THE WIRE — Friday 7/12

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TORONTO & BOSTON — Synamics, a leading provider of business communications solutions, announced today that it has secured an additional $2 million USD in follow-on financing from VenGrowth Capital Partners and ARCH Venture Partners, bringing total capital raised to $10 million USD. Synamics develops and markets a suite of solutions to help businesses save money on their inbound and outbound telecommunications. The company’s premier offering, conference calling, is complemented by additional calling applications that benefit organizations with mobile, dispersed workforces.

ANDOVERMA — CMGI Inc. (Nasdaq:CMGI) today announced that, following approval by the United States Bankruptcy Court and the administrator in The Netherlands, it has acquired substantially all of the worldwide assets and operations of Software Logistics Corporation, a California corporation doing business as iLogistix. Under the terms of the purchase agreement, CMGI, through a wholly-owned subsidiary, paid approximately $46 million cash for the assets of iLogistix and assumed certain operating liabilities.

BOCA RATON, FL — Precom Technology Inc. (OTC Bulletin Board: PMMT), announced today that it completed a subscription for a $10 million investment in the Prospect Private Equity Fund on June 30, 2002. The Fund is managed by Prospect Street Ventures, a New York City venture capital firm. The Fund will focus on private companies with protected technologies, proven management and revenues or contracts in place. Initial closing of the Fund is expected by July 30, 2002.

TULSA, OK — Centrex Inc. (OTCBB:CNEX) today announced that Crescent Fund Inc. has been retained to provide corporate capitalization and investor relations consulting services. Crescent Fund is a private equity firm that invests on a principal basis and acts in an agency capacity to procure capital for emerging small-cap companies. Crescent will identify institutional funding sources and will complement the investor relations activities of Centrex.

NEWS FROM THURSDAY 7/11
ST. LOUIS — MetaPhore Pharmaceuticals Inc., a pharmaceutical discovery and development company, today announced the completion of a $30 million Series C financing to further advance the company’s small-molecule superoxide dismutase (SOD) mimetic candidates in human clinical trials. The round was led by HealthCare Ventures VI LP, Advent Venture Partners and Merrill Lynch Ventures LP 2001.

MetaPhore’s SOD mimetics comprise an extensive family of small molecules with a unique mechanism of action that targets a broad range of diseases. The lead candidates from this family, M40403 and M40419, are being tested in clinical trials for acute pain and refractory hypotension. M40403 successfully completed Phase I safety testing last year and the company expects to advance M40419 into the clinic later this year.

PORTLAND, OR — Integra Telecom, a provider of local, long-distance and Internet services for small and midsize businesses, raised $22 million from its shareholder and bank groups this week. The new capital came from its existing shareholders and banks, including Bank of America Capital Investors, Bank of New York, Boston Ventures, CIT Group, GE Capital, Nautic Partners and others. This show of support by Integra investors and its bank group further strengthens the company’s balance sheet and validates its business plan, offering a positive endorsement in the midst of a challenging capital market.

MENLO PARK, CA — Pequot Capital Management Inc. today announced that Patrick Enright has joined the firm as a Principal of Pequot Ventures, the direct venture investment arm of Pequot Capital Management, Inc. Working closely with colleagues in Pequot Ventures’ health-care group located on the East Coast, Enright will spearhead the firm’s West Coast venture capital investments in health care, with the primary focus on biotechnology, pharmaceuticals and healthcare information technology.

Enright brings to Pequot over 18 years of experience as an investor and as an operating executive. Most recently, he was a managing member of Diaz & Altschul Group LLC, which specialized in investing in development stage health-care companies such as SUGEN Inc. (now part of Pharmacia) and Cephalon Inc. Prior to Diaz & Altschul, Mr. Enright was a vice president at PaineWebber Development Corp. (now part of UBS Warburg).

PARIS — Partech International, an international venture capital firm with offices in Europe and the United States, and Advent Venture Partners, a leading independent UK technology venture capitalist, have invested euro 5 million in Pertinence, a French provider of rules-based data mining software. Paris-based Pertinence will use the funds raised to grow its business in selected market segments across Europe.

