New in the News
American Enterprise.com, Bowstreet, Cambridge Incubator, Dialnet Communications, Entera, everdream, EyeCast.com, Global Electronic Exchange, ImaginOn, OpenTable.com, Planet Alumni, PrivacyBank.com, Shop4Cash.com, SITI-Sites.com, Telenisus, Valto Systems, VillageWorld.com, WishConnect
Entera Secures Additional $18 Million in Financing
FREMONT, Calif. — Entera Inc., a developer of standards-based content delivery technology, received $18 million of additional venture funding from Spectrum Equity Investors, ComVentures, and Crescendo Ventures. Entera has now raised more than $26 million, which includes the company’s first round of funding in March 1999. Spectrum Equity Investors led the recent round of capital investment while ComVentures and Crescendo Ventures increased their original stakes in the company.
http://www.entera.com
http://www.spectrumequity.com
http://www.comven.com
http://www.crescendoventures.com
everdream Caps Second Round Funding at $15.5 Million
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. — everdream, a provider of small business subscription computing, closed $15.5 million in venture investment. The second round of funding was led by Canaan Partners. Canaan was joined by Draper Fisher Jurvetson (the lead investor in everdream’s first round, closed in June 1999), Ricoh Silicon Valley, Portage Ventures and others, including former IBM president Jack Kuehler. John Balen of Canaan Partners will join Steve Jurvetson and Andreas Stavropoulos of Draper Fisher Jurvetson on the board of directors, along with CEO Gary Griffiths and CTO/founder Russell Rive. everdream pioneered the market for subscription computing where, for one low monthly fee, small business owners receive a high-end computer, Internet access, fully supported business applications and 24/7 customer service.
http://www.everdream.com
OpenTable.com Secures $10 Million in Financing
SAN FRANCISCO– OpenTable.com, an online restaurant reservation network, received a $10 million investment led by Impact Venture Partners and Benchmark Capital. OpenTable.com’s real-time reservation system links diners to open tables at fine dining establishments in major cities around the country.
http://www.opentable.com
http://www.impactvp.com
http://www.benchmark.com
Global Electronic Exchange Completes Second Round of Financing
NEW YORK — Laidlaw Global Corp. (OTCBB:
LAIG) announced that its subsidiary, Global Electronic Exchange Inc., completed the second round of private placement financing of $6.188 million. GEE is the parent company of Globeshare, a 24/7 online trading platform which will launch global trading operations later this month.http://www.laidlawglobal.com
ImaginOn Completes $5-Million Placement
SAN CARLOS, Calif. — ImaginOn Inc. (NASDAQ:
IMON), an Internet television company, completed a $5-million private placement of its restricted (Rule 144) common stock. The lead investor was The Tail Wind Fund Ltd. Proceeds from the placement offering will be used primarily to fund the marketing of ImaginOn’s ImOn.comTV product, which will make its broadcast market debut in April at the National Association of Broadcasters Convention in Las Vegas. ImOn.comTV enables any website to provide suitably connected Web users Internet television featuring viewer-directed branching video fully integrated with Web research.http://www.imaginon.com
Jostens Invests in Planet Alumni
OVERLAND PARK, Kan., and MINNEAPOLIS– Jostens Inc. (NYSE:
JOS) has invested $2.5 million to obtain a minority equity position in privately held Planet Alumni Inc. Jostens has the option to increase the investment to a total of $4 million by April 2000. Planet Alumni created and owns planetalumni.com, a free, registry-based site that helps former classmates and alumni stay in touch. Jostens’ products include yearbooks, class rings, graduation products, school photography, employee and achievement awards, and jewelry for fans and athletes.http://www.planetalumni.com
American Enterprise.com Closes $2 Million Financing
TAMPA, Fla.– American Enterprise.com, a provider of healthcare capital, marketing, technology, services and products through its principal subsidiaries, Care1.com and VitalTrust.com, entered into a final agreement with Alpine Venture Capital for a capital investment of $2 million in exchange for a 5-year convertible debenture. The company also signed a $6 million stock purchase agreement and related marketing agreement with Unibased Systems Architecture Inc. In addition, American Enterprise.com entered into definitive agreements with both Emerald Capital Partners Inc. and Alpine Venture Capital Partners LP regarding a $3 million convertible bridge loan and $15 million debt refinancing for all its subsidiaries. Specific terms of the transactions were not disclosed.
http://www.americanenterprise.com
New Horizons Invests $2 Million in ‘NetVideo’ Innovator
WASHINGTON — New Horizons Venture Capital invested $2 million in interactive ‘NetVideo’ solutions provider EyeCast.com Inc., to fuel the rapid deployment of the company’s patent-pending, Internet-based remote video control, monitoring, storage, and retrieval system. EyeCast.com developed and commercialized technology that allows live video access to sites anywhere in the world, remote tilt-pan-zoom camera control, digital off-site storage of virtually unlimited number of hours of video, and retrieval of archived video, all delivered over the web.
http://www.eyecast.com
http://www.newhorizonsvc.com
VillageWorld.com Raises Capital
BOHEMIA, N.Y.– VillageWorld.com (OTCBB:
VILN), the parent company of VillageNet Inc., a community-oriented Internet Service Provider, completed a private placement of 15,800 shares of Class C 6% Cumulative Convertible Preferred Stock. The company received gross proceeds of $1,580,000 from the sale, including $600,000 from cancellation of notes owed by the company. The company expects to raise approximately $250,000 more from sales of its Class C Preferred shares.http://www.villagenet.com
Internet Fact of the Day
Revenues of U.S.-based Web hosting companies are expected to grow by almost $1 billion in 1999 alone, bringing them to over $1.8 billion, according to International Data Corp. The U.S. Web hosting market will increase by a factor of 10 through 2003, when it will total $18.9 billion, said IDC.
