Venture Capital Firms

Based in Austin, Texas, Calix announced today that it has just raised $100 million in financing along with the appointment of three new people to its board of directors. $50 million came as equity from Calix’s existing investors, who are Riverwood Capital, Foundation Capital, and Sprout Group and another $50 million came in debt financing, which was established together with Silicon Valley Bank. Proceeds from this round of funding will go to investing in additional resources that will be needed to further expand and to also capitalize the growth opportunities that are provided by a $7.2 billion US Broadband Stimulus Program.

Calix is one of the largest communications equipment suppliers for broadband companies within the United States. As a matter of fact, Calix is doing well in the markets, because Calix equipment is being used by many of the United States broadband companies to deliver a rich wealth of information, entertainment, and communication. Furthermore, the equipment that Calix provides allows the customers of these broadband companies to access this information, communication, and entertainment.

The people that Calix has appointed to its board of directors include Michael Marks of Riverwood Capital, Adam Grosser of Foundation Capital, and Robert Finzi of Sprout Group.

Mr. Marks brings a wealth of experience to the company’s board of directors, which includes operation, manufacturing, and corporate governance. Mr. Marks is also one of the founding partners of Riverwood Capital and is investment experience does not stop there. Mr. Marks was also a partner and senior advisor at Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. Mr. Marks was also the CEO of Flextronics International, Ltd. which he helped grow from a net worth of $93 million to $25 billion. Calix is not the only company whose board of directors Mr. Marks serves on. Mr. Marks is also on the board of directors of Zappos.com, SanDisk Corporation, and Schlumberger Limited. He also served on some nonprofit organizations such as the V Foundation for Cancer Research and the National Parks Conservation Association.

Mr. Grosser also brings quite a bit of experience in both venture capital success and leadership in innovative companies. Currently, Mr. Grosser’s duties include being a general partner of Foundation Capital and before coming to Foundation Capital, he was president of Excite@Home’s 1400 person subscriber network. Mr. Grosser also worked for and held key positions in such high profile companies as Apple Computer, Lucasfilm, and Sony Electronics. Mr. Grosser also serves on the board of directors of many other companies as well.

Robert Finzi has a wealth of both operational and financial experience which he will be sharing with the board members of Calix’s board of directors. Mr. Finzi currently serves the Sprout Group as the co-managing partner of the vc firm. Mr. Finzi has over 25 years of experience in venture capital and has been working as the co-managing partner of the Sprout Group since 2003, but has been with the Sprout Group for much longer, working with companies in the high tech industry. Before joining the Sprout Group in 1991, Mr. Finzi was with Merril Lynch since 1985. He also worked with Menlo Ventures and other vc firms.

Riverwood Capital is a global private equity firm that mainly invests in high growth companies who are in both the tech and services industries.

Founded in 1995, Foundation Capital is a vc firm that was founded with the sole purpose to build great companies. Foundation’s philosophy is in the belief of the power of an idea. The team at Foundation Capital is experienced in everything that the young entrepreneur should know. Many of Foundation’s partners have served as CEOs, executive managers, and technologists. Some other companies in Foundation’s portfolio include Aktino, Altor Networks, Atheros, Azur Power, BabyCare, Biz360, and others.
Founded in 1969, the Sprout Group is one of the oldest vc firms in the United States and currently boasts of having over $3 billion of committed capital under its management. The primary focus of the Sprout Group’s investments is in emerging companies in a broad spectrum of industries. Some other companies in the Sprout Group’s portfolio include Actel, AMD, CyOptics, Aurora Networks, NetCore, Cisco Systems, and others.

For more information about Calix, click here.

Based in Goffstown, New Hampshire, one of the United States’ leading producer of wood pellets for burning in stoves and grills, WoodPellets.com announced today that it has closed an $11 million round of funding that was led by Monitor Clipper Partners. Other investors include .406 Ventures, who was the leader in the company’s previous round of funding.

Formerly known as PelletSales.com, WoodPellets.com was founded in 2006 and since then the company has revolutionized the way the wood pellets are to be delivered. As the market for new environmentally friendly sources of energy keeps expanding, wood pellets have become noticed to be an environmentally friendly biomass source of heat and energy. The pellets are small and burn easily and hot, producing little or no exhaust. WoodPellets.com has made the distribution of these wood pellets easy to deliver to buyers. WoodPellets.com has become successful because it has a whole group of affiliates and partners that are able to rapidly deliver the pellets to retailers or even directly to the consumer.

Just during the past year, WoodPellets.com has accomplished a myriad of milestones. First, in 2008, WoodPellets.com experienced some massive organizational growth and expansion by growing revenue over a fivefold that was mainly driven by referrals from satisfied customers and a large network of affiliated wood pellet stove retailers. By having an extended partner and affiliate program, the company was able to build a reliable network of affiliated fuel suppliers and heating system retailers, selling its products to a large market throughout the United States. Furthermore, WoodPellets.com has over 25 production facilities in both the United States and Canada. WoodPellet.com’s wood pellets are also sold in over 150 different stove retailers. WoodPellets.com also successfully engaged in strategic rebranding, changing its name from PelletSales.com to the current name and launching a new toll free number, 1-800-PELLETS.

According to Adam Doctoroff, partner with Monitor Capital Partners; WoodPellets.com has an innovative method of selling wood pellets for heating fuel. Mr. Doctoroff further stated that selling a specific product to a specific market, especially to a specified market that is growing rapidly presents an opportunity for Monitor Capital Partners to place an investment.

According to Liam Donohue, cofounder and partner at .406 Ventures, when the team at .406 met WoodPellets.com, they saw that this company has great potential to do well in the marketplace, and the team at .406 has been very pleased with the progress the company has been making so far. Furthermore, WoodPellets.com has made an innovative way of selling wood pellets online by its network of affiliates and partners.

Founded in 1998, Monitor Capital Partners is a vc firm that has over $2 billion in committed capital under its management, and mainly makes its investments in middle and growth stage companies and buyouts. Some other companies in Monitor’s portfolio include Accellos, Access Communications, Earth Fair, Metro, and others.

For more information about WoodPellets.com, click here.

Based in Boise, Idaho, Balihoo, which is one of the premier local advertising automation services provider, announced today that it has received additional funding in a funding round led by OpenView Venture Partners. OpenView Venture Partners joined in with Balihoo’s existing investors in this round of funding, who include Highway 12 Ventures and Lacuna Gap Capital. Balihoo is a different type of marketing company in that it offers national brand names the necessary local marketing needs through local and regional automated advertising that caters to those brands and local franchises and their local advertising and marketing needs.

According to the Senior Managing Director and Managing Partner of OpenView Venture Partners, Scott Maxwell, Balihoo offers a unique local advertising platform to national name brands and franchises, which enhances the brand’s image nationally and at the same time increasing the demand for that particular brand in that local area. Furthermore, Balihoo’s growing customer base is a testament to the uniqueness and effectiveness of Balihoo’s service. This being mentioned along with the top caliber of Balihoo’s management team, the company is poised for success, making Balihoo fit all the criteria to receive an investment from OpenView Venture Partners.

Balihoo’s CEO, Pete Gombert further stated that OpenView Venture Partners stood out from other investors that the company was looking for to finance its ventures. Mr. Gombert further stated that the company has already experienced four quarter periods with double digit compound revenue growth and OpenView Ventures has an impressive track record in helping software companies to quickly meet the growing demand for their products. Mr. Gombert also stated that after Balihoo launched its new LMA platform, the company has experienced huge demand for this platform and as brands are trying hard to get their products marketed to local markets, they have discovered that Balihoo’s new LMA platform seems to be getting the job done, whereas the conventional marketing techniques are not as effective anymore.

OpenView Venture Partners is an expansion stage vc firm which has over $100 million under its management from leading institutional and private investors throughout the world. OpenView Venture Partners primarily seeks high growth companies in the software, internet, and tech industries. OpenView’s team has the entrepreneurial experience to help entrepreneurs expand their business and meet the growing demand of their products. Some other companies in OpenView’s portfolio include Central Desktop, Open-e, ExactTarget, eEye Digital Security, Aelita Software, and others.

Highway 12 Ventures is a vc firm that seeks high growth potential startup companies within the US intermountain geographic region. Currently the vc firm has over $100 million under its management and invests in all industries. Some other companies in Highway 12 Ventures’ portfolio include @Last Software, Alliance Health, CareFX, CradlePoint, and others.

Lacuna Gap Capital is an early stage vc firm that searches to provide that “missing part” to fill the gap in a company’s early life. The vc firm’s landing page shows a diagram of the entrepreneur’s brain and pinpoints all the things that an entrepreneur would be likely to think about.

For more information about Balihoo, click here.

Based in Menlo Park, California, Shasta Ventures is a vc firm that primarily invests in early stage companies. Today Shasta Ventures announced the appointment of Michael Buhr as the vc firm’s new resident entrepreneur. Mr. Buhr is a former executive of both eBay and StumbleUpon. Some of the duties that Mr. Buhr will have at his new job with Shasta Ventures are evaluating prospective investments in both the mobile and discovery industries. At StumbleUpon, Mr. Buhr was the general manager of the company. StumbleUpon is a leading online content destination. Before working for StumbleUpon, Mr. Buhr worked for eBay, where he was the senior director of corporate strategy.

According to the managing director of Shasta Ventures, Robert Conybeer, Mr. Buhr has a keen understanding of evaluating new emerging market opportunities. Furthermore, he has sharp insights into user experience and knows how to transform that experience into a successful business. Mr. Buhr and his skills will be instrumental for the vc firm to continue its investments in the consumer internet industry. Moreover, the people at Shasta Ventures believe that the future growth potential is in the smart phone, social media, and location based capabilities. If one is just to look at the consumer data and the markets, one can see that there is a ferocious appetite for these products and services.

Mr. Buhr’s business experience also goes beyond eBay and StumbleUpon. Mr. Buhr also held some key executive positions for Palm and was also one of the cofounders of Lipstream Networks, which is a VoIP service provider. Mr. Buhr also worked in various software companies, which include Apple, Adobe, and 3DO, where he was in charge of product marketing.

For more information about Shasta Ventures, click here.

One of the leading providers of 3D digital and orthodontic solutions in the United States, Candent, announced today that it has closed a new funding round that was led by Fortissimo Capital, a new investor for the company. Candent’s existing investors also participated in this funding round. The money from this round of funding is intended to go to Candent to expand its operations into European markets and further expand its market operations in North America. Currently, Candent’s flagship product is the iTero Digital Impression System, which has already been introduced in the United States for a while, is to be launched in Europe.

