Private Equity Week Wire for Tuesday 8/21

BOSTON — Energy Investors Funds Group (EIF Group), part of Dresdner Kleinwort Capital (DrKC), and a leading private equity investor in the global energy and utilities sector, is pleased to announce its US$5 million equity investment in National Water & Power, Inc. (NWP). NWP is the leading U.S. provider of utility billing services and customer information systems (CIS) software for utilities.

NWP, formed in 1995, provides a complete range of billing and customer management solutions related to utility services such as electric, gas, water and waste-water. NWP consists of two closely related businesses; NWPB, which focuses on the utility sub-metering and outsourced billing market and Open-c Solutions, which focuses on the utility CIS software business.

The total deal value is US$15 million with additional funding provided by DQE Enterprises, Inc. (a subsidiary of utility DQE, Inc.), Endeavor Capital Management LLC., Kline Hawkes & Co., and Ralph Wilson Equity Fund. EIF Group was advised by Chadbourne & Parke LLP (New York office), NWP was advised by O’Melveny & Myers (Los Angeles office). NWP will use the investment to fund business development opportunities. In addition, Open-c Solutions will use the proceeds to develop additional components for its customer care and billing software Open-cIS(TM). Andrew Schroeder, Partner, EIF Group and Director, DrKC, will join the Board of Directors.SANTA CLARA, CALIF — Broad Daylight, Inc., a leading provider of software for Web self-service, today announced the closing of its Series C funding. The $5.4 million dollar investment, led by global venture firm 2M Invest, is expected to take the company to profitability. Also participating in this round are Series B investors SOFTBANK Venture Capital, Nexus Group LLC, and JEGI Capital. Broad Daylight has received over $26 million since its founding in 1997. The company will use the funds to expand its sales and marketing programs.BURBANK, CALIF. — UNX, Inc., a registered broker dealer that provides an ASP-based institutional trading platform, today announced that Putnam Lovell Equity Partners LP has invested $4.4 million in its business for a minority stake in the company. UNX, well known for its basket trading capabilities and trade execution quality, will use the proceeds to continue to expand its product offering and customer base.ANN ARBOR, MICH. — North Coast Technology Investors, LP announced that Ms. Mina Patel Sooch has joined the venture capital fund as an Entrepreneur-in-Residence (EIR). Ms. Sooch, who was previously with Monitor Group, will focus on developing new business opportunities in the life sciences sector. She is the second person to join North Coast’s EIR program, which is designed to attract, support and fund world-class technology entrepreneurs who seek to build compelling new enterprises.Ms. Sooch (33) was previously a Global Account Manager at Monitor Group, a strategy consulting firm serving a Global Fortune 500 client base founded by Michael C. Porter and other faculty from the Harvard Business School. Her primary focus while at Monitor Group was in serving clients in the life sciences, pharmaceutical and health care sectors. Ms. Sooch’s responsibilities included developing client relationships, managing parallel case teams, and leading the firm’s intellectual agenda in the mergers and acquisition service area. Her transactions included the merger of Pharmacia & Upjohn and PharMerica, among others. In addition, Ms. Sooch was a founding leader of Monitor’s Corporate Finance practice.BOSTON — VFA, an industry leader in Web-based facility and capital asset management solutions and software, today announced it has secured $3 million in a round of expansion-stage funding from Edison Venture Fund, a Lawrenceville, New Jersey-based firm that manages $280 million in private equity funds and invests in expansion-stage software, service, communications and electronics technology companies. This investment coincides with the rapid growth of the VFA Alliance Partner Program and VFA’s release of VFA.facility 4.6, the Company’s hallmark product that helps large real estate property owners strategically maintain their facilities efficiently and cost-effectively.

Since the Company’s launch in 1998, VFA has conducted facility condition audits and used its decision support software to manage more than 1 billion square feet of facilities for organizations around the globe. With a customer base that includes the General Services Administration (GSA), the largest holder of real estate in the nation, and Nevada’s Clark County School District, the country’s sixth largest and fastest-growing school district, VFA has established its powerful facility management software and condition assessment methodology as the core component of a long-term building maintenance, repair, and renovation program.For yesterday’s Wire, click here