Venture Capital Firms

If you are trying to raise venture capital for your company, you should know that you first need a strong and profitable business idea they can hook up to. Even though venture capitalists are attracted by many types of businesses, there are some particular fields that hold the mainstream of funding every season. If the first quarter of the year has brought us news on numerous mobile applications successful funding rounds, this month has faced us with successful stories of companies activating in the electronic shopping services, photo applications and moving objects application field.

Decide, a company based in Seattle, producing electronic shopping devices, has managed to raise $6 million in a second round of founding which has been led by Maveron. Madrona Venture Group and several angel investors have also participated in this funding round. The money the company raised is to be used in order to develop the e-commerce platform of the company. The site has been created by Oren Etzioni, the founder of the airfare prediction service Farecast. Although the site is still in stealth mode at this moment, the money raised in this founding round will help them develop it quickly so as for it to be available this spring. Oren Etzioni has declared that the intention of this product is that of “bringing unprecedented transparency to electronics shopping.”

Pixable, a start-up business based in New York, has recently announced that it has managed to raise $3.6 million in a second funding round. The company provides a new way of exploring the photos of your friends through the aid of several types of applications, the most important of which being Photofeed. The iPad version of the Photofeed application has been launched by Pixable earlier this year, at the DEMO conference. The Photofeed application allows you to have quicker access to the photos uploaded on Facebook by your friends based on your previous interest which can be revealed after analyzing the previous photos you have commented on or you have liked. Pixable declared that they have already managed to sort 10 billion photos of the 500,000 persons who use this application. The money raised in this funding round will be used in order to expand the application for iPad, iPhone and Android devices and for creating a similar application which would work for video browsing. This founding round has been led by Menlo Ventures with the participation of Highland Capital, from which Pixable had previously raised $2.5 million.

CrowdOptic, the company based in San Francisco, has raised $1 million for developing an application that allows users to obtain information related to moving objects, such as race cars or baseball players, by taking a photograph of those objects. In order to develop this product, the company has partnered with Moon Express, which is a company that provides lunar transportation service. This founding round has been led by the co-founder of the company and CEO, John Fisher, with the participation of several angel investors and that of some of the company’s customers.

If you are looking for investors for your company, the VC Gate data base will provide you information on more than 5100 investors worldwide, 2000+ of which would be interested in these kind of businesses. This product offers you more than 15000 direct contacts of key persons working for these funding institutions.

Click here to download your investors database NOW! <=

SpeakerText, a start up based in San Francisco, CA, founded in 2008, announced that it has raised $600,000 in an angel round. The funding was led by Mitch Kapor, the founder of Lotus Development Corporation and a successful entrepreneur, investor, philanthropist and activist. Also, Dave McClure, the founder of 500 Startups and Startup2Startup, Lukas Biewald, the Crowdflower Chief Executive Officer, Chris Yeh, Roy Rodenstein and Georges Harik, the director of Googlettes. The company will use the funding to hire new staff and to expand its San Francisco team. SpeakerText has plans to double the number of its full time employees within the first semester of 2011. The money received is a big success for SpeakerText, that provides a service that copies videos and enables publishers to link the transcripts to the video players through a menu.

Adding the video transcripts key advantage is the improved SEO that allows publishers’ videos more easily to be found and viewed through the search engines. The company also offers publishers the possibility to share parts of videos and transcripts through the services of social networking like Facebook and Twitter. The company has integrated the technology to work with Ooyala, Brightcove, YouTube, Blip.tv and WordPress video players. It is also available within the self publishing platforms like Long Tail Video’s JW Player. SpeakerText has released an API for the third parties to be able to plug into the system.

SpeakerText works with through the use of a combination of both computers and humans, due to the fact that computers cannot reproduce the human voice too well, computers’ algorithms transcribe the most part of the text and then humans resolve the kinks, are able to transcribe things that computers are not able to.

SpeakerText has a $2 fee for a minute of transcription and a monthly fee if users exceed an usage limit. The company is very promising, being able to help solving a valid problem that many companies face.

The start up company that was originally founded in New York followed a move across the country, moving its headquarters to San Francisco. The move was made in order for SpeakerText to be closer to its investors and the Silicon Valley talent that it wanted to attract since it was relocated.

The UK-based developer of the first mobile diabetes management system, Cellnovo has raised $48.4 million in a Series B financing round. This round was led by Edmond de Rothschild Investment Partners but Forbion Capital Partners, Auriga Partners, NBGI Venture and Credit Agricole Private equity also participated in this round. The existing investors Advent Venture Partners, HealthCare Ventures and NESTA showed their confidence in the future of the company by participating also in this round.

What Cellnovo is trying to do is a micro-pump technology that should help people with diabetes manage the life-saving therapies they are under. Additional benefits are personalization and portability. The investors think the company is revolutionizing the way diabetes patients manage their disease and that there is a tremendous market opportunity. The insulin pump the company produces is equipped with a wireless touch-screen where vital information like the level of blood glucose can be watched.

Bill McKeon, the CEO is very confident in the success of the product and in the possibility of changing the lives of diabetics for the better and honored that so many investors showed confidence in his business. The funds will be used to commercialize the system and reach markets worldwide.

The San Francisco, CA start-up company, Instagram, that was set up in 2010, that creates a photo sharing application for the iPhone, has raised a $7 million in its first big round of funding. This round of financing was led by Benchmark Capital, the Silicon Valley based venture capitalist and other prestigious investment companies, such as Twitter. Another participants were Jack Dorsey, the founder of Square, Adam D’Angelo, the co-founder of Quora and also the Twitter investor and former Google employee, Chris Sacca. Matt Cohler from Benchmark will join the board of directors of Instagram.

The Chief Executive Office at Instagram declared that “At Instagram, the depth of our ambition lies in the goal to change the way we see the world – to connect people from near and far and enable anyone with a camera to tell their story through a rich visual dialogue.” He also said that “Our new capital will also allow us to scale to the opportunity we have been handed across a variety of platforms on mobile and the web. We have got some groundbreaking stuff in the pipeline that changes the way we see and consume what is happening in our world.”

From its launching, the company had more than 1.75 million registrations to the service, whom upload almost 300,000 photos every day, over one half of a million tags in less than a week. Instagram had one million users in December 2010, at no more than 2 months from its launching, so it seems that the growth is stable so far. The company has double the team from 2 to 4, but trying to stay efficient. Still, it seems that they are willing to make a few more hires. As the product scales and it develops new features, the company will use the investment for the growth of the engineering team. The company introduced a new hash tags feature and the news media outlets are using the app to distribute their photos and to connect with their fans.

Instagram want to expand the way they connect people through their filtered photos to a richer experience on the web it’s an experiment that is definitely worth observing. With the team that apparently costs $7 million, it will surely be a success. Besides this amount of money, Instagram has previously raised $500,000 in seed funding from Andreessen Horowitz and Baseline Ventures.

Start-up Confidela Ltd., a software company based in Mountain View, California which creates a product called WatchDox, a documents tracking, control and protection product, has just announced today that it raised $9.25 million from Shlomo Kramer, the co founder of Imperva and Check Point. Also, to this round of financing joined Gemini Israel Funds and the Menlo Park based investor Shasta Ventures. Up to this moment, WatchDox has had a growing demand and in 2010 its services were being used by thousands of businesses and organizations.

This second round of financing will be used to enlarge the sales team of WatchDox due to the ever increasing number of customers and bigger transactions in many different markets, such as pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, financial services, insurance, legat and government. The founding will also be used to rebrand the company under the name WatchDox, its product. WatchDox allows its users to share documents and in the same time prevents documents leakage by means of limiting printing, copying or forwarding those documents. It even allows them to delete documents even after their download.

The WatchDox Chief Executive Officer, Moti Rafalin, said that “WikiLeaks, as well as numerous smaller document leakage incidents, have raised awareness for the need to better secure documents as they are shared inside and outside of the organization.” Ravi Mohan, the Managing Director at Shasta Ventures, also stated that “The market momentum of WatchDox led Shasta Ventures, a leading SaaS venture firm behind Apption, Lithium and Zuora, to invest in this vision.” He also said that “With the advent of mobile and cloud computing, the concept of perimeter security is no longer sufficient. We need security to be embedded in the content and access needs to be provisioned and re-provisioned easily. WatchDox has developed technology to address today’s most pressing security issue, much like the firewall addressed the most pressing security problem of the mid 90s. Not surprisingly, both inventions share a co-founder, Shlomo Kramer.”

Mr. Shlomo Kramer stated that “Organizations need to take a serious look at how their unstructured data is stored and shared. They must realize documents need to be protected throughout their lifecycle. WatchDox provides a solution to a problem that every organization is facing. The company has taken a significant step forward in providing the most advanced document security and control, while still preserving ease of use.” Mr. Shlomo Kramer also invested in Confidela Ltd. in 2008, along with Gemini Israel Funds, which led the funding round together with Mr. Kramer. The funding was amounted at $5.5 million in series A.

1366 Technologies, a Lexington, Massachusetts start up company based in 2007, has recently raised $20 million in series B financing from the Korean Hanwha Chemical and one of Europe’s top clean technology investors, Ventizz Capital Fund IV L.P. This round of financing will allow the company to take into production its revolutionary technology, Direct Wafer. These new investors joined previous one, North Bridge Venture Partners and Polaris Venture Partners.

Frank van Mierlo, the Chief Executive Officer of 1366 Technologies, declared that “We have managed expectations and steadily built our credibility. Now, with this investment, we are moving towards manufacturing. Our goal is to bring our transformative Direct Wafer technology into production and deliver the manufacturing innovations that will make solar electricity cheaper than coal.”

“1366’s philosophy is in line with our own: renewable energy technologies must be developed in a manner that avoids lengthy times to market and uncertain demand. By focusing on the existing silicon solar supply chain, 1366 has eliminated the now common concerns associated with other approaches – significant capital investment and a prolonged horizon. We are exited to join their other investors and have every confidence that 1366’s innovations will fundamentally change solar manufacturing,” declared the Managing Partner for Ventizz Private Equity AG, Bjorn Sondgerath. The Partner at North Bridge Venture Partners, Carmichael Roberts, said that “For us, one of the most obvious benefits to 1366’s approach to silicon photovoltaics is that it doesn’t require heavy investment. Relative to other transformative renewable energy technologies, the company’s business model is not capital intensive. By focusing on high value manufacturing technologies that increase cell efficiencies and reduce processing costs, 1366 has created an incredibly attractive value proposition. Their promise is exceptional and North Bridge is proud to name them among its portfolio companies.”

1366 Technologies has raised as total of $43.55 million, having previously raised $12.4 million in series A funding, $5.5 million in unattributed funding and recently another $6 million in series B funding.

About 1366 Technologies

The company was founded in 2007 and has been selling a technology licensed by the MIT, its own Self-Aligned Cell. The company eliminates the cost and production challenges of the solar power’s ability to replace fossil fuels. It combines innovations in silicon cell architecture with lean manufacturing in order to create the most cost effective and most viable high efficiency solar cells in the world. 1366’s approach is more efficient than the photovoltaics, which is a great break through.

Bleacher Report, an internet company, that has proved to be one of the fast growing sites on the internet companies, has recently closed $10.5 million in Series C funding. The financing round was led by the venture capital and growth equity company, the San Francisco based Crosslink Capital. The news was announced yesterday by Brian Grey, the Bleacher Report Chief Executive Officer.

Mr. Grey joined the company only five months ago and has extensive knowledge in the area. He says that “This investment is an important next step in the evolution of Bleacher Report’s innovative publishing model and is crucial to achieving our goal of becoming the next great sports content experience across all digital media. We are proud that the team at Crosslink and our other investors led by Hillsven Capital share that vision and are empowering us to continue to pursue it.”

Eric Chin, partner at Crosslink will join the Board of Directors at Bleacher Report says that “Crosslink appreciates the success the Bleacher report has already achieved and I look forward to partnering closely with them in the coming years to accomplish all of their strategic objectives. This disruptive publishing platform has outstanding potential to revolutionize the way fans find and consume sports content on the internet.”

Bleacher Report has previously raised other $1.5 million in series A funding in 2007. Also, in October 2008, the company raised another $3.5 million in series B funding from Hillsven Capital, SoftTech Venture Capital, Gordon Crawford and Jacob Lodwick. Furthermore, in June 2009 Bleacher Report got another $3 million in series C funding.

The Bleacher Report website is ranked by comScore to be the 5th largest sports website, after Yahoo, ESPN, Fox Sports and AOL Fanhouse. No other start-up company has succeeded what Bleacher Report has, which is beating all the major portals and old media outlets since the inception of the internet. “This company is growing astronomically and it’s just an execution play right now,” says Eric Chin regarding the plan of Bleacher Report to get in front of the other competitors on the market.

