This is just an "educated guess" - we'd need more context to be sure. That being said, start-ups often arrange for financing/funding rounds to acquire their funds, e.g. from venture capitalists.

See, for example,

http://www.intel.com/pressroom/archive/releases/20060705corp...
"Clearwire Corporation, a high-speed wireless broadband services provider founded by Craig McCaw, today announced a series of transactions with Intel Capital, the venture capital investment arm of Intel Corporation, Motorola and Motorola Ventures to accelerate the development and deployment of portable and mobile WiMAX networks based on the IEEE 802.16e-2005 standard. The transactions include Intel Capital’s investment of $600 million as part of a $900 million private ***financing round*** and Motorola’s acquisition of Clearwire’s subsidiary NextNet Wireless, a leading provider of OFDM-based non-line-of-sight (NLOS) wireless broadband infrastructure equipment. Motorola Ventures is also participating in the ***financing round***."

http://www.boston.com/business/globe/articles/2006/05/29/sta...
"When the private biotechnology company Microbia Inc. closed a $75 million ***round of funding*** in February, investors sat up and took notice. Not only because the Cambridge firm had just landed the biggest local round of biotechnology venture financing in two years, but also because a large chunk of the money came from hedge funds."
"A month later, its Cambridge neighbor, Merrimack Pharmaceuticals Inc., reported its own large ***financing round*** -- $65 million, also driven by hedge funds."

See also German example at

http://nano.ivcon.net/load.php?name=News&file=article&sid=35
"Firmen: NANOSOLAR: Abschluß der ***A-Runde***
Die kalifornische NANOSOLAR hat eine ***1. Finanzierungsrunde*** in Höhe von 5 Mio. U.S.-Dollar abgeschlossen. Investoren sind USVP, BENCHMARK CAPITAL und die "Stanford University". Hinzu kommen 1,5 Mio. U.S.-Dollar Risikokapital für Geräte von WESTERN TECHNOLOGY INVESTMENT Anfang des Jahres. Bill Gurley von Benchmark und Arati Prabhakar von USVP gehören jetzt zum Verwaltungsrat.
Die Firma wurde im Oktober 2001 gegründet, Martin Roscheisen ist Mitgründer und CEO. Die Technologie zur Optimierung der organischen Photovoltaik wurde an den "Sandia National Laboratories" entwickelt und an NANOSOLAR lizenziert.
Zeit: 19.06.2003.
Quelle: Nanosolar: www.nanosolar.com"