According to Candent’s CEO, Terrence J. Gunning, the fact that Candent’s proprietary technology has been the market leader of digital impression solutions for the medical industry is validated by this round of funding. Furthermore, this funding rounding will go to help the company in this new growth stage and bring its powerful technology to dentists worldwide. Mr. Gunning further stated that currently over 3000 dental practices use the iTero Digital Impression System and this number is projected to grow.

According to Candent’s COO, Timothy Mack, since Candent launched the iTero imaging system in 2006, the number of dental practices wanting to use his technology has exceeded all the company’s expectations. The iTero technology is so powerful, because it can allow dentists and orthodontists to create all kinds of dental and orthodontic reparations, such as verniers, crowns, bridges, inlays, and other dental reparation procedures. The company currently is processing over 2000 cases per week, and this number is growing in Candent’s current markets within North America and Europe.

According to Fortissimo’s Yochai Hacohen, Fortissimo Capital decided to invest in Candent, because the company’s revolutionary technology is being used by a growing number of dental practices and is clearly disrupting the marketplace. Furthermore, the fact that the iTero technology is being noticed and used by more dental practices, the team at Fortissimo Capital is pleased to help Candent realize its new growth stage and sees a good opportunity in the company.

According to Amos Goren, executive chairman of Candent and board representative for Apax Partners, three years ago, after Candent launched its iTero Digital Impression System, the company has experienced amazing growth and the team at Candent welcomes Fortissimo Capital aboard.

Fortissimo Capital is a private equity firm that seeks companies that are in growth stage and have revolutionary solutions that are disrupting the market. Fortissimo Capital invests for the long term. Fortissimo seeks a positive partnership with the management teams of its portfolio companies. Some other companies in Fortissimo Capital’s portfolio include AOD Software, Crow Technologies, Emblaze, RadView Software, and others.

For more information about Candent, click here.

Based in Dallas, Texas, Syndiant, the maker of the world’s smallest projector, announced today that it has received $10.7 million in series B funding from private investors and the Texas Emerging Technology Fund. Proceeds from this funding round is to go to ramp up the company’s product development on a massive scale.

Syndiant manufactures small projectors that can project a crisp and clear image using pico technology. These projectors are basically a small light emitting chip that can be installed into practically any electronic gadget ranging from cellphones to small pen-size projectors. Syndiant’s proprietary technology can provide a big screen display from a tiny projector to create killer presentations from anywhere by projecting an image from a micro projector installed in a cellphone or iPhone. The possibilities are endless. With Syndiant’s technology, users can project an increadibly sharp image all the way across from a room.

According to Syndiant’s CEO, Mark Harward; for Syndiant to be able to secure such a large funding round in today’s difficult economy is quite an accomplishment. This funding round from the company’s investors shows that Syndiant’s superior technology and astute business strategy can give out enormous potential. Mr. Howard further added that a strong balance sheet allows for the company to be able to ramp up volume sales at the same time extend its technology to the pico projector markets.

Mr. Harward further stated that the Texas Emerging Technology Fund played a crucial role in this funding round. Mr. Harward is very proud of his company having met such a major milestone to meet the criteria for an investment from the Texas Emerging Technology Fund.

One of the reasons that the Texas Emerging Technology Fund is interested in investing in Syndiant is because it has a mission to expedite the development and marketing of innovative technologies for Texas institutions of higher education.

The Texas Emerging Technology Fund or TETF is a fund that is dedicated to fund new revolutionary technologies that could be of benefit to Texas institutions. According to the TETF official website, the fund believes that good innovative hi-tech companies do not appear over night. In order to develop innovative technologies takes quite a bit of research and experimentation. Some other companies that have received commercialization awards from the TETF include Enthuze, Advitech, BiO2 Medical, Animal Innovations, Nanomedical Systems, Faradox Energy Storage, and others.

For more information about Syndiant, click here.

Based in Atlanta, Georgia, 29 Luxury Goods, Inc. announced today that it had closed a $1.4 million round of funding with Williams Venture Partners, LLC leading the funding. Other investors who participated in this funding round are not disclosed to the public.

29 Luxury Goods is a company who is devoted to the sale and marketing of products in the cosmetics, beauty, luxury, and spa industries. Some of the merchandise that 29 Luxury Goods markets include a whole line of women’s cosmetic products that includes lipstick, eye shadow, and other face makeup. 29 Luxury Goods also markets anti-aging products, such as cremes, lotions, and moisturizers. 29 Luxury Goods advertises its goods to be ecologically friendly and do not contain any paraben or other chemical byproducts.

The CEO of 29 Luxury Goods, Lydia Mondavi, stated that since the company was launched, 29 Luxury Goods has experienced amazing sales growth and even in these difficult economic times, this growth does not seem to be slowing down. Ms. Mondavi further stated that since the company has closed this round of funding, it has been able to execute new opportunities and expand 29 Luxury Goods into new markets both domestically and internationally. Ms. Mondavi also stated that proceeds from this funding will allow the crew at 29 Luxury Goods to maximize brand presence and to develop new business strategies to expand the company’s marketing efforts.

According to the Managing General Partner of Williams Venture Partners, John A. Williams, Jr.; 29 Luxury Goods is showing the proof of concept and market penetration that Williams Venture Partners is looking for when investing in a company. Mr. Williams further stated that the current economic climate is filled with great opportunities. When fewer investors want to take a risk, companies that fit the criteria of Williams Venture Partners can yield good profits for both the company and its investors.

Williams Venture Partners is a vc firm that is opportunistic and will invest in those companies that have an innovative product that has the potential to generate great returns. Furthermore, the vc firm insures the success in its investors by actively participating in its portfolio companies. Williams Venture Partners’ investment strategy is to seek and identify companies that have low risk indications and strategic growth opportunities, providing high opportunities for the firm. Some other companies in Williams Venture Partners’ portfolio include Cocobonbons, Mythic Paints, Rent Bureau, and others.

For more information about 29 Luxury Goods, click here.

With offices in both Woburn, Massachusetts and Vedaek, Denmark; one of the leaders in molecular biomedicine, AdvanDX announced today that it had closed an $8 million funding round from existing shareholders, Scandinavian Life Science or SLS Ventures and LD Pensions. Along with this round of funding, AdvanDX also announced that it was to elect a new member to its board of directors.

AdvanDX is a leader in molecular biomedicine and specializes in developing molecular diagnostic tests for life threatening bacterial infections. These diagnostic tests are very easy to use and provide very accurate results quickly. This in turn can greatly improve the patient’s care and treatment and further save lives that could otherwise be lost to bacterial infections that have been diagnosed too late. Furthermore, because these diagnostic test kits that AdvanDX develops and markets can diagnose infections accurately can allow for quicker treatment of infections, reducing both the patient’s hospitalization and healthcare costs. AdvanDX diagnostic products are used both in the United States and Europe.

Along with the funding, the company’s stock holders elected Tina W. Christensen to its board of directors. Ms. Christensen works for Denmark’s health insurance company, “Danmark,” where she serves as the company’s CFO and vice president. Danmark is responsible for providing healthcare to over 2 billion Danish citizens.

According to the CEO and president of AdvanDX, Thais Johansen; more medical institutions are starting to adopt the techniques that AdvanDX is developing and the company is seeing its sales grow. Furthermore the proceeds from this funding will help the scientists working at AdvanDX to develop new tests and diagnostic tools for some of the more serious infections that can afflict people who are hospitalized. Mr. Johanesn further stated that he and the team of AdvanDX is very appreciative of the endorsement of the company’s investors to help them in the future.

SLS Ventures is an interntational vc firm that is devoted to the life sciences industry and is one of the largest vc firms based in Scandinavia. To date, SLS Ventures has over €270 million ($383,866,361.58) of committed capital under its management. Some other companies in SLS’s portfolio include ActionPharma, Atlas Antibodies, Doxa, Gyros, Light Sciences Oncology, Medical Vision, Medicure, OxThera, and others.

With over $10 billion under its management, LD Pensions is one of Denmark’s largest pension funds and has a long term investment strategy that is very selective. LD Pensions likes to invest in unlisted companies that present great opportunities for the fund and the fund has the objective of investing in a particular company for a time period of in between three to five years.

For more information about AdvanDX, click here.

Based in Salt Lake City, Utah, online crime reporting firm, CrimeReports.com announced today that it had received $7.2 million in series B funding led by Austin Ventures. Other investors who participated in this round of funding include the company’s existing investor, vSpring. This round of funding comes as CrimeReporter.com is poised to expand its service offerings.

CrimeReports.com is one of the largest and most accurate crime reporting services in the United States and has over 500 agencies nationwide that works closely with local law enforcement agencies to get the crime reports in the regions it serves. CrimeReports.com offers online software to law enforcement agencies and neighborhood watch groups accurately estimate crime rates in their areas. Furthermore, CrimeReports.com also provides communities access to the map on its website and emails community members regular crime alerts.

In the past year, CrimeReports.com defined itself as the leader in web 2.0 quality crime tracking software for law enforcement and the company has experienced record sales growth in the past year. Just in the past two months, CrimeReports.com has expanded its client base expand to over twenty percent. This record growth has been partly because law enforcement agencies have been very enthusiastic about the service that CrimeReports.com provides.

According to the CEO and founder of CrimeReports.com, Greg Whisenant; the company is very pleased to have received this funding round that was led by Austin Ventures. Mr. Whisenant further added that the proceeds from this round of funding will greatly help CrimeReports.com to expand its client base and increase its services into states where CrimeReport.com’s services are not yet available. Furthermore, this funding will also allow CrimeReports.com to be able serve law enforcement agencies of all sizes and budgets.

Mike Dodd, venture partner at Austin Ventures further stated that this round of funding and the commitment that Austin Ventures has placed in CrimeReports.com is a testament that the vc firm is confident that CrimeReports.com can meet the real needs that often go unmet by today’s law enforcement agencies and community watch groups.

Furthermore, as part of the agreement of this funding round, Mike Dodd will also be joining CrimeReports.com’s board of directors.

