New in the News
BizRate.com, Candybarrel.com, Chaitime.com, CommercialWare, Cplane, Decidir.com, DigitalWork.com, eVentures Group, GoldOnline International, Greylock, HealthZone.com, Hyperchannel, IKANO Communications, iMark.com, Interland, Investorama, Kennedy-Wilson Global Technology, KnowledgeFirst, MeetChina.com, NextGen Capital, Oblix, OpenTable.com, Orbit Capital, perksatwork.com, printCafe, Salesdriver.com, Simpata, Syntel, TechRx, TrueLink
Deal News
Creo & Prograph Create printcafe
VANCOUVER, British Columbia– Creo Products Inc. (Nasdaq:
CREO)(TSE:CRE) and Prograph Systems Inc. have created a new Internet company — to be called printCafe — that will offer an Internet-based, business-to-business communication solution tailored specifically for the graphic arts industry. Creo and Prograph will combine e-commerce initiatives into the new business entity. Creo will also contribute US$25 million in capital as part of a larger venture capital round led by Mellon Ventures and a number of other financial institutions. In exchange, Creo will acquire an equity position in printCafe Inc. and Amos Michelson, CEO of Creo Products Inc., will join the board of directors of printCafe.
http://www.printcafe.com
http://www.creo.com
Chaitime.com Receives Investment of $25 Million
PHILADELPHIA– Chaitime.com, a South Asian online community, announced that eVentures India will lead an investment of $25 million in Chaitime.com with participation by RAFNet Ventures. The investment will be used to expand Chaitime.com into India and to build out the Chaitime.com brand globally. eVentures India is a joint venture between SOFTBANK CORP., ePartners, a subsidiary of News Corp., and PK Mittal of the Ispat Group, a firm that identifies and helps grow promising India-centric Internet ventures globally as well as facilitates market expansion into India by established Internet companies. RAFNetVentures, an early stage internet investment company founded by Robert A. Fox, provided Chaitime.com with its initial rounds of financing.
http://www.chaitime.com
Hyporium Business-to-Business Solution Receives $24 Million Investment
LONDON– Hyperchannel, a European business-to-business Internet trading hub company completed a $24 million round of funding, led by Goldman Sachs, GE Capital’s Equity Group and MRV Communications Inc. Hyperchannel’s Hyporium online trading system allows buyers and sellers involved in the $300 billion European IT market to generate substantial cost savings through electronic procurement and automation.
http://www.hyperchannel.com
http://www.goldmansachs.com
http://www.equitycapital.com
http://www.mrv.com
Simpata Receives Second-Round Funding of $20 Million
ALAMEDA, Calif.– Simpata Inc., an Internet-based application service provider of employee human resources, benefits and payroll administration, received $20 million of second-round investment funding from Acacia Venture Partners, Red Rock Ventures, Frazier & Company, and Shad Run Investments. Existing investors Intel Capital, NIF Ventures, and U.S. Bancorp Piper Jaffray also participated in the financing. Simpata helps small and medium-sized businesses get and keep control of employee administration by bringing human resources, employee benefits, and payroll administration together in a 100% Internet solution.
http://www.simpata.com
http://www.redrockventures.com
http://www.acaciavp.com
eVentures Group Closes Series C Private Placement
DALLAS– eVentures Group Inc. (OTCBB:
EVNT), an Internet communications company that focuses on operating and investing in next-generation communications businesses, completed the private placement of $15.6 million of its Series C Convertible Preferred Stock with domestic and international institutional investors. The proceeds will be used for working capital purposes and to fund venture capital investments that eVentures expects to make over the next few months.http://www.eventures.com
CommercialWare Secures $12 Million Investment
NATICK, Mass. — CommercialWare Inc., a provider of retail commerce software for business-to-consumer retailers, e-tailers and direct marketers, received $12 million in a venture capital funding round led by Spencer Trask & Co. CommercialWare provides an integrated approach for online commerce, order management, fulfillment and customer service.
