Aug 1, 2018

VC Buzz New in the News $1.428 Billion Month to Date $36.163 Billion Year to Date Deal News WR Hambrecht + Co Closes $83 Million Strategic Financing Round SAN FRANCISCO -- Online investment bank WR Hambrecht + Co closed its Series C financing, raising $83 million from 11 investors. The firm received second round funding from American Express ( NYSE: AXP ), Scudder Kemper Investments, Texas Pacific Group, Hikari Tsushin Capital, J.F. Shea Co., Crimson Ventures, Park Avenue Capital, News Corp's venture group epartners Limited, American Century, Instinet and William R. Hambrecht. The firm's best-known innovation is OpenIPO, an auction-based model for initial public offerings. Astral Point Completes $40 Million Third Round of Financing CHELMSFORD, Mass.-- Optical networking pioneer Astral Point Communications completed a $40 million round of financing led by investor Bowman Capital. The company has received over $73 million in funding since its inception in October 1998. In addition to Bowman Capital, another new investor includes Essex Investment Management. The Sprout Group, New Enterprises Associates and One Liberty Ventures, all existing investors , also participated in the round. Astral Point's first product, the ON5000 Optical Services Node, uses the patented "Self-Healing Mesh" algorithm, which helps carriers enable SONET-quality protection and restoration capability in mesh networks. Astral Point's management system, Onset, incorporates a software "wizard" that uses a knowledge-based rule set that enables service providers to very quickly add hundreds of circuits. beenz.com Completes $39.5 Million Series B Financing Round NEW YORK -- beenz.com inc., creator of web currency beenz, received $39.5 million in its latest round of private funding. Series B investors include Kataweb, the online property of Italian media Gruppo l'Espresso, New World CyberBase Ltd., Central Banking Corp. (a Korean merchant bank), BayStar Capital, Sycamore Ventures, ING Barings and DRW Venture Partners, an affiliate of Dain Rauscher Wessels. In addition, several investors from the Series A round , including Apax Partners Funds, Patricof & Co. Ventures, Hikari Tsushin Partners, Viventures Partners S.A., the French investor Artemis and Gefinor (USA) Inc, have invested in this round. beenz.com has also embarked on joint ventures in Italy, China, Japan and Korea, and has accumulated an additional $11.9 million for the business in those regions. SANTA CLARA, Calif.-- Fatbrain.com ( Nasdaq:FATB ), a provider of Web-based information management for businesses, closed $36 million in venture capital investments in its MightyWords subsidiary and is separating the subsidiary to operate as an independent, privately-held company. MightyWords uses a secure digital rights technology to instantly publish, distribute and sell written works. The investments include $20 million from Barnes & Noble.com ( Nasdaq:BNBN ), $10 million from Vulcan Ventures and an additional $6 million from other investors, including Millennium Technology Ventures, Highland Capital Partners and APV Technology Partners. Fatbrain.com will receive approximately $8.5 million from MightyWords as reimbursement for expenses incurred on behalf of the subsidiary over the past five months. Fatbrain.com will retain an approximately 23 percent ownership in MightyWords, while Barnes & Noble.com will own an approximately 30 percent of the company. In addition, Fatbrain.com appointed Dennis Capovilla to chief executive officer. Capovilla succeeds founder Chris MacAskill, who will remain chairman of the board for Fatbrain.com and serve as CEO for the newly independent MightyWords. AccessLan Communications Raises $35 Million ATLANTA-- AccessLan Communications raised $35.1 million in equity financing led by new investor BancBoston Ventures. Other venture capital firms participating in the financing include previous AccessLan investors Accel Partners, Berkeley International Capital, Highland Capital, Sequoia Capital and Tudor Private Equity fund. This latest round of funding brings the total funds raised by the company to more than $75 million. AccessLan is a supplier of carrier-class DSLAM equipment for Voice over DSL, Internet access and Internet-based services. The company targets Local Exchange Carrier with PL-2000 C.O. and PL-1000 stackable i-SLAMs that deliver VoDSL, Internet access and Internet services like e-commerce, Web hosting, streaming audio and video. Net4Music Raises $16 Million in Third Round of Financing NEW YORK-- Net4Music, a portal for musicians, closed its third round of financing, raising a total of $16 million. With this round of venture financing, the company has accrued over $27 million of equity in the last twelve months. The $16 million in financing was led by Rothschild Asset Management and includes investments from BancBoston Capital, Turenne Capital Partenaires, EDB Venture, Mitsubishi Corp. (UK) Plc, MC ITE (Europe) Ltd (a subsidiary of Mitsubishi Corp., IT & Electronics Business Group), Mitiska Net Fund Europe, Genevest and private investors. Re-investors included Viventures, venture capital investment funds managed by SGAM, PLS Venture Capital Partners and Robertsau Investissement. Through Net4Music's web site, musicians can reference and download sheet music from a large catalog of titles from all music genres. Cerebellum Software Secures $13.8 Million in Funding PITTSBURGH, Pa. -- Cerebellum Software, developer technology for linking e-business applications with corporate data systems, raised $13.8 million in its latest round of funding. The financing round is led by Birchmere Ventures, with additional participation from CEO Venture Fund. In connection with this financing, Ned Renzi, partner at Birchmere Ventures, will join Cerebellum Software's board of directors. The company's premier product, Cerebellum, enables a development team to easily create and add comprehensive, real-time data integration into Web applications and components. Sageware Closes $13 Million Round of Financing MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.