BUCHANAN, MI & AUSTIN, TX — HQ Ventures today announced an equity investment in FurnitureFind.com , a Michigan-based home furnishings retailer. Founded in 1996 as the electronic-catalog division of a 50-year-old traditional furniture business, FurnitureFind.com is now one of the largest Internet-based furniture retailers, worldwide.

GENEVA, SWITZERLAND — Addex Pharmaceuticals today announced the closing of a CHF 15.75 million first round (€10 million) co-led by Index Ventures and Sofinnova Partners. Other investors include Techno Venture Management, BCV Initiative Capital and individual investors. Antoine Papernik, General Partner at Sofinnova, and Richard Rimer, Partner at Index Ventures, are serving on the board along with highly experienced pharmaceutical and biotech industry executives.

OAKLAND, CA — Technology Partners, a leading venture capital firm, has invested $4.5 million in NightFire Software Inc., a leading provider of intersystem service management software to the telecommunications industry. The Technology Partners’ investment in NightFire completes NightFire’s fourth round of financing, which also included additional investments by existing backers New Enterprise Associates, The Roda Group, Sequoia Capital and U.S. Venture Partners earlier this year. The total financing received in NightFire’s fourth round is $16.5 million, which, combined with a bank arrangement finalized in January, brings the total funding since December 2001 to $21.5 million. NightFire has received a total of $51.8 million in venture capital since inception.

BETHESDA, MD — American Capital Strategies Ltd. (Nasdaq: ACAS) announced today that the company has sold 2.9 million shares of common stock to the public at $26.50 per share for total gross proceeds of approximately $76.9 million. The offering was underwritten by Salomon Smith Barney and Wachovia Securities. American Capital has granted the underwriters an option to purchase 435,000 shares at $26.50 per share to cover over-allotments. American Capital is a publicly traded buyout and mezzanine fund. American Capital is an equity partner in management and employee buyouts; invests in debt and equity of companies led by private equity firms, and provides capital directly to private and small public companies. American Capital funds growth, acquisitions and recapitalizations. The Company has paid $8.98 per share in dividends since going public in 1997.

INDIA — The New Straight Times is reporting that e-fulfillment service provider SnT Global Sdn Bhd recently closed a RM35 million third-round funding for supporting its regional expansion and strategic mergers and acquisitions (M&As). The latest round of funding was secured from Jafco Investment (Asia- Pacific) Ltd, Asiatech Ventures’ Asia Java Fund and Temasek Capital. Singapore-based Temasek is wholly-owned by Temasek Holdings, an investment holding arm of the Singapore Government.
NEWS FROM WEDNESDAY 7/10
SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, CA — AGY Therapeutics Inc., a privately held biopharmaceutical company, today announced that it raised $31.3 million through a Series C financing round, which was led by Bear Stearns Health Innoventures and HBM Bioventures LTD. Additional investors include NIF Ventures, China Development Industrial Bank, Cheng Xin Venture Capital, MIC Capital LLC, Lotus Bioscience Ventures Ltd., GE Capital’s Capital Funding group and others. Returning investors are GIMV Venture Capital, Alta Partners, Forward Ventures, Jafco Co. Ltd., Lombard Odier and Novartis Venture Fund. JPMorgan H&Q acted as the exclusive placement agent and financial advisor for the offering. The Company also announced that Elizabeth Czerepak, founding partner of Bear Stearns Health Innoventures and Jack Obijeski, investment advisor at HBM Bioventures, have been appointed to its Board of Directors.

Net proceeds from the financing will be used to advance the AGY’s lead investigational drug candidates: AGY-203 and AGY-207 for the potential treatment of ischemic stroke and AGY-110 for the potential treatment of Alzheimer’s Disease; ongoing discovery and development of other investigational product candidates for central nervous system (CNS) diseases; and general corporate purposes.

BILLERICA, MA — Continuum Photonics Inc., an emerging leader in high-performance photonic subsystems and components, today announced it has closed on over $14 million in its Series B financing. New investors, Flagship Ventures and Prism Venture Partners, co-led the Series B investment round, with additional new equity participation from Harris & Harris. Series A investors Massachusetts Technology Development Corporation (MTDC), Gainesborough LLC, and private individuals also participated in the round. With the completion of the round, Steve Ricci and Robert Fleming, General Partners of Flagship and Prism, respectively, have joined Continuum’s Board of Directors.