Austin Ventures is both a vc and private equity firm that is dedicated to backing talented entrepreneurs and startup companies. Austin Ventures currently has ten funds which all together add up to $3.9 billion under its management. Furthermore, Austin Ventures is one of the most active vc and private equity firms in the state of Texas and it invests mainly in companies and entrepreneurs who are in the business services, media, tech, software, and internet industries. Some other companies in Austin Ventures’ portfolio include Active Power, Boca, CompUSA, Dazel, McDATA, Star Concrete, and others.

For more information about CrimeReports.com, click here.

Based in Mountain View, California, one of the largest do-it-your-self fashion social networks in the United States, Polyvore; announced today that it had raised a $6.5 million investment with Matrix Partners leading the funding round. Existing investors who also participated in this funding round include Benchmark Capital and Harrison Metal Capital. Along with this round of funding, Polyvore also announced that it has acquired 4 million unique visitors to its website.

Polyvore is a fashion magazine social network where the users to use a virtual styling tool to mix and match various different articles of clothing and shoes from practically any online store. Users can then create fashion collages with the different articles of clothing. Polyvore was founded in 2007 by former Yahoo and Google employees.

Benchmark Capital is one of Polyvore’s original investors, taking part in a $2.5 million series A funding round. Currently the company has already reached 4 million unique users and is attempting to grow its operations. Harrison Metal Capital also participated in the previous series A funding and proceeds from this round of funding will go to help Polyvore achieve its goals.

According to Dana Stalder, general partner with Matrix Partners; Polyvore has an innovative approach to fashion and incorporated its fashion mixing content together with e-commerce to allow creative users to create their own fashion collages and realize their outfits by mixing and matching different articles of clothing from all kinds on online clothing stores. This blend allows both Polyvore and e-commerce companies in the apparel industry to profit from the different fashion crazes that come and go.

Another unique feature that Polyvore has is the ability to imbed newly created fashion outfits onto blogs which people can easily share with each other on other social networks, such as Twitter, Facebook, and My Space.

According to Polyvore’s CEO, Pasha Sadri, Polyvore can be a powerful platform for anyone to promote specific brands or styles and start whole new trends throughout the fashion industry. Mr. Sadri further added that Polyvore outfits are user generated advertisements for brands that are contained in those outfits. Furthermore, Benchmark Capital’s Peter Fenton went on to add that name brands have always become popular by positive word of mouth. Furthermore, being a social media site, Polyvore can along with Twitter and the other social networks that have appeared provide an effective broadcasting platform that amplifies word of mouth marketing.

Founded in 1977, Matrix Capital is a vc firm that primarily invests in early stage companies who are in the communications, consumer internet, mobile, semiconductor, and software industries. Matrix Partners invests for the long term and likes world-class entrepreneurs. Some other companies in Matrix’s portfolio include Apple Computers, Anjuke, Apollo Computer, Alteon WebSystems, Aruba Networks, Arroyo Video Solutions, Clarify, and others.

Founded in 1995, Benchmark Capital is an international vc firm that mainly invests in companies who are in the tech industry. Benchmark Capital invests for the long term and its general partners like to take a team approach when investing. Some other companies in Benchmark’s portfolio include 1-800 Flowers, Art.com, America Online, Conduit, Power Challenge, Ruba.com, and others.

For more information about Polyvore, click here.

Based in Sunnyvale, California, leading smart phone company, MobileIron announced today that it has received $11 million in series B funding with Norwest Venture Partners, Sequoia Capital, and Storm Ventures leading the funding round. Other investors who participated in this round of funding have not been disclosed by the company.

MobileIron is a company that is dedicated to upgrade smart phones and make them enterprise ready. MobileIron works with the smart phones and their manufacturers to cooperate with CIOs to help solve problems that arise when enterprise data comes to the smart phone and other small mobile devices. One of the first solutions that MobileIron has come up with is the MobileIron Virtual Smart Phone Platform, which combines the data driven smart phone with real time smart phone wireless costs. This platform is very innovative, because it allows for cooperation with IT and end users.

According to Gaurav Garg, partner with Sequoia Capital; the opportunity in the smart phone industry is enormous. Furthermore, MobileIron has an innovative proprietary technology which has the potential to play a pivotal role in the expansion of smart phones in the enterprise world. Matt Howard, partner at Norwest Venture Partners also added that Norwest has backed MobileIron before because their management team has the experience in both the mobile and enterprise industries and the team at Norwest Venture Partners feels confident that this would be a great opportunity for a successful investment.

According to the managing director of Storm Ventures, Tae Hea Nahm; Storm Ventures has been a supporter and an investor of MobileIron since the company was founded. Storm Ventures started to incubate MobileIron in 2007 and the vc firm sees the opportunity in MobileIron and its innovative technology, which would coordinate the enterprise world with the smart phone.

According to MobileIron’s CEO, Bob Tinker; MobileIron has a mission to enable its clients to embrace smart phones throughout their organizations.

Founded in 2000, Storm Ventures is a vc firm that is comprised of a team of seasoned tech industry veterans. Storm Ventures is a vc firm that primarily invests in early stage companies who are in the tech industry and have a proprietary technology that is innovative and can potentially disrupt the markets. Some other companies in Storm’s portfolio include Qwaq, Lighterra Networks, Access360, SandForce, Storm Watch, Kineta Wireless, Cell Fire, Picateers, and others.

Sequoia Capital is a prominent vc firm that is run by some of the United States’ most well known entrepreneurs, such as Steve Jobbs of Apple Computers, Len Bozack of Cisco Systems, Laqrry Ellison of Oracle, and other key people in the US tech industry. The people at Sequoia believe in funding those creative and innovative entrepreneurs who have the desire and the passion to turn their ideas into great companies. Some other companies in Sequoia’s portfolio include A123, Dropbox, Linkedin, Loopt, Meebo, Infoblox, and others.

Norwest Venture Partners is a large vc firm that invests in all stages of a company’s life. Norwest Venture Partners is an international vc firm with offices in Palo Alto, California, and in Mumbai and Bangalore, India with over $2.5 billion in committed capital under its management. Some other companies in Norwest’s portfolio include 3Jam, Brand.net, Jigsaw, Kayak, LendingClub, Nanotex, Nearby Now, Picateers, UnisFair, and others.

For more information about MobileIron, click here.

Based in Boston, Massachusetts, the online help desk company, Zendesk announced today that it has received $6 million in series B funding led by Benchmark Capital. Other investors who participated in this round of funding include the company’s previous investor, Charles River Ventures. Along with this round of funding, Zendesk also announced the introduction of new products to the marketplace.

Zendesk is an online help desk company that provides tech support to all companies, both large and small. Having been around for two years, Zendesk helps businesses with their help desk and customer support by moving all operations to the internet. Zendesk has been taking off in the marketplace by already acquiring many well known companies as customers, which include Twitter, MSNBC, IDEO, Books-a-million, and Scribd. All these companies use Zendesk to improve their tech support. Zendesk is successful, because of its flexible platform that allows companies to set their business rules, service targets, and to track and consolidate requests from all channels. As part of the service that Zendesk offers, all Zendesk clients get a native email support system and Zendesk also offers a whole set of APIs to its customers. Zendesk also offers its customer companies $19 per agent and also has a special offer of $39 for the first three agents as an introductory fee.

Zendesk also provides a service to small businesses and home-based businesses that starts at an affordable $9 per month. This service provides a professional grade fully featured tech support, but onle supports one agent. This service for the small and home-based businesses as called the Zendesk Solo package.

According to the CEO of Zendesk, Mikkel Svane; Zendsesk has disrupted the entire tech support industry because it brings a product to the marketplace that is solid as that of the competition, yet at the same time it is user friendly and very easy to use, being a real treat for those in the social networking industry. Furthermore it is because of Zendesk’s products and services, that the company has received all the vc backing that it has been receiving. Devutte and Charles River Ventures were the first ones to see this potential and later, Peter Fenton came on board together with his team of investors at Benchmark Capital, who also realized the potential of Zendesk’s products and services. Mikkel Svane further stated that the team at Zendesk is thrilled at the fact that the unique combination of SaaS, or Software as a Service, and the consumer technology experience that the team at Benchmark Capital has can be brought to the company and can create a dream team of Zendesk’s corporate executives and knowledgeable partners to build a powerful company.

According to Mr. Fenton, who is a partner at Benchmark Capital, the era that we live in today is enveloped in technology and information. People today cannot function without technology or computers and electronics. Furthermore, Mr. Fenton stated that two of Benchmark’s portfolio companies, Twitter and Engine Yard were both raving about Zendesk and how Zendesk’s products and services are used by these two companies for their help desk and customer support services. Right away, the team at Benchmark Capital saw an amazing opportunity in Zendesk.

Founded in 1995, Benchmark Capital is a leading vc firm that mainly invests in innovative entrepreneurs who want to build successful companies in the tech industry. Benchmark Capital has its partners work together with entrepreneurs as a team and has a team approach to venture investing. Currently, Benchmark Capital has over $2.8 billion in committed capital under its management and some other companies in its portfolio include Twitter, Atrica, Mazu Networks, BlueLane, Securify, CTERA Networks, Decru, Skybox, and others.

Charles River Ventures was founded in 1970 and is one of the oldest vc firms in the United States and is also one of the most successful vc firms that invests in early stage companies. Charles River Ventures currently has over $2.1 billion in venture capital under its management and is dedicated to find talented entrepreneurs and help them build their ideas into large successful companies. Some other companies in Charles River Ventures’s portfolio include Acopia, Virtusa, Flarion, Pirus, Basis, Flycast, and others.

For more information about Zendesk, click here.

Founded in 2007, the internet television and video provider, Boxee announced today that it has received a $6 million funding round with General Catalyst leading the funding. Other investors who participated in this funding round include the company’s existing investors, who include Spark Capital and Union Square Ventures. Along with this round of funding, Boxee also announced that Niel Sequeira, partner at General Catalyst, will join the company’s board of directors.

Founded in 2007, Boxee is the brainchild of Avner Ronen, who is also the founder of Odigo Messenger, which was later sold to Comverse Technology, Inc. Boxee is a media software developer that develops media software for the internet based on open code. On the company site, Boxee advertises itself as providing a new way to enjoy entertainment on your TV and PC. Boxee has a unique application that allows users to take what ever video or entertainment that is on the net, download it to their PC and then watch it on their television set in the living room, making internet entertainment fun for the whole family.

The team seems to be very happy to have General Catalyst as a new partner and had stated on its own blog that the reason that Boxee chose to partner with General Catalyst is because the vc firm brings more to the table than money. The people at Boxee wanted a partner that understands the media software industry. Furthermore, Mr. Sequeira and General Catalyst have many years of experience in the internet media industry.