Bleacher Report has more than 1 million subscribers to its online newsletter. Also, it has 3 thousand contributors and 700 featured contributors, the majority being sports fans. The company helps them voice their opinions and offer them information and the means in order for their message to be heard and there are produced over 500 pieces of content per day.

Spoken Communications is a company founded in 2005 and it has its headquarters in Bellevue, Washington, USA. It is the leading provider of a technology of speech recognition for hosted virtual call center systems and call centers. Its hosted ACD (Avaya Automated Call Distributor) hosts the phone switch virtually for cost efficiency and flexibility. The Conversational IVR (Interactive Voice Response), a unique and patented system utilizes a hybrid model that combines the automated and the human. It combines the automated speech recognition with an invisible and real time human intervention on order to obtain a better accuracy and experience for the callers. The company is presently sustaining over 2 million minutes every month in the call recording, hybrid human assisted speech recognition, distribution systems and virtual phone switch.

Spoken Communications has recently announced that they raised no less than $4 million from investments. The company leading this round of financing was the Seattle based private equity firm Ignition Growth Capital. The money will be used for the expansion of the implementation of the virtual call centers of Spoken Communications. This source of funding will allow the company to provide supplementary hosted capacity for the call centers that are seeking for an upgrade in the virtual and work from home models.

It is estimated that in the next two years more than three quarters of the customer service centers will use a hosted software application and that more than half of the conversations related to customer support will occur “in the Cloud”.

The CEO of Spoken Communications, Howard Lee, said that “Spoken Communications is excited to work with Ignition Growth Capital on our strategy to make virtual call center solutions available to call centers facing growing call volumes. Ignitions’s strategic investment allows us to enhance and market our virtualized Avaya switch solution to call centers while supporting further innovation in the field.” Howard Lee was previously the CEO of PhotoWorks and HyperQuality.

Ignition Capital Growth is a private equity group based in Seattle, Washington, USA. It specializes in buyouts and the team brings along a combination of expertise, focus on the specific domains and also an operational experience with partners. The company has more than $2 billion under management and it partnered with Starbucks, Cisco, Microsoft and other leaders on their fields.

To find out more about Ignition Capital Growth, you can visit http://www.igncap.com/

Car sharing services Zipcar has announced earlier today that it raised $21 million in a Series G round which was led by Meritech Capital Partners that offered a $20 million investment and Pinnache Ventures that contributed with $1 million. This founding round was before the company even going public, delaying this action even longer. The financing has come as a surprise due to the fact that it has already raised $59 million until the present moment and filed for $75 million IPO early in the summer.

Zipcar was founded in 2000, it is based in Cambridge, Massachusetts and it is the leader on the car sharing service market, having more than half a million of members and 8,000 cars in the college campuses and urban areas all over the Unites States of America, Canada and the United Kingdom.

The company did not disclose the reasons and the direction of where the money from this last round of funding will go to, but it is known that the company’s officials intend to use this funding for the capital needs, pay our debt, finance the fleet expansion, and also continue with its geographic growth.

Zipcar revealed to the press that co founder, former CEO and chairman at AOL, Steve Case, and Vice-chairman and CFO for Staples, John Mahoney, joined the company’s board of directors, as a consequence to the investment round. Steve Case said that “Since my original investment in 2005, I have believed that car sharing will revolutionize urban transportation and redefine how we think about mobility”. Pinnacle Ventures was another participant on the financing made for Zipcar so far. The company has other venture capitalists on its list of prominent investors and among its biggest shareholders include Lighthouse Capital Partners VI L.P. Zipcar has reached to nine board members up to this date.

The company offers self service vehicles by the hour or by the day for people who are looking for alternatives to costly car ownership. Zipcar has never had a profit, but has had a loss of $14.5 million in 2007 and 2008, about $4.5 million in 2009 and no less than $5 million this year. Although, the revenues of this company have increased steadily, making around $58 million in 2007, $84 million and $131 million in 2009. Recently, Zipcar acquired a stake in Avancar, a Spanish car sharing service and in 2007 bought Flexcar, an American rival. Zepcar officials themselves explained that a $30 million debt, as the company had early this spring as being “substantial” and due to the acquisition of another competitor, but on the English market, Streetcar.

Tech start-up Viewdle, focused on facial recognition software, raised $ 10 Million from retailer Best Buy, BlackBerry Partners Fund and Qualcomm. This new funding round also included Anthem Venture Partners, Viewdle’s Series A investor. The capital will be used for launching new consumer products in the following months, introducing significant improvements for smartphones’ built-in video cameras.

What Viewdle has developed is a technology that can provide cross-platform visual analysis in real time – at the point of capture. . The technology uses the hardware of a smartphone , which is limited, thus standing out from the rest of facial recognition companies. Faces in videos and photos are automatically recognized by Viewdle’s patented system, which has been benchmarked as the most efficient available at the moment. The identification of faces is enabled on any device. Consumers can easily and accurately manage, organize and share personal media in real time.

How can this application be used on Facebook? It helps users tag friends and family, upload albums instantly, in just one click and share albums and tagged photos straight from the desktop folders. Not tagging a photo or video media content means essentially losing it. Photos and videos are made searchable, as Viewdle creates a layer of metadata based on recognition, thus enabling the process of looking inside the content and exposing it to search engines.

Viewdle, headquartered in San Jose, California, with offices in Kiev, Ukraine and Montevideo, Uruguay, was founded in 2007. The visual analysis research team that it runs is the world’s largest independent one, comprising 8 PhD’s and 30 specialists. The company collaborates with manufacturing partners, whose names have not been revealed yet, to have its software pre-installed on smartphones. Regarding facial recognition technology, it has clearly been in the limelight as Apple bought Polar Rose and Yandex funded Face.com.

Best Buy is a specialty retailer in the USA, Canada, Europe, China and Mexico. What it offers is a wide range of products, including consumer electronic video products, home office products, and entertainment and computer software. The company, founded in 1966, is based in Richfield, Minnesota and was formerly named Sound of Music, Inc., becoming Best Buy Co., Inc. in 1983. Other past investments, besides Viewdle, include SiBeam and Avnera, fabless semiconductor companies, and Mydeo, a social video site.

BlackBerry Partners Fund is an investment fund, focused on investments that comprise mobile commerce applications, communications, media and entertainment and social networking. Some of the investors are RIM, that is, Research in Motion, RBC and Thomson Reuters. Some of the companies that have received funds from BlackBerry are PocketGear, Payfone, Xobni and socialDeck.

Qualcomm was founded in 1985 in San Diego under the name of QUALity COMMunications . The company is a key player in the adoption and growth of next-generation wireless worldwide. Other significant investments to be mentioned are TweetPhoto, Avaak, Arteris and Xiam.

Read more about Viewdle here.

Rypple, the social software that makes feedback easy, closed $7m funding round yesterday. Based in Toronto, Canada, the two-year-old startup plans to use the funds for expanding the San Francisco new office.

In the round led by Bridgescale Partners, participated Extreme Venture Partners, Edgestone Capital Ventures, Seymour Schulich, Peter Thiel, Joe Sigelman and Roger Martin. The company’s board of directors will include Bridgescale partner Howard Gwin and Rotman School of Management Dean, Roger Martin. With previous rounds of financing coming from Peter Thiel, Facebook investor and Extreme Venture Partners, the total amount of money that Rypple has raised so far is $13m.

Unlike most traditional cumbersome HR software, focused on filling-out forms and not getting the information to those who need it, Rypple was designed to help people do their jobs better. What managers and employees expect from HR software is to focus on results, not on the process, with frequently and effectively delivered feedback.

By enabling the process of continuous feedback, Rypple allows employees learn faster and aim their targets. An obvious improvement in employee focus and performance has been reported by the company’s customers. The idea is that people are using Rypple not because they are obliged to do it, but because they actually like it, Daniel Debow, co-CEO at Rypple officially stated.

Customers consider Rypple a brilliantly efficient tool, ground-breaking for providing timely feedback and encouraging advancement, using top-notch social web design. Mozilla, Digg, Adaptive Path, Vivaki and Rackspace are only a few of the innovative companies that are Rypple’s customers. The way the company has grown so far has mainly been through word-of-mouth marketing.

According to the company’s description of the software, feedback is shared on the fly, directly linked to goals and actions, captured in one place, also enabling ideas and comments to be shared by everyone. This means Rypple is fast, relevant, efficient and social.

South African consortium leads a $455.5 million venture capital investment in Neotel

Big companies are targeting South Africa. Top economies of the world are turning their eyes to the region. Why? Because there are lot of investment opportunities there and a growing potential for a successful market. This makes South Africa an interesting target for venture capital firms.

New technologies and good communication are two of the strong fields where things can stir up rapidly. We can figure this out only by looking at figures. Internet penetration was only 10.8% in 2009. The costs for a 1 MB bandwidth are huge, even 100 times more than in US. Still, the demand is high and people’s need for communication is increasing every day. The proof: companies from the mobile industry are doing well and mobile Internet usage is increasing mostly in the urban areas. There is plenty of room for businesses to grow and for venture capital firms to invest.

One good example is Neotel, one of the largest network providers in South Africa who raised a $455.5 million loan from a local consortium to develop their network. Google, Microsoft or Intel who recently signed a deal with MTN Group, made their moves. As other emerging markets experiences showed, the presence of big names is building trust for other businesses to come and raise the needed money for the development of new projects.

Other industries are in demand for investments, for example: mining, constructions or even software development, all of them looking for five or ten figures funds. 10 South African startups are on the short list of Seedcamp for Seedcamp Week in London this year. Companies like 10Layer, FloCash or Obami have the chance to receive $30-50,000 as a first boost for their development. On the other end, Motjoli, a mining company is seeking for $1,5 billion to develop an Iron Ore Project close to Zwaziland.

These are just a few examples but there are many more out there. Actually, some of the local investors are really complaining that venture capital firms in South Africa are not so active as they would need and that local investors do not have always the force to support all industries and projects, even if there are positive examples like Evolution One Fund who recently announced they raised $94 million to invest in clean technology businesses.

Puppet Labs announced they closed the Series B funding with $5 million to secure the company’s growth by expanding its engineering team.

Started back in 2005, Puppet Labs have seen a rapid growing after the first funding round of about $2 millions in 2009 from True Ventures and Radar Partners who also participated in this new funding round. Actually, Kevin Compton from Radar Partners also joined these days the board of Puppet.

The announcement of the new funding is coming together with the release of new Puppet software 2.6, the newest version with new features like Preliminary Windows Support, Rest API or Event Model and many more designed to make systems administrators manage tasks lot easier. All these come to strengthen the position of Puppet labs on the data server management market where start-ups like Linaro, Karmasphere or Opscode are turning into a strong competition.

Amoung the list of Puppet customers we can find heavy names like Digg, Twitter, Shopzilla or Oracle and together with thousands of users of the open source management software, they are making Puppet the number one provider in data center automation. This position and the huge potential of this market attracted Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byyer in supporting the round B funding.

KPCB is best known for its iFund who recently reached $200 million, venture capital raised mainly to support application development for Apple family, iPod, iPad or iPhone. Among the companies founded by KPCB through iFund is Zynga allowing the good farmers from Farmville to control their crops also on iPhone.

KPCB is very well involved also in green technology through its project Greentech. One of the KPCB Partners is Al Gore, the most famous environmentalist. Through Greentech, KPCB funded companies like Bloom Energy or Great Point Energy. Recently they participated in a $63 million funding in Emphase Banks along with PCG Asset Management and other investors.

It seems Australia is too small for companies like Atlassian when they are on the fast track of development. This is why they look for new markets and opening offices in USA – San Francisco and Europe – Amsterdam. They recently got a boost of $60 millions in funding and it seems that the VC Australian market was too small for them as they looked for an US VC firm with higher potential to support their constant growth. Accel Partners was the chosen one especially for their expertise in helping companies going public, one of the main targets of Atlassian in the future.

Started in 2002 by Mike Cannon-Brookes and Scott Farquhar with the main goal of creating innovative software for its customers to solve problems through brilliant simplicity, Atlassian was a fast growing company even in the first year as in 2006 was already selected by Deloitte in their ranking of Technology Fast 500.

Not truly an open source software company but open source oriented, they manage to sell their products exclusively through their online platform. With more than 20,000 customers all over the world, a strong product portfolio and an open policy towards their clients, Atlassian secured a good position in software industry over the years looking for further development.

This $60 millions funding from Accel Partners is the first funding they receive since 2002 when the company was founded and who knows what the future will reserve for the company in the funding field. Atlassian managed to have a healthy, positive income during the years but this money were needed to ensure liquidity, expand their portfolio, support their expansion in Europe and maybe even looking into other startups acquisition.

