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Latest Deals: 21 May - 27 May 2003

The AltAssets weekly round up of deals done across the world. This week there were 99 active investors in 38 deals and no exits across nine sectors, compared to 137 active investors in 46 deals and two exits the previous week…

Active investors this week

Western Europe & Israel

Investments

Software

Amadeus finances Finnish software company
Amadeus Capital Partners, a new investor in the company, has committed capital to Smartner Information Systems, a Helsinki, Finland-based provider of software that enables operators and service providers to offer mobile data access services to enterprises. The company has raised E5m in the round, which it intends to use for product development, sales and marketing. Amadeus Capital Partners led the round, and was joined by existing investors Eqvitec Partners, IT Provider and Sitra.

Technology

AMJPE invests in Plasso
Aberdeen Murray Johnstone Private Equity has invested in Plasso Technology, a spin-out company from the University of Sheffield. The company's core business focuses on surface modification techniques, which apply chemical coatings to the surfaces of disposable laboratory items. The first round of venture funding totalled £400,000 and will be used for product development. The White Rose Technology Seedcorn Fund made the investment.

Industrifonden takes 14 per cent stake in Sidec Technologies
Industrifonden has invested in Sidec Technologies, a developer of 3-D imaging technology for various life science applications. The company, which is situated in Stockholm, Sweden, has received E1.1m in this first round of venture capital funding in which Industrifonden was the sole investor. The new funds will be devoted to the ongoing development of products based on Sidec's imaging technology, as well as to establish a greater presence in Europe and the US.

Big Bang finances Belgian technology company
Big Bang Ventures has invested in Clear2Pay, a provider of alternative payment applications for the financial industry. The Brussels, Belgium-based company raised E5.35m in its second round of financing, the proceeds of which will be used for sales, marketing and continued product development. Big Bang Ventures is an existing investor in the company, while new investor Omega Pharma, members of the management team and individual investor Christian Dumolin also participated. Clear2Pay has raised E7.25m to date.

Food & Beverage

Montagu Private Equity makes first acquisition
Montagu Private Equity has made its first acquisition since spinning out from HSBC in March 2003. The firm has acquired Marlow Foods, the producers of Quorn and a number of branded chilled and frozen foods, from AstroZeneca for £70m. Marlow Foods had sales revenue last year of over £80m, more than 75 per cent of which came from the UK.

Healthcare & Life Sciences

NIB Capital Private Equity invests in BioXell
NIB Capital Private Equity has invested in a round of equity financing for BioXell, an Italian biopharmaceutical company that focuses on urology and inflammatory diseases. CIB led this second round, which also included MPM Capital, Index Ventures and Life Sciences Partners. The E17m that the company raised will be used to leverage its existing technology platforms further and to move several new programmes into pre-clinical and clinical development.

BankInvest backs merger of Pantheco and Cureon
BankInvest is among a group of investors that has backed the formation of Santaris Pharma, a drug discovery company. Created from the merger between Cureon, a Copenhagen-based biotech company, and Pantheco, a developer of anti-sense technology-based drugs also based in Copenhagen, the new company received E6m from this transaction. Bankinvest, a shareholder in Pantheco, led the round. Other investors included Bio Fund Management, Dansk Kapitalanlaeg, InnovationsKapital, Isis Pharmaceutical, Lonmodtagernes Dyrtidsfond, Novo A/S and Teknoinvest.

HBM BioVentures backs funding for mtm
HBM BioVentures has backed a series B round of venture financing for mtm laboratories, a Heidelburg, Germany-based biotech firm. The company, which develops products for the detection, diagnosis and prevention of cancer, raised E9m in this series B financing from HBM, Heidelberg Innovation and Mannheim Holdings, as well as a number of individual investors. The company aims to devote the new capital to developing its cancer diagnostics portfolio and to take products to market.

3i and Deutsche Venture Capital lead investment in 4SC
3i and Deutsche Venture Capital have led a round of private equity financing for 4SC, a drug discovery company that focuses on cheminformatics. Based in Martinsried, Germany, the company raised E9m in this third round from investors that also included Mulligan Biocapital, Beteiligungsgesellschaft fur die Deutsche Wirtschaft and BioM. Proceeds from the round will go towards the development into clinical trials of a number of 4SC's products. 4SC has raised more than E30m since its inception in 1997.

