VC Buzz – $211.4 million in today’s deals

NEW YORK, — BevAccess.com, launched in New York on October 1, has completed a $10 million round of venture capital funding with VantagePoint Venture Partners. Business-to-business e-commerce service BevAccess.com provides wholesale buyers and sellers with fast, easy centralized ordering, detailed information, technology solutions and highly targeted advertising.

SAN DIEGO — e-assist.net Inc., a full-service provider of Internet-based customer managementservices, has completed an $8.5 million first-round venture capital financing led by Enterprise Partners and VantagePoint Venture Partners LLP. The financing will help e-assist.net complete its initial product development activities and launch its proprietary customer relationship management solutions.

RALEIGH, N.C. — LastAvailable.Com Inc., a new open-auction travel web site, dedicated to selling unsold and premium inventory of time-perishable goods and services, announced the company has obtained its first round of funding for $1 million. LastAvailable.Com has reached the first level of funding with investors from Atlanta, Charlotte, and Chicago.

The official marketing launch date for LastAvailable.Com is planned for December 1999.

DEERFIELD, Ill. — Webley Systems Inc., a leading provider of unified messaging services, commonly known as “personal assistants,” announced that private investment firm Forstmann Little & Company will provide $15 million for second round financing. The investment will allow Webley Systems, Inc. to capitalize on the success achieved during its first full year of operation and maintain its leadership position in a market that is expected to grow to 170 million units generating $12 billion worldwide revenue by 2006 (Ovum, 1999). Forstmann Little & Co. joins Patricof & Co. Ventures who funded the Company’s first year of operations.

CUPERTINO, Calif. — Be Here Corp. announced it has raised a $10M second round of funding from Intel Corporation, Royal Philips Electronics, and Wasserstein Adelson Ventures, as well as its existing investors, Enterprise Partners, Totem Ventures and Waterklip Group. The investment will be used to finalize development of key immersive video technologies and to support sales and marketing efforts in the entertainment, sports and news industries.

SANTA CLARA, Calif–WhereNet Corporation announced that it has completed its third round of venture funding totaling $16 million from six firms in technology finance including Crosspoint Venture Partners, Bay Partners, Foundation Capital, Crescendo Ventures, RWI Group and EdShea.

Since its inception in 1997, WhereNet has raised a total of $34 million from first year venture capital firms. WhereNet will use the capital to establish a world-class sales channel and customer service and support infrastructure for Fortune 500 companies.

ALAMEDA, Calif– Silicon Energy Corp., a provider of Enterprise Energy Management software, announced the close of its second round of venture-capital fundraising, having raised $14.3 million.

The funds will be used for product development and to finance a national sales and marketing rollout strategy for the company’s software suite, which is currently being used to manage energy usage in more than 1,000 buildings. Participating in the round of financing were Stephens Group, Integral Capital Partners, Nth Power, JMI, Peregrine Systems and Red Rock Ventures.

REDWOOD CITY, Calif– Advanced Manufacturing Online, a provider of next generation supply chain solutions for the high tech manufacturing community, announced that the company has raised $20 million in its third round of private funding. Lead investor Goldman Sachs was followed by Doll Capital (a Silicon Valley-based venture capital firm), Morgan Stanley and others including existing investors. These new investors join 3i Group Plc. (Europe’s largest venture capital firm), AsiaTech Ventures Ltd., and SilkRoute Holdings as equity investors in AMO.

Founded in Singapore in 1995, AMO is headquartered in Redwood City, California, and privately held. Its backing includes premier investors such as Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Doll Capital, SilkRoute Holdings, AsiaTech Ventures, and 3i Group Plc. For further information, please see AMO’s web

MENLO PARK, Calif.– Mohr, Davidow Ventures announced that it has led a $19.6 million first round of financing for Andale, the first web-based auction business management service.

Andale offers web-based services that enable auction sellers to sell more merchandise on multiple sites such as eBay, Amazon and others, faster and easier than ever before. Other investors in the round include Accel Partners and Oak Hill Venture Partners.

BOSTON– Verbind announced it had completed its second round of venture financing. The Boston-based company raised a total of $10 million from a combination of its existing venture capital partners and Patricof & Company.

The additional funding will be used primarily to expand operations, according to President and CEO John Kish. Earlier financing was received from Fidelity Capital and Commonwealth Capital.

The investment provides Pentawave with capital to fuel growth and increase development, marketing and distribution of its cross-media software and services. The Scripps investment is the beginning of a $10 million to $12 million round of private funding that Pentawave plans to complete over the next few weeks. Pentawave is seeking additional investments from other strategic partners, private investors and venture capital firms.

Lycos Ventures has invested a total of $8 million in LifeMinders.com, Conducent and Fogdog Sports. Both LifeMinders.com and Fogdog have recently filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission for public offerings.

KANSAS CITY, Mo.– Mutual fund group American Century Companies Inc. announced that it has made a strategic investment in WorldStreet Corporation, a Boston-based financial application service provider for the securities industry.

WorldStreet Corporation’s flagship product WorldStreet Sales, is a web-based customer relationship management application for the sell-side that integrates real-time market and internal client information (trades, holdings, commissions) with client profiles.

NEW YORK, — Cyber Dialogue Inc., a provider of Internet Customer Relationship Management (iCRM) solutions announced the completion of a $10 million growth capital financing from eCOM Partners, National Bank of Kuwait, MV Partners and its existing sponsor Wand Partners.