For Accel Partners, is not their first funding in software field as during the last years they supported or acquired a lot of companies. They were the first ones who funded Facebook – the well known social network company – and we all know how good that money was spent. Metro PCS is another hit. They also supported Admob who recently was acquired by Google. Silicon Valley is one of their main focuses but Accel have offices also in London, supporting the European market, China and India, two very interesting markets from capital ventures firms’ point of view.

Accel is covering a lot of industries like Energy, funding companies like SunRun or GS Solar, Retail supporting companies like Diapers or Dovetail Furniture to Healthcare and Biotechnology where we can mention Healthcare Magic, MitraBiotech or Perfint Healthcare. They are always aiming the industry leaders that are trying to innovate and change the world.

After $3.2 million in 2008 and $7 million in 2009, TopSchool a startup from Denver secured these days a Series C funding of $8 million. The company gathered a total of $18.2 million in only 3 years, a solid proof of the investment potential in new technology to support higher educational systems. The investor for this new round is MK Capital. They are well known as an „all stages capital investor” and it is the first time they invest in TopSchool growing their portfolio in educational technology, one of their investment targets. During their history, they supported companies like Retention Education, Healthy Nation or Netuitive.

Following this investment, Karen Buckner, partner at MK Capital will secure a seat in the board of TopSchool joining other investors like Stewart Alsop from Alsop Louie Partners who participated in both Series A and Series B funding or David Gold from Access Venture Partners and Chris Girgenti from New World Ventures who participated in Series B funding only a year ago.

TopSchool’s leading product is SLM, the Student Lifecycle Management system based on SaaS, a Software Service model designed to help colleges in managing data about students all the way from the very first contact to admission, enrollment and even to job placement. SaaS is a management model replacing the classical student information systems and allows TopSchool’s customers to be more efficient and reduce costs without worrying about software updating, hardware maintenance or database management. One of the key points of TopSchool solution is the flexibility and the ability to be easily integrated with other applications. Not to mention the savings up to 50% compared with traditional hard to manage college informational systems.

The new series C funding from MK Capital is aimed to support SaaS model development and to prepare the company to face new challenges and offer new solutions for student information management systems.

Puppet Labs raised $5 million venture capital from Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byer

Puppet Labs announced they closed the Series B funding with $5 million to secure the company’s growth by expanding its engineering team.

Started back in 2005, Puppet Labs have seen a rapid growing after the first funding round of about $2 millions in 2009 from True Ventures and Radar Partners who also participated in this new funding round. Actually, Kevin Compton from Radar Partners also joined these days the board of Puppet.

The announcement of the new funding is coming together with the release of new Puppet software 2.6, the newest version with new features like Preliminary Windows Support, Rest API or Event Model and many more designed to make systems administrators manage tasks lot easier. All these come to strengthen the position of Puppet labs on the data server management market where start-ups like Linaro, Karmasphere or Opscode are turning into a strong competition.

Amoung the list of Puppet customers we can find heavy names like Digg, Twitter, Shopzilla or Oracle and together with thousands of users of the open source management software, they are making Puppet the number one provider in data center automation. This position and the huge potential of this market attracted Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byyer in supporting the round B funding.

KPCB is best known for its iFund who recently reached $200 million, venture capital raised mainly to support application development for Apple family, iPod, iPad or iPhone. Among the companies founded by KPCB through iFund is Zynga allowing the good farmers from Farmville to control their crops also on iPhone.

KPCB is very well involved also in green technology through its project Greentech. One of the KPCB Partners is Al Gore, the most famous environmentalist. Through Greentech, KPCB funded companies like Bloom Energy or Great Point Energy. Recently they participated in a $63 million funding in Emphase Banks along with PCG Asset Management and other investors.

Based in Bellerica, Massachusetts, PlumChoice announced today that it has just raised $10 million from Silicon Valley Bank in bank financing. This latest round of funding raises PlumChoice’s total equity to over $14.7 million during the closing of the third quarter of 2009. PlumChoice is a company that provides a turnkey solution for partner technologies and allows for channel partners to remotely repair technology on a 24 hour basis all seven days of the week.

Proceeds from both funding sources will go to help the company expand in the rapidly growing technology market. The new funding will also help PlumChoice to improve its infrastructure and underwrite further development in its technologies.

According to PlumChoices CEO, President, and founder, Ted Werth; the fact that the company was able to raise such an amount in debt capital in such a difficult financial climate is a major achievement. Mr. Werth further added that the fact that PlumChoice was able to raise this debt capital can be attributed to the company’s business model and the technology platform that the company has developed, as well as the grade of customers that uses PlumChioce’s services. Furthermore, Silicon Valley Bank saw the value created in PlumChoice’s offering.

According to Kevin Rhodes, PlumChoice’s CFO; this latest round of funding completes the current fundraising efforts. He further added that PlumChoice is fully capitalized to run its operations during the next year.

According to Jack Gaziano, Managing Director of Corporate Finance at Silicon Valley Bank, PlumChoice is definitely a leader in the remote technology repair sector and the team at Silicon Valley Bank will be looking forward to helping the company in the future.

Founded in 2001, PlumChoice is a leader in remote technology repair service and tech support for some of the nation’s highest grade telecom, ISPs, retailers, and etailers. Offered under the Partners’ brand, PlumChoice is designed to generate new revenues in this growing new innovative energy sector. Some of the services the company has to offer include one-time, one-minute, and subscription services for desktop and laptop computers, MP3 players, and more. These services can be accessed anytime anywhere with 24/7 access. PlumChoice offers its services through companies within the United States and you can find out more about PlumChoice by clicking here.

Silicon Valley Bank is a leading corporate bank that provides debt capital to companies in the IT, tech, life sciences, venture capital/private equity, and fine wine industries. Click here to read more about Silicon Valley Bank.

Based in Amsterdam, one of Europe’s leaders in noninvasive cardiovascular monitoring technology, BMEYE B. V. announced today that it has just completed €6 million ($8,850,040.41) in series B funding from new investors, Early Bird Venture Capital and 360 Capital. Other investors who also participated in this round of funding include LSP or Life Science Partners and the Tech Fund.

BMEYE B. V. is one of Europe’s leaders in creating cardiovascular monitoring technologies which are both non-invasive and easy to use. The intent of this technology is not only to improve the quality of care that the cardiac patient receives while in the hospital, but also to reduce time spent in the hospital and the rising cost of medical care. The company both develops and markets the technology and allows for the technology to be used in a whole myriad of applications it the clinical environment. The primary function that BMEYE takes the most care to enhance is the non-invasiveness and user friendliness of the technology which is implemented in hemodynamic cardiovascular monitoring. BMEYE’s main product line is the Nextfin line of monitors, which provide a user friendly interface and a monitor that has highly sensitive finger sensors that can read the beat to beat rhythm of the heart from a finger. The Nextfin line of devices can measure heart beat, pulse, and blood pressure and the monitors provide the medical aids easy to use touch screens to easily read the data output of the machines.

The outlook for BMEYE is good, since the Nextfin product line has been approved by both the CE of the European Union and the FDA of the United States. This round of funding will allow the company to aggressively market the Nextfin product line and conduct future product development as well as improve its sales channel. Founded in 2005, BMEYE had closed a series A funding round in 2006, which was led by Life Science Partners.

According to BMEYE’s CEO, Rob de Ree; the team at BMEYE is very excited to have completed this round of funding during these tough financial times. Furthermore, the technology that BMEYE is developing is revolutionary and meets many unmet needs in the cardiology community. The fact that the company was able to win such a large investment truly validates its technology and product line.

As part of the agreement of this round of funding, Early Bird’s Thom Rasche will join the company’s board of directors. Mr. Rasche further stated that BMEYE truly has a product that is revolutionary and the success of the company can duly be attributed to the diligence of its top-notched management team. Furthermore, the fact that BMEYE’s technology passed tests and cleared all the requirements from both CE and the FDA, the company’s technology can have a cutting edge in the markets of both Europe and the United States.

The other lead investor is 360 Capital and Diana Saraceni, associated with 360, will continue to be a member of BMEYE’s board of directors as part of the funding agreement. She further added that the company’s technology is truly validated by the fact that it has cleared all the necessary requirements and is currently in use in many hospitals and clinics in both the United States and Europe.

Early Bird Venture Capital is one of Europe’s most successful vc firms and currently manages over €400 million ($590,002,693.94). The vc firm primarily invests in companies who are highly innovative and have serious management teams. The vc firm further invests in those companies who are in high growth industries and have the intention to expand into international markets. The geographical preference of Early Bird Venture Capital is the European Union, the United States of America, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. Some other companies in Early Bird’s portfolio include ABAxx Technology AG, Azeti Networks GmbH, Identify Software, Alantos Pharmaceuticals AG, and others.

360 Capital is a vc firm that primarily invests in European companies and is managed with a team of seasoned venture capitalists. Currently, 360 has over €200 million ($295,001,346.01) under its management. Some other companies in 360’s portfolio include E-Blink, Electro Power Systems, Invendo Medical, VuPen, and others.

For more information about BMEYE B. V., click here.

Based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, one of the many biopharmaceutical companies that are making key discoveries in the field of genetic science, Epizyme announced today that it has closed $32 million in series B funding, which was led by Bay City Capital. Other investors who participated in this round of funding include Amgen Ventures, Astellas Venture Management, MPM Capital, and KPCB.

Founded in 2007, Epizyme is a company that is dedicated to making discoveries in genetic science and develop genetic drugs and other agents to treat a wide array of debilitating genetic diseases. Some of the diseases that Epizyme is looking to treat or cure with its new discoveries include cancer, inflammatory conditions, and metabolic and nuro-degenerative disorders. The team at Epizyme has discovered that epigenetics is one of the culprits of many diseases and goes beyond simple oncology.

According to Epizyme’s CEO, Dr. Kazumi Shiokasi, PhD; amazing progress has been made at a quick pace at Epizyme, and the company is already developing a pipeline of first class inhibitors of HMT, or histone methyltransferase enzymes, which are one of the key causes of cancerous mutations. Furthermore, the fact that the company is experiencing such tremendous support from its investors, Epizyme is ready to progress in more leads of this field of study.

One of the biggest discoveries that the team at Epizyme has made is that epigenetic enzymes are one of the key players in the formation of cancer. Furthermore, epigenetic enzymes do not need to be observed only for oncology, but for other genetic mutative disorders as well.

As part of the agreement with this round of funding, Bay City’s Dr. Carl Goldfischer, MD will join the company’s board of directors.

Dr. Goldfischer further added to what Dr. Shiosaki said and stated that Epizyme’s innovative approach to making drugs that inhibit HMTs can develop revolutionary therapies in the oncology field of the medical industry. Furthermore, the company has an amazing team of scientists who are devoted to their work, which validates the investment that Bay City Capital has made in the company.

Founded in 1997, Bay City Capital is a vc firm that boasts of a $1.5 billion in capital under its management and has since its inception invested in over 70 companies. The vc firm primarily invests in the life sciences industry. Other companies in Bay City Capital’s portfolio include Aqua Bounty Technologies, Avera Pharmaceuticals, Calypso Medical Technologies, Hyperion Therapeutics, and others.

For more information about Epizyme, click here.

Based in Durham, North Carolina, a leading innovator in surgical solutions, TransEntrix, announced today that it has secured $55 million in series B funding, which was led by Aisling Capital. Other investors who participated in this round of funding include Intersouth Partners, Quaker BioVentures, SV Life Science Partners, Synergy Life Science Partners, and Parish Capital Advisers.

Founded in 2006, TransEntrix is a subsidiary of Synecor, LLC and was founded for the specific intention of creating extremely disruptive technologies in one of the largest medical and drug device industries. TransEntrix works together with some of the United State’s most prominent physicians to develop medical devices and surgical procedures which are minimally invasive. What is paramount to TransEtrix’s success in the marketplace is the fact that the company relies extensively on hands-on clinical trials and working together with some of the most seasoned surgeons to boost up learning. Furthermore, the team at TransEntrix also believes fully in rapid prototyping of products to get them out to market on a fast pace.

Currently, TransEntrix is working on its latest project, which is a multichannel laparoscopic surgical platform that is known as the SPIDER platform. This platform is designed to give surgeons true triangulation and other advantages that are not possible with conventional laparoscopic surgery. The acronym, SPIDER actually stands for Single Port Instrument Delivery Extended Reach, which literally means that surgeons to some of the least invasive surgeries in the abdominal region.

As part of the agreement of this funding round, Aisling Capital’s managing partner, Dr. Andrew Schiff, Intersouth Partners’ general partner, Dr. Garheng Kong, and Quaker BioVentures’ Dr. Matt Rieke will join the company’s board of directors.

According to the president and CEO of TransEntrix, Dr. Todd M. Pope; the company is overjoyed to have such prestigious investors who are so confident in the company’s product. Dr. Pope further added that the technology that TransEntrix offers is powerful technology that can provide the medical community with a whole new procedure that has the potential of changing the way laparoscopic surgeries are performed.

