FastForward Networks

Sep 26, 2018

VC Buzz New in the News $4.635 Billion Month to Date $25.739 Billion Year to Date Deal News BrightLink Networks Adds $52 Million In Third Round Funding SUNNYVALE, Calif.-- BrightLink Networks, a new optical switching start-up focused on solving the scaling, provisioning and management issues for long-haul interexchange carriers, completed its third round of funding, securing $52 million in additional capital. This round brings in several new investors, including The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE: GS ) and its affiliates, Comdisco, Credit Suisse First Boston, Mitsui & Co., and Vision Capital. Other participants in this round include returning earlier-round investors Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Menlo Ventures and The Sprout Group. BrightLink has raised $71 million in total. Force10 Networks Raises $50M Second Round Funding MILPITAS, Calif.-- Force10 Networks, a developer of carrier-class ethernet switching equipment, completed a $50M second round of financing. Existing investors New Enterprise Associates and USVP were joined by WorldView Technology Partners and Amerindo Investment Advisors. Force10 Networks develops ultra high performance networking equipment optimized for dark fiber internetworking in the MAN and WAN, as well as for next generation web hosting. Telenisus Closes $50 Million Second Round Private Placement CHICAGO -- Telenisus Corp., a complete e-business Internet solutions provider, secured $50 million in an oversubscribed second round financing, led by Alta Communications and Bay Partners. The second round co-leads were joined by BancBoston Ventures, ABN AMRO Private Equity, Maroon Bells Capital Partners and Metropolis Venture Partners. Tim Dibble, managing general partner, Alta Communications, and William Gibbs, managing director, Maroon Bells Capital Partners, joined the board of directors. Telenisus closed its first round of private placement financing in November 1999, securing $8.3 million from a variety of individual investors. Telenisus offers secure and reliable managed Internet solutions - managed firewall/security, virtual private networks, Web/application hosting and e-commerce. Ztango.com Receives $37.8 Million in Equity Capital RESTON, Va. -- Ztango.com, a provider of wireless Internet software solutions and services, received $37.8 million in equity capital from General Atlantic Partners. Ztango.com enables e-companies, wireless network operators and corporations to deliver popular web-based applications -- including profiled news and information services; productivity services such as e-mail and calendar; and m-commerce functionality -- to digital handsets and devices. Found.com Secures $36 Million In Financing SAN FRANCISCO -- Found.com, an e-infrastructure technology solution provider, closed a funding round totaling more than $36 million in capital, including lead investor Accel-KKR Internet Company, bringing the total capital raised since company inception to $45 million. The funding is the first investment by Accel-KKR Internet Company, which was formed by venture capital firm Accel Partners and private equity firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., to build businesses that integrate offline operations with online opportunities. Other investors include Bain Capital, Informix Software, Excalibur Technologies GESD Castling, EsNet and Allen & Company. AvantGo Completes $31 Million Mezzanine Financing SAN MATEO, Calif.-- AvantGo, a business-to-business mobile Internet company, secured $31 million in mezzanine financing from strategic partners and private equity investors. The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE: GS ) led the investment, along with participation from American Express (NYSE: AXP ), Ford Motor Company, McKessonHBOC, Research In Motion Ltd. and existing AvantGo investors, 21st Century Internet Venture Partners, H&Q Venture Associates, Adobe Ventures and Fayez Sarofim & Co. AvantGo offers mobile infrastructure software and services that enable businesses to use handheld devices and Internet-enabled phones to build tighter relationships with their customers and employees. FirstLook.com Secures $31 Million in Series B Financing Round LOS ANGELES -- FirstLook.com, a preview marketing network, completed a Series Bfinancing round totaling $31 million. Joining initial investors, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and idealab!, are Cox Communications (NYSE: COX ), Cox Enterprises, The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE: GS ), and Intel Capital (Nasdaq: INTC ). Dedicated to providing consumers with a destination for discovering and previewing new products, FirstLook.com and its affiliates, provide advertisers with an efficient, performance-based way to reach an audience of targeted consumers. PLEASANTON, Calif. and DALLAS-- Safeway Inc. (NYSE: SWY ) and GroceryWorks.com, an online home fulfillment business specializing initially in high quality groceries, have agreed to create a strategic alliance between the two companies. GroceryWorks will become Safeway's exclusive online grocery channel. Safeway will supply product to GroceryWorks pursuant to a long-term product purchase agreement to be assigned to GroceryWorks. GroceryWorks will receive $30 million in capital contributions from a subsidiary of Safeway, and an additional $20 million will be invested by one or more third parties. In exchange for the capital contributions and assignment of the product purchase agreement, a subsidiary of Safeway will receive preferred stock in GroceryWorks, convertible into 50% of GroceryWorks' fully diluted common stock. Current investment partners for GroceryWorks include The Sprout Group, Enterprise Partners Venture Capital Group, J.P. Morgan Investment Bank, Blue Rock Capital Partners and a group of private investors headed by Dallas-based Carl Westcott. The EC Company Raises $30 Million Series C Round PALO ALTO, Calif.