VC Buzz – $12.5 Million in Today’s Deals

INCLINE VILLAGE, Nev.– ecFood.com, a food-industry business-to-business Internet marketplace, announced the closing of its $4-million first round of private financing, from Redleaf Venture Management and Swander Pace Capital. ecFood.com focuses on the industrial food industry — initially in the dairy, bakery, and confectionery segments — providing a centralized, efficient online exchange for buying and selling food ingredients (original, excess, and unused), food-processing equipment, and food-packaging equipment.

BELLEVUE, Wash.–GoAhead Software, a leader in the development of management software for communications infrastructure and Internet appliances, announced the completion of its second round of financing of $8.5 million. Alexandria, Va.-based Columbia Capital leads the round, with additional investments from Cedar Grove Investments of Kirkland, Wash. and Intel Corp. Previous investor Voyager Capital of Seattle is also participating in this round.

ATLANTA — J.P. Carey Inc., an investment advisor in the Southeast, launched a new venture capital fund focusing on Internet opportunities that has a targeted value range of $10 million to $30 million. The fund will close on Nov. 15, 1999, and will have an estimated maturity of no longer than two years. This will be the first of three venture capital funds the company plans to raise in the next year. The firm plans to offer two subsequent funds, each larger in scope than the previous one.

The company plans to invest $3 million of its own equity into the fund, along with investments from other investment partners and high-net-worth individuals. Sixty percent of the overall funding will be targeted for late stage financing.

Frontline will form a strategic alliance with Sylvan and add Douglas L. Becker, co-chief executive officer of Sylvan, to its board of directors.

Frontline Group has financial backing from GTCR Golder Rauner LLC, a major private equity firm, and debt financing from its senior lender, Heller Financial. Earlier this year Frontline Group acquired FTR, a financial services training company.

SAN RAFAEL, Calif.– GoodHome.com, a home decorating e-commerce company, announced that John Zott has joined as chief financial officer. He was formerly CFO and senior vice president of finance for West Marine Inc. Investors in the company include Hearst Interactive Media, Thomas H. Lee Co. and various individuals.

SAN JOSE, Calif. — Selectica Inc., an Internet selling system provider, announced Dan Carmel has joined the management team as vice president of marketing and business

development. Carmel brings to Selectica more than 12 years of sales and marketing experience at Vantive Corporation and Internet-based corporate payment provider, Sonnet Financial Inc.

Selectica has received funding from the Intel 64 Fund, Draper International, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Zilkha Venture Partners, and JK&B Capital.

NEW YORK — Versaware Inc., a leader in electronic and Internet publishing, announced the appointment of Tina A. Ravitz as Chief Operating Officer. Ravitz was formerly president of New Media Ventures. Major investors in the company are The Belzberg Group and Nomura International plc.

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