New in the News
Adornis.com, Advanced Manufacturing Online, A.Media, AremisSoft, barnesandnoble.com, BlueLight.com, Blueprint Technologies, Boxerjam.com, Capital.com, CardStore.com, CityXpress.com, Covalent Technologies, Financial Engines, Heidrick & Struggles, iD2 Technologies, internet.com, LowerMyBills.com, LVMH, Magnifi, Millennium Network, Moore, Onepage.com, Pacific Softworks, PrivaSeek, PSINet, supplyFORCE.com, TRADEX Technologies, TriActive, USAutoNews.com
LVMH Invests $122 Million in Oxygen Media
NEW YORK — LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton (Nasdaq:
LVMHY), a global luxury goods group, and Europ@web together will make a strategic investment of $122 million in Oxygen Media, the media company that is developing a brand for women on the Internet and cable television. LVMH will take a minority stake in Oxygen and a seat on its board of directors. Europ@web is the Internet investment company recently established by Groupe Arnault, the private holding company that controls LVMH. Oxygen’s private financing includes previously announced investments from: Oprah Winfrey’s HARPO Entertainment Group; CWM LLC, an entity formed by Marcy Carsey, Tom Werner, and Caryn Mandabach; Vulcan Ventures, the investment organization of Paul G. Allen; and America Online. All have minority equity positions in Oxygen and each has a seat on the board, as will LVMH.
http://www.oxygen.com
Financial Engines Closes $85 Million Strategic Financing Round
PALO ALTO, Calif.– Financial Engines Inc. closed its Series E round of financing, receiving $85 million in funding from twelve investors. Oak Hill Capital Partners LP led the round, contributing $25 million to the online investment advisory firm. The balance of the funding was received from member companies of American International Group Inc., The Chase Manhattan Corp., Chase H&Q, E*TRADE, The Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Intel Corp., Merrill Lynch, Thomas Weisel Partners, State Street Global Advisors, Washington Mutual Inc. and Wells Fargo & Co. Several of Financial Engines’ existing investors also participated in the round including Foundation Capital, New Enterprise Associates, Charter Venture Capital, and Pivotal/Amerindo. At the close of the Series E financing, each of the strategic investors holds less than 4% of the company. Financial Engines provides online investment advice for individual investors and Fortune 500 companies.
http://www.financialengines.com
Bluelight.Com Launches with $62.5 from Softbank
NEW YORK — Kmart Corp. (NYSE:
KM) and SOFTBANK Venture Capital jointly announced the formation of BlueLight.com, a stand-alone, e-commerce company that will launch an entirely new presence for Kmart on the Internet. BlueLight.com will offer consumers totally free Internet access as well as the opportunity to purchase products and services online. Kmart will be the majority shareholder, with an approximate 60 percent ownership of BlueLight.com. SOFTBANK Venture Capital committed $62.5 million to establish BlueLight.com. Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia (NYSE: MSO), one of Kmart’s retail partners, will make a strategic investment in BlueLight.com as well.http://www.bluelight.com
http://www.kmart.com
http://www.sbvc.com
supplyFORCE.com Secures $35 Million Investment
KING OF PRUSSIA, Pa.– supplyFORCE.com, a comprehensive integrated supply and e-business solution for the distribution industry, secured $35 million in new investment in less than one month since the initial launch of the company on Nov. 15, 1999. The funding was successfully raised among strategic investors critical to the company’s success including participating distributors and manufacturers.
http://www.supplyfo
rce.com
PrivaSeek Closes Second Round of Funding with $32 Million
BROOMFIELD, Colo. — PrivaSeek Inc., an infomediary and pioneer in permission marketing and privacy management solutions, raised $32 million in its second round of venture capital financing. Leading the second round was Safeguard Scientifics Inc. (NYSE:
SFE. New investors to PrivaSeek include Stephens Group Inc., Lafayette Equity Fund, Riverside Management Group and the University of Colorado Foundation Inc. Closing out the second round were the original investor group, which includes TL Ventures, Sequel Venture Partners and Internet Capital Group (Nasdaq: ICGE). The original investors provided $14 million in funding, along with Excite@Home, which invested via a technology for equity arrangement.http://www.privaseek.com
CUPERTINO, Calif.– Magnifi Inc., a provider of on-line brand management solutions, raised $15.5 million in equity financing from new and existing investors, led by new investor TMCT Ventures. Also participating in this third round of venture financing for Magnifi were new investors Triad Media Ventures and investment bank Dain Rauscher Wessels, along with existing investors Convergence Partners, Crystal Internet Venture Funds, L.P., Draper Fisher Jurvetson, IDG Ventures and J.M. Hixon and Partners.