General Catalyst Partners is both a vc and private equity firm that mainly invests in outstanding entrepreneurs who are building excellent companies in the tech industry. General Catalyst Partners was founded in 2000 and advertises itself as a vc firm that is a leader in innovation and industry transformation. Besides the tech industry, General Catalyst Partners also invests in the clean tech, media, communications and wireless, software, and systems industries, should entrepreneurs in those industries have the product or service that would be able to disrupt those markets. Some other companies in General Catalyst’s portfolio include Advanced Electron Beams, LumenZ, Modular Wind, JumpTap, Go2Media, Big Fish Games, DECA, OnForce, Roost, ScanScout, and others.

Spark Capital is a vc firm that believes that convergence and disruption generate each other. The team at Spark likes convergence, because this is where they believe that some of the greatest opportunities can arise. Furthermore, Spark likes the disruption, because disruptive companies can upset the marketplace and generate great revenues for the vc firm. Furthermore, the team at Spark Capital believes that motivation, and groundbreaking ideas can spark success both for the entrepreneur and Spark Capital.

Based in New York City, Union Square Ventures is a vc firm that primarily invests in early stage companies that are in the media, marketing, financial services, telecommunications, and healthcare industries. Having been around for over 17 years, Union Square Ventures has invested in over 120 companies. Some other companies in Union Square’s portfolio include 10gen, AdaptiveBlue, AMEE, Bug Logs, Clickable, and others.

For more information about Boxee, click here.

Based in San Jose, California, Shocking Technologies announced today that it had just received $10 million in second round funding, which was led by Vista Ventures. The company’s existing investors also participated in this round of funding. Shocking Technologies’ other investors include ARCH Venture Partners, ATA Ventures, Balch Hill Partners, and some undisclosed private investors.

Shocking Technologies is a company that develops polymers for dielectric circuits. Currently, Shocking Technologies is developing a unique dual-use voltage switchable polymer that is under the trademark name of Voltage Switchable Dielectric or VSD. This is basically a polymer nano-composite, that in normal circumstances behaves like an insulator, but when the voltage in the circuit crosses the threshold of the VSD, it becomes a conductor. Once the voltage drops below the set threshold, the polymer again behaves like an insulator. This innovative technology can revolutionize the electronics industry because it can completely change the way circuitry can function in certain electronic devices. One of the applications for this polymer is designed for embedded electrostatic discharge or ESD protection in printed circuit boards and semiconductors.

Along with this round of funding, Shocking Technologies also announced that it has appointed a new member to its board of directors. Simon Michael, from Balch Hill Partners will be joining the company’s board of directors and continue advising the company in future business strategies.

According to Vista Venture’s Jim Hogan, the polymer nano-composite that Shocking Technologies is developing is going to solve a problem that has been in the electronics industry for a long time. It will also make the design of both chips and electronic systems much easier and more effective.

According to Shocking Technologies’ president and CEO, Lex Kosowsky; Shocking Technologies has been very fortunate that it was able to identify the cause of a major problem in the electronics industry. Furthermore, the company has developed an innovative solution and was able to get it patented by the US government. Proceeds from this funding will allow the company to continue the development of this solution and build out its manufacturing infrastructure. The company also works on these innovative technologies for its customers, who make everything from cellphones to flash drives. Shocking Technologies plans to have its VSD out to market in next coming months.

Based in Boulder, Colorado, Vista Ventures is a vc firm that mainly invests in early stage companies in the tech industry. The major part of Vista’s strategy is to invest in companies that have an innovative product or service which would make those companies be potential market leaders. Vista prefers to be early investors in a companies which demonstrate that their product is a “must have” in the industry. Some other companies in Vista’s portfolio include DAFCA, Dante Software, Mx Logic, News Gater, Rally Software, and others.

For more information about Shocking Technologies, click here.

Founded in 2004 and based in Menlo Park California, Pacific Biosciences, which is a pioneer in the development of DNA sequencing technology, has announced that it had raised $68 million in additional funding with two new investors joining the company’s existing investors in the funding round. The new investors who joined in the funding are Monsanto and the Wellcome Trust and Sutter Hill Ventures. The company’s existing investors include Deerfield Management, Intel Capital, Morgan Stanley, Redmile Group, Mohr Davidow Ventures, and others.

Pacific Biosciences is a DNA engineering company which is currently doing research with the end goal being the development and commercialization of transformative SMRT technology, which is single molecule real time DNA sequencing that the company hopes to eventually become the gold standard of genetic analysis. One of the greatest achievements that Pacific Biosciences boasts of is that it has won the Advance Sequencing Technology Award from the Human Genome Project, which was intended to develop the $1,000 genome. The SMRT technology that Pacific Biosciences is currently working on is in research stage and the company plans to launch its SMRT technology in 2010.

According to the Chairman of the Board of Governors at Monsanto and the Wellcome Trust, Bill Castell; the team at Monsanto and the Wellcome Trust ecstatic about making investments in a company that is developing a new generation in DNA sequencing technology. What is especially amazing about this technology is that it has the potential to be able to unlock all the inheritance and environmental factors that affect the health of human beings.

According to the company’s CEO, Hugh Martin; the fact that Pacific Biosciences has been able to raise large sums of moneys, which sums to the total of over $188 million since the past summer during difficult economic times, is a testament to the fact that the company’s disruptive technology shows great promise in the marketplace. Mr. Martin also stated that he is very excited that such strategic global investors, such as Monsanto and the Wellcome Trust and Sutter Hill Ventures are joining the company’s growing list of investors.

Sutter Hill Ventures is a vc firm that invests in technology based entrepreneurs who are pioneers in the development of important products and services and devote the Sutter Hill vc team’s time and money to build their companies into world-leading industries. Sutter Hill Ventures was founded in 1964 and has been funding startup companies in the tech industry since that time. Along with the necessary funding, the vc firm also provides entrepreneurs with the expertise and sound advice. Sutter Hill Ventures invests in both private and public companies. Some other companies in Sutter Hill Ventures’ portfolio include Acceleron Pharma, AKARx, Aspect Medical Systems, BARRX Medical, Info Medics, Kalypto Medical, Threshold Pharmaceuticals, and others.

For more information about Pacific Biosciences, click here.

Based in Netania, Israel, NiTi Surgical Solutions announced today that it had completed an $18.5 million series F funding round, which was led by one of the leading life science funds, Forbion Capital Partners. Other investors, who participated in this funding round including all the company’s existing investors, who are Evergreen Venture Partners, Israel Healthcare Partners, MBVC and Alice Lab, and SCP Vitalife.

NiTi Surgical Solutions is an innovative surgical device developer that primarily focuses Bio-Dynamix, which is natural healing and has the potential to have a much better outcome for both patients and physicians. This financing comes on the heals of NiTi’s marketing efforts of its new flagship product, the ColonRing, which is used in the colon.

The ColonRing is a new technology that has just been approved in the United States and it employs Nitinol leaf springs, which is placed in the colon and then stretch to be put in place open up the colon and then close back up to heal the colon and return the colon tissue thickness back to a healthy thickness.

Furthermore, there have been human clinical trials in which the ColonRing and BioDynamix Anastomosis has shown great potential to provide good anastomosis and reduce complications. Furthermore, after trial patients had colonoscopies done after six months after the experimental surgery have shown stellar healing of the colon and seamless anastomosis. In animal trials, the ColonRing has shown a zero percentage of rupturing of the colon where the surgery took place.

Proceeds from this funding will go to aggressively market the new ColonRing BioDynamix technology and to further the advance of both ongoing and future research on the company’s BioDiynamix platform. Recently, NiTi Surgical Solutions launched the ColonRing technology in the United States and this new surgery has been very well received in the medical community due to its amazing healing capabilities. Furthermore, the ColonRing has shown excellent closure results and has already been performed in 2,200 patients.

According to the Managing Director of Israel Healthcare Ventures, Dr. Hadar Ron, MD; this round of funding is a result of NiTi’s effective and successful business strategy. Furthermore, the company has had a rapidly growing market presence with its proprietary BioDynamix technology. Furthermore, because NiTi Surgical Solutions has developed revolutionary technology which has optimized the healing after gastrointestinal surgery. Dr. Ron further added that with the technology that NiTi has to offer and its commercializing of these biological healing technologies and developing these new devices are meeting an unmet surgical needs.

Some of the other products that NiTi Surgical Development has developed include surgical rings, clips, and appliers which have become the next generation of surgical devices available to speed up the post surgical healing.

Other news that NiTi Surgical Solutions has along with this round of funding is the appointment of Dr. Avi Molcho, MD; who is a venture partner of Forbion Capital Partners. Dr. Molcho went on to state that the team at Forbion Capital Partners truly believes that the technology which NiTi Surgical Solutions offers provides surgeons with devices that can optimize the healing process after the surgery has been performed.

Forbion Capital Partners is a leading vc firm that is completely dedicated to the healthcare industry and invests in companies that have solutions which can disrupt the markets within the healthcare industry. Forbion especially specialize in drug development and medical devices throughout Europe, the United States, and Canada. Some other companies in Forbion’s portfolio include Acadia Pharmaceuticals, Accelerated Technologies, AM Pharma, Argenta Discoveries, Argos Therapeutics, and others.

For more information about NiTi Surgical Solutions, click here.

Founded in 2006 and based in Scottsdale, Arizona, iMemories announced today that it had received $6.2 million in series B funding with Capital Southwest leading the funding round. This round of funding that iMemories received today brings the total amount of venture funding which the company has received since its inception up to $11 million. Along with this round of funding, iMemories also announced that the senior vice president of Capital Southwest, Bill Ashbaugh will join the company’s board of directors.

iMemories is a company that provides a website which allows families to share their family photos online and can share their memories together. iMemories is unique to the market because it is the only company that has software, which allows consumers to upload, share, and preserve their family photos and it does not even matter what file format these photos are. iMemories also allows consumers to upload their home videos as well.

Proceeds from this funding will go to help iMemories solidify its leadership and management as well as to solidify its position in the emerging social media markets. There is a market niche for the service that iMemories provides. The ability for families to be able to upload, preserve, and share both photos and videos online with an internet based software that includes analog and digital formats. Furthermore, because consumers are always looking for more unique and effective ways to both preserve and share their memories with friends and family, this market is growing an explosive rate.