Aisling Capital is one of the largest private equity firms in the world and currently has over $1.6 billion under its management. The private equity firm primarily invests in companies that develop technologies or global businesses that benefit the healthcare industry. The team of investors that manage Aisling Capital are up to date in the latest technologies and that is key in making Aisling Capital one of the key players in the investor community. Some other companies in Aisling’s portfolio include Adma Biologics, Armgo Pharma, Dynova Laboratories, HerbalScience, Natural Dentist, and others.

For more information about TransEntrix, click here.

Based in Reston, Virginia, an innovative leading driving distraction prevention solutions developer, ZoomSafer announced today that it has closed $1 million in seed funding from a private investor. Proceeds from the funding will go to launch new services for drivers who use the Blackberry RIM mobile devices.

One of the most dangerous hazards on America’s roads are distracted drivers. Seeing people on the phone, texting, or playing with other mobile devices, while driving to work is becoming commonplace. Furthermore, distracted drivers can annoy other drivers, because distracted drivers tend to drive slower than everyone else or vier into the neighboring lane. Other distracted drivers can also stand at an intersection even after the traffic light turns green, because she is busy talking on the phone. According to DriveFocused.com, distracted driving is becoming a hazard that is equal to, if not greater than intoxicated driving. The site further states that distracted driving is a behavioral problem that needs more than laws and education to address it. The article further states that ZoomSafer is providing innovative solutions to address this growing problem.

According to ZoomSafer’s CEO, Mike Riemer; distracted driving is a complex behavioral problem that is primarily caused by the constant development of mobile technology. Furthermore, most of municipal and state laws that punish distracted driving do not seem to have an effect on the public who is increasingly being dependent on modern wireless technology to communicate. This proves that people need more solutions to correct their driving habits besides strict laws. ZoomSafer has developed a whole array of contextual solutions that make people drive more focused. Mr. Riemer further added that the proceeds from this round of funding will allow the company to continue its quest in researching and developing solutions for safer driving.

Some of the products that ZoomSafer offers include its free Zoom Free, which is a program that is installed in your cellphone and automatically detects when you are driving and will lock the keypad on your phone, preventing you from making calls or sending text messages while you are driving. This program even goes so far as letting a driver’s friends know by either SMS, Twitter, or Facebook that the person is on the road. Other services include the ZoomMate, ZoomMail, and ZoomBiz; which are all pay services.

The CEO of Safe Kids, Mitch Stoller stated that he has been testing ZoomSafer for several weeks and he believes that this is a great solution to distracted driving. Mr. Stoller further added that the service that ZoomSafer has changed his perspective as a driver, furthermore, the company’s solutions automatically detect when he gets into the car. Mr. Stoller stated that this technology truly made him a safer driver.

ZoomSafer first launched its beta test version for Blackberry smart phones in September 1, 2009, and plans to have this program go into the second phase of beta testing, which will be more enhanced than the program in the first phase. The second phase of beta testing will launch in October 20, 2009.

For more information about ZoomSafer, click here.

Based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, ALung Technologies announced today that it has raised $2.5 million in funding from its existing investors, who are not disclosed to the public. Proceeds from this funding round will go to fund ALung’s international endeavors, which include the company’s German and Indian clinical trials.

ALung Technologies is a company that is developing the new age of artificial lungs and work to advance the cures of respiratory diseases. Currently the company is developing a new platform, known as the HemoLung System that is designed to aid or even replace the ventilator for respiratory patients. Ventilators are usually used on patients who have respiratory failure and what the HemoLung System is designed to do is to eliminate all the invasive techniques that a current ventilator requires. Furthermore, when a patient is on the HemoLung System, he will not need to be sedated; allowing him to be awake, alert, and able to eat. Furthermore, the traditional ventilator can cause pneumonia and other dangerous complications that are associated with ventilators, which makes a respiratory patient spend a long time in the intensive care unit. The HemoLung System can eliminate all that too, because it also allows for artificial respiration without injury to the trachea or the larynx. Furthermore, the company has already advanced the development of the HemoLung System and plans to start clinical trials this fall.

The HemoLung System is an innovative system that does all of the above mentioned by use of a smaller catheter which is inserted in either the jugular or femoral vein, mimicking the process used in acute kidney dialysis. The difference is that the catheters deliver the blood to a mechanical lung which removes the carbon dioxide and replaces it with oxygen, much like the real lung does. The catheters allow for a much easier artificial respiration process than the cumbersome ventilator which requires a tube that is surgically inserted into the trachea.

According to ALung’s chairman and CEO, Peter M. DeComo; the potential that ALung Technologies has to improve the quality of care for severe respiratory patients is tremendous. The company’s HemoLung System will greatly reduce time in the ICU and dangerous complications associated with regular ventilators and further improving the patient’s care by allowing him to be alert and the most important thing, less time in the ICU also means greatly reduced healthcare costs.

In the United States today, there is an estimated 450,000 patients who are currently being ventilated as a result to chronic and acute respiratory failure. Furthermore, with the current cost of ICU hospitalization being estimated to range in between $5000 to $7000, the cost of respiratory patients can be overwhelming. Furthermore, the clinical trials that ALung’s patented HemoLung System prototype will determine whether the HemoLung System will replace or be a supplement to conventional ventilation.

As far as the company’s COO, Nick Kuhn, is concerned; currently the team at ALung Technologies is very enthusiastic with the current near-term clinical trials of this new system. Furthermore, the HemoLung System is currently undergoing clinical trials in both Germany and India.

For more information about ALung Technologies, click here.

Based in San Diego, California, Santek announced today that it has closed an undisclosed amount of series B funding from Verifone Holdings, RRE Ventures, and Venrock. Before this round of funding, both PRE Ventures and Venrock joined the company’s private investors in adding extra funding to their series A funding.

Founded in 1999, Semtek is a company that has been a leader in the magnetic industry since its inception. Semtek serves customers who are both in the private and public sector and who need fixed data components for their wireless devices and fixed based data processing systems. One of the key systems that Semtek has been working on since 2004 is to improve the magnetic stripe that is found on the backs of millions of credit and debit cards. In this day and age, the magnetic stripe is beginning to become a major component in electronic payment for most merchants. These magnetic stripes are located in the back of credit and debit cards, and when you pay for something in the store, your credit card is swiped through a device that reads the stripe and obtains the information about your credit card account. This magnetic stripe is becoming an instrumental component of electronic payment for merchants worldwide, because the new credit card swipers require the magnetic stripe to make the purchase.

One of the major problems with credit cards today is that there are a large number of criminals who are computer and electronically savvy and work hard to counterfeit credit cards, costing merchants and credit card companies billions of dollars. Semtek has been pioneering the credit card security industry and the company’s technology is designed to make the counterfeiting of credit cards more difficult for the increasingly tech savvy criminal. To combat the growing problem of credit card fraud and counterfeiting, Semtek has both developed and commercialized a whole suite of technologies that are effective in increasing the security and stopping theft and counterfeiting. The partnership that Semtek has acquired with Verifone is a partnership that will benefit both companies, because Verifone is one of the first companies that pioneered end to end encryption of electronic data.

The partnership with Semtek and Verifone is not that new, however. Verifone and Semtek originally secured their partnership in April of 2008, when the two companies entered into a commercial agreement, where Semtek would be involved in developing key components of a new product that Verifone is putting together, known as the VeriSafe Protect. Verifone’s new technology is based on technology that is based on the technology that was developed by Semtek. Furthermore, this technology that is under the Verifone brand has experienced breakneck success throughout the United States, that the commercial partnership in between the two companies will continue and now includes a global initiative to market VeriSafe Protect technology in other markets around the world.

This partnership between the two companies also has great benefits to Semtek, because it allows Semtek to make its technologies available to other hardware companies that can use this technology on their products or platforms.

According to the CEO of Verifone, Douglas G. Bergeron; the people at Verifone are very happy with their relationship with Semtek. The relationship has been growing over the past year, and the company looks forward to future successes with Semtek. Semtek’s CEO Patrick Hazel also added that the role in which Verifone is playing is very important role in some of the technologies that Semtek has developed. Furthermore, Verifone’s leadership is key in this historically difficult market to penetrate.

Founded in 1994, RRE Ventures is a vc firm that has been devoted to help diligent management teams build exceptional companies who are in the software, communications, and software industries. The vc firm currently has over $850 million of assets under its management. Other companies in RRE’s portfolio include AdaptiveBlue, BetaWorks, Drop.io, GoMobo, Kashless, Pontiflex, and others.

Originally established as the vc arm of the Rockefeller Family, Venrock is a vc firm that has a global presence, with offices in Menlo Park, California; New York City; Cambridge, Massachusetts; and Israel. The vc firm has invested in over 400 companies and has over $1.9 billion under its management. Some other companies in Venrock’s portfolio include IM Logic, DataPower, DoubleClick, MediaMetrix, and others.

For more information about Semtek, click here.

Based in Baltimore, Maryland, a biopharmaceurtical innovator, Arginetix announced today that it has closed $10.75 million in series A funding, which was led by both Quaker BioVentures and Medlmmune Ventures. Other investors who participated in this funding round include the Maryland Healthcare Funding Corporation, Osage University Partners, Red Abbey Partners, and the cofounder of Arginetix, Acidophil LLC.

Arginetix is a biopharmaceutical company that is devoted to the development and commercialization of revolutionary medications that can consist of small molecule inhibitors of the enzyme, arginase. Arginase is an enzyme that competes with endothelial nitric oxide synthase for using the common substrate, L-arginine. In theory, elevated argonase in the body will lower the level of L-arginine in the body, which can result in the reduction of necessary oxygen production. What is even more dangerous is that when there is an elevated level of arginase in the body, it can also trigger fibrosis and hyperplasia, which is a result of excellerated cell division.

Proceeds from this round of funding will go to help Arginetix continue its research and in developing one of the first class solutions that inhibit the arginase enzyme. The current inhibitor that Arginetix is developing is to be used in inhibiting both cardiovascular and pulmonary indicators. The scientific foundation of the company’s research is based on the proprietary intellect of Arginetix’s cofounders, Dr. David Christianson, PhD of the University of Pennsylvania and Dr. Dan Berkowitz, MD at the John Hopkins University.

According to Arginetix’s CEO and third cofounder, Gary Lessing; this round of funding is a great endorsement for the company and the important research and developments it is doing in working with the arginase enzyme. Mr. Lessing further added that Arginetix is fortunate to be working with a group of investors who are both experienced in the field of molecular biology and talented in both their business strategy and industry knowledge. The fact that both of the company’s new investors have broad experience in developing new drugs and their proven track record of past successes will be a very valuable asset to Arginetix.

According to Dr. Geeta Vemuri, Managing Director of Medlmmune Ventures; Arginetix is currently investigating clinical studies for the treatment of both cardiovascular and pulmonary diseases with its revolutionary molecular solutions. Furthermore, the fact that Arginetix has some innovative solutions to treat cardiovascular and pulmonary diseases. This further validates the investment that Medlmmune Ventures has placed in Arginetix.

Devoted to the life science industry in the mid-Atlantic states, Quaker BioVentures is a vc firm that has more than $700 million under its management. The vc firm has led investments in all sectors of the life science industry. Quaker BioVentures invests in all stages of a company’s life. Some other companies in Quaker BioVentures portfolio include Amicus Therapeutics, Biolex, BioRexis, Celator Pharmaceuticals, Cellatope, Cempra, DiscoveryLabs, and others.

Medlmmune Ventures is the vc arm of AstraZaneca Group, which was established to enhance the research, discovery, and commercialization of biotechnology products and solutions. Furthermore, the AstraZaneca Group also provides the funding for such endeavors. Medlmmune Ventures primarily invest in early to late stage companies in the biotech industry. The vc fund invests in both privately owned and publicly traded companies.

For more information about Arginetix, click here.

Based in Lebanon, New Hampshire, a leader in immune system and human antibody research, Adimab announced today that it has closed an undisclosed amount in series D funding with Google Ventures leading the funding round. Other investors who are participating in this round of funding include the company’s existing investors, Polaris Ventures, SV Life Science, OrbiMed Advisors, and Borealis Ventures.

Adimab is a leader in human antibody research tools. Its platform, which is an integrated antibody discovery and optimization platform that allows for scientists to be able to research everything from antigens to purified human IgGs. Adimab provides scientists and medical researchers the basic advantages by bringing to attention different panels of therapeutically relevant antibodies that can be used in treating a wide array of different diseases. According to Adimab’s corporate website, up to now, there are several different methods to approach and discover human antibodies. The thing that all three of these approaches have in common is that they all need a specific host to work. Some of these hosts include mice, E. Coli, CHO, and NSO. Furthermore, all these approaches require several different reformatting steps that can cause the quality and the accuracy of the discoveries to deteriorate. Adimab’s website goes on further to say that the company has taken extra steps to improve the discovery of human antibodies. The company site goes on to state that Adimab’s approach works by accomplishing a full integration of all the aspects of antibody discovery, ranging from library design and manufacturing. Furthermore, Adimab also stresses the importance of developing screening and presentation technologies which can search all relevant aspects of antibody quality and function. The corporate site also explains more of the unique platform that Adimab offers.

