THE WIRE — Friday 7/19

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Lemur Networks Inc., an innovative service deliveryplatform for IP services provisioning, announced the closing of $6 million inSeries A financing led by Rho Ventures and Sevin Rosen Funds, with existingseed investor Silicon Alley Seed Investors (SASI) participating in the round. Along with the funding, Amra Tareen, Partner at Sevin Rosen Funds, and HabibKairouz, Managing Partner at Rho Ventures, join Dr. Seyhan Civanlar,Co-Founder, Dr. Inder Gopal, CEO at ReefEdge, and Josh Grotstein, Partner atSilicon Alley Seed Investors on the board of Lemur Networks.

OVP Venture Partners today announced the final close of OVP VI, with committed capital exceeding $190 million. Investors in OVP’s sixth Fund include many of the most prestigious pension funds, endowments, universities, foundations and corporations in the nation.

MedImmune Inc.(Nasdaq: MEDI) announced today that it has formed MedImmune Ventures, Inc., a venture capital subsidiary that will use the company’s expertise in discovering, developing and commercializing biotechnology products, as well as its financial resources, in an effort to transform new ideas in biotechnology into successful products and companies.

MedImmune Ventures initially plans to invest up to $100 million over the next three years in early-to-late-stage, public or private biotechnology companies focused on discovering and developing human therapeutics. The fund will primarily invest in areas of strategic interest to MedImmune, including infectious disease, immunology and oncology. The fund will generally invest up to $15 million per company and anticipates an average investment of about $6 million. The assessment of new investment opportunities will be conducted by a team of experts at MedImmune, lead by Dr. Hockmeyer, that will include members from the company’s research and development, clinical, sales and marketing, intellectual property, regulatory, business development, legal and finance departments.

MonoSphere, which develops advanced enterprise storage management systems, successfully completed a Series B financing round this month. Leading the round is the American venture capital firm Lightspeed Venture Partners (formerly Weiss, Peck & Greer Venture Partners). Also participating is Benchmark Capital, which invested in MonoSphere at the seed stage.

Company 51 Inc., a maker of computer security sofrtware, has raised $10 million in a first round of financing led by Sevin Rosen Funds.

NEWS FROM THURSDAY 7/18

Scion Pharmaceuticals Inc., a privately held pharmaceutical company engaged in the discovery of novel ion channel modulators, announced today that it has raised $17.5 million in a Series B private equity financing, bringing the total amount raised since its inception in September 2001 to $21.5 million. The round was led by Lehman Brothers and Lancet Capital. Also investing were GeneChem Therapeutics Venture Fund, Gray Ghost, Life Sciences Partners (LSP), NeuroVentures, S.R. One, Limited, and Scion’s existing institutional investor, Oxford Bioscience Partners. Concurrent with the financing, Scion has appointed to its Board of Directors Hingge Hsu, M.D., Managing Director of Lehman Brothers Private Equity Group; William Golden, Managing Director of Lancet Capital; and Joachim ‘JR’ Rothe, Ph.D., Partner of LSP.

Advent International today announced that it has raised $265 million for its Latin American Private Equity Fund II (LAPEF II), which will invest in established, profitable companies across the region. LAPEF II is the largest private equity fund formed in Latin America in the last two years. It brings the total capital managed by Advent in the region to approximately $500 million.

The new fund will purchase mainly controlling stakes in mature, growing companies with positive cash flow and leading market positions. The equity investment size per transaction, including syndicate partners, will range from $10 million to $100 million. LAPEF II will invest primarily in the three Latin American countries where Advent has a direct presence-Mexico, Brazil and Argentina. These countries represent approximately 65 percent of the region’s GDP and, in Advent’s opinion, offer the most attractive private equity opportunities.

Thomson Financial/Venture Economics is reporting that venture capitalists disbursed a total of US$545.2m to Asia Pacific companies in the first half of the year to June 2002, according to Thomson Financial/Venture Economics. A total of 123 companies received investments from 127 rounds of financing. The total represents a sharp dip from the same period last year, when more than US$2.0bn was invested into Asia-Pacific companies.

Funds raised to the mid-year amounted to US$1.3bn, a significant decline from the US$3.5bn recorded in the same period last year. Of the 42 funds researched, there were 13 first time funds collecting a total of US$765.3m and 29 follow-on funds raising US$562.4m. Singapore proved the most fruitful country for the money raisers with an accumulated US$532.0m gathered over the period. Australia and South Korea were the next best, raising US$331.3m and US$186.9m respectively, while Hong Kong attracted US$183.1m. Korea had 15 funds raising money, the highest in number by nation, for the first half of the year.

