Pioneer(R) Surgical Technology, Inc. Closes $15 Million Series B Financing

New Investment to Fund IDE Pivotal Study of the NuBac(TM) Nucleus Replacement Device for the Spine

MARQUETTE, Mich., Dec. 16 Pioneer Surgical Technology, Inc., a leading innovator in the design and manufacture of spinal and orthopedic implants and instruments, today announced the closing of Series B financing totaling $15 million. Pioneer attracted new participation from InvestMichigan! Growth Capital Fund (IMGCF). Previous investors Pharos Capital Group, LLC; Highlander Partners, LP; Hopewell Ventures; and River Cities Capital Funds also participated in the round.

Pioneer’s CEO and Chairman of the Board, Matthew N. Songer, MD, MBA says, “This capital will fund our FDA pivotal study for the NuBac nucleus replacement device, enabling us to bring this innovative P3(TM) technology to the U.S. market.”

Pioneer is the first and only company to receive FDA approval to start the IDE pivotal study for lumbar nucleus replacement. The NuBac is a minimally-invasive device and is the first in a family of PEEK-on-PEEK articulating discs and implants developed by Pioneer.

IMGCF co-manager Charles Rothstein, of Beringea, Inc., commented, “With its focus on one of the largest, fastest growing and most profitable segments in the medical device industry, we feel confident Pioneer Surgical will be a valuable addition to the IMGCF portfolio.”

The NuBac implant system is the only Nucleus Replacement device that utilizes an articulating inner ball and socket design that seeks to achieve load sharing and uniform stress distribution under various physiological loading conditions while minimizing extrusion risk. The NuBac implant is made of PEEK-OPTIMA material which offers well established biocompatibility, biodurability, excellent wear resistance, and radiolucency.

San Francisco, California-based Thomas Weisel Partners served as sole financial advisor to Pioneer in connection with the Series B financing.

About Pioneer Surgical Technology

Pioneer Surgical Technology, Inc., headquartered in Marquette, Michigan, is a dynamic medical device firm with a full line of cutting-edge motion preservation devices, either available commercially in Europe or under clinical evaluation in the U.S. Pioneer’s signature articulating P3(TM) Technology — Pioneer PEEK-on-PEEK, in its NuBac(TM) disc arthroplasty system, BacJac(TM) interspinous decompression system, and NuNec(TM) artificial cervical disc, is the most technologically advanced in the industry. Currently, Pioneer offers a diverse portfolio of next generation spinal fusion devices. Pioneer’s focus on innovation has resulted in over 100 U.S. and foreign patents with numerous patents pending. The company established a Biologics Division following two acquisitions in 2007. Pioneer Orthobiologics is developing a rich pipeline of products indicated for a variety of spinal and orthopaedic applications. Pioneer focuses on developing products which are easier and faster for the surgeon, cost effective for the health care system, and provide better patient outcomes. www.pioneersurgical.com

About InvestMichigan! Growth Capital Fund

The InvestMichigan! Fund is an economic development initiative created by Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm. The fund is designed to retain and attract businesses to the State of Michigan and further develop the State’s entrepreneurial ecosystem. The Growth Capital Program is co-managed by Beringea, a Michigan-based venture capital firm experienced in geographically targeted investment programs, and Credit Suisse’s Customized Fund Investment Group, a highly-respected global network of funds and co-investments. info@beringea.com

About Pharos Capital Group, LLC

Based in Dallas and Nashville, Pharos Capital Group currently has approximately $600 million in capital under management. Pharos primarily invests $10 to $30 million in companies seeking later stage equity funding for internal growth, acquisitions, management buyouts or recapitalizations across industry sectors, with particular focus on health care, business services, and applied technology. www.pharosfunds.com

About Highlander Partners, LP

Highlander Partners is a private investment firm located in Dallas, Texas. The firm’s core industries of interest and expertise are healthcare services, medical devices, specialized food ingredients, and building products and services. The principals of Highlander bring extensive operating and financial experience to bear in their investments. Highlander is also the majority general partner of Highlander Partners Healthcare Fund, a long/short healthcare services and medical device hedge fund. aguiva@highlander-partners.comM

About Hopewell Ventures

Hopewell Ventures is a Chicago- and Peoria, IL-based venture capital and private equity firm providing growth and buyout capital to Midwestern businesses in a broad range of industries and stages of development. With more than a century of experience, Hopewell’s team makes initial investments of $2 to $7 million. www.hopewellventures.com

About River Cities Capital Funds

River Cities Capital Funds provides growth equity to companies primarily in healthcare and information technology. With offices in Cincinnati and Raleigh and over $390 million in capital under management, River Cities actively seeks expansion stage companies throughout the Midwest and Southeast United States. www.rccf.com.

Source: Pioneer Surgical Technology, Inc.

Taptu Secures Series B Funding and Appoints Chief Operating Officer to Drive Global Growth

Andreas Bernstrom Chosen to Oversee Global Expansion and Extend Commercial Opportunities for the Fast Growing Mobile Search Engine

CAMBRIDGE, England Taptu, the pure-play mobile search engine, has secured 6.45m in series B funding from its existing investors 3i and Sofinnova investments and has appointed Andreas Bernstrom to the position of Chief Operating Officer (COO). Andreas will be part of Taptus senior management team, responsible for managing the companys commercial growth and formalising Taptus mobile advertising position, worldwide.

The funding was secured in recognition of the success that Taptu has already achieved both here and in the United States, and to accelerate Taptus continued growth over the next 12 months.

Bernstrom has over 10 years experience driving growth in digital marketing companies. Previously COO at TradeDoubler, a leading Internet marketing company, Bernstrom expanded and grew the company in 19 markets, managing over 550 staff, and was responsible for driving the product development, marketing, sales and distribution strategies for its search, affiliate and technology products. Before working at TradeDoubler, Andreas worked at Goldman Sachs and Merrill Lynch.

Bernstrom said: With significant funding achieved, in a market where investment is hard to come by, we are poised to become an attractive proposition for marketers and advertisers looking to capitalise on the explosion in mobile web usage Gartner reveals that mobile data revenues overtook voice revenues for the first time in 2008 and that mobile search will be worth USD 12 Billion by 2013. We are best placed to offer marketers the most engaging environment in which to reach consumers with carefully targeted, relevant advertising.

Steve Ives, CEO and founder of Taptu, said: Taptu has had a stellar year, having won numerous awards including Best Mobile Search provider 2008 at the MEA awards and now achieving Series B funding from our investors. It’s great timing to bring Andreas on board. He brings with him valuable experience that will help us drive Taptu forward as a business and will play an important part in developing our business presence overseas as well as maintaining momentum in the UK.

Oliver Sichel, Partner at Sofinnova Investments, says: “With the ever-increasing adoption of the mobile internet, thanks to improved networks and new multimedia handsets, Sofinnova is extremely pleased and proud to continue to support Taptu. We have seen dramatic improvements in the Taptu service and huge growth in users over the last 12 months. Andreas Bernstrom brings with him tremendous experience in helping companies achieve sustained growth.

About Taptu

Taptu is the award winning mobile search engine. It has been championed by industry and consumers alike for its innovative approach. Taptu provides super-fast entertainment search and is experiencing exponential growth in its traffic.

Taptu is available directly to consumers at taptu.com and to mobile publishers, portals and social networks via a suite of customizable search engine APIs. Partners can leverage the power of Taptus fast mobile search engine to enable their users to search on-portal content or the broader mobile web. Moreover, as the mobile advertising market develops, Taptu is assisting their partners in readying themselves to earn revenues from mobile search via sponsored links advertising.

,i> Taptu is available by visiting http://taptu.com on any internet-enabled mobile phones with a standard mobile browser (no download required) and is accessible worldwide in English, Spanish, Italian, French and German. Founded in 2007, Taptu is privately held with investors including 3i and Sofinnova.

Source: Taptu

ESTECH Names John Pavlidis as CEO, Terry Kinninger as CFO/COO; Announces Recent Close on $11.2 Million First Tranche Financing

New Financing to Support Sales Force Expansion, Marketing and Product Development

SAN RAMON, Calif. Endoscopic Technologies, Inc. (ESTECH), a leading provider of cardiac surgery devices, announced today that it has appointed John Pavlidis as president and chief executive officer and Terry Kinninger as chief financial officer and chief operating officer. The company also announced that in September it closed on an $11.2 million first tranche of a planned $20 million in equity financing. The financing was led by Saints Capital Everest, a preeminent secondary direct investment firm. Also participating in the first tranche were existing investors Telegraph Hill Partners and Waveland Venture Partners.

Mr. Pavlidis was previously president and CEO of R2 Technology, Inc., a leader in computer-aided detection technology for mammography and lung CT scanning, where he led the companys turnaround and eventual acquisition by Hologic, Inc. Prior to that, Mr. Pavlidis was president of Siemens Medical Solutions USA, Inc.s worldwide ultrasound business for five years where he led significant restructuring and growth, including the acquisition of Acuson Corporation. Mr. Kinninger has over 25 years of executive experience managing emerging venture capital-backed medical device and technology companies. He was more recently CFO and executive vice president of business development for R2 Technology and COO and CFO of Bridge Medical.

ESTECH exemplifies our investment criteria of having outstanding intellectual property and technology, solid financial performance and a talented and committed management team, said Scott Halsted, managing director of Saints Capital Everest, which recently acquired Boston Scientific Corporations (BSX) investments in 54 companies, including ESTECH. We are particularly pleased with the appointments of John Pavlidis, with his successful track record as a CEO, and Terry Kinninger, with his broad and extensive financial and operations background. We are confident that with Johns leadership, along with this new financing, ESTECH is poised to become a global leader in the cardiac surgery industry, particularly within the surgical ablation segment.

Robert Shepler, managing director of Telegraph Hill Partners, said, As early investors in ESTECH, we continue to believe strongly in the market growth opportunities for cardiac surgery and that ESTECH is particularly well-positioned in the surgical ablation segment. Data has shown that the companys COBRA platform enables cardiac surgeons to perform ablation procedures with outstanding effectiveness and safety.

Mr. Halsted will join ESTECHs board of directors, as will Mr. Shepler, and Randy Lindholm, a veteran executive in the medical device industry.

John Pavlidis, ESTECHs new president and CEO, said, I am eager to lead ESTECH as I believe the company is uniquely poised for growth given its exclusive focus on helping cardiovascular surgeons. Our entire business is dedicated to understanding and better serving the cardiac surgeon whose instrumentation needs have been underserved as they transition to less invasive surgical procedures. We are delighted to work with Saints Capital Everest, Telegraph Hill and Waveland whose funding will enable us to take advantage our companys significant growth opportunities. This new financing will support our sales force expansion and increased marketing efforts, and will enable us to bring additional innovative products to market.