According to Bill Maris, Managing Partner of Google Ventures, vanguard technologies in the life sciences industry can be computationally intensive. Furthermore, Google Ventures will continue to back Adimab and its revolutionary technology in human antibody discovery technology. Google will also back Adimab’s bid to become the world leader in human antibody discovery and research. Mr. Maris further added that he believes that the technology that Adimab’s technology is definitely revolutionary and is happy that Google Ventures will join the company’s existing investors in backing this company.

According to Adimab’s CEO, Errik Anderson; the company has been looking at several investment propositions and finally came to the decision that Google Ventures was the best investor to complete this round of funding. The people at Google Ventures understood the value that Adimab has placed in its human antibody discovery platform. Furthermore, this prolific discovery platform can have an even greater effect when incorporated with computational tools.

Google Ventures is the vc arm of Google, one of the world’s largest search engine companies. The sole mission of Google Ventures is to seek and find new companies and help them grow into large global corporations. Though Google itself is an internet company, its vc arm, Google Ventures invests in a broad range of industries which include consumer internet, software, hardware, life sciences, clean tech, bio tech, and healthcare. Google believes in helping companies grow from the entrepreneur’s garage or basement to a major corporation with a multinational presence. Google Ventures invests in all stages of a company’s life from seed all the way to mezzanine funding.

For more information about Adimab, click here.

Based in Salt Lake City, Utah, breast ultrasound device developer, TechniScan Medical Systems, or TMS, announced today that it has just closed a $6 million in series E funding with leading international medical diagnostic equipment developer, Esaote providing over half of the funding. As part of the agreement of this funding, both companies will join into an Original Equipment Manufacturing or OEM agreement, which would allow TMS to incorporate the Esaote products to be incorporated into its own product development and will also bring TMS’s products to the European markets.

Growing out of the Bioengineering Department of the University of Utah, TMS is a privately owned company which develops and manufactures technologies for ultrasound breast diagnostics. Furthermore, during the company’s inception, TMS has received grants from Utah’s Governor’s Office of Economic Development or GOED. One of the flagship products of TMS includes the Svara system. This is a system that employs ultrasound which uses a Warm Bath Ultrasound or WBU. This procedure allows for the ultrasound to create accurate 3D images of the breast. The Svara system is designed to help physicians in the diagnostics of breast cancers and other pathologies of the breast by providing them with new imaging of the anatomy of breast tissue.

According to TMS’s CEO, David C. Robinson; the timing of this round of funding and the agreement with Esaote validates the quality and the potential of market disruption of TMS’s product. The global financial crisis has almost dried up the funding for startup companies, but the fact that the Warm Bath Ultrasound platform has promise and the company’s investors have great hope for the potential of this platform and the Svara system.

The Svara system itself has a unique origin. The name of this system comes from the Hindu goddess of sound and the system works by completely submerging the breast in a warm bath of water, which then enables the ultrasound transducers to emit sound waves that travel through and in the breast, creating the imaging needed to provide physicians with the necessary diagnostic data.

The imaging system developed by TMS has won applause from many in the medical community and the company has, since its inception, received over $24 million in equity financing and $5 million from the National Institutes of Health and the National Cancer Institute. Furthermore, the Svara system is still limited to use only in research until it clears inspection and wins the approval of the FDA.

Esaote is a world leader in the development and manufacturing of medical diagnostic devices. Some of the devices that Esaote manufactures include ultrasound devices, MRIs, non-imaging ECG, and even diagnostic devices for veterinary medicine as well. Esaote is headquartered in Genoa, Italy and also has offices in other places in Italy, as well as in France, Germany, Russia, Spain, the Netherlands, Belgium, the United Kingdom, the United States, Argentina, Brazil, Hong Kong, China, and India.

For more information about TechniScan Medical Systems, click here.

Based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the developer of advanced hypothermia treatments, ThermalTherapeutics Systems, announced today that it has completed $2.75 million series A funding led by Originate Ventures. Other investors who participated in this round of funding include Pittsburgh Life Sciences Greenhouse and other undisclosed private investors.

ThermalTherapeutic Systems is a developer of innovative solutions to treat hypothermia victims. Currently the company is in the final stages of its latest product, the TTS Hyperthermic Perfusion Device. This device is designed to raise the temperature of certain areas of people who are suffering hypothermia, which is a condition when a person’s body temperature falls dangerously below the normal 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit. The TTS Hyperthermic Perfusion Device is designed to raise the temperature of the thoracic and peritoneal areas of the body to warm the body back to normal body temperature.

Proceeds from this funding will go to further the advance and marketing of the new TTS Hyperthermic Perfusion Device.

According to ThermalTherapeutic’s cofounder and CEO, the financial support that the company has received from Originate Ventures is very valuable and as yet another milestone that ThermalTherapeutics Systems has accomplished. Along with this milestone, another big achievement that ThermalTherapeutics has attained was submitting the application for this product to the FDA in July. Furthermore, in August, the company had closed $750,000 from several undisclosed private investors. These achievements can benefit both physicians and investors. Physicians can benefit, because of the company’s innovative systems to treat a growing number of patients, and investors can reap their returns and have the ability to participate in an industry that has the potential to explode in a multibillion dollar industry which can reach international bounds.

According to Mike Gausling, Managing Partner at Originate Ventures; the vc firm values its investment in ThermalTherapeutics, because the company does not only fit Originate’s investment profile, but the TTS Hyperthermic Perfusion Device is destined to be a product that can disrupt the marketplace and provide enormous returns for the vc firm.

With offices in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, Originate Ventures is a vc firm that primarily invests in early stage companies who are in the Pennsylvania geographic area. The vc firm invests in companies that have products or services in the healthcare, consumer, and some limited web-based and distribution industries. Some other companies in Originate’s portfolio include Adhezion Biomedical, South 49 Solutions, Proton Media, Rights Flow, and others.

For more information about ThermalTherapeutics Systems, click here.

Based in Provo, Utah, one of the United States’ leading online advertising recruitment companies, EnticeLabs, announced today that it has closed a strategic round of funding which was led by First Advantage. Other investors who participated in this round of funding include the original founders and investors of the company. Other investors also include the founders of Omniture. As part of the agreement of this funding round, Mr. Neal Bruce, First Advantage’s Senior Vice President of Product Management will join EnticeLabs’ board of directors.

Founded in 2007, EnticeLabs is a pioneer in developing products for online advertising and recruiting. The company was originally backed by funding from the founder of Omniture. Furthermore, the management team of EnticeLabs is one of the most top-notched teams in the industry. EnticeLabs’ success is credited to its flagship product, TalentSeekr, which is a platform that is an automated one-stop program that is disrupting the recruiting and talent seeking industry. TalentSeekr uses targeted ads and cutting edge artificial intelligence to recruit and find talented individuals who are either actively or passively looking for jobs in the websites and social networks where they spend most of their time online.

Proceeds from this round of funding will go to advance the marketing efforts and technological innovations at EnticeLabs.

According to Neal Bruce, the people at First Advantage are very impressed with EnticeLabs’ innovative technology and ability to recruit talented individuals and the headway the company is making in the HR industry. Mr. Bruce further added that EnticeLabs is definitely changing the online recruiting industry with its flagship product, TalentSeekr. The key to EnticeLabs’ success is that the management of the company understand the needs of their clients and know how to develop technology and methods to meet those needs.

According to EnticeLabs’ CEO, Ryan Caldwell; The management team is very happy to have such a strong supporter, such as First Advantage. The fact that First Advantage is investing in EnticeLabs is living proof that the successes that the company has had and the quality of the company’s product and service to its clients is validated. Mr. Caldwell further stated that he is looking forward to the expansion opportunities that the investment from First Advantage will afford the company.

First Advantage is an employer recruitment company that has a suite of tools that employers can use to recruit productive and talented employees by reducing time, cost, and risk. First Advantage does not only seek and recruit employees for companies, but also tracks the applicants who apply through their service.

Omniture is an online marketing service that helps improve its customers with their marketing ROI. The product that Omniture offers is the Omniture Online Marketing Suite. This suite can optimize your website’s usability, improve your marketing ROI, and more.

For more information about EnticeLabs, click here.

Based in San Ramon, California, TargetCast Networks, a leading purveyor of digital TV advertising announced today that it has received a second round of formal funding from DFJ and Claremont Creek Ventures totaling a net worth of $6.5 million. This round of funding comes on the heals of a $6.3 million series A funding round that was led by Claremont Creek Ventures in September of 2007. With these two investments added up, the company has currently reached a total amount of funding totaling a net worth of $12.8 million.

TargetCast Networks is a company that develops and purveys digital TV technologies for out of home television. TargetCast’s technology allows venue operators to both create and broadcast their own custom promotional content on TV screens that their clients have in their establishments. The company also provides local, regional, and national advertisers, who can target a large audience with customized television sets at a much lower rate than conventional advertising methods.

According to the president and CEO of TargetCast Networks, Jerry Hall; proceeds from this new funding round will go to establish new strategic partnerships and create a new internal advertising sales team. Mr. Hall further stated that TargetCast’s investors have a proven track record of seeking exceptional media opportunities. Furthermore, the company’s investors understand that the company’s management has a superior domain experience in the industry and TargetCast also has patented technology and all this together puts the company ahead in a crucial time in the media and advertising industry.

Nat Goldhaber, Managing Director of Claremont Creek Ventures stated that TargetCast Networks is leading the way in a growth category that marketers are looking for in new media options, since that the more traditional media, which people have been accustom to for the past century is dying out. Furthermore, the company’s management team is run by highly diligent people who have a deep understanding of the media industry today.

This extra round of funding is not the only thing that TargetCast has announced today. Along with the joint funding with Claremont River Ventures and DFJ, the company also announced that Mr. John Fisher, who is the Managing Director of DFJ will also come on board as a new member of TargetCast’s board of directors. Mr. Fisher will join other board members, who include Claremont River’s Nat Goldhaber and Paul Straub; TargetCast’s CEO, Jerry Hall; and Dr. Peter Sealey, who was Coca Cola’s CMO and a well known advertising media expert.

According to DFJ’s John Fisher, the advertising on out of home digital television networks is becoming a growing platform. This platform is not only a new platform, but is also growing at not only the local level, but at the national level as well. Mr. Fisher further added that the loud sucking sound of dollars draining out of the sinking traditional media industry and going into the new digital media of the 21st Century makes TargetCast Networks a good investment and a great opportunity for all of its investors.

With over $305 million under its management, Claremont Creek Ventures is a vc firm that primarily invests in seed and early stage companies who are in the energy management and conservation, IT, healthcare, security, and tech industries. Claremont Creek Ventures is a prominent vc firm that is based in Oakland, California. Some other companies in Claremont Creek’s portfolio include Adura Technologies, Arcxis Biotechnologies, Gene Security Network, Lefora, Sentilla, and others.

DFJ, or Draper Fisher Juvertson, is a globally renowned vc firm with its headquarters in Menlo Park, California and other offices in New York City, China, and India. In the vc firm’s 24 year history, DFJ has invested in over 500 companies; some of which are well known household names, such as Hotmail, acquired by Microsoft; Skype, and others. Other companies in DFJ’s current portfolio include 4Info, Abuzz, AltoBeam, AppStream, BinOptix, and others.

For more information about TargetCast Networks, click here.

Based in Seoul, South Korea, South Korea’s leading power storage company, Nesscap, Inc., announced today that it has just closed a $9 million investment in a bridge funding which was led by British based vc firm, I2BF Venture Capital. Other vc firms that participated in this round of funding include local investors in the region, who are not disclosed to the public.

Nesscap, Inc is a company that is leading the South Korean market in producing ultra capacitors and power storage units for long term energy storage. The company features a large array of different products that are a standard in the industry. Nesscap offers products that range from three to five thousand farads and have organic electrolytes that are recognized by the electric power storage and ultra capacitors industry. Furthermore, Nesscap states that its products have both cells and modules that are for the transportation, power, and consumer industries.

According Nesscap’s chairman and CEO, Dr. Sunwook Kim; both he and the management are very pleased that the company has the support of such a strong investor, such as I2BF Venture Capital. Dr. Sunwook further stated that the support from I2BF demonstrates the support of Nesscap’s technology and proof that it is doing well in the marketplace.