http://www.commercialware.com
http://www.spencertrask.com
Student Financial Aid Services Web Site Closes $5.6 Million Initial Round
FOSTER CITY, Calif. and MENLO PARK, Calif.– KnowledgeFirst, an Internet education-related financial and transactional services marketplace for college and graduate students, recent graduates and their families, secured a $5.6 million round of venture funding led by CMGI@Ventures, the venture capital affiliate of CMGI (Nasdaq:
CMGI). Other investors include Sienna Holdings and Ron Conway’s Angel Investors LP. CMGI@Ventures’ Jon Callaghan takes a seat on KnowledgeFirst’s board of directors. KnowledgeFirst offers schools, lenders and loan services providers an efficient online exchange which helps streamline paperwork while reducing marketing and customer acquisition costs, expediting processing and facilitating loan default management.http://www.knowledgefirst.com
http://www.ventures.com
http://www.svangel.com
Decidir.com Closes a $5 Million Round
BUENOS AIRES– Decidir.com received US$ 5 million from a group of strategic investors, including Citibank Venture Capital Latin America, International Real Returns, CVC/Opportunity, CIMA Investments in Argentina and Promecap in Mexico. The company was founded a year ago by Esteban Brenman and Gustav
o Frencheli. In August 1999, Decidir.com received its first million dollar seed round from CIMA Investments. The company collects and sorts official databases and transforms them into consultant tools.
http://www.decidir.com
Omni Nutraceuticals Completes $5 Million Equity Financing
LOS ANGELES– Omni Nutraceuticals Inc. (Nasdaq:
OMNT) completed an equity transaction with a private investment group that will provide up to $5 million of capital to the company and its wholly owned Internet subsidiary HealthZone.com.The aggregate purchase price of $5 million for convertible preferred stock, the HealthZone shares and the respective warrants is payable in two segments. The first in the amount of $3 million was funded Jan. 24, 2000. The second segment of $2 million will be funded subject to the satisfaction of certain performance targets over the next six months.Up to $2 million of the total funding will be invested in HealthZone.com, for marketing and the development of its infrastructure to ramp up its Internet operation.http://www.healthzone.com
Microsoft Invests in Interland
REDMOND, Wash. Microsoft will invest approximately $5 million in Interland, a Web-hosting company that has developed technologies which radically cut the time needed to provision Web sites based on the Microsoft Windows NT and Windows 2000 operating systems. Interland will license to Microsoft the technology that allows ISPs to auto-provision new Web sites in a shared hosting environment on Windows NT-based servers. The companies will engage in co-marketing activities, and Microsoft has committed to invest another $7.5 million in Interland in the event of an initial public offering.
http://www.interland.com
http://www.microsoft.com
Salesdriver.com Raises Equity Investment of $3.3 Million
TORONTO — Salesdriver.com Inc. completed its first round of financing, worth a total of CDN$4.75 million (US$3.3 million). VenGrowth Capital Management Inc. invested CDN$3.5 million, while CastleHill Ventures invested CDN$500,000. Individual investors provided the remainder for the deal. Salesdriver.com creates, tracks and provides awards for salesforces over the Web.
http://www.salesdriver.com
http://www.vengrowth.com
NextGen Capital Invests $500,000 in Invertix
FAIRFAX, Va.– NextGen Capital LLC announced a $500,000 equity investment in Invertix Corp. Invertix’s products allow for quality of service assessments of voice and data over wireless networks and the Internet including applications to monitor the performance of digital networks.
http://www.invertix.com
http://www.nextgencapital.com
DigitalWork.com Receives Equity Investment from Dell Ventures
CHICAGO– DigitalWork.com Inc., a “Do-It-Yourself” business agency geared toward assisting the small office/home office market, announced that Dell Computer Corp. (NASDAQ:
DELL) made an equity investment in the company. In December 1999, DigitalWork.com completed a $32 million round of strategic equity financing, bringing total equity capital raised to $47.1 million.http://www.DigitalWork.com
OpenTable.com Receives Strategic Investment
CHICAGO– OpenTable.com, a provider of online restaurant reservations and Internet-connected restaurant management tools, received an investment from two restaurant groups; Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises Inc. and ICON LLC. The investment will be used to fuel the rapid, nationwide expansion of the company’s online restaurant reservation network and widespread restaurant adoption of the Electronic Reservation Book. OpenTable.com is backed by Impact Venture Partners, Benchmark Capital and Prescient Capital.