About Saints Capital Everest

Saints Capital Everest is a leading direct secondary acquirer of venture capital and private equity investments in emerging growth companies around the globe. Saints also makes traditional direct venture capital investments on a primary basis and in special situations in technology, healthcare, consumer and industrial companies in the United States. Saints is headquartered in San Francisco, with investment professionals throughout Europe and Asia. Saints currently manages funds with investments in more than 100 individual companies totaling more than $1 billion in originally invested capital. For more information, visit www.saintsvc.com.

About Telegraph Hill Partners

Telegraph Hill Partners is a private equity firm focused solely on investing in life science, medical device and healthcare companies with growing revenues, superior economic business models, outstanding management teams and a commitment to profitability. For more information, visit www.thpartners.net.

About Waveland Venture Partners

Waveland Capital Partners provides investment banking services and alternative investment opportunities in venture capital, private equity and the energy sector for its high net worth clients, institutional investors and corporate clients. For more information, visit www.wavelandgroup.com.

About ESTECH

Headquartered in San Ramon, CA, ESTECH is a pioneer in the field of Minimally Invasive Cardiac surgery and RF surgical ablation, and is also a leading supplier of Least Invasive Valve (LiV) surgery and CABG products. In the U.S., ESTECH COBRA products have a cardiac or soft tissue indication, while in Europe, ESTECH COBRA products are indicated for the surgical treatment of Atrial Fibrillation using RF surgical ablation. The COBRA line comprises the first technology invented, developed and brought exclusively to the surgical ablation market. COBRA ablation products are the first and only devices with the core technologies critical to producing transmural lesions on a beating heart to ensure deep consistent lesions with no gaps when creating any variety of lesion sets. Temperature Controlled RF energy delivery, suction assisted tissue contact and internally cooled devices provide superior ablation performance compared to other ablation systems. ESTECHs ablation products are protected by a broad portfolio of over 75 issued patents including, but not limited to: U.S. Patent Nos. 7,115,122, 6,830,576, 6,579,288, 6,241,754, 5,651,780, and 5,575,772.

Source: Endoscopic Technologies, Inc.

Image Metrics Completes $6.5 Million Series B Funding Round Led by Saffron Hill Ventures

Funds to Support Research and Development and to Grow Video Game and Film Divisions

LOS ANGELES Image Metrics, the leading provider of facial animation solutions for the entertainment industry, has completed a $6.5 million Series B round of funding led by Saffron Hill Ventures, the Companys original investor. The funds will be used to enable the development of new technologies and service offerings that will result in more cost-effective, high-quality facial animation for Image Metrics customers. It will also be used to execute industry-focused plans for Image Metrics recently announced video game and film divisions.

With a number of outstanding projects completed in both the video game and film industries this year, Image Metrics has proven that its proprietary solutions meet the growing need within the entertainment industry for high-quality facial animation, said Ranjeet Bhatia, managing director of Saffron Hill Ventures. Given the Companys track record of success, Saffron Hill Ventures is pleased to lead Image Metrics Series B round to support the evolution of its innovative business.

Twenty years ago, the entertainment industry relied on miniatures for visual effects, and the evolution to computer-generated environments opened up vast new storytelling possibilities, said Wanda Meloni, president and senior technology analyst at DFC Research. Image Metrics facial animation solutions are taking that entertainment experience one step further in its evolution. The technology empowers filmmakers and game developers to enhance the story with believable CG characters who connect with the audience at a more emotional level.

The Series B round led by Saffron Hill Ventures will fund new research and development for Image Metrics performance-driven facial animation solutions. In addition, Image Metrics will be using the funds to help the Company meet increasing demand in the film and game markets.

The company has achieved a number of milestones this year, including our work on Rockstar Games GTA IV and a groundbreaking film project, the beta launch of our performance transfer product for the film market, the addition of several key new management team members and the establishment of our Video Game and Film divisions, said Mike Starkenburg, Image Metrics CEO. The infusion of new capital in this difficult financial environment validates our ongoing commitment to helping studios cost-effectively create more immersive entertainment.

About Image Metrics

Image Metrics provides superior facial animation solutions to the interactive entertainment and film industries. Developed by a team of computer vision Ph.D.s, Image Metrics rapidly re-creates facial performances without markers or makeup, achieving levels of realism and fidelity that are unparalleled in computer graphics. Image Metrics solutions enjoy widespread adoption by some of the best-known production studios in the entertainment world, including Digital Domain, Rockstar Games and Sony Computer Entertainment. Image Metrics has offices in Santa Monica, California and Manchester, U.K.

Source: Image Metrics

Venture Capitalists See Revenue Growth Still Possible Amid Difficult Economic Environment

Less than 20 percent of VC portfolio poised for exit in 2009 as IPO market recovery not seen for at least a year; M&A activity seen increasing as valuations drop

NEW YORK, Dec. 15 Despite the negative ramifications of the credit crisis, declining investment activity and deal volumes, and the continuing lack of exit options for venture capital firms, venture capitalists and entrepreneurs expect increased revenues over current year, according to a recent survey by the U.S. audit, tax and advisory firm KPMG LLP. In addition, the KPMG survey found that venture investors do not see the IPO market improving for at least a year, and only a small portion of portfolios are poised for exit in 2009.

In polling 270 venture capitalists, corporate buyers and entrepreneurs, KPMG found that 73 percent of respondents expect their firm’s revenue to stay the same or increase in 2009. In fact, 52 percent expect revenue growth to increase, including 37 percent who predict revenue growth in excess of 10 percent. Only 26 percent see declining revenues in the year ahead. KPMG conducted the survey in collaboration with AlwaysOn, the venture capital new media organization.

The outlook on sustained revenue growth is the silver lining to a tough year that has seen the fewest VC portfolio companies go public since 1977. In fact, the KPMG survey found that venture capitalists expect the negative IPO trend to continue in 2009, with 88 percent of respondents expecting IPO activity to stay the same or to decline further. Additionally, 82 percent of venture capitalists surveyed indicated that they do not anticipate recovery in the IPO market for at least 12 months. The outlook on IPO activity has clearly impacted venture capital exit opportunities, and 80 percent of respondents said less than 20 percent of their portfolio is poised for exit in 2009.

The decline in IPO opportunities coupled with the expected, continued regression in valuations of venture-backed companies, may influence the venture capital community to see acquisitions as liquidity and exit opportunities. When asked about valuation of venture backed companies, 84 percent of respondents predicted decreasing valuations, while only six percent see an increase. With valuations declining, 58 percent of respondents see M&A increasing next year.

“There is no question that economic and market conditions have made the current environment difficult for venture capitalists,” said Packy Kelly, KPMG partner based in Silicon Valley and co-leader of its venture capital practice. “These conditions may lead investment firms to focus on the health of existing portfolio companies and slow the pace of investment. But the commercialization of products in the clean tech sector probably contributes to a large degree to the expected growth in revenue of emerging companies.

According to the KPMG survey, the outlook on investment levels and deal volume for 2009 mirrors the views on IPO activity. In fact, 74 percent of respondents expect overall venture investment to decrease and 82 percent see a decline in deal volume. While it is uncertain when venture investment will trend back up, 50 percent of venture capitalists surveyed don’t expect that up-tick to occur until the second half of 2009, while 32 percent predict it won’t happen until 2010 or beyond. Only 18 percent predict the turnaround in venture funding will start in the first two quarters of 2009.

While overall investment levels are expected to be lower, the KPMG survey found that 2009 funding will be targeted toward key geographic regions and industry segments. Respondents indicated that China, India and Israel will be the most attractive regions for venture capital, while clean tech, life sciences, mobile and digital entertainment will remain the hot industries.

“While overall funding will decrease, venture capitalists will continue to invest in those areas they feel will provide the best return on investment,” said Brian Hughes, KPMG partner based in Philadelphia and co-leader of its venture capital practice. “Not surprisingly, they continue to be bullish on emerging markets and industry sectors, such as clean tech, that project near term growth.”

Another indication of the current market conditions’ negative impact on the venture community can be seen in attitudes toward start-up investing. Ninety-seven percent of venture capitalists surveyed said the credit crisis will have an adverse effect on the availability of venture financing to start-up companies, and 73 percent said it will be harder to get debt or lease financing.

KPMG LLP, the audit, tax and advisory firm (www.us.kpmg.com), is the U.S. member firm of KPMG International. KPMG International’s member firms have 123,000 professionals, including more than 7,100 partners, in 145 countries.

Source: KPMG LLP

Worksoft Closes Equity Funding Round with Crescendo Ventures and Austin Ventures

DALLAS Worksoft, Inc., a leading provider of solutions that accelerate deployments of SAP applications, today announced it has closed an equity round of funding from investment firms Crescendo Ventures and Austin Ventures in the midst of uncertain economic times and expects to use the funds to continue to grow the business and continue to develop next-generation Worksoft Certify software solutions for testing automation and business process validation in the ERP and SAP market.

To have top-tier investment firms Crescendo and Austin Ventures provide funding at a time when it is near impossible to get funding is great validation for Worksoft and emphasizes what we have been telling the market that there is a paradigm shift occurring in the testing automation space and Worksoft is well-positioned to be the leader, said Bruce Johnson, Worksoft CEO and president. That our customers are the whos who of the Fortune 500 and 1000 is key: these leading innovators know that automating their business processes will help them maintain their competitiveness in difficult times, while simultaneously helping position them for growth, Johnson said.

About Worksoft Certify Life Cycle Management Solutions

The Worksoft Certify Life Cycle Management Solution provides unmatched technology to maximize value of ERP investments by minimizing risk and leveraging information in ERP and peripheral systems. This patented methodology allows for point-and-click usability, so tests are easily defined, executed, and managed directly from configuration blueprints. Unlike traditional code-based automation approaches, the Worksoft Certify Life Cycle Management Solution store all assets as data that can be quickly configured, analyzed and maintained without need for technical skills or custom code. This innovative approach can accelerate the time to deployment of rollouts, modifications, upgrades and service packs by up to 60 percent, while improving operational reliability; providing a detailed audit trail of validation results for compliance; and capturing reusable business process knowledge for training, documentation and reporting.

About Worksoft, Inc.