Based in London, United Kingdom, I2BF Venture Capital is a high class vc firm that has a mission of supporting companies that are in the energy industry. I2BF Venture Capital was founded in 2005 with a mission to improve the energy sector in the United States, Europe, Asia, and the South Pacific. I2BF is a subsidiary of Arbat Capital Management, which is one of Russia’s top vc firms. Currently, I2BF Venture Capital has over $90 million of assets under its management. Along with venture capital, I2BF Venture Capital also has a hedge fund that is worth over $25 million. The primary focus of I2BF Venture Capital is in renewable energy, and on their website they show a diagram of the different sectors of the energy industry the vc firm focuses on. Some of the sectors include wind, hydrogen, solar, and ocean energy. I2BF Venture Capital also invests in biofuel companies and companies who are in the water purification and energy efficiency industries. Some other companies in I2BF’s portfolio include Primafuel, Solix Biofuels, Prism Solar Technologies, Epuramat, Solar Silicon, PowerBeam, and others.

For more information about Nesscap, click here.

Based in South San Francisco, California, renewable petroleum company, LS9, Inc announced today that it has closed a $5 million round of funding from CTTV Investments LLC, Flagship Ventures, Khosla Ventures, and Lightspeed Venture Partners.

LS9, Inc is a privately owned company that specializes in renewable petroleum. LS9 creates renewable petroleum by employing biotechnology to develop commercial fuels and chemicals. Synthetic biology can meet the growing demand for alternative fuels by producing fuels that have the same properties of petroleum based fuels and are compatible with the existing consumer infrastructure. The fuels that are produced by LS9 are very clean and produce very low carbon when consumed. The fuels are made from sugar-based products, such as sugar cane and cellulosic biomass.

LS9’s fuel is developed from a one-step fermentation process that converts plant-based material into reliable fuels and high value sustainable chemicals.

According to LS9’s Vice President of Research and Development, Stephen del Cardayre; the company provides a fuel that is highly clean and safe for the environment. Furthermore, these fuels are not only low carbon emitting, but are also of high quality and cost effective. Mr. del Cardayre further added that proceeds from this round of funding will go to expedite the development of more of these new biofuels and chemicals that can benefit many industries on a broad scale.

LS9’s technology is so innovative that by 2010, the company estimates to have a biofuel available that is practically identical to diesel and jet fuel, but less dirty. LS9 is unique because it has been able to show how it can manipulate the genetic makeup of microbes to taylor them to the needs of the productions of LS9 products.

CTTV Ventures LLC is the vc arm of the Chevron Technology Ventures, which is an investment branch of Chevron Oil. Chevron Technology Ventures invests in energy innovators who have the potential to benefit the Chevron Oil Company.

Founded in 2000, Flagship Ventures is a well respected vc firm that is devoted to the funding and realization of innovative companies. Flagship Ventures primarily invests in companies which have an innovative proprietary technology or service in the therapeutics, life sciences, tools & diagnostics, bio energy, and clean tech industries. Some other companies in Flagship’s portfolio include Advanced Electron Beams, Oasys Water Novomer, Zegen, and others.

Khosla Ventures is a vc firm that believes that an entrepreneur is a person who “dares to dream and who is foolish enough realize those dreams.” Khosla Ventures does not only offer financing to companies, but also strategic advice and help to entrepreneurs who are diligent enough to realize their ideas and extend them to new potentials.

Lightspeed Venture Capital is a vc firm that has a global presence with offices in Silicon Valley, China, Israel, and India. The vc firm currently has over $2 billion in committed investments and has opened its seventh fund of $800 million. Other companies in Lightspeed’s portfolio include Ask Laila, 99Bill.com, Aerohive, Bling Nation, Car Domain, CoalTek, and others.

For more information about LS9, Inc., Click here.

Based in Milpitas, California, one of the United States’ leading pioneers of video for mobile phones, Vuclip announced today that it has closed $6 million in series B funding lead by JAFCO Ventures. Other investors who participated in this round of funding include the company’s existing investor, New Enterprise Associates.

Vuclip has developed the one of the biggest video search engines for mobile phones. Furthermore, Vuclip’s video portal is the only video portal that can transcode and transcribe all web videos to any mobile phone across almost any wireless network worldwide. The service that Vuclip is free, but carriers may charge the users of that particular service for bandwidth costs. Vuclip also allows publishers to publish their web video content through their white labeled Vuclip Video API program.

According to Vuclip’s CEO and founder, Nickhil Jakatdar; Vuclip’s service was built on a browser that address all the technical problems that some mobile phones might encounter with web videos. The solution that Vuclip offers gives media companies the opportunity to have a global audience and allows for the mobilization of these videos online.

To date, the service that Vuclip provides has already reached over 1,000,000 people in over 150 countries throughout the world. Vuclip also has many different partnerships with some of the world’s premium media and advertising companies. Advertisers can use Vuclip as a vehicle to reach millions of consumers.

Founded in 2003, JAFCO Ventures is a vc firm that has over $350 million under its management. The vc firm primarily invests in companies who are in the communications, internet, semiconductor, and software industries. JAFCO Ventures is based in Palo Alto, California and also has offices in Asia and invests in the United States, China, and Japan. Some other companies in JAFCO’s portfolio include 41st Parameter, Aster Data Systems, Calypto, ClairMail, and others.

New Enterprise Associates, or NEA is one of the leading vc firms, who’s primary mission is helping entrepreneurs build new powerful enterprises. NEA was founded in 1978 and has several principles that it bases its investments on. The first principle that NEA bases its investments on is helping and supporting the entrepreneurs in whom the vc firm invests in. The second principle is to participate in the profession of the industries in which the vc firm invests in and earning the highest respect in the industry. Currently, NEA has over $8.5 billion of committed capital under its management. NEA also has offices in both China and India. Some other companies in NEA’s portfolio include Amicus Therapeutics, 3Com, Actelis, Argon Networks, Ascend Networks, Astral Point Communications, and others.

For more information about Vuclip, click here.

Based in Mansfield, Massachusetts, molecular diagnostics company; PrimeraDx announced today that it has closed $20 million in series C funding, which was led by CHL Medical Partners. Other investors who participated in this round of funding include the company’s existing investors, who are Abingworth, InterWest Partners, Malaysian Technology Development Corporation, MPM Capital, Burrill & Company, and the Invus Group.

PrimeraDx is a company who is in the growing molecular biological medical industry, and the company has an amazing ability to attract many investors. The main focus of PrimeraDx is in the field of molecular diagnostics to help physicians and clinicians diagnose many kinds of serious diseases. The success in PimeraDx is its unique platform, which is automated and designed to be multiplexed and cost effective. Furthermore, these tests can be very accurate and the whole platform is based on PrimeraDx’s proprietary technology, STAR Technology, which is employed with the ICEPlex instrument.

The STAR Technology is actually short for Scaleable Target Amplification Routine, and it is a new method to test the nucleic acids of several different cells at the same time. This new technology is based on an innovative technology that is PCR and CE. PCR is an acronym for Polymerase Chain Reaction and CE is short for Capillary Electrophoresis. The way that STAR Technology works is that it targets the nucleic acid of multiple cells and the targeted acids are then monitored by taking a sample of the PCR reaction and during the cycle, this technology separates and quantifies the PCR products by the CE.

According to PrimeraDx’s president and CEO, Martin L. Verhoef; the company is very excited to welcome CHL Medical Partners aboard. The fact that PrimeraDx is able to attract as many investors as it has validates that its revolutionary STAR technology can disrupt the marketplace. Mr. Verhoef further added that proceeds from this round of funding will go to continue the commercializing of PrimeraDx’s proprietary technology. The funding will also advance regulatory strategy and broaden the quantitive multiplex test menu to run the company’s IcePLEX system.

According to Richard Lennox, partner at CHL Medical Partners; PrimeraDx is a superb investment opportunity. There are many unmet needs in the molecular diagnostics industry, and PrimeraDx seems to be meeting these needs. Furthermore, there are some crucial needs that are not met in this particular industry and PrimeraDx seems to be meeting those needs with great success.

CHL Medical Partners is a world-class vc firm that seeks both entrepreneurs and inventors who are working on innovative technologies for the molecular diagnostic, healthcare, and medical devices industries. Currently the vc firm has over $120 million under its management in its sixth fund. Some other companies in CHL’s portfolio include Still River Systems, Valeritas, Medicus Insurance Company, Fidelis Seniorcare, SemperCare, and others.

For more information about PrimeraDx, click here.

Based in Taunton, Massachusetts, the innovative ice cream technology company, MooBella announced today that it has secured $18 million in series A funding from the W. Health L. P., which is a vc fund that is operated and managed by Inventages. This is a rather large amount of funding that will benefit MooBella greatly, because it will not only allow the company to expand its market, but also allow the company to change its legal status from an LLC to an incorporated company.

The ice cream industry is estimated to be a $60 billion industry and the proprietary technology that MooBella offers is revolutionary and sets out to disrupt the entire ice cream market. What makes MooBella stand out from other ice cream makers is that the company has a technology that allows the consumer to make ice cream cones in their own flavors in a hard ball cone. The machine works by instantly freezing the ice cream itself, while at the same time giving the ice cream the needed aeration and its flavor. Furthermore, the machine that MooBella has created freezes the ice cream into premium hard ice cream balls for cones. Another achievement that MooBella has achieved is winning the INNY Award from the Tech Museum of Innovation in San Jose, California. The company has also won awards for its technology from the National Restaurant Association, which awarded MooBella the 2006 Kitchen Innovations Award. MooBella also won awards from other organizations, such as the Food Network, and others.

According to MooBella’s president and CEO, Bruce Ginsburg; by having a partnership with a world class investment firm, such as Inventages, MooBella has been able to successfully complete a highly demanding process of building up the company and perfecting its technology and is now positioned to launch its product commercially later this year. Currently, MooBella is to strategically place its machines in highly populated areas in New England, especially in shopping centers and malls where there is a lot of consumer traffic.

According Inventages’ Erich Sieber, who also sits on MooBella’s board of directors; during tough economic times, like the times we live in today, only the most innovative and competitive companies get secure funding from investors. Furthermore, MooBella’s technology is not only innovative, but because of its ability to allow the consumer to generate ice cream in customizable flavors and dispenses the ice cream into premium hard frozen ice cream balls; the company is able to start a paradigm shift in the ice cream industry. Furthermore, once consumers see that the ice cream that they are making from the machines is fresh and their own flavor, they will come back for more. This fact poises MooBella for success in the marketplace.

Based in Geneva, Switzerland, Inventages is one of the world’s largest and best known investment firms that invests in the healthcare, life sciences, and nutrition industries. The firm currently has over $1.5 billion of capital under its management. Investages also has offices in London, Aukland, and Nassau. Some other companies in Investages’ portfolio include Accera, Atonomics, Boowl, Cavis, CM&D, Cryolog, EnCoat, EverNutrition, and others.

For more information about MooBella, click here.

Based in Seattle, Washington, medical device company, Calypso Medical announced today that it has closed a $50 million investment, which was led by both Skyline Ventures and Frazier Healthcare Ventures. Other investors include Bay City Capital, and Interwest Partners.

Calypso Medical is a medical device company that has developed a tumor localization system which uses implants to continuously, accurately, and objectively track tumors for radiation therapy. The implants used in this system are known as Beacon electromagnetic transponders, which together with the company’s proprietary system are designed to track tumors which can be treated by radiation therapy throughout the body. Furthermore, the technology was approved by the FDA to be used in prostrate and post operative prostrate cancer patients. Another thing that makes Calypso Medical attractive to investors is because of the strategic partnerships the company has made with some of the major companies in the medical industry, which include Siemens, Elekta Corporation, Varian Medical Systems, and others.

Proceeds from the funding will go to finance Calypso’s expansion both domestically and internationally. Along with expansion, this round of funding will also go to fund the development of new products for clinical indication of tumors as well as the continued integration of these products with Calypso’s proprietary technology, the Calypso System platform with other radiation therapies.

The Calypso System is based on the company’s platform, the GPS for the Body, which uses Beacon transponders to provide some of the most accurate information where tumors are in the body during an external radiation beam when a patient with the implanted Beacon transponders undergoes radiation therapy. The main problem with traditional radiation therapy, is that should a patient move slightly, the radiation beam could miss the tumor and radiate some healthy tissue instead. These transponders aim to eliminate that problem, by enabling the radiation beam to target the tumor, even when the patient moves.

According to the Managing Director of Skyline Ventures, John Freund; the team at Skyline believes that the proprietary technology which Calypso Medical has can potentially revolutionize the way radiation therapy can be implemented in the future. In all cases of cancer treatments using radiation, location of the tumor is critical in successfully treating the cancer and not damaging healthy tissue. Use of the Beacon transponders to constantly locate the tumors will simplify the radiation therapy and make the treat all that much more effective. Calypso’s technology platform allows for oncologists to increase the dose of radiation because the tumor is constantly on target.

