Exit watch, week of Nov. 26, 2007

Spreadtrum buys Quorum for $70M

Spreadtrum Communications Inc. (Nasdaq: SPRD), a Shanghai-based fabless semiconductor that makes wireless chipsets, has acquired Quorum Systems Inc., a San Diego-based maker of CMOS RF transceivers. The deal is valued at $70 million, including $55 million in cash and $15 million in stock. It also includes a $6 million cash earn-out. Quorum had raised nearly $50 million in VC funding since last August from such investors as Band of Angels, CampVentures, Crescendo Ventures, Greylock Partners, Enterprise Partners Venture Capital and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. Spreadtrum went public in June and the company still lists such shareholders as New Enterprise Associates, Fortune Venture Group and Pacific Venture Partners.

Dell makes second buy in month

Dell Inc. (Nasdaq: DELL) has agreed to acquire Everdream, a Fremont, Calif.-based provider of software-as-a-service solutions for remote-service management. No financial terms were disclosed. Everdream has raised more than $110 million in VC funding since 1999. Current shareholders include Canaan Partners, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Rho Ventures, Portage Venture Partners and New World Ventures.

The acquisition comes a couple of weeks after Dell announced it has agreed to buy VC-backed EqualLogic, a Nashua, N.H.-based provider of storage area network solutions, for about $1.4 billion in cash.

IDEX purchases Nova for $158M

IDEX Corp. (NYSE: IEX) has agreed to acquire Nova Technologies Corp., a Huntsville, Ala.-based provider of metering technology and flow monitoring services for the water and wastewater markets. The deal is valued at about $158 million in cash, and is expected to close by the end of the year. Nova Technologies has raised more than $40 million in VC funding from Battery Ventures, Commonwealth Capital Partners and Ascent Venture Partners.

Hansen scoops up AorTx

Hansen Medical Inc. (Nasdaq: HNSN) has agreed to acquire AorTx Inc., a Redwood City, Calif.-based developer of catheter-based valve technology. The deal includes an up-front payment of $5 million in cash and $5 million of Hansen stock, plus earn-outs of up to an additional $15 million in cash and $15 million in stock. AorTx has raised $5.8 million in VC funding from Bio-Star Private Equity Fund, Saratoga Ventures, MedFocus, Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati and St. Jude Medical.

EdgeTrade sells for $58M

Knight Capital Group Inc. (Nasdaq: NITE) has agreed to acquire EdgeTrade Inc., a New York-based provider of agency-only trade execution and algorithmic software. The deal is valued at about $58 million, including about $30 million in cash and 2.3 million shares of unregistered Knight common stock. EdgeTrade had raised VC funding from Edison Venture Fund, and was advised on the deal by Evercore Partners.

AT&T hears call of Ingenio

AT&T has agreed to acquire Ingenio Inc., a San Francisco-based provider of pay-per-call technology. No financial terms were disclosed for the deal, which is expected to close in early January. Ingenio has raised about $113 million in total VC funding since 1999 from such firms as Benchmark Capital, Integral Capital Partners, Vulcan Capital, Impact Venture Partners, Carlyle Venture Partners and Draper Fisher Jurvetson.

Synthes pays $30M up front for N Spine

Synthes Inc. has agreed to acquire N Spine Inc., a San Diego-based maker of devices to treat lumbar spinal disorders using posterior dynamic stabilization. The deal includes a $30 million up-front cash payment, and up to $45 million in cash earn-outs. N Spine had raised about $8 million in VC funding from such groups as Life Science Angels and Tech Coast Angels.

Cisco acquires Securent

Cisco Systems has completed its acquisition of Securent Inc. for about $100 million in cash and assumed options. Securent is a Mountain View, Calif.-based provider of entitlement management software. It raised a $6 million Series A round last year from Greylock Partners and Onset Ventures.

AOL acquires Israel-based Yedda

AOL announced last week that it acquired venture-backed question-and-answer service Yedda Inc. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Tel Aviv-based Yedda had raised $2.5 million earlier this year from Genesis Partners and individual investors. Genesis Partner Jonathan Saacks told VentureWire that he didn’t expect such a quick exit from the investment in Yedda, which was founded in 2006. “When we invest in companies we expect a longer-term return on investment,” Saacks said. “We invest in companies we think can be large companies. Now, large media players are developing new Internet strategies and there’s a lot of activity.”