Alterian, which provides marketers with a suite of content management and social media monitoring tools, has bought up Intrepid, a social media consulting firm. Alterian says it’s buying Intrepid—which has 40 employees—in order to provide a “packaged solution of social media analytics and market research capability to organizations who have…

ComScore (NSDQ: SCOR) says it is acquiring Amsterdam-based web measurement firm Nedstat for $36.7 million in a move designed to improve how it monitors websites using its Unified Digital Measurement platform.

With U.S. military operations in Iraq being wound down, there will likely be a lot of servicepeople coming home on to the civilian jobs market. Business publisher United Business Media (LSE: UBM) says it’s buying Astoud, a virtual careers fair company whose Milicruit recruitment service puts job-seeking troops in a…

AOL (NYSE: AOL) is buying Rally Up, a startup behind a social networking app for the iPhone and iPad that lets users share their locations with select friends. The app pitches itself as a social network for “people that actually should know your location,” such as family members and close…

A bunch of fashion and social investments from the world of TechCrunch’s start-up scene today… —ShowroomPrive.com, a French group fashion buying site that claims to be the sector’s number-two behind VentePrivee, has raised €37 million from Accel, to invest in a new warehouse and in acquisitions. Via.

Google (NSDQ: GOOG) continues to buy up social-related firms in preparation for the launch of the new social networking effort it has under way. Its latest acquisition is mobile game startup SocialDeck, which is behind several very-addicting mobile games, including Shake & Spell, a spelling game that users can simultaneously…

Google’s proposed $750 million acquisition of travel search technology provider ITA Software isn’t ready for take off quite yet; Google says the Department of Justice wants more information about the acquisition before giving the deal its OK.

Google (NSDQ: GOOG) continues to pick up talent—and to add to its tech ability to compete with Facebook—by acq-hiring. The latest: buying social search startup Angstro and hiring its highly respected co-founder Rohit Khare to work on its social net Google Me. Khare started the company in 2006 with investor…

Crafts buying site Etsy has raised a fifth VC round of $20 million from Index Ventures, the investor announced through TechCrunch, though not its own site.

Naspers, the South African media company which owns stakes in a number of digital properties, including Facbeook-backer Digital Sky Technologies, has made a “strategic investment” in classifieds site OLX. Founder Fabrice Grinda tells us Naspers made the investment “both by investing and by buying shares from existing shareholders.”

Cisco (NSDQ: CSCO) is in the process of acquiring ExtendMedia, a company that specializes in managing online video content. The space has seen some consolidation lately and with the growth of mobile video, the rate of acquisitions is likely to increase rapidly. The terms of the deal were undisclosed. Cisco…

PayPal co-founder (and early Facebook investor) Peter Thiel is backing a new social network, which restricts membership to students with verified college e-mail addresses—much like Facebook did in its first year and a half. CollegeOnly‘s pitch: “Our site is the only one that is free from parents, potential employers, and…

China e-commerce site Alibaba has acquired eBay (NSDQ: EBAY) auction management provider Auctiva. This is the Hong Kong company’s second U.S.-based purchase in less than two months. In June, Alibaba bought Vendio, another eBay auction manager based in San Mateo, CA. Both deals are part of Alibaba’s plans to invest…

News Corp.‘s MySpace (NSDQ: NWS) has finalized a deal to buy certain, unspecified assets of social messaging platform Threadbox. Venturebeat had reported last month that a deal was in the works, although Threadbox wouldn’t talk about it then.

Russian internet investor Digital Sky Technologies’ online buy-up is continuing ahead of its possible 2011 IPO. It’s acquiring the 20 percent of social network Odnoklassniki.ru it does not already own from founder Albert Popkov, Vedomosti reports (via Quintura).

Brand Affinity Technologies (BAT), which uses research and interactive technology to market a massive roster of celebrities, has closed a $20 million third round led by Miramar Venture Partners. Other participants in the round included existing investors Newport Coast Investments (the private investment fund of BAT co-founders Chad and Ryan…

Investment banker Terence Kawaja is striking out on his own as a strategic matchmaker. Kawaja has switched from staffer to affiliate at GCA Savvian, leaving to form advisory firm LUMA Partners. In an interview soon after he announced the move by e-mail late Monday afternoon, Kawaja said he is still…

Tencent, the Chinese internet company behind IM service and portal QQ, has bought up Comsenz, a Google-backed company which is behind the Discuz online discussion board platform, which is extremely popular in China, among other community products. Google (NSDQ: GOOG) had invested $1 million in Comsenz two years ago. It’s…

This one is a slight variation on a current trend… Euro RSCG 4D Discovery, the analytics arm of Havas agency network of Euro RSCG Worldwide, has acquired full-service interactive ad firm Congruent Media. Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed. Most of the deals in the online ad world the last…