-- Sageware, a provider of automatic categorization and content filtering services, completed its third round of financing totaling $13.5 million. H&Q Asia Pacific led the financing group in this round, which also included Core Pacific, Capital Plus and WK Technology. Sageware is offered as a Web-based service or as a delivered solution to suit the needs of their customers. Customers include corporate and government intranets and vertical market Web portals, publishers and other online information providers. EquipNet Sells $6.675 Million in Preferred A Shares BRAINTREE, Mass. -- EquipNet, an Internet-based asset recovery solutions provider, sold $6.675 million in Preferred A shares to a consortium of international investors. Led by Orchard Capital Group, investors include NETInvest Ltd., a venture capital firm in Zurich, Switzerland, Quadra Invest NV (Dexia Bank) in Brussels, Belgium, and other domestic sources such as Federal Machinery & Equipment Co. To date, the company has created marketplaces for used equipment in the pharmaceutical, food and beverage, and chemical industries, with other vertical markets to come. Redleaf Group Provides ThreadExchange.com $4.8 Million in Initial Funding PITTSBURGH-- Redleaf Group, a business-to-business e-commerce company, will provide $4.8 million in capital to e-commerce start-up, ThreadExchange.com, an online sourcing exchange for the global apparel market. Working with a large factory network, ThreadExchange.com provides full-service sourcing solutions to retailers as well as wholesalers/importers. Redleaf Group's investment is part of ThreadExchange.com's total $5.5 million Level A financing. GivingCapital Raises $4.5 Million in First-Round Funding PHILADELPHIA -- GivingCapital, a provider of Internet applications that allow nonprofit organizations to manage online fundraising, secured $4.5 million in first-round financing. The funds have been supplied by private investors from both the east and west coasts. More than 90 charities from across the country use GivingCapital's technology to receive and process online donations through their Web sites. 86.com Secures $2 Million in Series A Funding Washington, DC, -- 86.com, a business-to-business E-commerce portal for independent restaurants and their suppliers, secured $2 million in Series A funding from Columbia Capital. 86.coms Web site will launch this summer in the Baltimore-Washington market and will be available in selected cities on the East Coast later in the year. 86.com will provide a free, customizable, vendor-neutral Web interface through which restaurateurs can order food, beverages, equipment, and supplies from their existing distributors. Salary.com Raises $1.5 Million in First Round Financing WELLESLEY, Mass.-- Salary.com, a provider of online compensation information for individuals, HR professionals and business managers, closed $1.5 million in first-round venture capital financing. The round was led by Lyric Capital, with further investment from Ascendant Capital and other individual investors. Terry Temescu of Lyric Capital and Bob Stein of Ascendant Capital were appointed to Salary.com's board of directors. The Salary Wizard is an advanced salary calculator, covering a comprehensive list of industries and thousands of job titles. In addition to compensation data, Salary.com provides editorial content on compensation trends, negotiation tactics, and news and advice on compensation and benefits. Kyberpass Lands Latest Financing Round OTTAWA, Ontario-- Kyberpass Corp., a provider of e-security software, secured $CDN 13 million (about US $8.8 million) in its second round of venture capital financing. The investment was led by NB Capital Partners and includes Kyberpass' initial venture investor, McLean Watson, as well as Covington Capital Corp. The Kyberpass security solution seamlessly allows any application to take advantage of the full power of Public Key Infrastructure, while automatically implementing customers' unique security policies and simplifying administration. In other news, the company made several new executive appointments: David Watts as chief operating officer; Robert Lendvai as vice president of marketing; John Purdon as senior vice president of strategic market development. GET BUZZED! VC Buzz, that is. The latest buzz on the daily deals coming down in the femtosecond pace of the Venture Capital world VC Buzz brings you the latest on who's gotten their funding and from whom, what's happening at the VCs and who's just swallowed whom in the maniacally fast, deadly serious Darwinian scramble for Internet success and dominance. Don't get trampled by the herd ... stay ahead with VC Buzz, delivered every business day to your e-mail box. 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