Worksoft pioneers innovative approaches to software quality testing, and is a premier provider of lifecycle automation solutions for use with SAP solutions to reduce the total cost of ownership for users. Worksofts unique scriptless or code-free approach to creating and maintaining test cases speeds the rollout of SAP solutions by up to 60 percent; shortens time-to-value by improving reliability of business processes; and meets compliance, training and reporting requirements through the auto-generation of documentation and capture of reusable business process knowledge. Worksoft’s customers include industry leaders in manufacturing, financial services, government, healthcare, retail and transportation. Worksoft was founded in 1998 and has its headquarters in Dallas, Texas.

www.worksoft.com

Read Worksoft founder Linda Hayes Test Smarter blog at http://worksoftinc.blogspot.com/.

Read and download white papers, data sheets, and more that describe the benefits of Worksoft Certify Life Cycle Management solutions on Worksofts download center at www.worksoft.com/solutions/downloads.php.

About Crescendo Ventures

Crescendo Ventures is a globally focused venture capital firm that provides early-stage funding and growth resources to high-potential companies. By collaborating with entrepreneurial teams to grow market-leading companies, Crescendo Ventures uses its industry expertise, team-based development model and global network to help high-growth companies achieve their full potential. Founded in 1993, Crescendo Ventures manages more than $1 billion from its headquarters in Palo Alto, California. For additional information on Crescendo Ventures or their portfolio, please visit www.crescendoventures.com.

About Austin Ventures

Austin Ventures (AV) has worked with talented entrepreneurs to build valuable companies for nearly 25 years. With $3.9 billion under management, AV is the most active venture capital and growth equity firm in Texas and one of the most established in the nation. With a focus on business services, information services, integrated media, computer and communications hardware, and enterprise software, AV invests at all stages of company development, from $100,000 “planned experiments” in early stage ideas to $100+ million investments in expansion rounds, minority recapitalizations, and buyouts of middle market growth companies. Visit www.austinventures.com for more information.

Worksoft and Worksoft Certify are registered trademarks of Worksoft, Inc.

SAP and all SAP logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of SAP AG in Germany and in several other countries.

All other product and company names are marks of their respective owners.

Source: Worksoft, Inc.

SensorTran Closes $3.5 Million in Funding

AUSTIN, Texas SensorTran, Inc., the developer of the worlds most advanced distributed temperature sensing (DTS) technologies, today announced a $3.5 million round of venture capital financing, which will be used for working capital and to accelerate the growth of SensorTran’s Smart Grid and wellbore monitoring businesses. Participants in the round included Advantage Capital Partners, Expansion Capital Partners, WHEB Ventures, and Stonehenge Capital Company.

SensorTran, the only North American DTS manufacturer, develops distributed asset monitoring solutions that offer real-time, high-resolution and continuous temperature measurements along optical fibers. The company has deployed DTS systems in all major regions of the world to monitor oil wells, pipelines, LNG tanks, and power cables. SensorTran attributes its dramatic growth to its superior technology and customer service as well as the companys flexibility to support a variety of global energy projects. SensorTrans customers include Baker Hughes, Halliburton, Austin Energy, BC Hydro, and other Fortune 1000 companies.

SensorTrans continued innovation and international sales success will make us cash-flow positive in 2009, said Kent Kalar, CEO of SensorTran. This investment will help us to continue to aggressively grow the company despite the broader economic slowdown.

Tim Cockshutt, a managing director at Advantage Capital in Austin, stated: SensorTran is a great example of an Austin company developing technology that not only impacts the bottom line, but makes a positive environmental impact as well. This additional funding will help SensorTran continue on its strong growth path while pushing the envelope on clean energy innovation.

About SensorTran

SensorTran is an ISO 9001 certified, global supplier of fiber optic-based distributed monitoring solutions. Customers benefiting from SensorTrans DTS technology include many of the worlds largest energy providers. DTS systems, which can be customized for any language, have applications in downhole oil & gas, transmission and distribution power cable monitoring, pipeline flow assurance and leak monitoring, process vessel hot spot detection, storage tank leak detection, and environmental monitoring. For more information, visit www.sensortran.com.

About Expansion Capital Partners, LLC

Founded in 2002, Expansion Capital Partners, LLC, invests venture capital exclusively in expansion-stage, Clean Technology enterprises. The firm targets companies that offer dramatic improvements in resource efficiency and productivity, while creating more economic value with less energy and materials, or less waste and toxicity. Clean Technology Fund II, LP, invests in US and Canadian enterprises with current customer revenues of $2-30 million, combined with solid prospects of attaining $30-$100M in revenues within 3-5 years. The fund makes initial investments of $3M to $10M, with its Partners taking active, value-add Board roles. Expansion Capital has offices in San Francisco and New York. Further information can be found at www.expansioncapital.com.

About Advantage Capital Partners

Advantage Capital Partners (www.advantagecap.com) is a leading venture capital and small business finance firm focused on early stage companies and other investments supporting state and local economic development efforts. With offices and partners in Austin, New Orleans, St. Louis and other U.S. cities, Advantage has raised more than $1 billion in capital since 1992 and invested in companies located in geographic areas underserved by traditional venture capital.

Source: SensorTran, Inc.

Do Not Raise Tax Rates on Venture Capital Carried Interest, Urges Ohio Trade Group

CLEVELAND The U.S. Congress should not raise the tax rate on venture capital carried interest, as this would undermine support for entrepreneurship, particularly in states like Ohio with fragile economies, urged the Ohio Venture Association in a position paper. The board of the Greater Cincinnati Venture Association also voted to endorse the position paper. Several proposals to either treat carried interest as ordinary income, raise the tax rate on carried interest capital gains, or both have been discussed and circulated on Capitol Hill.

Venture capital, particularly early stage venture capital, is just beginning to penetrate traditionally late adopting markets across the Midwest. Early stage venture capital is generally managed locally by smaller, risk-taking venture capital firms that expect to manage investments in companies for five to nine years. A large part of their compensation is carried interest, which is the share the firms earn in the equity gain of the businesses in which they invest. The presence of locally managed early stage venture capital is critical to supporting the transition of mature economies into entrepreneurial economics. An increase in tax rates borne by venture capital will slow or arrest the significant progress that has been made. For more information see the position paper, Tax Rates on Carried Interest.

The Ohio Venture Association is a Northeast Ohio membership organization for entrepreneurs, angel investors, venture capital investors and support industries.

Source: Ohio Venture Association

SEMPRUS BioSciences Closes $8M Series A Financing

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. SEMPRUS BioSciences, Corp. (SEMPRUS), a privately held biomedical company, announced today that it has secured $8 million in Series A financing co-led by 5AM Ventures and Pangaea Ventures. SEMPRUS is the developer of an innovative technology platform aimed at reducing medical device complications in areas of infections, thrombus, restenosis and bone integration. The company had previously raised $2.5M in seed financing from private investors and 5AM Ventures.

The SEMPRUS platform adds a permanent, non-leaching surface architecture to medical devices, providing long-term antimicrobial and anti-thrombogenic solutions. The versatility of the SEMPRUS platform enables it to work with medical device surfaces ranging from plastics (such as catheters) to metals (such as orthopedic implants). The proceeds of this financing will be used to advance SEMPRUS product candidates.

Patients suffer and the cost to hospitals and insurers is escalating due to a dramatic increase in infections and other preventable events. Our aim is to alleviate this pain by becoming the industry standard for reducing complications and healthcare costs associated with medical devices, said David L. Lucchino, Chief Executive Officer and co-founder of SEMPRUS. Our investors continue to recognize the significant value that we are building by providing a solution for the delivery of high quality and efficient healthcare.

We are excited about the sophisticated approach SEMPRUS is employing to make permanent modifications to medical device surfaces in order to address the significant issue of device related infections and other device related complications, said Dr. Scott Rocklage, Chairman of SEMPRUS BioSciences and a Managing Partner at 5AM Ventures. The SEMPRUS platform will do this while playing a revolutionary role in enhancing the long-term efficacy and safety of a broad range of medical devices.

According to Pangaea Ventures Partner, Dr. Purnesh Seegopaul, I am excited to be involved with the company whose unique platform will lead the way in harnessing the clinical potential of novel long-term solutions for medical devices. The SEMPRUS team is a well balanced group with the industry, scientific, and entrepreneurial skills that will create a step change for the medical device industry.

SEMPRUS, originally incorporated as SteriCoat Corporation, got its start by winning entrepreneurial competitions at MIT, Harvard, Oxford and Cambridge Universities in 2006. The four MIT founders are Dr. Robert Langer, an MIT Institute Professor, Chief Technology Officer Dr. Chris Loose, CEO David L. Lucchino, and Dr. Gregory Stephanopoulos, Bayer Professor of Chemical Engineering at MIT.

About SEMPRUS BioSciences, Corp.

SEMPRUS BioSciences is a privately held biotechnology company developing functional surfaces to prevent medical device complications. Its initial product development efforts are focused on the first implantable and permanently antimicrobial and anti-thrombogenic surface technology. SEMPRUS value proposition to purchasers is to reduce the likelihood of medical device complications. These costs usually comes out of a hospital’s bottom line. Its value proposition to medical users is to improve patient health and reduce liability without requiring a change in practices.

The company has licensed a large patent estate on a worldwide exclusive basis and has assembled a board of directors and management team that draws from companies and institutions such as ARROW International, Cubist Pharmaceutical, J&J, Boston Scientific, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. For more information, please visit the companys web site at www.SEMPRUSBIO.com.

About 5AM Ventures

Founded in 2002, 5AM Ventures makes seed and early-stage investments in next generation life science companies. Formed by successful industry executives and veteran venture capitalists, the 5AM team takes a focused, hands-on approach to company building. The 5AM portfolio is diversified among innovative platforms, spinouts from established biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies, and companies developing near-term products. With over $200 million under management, 5AM has invested in more than 20 companies during the past five years and is actively investing 5AM Ventures II, a $150 million fund. For more information on 5AM Ventures, please visit www.5AMVENTURES.com.

About Pangaea Ventures

Pangaea Ventures is a venture capital firm that invests in early-stage advanced materials, energy and environmental technology companies. It has offices in Vancouver and New Jersey and makes investments across the United States and Canada.

Managing two funds at this time, the Pangaea team provides effective support to its portfolio companies with its deep domain knowledge coupled with start-up operational and transactional expertise. Visit www.PANGAEAVENTURES.com for more information.

Source: SEMPRUS BioSciences, Corp.

Lightwave Power, Inc. Announces Closing a Series A Investment Round with the Lead Investor Quercus Trust and 21 Ventures Co-Investing

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. Lightwave Power, Inc., a company focused on commercializing breakthrough improvements to solar cells and panels, today announced the closing of a Series A Investment Round with the Quercus Trust leading the round and 21Ventures co-investing.