-- The EC Company, which offers a hosted Internet transaction exchange that provides a business to business e-commerce solution for mid-size suppliers, completed a $30 million Series C financing. Investors include American Express (NYSE: AXP ), CMGI @Ventures (Nasdaq: CMGI ), and webMethods (Nasdaq: WEBM ). Also included in this round are private investments from several key executives at The EC Company. The company's EC Exchange product and EC Exchange.net service enable trading relationships within and across communities. The EC Company is backed also by Acacia Research (Nasdaq: ACRI ), including Talkot Capital, Wasserstein Adelson Ventures, and Invemed Associates. FastForward Networks Secures $30 Million Financing SAN FRANCISCO-- FastForward Networks, a developer of Internet broadcasting technology, secured $30 million in a mezzanine round of funding. The investment round was led by Bowman Capital, which is a new investor in the company, and includes corporate investors America Online, Enron Broadband Services, Inktomi, Real Networks (Nasdaq: RNWK ), and Sun Microsystems. Existing venture partner Accel Partners also participated in the round. The company has also received private backing from private investors, including Andrew Ludwick. This round of investment brings the total amount raised to approximately $35M. FastForward Networks delivers the networking platform that transforms the Internet into a broadcast medium, bringing additional scale, quality and profitability to Internet broadcasting. ZonaFinanciera.com Secures $30 Million in Strategic Funding FAIRFAX, Va. -- ZonaFinanciera.com, an online supermarket of financial products and services for Spanish and Portuguese speakers worldwide, raised $30 million in additional financing from investors including: T. Rowe Price (Nasdaq: TROW ), The Washington Post (NYSE: WPO ), CitiCorp Strategic Technology Corp. (NYSE: C ), Hartford Life Insurance (NYSE: HLI ), Acon Investments, Columbia Capital, Steve Walker & Associates, Capital Investors, and Marsh & McLennan Capital (NYSE: MMC ). The funding will accelerate ZonaFinanciera.com's recent entry into Europe as well as allow the company to expand its presence as a source for online finance in Latin American and U.S. Hispanic marketplaces. HealtheCare Raises Initial Financing of $23 Million MINNEAPOLIS -- HealtheCare secured $23 million in private financing and established alliances with several consulting and investment firms. Primary investors include Psilos Group Managers, Bain Capital, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., Alta Partners, Aon Corp. and Merrill Lynch KECALP. The company has formed strategic alliances with Aon Corp. and PricewaterhouseCoopers. HealtheCare expects to offer a new health care plan to employers of all sizes beginning this fall. To help plan members improve their health care experience, HealtheCare's customer service call center, provided and operated by PricewaterhouseCoopers, and HealtheCare's Internet portal will provide personalized tools and in-depth information on health issues. HealtheCare also will provide information on providers, their credentials and market costs for services. Sportscapsule Gains $15 Million in Financing NEW YORK-- Sportscapsule, a multimedia Internet company that enables young athletes and their families to view their own game footage and clip highlights on the Web, secured a total of $15 million in financial backing. The group of investors is led by the technology venture capital group of Citigroup Investments Inc., a subsidiary of Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C ). Coaches, parents or players send in their game footage, which Sportscapsule transfers to CD-ROM or streaming media over the Internet, allowing viewers to see the footage on their home computers. From there, viewers can use Sportscapsule's online tools to clip and save favorite moments in their own "sports time capsules." Sportscapsule automatically adds music, graphics, sound effects and sportscaster voiceover. Custom Revolutions Receives $10 Million Equity Investment NEW YORK and DALLAS -- Custom Revolutions, a provider of online personalized entertainment, received a $10 million equity investment from Hicks, Muse, Tate & Furst. Serving as a syndication and distribution company for the digital entertainment industry, CustomDisc is an enabler for business-to-business turnkey marketing, promotion, manufacturing and corporate product fulfillment needs. SquareTrade Secures $9 Million in Second Round SAN FRANCISCO-- SquareTrade, an online dispute resolution service, received a $9 million round of funding, led by Weston Presidio Capital and Chase Capital Partners. This second round includes new investor Staenberg Private Equity as well as existing investors Draper Richards, Argus Capital, partners of Clayton Dubilier Rice, Thomas Layton and European-based GIP Partners. Paul Roberts, principal of Chase Capital Partners, and Tom Patterson, general partner of Weston Presidio will join SquareTrade's board of directors. SquareTrade offers a structured and unbiased multi-step process to guide disputing parties to resolution, which is conducted completely online. ConfirmNet Secures $7 Million in Venture Capital Funding SAN DIEGO-- ConfirmNet Corp., an e-service business-to-business application service provider for the insurance industry, closed its first