Media

AMJPE takes minority stake in mining publisher
Aberdeen Murray Johnstone Private Equity has taken a minority stake in Mining Journal, a business-to-business publishing company based in London, UK. AMJPE paid £2.2m for a significant minority stake in the company. The investment was made by the Birmingham office of AMJPE and included working capital facilities provided by Bank of Scotland. AMJPE was advised by law firms Wragge & Co and accountants RSM Robson Rhodes. Mining Journal was advised by law firm Heatons while its lead advisers were London-based media specialists Media Fund.

Central & Eastern Europe

Investments

Media

Advent International acquires Hungarian radio station
Advent International has acquired Danubius Radio, a Hungarian radio station, from GWR, a UK-based commercial radio broadcasting group, for E30m. The buy-out was also structured with debt, which was provided by Mezzanine Management from its Central European fund. Danubius targets the 18-49 year old age group and has a weekly market share of 33 per cent. It generated revenue of E11m last year.

Financial Services

Reiten & Co Capital Partners invests in EuroProcessing
Reiten & Co Capital Partners has invested E8.3m in EuroProcessing International. EPI was founded in early 2000 and focuses on the financial transaction processing market in Latvia and Lithuania. The company owns 100 per cent of the Latvian transaction processor and service provider SIA Banku Servisa Centrs and 66 per cent of the equivalent Lithuanian company UAB Mokejino Korteliu Sistemos. Both companies hold a market share in the range of up to 90 per cent in their respective areas.

North America

Investments

Technology

Star Ventures leads round for Acopia Networks
Star Ventures has co-led a round of financing for Acopia Networks, a Chelmsford, Massachusetts-based developer of switching products. The company raised $30m in series B financing, which it will use for sales, marketing, and product development. St Paul Venture Capital co-led the round with Star Ventures, while Charles River Ventures, Accel Partners, and Cheng Wu, the company's chairman, also participated. As a result of the financing Rami Kasterstein, a partner at Star Ventures, and Zenas Hutcheson, managing general partner at St Paul Venture Capital, have joined the company's board of directors.

Charles River invests in Chaoticom
Charles River Ventures has invested capital in a series B round of institutional financing for Chaoticom, a company that provides a multimedia service delivery platform for the mobile telephone market. The round closed at $9m, the proceeds of which will be used for sales, marketing and continued product development. New investor Charles River Ventures led the round, and was joined by existing investors Kodiak Venture Partners and eCoast Angels, according to VentureWire.

VenGrowth Capital Partners commits to Symagery
VenGrowth Capital Partners has invested in a round of venture financing for Symagery Microsystems, an Ottawa, Canada-based company that designs and supplies integrated smart camera components to electronic systems manufacturers. The round closed at $5.6m and included investments from the Canadian Science and Technology Growth Fund, BDC Ventures, Capital Alliance Ventures and strategic investor Orisar. The new capital will be used to expand the company's sales and marketing efforts.

Lazard leads investment for NFR
Lazard Technology Partners has led a round of equity financing for NFR Security, a Rockville, Maryland-based provider of intrusion management systems. The company's fourth round of funding totalled $7.5m, the proceeds of which will be used to expand its sales and marketing. Previous investor Lazard Technology Partners was joined in the transaction by other previous investors Digital Bandwidth, Allen & Company and Intel Capital. To date, NFR has raised a total of $37.6m.

Blueprint Ventures commits to SpectraSensors
Blueprint Ventures has committed capital to SpectraSensors, a developer of optical-based gas sensors for the industrial process and environmental monitoring markets. Headquartered in Pasadena, California, the company raised $2m in series A financing, which will go towards research, development, marketing and sales. New investor Blueprint Ventures and previous investor Forrest Binkley & Brown co-led the round. As a result of the financing, Nick Binkley, partner at Forrest Binkley & Brown, and George Hoyem, partner at Blueprint Ventures, joined the company's board of directors.

Wall Street Technology Partners invests in ClearCube
Wall Street Technology Partners has invested in ClearCube Technology's series D round of financing. The company, which is located in Austin, Texas, provides hardware and software that enables central management of desktop computers. It has raised an additional $5m from Wall Street Technology Partners in a second tranche to its series D round of funding, which has now closed with $25m. Gaurav Burman, a partner at Wall Street Technology Partners, was added to ClearCube's board of directors. To date, the company has raised $53m.