According to the founder and CEO of iMemories, Mark Rukavina, though personal images have always been important, nowadays, personal images have become more important than ever before. In this digital age, photos and videos have become an inseparable part of people’s lives. To most people, images have always had irreplaceable value, but because of digital imaging technologies and social media networks coming up on the horizon, images have become more important than ever.

How iMemories works is that consumers use the iMemories software and online database as a central location to hold all their photos and videos. What makes iMemories one of a kind is that it does not matter how people capture their memories. They might be shooting their family videos with an old camcorder and the video is captured on video tape, they might still capture their photos on film, or they could be using the newer digital format to capture their memories on videos and photos. With iMemories, that does not matter. The consumer can use what ever format they wish and it works.

As far as Mr. Ashbaugh is concerned, iMemories has all the criteria that the team at Capital Southwest looks for to make a successful investment. The fact that iMemories has a product and a service that can meet an insatiable demand in the marketplace, as well as having a top-notched management team makes the company poised for success in the future.

Capital Southwest is a business development company that is publicly owned and is capable of making indefinite investments. Capital Southwest is dedicated to business development and currently has over $418 million of capital under its management. Capital Southwest was founded in 1961 and Capital Southwest states that it is not a private equity or vc firm. Some other companies in Capital Southwest’s portfolio include Alamo Group, ACI Group, BankCap Partners, Boxx, Blue Magic, and others.

For more information about iMemories, click here.

Based in Los Gatos, California, Amalfi Semiconductor announced today that it had received $24 million in series C funding, which was led by new investor, Battery Ventures. All the company’s existing investors also participated in this round of funding. The other existing investors include DCM, Globespan Capital, and Trinity Ventures.

Amalfi Semiconductor is a company that manufactures low cost and low power mixed signal CMOS RF for cellular applications. The company has strong backing from both the above mentioned vc firms as well as private investors. Amalfi is currently anticipating rapid growth, because of the demand of the company’s CMOS technology. Proceeds from this round of funding is intended to help Amalfi Semiconductor handle this rapid growth when it happens. Furthermore this round of funding will also help the company boost its product development and build an aggressive marketing campaign.

According to the CEO and founder of Amalfi Semiconductor, Jim Finch, over the past several years, the company has been able to secure a good client base and since Amalfi introduced its first product in 2008, the company has proven to several cellular manufacturers that its CMOS technology offers a much higher grade front end system, compared to the competing technology currently available. Mr. Finch further stated that this round of funding provided by these prominent venture firms will allow the company to further advance and expand its market presence with its proprietary technology that the management team at Amalfi will lead to a paradigm shift to the new CMOS technology. Furthermore, the fact that the cost of this technology is reasonable and that its operational functions are energy efficient, this technology will greatly improve wireless communications and greatly improve battery life in the cell phones that employ this technology.

According to Ken Lawler, General Partner at Battery Ventures, the team at Battery Ventures has researched this particular market for over a year, and has been watching all the emerging players in this market to find a good opportunity for an investment. Furthermore, investors know that CMOS technology is a multibillion dollar market and that Amalfi’s position in this market has a positive outlook and the company’s management team makes Amalfi poised for success.

Battery Ventures is a vc firm that has been around for over 25 years and mainly invests in companies within the tech industry and focuses its investments in all stages of a company’s life. Battery Ventures invests globally and the vc firm has over $3 billion under its management. Battery Ventures also deals with private equity as well as venture capital. Some other companies in Battery’s portfolio include Akamai, SpotRunner, FingerHut, BladeLogic, Tejas Networks, Nova Technologies, and others.

DMC is a vc firm that invests in early stage companies and likes to partner with entrepreneurs who can bring disruptive products to the marketplace. Currently DMC has over $1.6 million under its management and is based in Silicon Valley, but also has offices in Beijing, China; and Tokyo, Japan. Other companies in DMC’s portfolio include @Motion, 2Wire, About.com, Bill.com, Brickfish, Cortina, Hudong, and others.

Globespan Caqpital is a global vc firm that is based in Boston, Massachusetts; Palo Alto, California; and Tokyo, Japan. Currently Globespan has over $1 billion under its management and invests in companies throughout the United States, China, and Japan. Some other companies in Globespan’s portfolio include Airgate, Aptis, Argon Networks, Arkivio, Cerulean, ClearWire, and others.

Having been around for 22 years and with experienced investors, Trinity Ventures has over $1 billion under its management and mainly invests in early stage companies who are in the digital media, internet services, mobile, security, and software industries. Other companies in Trinity’s portfolio include 24/7 Real Media, AllData, Aruba Wireless Networks, Avaak, BackWeb, BabyCenter, and others.
For more information about Amalfi Semiconductors, click here.

Based in Norwalk, Connecticut, a leading online college textbook store, announced today that it had received $2.5 million in venture funding from Kohlberg Ventures. Along with this venture funding, Akademos also announced the appointment of two new people onto its board of directors. The first person to be appointed was eHarmony’s marketing executive, Scott Eagle; and seasoned Silicon Valley tech veteran, Bill Youstra, who will bring the company extensive experience.

At eHarmony, Mr. Eagle currently serves as the company’s CMO and is in charge of all of eHarmony’s marketing operations. Mr. Eagle also has deep experience in marketing and customer acquisition in which he has gained while working for various Fortune 500 companies. Mr. Eagle graduated from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania with a BS in Economics.

Besides being a tech veteran from Silicon Valley, Mr. Youstra is also a venture partner at Kohlberg Ventures. Mr. Youstra has deep experience in helping startup companies in the mobile, virtual worlds, e-commerce, and media/marketing industries. Before becoming a venture partner with Kohlberg Ventures, Mr. Youstra worked at AOL, where he was in charge of products and content. During his tenure at AOL, Mr. Youstra was able to get AOL to grow from 500,000 customers to over 20 million. Mr. Youstra graduated from Stanford University with a Masters Degree in Business Administration and an MA in Education, then he went on to study at the University of Maryland, where he received degrees in Film, Computer Science, and Marketing.

Akademos is an online service that links online bookstores to colleges and universities throughout the United States and the main benefit that Akademos offers educational institutions is its turnkey function, linking them to online bookstores, and reducing the operational costs of running a campus bookstore.

According to the managing director of Kohlberg Ventures, Jim Kohlberg, the online bookstore is changing the way college students are getting the required textbooks needed for their courses. In the past, the campus bookstore was the major and sometimes only source for textbooks, but with the online bookstores, students are able to get on their computer, go online, and be able to find the textbooks they need for a lot cheaper. Furthermore, Akademos has streamlined the online book shopping experience and presents a good opportunity for Kohlberg Ventures.

According to Akademos’s CEO, Brian Jacobs, the team at Akademos is thrilled to have Kohlberg Ventures supporting the company. Furthermore, Akademos is undergoing a massive market change since more and more brick and mortar bookstores are going online, this partnership with Kohlberg Ventures along with Mr. Eagle and Mr. Youstra joining the company’s board of directors will provide Akademos with access to valuable experience and help as the company grows.

Kohlberg Ventures is a vc firm that mainly invests in early stage companies who are in the digital media, clean tech, and consumer products industries. Kohlberg cares about the customers of its partner companies’ customers and invests in entrepreneurs who have unique solutions to serve their customers. Kohlberg is interested in what customers will buy, how much they will buy, and how much they are willing to pay for. Kohlberg Ventures is an active investor but portray themselves as not being intrusive and recognize where they can help and where they cannot. Other companies in Kohlberg’s portfolio include Blue Bottle Coffee, Lookery, Silicon Alley Insider, Socialmedian, Wordlock, Clear Edge Power, and others.

For more information about Akademos, click here.

Based in Atlanta, an online payment solutions provider, Paymetrics announced today that it had received an $8 million investment in series B funding with Palomar Ventures leading the round of funding with a $5 million infusion. The other $3 million investment came from the company’s existing investor, Austin Ventures.

Paymetric leads the market in secure online payment solutions. Though the company’s headquarters are in Atlanta, Georgia, Paymetric also has offices in Austin, Texas and Houston, Texas. The types of solutions that Paymetric has can cover a variety of problems with online payment systems. The company’s solutions are versatile and support practically all online payment types of any business. Furthermore, Paymetric’s secure and integrated online payment solutions also help client companies streamline order to cash processes and also reduce the financial burden from companies when being in PCI compliance.

According to Paymetric’s CEO, Larry Wine, despite the difficult economic times, the fact that Austin Ventures providing funding and a new investor coming on board is a testament to the fact that Paymetric has an effective proprietary technology, strong business strategy, and the strength of the company.

Proceeds from this funding round will go to be used to manage Paymetric’s shift in cash flow because of a SaaS or Software as a Service that the company has launched for its clients to use to improve their online payment systems and for Paymetric to go on doing research to develop more products in the online payment field.

Jim Gauer, managing director at Palomar Ventures, stated that he was convinced that Paymetric has a unique position in the marketplace to succeed with its solutions in online electronic payment systems. This statement was later backed up by Michael Rovner, partner at Austin Ventures, who stated that the team at Austin Ventures is excited about the opportunity that Paymetric’s new SaaS will provide in the marketplace. Furthermore, Paymetric over the years has been gaining customer loyalty and this particular round of funding demonstrates the confidence that the two vc firms have in their investments of Paymetric.

Founded in 1999, Palomar Ventures is a vc firm that was created by seasoned venture capitalists who specialize in early stage companies. Since its inception, Palomar Ventures has built over 50 companies and currently has over $500 million in capital under its management. Furthermore, the fact that the partners at Palomar Ventures have experience running private companies backed by venture funding, they fully understand the frustrations that entrepreneurs have when trying to get the necessary capital they need to get their idea off the ground. Some other companies in Palomar’s portfolio include Ace Metrix, Akonix, AlterPoint Applimation, Bigfoot Networks, Bubble Motion, and others.

Austin Ventures has been around for more that 25 years and currently has $3.9 billion under its management. Austin Ventures will partner with talented entrepreneurs who are committed to succeed and have a value building strategy in the tech and service industries. Other companies in Austin’s portfolio include Active Power, Boca, MetaSolve, Mission Critical, Pentasafe, Orion Marine Group, SolarWinds, and others.

For more information about Paymetric, click here.

Israeli medical device company, Angioslide announced today that it has raised $8.3 million in a funding round led by Agate Medical Ventures. Other vc firms that participated in this round of funding include Ofer Hi-Tech Investments and the Viola Group.