According to Calypso’s president and CEO, Eric Meier; this new round of funding validates the value of the technology that Calypso has to offer in advancing radiation therapy by constantly targeting the tumor to be radiated. Furthermore, having a technology that can accurately target the tumor every time the patient moves, has excellent potential in the marketplace.

According to the second managing partner of Skyline Ventures, Glenn Reicin; the people at Skyline believe that the Calypso System, which is designed to accurately target tumors that are set for radiation therapy will grow in considerable importance when more oncologists discover that being able to constantly target the tumor and have more chance to target the tumor and not accidentally hit healthy tissue.

According to the general partner of Frazier Healthcare Ventures, Trevor Moody; being one of the founding investors of Calypso Medical, he is pleased to be able to jointly invest together with such first rate vc firms, such as Interwest Partners and Skyline Ventures.

Founded in 1997, Skyline Ventures is a vc firm that is well known in the United States and its specialty is making investments in companies who are in the healthcare industry and have a unique proprietary technology that has the potential to revolutionize the healthcare industry and disrupt the markets. Proving the dedication of Skyline Ventures is the fact that each of the vc firm’s principals holds either an MD or a PhD in the medical field. Other companies in Skyline’s portfolio include Acel Rx Pharmaceuticals, Advion, ARCA Biopharma, Dow Pharmaceutical Sciences, InteKrin Therapeutics, and others.

Founded in 1991, Frazier Medical Ventures is a leading investment firm that provides both venture funding and equity to companies in the healthcare industry in the United States. Frazier Medical Ventures has a mission to partner up with entrepreneurs who are diligent and want to build strong and enduring companies in the healthcare industry. Some other companies in Frazier’s portfolio include EBR Systems, Vivus, WIRB, Incontrol, Informed, Xoft, Zymo Genetics, and others.

For more information about Calypso Medical, click here.

Based in Cupertino, California, life sciences research provider, NextBio announced today that it has closed $8 million in series C funding with Newbury Ventures leading the investment. Other vc firms that participated in this round of funding include a number of undisclosed private investors.

NextBio provides researchers in the life sciences industry a unique and innovative platform to research, discover, and share knowledge which is in both the public and private data bases. NextBio’s platform provides powerful tools to researchers that seamlessly combine with content that is unique and corrolated, changing information and data to knowledge; which can lead to new discoveries and new breakthroughs in medicine and other sectors where the life sciences come into play. NextBio’’ platform come in as an SaaS or Software as a Service and helps organizations and businesses communicate and share data over geographic boundaries. Currently, NextBio boasts of having some of the top grade clientele, who include the Burnham Institute for Medical Research, Johnson & Johnson, Merck, Stanford University, and others.

Proceeds from this funding round will go to fund the company’s continuing growth in sales, expansion into international markets, and technology leadership. Since NextBio launched its research platform, it has been widely used by some of the major research and academic institutions worldwide. Furthermore, NextBio has also joined into a partnership with a well renown life sciences publisher, Elsevier, which will make the company more powerful and its information available to subscribers of such publications as ScienceDirect.

According to the Managing Director of Newbury Ventures, Bruce Bauer; the combination of innovative technology, an exceptional management team, and its unique value brought on by partnering up with leading science publications makes NextBio a compelling investment. Furthermore, with all of NextBio’s achievements, the company could potentially be poised to be a market leader in both the IT and life sciences industries.

According to Nextbio’s cofounder, Saeid Akhtari; the team at NextBio is delighted in the confidence that the company’s existing and new investors have in the company and decided to go on with this round of funding. Furthermore, this investment also provides the company with sufficient funds to continue to grow its sales and expand into new markets.

Founded in 1992, Newbury Ventures is a vc firm that primarily invests in early stage companies who are in the IT, security, networking, and mobile industries. Currently, Newbury Ventures has over $500 million in committed capital under its management. Some other companies in Newbury’s portfolio include ACC, Divio, Laurel Networks, MetaLINCS, Paradigm, and others.

For more information about NextBio, click here.

Based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, biologically active pharmaceuticals manufacturer, Pervasis Therapeutics announced today that it has just closed $17 million in a third round of funding from its existing investors. The company’s investors include Flagship Venture Partners, Polaris Venture Partners, and Highland Capital Partners.

Pervasis Ptherapeutics is a company that clinically tests and develops a wide range of clinical biologically active pharmaceuticals and therapies. Currently, Pervasis is working on some groundbreaking therapies that involves endothelium and how it works to naturally heal disease. Furthermore, the team of scientists at Pervasis Therapeutics have also made some discoveries that can highly improve the results of some common vascular interventions, such as angioplasties, stents, and both peripheral and coronary bypasses. Endothelium can curtail failures that can occur in some cases with the current procedures, and these failures can cause serious health complications and a dramatic increase in medical costs. Furthermore, Pervasis’s most advanced drug, Vascugel, has proven to be both safe and proof of concept in two Phase 2 clinical trials, when it was tested on patients who underwent arteriovenous treatments.

Vascugel is the newest development by Pervasis, which involves tissue engineered allogenic endothelium, which has effects that are currently being studied on how it can benefit patients with severe renal disease and are undergoing arteriovenous procedures.

Other than the above mentioned investors, other investors also participated in this current round of funding. Some of these other investors include the Richter Family Fund, which is funding Pervasis for the first time. Furthermore, on the heals of this funding round, Pervasis Therapeutics also announced that several new people will join the company’s board of directors. One of these people who is joining the board of directors is Dr. Yoram Richter, PhD., who is the Vice President of Research and Development at BIOrest, Ltd.

According to Dr. Richter, the proprietary endothelial technology that Pervasis Therapeutics provides creates a new platform that physicians can use to treat patients with vascular diseases. Furthermore, this new product platform also has the potential to treat ailments and diseases which are outside of the cardiovascular realm.

According to the president and CEO of Pervasis Therapeutics, Frederic Chereau; the team at Pervasis is very happy that both the company’s existing and new investors has chosen to go ahead with this new round of funding. Their investments are a confidence vote in the company and is testament to the fact that the products that Pervasis has the potential to revolutionize the medical and healthcare industry. Mr. Chereau also welcomed the appointment of Dr. Richter to the company’s board of directors. Dr. Richter will be an invaluable asset to Pervasis, because on his extensive knowledge in the field of medical devices and cardiovascular care.

Founded in 2000, Flagship Venture Partners is a vc firm that believes in building innovative companies. The vc firm primarily invests in early stage companies who are in the therapeutics and life sciences industries. Currently, Flagship has over $600 million under its management. Some other companies in Flagship’s portfolio include Selecta, Bind Biosciences, Alvine Pharmaceuticals, GCI Pharmaceuticals, and others.

Founded in 1996, Polaris Venture Partners is a vc firm that invests in all stages of a company’s life. Polaris Venture Partners primarily invests in companies who are in the healthcare, media, communications, business services, and tech industries. Currently Polaris has over $3 billion under its management and has invested in over 90 companies since its inception. Some other companies in Polaris’s portfolio include 1366 Technologies, Aepona, Apnex Medical, Art.com, and others.

Founded in 1988, Highland Capital Partners is a vc firm that primarily invests in seed, early, and growth stage companies who are in the consumer, healthcare, IT, and internet & digital media industries. Currently, Highland has a series of different funds under its management which total to a sum of over $2.7 billion. Some other companies in Highland’s portfolio include Castor & Pullex Pet Works, City Sports, Life Gear, Mix 1, AccentCare, Codon Devices, and others.

For more information about Pervasis Therapeutics, click here.

Based in Tel Aviv, Israel, one of the global leaders in remote access and testing solutions providers for mobile devices, Perfecto Mobile announced today that it has closed $7 million in second round of funding from the company’s existing investors, who are Carmel Ventures and Vertex Venture Capital.

Perfecto Mobile is a leader in providing remote access and automated testing of mobile devices and has a platform that is called the Handset Cloud. This service allows developers and testers to access a wide range of mobile devices from anywhere in the world by use of the internet. Furthermore, testers and developers do not need to sit in front of a computer to do the testing. Perfecto provides special handsets that both developers and testers can use to do the testing. These handsets can also allow developers and testers to communicate and collaborate from anywhere in the world and can also monitor mobile devices.

According to the CEO of Perfecto Mobile, Eran Yaniv; the team at Perfecto Mobile is excited about this new round of funding from its long term investors. In this day and age, there is a new emergence of all kinds of new mobile technologies, such as apps, app stores, and open device platforms. Though these technologies are great, sometimes they may not function properly and the need for testing becomes a major concern. Furthermore, since these new technologies are located throughout the world, the need for mobile testing devices is practically imperative. This provides Perfecto Mobile the ability to be a global leader.

According to Raina Shainski, General Partner at Carmel Ventures; the team at Carmel Ventures is confident that Perfecto Mobile is able to take advantage of the large and growing market that is unfolding in the mobile industry. Perfecto has a strong management team and a compelling service enables the company to lead the market because of its ability to increase the quality of the new mobile technologies that are becoming increasingly available to users.

According to Ehud Levy, Managing Partner of Vertex Venture Capital; Perfecto is perfect, because it has a great management team and a service that is needed and already has some well established mobile companies, such as Vodafone and Swisscom, is proof that Perfecto’s technology and service meets an unmet need in the mobile industry.

Carmel Ventures is a vc firm that likes to turn great ideas into exceptional companies. Furthermore, Carmel Ventures also turns great and ambitious entrepreneurs into great leaders. Currently, Carmel Ventures has more than $600 million under its management and invests primarily in the tech industry. Other companies in Carmel’s portfolio include Amadesa, Coppergate, DesignArt Networks, Imagine Communications, Payoneer, and others.

Vertex Venture Capital is one of Israel’s top tier vc firms that invests in all stages of a company’s live. Vertex primarily invests in companies who are in the information networking, software, and other emerging tech industries. Some other companies in Vertex’s portfolio include Actelis, Flash Networks, Telegate, Zeugma, Percello, HyperRoll, and others.

For more information about Perfecto Mobile, click here.

Based in New York, one of the United States’ biggest online hotel critics, Oyster Hotel Reviews announced today that it has secured $4 million of a second round of funding from Bain Capital Ventures. This additional funding follows a $6.4 million round of funding that Oyster Hotel Reviews has raised last year. This current round of funding makes the total amount of funding that Oyster Hotel Reviews has raised over the past year to $10.4 million.

Despite the fact that the travel industry is growing on the internet with online travel agencies which book e-tickets for flights and provide online reservations for hotels and restaurants, Oyster Hotel Reviews has its own niche in the market, because it is the only online service that provides in depth and objective reviews about hotels throughout the world. The reviews that Oyster provides stand out from other internet travel related services, because these reviews are written by trained journalists who know what to look for in writing a good objective review. What makes Oyster Hotel Reviews unique in the market place is that it uses its proprietary method, known as the hotel review method. By adhering to some of the highest standards possible, Oyster Hotel Reviews is able to have some of the most comprehensive hotel reviews both online and offline. These reviews are not just written articles about the hotels that are reviewed by the company, but are also accompanied by photos that are unedited and clearly show how good or bad the hotel is. Furthermore, Oyster’s name is already well known and has been featured with positive reviews from some of the most prominent press worldwide, including the New York Times, Men’s Journal, and the Wall Street Journal to name a few. Currently, Oyster Hotel Reviews writes reviews about hotels in Aruba, Las Vegas, Miami, New York, Jamaica, and the Dominican Republic.

According to Ajay Agarwal of Bain Capital, the need for clear, comprehensive, and objective reviews are very necessary for travelers and this is quite evident by the response that Oyster Hotel Reviews after being launched. Mr. Agarwal further stated that the team at Bain Capital Ventures looks forward to helping the company in future endeavors to expand its reviews.

Proceeds from this funding, along with last year’s funding; Oyster Hotel Reviews plans to expand its reviews to include more hotels on West Coast destinations. Oyster Hotel Reviews is also aggressively hiring people and is already positioned to become one of the largest media outlets for travel in the United States by the end of the year.

According to Oyster’s CEO, Elie Seidman; the team at Oyster Hotel Reviews is thrilled to have such a large name and prestigious firm, such as Bain Capital back it. Mr. Seidman further added that the company still remains dedicated to providing the most in depth and objective reviews of some of the major hotels in the country.

Bain Capital Ventures is the vc arm of Bain Capital and is dedicated to provide funding to companies from seed stage all the way to the later stages of the company. Bain Capital Ventures primarily invests in companies who are in the software, wireless, internet, information, healthcare, and tech industries. Some other companies in Bain Capital Ventures’ portfolio include Regulatory Data Group, AdReady, Ameritrade, Blip TV, Camera World, and others.

For more information about Oyster Hotel Services, click here.

