Private Equity Week Wire for Wednesday 9/5

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, NC – A. M. Pappas & Associates announced today the final closing of TechAMP II, LP, a $102 million venture capital fund focused on the life science sector. Like its immediate predecessor fund, TechAMP II will invest in emerging biopharmaceutical companies that are developing therapeutics to treat cancer and diseases associated with the central nervous system, infectious and autoimmune disorders, and the cardiovascular system. The fund will also invest in companies developing “platform” technologies within such areas as genomics, proteomics, computational chemistry, and bio-surgery. An additional area of interest will be in companies that produce tools for accelerating clinical development and regulatory approval. The new fund will invest in both early and late-stage companies.

MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA — MarketFirst Software Inc. (Proposed Nasdaq:MKTF), the leading enterprise marketing automation platform provider, has secured an additional $19 million investment. This latest investment was led by new MarketFirst investors Greenbridge Capital and e-millennium 1 Fund. Existing investors Sprout Group, SAP Ventures, U.S. Trust, Enterprise Partners, Wheatley Partners and Roger Sippl participated, as did company management. This oversubscribed expansion round follows a $22 million investment that the company closed in January 2001.

ANDOVER, MA — Sentillion Inc. today announced that it has completed a successful Series C funding round, raising $18 million. The company will use this newly raised capital to further expand its presence in the healthcare market space. Headquartered in Andover, Mass., Sentillion is the pioneer of a breakthrough software solution, the Vergence(R) Context Management Solution, which integrates multiple, independently authored healthcare applications at the clinical desktop.

Merrill Lynch Ventures, a private equity investment entity affiliated with Merrill Lynch & Co., Inc., is the lead investor in Sentillion’s Series C funding round, accompanied by two additional new investors: Dresdner Kleinwort Capital, the private equity arm of Dresdner Bank, and Universal Health Services, one of the largest hospital management companies in the United States. In addition, all of Sentillion’s Series A and Series B investors are participants in the Series C funding round, including First Consulting Group, Intersouth Partners, Newbury Ventures, Polaris Venture Partners and St. Paul Venture Capital. TETERBORO, NJ — BEI Medical Systems Co. Inc. (NASDAQ: BMED), announced today that it has completed the sale of 1,952,273 shares of common stock and short-term warrants to purchase 1,093,261 shares of common stock at $3.688 per unit in a private placement, resulting in gross cash proceeds to the company of approximately $7.2 million. The financing was led by Brookside Capital Partners Fund, LP, an affiliate of Bain Capital. Investors who participated in this financing, who also participated in the company’s convertible preferred financing that was completed in February 2001, included Radius Venture Partners I, LP and Delta Opportunity Fund, Ltd. The new investors in the syndicate included entities affiliated with ProMed Management and HealthSouth Corporation, one of the nation’s leading healthcare providers, which operates one of the largest networks of outpatient surgical centers in the United States.

BERLIN — German electronics and engineering group Siemens AG (SI) is reorganizing its far-flung venture capital activities, the company said Wednesday. All of its venture capital activities will be integrated under Siemens Venture Capital GmbH as of Oct. 1. Siemens previously had a central venture capital unit as well as a number of other investment activities within Siemens’ various business groups. LONDON — Arcot Systems Inc., a leading provider of solutions for securing e-business, today announced its latest round of financing securing $20 million from Goldman Sachs and existing investors Accel Partners, First Union Bank, Novell, ONSET Ventures, and Oracle. Arcot plans to use the additional funds to accelerate the development of new product features, expand its sales and marketing reach, and continue in its efforts as a leading solution provider of secure payments in the Visa Authenticated Payment Program.

For yesterday’s Wire, click here