This financing is an important validation of Lightwave Powers technology and founding team, and provides the company with the resources to continue to develop the next generation of solar cell technology.

David Anthony, Managing Partner of 21Ventures, said This investment is an important addition to our portfolio of Clean Technology companies. Lightwave Power is developing breakthrough solar energy technologies that can help us achieve energy independence.

ABOUT LIGHTWAVE POWER, INC

Lightwave Power, Inc. is focused on commercializing breakthrough improvements to current solar cells and panels. The company is developing inexpensive thin films that can be added to existing solar cells and panels to improve their performance and is also developing optical antennas that directly convert solar energy into electrical energy. The company is privately held and was founded in 2008. www.lightwavepower.com

ABOUT THE QUERCUS TRUST

The Quercus Trust of Newport Beach, California is recognized as one of the leading cleantech venture funds in North America with strategic investments in the clean technology areas of solar, water, bio-fuels, wind and batteries.

The Quercus Trust is known to provide more value than just funding and takes a long-term view of invested capital leveraging its industry expertise and relationships for the benefit of its portfolio companies.

ABOUT 21VENTURES

21Ventures, LLC is a venture capital fund focusing on the technologies and ideas that will dominate the 21st century. Its fields of expertise include clean technologies, mobile software and security. 21Ventures invests primarily in early-seed companies possessing proprietary technologies poised to change the market landscape. For more information visit www.21Ventures.net.

Source: 21Ventures, LLC

Michigan Pre-Seed Capital Fund Invests in Three More Michigan Start-Ups

ANN ARBOR, Mich., Dec. 11 Three more Michigan start-up companies recently received investment commitments through the Michigan Pre-Seed Capital Fund: Arbor Photonics, Armune Bioscience and Aursos. To date, 28 Michigan companies have received a combined $6 million in critical seed funding through the Michigan Pre-Seed Capital Fund, a collaborative effort of Michigan’s 12 SmartZones.

“The Michigan Pre-Seed Capital Fund has had consistent deal flow since its inception last year, highlighting the need for start-up funding in the state,” said Skip Simms, Michigan Pre-Seed Capital Fund administrator. “Michigan’s start-up economy is thriving and the Pre-Seed Capital Fund is an important catalyst in the success of the businesses choosing to call our state home. More than $6 million has been invested in Michigan’s economic future through the Pre-Seed Fund.”

Recent funding recipients are:

— Arbor Photonics, sponsored by Ann Arbor SPARK, received $250,000. Arbor Photonics is developing a 3C optical fiber laser for the manufacturing sector, based on technology developed at the University of Michigan.

— Armune Bioscience, sponsored by the Kalamazoo SmartZone, received $200,000. Armune’s prostate cancer diagnostic test and prognostic test make significant advancements from current diagnostic and prognostic tests available on the market today. Armune is also developing a lung cancer diagnostic test and a lung cancer prognostic test.

— Aursos, sponsored by the Kalamazoo SmartZone, received $200,000. Aursos specializes in parathyroid hormone (PTH) treatments for osteoporosis that increase bone formation and decrease bone degradation.

To date, 25 additional seed-stage companies have received funding through the Michigan Pre-Seed Capital Fund. Fund recipients are:

— XG Sciences, Inc., Lansing
— Phrixus Pharmaceuticals, Ann Arbor
— Hybra-Drive Systems, LLC, Deerfield
— ParkingCarma, Flint
— OTO Medicine, Ann Arbor
— Pixel Velocity, Inc., Ann Arbor
— SensiGen LLC, Ann Arbor
— EADevices, Inc., Kalamazoo
— MedElute, Inc., Kalamazoo
— Danotek Motion Technologies, LLC, Ann Arbor
— Saleztrack, Detroit
— Compendia Bioscience, Inc., Ann Arbor
— Avidimer Therapeutics, Inc., Ann Arbor
— RazorThreat, Royal Oak
— Functional Brands, Detroit
— JADI, Troy
— Venomix, Kalamazoo
— Accord BioMaterials, Ann Arbor
— Cielo MedSolutions, Ann Arbor
— Afid Therapeutics, Lansing
— ERT Systems, Ann Arbor
— Emiliem, Kalamazoo
— 3IS, Novi
— Fulcrum Composites, Midland
— Global Energy, Flint

To qualify for the Michigan Pre-Seed Capital Fund, a start-up company must have the sponsorship of its local SmartZone and have received grant, angel or venture capital funding greater or equal to funding requested of the Michigan Pre-Seed Capital Fund.

The Michigan Pre-Seed Capital Fund is an equity investment fund and will receive the same returns on its investment as the third party investor. The returns that the Michigan Pre-Seed Capital Fund receives from its investments will serve as seed money for the Fund’s continuation.

Source: Ann Arbor SPARK

Accel Partners Closes Two New Funds

PALO ALTO, Calif. and LONDON, Dec. 11 Accel Partners, a leading global venture capital firm, today announced the closing of two new funds, Accel Growth Fund at $480 million and Accel London III at $525 million. “We’re very pleased with the support of our long-time investors in these unique economic times,” said Jim Breyer, Partner at Accel, “and this milestone represents a continued validation of Accel’s strategy to back the leading technology and media companies globally, from inception through growth.”

Accel Growth Fund represents an important extension to the Accel Palo Alto team’s twenty-five year old venture capital practice. The fund will focus on growth equity opportunities across a broad range of sectors, including: information technology, internet, digital media, mobile, networking, software, and services. As with Accel’s early-stage efforts, Accel Growth Fund will play an active role in helping entrepreneurs and management teams build category-defining, global businesses.

“We are excited to expand Accel’s early-stage efforts to now include investments in attractive, growing businesses across all stages of the private company life cycle,” said Theresia Gouw Ranzetta, Partner at Accel.

The Accel Growth Fund will be managed by Andrew Braccia, Jim Breyer, Kevin Efrusy, Sameer Gandhi, Ping Li, Arthur Patterson, Theresia Gouw Ranzetta, Jim Swartz, Peter Wagner, and Rich Wong, the same partners from Accel’s most recent early-stage partnership, Accel X.

Accel London III will continue to invest in early stage and growth companies across Europe and Israel in Accel’s historical sectors of expertise, including information technology, internet, software, media, mobile, and communications.

“We are proud to have earned the support of our industry’s elite investors,” said Kevin Comolli, Partner at Accel London. “The successful raising of Accel London III is a tribute to the quality of our team and portfolio, the huge market opportunity in the region and the distinctiveness of Accel’s global approach.”

“Accel London is uniquely positioned as the only leading venture firm operating in Europe with a Silicon Valley heritage and a global footprint,” said Bruce Golden, Partner at Accel London. “Entrepreneurs who are truly focused on building defining, standalone public companies, are seeking investors with the expertise, global network of resources, patience and ambition to help them achieve their dream of creating the next market leader. Our mission is essentially to find and support this growing community of talented entrepreneurs in Europe and Israel.”

Accel London has experienced tremendous success working in the European and Israeli early stage and growth environment, where it has been able to offer world-class entrepreneurs a combination of Silicon Valley best practice experience, and intimate knowledge of local investment requirements in Europe and Israel. A few of Accel London’s current investments include Alfresco, Amobee, Check24, Gameforge, Kayak, Qliktech, Playfish, Super Derivatives, and Varonis.

Accel London is led by Partners Kevin Comolli, Sonali De Rycker, Bruce Golden, Harry Nelis, Simon Levene and Kaj-Erik Relander. The team offers a unique blend of experiences in investment, technology, and management.

About Accel Partners

Founded in 1983, Accel Partners has a long history of excellence and innovation in the venture capital business and is dedicated to partnering with outstanding entrepreneurs and management teams to build world-class companies. Accel today invests globally using dedicated teams and market-specific strategies for local geographies, with offices in Palo Alto, California; London, UK; and Bangalore, India; as well as in China via the IDG-Accel Partnership.

With over $6 billion under management, Accel has helped entrepreneurs build over 300 successful category-defining companies including: Actuate, Alfresco, AMCC, Arrowpoint, Baidu, BBN, Brightcove, ComScore, Etsy, Facebook, Focus Media, Foundry Networks, Gameforge, GlamMedia, Imperva, Infinera, Interwoven, JBoss, Kayak, Macromedia, metroPCS, Mu Sigma, Polycom/PictureTel, Portal Software, QlikTech, Rapt, Real Networks, Redback Networks, Riverbed, Sohu.com, UUNet, Veritas, Walmart.com, Webroot, XenSource, and Zimbra. For more information, visit the Accel Partners web site at http://www.accel.com.

Source: Accel Partners

Anvato Raises $2 Million to Expand Its 'Human Eye' Search Technology to Contextual Advertising

Anvato’s exclusive technology enables publishers to identify and claim ownership of online videos and monetize them via contextual ads.

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., Dec. 11 Anvato Inc. (www.anvato.com) announced it has raised $2 million of $4 million in Series A funding on the heels of launching its one-of-a-kind video identification and monetization service. Anvato uses computer machine vision to analyze videos and does not require meta-tags or watermarks to be embedded inside the videos. The company uses this technology to track copyrighted videos across the Internet and control their distribution and monetization from a single point. Using Anvato, publishers can opt in advertising where both publishers and distributors convert a legal liability into profits.

Oxantium Ventures, a premier technology investment firm, was this round’s lead investor. “We saw an enormous potential in Anvato’s technology to revolutionize the way video advertising is done on the Internet, and made an investment to fuel its growth,” said Ammar Qusaibaty from the Oxantium team, who will join Anvato’s Board of Directors.

Anvato said it will use the funds to launch AdMatch, its video advertising platform that enables video publishers to track and monetize their online videos through contextual advertising.

With its Content ID product, Anvato already possesses the unique capability to index any video – including major national broadcast network channels – live and track their consumption on online video distribution sites such as YouTube, Veoh and DailyMotion. AdMatch expands this offering by allowing video publishers to insert relevant, unobtrusive ads into their videos and benefit from the viral distribution of their content.

“The Series A investment will enable us to grow our business at a critical juncture where the adoption of online video is growing at an exponential pace and video publishers are looking for the best options to monetize their intellectual property,” said Alper Turgut, cofounder and chief executive officer. “With this round of funding we will expand our service offering to provide our media partners better tools to track, distribute and monetize video online.”

Anvato is positioned to be the complete solution provider to facilitate sustainable business models for premium content owners and distributors. Using Anvato’s platform, video publishers can distribute their video assets openly, having all the tools they need to track and control their distribution and monetization from a single point.

