VC Buzz – $252.7+ Million in Today’s Deals

MENLO PARK, Calif.–eVoice Inc., a supplier of free private voice mail with home answering capability, received an additional $38 million

in private funding from a number of investors and will join idealab!’s network of Internet companies. The new funding will fuel eVoice’s expansion of its free voice mail service to the top 100 U.S. markets in early 2000. idealab!, along with existing investors, Worldview Technology Partners, Nokia Ventures, Oak Investment Partners and other private investors, participated in this third round of funding.

SAN FRANCISCO– Industry Standard Communications Inc. raised $30 million in first-round private-equity financing. The investment was led by Flatiron Partners and Chase Capital Partners. Other investors include: Morgan Stanley Dean Witter Venture Partners, Pearson PLC, Europ@Web, J. & W. Seligman and Chase H&Q.

SUNNYVALE, Calif.– Shoreline Teleworks, a leader in the enterprise IP voice communications market, raised $28 million in a mezzanine round of equity financing to expand the sales, marketing and distribution efforts of its Shoreline IP Voice Communications System. Leading this round of equity financing is JP Morgan Investment Management along with Charter Growth Capital, Dain Rauscher Wessels Equity Capital, and previous investors Crosspoint Venture Partners, Foundation Capital, Matrix Partners, Jafco America Ventures, and Norwest Venture Partners. The mezzanine round brings the total venture funding to $47.5 million to date.

MINNEAPOLIS — PeopleNet Communications Corp., a provider of Internet-based wireless communication solutions to the transportation industry, received a $25 million investment by Norwest Equity Partners. John Sarto, former president of the Omnitracs division of Qualcomm Inc., was named board chairman and chief executive officer of the company. PeopleNet’s Intouch Fleet Manage

ment system combines Global Positioning System satellites, wireless technologies, and the Internet to provide precision locating, two-way data messaging and voice communications.

BERKELEY, Calif. — Ofoto Inc., an e-commerce provider of photo finishing services, received $16 million in first-round funding from The Barksdale Group and Benchmark Capital as well as selected angel investors. Peter Currie, partner of The Barksdale Group, will join the Ofoto board of directors. Ofoto is an online photo finishing service offering customers a convenient way to order high-quality, photographic prints of their own digital images. Additionally, Ofoto provides its members free access to secure online photo storage and the ability to create albums in an advertising-free environment.

NEW YORK– Edgix Corp., an Internet content delivery services company, closed its first round of venture capital financing. The $15 million investment round was co-led by Battery Ventures and Venrock Associates. Edgix received seed funding at its founding in early 1999 from its founders, angel investors, and Novell Ventures, the venture capital arm of Novell Corp. Novell Ventures renewed its participation in the current funding round.

SANTA CLARA, Calif.– Everypath, an application service provider that enables web-based businesses to mobilize their web sites on wireless devices, closed $14 million in funding. Sevin Rosen Funds and US Venture Partners lead the first round of venture funding. Additional funding came from an A-list group of angel investors including Gordon Bell, Sabeer Bhatia, K.B. Chandrashekhar, Atiq Raza, Chet Silvestri and Raj Singh. By voice-enabling existing web sites so they can respond to voice commands and convert text to speech, Everypath also enables web sites to be delivered on ordinary voice telephones.

BELLEVUE, Wash.– Webforia closed its Series D round of financing, raising an additional $10.6 million in working capital. Key investors include Salomon Smith Barney, Trust Capital Technology and Premiere Technology’s Ptek Ventures. Webforia Organizer and Reporter, released in 1999, are designed to help users effectively organize, manage and format information found on the Web and share results in rich, interactive reports.

BIRMINGHAM, Ala.– NationTax Online, a Web-based business tax filing network, received $10 million in venture capital financing coordinated by The Robinson-Humphrey Company and led by Grotech Capital Group. Other investors included: Cordova Ventures, LiveOak Equity Partners, Southeastern Technology Fund and Troutt Venture Capital Partners. The NTO Network allows businesses to prepare, file and pay state, federal and local business taxes via the Web in a secure environment.