SARATOGA, CA — VisionCare Ophthalmic Technologies Inc., a developer of proprietary implantable ophthalmic devices for treating age related macular degeneration (AMD) and other maculopathies, announced today that it has closed on a $6.8 million first tranche of a $17.2 million two tranche Series C Preferred stock venture financing. The investment was led by Onset Ventures and includes new investor Three Arch Partners along with previous investors Pitango Venture Capital, Infinity Venture Capital and Clal Venture Capital.

CAMBRIDGE, MA — Flagship Ventures announced today that Edmund “Ted” Pitcher has joined the firm as Venture Partner. As a member of Flagship’s Life Science team, Ted will focus on venture creation and investment analysis, and apply his expertise to intellectual property matters. The Flagship Life Science team comprises 12 professionals operating from offices in Cambridge, MA and Alameda, CA. Ted is the founding partner and former chair of the Patent and Intellectual Property practice group of Testa, Hurwitz & Thibeault LLP.

SAN FRANCISCO — The JPMorgan Private Bank announced today that Robert A. Keller has joined the firm as Managing Director in San Francisco. Mr. Keller, a veteran investment banker, joins the firm from Rosewood Capital, a private equity firm based in San Francisco, where he was a General Partner.

SAN JOSE, CA — SAN Valley Systems, a leader in high-performance IP-SAN connectivity solutions, announced today that the company continued to gain sales traction in the quarter ending June 2002 with sales up by almost 100% from the prior quarter. The company also announced that it closed a first phase in its ‘C’ round of funding that raised $7.5M. The second phase is expected to close this summer.

DURHAM, NC — AppGate, leading the application layer VPN market with the most advanced “plug-and-play” VPN solutions, today announced it has secured $2.5 million in additional funding. Led by ABN AMRO Capital and GE Equity, the new financial assets will be used to focus efforts in sales and expand AppGate’s services in concentrated technological locations to take advantage of what Infonetics Research, Inc. projects as an $871 million worldwide market for application-layer VPNs by 2005.

COLLEGE STATION, TX — NetNearU, an industry leader in the emerging wireless and wired public Internet access market and developer of proprietary management software, announced today the successful closing of a private placement of Series B Preferred Stock led by Duchossois TECnology Partners, LLC. The $3.5 million of proceeds raised to date in this financing brings the total amount of capital raised by NetNearU over the past three years to approximately $18.4 million. Duchossois was joined in the financing by BlueStar Ventures, Leo Capital Holdings, and previous individual investors including senior management personnel of the Company

ANDOVER, MA — WebEvent Inc., a leading provider of Web-based event publishing and scheduling applications, today announced it has closed its second round of funding, totaling $1.3 million, with Egan-Managed Capital. WebEvent will use the Series B financing to bolster its sales and marketing efforts to further expand its leadership position in the event publishing market.

HOPKINTON, MA — TekCel, a leading manufacturer of plate management solutions for the drug discovery marketplace, today announced that it closed an $8.7 million private equity financing round. Ampersand Ventures led the investment group, which also included Boston Community Venture Fund and Hawthorne Investment LP. TekCel will use the proceeds to accelerate the commercialization of its two platforms, the Plate Management System and the Assay TekBench(TM), and to further its R&D efforts.

NEW YORK — Greenhill & Co.,LLC, a leading independent merchant banking firm, announced today the appointment of Harvey R. Miller as a Managing Director and Member of the firm. Miller, a leading restructuring and bankruptcy reorganization attorney, will join Greenhill & Co. in September 2002 from Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP, the New York-based firm where he has practiced since 1970. As head of the Business Finance and Restructuring Department, he participated in many prominent restructuring situations that include: Adelphia Business Solutions, Arch Wireless, Bethlehem Steel, Carmike Cinemas, Continental Airlines, Eastern Airlines, Federated Department Stores, Global Crossing, Marvel Entertainment Group, Montgomery Ward, The New York Daily News, R.H. Macy & Co., Rockefeller Center Properties, Safety-Kleen, Sunbeam, and Texaco.