About Anvato

Anvato is the first company that effectively applies cutting-edge computer machine vision to content protection and contextual advertising. Anvato enables content publishers to track and monetize their content via advertising while enabling advertisers to deliver better targeted messages and engage users by leveraging video context.

Anvato’s patent-pending technology, Perceptual Signature(TM), uses machine vision to extract knowledge about objects, scenes and visual cues from videos.

Founded in 2007, Anvato is headquartered in Mountain View, CA and can be found on the web at www.Anvato.com.

About Oxantium Ventures

Oxantium Ventures is a premiere technology investment group supporting companies at seed, early, and growth stage by providing capital, insight, and years of experience in research, industry, and government. Headquartered in Washington, DC with a global investment strategy Oxantium’s team invests to shape tomorrow by empowering passionate and talented entrepreneurs from imagination to innovation to commercialization. Its technology focus areas include emerging computing, wireless everywhere, collaboration, and enabling technologies. To learn more about Oxantium, visit www.oxantiumventures.com.

Source: Anvato Inc.

Healionics Corporation Completes Series B Financing

REDMOND, Wash. Healionics Corporation, a provider of tissue regeneration and device bio-integration solutions to healthcare manufacturers, today announced that it has raised $2.6 million in a Series B financing from private investors. The financing includes funding from several angel networks including Bellingham Angels, Alliance of Angels, Keiretsu, Tacoma Angel Network and Zino Society.

This financing reflects the great progress Healionics has made over the past year, including doubling the number of research agreements for our STAR biomaterial and consistently achieving corporate milestones such as scaling up manufacturing processes, accelerating preclinical studies and advancing business development activities, said Robert Brown, Chief Executive Officer of Healionics. We are pleased to receive such support in this current economic climate. These funds will enable the company to continue to make significant progress in achieving key milestones, including additional preclinical studies and development of a degradable form of STAR material that will provide further evidence of the efficacy and versatility of STAR biomaterial.

Healionics closed a Series A financing for $1.7 million earlier this year. To date, the company has secured 14 commercial research agreements to evaluate STAR biomaterial in multiple market applications including human aesthetics, obesity, diabetes, wound care, and infusion devices. The company recently entered into a multi-million dollar manufacturing, supply and distribution agreement with TR BioSurgical, LLC (TRBIO) for use of STAR biomaterial in a veterinary glaucoma implant, which is planned for limited market launch in Q1 2009.

About Healionics Corporation

Healionics is a privately held biomaterials company whose mission is to be the leading provider of tissue regeneration and device biointegration solutions to healthcare manufacturers. The Companys flagship STAR – Sphere Templated Angiogenic Regeneration biomaterial scaffold is a next generation biomaterial scaffold designed to enhance bio-integration and promote healing of implanted medical devices. Healionics Corporation is headquartered in Redmond, Washington. For more information, please visit http://www.healionics.com.

Source: Healionics Corporation

SnapMyLife Raises Additional $5 Million in Funding

Financing to further develop million user mobile-web photo-sharing community

NEEDHAM, Mass. SnapMyLife, the leading mobile photo-sharing site, today announced it has raised a new $5 million round of funding, led by current investors North Bridge Venture Partners and Carmel Ventures. This investment will be used to further expand SnapMyLifes service with new features, stronger international presence and global partnerships. SnapMyLife is owned and operated by Mobicious, Inc.

Three billion mobile phones worldwide enable people to instantly capture and share moments of their lives. SnapMyLife is the first mobile-oriented service to allow a wide range of consumers to easily share photos, while building a global community of friends, said George Grey, founder and CEO of SnapMyLife. SnapMyLifes premium demographic, high quality content and location-based services set us apart and offer advertisers a unique opportunity to reach older and more affluent consumers. The additional commitment from current investors will enable us to expand our global footprint and add new services in the future.

We invest in companies with high growth potential and believe in the value that SnapMyLife is creating, said Jamie Goldstein, general partner, North Bridge Venture Partners. We are pleased to provide additional investment to enable SnapMyLife to continue on its aggressive growth path.

SnapMyLife was launched in April, 2008 and has quickly grown to more than 1.5 million unique visitors per month and over 500,000 registered users. Mobile phone users from every country in the world use SnapMyLife to share pictures, make friends, see location-tagged pictures on interactive maps, add favorites, comment and chat.

SnapMyLife has carved out a differentiated offering in the mobile social networking space, said Rina Shainski, general partner, Carmel Ventures. We expect SnapMyLife to do well in the current climate, with a strong management team and a compelling service that provides advertisers with high quality, targeted content and users.

About SnapMyLife

SnapMyLife (http://www.snapmylife.com) is the leading mobile-web community for instantly sharing and discovering photos from locations around the world. The site is optimized for viewing directly on mobile phones, offers location tagging and interactive picture maps, and uses sophisticated filtering technology to ensure a great experience for a wide range of audiences and advertisers. SnapMyLife is venture-backed and headquartered in Needham, Massachusetts.

About North Bridge Venture Partners

North Bridge Venture Partners is an active, early-stage venture capital firm based in the Boston area. With approximately $1.3 billion under management, North Bridge focuses on investments in the communications, software and other technology markets. Working closely with entrepreneurs, North Bridge adds value by providing strategic guidance, specific industry knowledge, team-building skills and an in-depth understanding of both private and public financings. Past investments include ArrowPoint Communications, Cascade Communications, eRoom Technology, Phase Forward, Solidworks, Sonus Networks, Sycamore Networks and Wellfleet Communications. For more information about the company, please visit www.nbvp.com.

About Carmel Ventures

With over $600 million currently under management, several successful exits, and a growing portfolio of promising start-ups, Carmel is among Israels top-tier venture capital funds. Carmels investments are focused primarily on early stage companies in the fields of Software, Communications, Internet, Media, Semiconductors, and Consumer Electronics. Founded in 2000, Carmel provides significant capital and active, hands-on support through the growth cycle of its portfolio companies and is recognized as a true company building fund. Carmel, headquartered in Herzliya, Israel, enjoys a worldwide network of industry, strategic and investment resources. Carmel is an affiliate of the Viola Group, a leading innovative private equity investment group with over $1.8B under management. For more information, please visit www.carmelventures.com.

All trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

Source: SnapMyLife

DecisionView Announces Series D Round Investment

Leading Provider of Business Performance Optimization Applications in Life Sciences Secures Capital for Continued Growth

SAN FRANCISCO, Dec. 10 DecisionView, Inc., the leading provider of business performance optimization applications for the Life Sciences industry, today announced the close of its Series D investment with Granite Ventures, Adobe Ventures and Aeris Capital.

“The continued confidence demonstrated by our venture capital partners — Granite Ventures, Adobe Ventures and Aeris Capital, further validates DecisionView’s business strategy and growth opportunity,” said Steve Andrade, CEO of DecisionView. “Their investment in DecisionView, especially during this dynamic global economic period, allows us to continue to remain acutely focused on our business strategy and deliver innovative solutions and value to the life sciences industry.”

The additional funding will be applied to DecisionView’s strategic growth opportunities for expanding its distinctive platform for improving the performance of clinical trials. This includes the Company’s flagship application, StudyOptimizer, the first Web-based clinical trial enrollment software that enables companies to optimize the clinical trial recruitment and enrollment process for greater predictability, faster cycle times and reduced costs.

“DecisionView’s software continues to make a positive and significant impact on the way life sciences companies approach their clinical studies,” said Chris Hollenbeck, managing director, Granite Ventures. “With the increased economic and operational pressures on pharmaceutical companies today, DecisionView is poised for significant growth with product offerings that provide tangible value.”

“DecisionView is bringing truly unique applications to the clinical trial market and this financing will allow the company to continue to expand on their innovative offerings,” said David Hartford, managing director at Aeris Capital.

Recently, DecisionView announced several new features and enhancements to StudyOptimizer 4.0 including an innovative user interface framework, new analytic engine, an enterprise-class J2EE server and enhanced administration capabilities. StudyOptimizer 4.0 represented a major milestone for DecisionView with new features designed to improve user experience, performance, scalability and reliability.

About DecisionView, Inc.

DecisionView develops innovative software solutions that optimize the clinical performance of life sciences organizations around the world. By uniquely converging predictive analytics, simulation, visualization and data aggregation capabilities into functionally rich and easy to use applications, the company’s solutions deliver proven business value in faster cycle times, reducing clinical costs and improving clinical productivity. To learn more, visit http://www.decisionview.com.

About Adobe Ventures

Adobe Ventures is a targeted venture capital fund supported by Adobe Systems Incorporated, the world’s leading provider of software solutions to create, manage and deliver high-impact, reliable digital content. Since 1994, Adobe Ventures has supported innovative companies that are strategic to Adobe’s business through a proven funding model leveraging its operational and investing expertise.

About Granite Ventures

Granite Ventures has been helping early-stage technology companies build solid foundations for success since 1992. They focus their investments in two sectors where their partners have deep domain expertise, broad industry knowledge, and significant investment experience: communications and components, and software. Granite has managed over $1 billion in venture capital and has invested in more than 90 private companies. They partner with promising and successful entrepreneurs to create businesses that have a competitive edge, and help those businesses achieve category leadership. For more information, visit http://www.granitevc.com.

Source: DecisionView, Inc.

Embotics Raises $4 Million in Financing Led By Covington Capital

Investment Will Expand Embotics Operations to Increase Enterprise Customer Reach

OTTAWA Embotics, the Virtualization Lifecycle Management Company, today announced the completion of an oversubscribed $4 million Series B financing round, which closed last week. This latest round, led by Covington Capital Corporation (Covington), will advance product development for Embotics server virtualization management technology, and expand global sales and operations. Phil Reddon, managing director, of Covington will join the Embotics Board of Directors.

What attracted us to Embotics was that its product offering capitalizes on the well-established virtualization market. Virtualization technology has become an integral part of most data centers, and the market is now looking at ways of addressing the problem of dealing with virtual sprawl. Embotics has developed products that allow their clients to manage their virtual environments in an efficient and cost-effective manner. As a result, the demand for their products continues to grow at a significant rate, said Reddon. We believe the strength of the companys product offering and highly experienced management team; coupled with Covingtons expertise in the virtualization sector, make for a strong business and investment partnership between our two organizations.

Covington Capital is one of Canadas largest providers of venture capital investment funds, managing over $300 million in assets. With an extensive network of industry professionals and partners, and comprehensive strategic and operational expertise, Covington invests in privately held companies seeking to provide a strong return over their initial investment.

