On the heels of SimpleGeo’s announcement this week regarding the open Beta release of their Context and Places data services, we now hear via GigaOM that another data provider, Factual (billed as a data-as-a-service provider) has scored some impressive VC funding to the tune of $25 million – Dang! This according to GigaOM… “With the new funding, Elbaz said Factual will hire engineering talent, expand its marketing outreach around its product and bulk up its geo-local database”. So what put Factual on the map?? Apparently the company already has very visible clients including facebook and Booyah! The biz model is simple, so to speak, the company plans to charge developers for their API calls, or, a free-ish/cheap-ish version is available for those who contribute back data. Apparently data is still king! You can check out Factual at http://www.factual.com/ or on Twitter at @Factualinc. Software engineers, you may want to check out the factual job board for openings!