NEWS FROM TUESDAY 7/9
PITTSBURGH — BodyMedia, a leading provider of body monitoring products announced the closing of its Series B Preferred Stock financing round. The $6.5 million round was led by Draper Fisher Jurvetson ePlanet of (Redwood City, CA) and included Prescient Partners II, LLC (Chicago), UPMC (University of Pittsburgh Medical Center of Pittsburgh) and included previous investors Draper Triangle (Pittsburgh) and Saturn Partners (Boston and Pittsburgh).

NEW YORK — Millennium Technology Ventures Advisors, LLC, announced today that Samuel L. Schwerin had joined the firm as a Managing Partner. Schwerin brings significant operating experience with him, most recently as a member of the senior management team at StorageApps, a pioneering data storage virtualization company, where he was responsible for raising more than $100 million of equity and debt financing, as well as many strategic aspects of the company’s rapid growth and development. In September 2001, Sam led the sale of StorageApps to Hewlett-Packard Corp. in a transaction valued at $350 million.

MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA — Picoliter Inc. announced today that the company has raised $22 million in a Series B financing. Picoliter has developed ultrasound-based technology for transferring very small volumes of fluid with high precision. The company’s unique fluid handling and analysis technology addresses a number of critical life science and drug discovery markets that in total exceed $1 billion. The co-lead investors, Abingworth and Sprout Group, will be represented on the company’s board of directors by Dr. Jonathan MacQuitty and Mr. Vijay Lathi.

SAN FRANCISCO — Yipes Enterprise Services Inc. (formerly PHX Communications, Inc.), today announced it has acquired the network operations and other assets of Yipes Communications, Inc. via an asset sale approved by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in San Francisco, CA. The company also raised a $40.8 million round of equity financing from a strong syndicate of investors, with a second tranche of $13.2 million expected to close later this year. The new capital funds the acquisition of the Yipes Communications assets, supports market growth and enables the company to offer Yipes’ unique, highly scalable Ethernet services to new and existing customers. Investors in Yipes Enterprise Services include Norwest Venture Partners, New Enterprise Associates (NEA), The Sprout Group/CSFB, JP Morgan Partners, Soros Private Equity Partners, Focus Capital, Glynn Ventures and Quantum Capital.

OAKLAND, CA — Zhone Technologies Inc., the first company dedicated to total-delivery access solutions for voice, data, and content service providers worldwide, today announced that it has acquired Vpacket Communications, a recognized leader in developing packet voice/data solutions. According to our VentureXpert database, Vpacket has raised approximately $60 million in venture capital from such firms as Intel Capital, NIF Ventures and New Enterprise Associates (NEA). Zhone has received nearly $400 million of venture backing from such firms as KKR, Madison Dearborn, NEA and U.S. Venture Partners. Its most recent round of funding was a $100 million deal last summer, after which Zhone was valued at $817.28 million.

CHERRY HILL, NJ — TekConnect Corp., a leading provider of IT services and solutions to K-12 schools, colleges and universities in the Northeast region of the United States, announced today that Greenlight Private Equity Partners, L.P., has again demonstrated its support of TekConnect through a second round of financing. TekConnect also announced it is expanding its offerings of solutions by acquiring eBoard.com Inc. of Watertown, Massachusetts.

CAMPBELL, CA — Zenasis Technologies Inc., today said it achieved a final close of its second round with an investment from WestBridge Capital Partners. The additional second round investment by WestBridge Capital brings the total amount raised to $10 million since Zenasis was founded in 2000. Funds will be used as working capital to expand Zenasis’ research and development (R&D) efforts. Zenasis is an electronic design automation (EDA) company delivering next-generation integrated circuit (IC) optimization software. Sigma Partners in March 2002, followed by Selby Ventures and VentureTech Alliance, led its second round funding.

NEW YORK — Greenhill & Co., LLC, a leading independent merchant banking firm, announced today that V. Frank Pottow has been appointed a Managing Director of the Firm and a Member of its private equity affiliate, Greenhill Capital Partners.