http://www.opentable.com
http://www.leye.com
Angel Investors LP, Billie Jean King Join candybarrel.com Investors
SAN JOSE, Calif.– Candybarrel.com announced that Angel Investors LP has invested in the company and will be providing advisory support for the rapidly expanding e-commerce candy portal. Additionally, former tennis star Billie Jean King has invested in the company, as have Mark Kaleem, Warren Kaplan and Fred Sibayan. Candybarrel.com currently offers more than 1,000 candies, in addition to seasonal and corporate gift pages that offer a variety of candy baskets and festive gifts for any occasion.
http://www.candybarrel.com
http://www.svangel.com
Reshuffling News
Investorama Buys Armchair Millionaire from iVillage
NEW YORK — Investorama, an online resource dedicated to entry-point investors and new users of online financial services, acquired ArmchairMillionaire.com from iVillage. The terms of the deal are not disclosed, but Investorama now owns the URL, certain content, and trademarks of Armchair Millionaire. Lewis Schiff, the owner of Armchair Millionaire, is one of the founders of Investorama. Investorama recently comp
leted a
financing round.http://www.investorama.com
http://www.armchairmillionaire.com
Total Film Group Acquires 20% Stake in MeetChina.com
LOS ANGELES — Total Film Group Inc. (OTC BB:
TFGP) announced that its subsidiary, Total China Inc., completed its investment in MeetChina.com by acquiring a 20% stake in the privately owned company, operator of China’s only E-commerce portal that is officially sponsored and sanctioned by the Chinese government. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.http://www.meetchina.com
PITTSBURGH — TechRx, a business-to-business software solutions provider and e-commerce enabler for pharmacy commerce, acquired Condor Corp., a leader in retail pharmacy management systems. The acquisition will bolster the company’s position as a single source provider of end-to-end technology for pharmacies. Financial terms were not disclosed. TechRx is backed by Cardinal Health Partners.
http://www.condorcorp.com
http://www.TechRx.com
Lehman Brothers Acquires Majority Interest In TrueLink
NEW YORK — TrueLink Inc., an online provider of credit reporting services, announced that Lehman Brothers (NYSE:
LEH), the global investment bank, acquired a majority interest. Terms were not disclosed. TrueLink provides Internet access to consumer credit reports and real time credit decisions on mortgage and other loan applications. It was also the first company authorized to deliver business-to-business credit reports via the Internet. Lehman Brothers acquired the majority stake from Keith Guy, who founded TrueLink in 1995.http://www.TrueLink.com
International Internet Raises Stake in GoldOnline.com to 12.5%
BOCA RATON, Fla. — International Internet Inc. (OTC BB:
IINN) announced that International Internet Ventures LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of International Internet Inc., agreed to invest over $350,000 into GoldOnline International Inc. (OTC BB: GDOL) raising its stake in the online jeweler to approximately 12.5%. With this recent investment International Internet’s ownership of GoldOnline.com common stock will have risen to 11,000,000 shares.
http://www.GoldOnline.com
Fund News
Kennedy-Wilson Inc. Forms Global Technology Corp.
NEW YORK– Kennedy-Wilson Inc. (Nasdaq:
KWIC) announced the formation of the Kennedy-Wilson Global Technology Corp. This group will manage the company’s current business-to-business venture capital investments and build an infrastructure to incubate additional business-to-business investments in the U.S. and Asia. The group will also manage technology related real estate investments. KWGT will be managed by Hoch Cho and Charles Song, both of whom were previously with Cahill, Warnock & Co., a private equity firm based in Baltimore.http://www.kennedywilson.com
TROY, Mich.– Syntel Inc. (Nasdaq:
SYNT), an e-business and application integration firm, has developed a web incubator business program that enables the corporation to invest in and spin off web-based businesses. Syntel will not only create its own start-up companies, it will also take a majority or minority ownership position in other early or expansion-stage firms.http://www.syntelinc.com
Who’s Who & Where
Jim Greene to Join perksatwork.com as President and CEO
SAN FRANCISCO — perksatwork.com Inc., a provider of employee portals, named Jim Greene, a managing partner at Andersen Consulting, as president and chief executive officer. Greene serves as managing partner of Andersen Consulting’s “dot.com” business, as well as the firm’s Western US Region. perksatwork.com is funded by Information Technology Ventures, US Venture Partners and Comdisco Ventures.