Alopa Networks, a leading provider of fully integrated broadband subscriber solutions and operational support systems (OSS) applications, today announced that it closed $8.5 million of a Series C financing tranche as part of a $12.5 million total investment. VantagePoint Venture Partners led the round with participation from all existing investors including Summit Accelerator Fund, Lucent Venture Partners, and Rainbow Fund. Alopa will use these funds to accelerate its growth plans and expand its sales and marketing operations to continue to deliver robust technology to its customers and channel partners.

Foxcom Wireless, the leading industry provider of in-building wireless communication solutions, has completed a financing round of $9 million led by Momentum Management, a venture group specializing in the acceleration to profitability of technology companies. This round of investment includes a significant contribution from Eurofund, which represents limited partners such as T-Ventures of Deutsche Telekom and DaimlerChrysler AG, Discount Capital Markets, Israel Seed Partners, who helped to arrange the financing, Genesis and Apax Partners.

Digital ID World today announced the formation of the industry’s first venture capital working group to focus on opportunities within the emerging digital identity industry. Participants include Brad Feld of Mobius Venture Capital, Walter Knapp of Novell Technology Capital, Dave Chen of OVP Venture Partners, Gus Tai of Trinity Ventures, Rick Patch of Sequel Partners, Alex Tosheff of St. Paul Venture Capital and Shawn Luetchens of Saffron Hill Ventures. The group is supported by Allen Weinberg of Glenbrook Partners, a consultancy focused on identity, and by Digital ID World, the premier source for digital identity news, views and the presenter of the Digital ID World Conference

Providential Holdings Inc. (OTCBB:PRVH) today announced that it had secured a $10 million equity line from Los Angeles-based The Mercator Group to fund its business plan. According to the agreement, the term of the line will be three years and will begin on the effective date of the registration statement. The Mercator Group and its affiliates will invest up to $10 million into Providential Holdings and agree not to engage in any short sales of the company’s stock.
NEWS FROM WEDNESDAY 7/17
Topspin Communications, a startup company focused on the emerging enterprise data center virtualization market, announced today that it has raised $30 Million in its second round of funding. To date, Topspin has secured $47.5 million in venture capital. This round of funding was led by top tier venture firm Advent International and included existing investors Accel Partners and Redpoint Ventures, along with new investors, Duff Ackerman & Goodrich, and Presidio Venture Partners.

Silicon Optix, a leading producer of next generation, high-performance digital image processing chips, today announced that it secured $17 million in a second round of venture capital funding co-led by Canaan Partners and Polaris Venture Partners, which also included participation by existing investors. As a result of the funding, John Balen, General Partner at Canaan Partners and Alan Spoon, Managing General Partner at Polaris have joined the Silicon Optix board of directors.

WIDCOMM Inc., the leading provider of wireless communication software and systems, announced today that it has secured $11.5 million in series C financing. San Diego-based Mission Ventures led the round of funding and its General Partner Leo Spiegel has joined WIDCOMM’s Board of Directors. Other new investors include AsiaTech Management from Santa Clara, KDC from Korea, and The Viterbi Group.

Psilos Group Managers, a leading healthcare venture capital firm, today announced that it has launched Psilos Group Partners II SBIC, L.P. (“Psilos II SBIC”), a $75 million subsidiary fund to its existing Psilos II fund. Psilos II SBIC is licensed as a Small Business Investment Co (SBIC), which entitles the fund to deploy Small Business Administration (“SBA”) financing for the companies in which it invests. This means that, for every dollar of invested capital into the SBIC subsidiary fund from private investors, the SBA will provide two dollars of capital into that fund. In total, the Psilos II funds represent $128 million of capital for investment in private equity deals. Aside from the SBA, both Psilos II funds share the same private investors.

URS Corp. (NYSE: URS), the nation’s largest engineering and design firm, today announced that it has agreed to acquire EG&G Technical Services (EG&G), a leading provider of outsourced engineering, technology and operations management services to the U.S. government, in a transaction valued at $500 million. EG&G is currently owned by affiliates of The Carlyle Group and includes the operations of Lear Siegler Services, Inc. It has approximately $850 million in annual revenues, principally related to multi-year federal government contracts, and more than 10,000 employees.