Pottow, 38, has more than 16 years of experience initiating, structuring and executing private equity investments and leveraged buyouts. Prior to joining Greenhill, he spent five years as a Managing Director at SG Capital Partners, where he was a founding partner for a $400 million merchant banking fund sponsored by the French bank Societe Generale. Previously, he served as a Managing Director of Thayer Capital Partners.

DALLAS — Fuel Rewards, the leader in gas-related consumer rewards programs, today announced it has finalized a secondary round of capital funding worth more than $1 million. The funding comes on the heels of the company’s continued network expansion across the United States. Investors participating in this recent round of funding are existing investors including Private Equity Partners of Fort Worth, Texas. The additional financing will aid in the company’s national network expansion that is on target to reach more than 1,000 stores by the end of first quarter of 2003.

CALGARY — ICEsoft Technologies Inc., a leading global provider of Java-based browser technology, announced today that it has secured funding of CDN$ 5 million (US$3.125 M) in a private placement Series A financing round with two leading western Canadian venture firms: BDC Venture Capital, and Greenstone Venture Partners.

PARIS — Alpha (Alpha Private Equity Fund 4) and Apax Partners¹ French funds have recently acquired Créatifs SA, a leading company in the French space lay-out and merchandising services markets, in a management buy-out, public-to-private transaction. The acquisition is made via Alcyon Finance, a holding company respectively owned at 58,8% by Alpha, 33% by Apax Partners and 8% by Créatifs SA management.

Créatifs is a space lay-out and merchandising company that has successfully developed a global offering of promotional space lay-out services over the past years. A fast growing company, Créatifs SA achieved €93m sales in 2001. Positioned on the growth market of trade shows and merchandising, the company’s rapid development should be accelerated by this transaction and significant external acquisitions opportunities.

NEWS FROM MONDAY 7/8

FORT LEE, NJ — BRM Capital venture capital fund has announced a reduction of about $100 million in investors’ commitments, out of a fund totaling $253 million. This change has been made in accordance with the relative share of each investor in the fund. After the change, the volume of assets under BRM management will total $250 million. Among the fund’s investors are Koor, Bezeq, IBM, NTT Data and private investors.

The BRM Capital fund completed the raising of $253 million in 2000. BRM Capital has invested about $60 million in eight companies to date. After the change, the fund will be left with a sum of about $90 million. BRM plans to allocate most of the remaining capital to new investments in the fields of enterprise software and telecommunications.

CAMBRIDGE, MA — DataPower Technology Inc., the leading provider of XML-Aware network infrastructure, today announced that it has secured $9.5 million in series B financing. Investors for this round include Venrock Associates, Mobius Venture Capital and Seed Capital Partners. Michael Tyrrell, of Venrock, Bill Burnham, of Mobius, and Jeff Fagnan, of Seed Capital, have joined DataPower’s Board of Directors. DataPower will use this funding to accelerate development, marketing and sales of the company’s breakthrough technology for XML-Aware networking.

NEW YORK — Thor Technologies Inc., a leader in secure, enterprise-class provisioning and user management platforms since 1991, announced today that it has attracted $19 million in venture capital financing. The funding was led by Bain Capital Ventures, the venture capital arm of Bain Capital, and included new investors Longworth Venture Partners and Boston Capital Ventures. Proceeds from the financing will be used to facilitate growth and meet customer demand for Thor Technologies’ industry-leading platforms, including its Xellerate provisioning solution.

FREMONT, CA — Ample Communications Inc., pioneer of frame processing silicon solutions for high-speed networks, today announced it has secured $21 million in its second round of funding in addition to its initial round of $17 million received in September 2000. The company’s frame processing solutions integrate several functions onto a single, merchant silicon chip to speed time to market for network system vendors.

CenterPoint Ventures and Rho Ventures led Ample’s second round of funding. First round investors InterWest Partners, Storm Ventures and the company founders also participated in the second round. Proceeds from Ample’s first round of $17 million, received in September 2000, fueled the company’s initial development and sampling of its first silicon chipsets earlier this year. Ample’s Nighthawk 10 Gigabit multi-protocol frame processor and Skyhawk 10 Gigabit Ethernet frame processor devices are incorporated into several commercial communications systems scheduled for delivery by the end of the year.

