VC Buzz – $290.6+ Million in Today’s Deals

SAN FRANCISCO–more.com, an online health, beauty and wellness store, announced the close of its third round of financing. The $43 million round was led by Boston Millennia Partners, heading a line-up of new investors including Galen Associates, J&W Seligman & Co. Incorporated, Star Ventures and Swander Pace Capital. more.com’s current investors, Health Business Partners, HealthCare Ventures, Rho Management, SOFTBANK Technology Ventures and 21st Century Internet Venture Partners, also made additional investments in this round.

SAN FRANCISCO — Great Entertaining Inc., a provider of creative entertaining ideas and party supplies through its e-commerce site, GreatEntertaining.com, announced it has closed $31 million in second round funding. The round was led by Technology Crossover Ventures. TCV was joined by Benchmark Capital, the exclusive provider of Great Entertaining’s first round of funding — which has now doubled its original investment in the company. Also included in the round were Infinity Capital LLC (previously named Information Technology Ventures), and Attractor Investment Management Inc.

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. — AristaSoft Corp., an industry-focused Application Service Provider, announced that it has received a total of $30 million in funding from New York-based Warburg, Pincus & Co. and Woodside, Calif.-based Crosspoint Venture Partners. The new round of funding increases the overall venture investment in AristaSoft to $35 million.

SAN JOSE, Calif. — ELetter Inc., providers of an online direct mail service, announced that it has secured a second round of venture funding totaling $20 million from Bowman Capital Management LLC and Canaan Partners. Existing investors Trident Capital and Artemis Ventures also participated in the round. ELetter received its first round of financing in May 1999 with $3.5 million from Trident Capital, Artemis Ventures and private investors.

HAUPPAUGE, N.Y. — CosmoCom Inc., a leader in IP contact center technology, announced that it has received more than $15.3 million in mezzanine equity funding from investors led by Science Applications International Corp., the nation’s largest employee-owned high-tech research and engineering firm. The SAIC strategic investment closely follows the September 1999 agreement enabling SAIC to resell CosmoCall Universe in the context of its system integration activities. Several previous investors in CosmoCom also participated in the round.

OAKLAND, Calif. — Vision Software announced it has closed a $15.7 million mezzanine funding round led by Goldman Sachs. The funding round also includes investments from: Marc Andreessen, founder of Netscape Inc., and Loewenthal Capital, the exclusive investor for Hasso Plattner, co-founder and CEO of SAP Inc., as well as investment banks Bank Boston Robertson Stephens, and Dain Rauscher Wessels. The company has previously received funding from Charles River Ventures, Hambrecht & Quist, Morgenthaler Ventures, and Vulcan Northwest. Vision Software will leverage this investment to fuel continued adoption of its e-business automation system.

ATLANTA — ComponentSource, an Internet based distributor of open market software components and services, announced a second round of financing from 3i and a consortium of other investors. 3i, Europe’s leading venture capitalist company led the round by injecting $7.5 million of funds, and a further $4.5 million was received from the consortium.

AUSTIN, Texas — Yclip.com Corp. announced that it has closed on a $6.2-million round of new financing led by Oak Investment Partners and Gregory & Hoenemeyer Inc., bringing its total funding to $7.3 million. Yclip.com’s consumer product is a paperless coupon system that will allow advertisers to offer incentives to consumers and monitor effectiveness of conventional banner advertising and direct marketing via the Web. The company will launch its innovative technology and suite of online direct marketing and loyalty solutions in the second quarter of 2000.

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Centromine Inc., a leader in Internet behavioral healthcare software, announced the completion of $5.1 million in venture capital funding from Piper Jaffray Ventures, Tullis-Dickerson, EDF Ventures and the Wolverine Venture Fund. The funding will be used to support the aggressive growth strategies Centromine has planned for the behavioral healthcare market.

SAN FRANCISCO—Tranz-Send Broadcasting Network announced the completion of Series A outside funding, with Trans Cosmos USA Inc. and Fatpipe Partners LLC taking the lead. Tranz-Send will use some of these funds to prepare its movie-on-demand site ClickMovie.com for its upcoming launch this November.

SAN FRANCISCO — Andiamo, an Internet-based provider of Internet partnership e-services, announced that it has successfully secured first-round funding from well-known high technology veterans and Fenwick & West LLP, the third largest Silicon Valley-based law firm. Among the company’s investors Dr. Gilbert F. Amelio (former chairman and CEO of Apple Computer), Martin Haeberli (co-founder of OverSea Systems and former director of technology of Netscape Communications) and Charles Marshall (co-founder and chairman of GeneSage). No financial details of the investments were disclosed.

