Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is rumored to be acquiring Anobit, an Israeli fabless semiconductor company that specializes in flash storage for between $400 and $500 million. This would be Tim Cook’s first big acquisition since taking over as CEO. Apple also rarely buys hardware companies as they tend to focus more on software acquisitions.

Shaker is a virtual world startup based in Israel that has raised $15 million in a new round of funding. This round was led by Menlo Ventures’ Shervin Pishevar. Michael Arrington’s CrunchFund was already an investor in Shaker and they also participated in this round. Shaker was the champion at TechCrunch’s Disrupt conference.

Fring is a mobile communications startup that aims to compete against Microsoft’s Skype. Fring has raised $10 million in Series C funding from existing investors. This brings the company’s total funding to $30 million.

Pageonce is a smartphone application company that has raised $15 million in a new round of funding. Pageonce allows people to manage financial accounts and their bills. Pageonce says that their mobile application will become the “wallet of the future.”

Video search engine company VideoSurf has raised $16 million in a round of funding led by Pitango Venture Capital. VideoSurf is a five year old company that raised a total of $28 million. VideoSurf’s software can identify images within videos that it scans instead of video metadata. VideoSurf receives about 20 million unique visitors per month. [AllThingsD]

Irvine, California based Broadcom Corporation (NASDAQ:BRCM) has announced that they are acquiring system-on-a-chip solutions company Provigent for $313 million. Provigent’s products enables wireless system vendors to deliver broadband wireless backhaul systems to network operators. Provigent raised a total of $55 million from Sequoia Capital, Lightspeed Venture Partners, and Pitango. [jPost]

Boxee is a New York City based company that makes software for watching online video on TV. The company has recently raised $16.5 million in a round led by Pitango and Softbank. Previous investors that participated in this round include General Catalyst, Spark Capital, and Union Square Ventures.

VisionCare Ophthalmic Technologies is a company that developers advanced visual prosthetic devices for improving vision for patients that have end-stage age-related macular degeneration. VisionCare has raised $31 million in Series E funding led by Saints Capital. Giza Ventures, General iFinancial Holdings, BSI SA, Pitango Venture Capital, Three Arch Partners, ONSET Ventures, and Newbury Acquisitions Fund/Infinity CSVC Management also joined in this round. Elka Nir, the Managing Director and head of Life Sciences of Giza, will be joining the VisionCare board of directors.