DUCK DUCK MOOSE: $7 million to SF-based Duck Duck Moose (a playful iteration of Duck Duck Goose) in Series A round led by Sequoia Capital and Lightspeed Venture Partners, with Stanford University also participating. Aaref Hilaly from Sequoia and Justin Caldbeck from Lightspeed will join the board. Founded in 2008 by a trio of friends, the startup so far has 14 of iOS and Android apps (targeted for toddlers to early elementary students) that have each won Parents' Choice awards and together tallied over 2.4 million downloads. Co-founder Caroline Hu Flexer (who previously worked for IDEO), attributes much of the startup's success to a rigorous design process. Extensive user testing took place at Stanford, particularly with the assistance of Jennifer DiBrienza, instructor at Stanford's School of Ed, and the Bing Nursery School located on campus. The funding will help bring new additions to the team and ratchet up the creation of new apps.