Cyclis Pharmaceuticals Inc., a privately held biopharmaceutical company, announced today it has received $5 million in financing to advance its therapeutic programs for the treatment of cancer, based on the restoration and activation of cellular checkpoints. The Company’s Activated Checkpoint Therapy (“ACT”) approach uses small molecule drugs to selectively activate checkpoint-mediated apoptosis in cancer cells without causing damage to normal cells. Cyclis has three drug discovery programs that target major pathways controlling checkpoints and apoptosis. The Company’s first proprietary candidate, CO-501, is a checkpoint regulator, and is scheduled to begin clinical trials for the treatment of solid tumors in mid-2003. Ampersand Ventures invested $5 million in a start-up round that is expected to close later this year.

TA Associates, one of the leading private equity and buyout firms in the United States, announced today that it has completed a $20 million investment in National Imaging Associates, Inc. (NIA), the leading provider of radiology benefits management services in the United States.

NIA, based in Hackensack, NJ and Rancho Cordova, CA, partners with healthcare payers through its Radiology Benefits Management approach to improve the clinical appropriateness, quality, and economics of diagnostic radiology services rendered to health plan enrollees. The Company’s suite of Radiology Benefits Management services includes telephonic and web-based Radiologist to Ordering Physician prior-consultation and examination scheduling, radiology network development and contracting, facility-based quality assurance reviews, benefits design, and an extensive array of innovative provider data sharing profiles. NIA plans to use this additional funding to further its explosive growth while enhancing service to all clients through innovative technological advancements that improve the appropriateness and economics of imaging care.

NEWS FROM TUESDAY 7/16

The Blackstone Group today announced that it has received capital commitments for its latest private equity fund, Blackstone Capital Partners IV, of approximately $6.45 billion, making it the largest private equity fund ever raised. The initial target for BCP IV, which commenced its fund-raising process in the spring of 2001, was $5 billion. BCP III, Blackstone’s current private equity fund, raised total capital commitments of approximately $4 billion in 1997. The Blackstone Group was represented in its fund-raising for certain new investors outside the United States by UBS Warburg, and in the United States by Credit Suisse First Boston Corporation.

OpenNetwork, a leader in Web identity and access management security software, today announced that it has secured $10 million in venture financing. The financing was led by Battery Ventures, one of the world’s leading venture capital firms investing in technology companies across the communications, software and Internet/eCommerce industries. John Abraham and Larry Cheng of Battery Ventures will join the Company’s board of directors. Existing investors including JP Morgan and SI Ventures also participated in OpenNetwork’s Round C funding.

CORGENTECH INC., a privately-held biotechnology company, announced today that it raised $50 million through its recently completed Series C financing round, which was led by Bear Stearns Health Innoventures, L.P. Additional investors include JP Morgan Partners, HBM Bioventures LTD, Alta Partners, InterWest Partners, CDIB, Temasek, PRM Ventures and others. JPMorgan H&Q was the exclusive placement agent for the offering. Net proceeds from this financing will be used for the Phase III clinical development of the Company’s lead product candidate for prevention of coronary and peripheral arterial bypass graft failure, continued development of other investigational product candidates, and general corporate purposes.

APEXON INC., a leader in Supplier Relationship Management (SRM) solutions, today announced that it has secured $20 million in venture funding. Accel Partners led the round, joined by Foundation Capital as well as current investors, Menlo Ventures, Rolling Thunder Network, and Clarify Inc., co-founder David A. Stamm. Apexon will use this equity financing to expand its sales, marketing, and professional services organizations to capitalize on its early lead in the emerging SRM sector.

FORTINET, the premier provider of network protection systems, today announced the completion of its second financing round. The $9 million round, which closed in May, 2002, was led by DEFTA Partners, a leading international venture capital group. Joining in the round were existing investors and several strategic partners, including Forval Creative, a leading distributor of network security products & services in Japan. Fortinet also announced today that it has made two additions to its senior management team.

WEBGENS SYSTEMS INC., the first Internet-based energy conservation network, today announced the completion of its second round of funding led by Greenlight Private Equity Partners, LP (GPEP). The round brought in $6.0 million and includes options for an additional $6.4 million investment. Greenlight joins first-round investors Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC), BW Energy, LLC and EMCOR Facilities Services, Inc. (NYSE:EME).

CORUM GROUP INC. is pleased to announce that its client SRC Software, a leading budgeting, reporting and financial planning software company, has received an investment from Vista Equity Partners, of San Francisco.