PROVIDENCE, R.I.– Zero Stage Capital invested $3.6 million in BlueStreak.com, an Internet advertising and e-commerce technology provider that allows merchants to interact with customers anywhere on the Internet. This first round of venture capital funding, led by Zero Stage Capital, totaled $7 million. Also participating was Lazard Technology Partners. The company’s On-The-Fly System gives designers the tools to create, modify, and optimize BlueStreak.com’s media products faster than competing offerings, and without the involvement of a technical team.

HORSHAM, Pa., — Intertrials.com Inc., a company using the Internet to accelerate and improve the launch of clinical trials, closed its first round of financing. The $6 million investment was led by ProQuest Investments and included Chase Capital Partners and Flatiron Partners. More than 2,500 pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies spend over $5 billion annually on clinical trials that involve more than 30,000 physician investigators and one million patients, according to the company.

IRVINE, Calif.– Alteer Corp., an e-health company providing solutions to automate workflow in physician offices, received $4.6 million in additional funding to support its launch and expansion as the first ASP model which integrates clinical and ad

ministrative functions of physicians’ practices. Investors included Kingsbury Capital Partners, Bluestem Capital Partners and Edgewater Private Equity Fund.

AUSTIN, Texas– Kurion Inc. secured $4 million from a number of venture capital firms and private investors. Among those firms that contributed to the company’s initial round of funding are Austin Ventures and Sternhill Partners. Private investors in Kurion include the Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati Investment Fund, Hill Partners and Virtual CFO. The capital infusion will be used to launch the company’s first Internet personalization service. Bob Stearns, managing director of Sternhill Partners, will join Kurion’s board of directors.

SAN FRANCISCO– ezboard Inc., a Web-based application service provider which enables users to create their own customized online communities, closedf $1.1 million in funding from angel investors. Participants included Kathy Levinson, Yosi Amram, Mark Pincus and other individual investors.

SAN FRANCISCO — Zappos.com, which bills itself as the world’s largest shoe store, received $1.1 million in financing from Venture Frogs LLC. Zappos.com currently features more than 150 brands of shoes, giving customers access to more than 25 million pairs of shoes.

SAN FRANCISCO — Disappearing Inc., a developer of email policy systems, closed a second round of funding led by Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. Disappearing Inc.’s flagship offering, Disappearing Email, protects messages while they are in use–then deletes all copies according to the sender’s chosen email policy. Disappearing Email works in standard email clients and requires no change to the way users read, write, or send their messages. Red Rock Ventures was Disappearing’s first venture investor.

WESTLAKE VILLAGE, Calif. — E-ppraisal Inc., an Internet-based provider of automated valuation services for the residential real estate industry, closed a private placement of Series B Preferred Stock in excess of $1 million. Participating institutional investors included Golden Eight Venture Capital LP and ECICS Management Pte. Ltd.

PALO ALTO, Calif.– DevX.com Inc., a network of technical Web sites for corporate software developers, has spun off from Fawcette Technical Publications Inc. as a separate company. DevX.com Inc. received venture funding from Hummer Winblad Venture Partners. DevX.com, which is a contraction for The Development Exchange, comprises 36 Web sites, including sites associated with the trade publications for programming professionals published by Fawcette.

MADISON, Wis.– Berbee, a provider of technology solutions for business, has secured an equity investment in LifeSketch.com, a new venture founded by former Lands’ End president and CEO, Michael J. Smith. LifeSketch.com will enable customers to access, preserve and share family memories in a new way. The site guides users as they easily build online archives, photo albums and other memorabilia, which can be shared with family and friends. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

LONDON — City of London PR Group (COLPR), a UK financial PR and investment company, purchased loan stock convertible into 40 percent of Rchive-it.com Ltd., an e-mail archiving software venture. The size of COLPR’s investment is not being disclosed but is within the single investment limit of £500,000 authorised by the board. COLPR has been funding @rchive-it.com for some time on a non-secured basis. Arrangements have now been completed for the formal investment in the start-up company. COLPR says its total seed-corn funding of “very select” technology/internet-related companies will continue to a maximum of £2 million, approximately 25 percent of COLPR’s investment portfolio.