http://www.magnifi.net
CardStore.com Secures $9.4 Million
EMERYVILLE, Calif.– CardStore.com, an online service that will offer businesses and consumers a one-stop solution for paper communications products and scalable mailing services, received $9.4 million in financing led by Highland Capital Partners and The Roda Group. Crimson Global Internet Fund, the Company’s seed investor, will also participate in this round of funding. CardStore.com expects to launch its site in the first quarter of 2000. It will provide businesses and consumers with the ability to easily send premium quality, custom printed cards of all types on demand.
http://www.cardstore.com
http://www.hcp.com
http://www.rodagroup.com
http://Rakuten.co.jp
TriActive Closes Financing Round with TL Ventures and El Dorado Ventures
AUSTIN, Texas– TriActive completed funding for $6 million, consisting of $3.5 million from TL Ventures and $2.5 million from El Dorado Ventures. Bob Fabbio and Stanley E. Tims II, managing partners of TL Ventures, and El Dorado partner Tom Peterson will join TriActive’s board of directors. Tri
Active’s service, scheduled for release in the first quarter of 2000, combines monthly pay-as-you-go fees with custom-view portals optimized for different classes of information technology users, such as chief information officers and help desk technicians.
http://www.triactive.com
http://www.tlventures.com
http://www.eldorado.com
Covalent Technologies Receives $5 Million in First Round Funding
LINCOLN, Neb. — Covalent Technologies Inc. closed $5 million in first round funding. The round, led by H&Q LLC, included investments from their affiliated funds Adobe and TI. Covalent Technologies offers commercial support and enhancements for the open-source Apache Web server software. Covalent’s flagship product, the Raven SSL module, provides Web professionals with the encryption necessary for safely transferring data via the Internet.
http://www.covalent.net
http://www.hqva.com
Richemont Takes a 20% Stake in Adornis.com
GREENWICH, Conn. — Adornis.com, a European-based company dedicated exclusively to selling high-quality, branded fine jewelry on the Internet, announced that Richemont Investments SA, a subsidiary of Compagnie Financiere Richemont, the Swiss luxury group, made a $5 million investment in Adornis.com for a 20% stake in the business. Richemont owns some of the most exclusive brands in the world, including Cartier, Alfred Dunhill, Montblanc, Lancel, Piaget, Vacheron Constantin and Baume & Mercier, and has a controlling interest in Van Cleef & Arpels. The investment in Adornis.com gives Richemont one seat on Adornis.com’s board of directors.
http://www.adornis.com
Blueprint Technologies Secures $3 Million in Private Offering
MCLEAN, Va.– Blueprint Technologies, a provider of reusable software frameworks for maintaining critical e-business applications, closed its first round of venture capital. Kirnaf Ltd., a private venture capital investment company, made the entire investment.
http://www.blueprint-technologies.com/
Onepage.com Secures $2 Million Initial Funding
REDWOOD CITY, Calif.– Onepage.com, an Internet startup dedicated to personalizing the everyday experience on the World Wide Web, secured initial funding of $2 million from a group of individual and institutional investors. The group of investors includes N.J. Nicholas Jr., former co-CEO of Time Warner Inc.; James Dimon, the financier and private investor; William Berkman of Berkman Associates and founder and director of Teligent Inc.; Jed Smith, founder of Drugstore.com; and Jon Diamond, chairman of CDNOW and founder of N2K and myplay.com. A partia
l list of Onepage’s other investors includes: James S. Greene, partner, Andersen Consulting; Harvard Business School Professor and Author, Dr. Michael Porter; and Strauss Zelnick, CEO, BMG Entertainment; as well as institutional investors, Allen & Co. and Oscar Capital Management.
http://www.onepage.com
Cityxpress.Com Announces $1 Million Private Placement
VANCOUVER, British Columbia – CityXpress.com Corp. (OTCBB –
CYXP), a developer of regional e-commerce portals, accepted subscriptions for $1,000,000 of units at a price of $0.50 per unit, with each unit consisting of one common share and one share purchase warrant. Each warrant may be exercised to acquire an additional share for two years from the date of issue, at a price of $0.50 during the first year and $0.75 during the second year. The private placement is being made entirely to persons outside of the United States.http://www.cityxpress.com
Pacific Softworks Announces Investment and Strategic Alliance With Financial Services Provider Network
NEWBURY PARK, Calif– Pacific Softworks Inc. (Nasdaq:
PASW), a developer of embedded Internet and Web-related software for the information appliances market, formed a strategic alliance and has made an equity investment in Financial Services Provider Network Inc., a private firm, making a significant contribution as a developer of software for the banking industry. FSPN will begin to market its proprietary software program to the banking industry in the first quarter of 2000. FSPN’s software is being developed to be compatible with both Red Hat Linux and Microsoft Windows. Pacific Softworks has invested $1 million to date, and has the right to invest up to an additional $2 million.http://www.pacificsw.com
Internet.com Venture Fund II Announces Two New Investments
DARIEN, Conn.– internet.com Venture Fund II, part of the affiliated venture arm of internet.com Corp. (Nasdaq:
INTM), publisher of this website, announced the closing of investments in Foodservice.com and Howstuffworks.com. The investments are part of internet.com Venture Fund II’s expanding portfolio of early-stage investments in Internet content properties. internet.com Venture Fund I and II have invested in 18 Internet properties to date.Foodservice.com is a business-to-business vertical community and online marketplace exclusively for the food service industry, featuring employment listings, online auctions, supplier listings, tradeshow information, discussion forums, classifieds, daily market prices and industry news. Howstuffworks.com is an educational resource featuring original articles and editorial on a wide range of complicated everyday topics from the Internet and engines to household items and the human body. Through detailed descriptions and illustrations, the site seeks to simpli
fy difficult subject matter into straightforward, easy-to-understand language. The site generates over 2 million monthly page views.