CAPITAL IQ, a leading provider of information and technology solutions to the investment banking and corporate finance community, today announced it has closed its Series C round and secured an additional $8 million in capital led by new investor Constellation Ventures, a Bear Stearns Asset Management venture capital fund. Additional investments in the round from prior investors include Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein, Northwood Ventures and Gamma Investors.

FLATROCK, the leading provider of Instant Extranet products, today announced the appointment of Dana Siebert, managing director of Oregon Life Sciences, as the company’s executive advisor. With a 20-year track record in high-technology management, Siebert will serve as a company advisor, supporting Flatrock’s security initiatives and strategic agreements.

Siebert currently leads the Information Technology practice of Oregon Life Sciences, a venture capital company that brings a unique blend of funding and management expertise to early-stage Life Science and Information technology companies. OLS has invested in or started 21 companies since inception.

FUELSPOT INC., a leading provider of software, services, and solutions that bring efficiency to the downstream-refined petroleum products supply chain, is pleased to announce the closing on a new round of funding provided by existing investors

 

NEWS FROM MONDAY 7/15

VANGUARD VENTURES today announced that Hugh Y. Rienhoff, Jr., M.D. has joined the firm as a general partner. Separately, Larry Schwerin, who has served as a partner since last spring, was promoted to general partner. Rienhoff will be responsible for expanding the firm’s investments in biotechnology and healthcare information sciences, while Schwerin will continue his focus on building pioneering companies in the communications and Internet infrastructure market.

Prior to joining Vanguard Ventures, Rienhoff spent more than 20 years in medicine, research and venture capital. In 1998, he founded DNA Sciences, Inc. (originally Kiva Genetics), a genetics discovery company, and served as its chairman and chief executive officer. Previously, he was a director of London-based venture firm Abingworth Management Ltd., responsible for its U.S. operations, and served as a partner at New Enterprise Associates, focused on biotechnology investments. Larry Schwerin has served as a partner at Vanguard Ventures for the last year, bringing more than 20 years of experience to his role as a technologist and CEO of two technology businesses. In 1998, Schwerin joined CenCom V, a Vanguard Ventures-sponsored telecommunications venture accelerator, as president and CEO, working closely with several global corporations and venture capital firms to nurture young, promising companies.

INVENTION MACHINE CORP., a leading provider of Intellectual Asset Management (IAM) solutions, has secured $7.5 million in venture capital funding from new and existing investors, including Citigroup, Dassault Systemes, Millennium 3 Opportunity Fund and RRE Ventures.

CEROX CORP. today announced completion of its third round of a financing totaling $4.1 million. The new equity investors were led by Rockport Capital Partners and included Kirlan Venture Capital and Cycad Group LLC. The round was lead by RockPort Capital Partners of Boston, Massachusetts. “We believe that because the CerOx patented technology allows hazardous compounds to be safely and economically treated at low temperatures, it will fundamentally change the way hazardous wastes are treated”, said Chuck McDermott, a Partner at RockPort. “CerOx delivers significant economic and environmental value to a global industrial marketplace.”

ADDAMARK today announced it has secured $7 million in first round funding led by Sierra Ventures. Other investors include leading venture capital firm Battery Ventures and several angel investors. San Francisco-based Addamark enables enterprises to extract business value from extremely high volumes of log data, giving customers unprecedented visibility into business critical information. This financing will enable Addamark to bolster its engineering and sales teams and expand the product roadmap to include additional features and functionality.

ECLIPSE AVIATION CORP., manufacturer of the Eclipse 500 jet, today announced completion of its fourth round of private equity funding that totaled $18 million. Having raised $238 million to date, the company is believed to be the most highly funded aviation startup in history.

NET TO NET TECHNOLOGIES, a leading provider of Ethernet-based DSL Broadband Access solutions, today announced it has closed a $6.25 million funding round. The new funding includes participation from both new and existing investors, and provides Portsmouth, NH-based Net to Net with a fully funded business plan. The new investor in the company is North Atlantic Capital Corporation, of Portland, ME, which led the round of with total of $3M. Summit Partners, which invested $15M in August 2000, also invested an additional $2M in this round. Private investors made up the remaining $1.25M to complete the funding.

TRUESPECTRA INC., the leading provider of high-performance server-based imaging solutions, today announced that Robert Ackerman has joined its board of directors. Ackerman is Managing Director and co-founder of Allegis Capital and its Media Technology Ventures family of corporate venture capital funds. Allegis Capital recently participated in a $ 7.5 million round of financing for the company.

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