devices.

Uber price cap during emergencies

Uber has announced it will place a cap on price surges during emergencies across the United States.

The company was criticised recently when there was a surge in pricing during extreme weather in New York City.

It’s unclear whether Uber will take similar steps in Australia.

Cloudian raises $24 million

Cloudian, a startup that operates on the premise that sensitive data needs to remain grounded, has raised $24 million in capital from a number of investors, including the Innovation Corporate Network of Japan.

The company plans to use the money to expand its sales and marketing and capitalise on its position in the Japanese market.

Overnight

The Dow Jones Industrial Average is down 117.59 to 16,906.62. The Australian dollar is currently trading at US94 cents.