EDCAST: $6 million to Mountain View, CA-based EdCast in a Series A round led by SoftBank; other investors include Mitch Kapor, Menlo Ventures, Novel TMT Ventures, Cervin Ventures, Aarin Capital, NewSchools Venture Fund/ CoLab and the Stanford StartX Fund. Built on the Open edX platform, EdCast allows universities and other institutions to create “Knowledge Cloud platforms” that host MOOCs and other digital learning content. Founder Karl Mehta told VentureBeat that his goal is to create a “multiversity” where schools collaborate to design and offer online courses. Thirty-nine universities are currently using the platform, with additional 200 organizations on the way through a partnership with the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Solution Network.