Sevin Rosen Funds provides capital for Unveil
Sevin Rosen Funds has become the latest private equity firm to commit capital to a round of financing for Unveil Technologies, a Waltham, Massachusetts-based provider of speech self-service applications for call centres. The company secured $4.5m in this series A financing. The new capital will be used by Unveil for continued product development and for sales and marketing. Solstice Capital joined Sevin Rosen Funds in this transaction.

Kodiak Venture Partners funds CipherOptics
Kodiak Venture Partners has funded a series B round of venture capital financing for CipherOptics, a provider of data protection and encryption appliances based in Raleigh, North Carolina. The company raised $9.6m in this round from Kodiak, an existing investor, and new investors Origin Partners, Axiom Venture Partners and New Tampa Technologies. CipherOptics will use the funding to expand its sales and marketing, product development and its partnership network. Its series A round of funding totalled $8.5m.

XR Ventures and SBV co-lead investment in Chaos
XR Ventures and SBV Partners have co-led a round of financing for Chaos Telecom, a start-up company that develops fabless semiconductors. The company is developing chips that can improve the signal-to-noise ratio in communications. Chaos closed its series A financing on $2.5m. Peter Banks, managing partner at XR Ventures, and Jacques Vallee, general partner at SBV Partners, have taken seats on the board of directors at Chaos, according to VentureWire.

Wireless

Oak Investment Partners becomes lead investor for Trapeze
Oak Investment Partners has become the lead investor in a series A round of venture financing for Trapeze Networks, a Pleasanton, California-based provider of wireless data networking products. The series A round opened in April 2002 with investments from Accel Partners and Redpoint Ventures. The terms of the transaction and the amount of capital involved were not disclosed. Trapeze was founded in March 2002, and has raised $16m in its Series A round so far.

Media

Weston Presidio creates media acquisition vehicle
Weston Presidio Capital Management has participated in a $100m investment in CurtCo Media Group. TD Capital Communications Partners was also involved in the transaction. The capital will be used to fund acquisitions and launches of consumer and business-to-business publications, as well as related products, serving the luxury market.

Healthcare & Life Sciences

Sherbrooke Capital leads investment in Advanced BioNutrition
Sherbrooke Capital has led a final tranche of a round of financing for Advanced BioNutrition, a Columbia, Maryland-based developer of nutritional products that are designed to promote health and control disease in the fields of aquaculture and agriculture. The company closed the final tranche of the series A financing with a $2.5m investment, capping the round with a total of $6m. The overall round was led by Sherbrooke Capital and included Eastbourne Capital Management, the State of Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development, as well as private individuals. The latest cash will be used to complete development and marketing of its animal health products, and will also go towards the development of a protein production system that might help the production of new vaccines.

Atlas Venture and MVM co-lead investment in Momenta
Atlas Venture has joined up with MVM Life Science Partners to co-lead a series B round of equity financing for Momenta Pharmaceuticals, a developer of drug products using complex sugars. The Cambridge, Massachusetts-based company closed the funding on $19m. Polaris Venture Partners and Cardinal Partners joined Atlas and MVM in this transaction, having already committed capital to the company in a previous round.

SR One among investors in Santarus
SR One is among a group of investors that have committed capital to a round of equity financing for Santarus, a San Diego, California-based pharmaceutical company focused on the treatment of gastrointestinal diseases. The company has secured $51.4m in series D financing from a number of new investors, including Life Science Partners, HamiltonApex Technology Ventures, China Development Industrial Bank and New England Partners. Existing investors also returned to invest in this round, such as St Paul Venture Capital, Advent Venture Partners, Domain Associates, JPMorgan Partners, Windamere and Fog City Fund. Proceeds from this round are expected to see Santarus through a review of a new drug application for its initial product.

New Enterprise Associates invests in GlycoMimetics
New Enterprise Associates has invested in GlycoMimetics, a developer of small molecule drugs that mimic the action of carbohydrates. Located in Rockville, Maryland, the company has raised $4.3m in this series A financing, its founding round of venture capital funding. Other investors included Alliance Technology Ventures, Anthem Capital and the Novartis Venture Fund. There were also a number of individual investors. The new funds are intended to enable the company to take its lead compounds into pre-clinical testing.

Manufacturing

Morgenthaler Partners acquires precision metal parts manufacturer
Morgenthaler Partners has acquired the designer and manufacturer of precision metal stampings, Skill Tool & Die. The company, which is located in Cleveland, Ohio, manufactures metal stampings and assemblies for the automotive and some non-automotive markets, including plumbing. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed but Skill Tool & Die had revenues of $30m in 2002 and currently employs a workforce of 135 people.