InfoSpace.com Acquires PrivacyBank.com
REDMOND, Wash. — InfoSpace.com (Nasdaq: INSP), a provider of infrastructure services for Web sites, merchants and wireless devices, agreed to acquire Berkeley, Calif.-based Millet Software (PrivacyBank.com). With this acquisition, InfoSpace.com will be able to provide a server-based technology that enables wireless Internet devices to become e-commerce-enabled devices by giving mobile users the ability to press one key to make on the spot purchases from virtually any Web site. PrivacyBank.com has developed a secure technology that provides an automated process for filling in payment forms, eliminating the need to continually enter in payment or shipping information, register at sites or enter any site-specific passwords.
Allaire Makes Strategic Acquisition
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — Allaire Corp. (Nasdaq:
ALLR), an independent e-business platform provider, acquired Burlington, Mass.-based Valto Systems, a pioneer in Enterprise JavaBeans server technology, for 225,000 shares of Allaire common stock. The deal is worth about $34 million. The Valto acquisition gives Allaire’s customers enhanced support for e-business transactions.http://www.allaire.com
http://www.valto.com
Startec Invests in Indian ISP to Launch Internet Access in Delhi
BETHESDA, Md. — Startec Global Communications Corp. (Nasdaq:
STGC), a provider of communications services to ethnic communities worldwide, agreed to acquire up to a 49% fully-diluted ownership interest in Dialnet Communications Ltd., an ISP in Delhi, India. Terms were not disclosed. Dialnet provides voice and Internet access to residential and business customers in Delhi and has a license application pending to extend Internet service to cities nationwide. To complement its voice and Internet services, Startec is designing a single online destination for ethnic Internet users through the launch of a series of ethnic virtual communities, under the online brand of eStart.http://www.startec.com
SAN FRANCISCO — Brodia announced the acquisition of the WishConnect service, an online gift registry for any merchant and any occasion. WishConnect’s technology will be integrated into Brodia’s online shopping service and made available to Brodia customers early this year. Brodia is an online shopping service that helps individuals find what they are looking for, locate the best prices, and buy products with a single click with its digital wallet. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Brodia is funded by Draper Fisher Jurvetson and Capital Z.
http://www.brodia.com
http://www.wishconnect.com
SITI-Sites.com Acquires Music Websites
NEW YORK — SITI-Sites.com Inc. (OTCBB:
SITI) acquired Hungry Bands.com (http://www.hungrybands.com), an e-commerce website and business, promoting and selling music by independent artists. The business was founded and owned by Ted Mazola, who recently joined SITI as a vice-president/technology, and was acquired for 150,000 shares of SITI common stock, payable in three installments to Mazola through June 2000 as certain operating goals are achieved.SITI also acquired NewMediaMusic.com (http://www.newmediamusic.com), an e-news/magazine business devoted to new Internet music, news releases by artists and record labels, interviews and other information useful to fans and artists. The former owners of NewMediaMusic, Mazola and Steve Zuckerman, will receive a total of 60,000 shares of SITI common stock for their business, and Zuckerman has joined SITI as a vice-president/newmedia development.
In a third related acquisition, SITI purchased the Music and Internet Conference business (http://www.newyorkexpo.com) of Zuckerman. Zuckerman will be entitled to a 15% interest for three years in the operating profits of the Music and Internet Conference business, after completing the upcoming March 2000 Expo (in which he will have a 75% interest).
http://www.SITI-Sites.com
Global Technologies Acquires Approximately 4% of Shop4cash.com
PHILADELPHIA– Global Technologies Ltd. (NASDAQ:
GTLL) acquired an approximately 4% stake in Shop4Cash.com Inc., a privately held e-commerce company. Global Technologies purchased 500,000 shares of common stock of Shop4Cash.com at $2.00 per share in a private placement. Shop4Cash has developed a network of approximately 250 affiliated merchants whose products and services are accessible through the Shop4Cash Web site, and members receive cash back on every purchase they make through the site.http://www.shop4cash.com
Who’s Who & Where
Daniel Oran Joins Cambridge Incubator
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — Cambridge Incubator announced that Daniel Oran, the inventor of the Microsoft Windows Start Button and Taskbar, joined the company as managing director. Oran brings extensive experience in product design and development gained through work at Microsoft Corp., ON Technology, Harvard Business School, and O’Soft Corp., a company he founded in 1994.
http://www.cambridgeincubator.com
Telenisus Completes Senior Management Team
CHICAGO — Telenisus Corp., a complete e-business Internet solutions provider, announced the completion of its senior management team with the addition of three executives: Michael Milligan, chief financial officer and treasurer; Lyle Wells, senior vice president of sales; and Renee Sheppard, vice president of Web design. Telenisus provides single-source, business-to-business Internet solutions that consist of four service families: virtual private networks, managed firewall/security services, Web site and application hosting, and e-commerce. The company recently closed its
first round of funding.http://www.telenisus.com
XML Expert James Tauber Joins Bowstreet
PORTSMOUTH, N.H.– Bowstreet, a leader in mass customization of business-to-business e-commerce, hired James Tauber as director, XML technology. Tauber is a noted worldwide authority on XML and a principal editor of the emerging Directory Services Markup Language (DSML) for e-commerce, as well as a leader of other XML initiatives. Bowstreet has raised $27.6 million from Charles River Ventures, Integral Capital Partners, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Matrix Partners and Pequot Capital Management.
http://www.bowstreet.com
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