ACADEMIA.EDU: $4.5 million to SF-based Academia.edu in a funding round led by Spark Capital, with participation from True Ventures. Academia secured its first round of funding, $2.2 million, in late 2009 (investors from that round participated in this one as well). Academia.edu is a social network where scholars can upload and share their research, providing an "open" alternative to prohibitively expensive and hard-to-access journals. More details from TechCrunch.