SAN FRANCISCO–Tradeum, an infrastructure marketplace provider for business-to-business and financial exchanges on the Internet, announced the inclusion of a strategic investment by Reuters in its first round of financing, which also included Israel Seed Partners, Vertex Management and Vanenburg. Initial targeted markets are energy, financial services and industrial physical goods.

SAN FRANCISCO– Epylon.com Corp., an information and commerce exchange for institutional markets, announced that Intel Corp., ITVentures and private investors have invested in the company. Financial details were not disclosed. Epylon.com plans to offer a customized Internet solution for institutions in the education industry as well as local, county, state and other government entities to conduct electronic commerce, and access value-added content and personalized, collaborative communication tools.

PALO ALTO, Calif.–ComVentures, a Palo Alto venture capital firm, announced that it has formed ComVentures IV, a new equity fund capitalized with $250 million. The majority of the new fund will be focused on communications, Internet infrastructure, and E-commerce investments. With the creation of this fund, ComVentures’ total capital controlled surpasses $500 million. New investors joining ComVentures IV include The Ford Foundation, Champion Ventures, Commonfund Capital, Teacher’s Insurance and Annuity Association (TIAA-CREF), Traveler’s Insurance, and Citigroup Investments. Existing investors include Horsley Bridge Partners, Harbour Vest Partners, Harvard, Mutual of Omaha, Bank of America, Tellabs, FLAG Venture Management, the University of Richmond, Minnesota Mutual Life Insurance, U.S. Trust, and Knightsbridge Advisors.

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.– SocialNet.com announced a partnership with EXP.com, an online marketplace for expert advice and services. Members of the SocialNet.com network will now enjoy integrated access to EXP.com’s established base of experts and advisors. In turn, thousands of EXP.com advisors will reach an expanded audience of potential clients through SocialNet.com’s more than 270,000-member network.

MMC is partnering with a number of venture capitalists focused on the networking/communications industry, including ComVentures, New Enterprise Associates, Redpoint Ventures, US Venture Partners and Worldview Partners, in order to fund, nurture and promote the most promising start-ups.

ATLANTA– Scott H. Smith, founder of Relational Technologies has started a hybrid venture capital firm, encubate holdings LLC. The company focuses on providing startup and early round capital formation, and also provides support services as captured in its portfolio of strategic “Partner Services,” including: accounting operations support, financial management planning and execution, marketing strategy, business development and organizational design and support. encubate holdings’ initial investments include two Internet-based eCommerce startup companies in the healthcare and chemical industries.

Joining Smith are Patrick W. Sullivan, formerly of AnswerThink Consulting Group; Al B. Hill, formerly of National Service Industries; Ida K. Davis, formerly of Equitrac Corporation; and Lee P. Halladay, formerly of Consumer Financial Network, Inc.

REDWOOD CITY, Calif.– Golden Parachute Inc. unveiled its new destination site, exclusively for graduates and students of top universities and colleges. GoldenParachute.com helps members maximize their opportunities for both business and social success through dynamic, Web-based networking.

Golden Parachute also announced that it has formed a strategic partnership with Venture Capital Online, the private capital community’s only membership based referral service and information hub for entrepreneurs and venture capitalists, to bring vcapital.com’s venture capital market information and capital raising guidelines and resources to Golden Parachute members who are looking for venture funding.

IRVINE, Calif.–The Prudential Real Estate Affiliates Inc. has reached an agreement in principle with First Agent Financial of Austin, Texas to offer the eCommission service to Prudential’s 39,000 sales associates. The service offers access to agent commissions prior to the close of their transactions. First Agent Financial is owned in part by Koch Ventures Inc., a venture capital company leveraging the capabilities of Koch Industries Inc., America’s second largest privately held corporation.

REDWOOD CITY, Calif.– Corio announced three additions to its group of executives. As vice president of industry solutions, Arthur Chiang will lead Corio’s push into specific industry markets. Sal Jamil, vice president of professional services, will further innovate within Corio’s Professional Services model while Laurent Pacalin will drive the formation of strategic alliances and partnerships as the vice president of business development and alliances. Corio is backed by Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers and its KPCB Java Fund, PeopleSoft, Integral Capital Partners, Greylock and Norwest Venture Capital.

SAN FRANCISCO–Upscale beauty e-tailer gloss.com announced it has named domestic and international business veteran Barbara S. Hyder as chief executive officer. At gloss.com Hyder will focus on building the company’s infrastructure, building and maintaining a loyal customer base and putting a long-term global strategy in place. Previously, Hyder was international region president for Mary Kay. Gloss.com is backed by Bessemer Venture Partners and Matrix Partners.

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