Private Equity Week Wire for Tuesday 12/5

? LAUREL, MD ? Cidera Inc., the Internet Broadcast Backbone, an international leader in the delivery of broadband content to the edge of the Internet, today announced that it has received $75 million in Series D preferred stock funding from a group of new and existing investors led by Wheatley Partners. This brings the total financing that Cidera has raised to date to more than $137 million. Cidera?s new investors include Berger Funds, Grupo Pegaso (Mexico), meVC Draper Fisher Jurvetson Fund I [NYSE: MVC], Munder NetNet Fund, National Investors Group (National Bank of Kuwait), Rare Medium Group, Inc. [NASDAQ: RRRR], Trans Cosmos (Japan), and Wheatley Partners. Also taking part in this round are Cidera?s existing investors, including The Carlyle Group, GE Equity [NYSE: GE], Institutional Venture Partners, Investor AB, MCI Worldcom Venture Fund, New Enterprise Associates, and others.

SAN FRANCISCO — Responding to demand from affluent investors and financial advisors for access to venture capital funds, private equity portfolios and hedge funds managed by elite investment firms historically available only to major institutions and ultra-high net worth investors, Thomas Weisel Partners and Scudder Kemper Investments, Inc. today announced a joint-venture investment firm called Scudder Weisel Capital. The new firm will deliver these investments, including initial public offerings, with a specific focus on next-generation growth companies that leverage or develop new technologies. The new firm is targeting investors with more than $1 million in investable assets and selected financial advisors who want to deliver this access to their customers. The firm will launch in January and will initially offer its funds through a nationwide network of selected financial advisors.

? MARLBOROUGH, MA — Pelago Networks announced today $17 million in financing to propel the development of its innovative solutions for the rapid deployment of enhanced voice, data and video services. Pelago Networks’ first round investors represent the telecommunications industry’s most prominent venture capital firms including Charles River Ventures, Columbia Capital and Bessemer Venture Partners. Brooktrout, Inc., also participated in the first round as an equity investor with a minority ownership stake.

? PISCATAWAY, NJ — Innovance Networks, a privately- held optical networking company founded in May 2000, has closed its latest round of financing, raising over $75 million in venture capital, bringing its total financing to date to $US 95 million. Innovance Networks is a photonic networking solutions provider for global backbone and regional networking service providers, with locations in both the U.S. and Canada. The latest round of financing was lead by Morgenthaler Ventures and Thomas Weisel Partners. Gary Little, General Partner, Morgenthaler Ventures stated: “Innovance Networks has assembled a world-class team of optical networking talent, and are led by a proven management team. We are impressed by the clarity of their vision and are excited to be a part of this opportunity.” Other key investors in this latest round included Azure Capital (lead investors in the seed round), Advanced Technology Ventures, Banc of America, and KPL Ventures.

? NEW YORK — Kinexus Corp., a provider of premium wealth information management services, today announced the completion of a $49 Million Series B equity financing for the company, which includes strategic investments from Capital Z Financial Services Fund II (CZF II), a global private equity firm focused on traditional and online financial services, and Chase Capital Partners, a division of Chase Manhattan Corporation (NYSE: CMB). This round of financing brings the total equity capital behind Kinexus to more than $125 million and will support the continued growth of the Company in areas such as sales, customer support and technology development. CZF II is managed by Capital Z Partners, a New York-based alternative asset management firm.

? SAN FRANCISCO — Clickability Inc., a provider of brand-transparent Web-based tools designed specifically for online publishers, announced it has successfully secured $8 million in its first round of venture capital funding. Backed by a strong financial group with expertise in the entrepreneurial and online media spaces, Clickability’s first round investors include Convergence Partners and Fluid Ventures LLP.

? MIAMI LAKES, FL — World Diagnostics Inc. (OTC BB: WDGI), a rapidly emerging global provider of medical diagnostic tests and specialized laboratory products, has received a $500,000 equity investment from Columbine Ventures, an international biomedical investment fund led by Managing Director Nava Swersky Sofer, who will join the board of World Diagnostics.

? DANA POINT, CA — Digital Transit, a leading provider of software to manage and deploy updates to digital products over wired and wireless networks, today announced that the company has received $2.5 million in Series A funding led by Nokia Venture Partners. Other participating investors include Celerity Ventures and Windspeed Ventures. Digital Transit will use the investment to strengthen its sales, marketing, support and software development capabilities.

? BURLINGAME, CA — Net Market Partners (NMP), a leading accelerator of business-to-business (B2B) e-commerce companies, today announced at Ground Zero 4, a Net Market Makers’ Conference, that it wraps up its first year of operation having helped to secure institutional venture capital funding totaling more than $30 million for several of its Accelerator clients including, Qiva, ForRetail, ePIT, and GarmenTrade. To date, NMP has invested in twenty B2B companies and currently has eight companies engaged in Acceleration Services including Capspring, ChromeData, Advanced Data Exchange (ADX), ePIT, ForRetail.com, GarmenTrade, Qiva and Saqqara Systems. In addition, NMP raised a $28 million Accelerator Fund that enables the firm to invest in its Accelerator clients in collaboration with larger venture capital funds.