Software

Investissement Desjardins backs Polyplan's second round
Investissement Desjardins has invested $1.85m as lead investor in a $3.7m second round of funding for Polyplan Technologies, a Montréal, Canada-based provider of manufacturing process management software. Existing investor RBC Capital Partners and new GTI Capital also participated in this round of financing. The new capital will support the company's market expansion in the US and Europe.

US Venture Partners commits capital to CiraNova
US Venture Partners has committed capital to a round of venture capital financing for CiraNova, an electronic design automation company developing software for analogue integrated chips. Located in Campbell, California, the company closed the round on $9m, which included particicpation from existing investor Alloy Ventures. It will use the new funding for product development and sales. CiraNova previously raised $1.75m in series A funding in January.

TCV invests in Security Source
Technology Crossover Ventures has committed capital to Security Source, a provider of loss prevention software, hardware and outsourcing services for retail companies. Based in Peabody, Massachusetts, the company raised $15m as part of a series A round of funding. It brings the total for the round to $18m. New investor Technology Crossover Ventures led the round with participation from previous investor Ascent Venture Partners. The company plans to use the funding for sales and marketing and to expand its professional services and technology staff.

The Trelys Funds invests in Unitrends
The Trelys Funds has invested in Unitrends Software, a provider of enterprise data protection software and appliances based in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. The company has raised an undisclosed amount of funding in its first round, the proceeds of which will be used for product development, as well as for additional staff recruitment. The terms of the financing, including the amount of capital invested, were not disclosed.

Greylock and Sigma Partners commit to Reflectent
Greylock and Sigma Partners have co-led a series A round of venture capital financing for Reflectent Software, a provider of data collection, local and aggregated storage and analysis software. Headquartered in Lowell, Massachusetts, the company secured $3.5m from the two investors, which will be used to expand its sales, marketing and engineering efforts.

The Entrepreneurs' Fund finances Invivodata
The Entrepreneurs' Fund has provided capital to a round of venture capital financing for Invivodata, a provider of software and services for clinical trial data collection and management. The company has raised $3.5m in series B financing, which will be used to support growth brought on by increased customer demand for its core product. The Entrepreneurs' Fund, an existing investor, led the round. Other participants in the round included Horizon Ventures, Novus Ventures and Winston Partners, all previous investors in the company.

Networking

CIR Ventures invests in Minerva for the first time
CIR Ventures has invested in Minerva Networks, which provides carrier-class products and services for enabling the delivery of broadcast-quality television and video services over broadband networks. It is the first time that CIR Ventures has invested in the company. This mezzanine round totalled $5m, which will be used for sales and marketing. It included participation from previous investors US Venture Partners, EuroQube and ETF. The company has raised $35m to date, including a $6.5m series F round in June 2002.

Financial Services

The Sprout Group leads investment in Evolution Benefits
The Sprout Group has led an investment in Evolution Benefits, an Avon, Connecticut-based provider of a medical flexible spending account card. The round totalled $5.5m, which the company intends to use for product development, client and operational services and sales. The Sprout Group led the round, with participation from individuals within the company, including chairman and CEO Robert Patricelli.

MPM Capital invests in biology start-up
MPM Capital has invested in a financial services company that aims to identify, finance and develop systems biology companies from concept to stand-alone operation. Accelerator Corp has just launched and received $15m in initial venture commitments from MPM Capital, Arch Venture Partners, Versant Ventures and Alexandria Real Estate Equities. When Accelerator's start-up companies achieve certain milestones, the company will then assist the ventures in raising their next rounds of financing, facilitating their transition into stand-alone integrated biotechnology companies.

Africa

Investments

Food & Beverage

CDC Capital Partners invests in African horticulturalist
CDC Capital Partners has invested in Flamingo Holdings, a Kenya-based company that supplies supermarkets throughout the UK with flowers and vegetables. CDC has taken a 14 per cent stake in the company in exchange for an undisclosed sum. Flamingo Holdings is involved in growing, processing, packaging, marketing and distributing of cut flowers and fresh vegetables and sells directly to UK supermarkets such as Marks & Spencers, Tesco, Sainsbury and Safeway.

Copyright © 2003 AltAssets

Alex Hingston is a researcher with AltAssets.

If you have any information about your latest deals or exits and would like us to cover it, please e-mail your press releases to deals@AltAssets.net or call Alex Hingston on +44 (0)20 7242 8810.