BOSTON– Crimson Solutions Inc., a provider of Web-based recruiting solutions for college career centers and Ivy Productions Inc., a provider of research and publications for students and entry-level job seekers, announced a merger agreement that will join the two entities under the name experience inc. The new company now has a combined user base of more than 250 university partners and more than 1.6 million “twentysomething” job seekers. The company is venture-backed by Polaris Venture Partners and Cincinnati-based Isabella Capital, with a number of other private investors and is considering a second round of financing in 2000.

PROVIDENCE, Rhode Island– Providence Equity Partners Inc., a private investment firm specializing in telecommunications, internet and media investments in the U.S. and abroad, launched Providence Growth Investors L.P., a new $250 million fund focused on small-to-medium-sized telecommunications, internet, media and new media investments worldwide. Providence Growth Investors will target opportunities in which it can make initial equity investments of $3 to $20 million per transaction. Providence Growth Investors will be managed by an investment team led by Michael J. Angelakis.

JACKSON, Miss. — GulfSouth Capital Inc., announced the formation of a new venture capital fund, GS Ventures LLC, that will specialize in funding companies involved in wireless and Internet technologies. GS Ventures plans to target early stage start ups situated in the southeastern U.S. market. The fund will be led by John N. Palmer Sr., GulfSouth’s chairman, and Jai P. Bhagat, the company’s vice chairman. GulfSouth plans to announce the formation of a $1 million Angel Incubation Fund providing small capital investments to enable early concept firms to develop their business plans.

TOKYO — Neoteny Co. Ltd. of Shibuya, Tokyo, raised a total of $20 million from two US investors, J. H. Whitney & Co. and PSINet Ventures. Neoteny will become Japan’s first self-financing, fully-functional incubator providing seed round financing and a comprehensive range of support services including facilities, professional services, advice, group purchasing, and staffing support. There are four companies already in incubation and Neoteny intends to incubate as many as 90 companies over the next three years.

ALAMEDA, Calif.– Simpata Inc., an Internet-based application service provider of employee HR and benefits administration, announced strategic additions to the company’s senior management team. These include: Marcia Harlow as vice president, product strategy; Carol Chouinard, vice president, engineering; Chuck Moxley, vice president, marketing; Dan Kneip, vice president, operations; Rob York, vice president, sales. Simpata has received investment funding from Intel Corp., NIF Ventures, and U.S. Bancorp Piper Jaffray Ventures.

BELMONT, Calif. — Comergent, a provider of internet-enabled partner commerce management solutions, announced the appointment of Tom Mescall as vice president of product marketing and strategy. Mescall comes to Comergent from PeopleSoft Inc. and has more than 14 years of product and strategic management experience. Comergent is funded by Crosspoint Venture Partners and SOFTBANK Technology Ventures.

AUSTIN, Texas — living.com, a provider of home furnishings online, named former Kellogg Company executive Jay Shreiner as the chief financial officer of the Austin-based online retailer. During his 16-year career at Kellogg Company, Shreiner advanced through seven senior management positions and was a member of the company’s Global Leadership Team. living.com has raised a total of $41.5 million in capital from Benchmark Capital, Starbucks Corp., GE Capital,

Pivotal and Austin Ventures.

PALO ALTO, Calif. — NARUS Inc., a provider of Internet Business Infrastructure solutions, appointed Shawn O’Neill to the position of chief financial officer. O’Neill joins NARUS from Adauction.com, where he was CFO. NARUS’ solutions are based on the company’s Semantic Traffic Analysis technology, which captures comprehensive customer usage data directly from carrier-grade networks and transforms it into actionable information. NARUS investors include Frontier Internet Ventures Inc., MediaOne Ventures, Mayfield Fund, Walden Ventures, Chase Capital, and others.

SAN FRANCISCO– ShortCycles Inc., a business-to- business e-service for sales information exchange, appointed Steve Abbott as vice president, sales. He comes to ShortCycles from Vantive Corp. where he held the title of vice president, channel sales. The company recently received funding from New Enterprise Associates and Sigma Partners.

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