round of venture capital funding totaling $7 million. The investment was led by The Acorn Technology Fund and included the Elton Participation Corp. ConfirmNet recently launched its first "Now" technology offering, CertificatesNow.com, a secure Internet service that electronically delivers and stores certificates of insurance at a fraction of the cost of current processes, minimizing administration and enhancing customer service. Nucleus Receives $6.1 Million in Funding CHICAGO-- Nucleus, a provider of integrated high speed Internet transport, licensed e-business enabling software and secure hosting environments, completed $6.1 million in bridge financing. The funding is in the form of $6.1 million in senior bridge notes which bear interest and mature 120 days from the closing date. Nucleus has the option to extend the maturity of the Notes for an additional 120 days. Investors received common stock equal to 100% of the principal amount of the notes, which involved issuing 1.7 million shares of restricted common stock. NetBotz Secures $5.4 Million in Funding AUSTIN, Texas-- NetBotz, a provider of environmental network and equipment monitoring products, received a $5.4 million first round of venture capital financing led by Centerpoint Ventures, with investments from SSM Venture Partners and Sanchez Venture Partners. Eric Jones, SSM Venture Partners, Kent Fuka, Centerpoint Ventures, and Eric Gene Lowenthal, Sanchez Venture Partners, were named to the company's board of directors. NetBotz manufactures a small unit that analyzes a room or a cabinet's environment and performs periodic diagnostics on networked devices, such as servers, routers, power supplies, and switches. Customers access the monitoring equipment via the Web, for a visual display of the environment, and for information conveyed through sensors such as temperature and humidity. The individual units can be used as stand-alone monitoring platforms, or as part of an enterprise system. ExploreRealty.com Raises $4 Million PALO ALTO, Calif. -- ExploreRealty.com, a new online real estate broker, has raised $4 million, $2.8 million from angel investors and $1.2 million in initial seed money in November 1999. ExploreRealty.com offers reduced fees to sellers, cash payments to buyers, online transaction and personalized help from experienced real estate professionals. Punto-Com Completes $4 Million Seed Round MIAMI -- Punto-Com Inc., a source of Internet intelligence and services for the Latin American business community, completed a $4 million seed round of private equity financing from five venture capital firms, including Citicorp Venture Capital and Bank of America. Other investors in this first round of financing include Glacier Internet Investments, e-nicial Ventures - the venture capital arm of Brazil's Safra Group, Pan Pacific Ventures, and Grupo Editorial Expansion, publishers of Mexico's premier business publication. YapStone Raises $2 Million in First Round of Funding MINNETONKA, Minn. -- YapStone Inc., a new online, easy-to-use credit card payment service for the rental and automotive marketspace, received $2 million in its first round of funding. The round was led by Villante Capital Partners along with partners of Texas Pacific Group, Gilbert Global Equity Partners, Colony Capital and Imperial Capital, and other individual investors.. Founded in November 1999, YapStone will soon deploy a customer-oriented Web site that enables person-to-person and small business credit card transactions. Sweepsclub.com Lands Funding BOCA RATON, Fla. and NEW YORK-- Sweepsclub.com, an Internet-based, performance-driven strategic marketing and promotions company, received $1 million in funding from CrossBow Ventures. This new investment matches initial private placement investments, closing out round one funding at more than $2 million. Sweepsclub.com integrates sweepstakes, web-based direct marketing, targeted "opt-in" e-mail, newsletters and a proprietary online rewards program. TULSA, Okla. and LOWELL, Mass. -- Williams Communications (NYSE: WCG ), whose Vyvx Services unit is a distributor of professional sports content for media, is making a strategic investment in Avid Sports, a provider of digital analysis solutions for team sports and online sports media management solutions. Williams Communications will leverage its technology through the Vyvx MediaXtranet, a network and hosting platform enabling the movement of live and non-live content for business-to-business and business-to-consumer applications. It will allow access to stored information from the sports industry for use in game preparation, scouting and player development. Ultimately the business relationship will provide delivery of content to sports Internet portals for distribution to individual desktops, video screens or in-stadium monitors. ZoneTrader.com Merges With Investment Recovery Management MINNEAPOLIS -- ZoneTrader.com, a full-service asset recovery company that helps Global 1000 clients sell surplus and used assets through its online marketplace, merged with Investment Recovery Management Inc. The combined company will be called ZoneTrader.com. IRMI's asset-recovery consulting business generated revenues of $10 million in 1999, from operations in Tulsa, Okla., and Houston, Texas. Paul F. Wengert, president of IRMI, who founded IRMI in 1994, will remain with ZoneTrader.com as senior vice president of supplier relations. ZoneTrader.com is backed by Amerindo Investment Advisors, Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F ), Technology Crossover Ventures, Trident Capital and others. GET BUZZED! VC Buzz, that is. 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