We are extremely pleased to have added Covington as an investment, and strategic partner. Their proven success with supporting the evolution of a number of enterprises from early-stage start-ups through to acquisition will prove invaluable to us as we continue to build on Embotics existing successes, said Jay Litkey, CEO of Embotics. We are seeing strong market demand and this new financing will help us grow while maintaining our strong relationships with customers, who appreciate the ease of installation, out of the box functionality and strong ROI provided by our products.

About Embotics

Embotics is the Virtualization Lifecycle Management Company focused on preventing the direct and indirect costs of virtual sprawl from overwhelming virtualizations savings for its customers. Embotics V-Commander protects against the escalating costs and risks of virtual machine (VM) sprawl by authorizing, controlling, managing, securing, reclaiming and tracking all VM assets, online or offline, throughout their lifecycle. Embotics Corporation is headquartered in Ottawa, Canada with offices in the U.S. and a growing network of global partners. For more information, please visit www.embotics.com.

Source: Embotics

Emotive Communications Closes Series-B Funding of $6.25M; Acquires Sennari Entertainment

Provides Further Resource to Develop and Market Mobile Products for the Always-On Generation

LOS ANGELES Emotive Communications, the pioneer in developing smart media applications for mobile entertainment, has completed its second round of venture capital financing. The Mayfield Fund led the $6.25M cash injection, with follow-on investments by D. E. Shaw Ventures and Bertelsmann Digital Media Investments (BDMI). BDMI is a wholly owned subsidiary of Bertelsmann AG, a leading international media company. In addition, Emotive is announcing its acquisition of Sennari Entertainment, a leading developer of telecom-grade networked mobile games.

Emotives investors looked beyond current economic challenges to support a compelling early market opportunity in advanced IP networks, including 3G, 4G, LTE, WiMAX and smart phones, with a steady transition to a mass market opportunity.

The Sennari Entertainment acquisition gives Emotive access to the Sennari mobile CRM and loyalty platform. Sennari has an extensive international track record in prize-play gaming, micro payments and virtual currency transaction, like digital award redemptions.

Sennaris gaming platform combines with Emotives RingJam real-time phone-to-phone push media solution to provide an advanced mobile application suite that makes entertainment media networking more instantaneous, interactive and rewarding. Building on its legacy of innovation in the mobile personalization, entertainment and push-media telephony, Emotive will employ its expanded capabilities to reach into new markets.

Series B is further recognition that Emotive has defined an interesting niche in developing interactive products for media phones and smart networks, said Anthony Stonefield, CEO of Emotive Communications. Emotive is meeting the demand of the Always-On Generation for constantly-connected smart applications that provide instant interactive entertainment and communication through personal social networks. The acquisition of Sennari is a strategic move to deepen our expertise and effectiveness in this market.

Mayfield sees in Emotive a solid combination of management talent, product vision and market opportunity. In accordance with Emotive managements legacy, the company is at the forefront of the next wave of networked applications that connect mobile subscribers in increasingly valuable ways, said Janice Roberts, Mayfield managing director. With its proven track record of innovation and the acquisition of Sennari Entertainment, Emotive is poised to be a global leader in next-generation interactive entertainment and media networking for advanced mobile networks.

Emotive has its patented push-ringtone product, RingJam, in pre-deployment trials with major wireless carrier networks in the US, Spain, Italy and the Philippines. For further information, please visit www.emotive.com.

About Emotive Communications

Headquartered in Los Angeles, Emotive is an innovative technology company with a legacy of envisioning, developing and providing managed application services for emerging IP communication networks. Emotives consumer applications drive new revenue from media communication transactions across mobile and online channels. RingJam, the companys real-time phone-to-phone push media product, introduces active social media networking by deploying a push ringtone for 3G networks. The companys PrizePlay mobile gaming system offers a unique interactive entertainment experience, featuring automated player registration, pay-per-play and tournament gaming, as well as prize catalogs with online prize redemption. Emotive was founded by the original management of Moviso (acquired by InfoSpace) who are responsible for creating and leading the mobile ringtone market and architecting the mobile content business and wireless copyright exploitation models in North America. For further information, please visit www.emotive.com.

About Mayfield Fund

Mayfield Fund provides venture capital with impact by partnering with exceptional individuals to create industry-leading companies. Mayfield has domain expertise in communications / wireless, consumer / media, enterprise software and semiconductors. The firm has over $2.4 billion under management and a team of ten investing professionals. Since Mayfields founding in 1969, the firm has invested in more than 470 companies, taken more than 100 public and more than 100 have merged or were acquired.

About D. E. Shaw Ventures

D. E. Shaw Ventures is the venture capital unit of the D. E. Shaw group. The D. E. Shaw group is a global investment and technology development firm with more than 1,600 employees; approximately $36 billion in investment and committed capital as of October 1, 2008; and offices in North America, Europe and Asia. Since its organization in 1988, the firm has earned an international reputation for financial innovation, technological leadership, and an extraordinarily distinguished staff.

About Bertelsmann Digital Media Investments (BDMI)

Bertelsmann Digital Media Investments (BDMI) is a strategic venture investor focused on innovative digital media technologies, products and distribution channels across the globe. BDMI is a wholly owned subsidiary of Bertelsmann AG, a leading international media company with over $25 billion in revenues and over 102,000 employees across more than 50 countries. For more information, visit: www.bdmifund.com.

Bertelsmann AG is comprised of the television channels, television production companies and radio stations of Europes largest entertainment group, RTL Group (RTL Television, M6, Five, Fremantle Media) and the more than 120 publishing houses of Random House, the worlds largest trade book publisher (Alfred A. Knopf, Bantam, Goldmann). Gruner + Jahr is Europes number one magazine publisher (Stern, Geo, Neon, Capital). The Arvato media and communications services division brings together distribution, service centers and customer-relationship management, state-of-the art printing manufacturing, storage media production, mobile services and comprehensive IT services. Bertelsmanns direct-to-customer businesses are unified within the Direct Group: book, DVD and music clubs (Der Club, France Loisirs), as well as book retailers in France and Portugal. For more information, visit: www.bertelsmann.com.

Source: Emotive Communications

Jaspersoft Secures $12.5 Million in Venture Funding

Adams Street leads round to fuel growth for world’s most widely used business intelligence software; Red Hat makes strategic investment in open source BI leader

SAN FRANCISCO, Dec. 10 Jaspersoft, provider of the world’s most widely deployed business intelligence (BI) software, today announced that it has secured $12.5 million in growth equity funding, led by private equity firm Adams Street Partners. Red Hat, the world’s leading provider of open source solutions, also participated in the round, as did all of Jaspersoft’s current investors.

Jaspersoft will use the proceeds to continue to scale its business operations worldwide. Driving advancements in its products, expanding globally and fortifying partner relationships are all top initiatives for which this investment will be targeted. David Welsh, a Partner at Adams Street Partners, will join the Jaspersoft board.

“Even in this period of economic uncertainty, Jaspersoft has been experiencing unprecedented growth as the global market recognizes the power of our open source products and business model,” said Brian Gentile, CEO of Jaspersoft. “This round of financing is both an endorsement of our leadership position and a platform for future growth. We’re thrilled that Adams Street Partners and Red Hat are now part of the Jaspersoft team.”

CIOs continue to rank Business Intelligence software at the top of their “must-have” lists year after year. Jaspersoft expects the importance of BI to become even more critical in the current economic environment as managers look to BI software to help drive operational excellence and efficiency. Just last month, research firm Gartner released the results of its Executive Programs Survey, and for the third year in a row, BI applications were ranked the top technology priority by 1,500 CIOs.

“Jaspersoft is a leader in the next generation of business intelligence software. We have great confidence in its product roadmap and management team,” said David Welsh, Adams Street Partners. “Our investment today signals our commitment to companies like Jaspersoft that understand the evolving needs of business managers that must use IT solutions to drive better decisions and increase ROI through improved operations.”

Jaspersoft’s roots are firmly planted in the open source community. With more than 7 million product downloads the company hosts the largest BI community in the world; its online collaboration forum, JasperForge, is home to more than 89,000 registered developers working on more than 320 Jasper-related projects. The company was also recently named to the InfoWorld 100 list and is a recipient of the Duke’s Choice Award.

“Jaspersoft is a great example of how the open source revolution has moved from software infrastructure into the application space,” said Jim

Whitehurst, CEO at Red Hat. “Together we are providing customers high

value solutions. Most recently we’ve chosen to incorporate Jaspersoft into

our Red Hat Network Satellite. We are pleased to reinforce our strategic

relationship through this investment.”

About Jaspersoft Corporation

Jaspersoft’s open source business intelligence suite is the world’s most widely used business intelligence software, with more than 7 million total downloads worldwide and more than 9,000 commercial customers in 96 countries. The Jaspersoft Business Intelligence Suite includes products for production reporting, operational reporting, dashboard-driven end-user query & reporting, data analysis, and data integration for use with either stand-alone or embedded business intelligence applications. More information is available at www.jaspersoft.com and www.jasperforge.org.

Source: Jaspersoft

Interface Biologics secures $5mm financing and appoints Thomas P. Reeves President and Chief Executive Officer

TORONTO, Dec. 9 Interface Biologics Inc. a privately held developer of novel biomedical-polymers for use in implantable medical devices – is announcing that it has secured a $5mm financing round. Participating in the round were existing investors Covington Capital, VG Partners and BDC Capital. In connection with the financing, Lily Lam from Covington Capital is joining the Board of Directors and Thomas P. Reeves has been appointed the new President and CEO and is also joining the Board of Directors.

“We are fully committed to Interface Biologics and are excited about the continued commercialization opportunities for the Company in the near future. We’re pleased to have Tom Reeves joining the Interface team and believe his broad leadership experience – most recently as President and COO of OccuLogix, a medical device company focused on treating age related diseases from the eye (NASDAQ) – will complement our existing scientific and technical expertise as we move into the clinical application and commercialization phase with many of the Company’s novel polymer products,” said Jeff Courtney, General Partner of VG Partners. “We are also excited to welcome Lily Lam, Vice President Investments, from Covington Capital to the Board of Directors.”

“The fact that Interface has been able to raise a significant new round of financing in these difficult economic times is testament to the strength of the organization and its unique products in key applications and rich IP that crosses the spectrum of medical devices,” said Tom Reeves, President and CEO of Interface Biologics, Inc. “I am pleased to be joining the Interface team and look forward to leading the team as we capitalize on the research and development work that is solidly established and execute on the commercialization of a number of the products in our portfolio.”

About Interface Biologics: Interface Biologics is a biomaterials company based in Toronto, Canada, developing proprietary, nano-engineered biomedical-polymers for use in implantable medical devices. Our understanding of the interface between the human body and implantable biomaterials at the molecular level has driven the development of medical devices that are not only more biocompatible but also programmable for the delivery of more effective therapy.