http://www.internet.com
http://www.foodservice.com
http://www.howstuffworks.com
USAutoNews.com Receives Financing from Cisco Systems Capital
NEWPORT BEACH, Calif. — USAutoNews.com, an automotive Internet portal and e-commerce hub, will receive financing from Cisco Systems Capital for use in further developing its technological infrastructure. USAutoNews.com will use the financing to purchase networking products, services and solutions. USAutoNews.com launched its online services in August 1999 with funding from Catalyst Capital.
http://USAutoNews.com
SAP Makes Venture Capital Investment in iD2 Technologies
WALLDORF/STOCKHOLM– SAP AG, a provider of inter-enterprise business solutions, announced that its venture fund division, SAP Ventures, made an equity investment in the Swedish technology company iD2 Technologies. iD2 Technologies develops and sells Public Key Infrastructure solutions that enable users to be securely identified across the Internet. Terms were not disclosed.
http://www.sap.com
http://www.iD2tech.com
LowerMyBills.com Receives First Round Financing
LOS ANGELES, Calif.– LowerMyBills.com, the first Internet site that lets consumers research, compare and lower their recurring monthly bills, announced its first round financing from eCompanies Venture Group. When a consumer comes to the LowerMyBills site, they will be able to choose one of their monthly bill categories, conduct a quick search to compare rates and services based on their unique usage or need requirements, instantly receive vendor-neutral recommendations that meet those requirements, and switch online. By using its free services, which cover 18 different categories, the average American household can save approximately $3,000 per year. The site will launch at the beginning of February.
http://www.lowermybills.com
http://www.ecompanies.com
PSINet Announces Technology Partnership and Strategic Investment in Glides.com
SAO PAULO, Brazil– Philippe Kuperman, PSINet Latin America’s president, announced an agreement between PSINet (Nasdaq:
PSIX), the largest single independent ISP worldwide, and Glides.com, a web technology company that has developed a distributed content management systemfor multilingual and multi-regional websites. Glides’ UniSite solution will be offered within a special hosting and maintenance package for websites. PSINet also announced a strategic investment in Glides.com’s current private placement offering. The terms of the investment were not disclosed.
http://www.psinet.com
http://www.glides.com
First Union Invests $15 Million in Capital.Com
BETHESDA, Md.– American Capital (NASDAQ:
ACAS) announced that First Union Corp. (NYSE:FTU) invested $15 million in American Capital’s online investment bank, www.Capital.com. Launched in July as a financial portal for small and mid-size companies, AmericanCapitalOnline was renamed www.Capital.com and contributed to a newly formed portfolio company, Capital.com Inc. In exchange for the $15 million investment, First Union received a 15% equity stake and warrants to acquire up to an additional 5% under certain conditions. Capital.com provides receivable and inventory financing, machinery and equipment loans and leasing, real estate and construction financing, subordinated debt and equity financing and financing for growth, acquisition, buyouts, ESOPs, Internet development, liquidity and restructurings.http://www.Capital.com
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. — Ariba Inc. (Nasdaq:
ARBA), signed a definitive agreement to acquire privately-held TRADEX Technologies Inc., a provider of solutions for net markets. Ariba will issue stock worth approximately US $1.86 billion, based on the Dec. 15, 1999, closing price, to TRADEX stockholders, which represents approximately 13 percent of the fully diluted equity value of Ariba on a pro forma basis. The parties expect the transaction to close in the second quarter of 2000. The agreement is structured as a stock-for-stock merger and will be accounted for as a purchase transaction. TRADEX is backed by Internet Capital Group and Sigma Partners.http://www.ariba.com
http://www.tradex.com
AremisSoft Acquires e-nnovations.com
NEW YORK– AremisSoft Corp. (Nasdaq:
AREM), an international supplier of software solutions for the manufacturing, hospitality, healthcare and construction industries, announced the acquisition of e-nnovations.com, a supplier of Internet, workflow, other advanced technology software, applications and services. e-nnovations.com, located in Bangalore, India, and AremisSoft have been partnering for the past two years on modernizing efforts on the core AremisSoft enterprise applications. Under the terms of the agreement, AremisSoft acquired all of the outstanding shares of e-nnovations.com for $14.5 million in an all cash transaction.