http://www.perksatwork.com
Orbit Capital Names Andreas Panayi President
NEW YORK — Orbit Capital Corp., an Internet incubator and venture capital fund, appointed Andreas Panayi as president. Panayi joins Orbit Capital from Luminant Worldwide, an Internet professional services firm. In September 1999, Luminant acquired Brand Dialogue, where Panayi served as president and CEO. Orbit Capital is an affiliate of the Orbitex Group, a global financial services company and international investment advisor with over $14 billion under management and administration.
http://www.orbitcapital.com
CPlane Lands Shri Dodani As CEO
LOS ALTOS, Calif.– CPlane Inc., a vendor of next generation service creation platforms, named Shri Dodani as president and CEO. Dodani joins CPlane from Carrier Access Corp. where hei held both the VP of engineering and VP of manufacturing positions Cplane’s products expedite and simplify the creation, deployment, and operation of real-time, dynamic telephony, data, and video services across multi-vendor ASP, ISP, CLEC, ILEC, and IXC networks. CPlane is backed by ONSET Ventures and CMEA Ventures.
http://www.CPlane.com
BizRate.com Hires Two New Executives
LOS ANGELES — BizRate.com, an Internet shopping and merchant rating guide, announced the appointment of two strategic hires to its executive management team. Gene Cameron, veteran advertising executive, joins BizRate.com as vice president of marketing and Seth Geiger, research executive, as vice president of professional services. Cameron and Geiger join recently appointed president and CEO, Chuck Davis, former president of e-commerce for The Walt Disney Company’s GO.com. BizRate.com is backed by Attractor, Hambrecht & Quist, Mission Ventures and Media Technology Ventures.
http://www.bizrate.com
IKANO Names New Executive VP and Chief Strategy Officer
SALT LAKE CITY — IKANO Communications Inc., a provider of branded Internet services, appointed Mitchell Edwards as executive vice president and chief strategy officer. Prior to joining IKANO, Edwards was the executive vice president and chief financial officer for Digital Courier Technologies. IKANO recently closed its
first round of venture capital financing, from Insight Capital Partners and Chicago Venture Partners.http://www.ikano.com
Greylock Adds Two General Partners
PALO ALTO, Calif.– Greylock, an early stage venture capital firm with more than $1 billion of assets under management, announced the addition of two new general partners, David Sze and Charles Chi to its West Coast team. Sze joins Greylock after four years at Excite where he was senior vice president of product strategy. Chi was most recently vice president of marketing at CIENA after being a co-founder of Lightera; an optical networking company recently acquired by CIENA.
http://www.greylock.com
Oblix Launches in Europe, Middle East & Africa With New VP
CUPERTINO, Calif.– Oblix Inc., announced the company’s expansion into Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA). Richard Sheppard, new vice president of sales for Oblix EMEA, will lead the initiative. Sheppard joins Oblix from Hyperion Solutions where he was vice president of channels for EMEA. The Oblix E-Business Solution provides a simple way for companies to keep up with a changing base of supplier
s, distributors, customers, partners, and employees in business-to-business e-commerce. Oblix investors include Cisco Systems, CSK Venture Capital, the Intel 64 Fund, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Lehman Brothers, Novell, Inc., Patricof & Co. Ventures, Inc., Robertson Stephens Bayview 99, Siemens Mustang Ventures, Sumitomo Corp. and its venture capital arm Presidio Venture Partners, and The KPCB Java Fund.
http://www.oblix.com
iMark.com Names Andres Carvallo As Executive VP
AUSTIN, Texas– iMark.com, a business-to-business marketplace and e-commerce solutions provider for the $275 billion used industrial equipment market, named Andres E. Carvallo as its executive vice president of global sales and marketing. Carvallo previously served as president of Philips Consumer Communications, a $2 billion division of Philips Electronics, NV. IMark.com closed an initial round of financing led by Austin Ventures in May 1999.
http://www.iMark.com
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