About VG Partners: A premier Canadian private equity investment firm, VG Partners builds innovative companies into global successes. Since 1982, we have invested over $1.3 billion in almost 200 North American companies, working alongside business owners to maximize potential. The investment team provides a breadth of industry experience within technology, life sciences, industrial and consumer sectors, as well as a hands-on approach that is unparalleled. VG Partners is part of VenGrowth Private Equity Partners Inc. For more, visit www.vgpartners.com

About BDC Capital: BDC Venture Capital is a major venture capital investor in Canada, active at every stage of the company’s development cycle, from seed through expansion, with a focus on technology-based businesses that have high growth potential and that are positioned to become dominant players in their markets.

About Covington Capital: Established in 1994, Covington Capital is one of Canada’s largest providers of venture capital investment funds. Managing over $400 million in assets, Covington provides Canadians with the ability to access venture capital investment opportunities via their suite of retail venture capital product offerings.

Source: Interface Biologics Inc.

PhoenixESG Receives Venture Capital Investment

Will Fuel Expansion and Sales Initiatives for Ground-Breaking Energy Management Technology

LOS ANGELES, Dec. 9 PhoenixESG (http://www.phoenixesg.com), a firm that provides energy management, monitoring, control systems and services, announced an anchor investment from Los Angeles-based Momentum Venture Management (http://www.mvmpartners.com). The financing will support PhoenixESG’s continued expansion and strengthen the company’s sales and marketing efforts for their innovative energy-management technology.

Matt Ridenour, Managing Partner of Momentum Venture Management, has been named CEO of PhoenixESG concurrent with the financing. Mr. Ridenour assumed the position of CEO on November 1, 2008.

“Momentum believes PhoenixESG has the preeminent platform to help large enterprises, public and private, to dramatically reduce energy costs while improving their ability to make long term plans for sustainability,” said Mr. Ridenour. “We feel that the timing is ideal to bring cost saving energy management technology to businesses and universities which have, and will continue to see, dramatic energy cost increases.”

Fernando Ramirez, Co-Founder of PhoenixESG concurs, “Our clients can expect to be up and running within 60 days and in most cases they will pay for our systems in the first 8-12 months with a strong recurring ROI thereafter. Equally important, we help our clients report to their constituents about what they are doing to build a more sustainable and environmentally friendly business.”

“In addition to the development of our systems and services, we were methodical in our search for the right CEO for our company,” said Lisa Varga, Co-Founder of PhoenixESG. “Matt’s extensive senior management experience and skill with VC-backed technology companies is a great compliment to our team of industry experts. Together, we are well positioned to aggressively grow the business and scale our operations very quickly.”

About PhoenixESG

PhoenixESG provides businesses with energy conservation management, monitoring, control systems and services. Information about PhoenixESG can also be found at http://www.phoenixesg.com. PhoenixESG’s proprietary technology platform is backwards compatible with hundreds of legacy energy management systems and is quickly deployed with almost immediate payback and high continuing ROI. The company currently manages over $1B in annual energy spend on behalf of Fortune 1000 companies and large universities.

About Momentum Venture Management (http://www.mvmpartners.com)

Momentum Venture Management is a Los Angeles based firm that provides funding and senior management to high growth, early stage technology companies. Information about Momentum can also be found at http://www.mvmpartners.com.

Source: PhoenixESG

Roost, Inc. Secures $8 Million in New Funding

SAN FRANCISCO Roost, Inc. (www.roost.com), the fastest, most comprehensive search engine for finding your dream home, today announced it has secured $8 million in new funding. Led by Shasta Ventures, this investment will enable Roost to continue to revolutionize online real estate search and expand into additional markets. Also today, Roost announced a partnership with First American CoreLogic that brings foreclosed home listings to the site, dramatically expanding Roost.com’s overall listings to more than 3 million.

“Some may wonder why we would choose to invest in a real estate search company in one of the most challenging housing and credit markets in recent history,” said Jason Pressman, managing director at Shasta Ventures who will join the Roost board of directors. “In this tumultuous time, many Americans are looking for an investment alternative to the stock market. Roost is able to provide the most accurate picture of a given housing market and therefore help consumers make truly informed decisions.”

Since its launch earlier this year, Roost has developed individual partnerships with more than 100 local real estate brokers and Multiple Listing Service (MLS) boards across the nation in its drive to offer prospective home buyers the most comprehensive and accurate set of homes for sale in their area. At the same time, Roost.com drives high-quality consumer traffic to its partners’ websites. It’s never been more critical for Real Estate brokers to be able to measure the ROI on every marketing dollar spent, said Alex Chang, CEO of Roost.com. Unlike other types of advertising, Roost is performance based and puts the broker in control. These are the forces that are fueling our growth.

The addition of foreclosure listings from First American CoreLogic to the existing set of MLS, For Sale by Owner and New Construction listings means Roost.com now offers an even more complete view of available homes in communities across the country.

Shasta Ventures joins existing Roost investors General Catalyst Partners, The Cross Country Group LLC and Geolo Capital, who together supplied the company’s initial $5.5 million in capital and also contributed to the funding announced today.

How Roost.com Works

Roost.com is a blazing-fast search engine that sits atop a hosted network of IDX, or Internet Data Exchange, sites. IDX is a national data sharing standard among real estate brokers. Most popular real estate search sites are listing aggregators, and unlike IDX sites these sites get their listings for properties for sale from a variety of sources including brokers, magazine publishers, newspapers, other software companies, and sometimes, even each other. The result is often inaccurate and incomplete data, leading to frustration for home buyers.

Additionally, the Roost.com platform helps real estate professionals form new connections with new potential clients, serving as an important ally for real estate agents struggling to stay afloat in one of the most difficult housing markets in history.

Roost.com currently offers access to homes and condos for sale in thousands of cities across the nation including; Atlanta; Austin; Baltimore; Boise; Boston; Chicago; Dallas; Denver; Fort Worth; Houston; Las Vegas; Miami; Minneapolis; Nashville; Orange County; Orlando; Philadelphia; Phoenix; Portland; Sacramento; San Diego; San Francisco; Seattle; St. Paul; Tampa; St. Louis; and Washington, D.C. areas.

Roost was awarded the 2008 Innovator Award for Most Innovative Technology from Inman News, the leading source of independent real estate news and opinion for the industry.

Founded in 2007, Roost, Inc. is based in San Francisco. To start your home search, visit http://www.roost.com.

Source: Roost, Inc.

Appcelerator Secures $4.1 Million in Series A Venture Funding

Growth of rich Internet applications drives new investment in technology to build and manage browser, desktop and mobile applications

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., Dec. 9 Appcelerator, Inc., a leading provider of open source technologies for building and managing rich Web applications, today announced it has secured $4.1 million in Series A funding, led by Storm Ventures. Appcelerator will use the proceeds to further advance and extend the functionality of its Open Web platform that allows applications to be quickly and easily built and deployed as a rich Web application, a native desktop application or a mobile application.

“Web applications are quickly evolving to rival the functionality users are accustomed to from desktop applications being produced by the world’s largest software companies,” said Ryan Floyd, managing partner at Storm Ventures. “With Appcelerator’s Open Web platform, we anticipate they will become a major provider of software development technologies used to build web, desktop and mobile applications.”

Using Appcelerator’s SDK and Titanium, developers can reduce costs and realize dramatic productivity gains by leveraging an Open Web platform and an existing set of web skill sets, ultimately allowing developers to spend more time developing applications and getting them to market and less time building homegrown development platforms. Appcelerator’s products are freely distributed under the Apache Public License, enabling the platform to be easily extended through a wide range of plug-ins.

“We plan to use the investment to extend the Appcelerator SDK and Titanium platform to include the widest set of functionalities and be the most easily used rich Web application development products available to application developers,” said Jeff Haynie, Appcelerator CEO.

Storm Venture managing partner, Ryan Floyd, will join Appcelerator co-founders Jeff Haynie and Nolan Wright on the Board of Directors. Larry Augustin, a premier open source angel investor and a member of the group who originally coined the term “open source” and also participated in the round, will join the board as well.

“By combining the strength of their open source community with the ingenuity of their Open Web technology, Appcelerator is primed to truly become the most widely deployed and used application development platform,” said Larry Augustin, open source luminary.

For more information and to download the recently released Titanium, please visit: http://titaniumapp.com/. For the latest information on Appcelerator, please visit the blog: http://www.appcelerant.com/

About Appcelerator

Headquartered in Mountain View, California, Appcelerator, Inc., develops and supports the leading Open Web platform for creating, packaging and deploying rich Web applications. Financially backed by leading Silicon Valley investor Storm Ventures and open source luminary Larry Augustin, Appcelerator’s products allow developers to quickly and easily build applications using standard Web technologies that can be deployed to multiple platforms, including the desktop, the browser or the mobile device. For more information, please visit: http://appcelerator.org/.

Source: Appcelerator, Inc.

RightScale Secures $13 Million in Venture Funding

Index Ventures Leads Investment to Fuel Continued Growth for the Leading Cloud Computing Management Vendor

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. RightScale, Inc., the leader in cloud computing management, today announced that it has secured $13 million in its second round of venture capital funding, led by Index Ventures. Current investor Benchmark Capital, which led RightScale’s first round of venture financing, also participated in this round. In addition, RightScale announced that Index Ventures partner Danny Rimer has joined the company’s board of directors. RightScale will use the proceeds to accelerate product and market development of its cloud computing management platform to meet growing demand, including support for new clouds and expansion into additional geographic markets.

Michael Crandell, CEO of RightScale, commented, “Index Ventures has a superb track record in identifying winning technology companies in high growth markets, and we are very pleased that they have demonstrated their confidence in RightScale by leading this financing round. The market for cloud computing is exploding, and this funding will provide the capital to cement our position as the leading cloud computing management vendor and to prepare for further growth in a very promising and expanding marketplace.”

Over the next five years, spending on IT cloud services is expected to grow almost threefold, reaching $42 billion by 2012, according to industry research firm IDC. Specializing from its inception exclusively on cloud computing technology, RightScale is well positioned to maintain its leadership position as this industry matures. The company has two years of real-world cloud computing experience and thousands of live deployments. Over 200,000 servers have been successfully launched using the RightScale cloud management platform.

Having looked at this space in great detail, we believe that RightScale will continue to be the clear leader in cloud computing services,” said Index Venture’s Rimer. “With RightScale’s platform, organizations can quickly realize the benefits of cloud computing without the risks commonly associated with cloud deployments, such as vendor lock-in and loss of IT control. Were very excited to be working with RightScale’s experienced team to guide the company’s growth, including its expansion into the European market.”