http://www.aremissoft.com
Millennium Closes US$ 4 Million Financing and Completes Acquisition
CALGARY, Alberta– The Millennium Network Corp. completed the acquisition of Lyco Logistics, a fully automated e-commerce distribution center. Thomson Kernaghan & Company Ltd. acted as agent in securing US$4 million in bridge financing to facilitate both the acquisition and planned expansion. Millennium created a wholly owned subsidiary, Lyco Logistics 2000 Inc., which purchased all the assets of Lyco and the contracts to carry on the logistics and products fulfillment business for CDN$3.75 Million in cash. Lyco has received a down payment of CDN $1.5 Million with the balance of CDN $2.25 Million payable without interest by June 30, 2000. The Millennium Network is an integrated e-commerce company which owns and operates an on-line shopping site at wowya.com providing consumers the opportunity to shop for products and services as well as profit from the company’s unique referral commission program.
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — Boxerjam.com, a provider of primetime gameshows online, signed an agreement to acquire SilverSun, a producer of daily interactive puzzles online. SilverSun operates the “Puzzle Zone” on America Online and http://www.puzzlepage.com on the Internet. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Recently Boxerjam completed a
$12 million round of financing from New Enterprise Associates and Oak Investment Partners.http://www.boxerjam.com
barnesandnoble.com Acquires Equity Stake in Enews.com
NEW YORK– barnesandnoble.com Inc. (Nasdaq:
BNBN) will acquire an equity stake of up to 40 percent in Enews.com, the largest retailer of magazine subscriptions on the Internet. barnesandnoble.com will acquire approximately 32 percent of Enews.com for cash and stock. As part of a four-year joint services agreement, barnesandnoble.com will also receive warrants, which when exercised over the life of the agreement will increase its holding in Enews.com to approximately 40 percent. The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of 2000. Hachette Filipacchi Magazines has also made an investment in Enews.com, and will become a key strategic partner for the company.http://www.bn.com
Moore Announces Venture Capital Investment Partnership With Atrium Capital
BANNOCKBURN, Ill. & TORONTO, Ont.– Moore Corp. Limited (NYSE:
MCL)(TSE:MCL) announced a new venture capital investment partnership with Atrium Capital, a Silicon Valley-based venture capital firm. Moore, through its fund, Moore Technology Partners LLC, will make venture capital investments in enterprises engaged in developing new technologies, products or services directly related to Moore’s business lines, including interactive marketing, Internet bill presentment and payment, and digital technologies.
http://www.moore.com
Heidrick & Struggles Announces Formation of H&S Capital
CHICAGO– Heidrick & Struggles International, Inc. (Nasdaq:
HSII), a leading executive search firm, announced that its board of directors has approved the formation of H&S Capital, a separate entity that will raise capital to establish venture funds that invest in early stage companies, primarily in the technology sector. Heidrick & Struggles expects over time to invest up to $25 million of cash in HSC funds. It is anticipated that HSC will initially raise capital to build two funds — HSC I and HSC II — and that the investors in these funds might include qualified Heidrick & Struggles employees, qualified persons and entities who have relationships with Heidrick & Struggles, professional investors and other qualified investors as deemed appropriate.http://www.heidrick.com
Who’s Who & Where
NEW YORK– Steven R. Novick, former SVP and head of business development of Medsite.com, has joined A.Media as chief operating officer and chief financial officer. A.Media, the publisher of A. Magazine: Inside Asian, raised $1.5 million in its first outside capital round to launch A.Space, the Internet’s Asian destination site. A.Space’s pre-launch informational site will be available for viewing by December 21 at http://www.a-space.com/. A.Space expects to formally launch in early 2000.
Advanced Manufacturing Online Recruits Strategic Top Management
REDWOOD CITY, Calif.– Advanced Manufacturing Online, a provider of mission critical services that enable Business-to-Business electronic commerce in the high technology manufacturing industry, recruited Robert Verheecke as chief financial officer and senior vice president of finance and administration and Lo-Ping Yeh as vice president of worldwide operations. AMO is backed by Asia Technology, 3i Group Plc., Doll Capital, Goldman Sachs, and Morgan Stanley.
http://www.amoweb.com
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