Apart from innovation and patent wars, there’s the struggle that exists amongst investors in finding the next big thing.  Investments have been lathed on the tech sector in particular, hoping to financially position themselves in this intricate yet lucrative world of the internet.

First off, we have Shopify announcing another round of funding, just ten months after its first round. It accumulated $15 million this time (up from $7 million last December) from investors Bessemer Venture Partners, FirstMark Capital, Felicis Ventures and Georgian Partners. Shopify grew from 10,000 storefronts to 16,000 in 80 countries, and now has 80 employees.  It expects to have 130 employees next year.  Shopify creates tools and templates to power online storefronts that sell merchandise.

But the skirmish is going to be a difficult one for Shopify as it faces competition from eBay’s recently unveiled X.commerce.  It is built to help retailers of all sizes the same way Shopify does, and it looks like eBay has strategically positioned itself through the acquisitions it made, including Magento, one of Shopify’s biggest rivals.  However, eBay’s ultimate goal is to provide a free package of e-commerce services and use it to lead retailers to using more of its profitable services like GSI Commerce and Paypal.

We also have Grockit raising $7 million in funding, bringing its total backing to $24 million.  Grockit is an education start-up that makes test prep social and for the online sector.  It has recently established a partnership with Facebook, allowing users to study on Grockit with Facebook friends, as wells post achievements on the social media network.

“A lot of problems in education are just related to the fact that people have to go to big buildings, live near schools or buy books or test prep classes,” said Roy Gilbert, Grockit’s chief executive.

“The advantage of software to do this is, you remove the constraints of time and space and deliver it in places you’ve never been able to deliver test prep education before.”