Angioslide is a medical device company that developed the angioplasty balloon that is designed to prevent embolisms caused by cholesterol deposits clogging up the arteries and veins. The angioplasty balloon is inserted into the artery with a camera and gets inflated in the fatty deposit and removes the plug of loose fatty particles that could have the potential of creating a fatal embolism. Angioslide was founded in 2005 by Eran Hirszowicz and the Degania Silicon Company. Since its founding, Angioslide has had sales in Europe and will begin sales in America soon.

According to Angioslide’s CEO, Doron Besser, the common practice for dealing with embolisms today is by inserting a filter into the affected area in the artery and prevents particles to travel further in the bloodstream. The filter, however, can be a problem and needs special expertise to be implanted. Furthermore, the filter is only approved for the arteries around the heart and the neck area, and is not always successful and does not protect the kidneys and limbs from embolisms. The product that Angioslide offers is not the typical angioplasty balloon, but a balloon with a solution inside. The Angioslide balloon is inserted into the affected area where it is then inflated. After the balloon is inflated, it then gets folded back and removes the harmful particles from the affective area, therefore preventing the particles from moving further into the cardio-vascular system, potentially causing an embolism. The way this solution works is by having a hook on the guide line at the far end of the balloon and as the balloon is folded back it forms a hollow cone that can then scoop out the fatty particles.

The first product that was designed by Angioslide was originally designed to open blocked blood vessels within the limbs. The blocking of blood vessels in the limbs is not always given its due attention as is that of blocked vessels to the heart and brain get, which is the leading cause of heart attack and stroke. Blocked blood vessels to the limbs, however, can lead to necrosis of the limb and eventually require that limb to be amputated. Furthermore, unlike for arteries near the heart or neck areas, there is no filter designed for the limbs, therefore Angioslide does not need to do any comparative trials with its new balloon.

Agate Medical Investments is an Israeli vc firm that has a vision of becoming a leader in the medical and healthcare industries by investing exclusively in companies that can revolutionize the medical industry. The partners at Agate Medical Investments are dedicated to the belief that healthy returns can be created over a short period of investments. Other companies in Agate’s portfolio include Tulip Medical, Navotek Medical, BrainsGate, and others.

For more information about Angioslide, click here.

Based in Central Israel, WeFi announced today that it had raised $8 to $10 million in a round of funding from Pitango Venture Partners, Lightspeed Venture Partners, and the Gemini Israel Fund. Proceeds from the funding will go to maintain the company’s growth rate and build an infrastructure for large clients that the WeFi is currently having talks with.

WeFi was founded in 2005 and since then it has grown to the point where it currently employs over 40 people in both Israel and the United States. WeFi is a company that provides WiFi connections and software to aid WiFi connectivity with computers and wireless devices. The company’s software is unique because it detects all WiFi hotspots and qualifies them giving the user the information to find the best internet connection possible in areas where WiFi is available. Another benefit of WeFi’s software is that when one WeFi user is online, it will detect other WeFi users when they are online, allowing for WeFi users to be able to see if their friends are online as well.

Currently, the company’s founder Yossi Vardi sits on its board of directors along with other people involved with the company’s founding, who include the two brothers, Shimon and Tamir Shertzer, and Amon Kohavi.

Potango Venture Capital is a leading Israeli vc firm and it mainly invests in seed, early and expansion stage companies in the tech industry. Potango Venture Partners has been around for over 14 years and currently has over $1.3 billion of committed capital under its management and is also on the global stage with offices not only in Israel, but also in Silicon Valley as well. Some other companies in Potango’s portfolio include AeroScout, Axis Mobile, Go Networks, MobileAccess, E4X, Neocraft, and others.

Lightspeed Venture Partners is a vc firm that has a leading global presence and has over $2 billion under its management. The team at Lightspeed is large and spread over several countries with a strong presence in the United States with its headquarters in the Silicon Valley, but Lightspeed also has offices in India, China, and Israel. Lightspeed Venture Capital primarily invests in early stage companies within a broad range of different industries. Some other companies in Lightspeed’s portfolio include 99Bill, AMEC, AeroHive, Aprius, Bling Nation, CarDomain, and others.

Founded in 1993, the Gemini Israel Fund was created by the Israeli government through the Yozma Program with the intent to invest in Israeli entrepreneurs who are in the communications, wireless, consumer electronics, enterprise software, internet, and semiconductor industries. The fund primarily invests in seed and early stage companies. Some other companies in the Gemini Israel Fund’s portfolio include Contextream, Massive Impact, RADLive, Schema, Modu, and others.

For more information about WeFi, click here.

Based in New York City, online media service provider, TRAFFIQ announced that it has closed $10 million in series B funding with new investors, Grotech Ventures and Greenhill SAVP joining the company’s existing investor, Court Square Ventures.

TRAFFIQ is an online media marketplace that provides an end-to-end self service which links ad advertisers together with publishers. TRAFFIQ’s unique platform basically allows both advertisers and publishers to find each other online and always provides maximum returns for users of the marketplace. Since its inception, TRAFFIQ has already acquired accounts from large companies, such as Yellowpages.com and Glam.

As part of the agreement for this round of financing, the managing director of Greenhill SAVP, Brian Hirsch and Grotech’s general partner, Steve Friedrick will join the company’s board of directors.

According to TRAFFIQ’s CEO, Mark Kahn, this current round of funding supports the company’s vision that there need to be changes made in the online ad buying industry. One of these changes that needs to be made is to give ad agencies control of the placement of their ads. Practically all of the ad publishing platforms that are online today do not give advertisers the control of the placement of their ads and this is one of the things that TRAFFIQ plans to change. Furthermore, many publishers have plenty of inventories that are going unsold because of this problem. What makes TRAFFIQ different from other online advertising platforms is that TRAFFIQ has a visual interface that allows both advertisers and publishers to see how the ad can be placed, giving advertisers the full control of ad placement and generating the revenue desired by the publishers.

What makes TRAFFIQ stand out from other networks or exchanges is that TRAFFIQ provides an interface that allows both advertisers and publishers to consolidate planning, RFP distribution, order execution, optimization, and billing. This consolidated interface in short renders full control to the people that need to have that control in their hands — the advertisers and publishers.

According to the Senior Vice President of Corporate Partnerships of media giant, Havas Digital, Marta Martinez, TRAFFIQ definitely delivers what it claims to offer, an end-to-end management platform. Martinez further added that the platform that TRAFFIQ has created gives buyers direct access to all kinds of publishers and is completely transparent, as well as providing access to the control over everything from the planning of placement to actual publication and payment process.

According to Mr. Fredrick, partner at Grotech Ventures and new member of TRAFFIQ’s board of directors, TRAFFIQ has a platform that truly changes the game in the online advertising marketplace. The platform deserves the investment it received because of its transparency and the fact that it allows advertisers and publishers to work with content in real time.

Mr. Hirsch of Greenhill SAVP and newly appointed board member further stated that because TRAFFIQ has automated the buying process in the advertising industry, it has brought relative ease in the market; much like Google did with its search engine.

Grotech Ventures is a vc firm that primarily gives investments ranging from $500,000 to $5 million to early stage companies that are rapidly growing in the technology industry. Grotech Ventures was established in 1984 and has a team that knows what it takes and works to make big things happen. Other companies in Grotech’s portfolio include Advertising.com, ARPU, Aztek, Broadsoft, buySAFE, and others.

Greenhill SAVP was founded in 1998 and joined together with Greenhill & Company. Greenhill SAVP currently manages a fund that is around $102 million for early stage companies in the technology enabled services and business services industries. Greenhill SAVP only invests in companies that are geographically located within the tri-state area of Pennsylvania, New York, and New Jersey. Other companies in Greenhill’s portfolio include AllCovered, BD Metrics, Flat World Knowledge, HomeSphere, Pontiflex, and others.

Court Square Ventures is a vc firm that mainly focuses its investments on early stage companies that are in the communications, IT, and media industries. Court Square Ventures aims to have partnerships with entrepreneurs who are passionate about their business and diligent to get their business off the ground. Some other companies in Court Square’s portfolio include BugLabs, Jitterbug, Echo360, Imagine Communication, Market Maker Interactive, Pipeline Trading, and others.

For more information about TRAFFIQ, click here.

Based in Apple Valley, Minnesota, one of the United States’ leading educational assessment firms, Questar Assessments announced today that it has received a $4.6 million round of funding with new investor, New Markets Venture Partners pitching in $1 million to the fund. Camden Partners along with other undisclosed investors also participated in this round of funding.

Questar Assessment is an educational assessment firm that provides assessments for states, schools and school districts and mainly assesses the performance of schools from grades kindergarten or K through the twelfth grade. For states, Questar offers a large-scale statewide school assessment and for smaller entities, such as single schools or school districts, a smaller-scale English proficiency assessment. Questar has its main headquarters in Apple Valley, Minnesota, but also has regional corporate headquarters in New York as well.

The funding round that Questar closed was closed in two stages. The first stage was closed in December of 2008 and the second stage was closed in March of 2009. With those two stages and the current investment from New Market Venture Capital, the company closed a total of $4.6 million.

According to Questar’s president and CEO, Roy Lipner, the reason for Questar to raise this investment was to supply enough funds for Questar, so it could have enough working capital over the next few years and to be prepared and have enough backing for any credits that may arise in these difficult economic times.

According to the chairman of Questar’s board of directors, Andrew L. Simon, the board members look forward to be working together with New Markets Venture Partners, because of their track record of being successful and their unique approach and understanding of how business functions.

According to Frank Bonsal III, partner with New Markets Ventures, Questar is a nimble player in today’s markets. Together with the experience of New Market Ventures has in building high growth education companies, Questar poses a great opportunity for the vc firm.

New Markets Ventures is an early stage vc firm that mainly invests in companies who are in the education, IT, and healthcare industries. The team of investors at New Markets Investors is highly experienced in building high growth companies with a successful track record. Other companies in New Markets Ventures include Adegen, Apex Learning, ARPU, Artifact, Bioset, Headsprout, and others.

Camden Partners is a private equity firm that invests its equity in companies who are in the education, business services, healthcare, and financial services industries. Some other companies in Camden’s portfolio include American Public Education, Aradigm Corporation, LipoScience, ArtiCure, BioMedical Enterprises, and others.

For more information about Questar Assessments, click here.