NASHUA, NH – – Dirig Software, a leading developer of award-winning enterprise application performance management solutions for eBusiness, today announced a $15 million round of financing led by Battery Ventures with additional investment from original investors JMI Equity, Longworth Venture Partners and Aprisma Management Technologies. Ollie Curme, general partner with Battery Ventures, will join the Company’s board of directors. The funding will allow the company to meet its growth strategy through new product development and continued expansion of its sales and marketing infrastructure.

ATLANTA — VistaScape Technology Corp., a leading provider of integrated security and surveillance management software, announced today that it has completed a private funding round worth $4.1 million. To date, the company has raised a total of $16.1 million in three separate rounds of funding. New investor, Florida-based Visionaria Venture Capital Fund, led the latest round, with previous investor CDP Capital, a subsidiary of the Caisse de Depot and Placement of Quebec, also participating. Growth Strategy Group advised VistaScape with respect to the funding.

NEW YORK — Harvest Partners, a leading New York-based multinational private equity firm specializing in acquiring profitable middle-market companies, announced today that it has held a final closing on a new $558 million fund. The final amount exceeded both the target and Harvest’s prior $362 million fund due to strong support from existing investors and demand from new investors. The fund, Harvest Partners IV, will be invested in management buyouts and growth financings of profitable domestic and multinational middle-market companies.

ISRAEL — Can-Fite BioPharma, a nanoscale drug development company, has raised $10 million in a second round of financing. The round was led by Giza Venture Capital, and included commitments from Yozma Venture Capital and Ascend Technology Ventures.

BETHESDA, MD — American Capital Strategies Ltd. (Nasdaq: ACAS) announced today that Eugene L. Podsiadlo has resigned as a member of the company’s Board of Directors. Mr. Podsiadlo is in the process of developing a new retail investment company product for individual investors to which he will devote his full business time and attention.

PARIS — Partech International has hired Helmut Schon, a German national, as General Partner, reinforcing the firm’s commitment to providing strategic advisory services to portfolio companies, and to increasing its presence throughout Europe. Schon will focus on investment opportunities in Northern Europe, especially in Germany and in the United Kingdom.

Schon has 20 years experience in the technology and telecommunications industries, 13 years of which were spent in investment banking. During his career in investment banking, Helmut worked on more than 50 M&A, Equity/IPO, Debt or Venture Capital transactions. From 1999 until September 2001, Schon built up the WestLB Panmure Technology Group and was a member of the WestLB Panmure management committee. Under his leadership, the Industry Group’s revenues more than quadrupled and Schon was a key contributor to setting up an internal VC investment fund. Prior to joining WestLB in 1999, Schon was responsible for Merrill Lynch’s Technology Banking business in Europe.

NEW YORK — CSFB is pleased to announce that Mark Augustine has joined the U.S. Equity Research Department to cover the biotechnology sector. Mr. Augustine comes to CSFB from U.S. Bancorp Piper Jaffray where he had also covered the biotech industry. Prior to that, he covered the biotech industry for S.G. Cowen and also worked for two years at Canaan Partners, a venture capital firm. Mr. Augustine holds a B.A. from Yale and an M.B.A. from Harvard.

CLEVELAND — Brantley Capital Corp. (Nasdaq: BBDC) today announced that James M. Smith, a Director of the Company, has decided to resign from the Brantley Capital Board of Directors because current market conditions require him to devote all of his time to his primary business responsibilities.

The Company noted that during his Board tenure Mr. Smith consistently supported the Brantley Capital Board’s plans to enhance shareholder value and was opposed to the premature liquidation of the Company’s private equity portfolio.

SALT LAKE CITY — Salus Therapeutics Inc. today announced that it had successfully completed a Series B venture financing of the company. The financing involved the participation of Utah Ventures II (UV Partners), vSpring Capital and WS Investment Co. Utah Ventures made the original seed capital investment in Salus Therapeutics in 1999.

LONDON The Baring Central European Fund (BCEF) today announced that it has sold Topway Foods International SA, Romania’s leading margarine, ketchup, mustard and condiments producer, to Orkla Foods AS, a subsidiary of the Norwegian diversified multinational, Orkla ASA. Topway’s original founder-managers also sold their stake in the company.
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