VC Buzz – $150.8+ Million In Today’s Deals

NEW YORK– ScreamingMedia announced that it has raised $30 million of private equity in a recent financing. ScreamingMedia is a provider of custom-filtered, real-time content to special interest and vertical Web sites. The Private Equity Group of Deutsche Banc Alex Brown served as the private placement agent for the transaction, which was significantly oversubscribed.

Both traditional institutional venture investors and leading technology growth mutual funds participated in the financing. Series B Convertible Preferred shareholders will include General Electric Pension Trust, which will have a representative on the Board of Directors. Van Wagoner Capital Management, J.W. Seligman & Company, Essex Investment Management Company, Riverside Capital Management, and Winfield Capital Corporation were among a list of investors, which includes a broad range of veteran technology and private equity investors.

HOLLYWOOD, Calif.– Creative Planet, a network of business-to-business Web sites for content creation professionals, announced that it has secured an additional $25 million in equity financing. The financing round led by C.C. Entertainment Partners, a strategic partner of Chase Capital Partners, includes WaterView Partners, SunAmerica Ventures, Ares Management, and individual investor Michael Fuchs. internet.com Venture Fund I led Creative Planet’s earlier round of investment fourteen weeks ago.

Currently, Creative Planet operates seven Web sites for creative content professionals, including VFXPro.com, EditorsNet.com, DesignInMotion.com, MediaTechnology.com, CinematographyWorld.com, TVIndustry.com and DirectorsWorld.com.

RALEIGH, N.C.– Performaworks, a pioneer and leader in Enterprise Performance Management solutions, announced the close of a $3 million round in new venture capital funding from Pequot Private Equity Funds.

Formerly known as Mediappraise Corp., Performaworks has undergone a name change to reflect its focus on helping companies optimize the value of their greatest assets — their people.

BOULDER, Colo.– netLibrary Inc., a provider of electronic books and information over the Internet, announced the closing of a third round of strategic venture funding totaling $70 million. Third-round investors include Houghton Mifflin, McGraw-Hill, Liberty Digital Inc., Follett Corporation, Blackwell Ltd., EBSCO, and ABC-CLIO, alongside financial investors Bain Capital, the Berger New Generation Fund, Tango, and Weiss Peck & Greer LLC.

PALO ALTO, Calif.– Imparto Software Corp., a provider of B2B mid-market solutions for building relationship-enabled websites that drive customer acquisition and satisfaction, announced its second round of venture funding. Bringing the total investment in Imparto to $10.8 million, the second round of funding representing $7.3 million was led by Athena Technology Ventures and GCI Technology. Other first-round and second-round investors included Aspen Ventures and Red Rock Ventures.

SAN JOSE, Calif. — Selectica Inc., a provider of award-winning Internet selling system applications, announced that it has received an investment from the Intel 64 Fund. Financial details were not disclosed. The Intel 64 Fund, a $250 million equity fund, invests in emerging technologies for next-generation servers and workstations utilizing Intel’s IA-64 architecture. The Intel 64 Fund investment in Selectica was made in support of Selectica’s commitment to develop an optimized version of its ACE product family for Intel’s upcoming IA64 product family, beginning with the Itanium processor.

The Intel 64 Fund investment, combined with $20 million in mezzanine funding that Selectica closed in August, will help support the rapid expansion of Selectica’s U.S. and international operations

WASHINGTON — SpeakOut.com, a Washington, D.C., Internet start-up that will provide a platform for users to debate, comment and communicate with government, political and business leaders on issues and news events through a community Web service, finalized $8 million in funding, led by Constellation Ventures, an affiliate of Bear Stearns, to build and launch its Web site.

COPENHAGEN, Denmark, and NEW YORK — Mondosoft –creator of the MondoSearch search engine technology — announced that it has secured $7.5 million investor funding. The investors are a group of international venture capital funds; among these are Gilde IT Fund (Netherlands), Vertex (Singapore), Danish Venture Finance (Denmark) and Municipal Employee Insurance Company (Denmark). This investment represents the second significant funding of Mondosoft within 12 months

iShip.com’s investors and strategic partners include Mail Boxes Etc., eBay, Intel, venture capital firm Draper Fisher Jurvetson and UPS.

Under the terms of the agreement, Stamps.com will issue 8 million shares of Stamps.com common stock for all outstanding shares, options and warrants of iShip.com. The acquisition, which will be accounted for under the purchase method of accounting, values iShip.com at approximately $300 million, based on the closing price of Stamps.com on Oct. 22, 1999.

Venture capital funding has been provided to Response Networks by investment firms, including Keystone Venture Capital (Philadelphia, PA), Hickory Venture Capital Corporation (Huntsville, AL), Mid-Atlantic Venture Funds (Reston, VA), and Blue Rock Capital (Wilmington, DE).

ARLINGTON, Va.– Online office product retailer AtYourOffice.com announced that it will serve as the exclusive seller of office products on AllBusiness.com’s new Website. AllBusiness.com is a “virtual business partner” designed to provide online access to tools, advice, products and services for entrepreneurs and small business managers.

The AllBusiness.com portal was launched in September 1999, and has raised more than $20 million in venture capital. AllBusiness.com was founded by Netscape veterans and is backed by Canaan Partners, Technology Crossover Ventures, Intel Corporation and other venture capital firms.

The company completed it first round of financing in September 1999. CarrierPoint’s blue chip investors include iXL, CyberLabs Ventures, William E. Simon and Sons, and individual members of Deutche Bank Alex Brown’s management team.

BELMONT, Calif. — Comergent announced the availability of the first Internet-enabled channel commerce solution — the Comergent Distributed E-Business System. Developed after completing extensive research, this integrated software suite addresses the growing need for manufacturers and their channel partners to maximize their efficiencies through e-commerce, and to better serve the end customer by delivering a single online purchasing experience across multiple companies.

Comergent is funded by Crosspoint Venture Partners and SOFTBANK Technology Ventures.

SOFTBANK Venture Capital, which manages venture capital funds focused primarily on early-stage Internet companies, announced that Jana Rich, principal of Korn/Ferry International, has partnered with the fund to provide executive recruiting services to its portfolio of companies.

PORTLAND, Ore.– Cenquest, a Portland-based Internet firm offering industry-responsive graduate programs and courses in partnership with top accredited universities, announced that Henry Kaufman, an international economic and financial consultant, has joined Cenquest’s Advisory Board.

Cenquest has been funded by Sevin Rosen Funds and Hummer Winblad Venture Partners. The venture capital partners provided the first round of financing which closed early last summer.

CHARLOTTE, N.C.–Wakefield Group announced that L. Steven Nelson, senior vice president of Quokka Sports, will join the firm as a Managing Director. Mr. Nelson will become the fourth partner and establish the venture capital firm’s Research Triangle Park, NC office, effective December 1.

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.–Ensim Corp., a provider of a complete service deployment platform for services providers (ISPs, ASPs, CLECs and Web Hosts) worldwide, announced that industry-veteran Ken Fehrnstrom has joined Ensim as president and chief executive officer. Fehrnstrom succeeds Rosen Sharma who remains chairman of Ensim’s Board of Directors.

Founded in 1998 by Cornell University professors, Ensim has received a seed round of funding from a prestigious group of angel investors.

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