Launched in 1998, ONElist is a privately held company based in Redwood City. The company received venture funding from @Ventures III, the affiliated venture capital arm of CMGI, Inc. (Nasdaq:CMGI) and Bertelsmann Ventures, the independent venture capital fund of Bertelsmann AG.

SAN MATEO, Calif.– Rubric Inc., a provider of eMarketing Automation applications, announced that it has formed a cross-industry council of marketing executives to advance the practice of eMarketing. Marketers from companies such as Hewlett-Packard, Cisco Systems, Bank of America, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Airtouch Cellular, Putnam Investments, and many other ‘click-and-mortar’ and .com companies will be working together to discuss eMarketing issues, address technology challenges and share best practices for including eMarketing as an essential part of integrated marketing campaigns.

The company is backed by top-tier venture firms, including Brentwood Venture Capital, Menlo Ventures, The Cambridge Technology Capital Fund, TL Ventures, Amerindo, and RRE.

Chase Capital Partners, an affiliate of Chase Manhattan Bank, has also committed to invest in iWon, Inc.

FAIRFAX COUNTY, Va.– Eight of the country’s largest real estate companies and the nation’s premier venture capital firm, Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers, announced the formation of a national telecommunications company, Broadband Office Inc. Formed over the past six months, Broadband Office brings a unique approach to the introduction and delivery of next generation telecommunications services to small to mid-sized corporations.

Kleiner Perkins has been a founding investor in a number of the country’s fastest growing and most successful businesses including @Home, America Online, Amazon.com, Ascend, Cerent, Compaq, Excite, Healtheon, Juniper Networks, Netscape, Rhythms, and Sun Microsystems.

WALNUT CREEK, Calif.– As part of its plan to roll out a full service network of Internet related operations throughout the Asia Pacific region, Asia Online Ltd., with its Asia Online Americas headquarters based here, announced the acquisition of three ISPs across Australia and New Zealand. Asia Online, Ltd. is a holding company launched in late 1998 chartered with building a Pan Pacific network of Internet companies dedicated to the facilitation of better global communications among people with a link to the Asian region.

The company is planning further expansion throughout Asia and is aiming to provide specialized services that will enhance communications around the globe for anyone with a business or cultural link to Asia. With backing from investors including Softbank, J.P. Morgan and GE Capital, Asia Online is well positioned to play a central role in linking Australian businesses to Asia and the rest of the world.

Asia Online recently announced a US$35 million round of private equity funding from a J.P. Morgan-led syndicate which also included Pequot Capital, GE Equity, Softbank Technology Ventures, Nexus Capital Partners and Concentric Network.

Headquartered in Hayward, Calif., eFORCE is funded by prestigious venture capital firms including Greylock and Draper Richards. Customers range in size from small to multi-national organizations and include American Express, Autodesk, BAAN, Charles Schwab, Ericsson, Lucent, Microsoft, Oracle, Pearson Group, Visa, Wells Fargo Bank, and Internet companies such as Active Software, AsiaMail.com, Bidcom.com, ChannelPoint, Corio, EqualFooting.com, Exodus, Pets.com, and Trip.com.

DigitalWork.com, the first “Do-It-Yourself” business agency, announced its new board of directors, comprised of e-commerce and small business industry leaders. The company’s five-member board includes Internet start-up venture capitalists Warren Packard and Taj Atluru; Internet leader Marc Benioff; and DigitalWork.com executives Rob Schultz, CEO and co-founder, and Craig Terrill, president and co-founder.

Packard, a director at venture capital firm Draper Fisher Jurvetson, has been instrumental in developing business strategy for some of the country’s leading Internet companies including Digital Impact, Direct Hit and FogDog. In addition to his leadership in the Internet space, Packard is a recognized visionary in the small business market and recently spoke at the “Small Business is Big Business” conference at Venture Market East in Boston.

DigitalWork.com Board Member Atluru is a principal at TL Ventures, a well-known and respected venture capital firm. During his tenure at TL Ventures, Atluru helped to launch Syncra Software.

WALTHAM, Mass.–Charles River Ventures announced that Bruce Sachs, formerly a senior executive at Lucent Technologies, has joined the firm as a General Partner. Sachs expects to apply his skills and experience to the types of fast-moving companies that have become trademark investments of Charles River Ventures companies like Aptis Communications, Inc., Cascade Communications, CIENA Corporation, Omnia Communications, Vignette Corporation, Be Free, Inc., and Flycast Communications Corp., among others. Sachs has served in a number of important executive positions over the past 20 years.

PALO ALTO, Calif.– OfficeClick.com Inc. has appointed Terri Holbrooke one of the technology industry’s highest profile and most savvy marketers, to its board.

Holbrooke, 43, is the group president of Ziff-Davis Corporate Operations, charged with spearheading the company’s Internet-focused sales and marketing strategies. Since joining Ziff-Davis three years ago, Holbrooke has been instrumental in helping the company grow its audience from 15 million people in the mid-1990s to over 56 million worldwide.

OfficeClick.com Inc. is a privately held company based in Palo Alto, CA. Founded in 1998, the company’s investors include St. Paul Venture Capital, Sigma Partners and Doll Capital Management.

FREMONT, Calif.– Amplify.net, a Silicon Valley startup specializing in broadband access enabling solutions, officially rolled out its global market expansion plan by appointing Gary Taggart Vice President of Worldwide Sales, reporting directly to Pauline Lo Alker, amplify.net’s president and Chief Executive Officer.

Headquartered in Fremont, amplify.net Inc. is a privately held company funded by several reputable high technology venture capital firms.

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