Based in Palo Alto, California, Ozmo Devices, a leading provider of WiFi PAN solutions announced today that it has received $7.5 million in series C funding from its existing investors, who include Tallwood Venture Capital, Granite Ventures, and Intel Capital.

Ozmo Devices is a leading provider of low power WiFi solutions which enable all kinds of devices to hook up to public WiFi networks. In today’s world, there are many devices that need a WiFi network to function, ranging from laptop computers to multimedia players and smart phones. Furthermore, with many businesses having their own WiFi LAN and PAN networks, many shared printers are connected wirelessly as well as head sets and other peripheral devices. The technology that Ozmo Devices provides is to provide a seamless connection and interaction with all peripheral devices and laptop computers in an office situation. Ozmo Devices allows for WiFi networks to expand their capabilities. Furthermore, this revolutionary wireless coverage runs on low power and brings tremendous savings to its users.

Another achievement that Ozmo Devices has accomplished is being part of the Intel Developer Forum, which will take place on September 22 through 24, 2009. At this forum, Ozmo Devices will demonstrate its technology. The Intel Developers Forum is scheduled to be held at the Mascone Center, West in San Francisco, California.

According to Len Rand, Managing Partner of Granite Ventures; the leadership that Ozmo Devices is demonstrating in the WLAN and WPAN arena and its IC products are starting to outperform other wireless connecting signals for peripheral devices, such as Bluetooth provides the company with a strong foundation for future growth. Mr. Rand further stated that Ozmo Devices has a revolutionary technology and has already sealed some strong business partnerships with powerful tech giants, such as Intel and Avago Technologies. The team at Granite Ventures is happy to continue to back Ozmo Devices in its future endeavors.

According to Ozmo’s CEO, Dave Lyon; this new round of funding will allow the company to expand its sales, as well as field its engineering efforts to develop new state-of-the-art technologies for the WiFi industry.

Founded in 1992, Granite Ventures is a vc firm that primarily invests in early stage companies who are in the tech industry. Currently, Granite Ventures has over $1 billion in committed capital under its management and since its founding has invested in over 90 privately owned companies. Some other companies in Granite’s portfolio include Agilence, AirTight Networks, Digital Fountain, GigaNet, NetBoost, NetEffect, and others.

Tallwood Venture Capital is a vc firm that is dedicated to the semiconductor industry and to other technologies that might affect the semiconductor industry. Tallwood currently has over $500 million under its management and the people at Tallwood believe that this fund puts the vc firm on par with the semiconductor industry. Some other companies in Tallwood’s portfolio include Abound Logic, Alphion, Astute Networks, Audience, Calypto Design Systems, Marvell Technology Group, and others.

Intel Capital is the vc arm of Intel and mainly invests in promising companies in the tech industry which can be of benefit to Intel. Intel Capital invests worldwide and has its goals on spurring entrepreneurial spirit, while generating financial gain at the same time.

For more information about Ozmo Devices, click here.

Based in Freemont, California, one of the United States leading ehternet copper cable developers, Actelis announced today that it has raised $10 million from its existing investors, who include Vertex Venture Capital, T-Venture, ATA Ventures, Argonaut Ventures, Carlyle Venture Partners, Dupont Capital Management, Global Catalyst Partners, Saints Venture Partners, and others.

Founded in 1998, Actelis is a leader in the development of ethernet equipment and cables. Actelis has a product portfolio that has a wide range of solutions to serve ethernet companies worldwide. Some of these solutions include the First Mile technology platform. Many of the products that Actelis offers to its customers are highly flexible and cost effective. Furthermore, Actelis products can be used for point to point as well as point to multipoint configurations, allowing for speeds that are acceptable for today’s internet demands.

Proceeds from this round of funding will go to help Actelis to support its further growth and continuing deployment of its ethernet networks in the First Mile technology platform by telecommunication and IT service providers throughout the world. Furthermore, Actelis ethernet products are also being used more in the educational, healthcare, and private enterprise IT markets. Furthermore, Actelis technology is also being used by a growing number of municipalities who are in the process of upgrading their transportation networks with new intellegent transportation systems or ITS to oversee and control all aspects of municipal public transportation.

According to the president and CEO of Actelis, Tuvia Barlev; as far as the telecom industry is concerned, the carrier ethernet market is one of the fastest growing markets within the industry. Mr. Barlev further stated that the EFM solutions that Actelis is developing can provide many different opportunities for the company.

Currently, Actelis is experiencing record growth with the acquisition of new contracts world wide. Some of the major contracts that Actelis has recently sealed include a contract with Slovenia’s telecom company, Telekom Slovenije and France’s France Telecom-Orange.

Although Actelis has won these big contracts, the company also wants to focus on markets in the United States. Proceeds from this funding will also enable Actelis to seize opportunities that have been presented to the company with the presentation of a $7.2 billion broadband stimulus package that is offered by the Obama Administration’s American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which was passed in 2009.

The one problem, however, is that the financial situation that Actelis is finding itself in is a rather embarrassing situation for its investors. Over the past eleven years, the company has raised over $150 million and this has raised the question to some of Actelis’s investors about how they will make their returns from the company.

Vertex Venture Capital is one of Israel’s top tier vc firms that primarily invests in works closely with the entrepreneurs in which the vc firm invests in. Vertex primarily invests in Israeli or Israel-related companies and invests in all stages of a company’s life. The companies that Vertex Venture Capital primarily invests in are companies who are in the software, information networking, communications, and IT industries. Some other companies in Vertex’s portfolio include Ethos Networks, Expand Networks, Extricom, Zeugma, Percello, and others.

For more information about Actelis, click here.

The Los Angeles based holding company Hanmi Financial Corp., which also owns Hanmi Bank; announced today that it had received a $6.9 million investment which was led by Korean investment firm, Leading Investments & Securities Co., Ltd. This frunding round comes on the heals of a securities purchase agreement that Hanmi entered into in June 12, 2009. The agreement was then subsequently amended the agreement on July 31, 2009. As part of this amendment, Leading Investments & Securities Co.,Ltd. pledged to invest up to $11 million in common equity capital.

Hanmi Financial Corporation is a holding company that funds ethnic minority communities in the Los Angeles area and has 27 full service offices functioning in the area that encompasses the Los Angeles, Orange, San Bernardino, San Francisco, Santa Clara, and San Diego counties. Hanmi Bank also has two loan offices in other parts of the United States as well, which are located in both Virgina and Washington State. Some of the financial services that Hanmi Bank and the Hanmi Financial Corporation specialize in include small business administration and commercial loans, as well as trade finance lending. Furthermore, Hanmi has become a leading financial institution in the Bay Area community.

According to Hanmi’s president and CEO, Jay S. Yoo; the people at Hanmi are happy to have received the $9.6 million financing from Korea-based Leading Investments & Securities Co., Ltd.; and Mr. Yoo further stated that his team looks forward to receiving the remaining $4.1 million to complete the $11 million funding round. Mr. Yoo also added that when this entire $11 million funding round from Leading Investment & Securities Company is completed, it will provide Hanmi the extra capital needed to augment the bank’s reserves and will also enhance Hanmi’s ability to weather the current financial crisis and also allow Hanmi to emerge to be well positioned to seize lucrative opportunities as soon as the economy recovers. Hanmi is also very busy working together with other investors as well. Currently, Hanmi is undergoing active negotiations with some other investors from South Korea to try to receive more equity infusion.

Based in South Korea, Leading Investments & Securities Company, Ltd. is a financial service providers that specializes in providing securities brokerage, corporate mergers, and acquisitions. Leading Investments & Securities also specializes in investment banking services as well as a wide range of other kinds of financial services for corporations, institutional investors, and individuals.

For more information about Hanmi Financial Corp., click here.

Based in Rishon-Le-Zion, Israel, BPT, which is an emerging leader in chemically membrane based solutions, announced today that it has closed $12 million in series B funding with US Venture Partners or USVP and Pitango Venture Partners leading the funding round. Other vc firms that participated in this round of funding include Aurum Ventures and Elron Electronic Industries.

BPT is a company that develops important chemical membrane based solutions to separate the water from waste water and is emerging as a leader in the industry. The chemically stable membrane technology that BPT produces is becoming more of a key component waste water processing for companies who are in the landfill, mining, bio pharmaceutical, and food industries to help them with the increasingly more strict environmental laws, reuse water, and reduce operating costs. BPT membranes have been proven in the field to drastically reduce costs in purifying some of the most aggressive waste water streams.

According to BPT’s CEO, Nir Kinory, the team of BPT is very pleased to have both USVP and Pitango Venture Capital on board, because both vc firms have extensive experience in building great companies. Along with the company’s existing investors, the experience from these new investors will be of increasing value as BPT continues to grow and expand.

According to USVP’s Jacques Benkoski, USVP for the past six years has been investing in emerging companies who are in the clean tech industry, and the vc firm’s investment in BPT is its first investment in Israel. Mr. Benkoski added that BPT has everything that USVP is looking for and believes that his efforts to lead USVP investment in BPT will be a good opportunity for USVP. BPT is playing a unique role in the clean tech marketplace and offers a product that is projected to take over the waste water cleaning market over in an aggressive manner.

Pitango’s Ittai Harel further stated that the clean tech industry is becoming a growing concern in the global marketplace. In looking at BPT’s profile, the company’s revolutionary technology and its outstanding R&D group has placed it in a great position to play a major role in nanotechnology in water purification technology.

USVP is a leading vc firm that is based in Silicon Valley and is dedicated to turn exceptional entrepreneurs into world class companies that have the potential to lead their industries. USVP primarily invests in early stage companies who are in the various industries that USVP’s partners have their greatest experience in. Some other companies in USVP’s portfolio include 3Ware, 4INFO, Adify, Astute Networks, Fresh Choice, Electric Cloud, and others.

Founded in 1993, Pitango Venture Capital is one of Israel’s leading vc firms and has offices in both Israel and Silicon Valley. Pitango Venture Capital primarily invests in seed, early, and expansion stage companies who are in all sectors of the tech industry. Some other companies in Pitango’s portfolio include Civcom, Surf Communication Solutions, AeroScout, Axis Mobile, and others.

For more information about BPT, click here.

Based in Geneva, Switzerland, medical technology company, Endosense, announced today that it had just closed $36 million US in series B funding with Edmond de Rothchild Investment Partners or EdRIP leading the round of funding. Other investors who participated in this round of funding include Neomed, Gimv, IV Partners, Sectoral Asset Management, Ysios Capital Partners, and Iniative Capital Romandie.

Founded in 2003, Endosense is a medical technology company that is dedicated to improving the efficacy, safety, and reproducibility of the catheter ablation that is used to treat cardiac arrhythmia. Since its founding, Endosense has pioneered this technology with its Touch+ Sensor Technology.

The Touch+ Sensor Technology, that Endosense has pioneered, is a catheter that has a fiber-optic cable attached to it. This new technology is based on already tested and established sensor technology that is already being used in the civil engineering industry. What makes the Touch+ Sensor Technology so accurate is that the fiber-optic sensor that is located on the catheter tip has the sensitivity of less than one g. Furthermore, the sensor technology used has already been proven and has an intuitive interface.

Proceeds from this round of funding will go to fund the European commercialization of the US pre-market testing and clinical trials of the newest technology that Endosense has to offer, the TactiCath. The TactiCath technology has the same sensor as the Touch+ Sensor Technology has, but the difference is that the TactiCath has the latest in the robotic tactical functions that can accurately map the area of the heart where the arrhythmia occurs for the physician.

According to Dr. Oliver Litzka, partner at EdRIP, Endosense’s TactiCath is positioned in a unique place in the marketplace, because of the potential it has to effectively diagnose cardiac arrhythmia. As far as cardiovascular medicine is concerned, catheter ablation is becoming a growing practice for certain cardio-medical procedures and the market for such technology has great potential. Furthermore, the concept of using force measurement curing an ablation procedure can provide for more accurate results and improve the efficacy of treatment as well as the safety of the patient.

As part of the agreement of this series B funding, Dr. Litzka of EdRIP; Gimv’s Executive Vice President of Life Sciences, Patrick van Beneden; and Diego Braguglia of IV Partners will join Endosense’s board of directors.

EdRIP is the vc arm of the group La Compagnie Financiere Edmond de Rothchild and is dedicated to minority investments into privately owned companies. EdRIP’s industry of choice is the life sciences industry and currently has over €750 million ($1,065,902,891.58) of committed capital under its management, that is mainly used for investments in life science venture and growth capital.

Based in Oslo, Norway and with offices in Boston, Massachusetts and Geneva, Switzerland; Neomed Management is an investment firm that is dedicated to investing in the healthcare and life sciences industries. Other companies in Neomed’s portfolio include Abaxis, Actelion, Aderis Pharmaceuticals, Clavis Pharma, and others.

For more information about Endosense, click here.

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