Based in Brisbane, California, molecular diagnostic company, XDx announced today that it has completed a $14.4 million series G funding which was led by Bristol-Myers Squibb Company. Other investors who participated in this funding include Burrill Venture Capital, Intel Capital, Duff Ackerman & Googdrich, Integral Capital Partners, KPCB, Sproutgroup, New Leaf Ventures, and TPG Biotechnology.

XDx is a molecular diagnostic company that develops and commercializes noninvasive diagnostic testing for all kinds of different biological disorders. The specialty products that XDx develops are mainly for the treatment and monitoring of organ transplant rejection and autoimmune diseases. The one product that XDx is currently developing is a diagnostic process that can monitor the immune system activity by observing genetic activity. This type of testing will be done by XDx’s new flagship platform, the AlloMap Molecular Expression Testing. This new platform already provides physicians who are in the transplant sector of the medical field with a new tool in monitoring the immune system of transplant patients and be able to accurately observe immune activity to identify acute cellular rejection in heart transplants.

Heart transplant medicine, however, might not be the only problem that XDx’s AlloMap Molecular Expression Testing might be of use. This testing system can also be used in other organ rejections involving the immune system at the molecular and cellular level. XDx currently has other tests going on involving the AlloMpap technology. One of the other tests that XDx is conducting is in the IMAGE, or the Invasive Monitoring Attenuation through Gene Expression, from which XDx anticipates to have results soon.

According to the chairman of XDx’s board of directors and partner at KPCB, Brook H. Byers, the interest of investors in XDx’s technology by many venture capitalists is because XDx stands out from other companies that are involved in biopharmaceuticals. The main thing that is attracting such a large number of investors to XDx is because of the success of its AlloMap proprietary technology and the positive impact from clinical trials with heart transplant patients. Furthermore, Mr. Byers added that this current round of funding shows the confidence that KPCB has in XDx and that the company’s technology would be able to expand into other organ transplant testing as well as in autoimmune diseases.

Other information that makes XDx attractive to investors is that in August of 2008, the company has received clearance from the FDA in the United States for its AlloMap Molecular Expression Testing, which is an in-vitro diagnostic multivariate index assay or IVDMIA. This is a testing service that is performed in a laboratory and assesses the gene expression profile of RNA that is separated from the mononuclear blood cells. The AlloMap testing system currently is intended for heart transplant patients that have a low probability for organ rejection at the time of testing.

According to Dr. Jeremy Levin, MD, PhD, senior vice president of the Strategic Transaction Group of Bristol-Myers Squibb Company, the team at Bristol-Myers Squibb is very pleased at the progress that XDx is making with its gene expression diagnostic testing. Furthermore, the team at Bristol-Myers Squibb is looking forward to be working together with XDx on its new testing system to treat Systemic Lupus Erythematosus, or SLE. SLE is an autoimmune disorder that affects roughly 300,000 people in the United States and the treatment for this disease is rather complicated due to the recurrence of disease flares that can range in severity and often require the patient to be hospitalized and eventually lead to more serious problems such as kidney and other organ failure.

According to the president and CEO of XDx, Pierre Cassigneul, this round of funding is very important for XDx because it helps the company create a financial long term strategy for business success. Mr. Cassigeul further added that both he and the company are very happy that Bristol-Myers Squibb and the company’s other existing investors are continuing to back XDx.
Based in New York City, Bristol-Myers Squibb is a large medical firm that has the motto of “Helping patients prevail in their fight against serious disease.” Bristol Myers Squibb has been a leader in the big pharmaceuticals industry throughout the United States and has developed medicines for the effective treatment of cancer and HIV/AIDS along with other diseases.

For more information about XDx, click here.

Based in New York, one of the leading digital media companies, MediaMath announced today that it has just secured $12.5 million in growth capital and debt relief with Safeguard Scientific, Inc. leading the round of funding by providing MediaMath with $10 million. The other $2.5 million was provided by Silicon Valley Bank. Other investors who participated in this round of funding together with Safeguard Scientific include QED, and the European Founders Fund.

MediaMath is a digital media company that has an automated buying platform which provides advertisers with tens of billions of dollars in impressions on a daily basis along with a simple workflow that allows for the management of powerful analytics and the rich data that is necessary to get the maximum use of the impressions provided by MediaMath’s platform. MediaMath was founded in 2007 by veteran entrepreneurs, marketers, and technologists.

According to the vice president and managing director of the Technology Group at Safeguard Scientific, Erik Rasmussen, Safeguard’s partnership with MediaMath demonstrates the core focus that Safeguard Scientific has when investing in growth stage companies in the tech industry, which have a competitive edge in their respective markets. Mr. Rasmussen further added that MediaMath is a true leader in the digital media industry and already having over tens of millions of dollars worth of advertising campaigns going through its system. Furthermore, the company’s approach is combining raw performance, research, and precise targeting — all of which are crucial for successful internet advertising.

Erik Rasmussen’s main function at the Technology Group, run by Safeguard Scientific, is to work closely with companies that are partners of Safequard Scientific and provide both operational and strategic support to them. Mr. Rasmussen is experienced in all aspects of equity funding, and before joining Safeguard Scientific, he worked for WWC Capital Group, which is an investment banking and private equity firm.

In conjunction with the investment from Safeguard Scientific, Mr. Rasmussen will also joing MediaMath’s board of directors.

The MediaMath advertising platform provides advertisers with both a digital interface and back office services for its clientele to easily be able to run their advertisements effectively. MediaMath has gotten some rather prominent internet advertisers to use its platform, which include RightMedia, Google’s DoubleClick Advertising Exchange, and Microsoft’s AdECN.

According to the CEO of MediaMath, Joe Zawadzki, MediaMath has developed the first demand-side media trading platform that helps ad agencies deliver increased client performance and insights at much lower costs. Furthermore, Mr. Zawadzki added that over the past two years, the tech team at MediaMath has been working on developing a much more effective and sophisticated software and services offerings in the internet advertising industry.

Safeguard Scientific was founded in 1953 and its headquarters are in Wayne, Pennsylvania, and is a holding company that provides investments to cutting-edge growth stage companies in both the life sciences and tech industries. Safeguard also plays roles in buyout and acquisition financing. Some other companies that partner with Safeguard Scientific include Advantage Healthcare Solutions, Advantium, Portico Systems, Swap Tree, Garnet Bio Therapeutics, and others.

For more information about MediaMath, click here.

Based in Alpharetta, Georgia, fiber optic ethernet provider, FiberLight announced that it had raised $13 million in debt offering from CoBank. The company had acquired its first debt offering from within the capital markets.

FiberLight is a company that provides internet service providers with fiber optic ethernet, wavelengths, IP, SONET, and dark fiber optical transport solutions. Some of FiberLight’s clientele include telecom companies, wireless, government and international agencies. Furthermore, FiberLight has over 500,000 miles of fiber optic networks throughout key growth areas in the United States, and the company offers a robust network throughout several states on the Atlantic sea board and in the Deep South including Georgia, Maryland, New York, Florida, Virginia, and Texas; as well as Washington DC. FiberLight also has intercity connections in Chicago, San Francisco, Boston, Denver, and Seattle.

According to Jim Lynch, who is both the company’s chairman and also managing partner with FiberLight’s primary investor, Thermo Capital, FiberLight has shown a great deal of financial discipline in the market for the past four years and this is what got the company to be eligible for this funding that it had raised today. Mr. Lynch further added that raising this funding shows how sound the company’s business practices and financial strategies are. Furthermore, as far as Thermo Capital and FiberLight’s board of directors are concerned, this will also allow FiberLight to add another 500,000 miles to its fiber optic network.

According to FiberLight’s president, Kevin B. Coyne, the team at FiberLight wants the company to grow in a responsible way that would not only demonstrate 20% in annual growth, but also to have similar growth in the company’s EBITDA. There is one sound way that FiberLight can achieve these goals and that is to own up to its assets, which are the company’s fiber optic networks, which deliver customer satisfaction to both the company’s private and government clients. Proceeds from this funding will go to the above mentioned items that are of FiberLight’s concern. Mr. Coyne further stated that it is exactly this strategy that has kept FiberLight able to exceed the averages for growth in its respective industry.

CoBank is a cooperative bank that helps business in the rural United States and its net worth is over $63 billion. CoBank is based on the outskirts of Denver, Colorado, and serves all fifty states in the United States. The bank provides loans, leases, and financing to communications, energy, and water companies.

For more information about FiberLight, click here.

British Columbia based energy company, General Fusion announced today that it had received $22 million in funding round with $9 million invested by Braemer Energy, Growthworks Capital, Chrysalix Energy Ventures, and the Entrepreneurs Fund. The rest of the $22 million is compiled of investments from several undisclosed private investors.

General Fusion is an energy company that serves British Columbia and western Canada, and is experimenting with fusion technology. General Fusion is based in Burnaby, British Columbia, and is currently developing a fusion prototype that is designed to create energy more efficiently than the conventional coal-burning power plants are able to.

As far as the company’s prototype is concerned, General Fusion is actually working on two fusion projects, which are magnetic and inertial confinement fusion. Magnetic fusion uses large magnets to force particles to fuse and therefore powering the generators that produce electricity. The second fusion project is designed to work by implementing inertial confinement fusion, which is when high-density fuel pellets are shot by lasers, generating power that way. General Fusion hopes that it can combine both fusion methods into its prototype and drastically cut cost in energy production. Furthermore, since fusion is an energy generator that does not consume any type of fossil fuel, it is also clean and friendly to the environment.

According to the vice president of Growthworks Capital, Rolf Dekleer, General Fusion is basically trying to change the game, and if people were talking about developing this type source of energy ten years ago, there would be no global warming today. Furthermore, Mr. Dekleer added that should General Fusion get to the point where their product prototype can produce significant net gain, then there could be the possibility that large companies, such as General Electric could buy out all investors.

Mr. Dekleer’s comments were also backed up by General Fusion’s CEO, Douglas Richardson, who stated that General Fusion is speeding up this technology up a thousand fold. Furthermore, this technology has been around for almost 30 years, but the sophisticated technology that would be governed by computerized processing controls and plasma technology was still in its infancy and there was no way to be able to sustain such a strong power source. Furthermore, Mr. Richardson added that the main goal is to develop this technology to the point where General Fusion can produce net gain.

The current economic times, however, made life difficult for Mr. Richardson and the other people on the management team of the fledgling company. When shopping around in Silicon Valley, Mr. Richardson found many doors were slammed in his face and many of the Silicon Valley investors were too afraid that the risk in investing in this type of technology was too high. Many investors were not sure that this type of technology would fly. However, after much diligence, General Fusion did get the backing it needed to start developing its prototype.

Braemar Energy Ventures is a vc firm that is dedicated to help invent new alternative energy sources. Founded in 2002, Braemar Energy Ventures solely dedicates its investments to those companies in the energy industry who have a proprietary technology that would disrupt the energy market. Some other companies in Braemar’s portfolio include CoalTek, PowerGenix, Afina, Fractal, CirisEnergy, Climos, and others.

Growthworks Capital is one of Canada’s leading vc firms and has over $1 billion of regional venture capital under its management. Growthworks Capital has been helping Canadian entrepreneurs for over 17 years and mainly invests in companies that have a high growth potential. Some other companies in Growthworks’ portfolio include Layer7, Sutus, Inimex, Lighthaus, NxtGen, BuildDirect, Protiva, Schneider Electric, and others.

Chrysalix Energy Ventures is a vc firm that is dedicated to the development of alternative energy and clean fuels. Chrysalix mainly focuses on next generation solar energy, next generation bio-fuels, using waste to create energy, and new disruptive energy generation processes. Chrysalix Energy Ventures mainly invests in early and mid stage companies with effective management teams. Some other companies in Chrysalix’s portfolio include Angstrom Power, Ardica Technologies, Day4 Energy, EnerWorks, H2Gen, HydroPoint, and others.

The Entrepreneurs Fund is dedicated to the entrepreneur and invests in early and growth stage companies. Along with providing the financing that entrepreneurs need, also provides these entrepreneurs access to the valuable entrepreneurial expertise that the entrepreneurs need to get their companies off the ground. Other companies in the Entrepreneurs Fund’s portfolio include CPT, Exosect, OptiNose, t2cure, Technolas, and others.

For more information about General Fusion, click here.

Based in New York, one of the leading SaaS providers, Panaya announced that it had closed a $5 million in series B funding with Tameres Group leading the funding. The other vc firm that participated in this round of funding is Benchmark Capital.

Panaya was founded in 2006 and is a company that provides software tools that are designed to save SAP customers over one half of their upgrade and maintenance costs, while reducing the risks in doing so. Panaya’s tools are basically a SaaS or Software as a Service that simulates the SAP environment and shows which SAP program would work best on a particular client’s SAP system. Furthermore, Panaya’s software also has diagnostic tools that show what is going wrong with the SAP and how to fix the problem. When a user upgrades their SAP with Panaya’s software service, the Panaya software, while upgrading the SAP, will also automatically show all errors that could cause the SAP system not to function properly and provide them with solutions to fix these errors.

Proceeds from this funding will go to help Panaya expand its sales and marketing, and product development. Because Panaya’s system is user friendly and growing in popularity, more work needs to be done to efficiently and effectively deliver its services to customers.

According to Panaya’s founder and CEO, Yossi Cohen, Panaya’s customers and partners have validated the company’s market strategy and product, and with this new round of funding, Panaya will be well positioned to expand its leadership as being the future of application life cycle management tools.

According to the director of investment at the Tameres Group, Meirav Har-Noy, the team at Tameres is amazed at how Panaya is able to maintain such an aggressive sales growth during the past year by adding several well known household names to its list of clients. These clients include Bosch, Sony, and Volvo. The development of Panaya’s unique platform which is very cost effective compared to other SAP diagnostic and upgrade services is truly ingenious and key to the company’s success in a time when most people are looking to cut costs where ever they can.

Based in Lichtentstein, the Tameres Group is a global private equity firm that has offices in New York, Tel Aviv, Las Vegas, London, Gibraltar, and Helsinki. Besides dealing in private equity, the Tameres group also deals in real estate on an international scale.

Benchmark Capital is a vc firm that is dedicated to helping talented entrepreneurs in the tech industry. Benchmark currently has over $2.3 billion in committed capital under its management and some other companies in Benchmark’s portfolio include Ariva, Axium Global, Avamar, Catapulse, Odesk, Red Hat, and others.

For more information about Panaya, click here.

iSyndica, a digital media company based in Nashua, New Hampshire, announced that it had received $320,000 in series A funding from two angel investors, Jayesh Parekh and Greg Blackwood.

iSyndica is a cloud-based internet platform that distributes digital media, such as video and other graphics. On the iSyndica corporate website, iSyndica advertises itself as a company that can be useful to people in the business industry and need graphs to chart stocks and for photographers and film makers as well. iSyndica’s platform is designed to upload once and sell many times over again. The platform employs multiple established channels and helps the user generate revenue. The iSyndica platform does have a patent pending and is based on the Amazon Web Service and operates as a SaaS or Software as a Service application.

Proceeds from this funding will go to help iSyndica to improve its marketing strategies and accelerate product development. As far as the CEO of iSyndica, Gwyn Jones, is concerned, the company is continuing to move to its goal of creating a multi-category platform for digital media marketers. This current round of funding will greatly help iSyndica provide a multi-content platform to its vectors, eBooks, and music.

To add to the company’s assets is iSyndica’s CTO, Sebastian Coursol, who has over nine years of experience in the field while working for Channel Velocity and Vistaprint. Mr. Coursol commented that already some major content sites are beginning to partner with iSyndica and this is a clear indication that the company’s efforts have been very rewarding. Mr. Coursol further stated that, though content networks want to partner with iSyndica is a good sign, however, the company still needs to scale up, and this round of funding will provide the needed capital to do so.

The funding came from two angel investors who are both veterans in the digital media industry. One of the angels, Jayesh Parekh was the founder of Sony Entertainment and also sits on its board of directors. Sony Entertainment is one of the largest cable and satellite television network and is in collaboration with Sony Pictures Entertainment, which is a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of Japan. Mr. Parekh is also very active with some of the major vc firms based in Silicon Valley. Mr. Parekh is also a member of the investment committee of SONG, a Soros backed social impact fund for India.

The other angel investor, who participated in this round of funding, is Greg Blackwood. Mr. Blackwood is an active investor and venture capitalist who has invested in both Asia and Europe. Mr. Blackwood had a banking career and also worked in France for a private equity advisory firm that offered investment sourcing, structuring, and execution to prominent investors in Europe. Later on, from 2000 to 2008, Mr. Blackwood worked out of Singapore, where he worked for a US family owned office. In between 2004 to 2006, Mr. Blackwood went on to lead large corporate mergers for UPS in Tokyo, Japan. In 2008, Mr. Blackwood went back to Singapore to join the management of Mitsui & Co. and worked there as the senior manager of investments for the company’s Asia-Pacific headquarters.

For more information about iSyndica, click here.

Based in San Francisco, California, the new recruitment startup company, KODA.us announces that it has secured a total of $3 million in a funding round that was financed by a group of undisclosed private angel investors.

KODA.us is a recruitment startup company that had just recently launched its first platform in May 27 of this year. Its platform is a recruitment platform that has social networking properties. What is so unique about KODA is that it makes it very convenient for employers to participate in the system by providing seamless integration with company profiles, eliminating the need for employers to manually post job offers. As of today, KODA.us is growing and now has opportunities posted from companies throughout the United States.

According to KODA’s CEO and cofounder, Jeff Berger, KODA.us is designed to be more professional that Facebook and have a more personal affect than Linkedin. This makes KODA.us unique, because it allows both the employer and prospective candidates for the job to get to know each other. Mr. Berger further added that using a traditional job board can be like finding a needle in a haystack; however, using KODA.us makes the search so much easier and allows both employers and their candidates for the job offered to find more needles in less hay. Furthermore, KODA has developed proprietary technology that would actually facilitate the recruitment process and make it much easier and less stressful for both the employer and the prospective candidates for the job offered.

This funding round came in several different stages and as of today, KODA.us has secured an additional $1 million from angel investors, which totals the entire round of funding to $3 million. The entire round of funding was financed by private angel investors who saw the potential of KODA’s proprietary technology. Furthermore, this round of funding has been going on for some time unannounced and the proceeds from this round of funding has enabled the company to run its public beta testing of its platform.

Mr. Berger continued to add that today’s job seekers often do not know where to turn, and KODA.us provides a line of focused information that allows this generation of job seekers to explore opportunities that they otherwise would not have known existed. KODA.us offers today’s generation of job seekers the key information about how today’s corporate world functions, and also informs them about corporate culture and the do’s and don’ts on searching for and successfully getting that needed job. Furthermore, the information provided to prospective candidates for jobs on KODA allows these job seekers to be fit candidates for the corporate environment. Mr. Berger also emphasized that in today’s difficult economy, being “fit” counts heavily in getting that job.

Even though KODA’s headquarters are based in San Francisco, the company also has an office in New Orleans, Louisiana, and KODA is also actively involved in the post-Katrina rebirth of the city. KODA was also named Innovator of the Year in 2009 by New Orleans CityBusiness.

For more information about KODA.us, click here.

Senior investor, James Kim quietly stepped down from CMEA Capital, where he was appointed as Senior Investor in March of 2007, to join Khosla Ventures. Mr. Kim has deep experience in the energy industry and before coming to CMEA Capital, he worked for GE Commercial Finance and GCI Partners.

GE Commercial Finance is the financial arm of General Electric, and invests in companies that provide an interest for General Electric.

CMEA Capital is a vc firm that mainly invests in companies that are in the life sciences, energy and materials, and tech industries. Typically, an investment from CMEA goes to companies that have a cutting-edge business model and proprietary technology. CMEA Capital was founded in 1989 and has offices in both San Francisco and Menlo Park, California. During his tenure at CMEA Capital, Mr. Kim played a key role in leading major investments, such as in A123 Systems. Some other companies in CMEA’s portfolio include A123 Systems, BioLight Harvesting, Cnano Technology, Codexis, Luminus Devices, and others.

Khosla Ventures is a vc firm that is dedicated to the entrepreneur. According to Khosla Ventures, an entrepreneur is a person who dares to dream impossible dreams and foolish enough to make those dreams come true. Khosla Ventures is dedicated and focused in helping entrepreneurs with innovative ideas build strong companies by having a history of leveraging relationships to build teams and providing strategic advice to entrepreneurs with creative ideas or products. Some companies in Khosla’s portfolio include Distributed Solar, Utility Scale Solar, K2 Network, RingCentral, iSkoot, and others.

For more information about Khosla Ventures, click here.