RightScale’s Web-based cloud computing management platform lets any organization tap the enormous power of cloud computing for scalable, cost-effective IT infrastructure on demand, while maintaining complete control and flexibility. RightScale reduces the complexity of cloud computing, enabling organizations to deploy mission critical applications in a matter of hours, without the risk of lock-in at any level. With sophisticated “cloud-aware” server templates, the fully-automated RightScale platform requires little knowledge of cloud architecture to deploy, manage and dynamically scale even complex, multi-cloud applications.

For more information about the RightScale cloud management platform, please go to http://www.RightScale.com.

About Index Ventures

Index Ventures is a leading European venture capital firm active in technology venture investing since 1996. The firm is dedicated to helping top entrepreneurial teams in the Information Technology and Life Science sectors build their companies into market defining global leaders. The firm has offices in Geneva, London and Jersey and focuses on investments from seed through growth stage companies. Recent exits include Skype (the pioneering communications company acquired by eBay); MySQL (the world’s most popular open source database recently acquired by Sun), Last.fm (the world’s largest social music platform, recently acquired by CBS) and BioXell (BIOX, floated on the SWX in 2007). For more information, please visit www.indexventures.com.

About RightScale, Inc.

RightScale is the leader in cloud computing management. Founded in 2006, the company offers a fully automated management platform that delivers the scalable, cost-effective, on-demand power of cloud computing, while maintaining complete IT control and transparency. To date, thousands of deployments and over 200,000 servers have been launched on the RightScale cloud management platform for industry-leading companies. RightScale is committed to delivering the power of cloud computing to any organization by making it easy to deploy and manage mission critical applications, regardless of deployment size, complexity or cloud platform used. RightScale is headquartered in Santa Barbara, California. To learn more about RightScale, please visit http://www.RightScale.com.

RightScale is a pending trademark of RightScale, Inc. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners. Other product or company names mentioned may be trademarks or trade names of their respective companies.

Expresso Fitness(R) Receives Additional $14 Million in Funding

Capital to Drive Growth of Company’s Portfolio

SUNNYVALE, Calif., Dec. 8 Expresso Fitness, the leading supplier and developer of interactive cardio fitness systems, announced today that it has completed a debt and equity funding event for a total of $14M. The capital will be used to fuel Expresso’s revenue growth by expanding the company’s product portfolio and market reach. Silicon Valley Bank opened a new $7 million working capital line with Expresso. The equity round was joined by all existing investors including Sierra Ventures, Physic Ventures, and Enterprise Partners Venture Capital.

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“Silicon Valley Bank is pleased to support Expresso Fitness as its long term partner,” said Teresa Li, senior relationship manager, Silicon Valley Bank. “The company has tremendous potential, as evidenced by the robust revenue growth the company has seen in a difficult economic climate.”

Jeff Loomans, Sierra Ventures partner and Expresso Fitness board member, added, “Expresso has continued to deliver very strong revenue growth by providing outstanding business value to fitness establishments in both good and challenging economic times. They are one of the fastest growing companies in the Sierra portfolio, and we believe they have a very bright future.”

With the introduction of the S3 line in October, which offers enhanced features and functions on both the upright and recumbent bike, Expresso Fitness has had a strong year with increased revenue growth — specifically with the recumbent models. Recumbent sales have gone from 0% to 40% of the company’s entire sales volume since Q2 2008.

“We are pleased to have a great investment team that has supported Expresso throughout its development, and we welcome Silicon Valley Bank as an integral part of this growth,” Brian Button, CEO of Expresso Fitness, said. “We are now better armed financially to capture more market share from our competitors.”

To date, riders of Web-enabled Expresso Bikes have logged 20 million miles and burned 700 million calories at leading fitness facilities across the U.S.

About Silicon Valley Bank

Silicon Valley Bank is the premier commercial bank for companies in the technology, life science, venture capital/private equity and premium wine industries. SVB provides a comprehensive suite of financing solutions, treasury management, corporate investment and international banking services to its clients worldwide. Through its focus on specialized markets and extensive knowledge of the people and business issues driving them, Silicon Valley Bank provides a level of service and partnership that measurably impacts its clients’ success. Founded in 1983 and headquartered in Santa Clara, Calif., the company serves clients around the world through 27 U.S. offices and international operations in China, India, Israel and the United Kingdom. Silicon Valley Bank is a member of global financial services firm SVB Financial Group (Nasdaq: SIVB – News), with SVB Analytics, SVB Capital, SVB Global and SVB Private Client Services. More information on the company can be found at http://www.svb.com.

Silicon Valley Bank is the California bank subsidiary and the commercial banking operation of SVB Financial Group. Banking services are provided by Silicon Valley Bank, a member of the FDIC and the Federal Reserve. SVB Private Client Services is a division of Silicon Valley Bank. SVB Financial Group is also a member of the Federal Reserve.

About Sierra Ventures

Sierra Ventures, founded in 1982, is a privately held venture capital firm focused on investments across all areas of the Information Technology sector from semiconductors to enterprise software. Sierra Ventures has managed nine venture capital partnerships and currently has more than $1.5 billion of capital under management. Some of the firm’s investments include 360Commerce (acquired by Oracle), Active Software (acquired by WebMethods), AmeriGroup (AGP), Authentec (AUTH), Centex (acquired by WorldCom), ConvergeNet (acquired by Dell), FatBrain (acquired by Barnes & Noble), Frontbridge (acquired by Microsoft), Healtheon (merged with WebMD), Interact Commerce (acquired by Sage), Intuit (INTU), Micromuse (acquired by IBM), OnAssignment (ASGN), OnLink (acquired by Siebel), Quinta (acquired by Seagate), StrataCom (acquired by Cisco), Sourcefire (FIRE), Sychip (acquired by Murata Manufacturing) and Teradata (acquired by NCR).

http://www.sierraventures.com

About Enterprise Partners Venture Capital

Enterprise Partners was founded in 1985 and is the largest venture firm headquartered in Southern California, with over $1.1 billion in capital under management. Enterprise focuses on seed, early stage and promising later stage companies across a broad spectrum of technologies and the life sciences.

http://www.epvc.com

About Physic Ventures

Physic Ventures, founded in 2007 and based in San Francisco, is a venture capital firm committed to “investing in keeping people healthy.” Physic Ventures partners with entrepreneurial teams to build leading businesses in consumer-driven health and sustainable living. Physic Ventures has invested in such firms as Dreamerz Foods, Elixir Pharmaceuticals, Novomer, and Pharmaca Integrative Pharmacy.

http://www.physicventures.com

About Expresso Fitness

Expresso Fitness was founded in 2003 with the mission of satisfying an exerciser’s need for an engaging and effective cardiovascular fitness experience. The company leverages the benefits of superior interactive technology at an affordable cost to provide the health, sports and fitness industry with fully integrated, commercial-grade virtual reality-enhanced cardio fitness systems that are revolutionizing indoor exercise. Expresso systems are sold to fitness facilities and consumers in North America, Europe and select international locations.

http://www.expresso.com / http://www.expresso.net

Source: Expresso Fitness

Epitherapeutics Receives Funding from Novo and SEED Capital Denmark for Cancer Drug Development in the Field of Epigenetics

COPENHAGEN, Denmark Epitherapeutics Aps announced today the receipt of funding from two of the leading Danish life science investor groups, Novo A/S and SEED Capital Denmark to advance the discovery and development of new cancer treatments by leveraging breakthroughs in the field of Epigenetics.

Epigenetics describes the chemical modifications and mechanisms affecting the way DNA is packaged within the cells nucleus. These processes are master regulators that enable gene expression to be turned on and off to maintain normal cellular function. During recent years, it has become clear that epigenetic control mechanisms do not function properly in cancer and some metabolic diseases, including diabetes. The field of Epigenetics focuses on the discovery of novel therapeutics that target these epigenetic mechanisms to selectively regulate their activity. In the case of cancer, this could result in new drugs that shut down deadly tumor growth by a novel, epigenetic mechanism of action.

Epitherapeutics scientific founders are internationally recognized in the field of Epigenetics research from the Biotech Research and Innovation Centre (BRIC) unit at Copenhagen University, including Professor and Director of BRIC, Kristian Helin; Assistant Professor Paul Cloos; and Associate Professor Jesper Christensen.

By founding Epitherapeutics, we hope to contribute to the development of new treatments against cancer. This project is in alignment with the research at BRIC where we try to elucidate the underlying epigenetic cause of different diseases and then apply our discoveries to develop new medicines that could improve the treatment options and outcome for patients with cancer and other diseases, said Professor Kristian Helin. We are grateful for the validation that comes with this investment in Epitherapeutics from Novo and SEED Capital and believe that it underscores the strength of our core science and the promise of Epigenetics to yield important new therapeutics for cancer.

The scientific discoveries of Epitherapeutics have potential applications in a wide range of clinical indications, but the companys initial focus will be in oncology. Epitherapeutics’ lead development program is focused on an enzyme involved in the regulation of androgen responsive genes for the treatment of prostate cancer. Subsequent developments may identify other potential clinical indications. At present stage nobody really knows the full potential of Epigenetics, but no doubt that the perspectives are intriguing.

We believe that Epigenetics research has the potential to create blockbuster products, but all successes must have a starting point based on competence, trust and risk willingness. While only time can reveal the true potential of Epigenetics, we believe that Professor Helin and his team have all the right ingredients to successfully develop commercial opportunities from this breakthrough area of research, commented Investment Director Stephan Christgau from Novo Seeds, the early stage investment program of Novo A/S. Investment Manager Jn Ingi Benediktsson from SEED Capital added, We believe Helin and his BRIC team have built one of the strongest research programs that will continue to deliver new discoveries at the frontier of Epigenetics. There are only few other research groups in the world who can match the know-how from the Danish BRIC institute.

About Epitherapeutics (www.epitherapeutics.dk)

Epitherapeutics is a drug discovery and development company formed in 2008 based on discoveries at the Biotech Research and Innovation Centre at Copenhagen University. The company develops new drugs with the ability to regulate epigenetic mechanisms. The companys lead program targets prostate cancer. The Company aims to be among the leading discovery companies in the rapidly emerging field of epigenetics, setting the standard in translating ground-breaking scientific discoveries into improved therapies for patients worldwide.

About SEED Capital Denmark (www.seedcapital.dk)

SEED Capital Denmark was formed in 2004 and manages direct investments totaling above 130 million, distributed to just under 70 companies in all stages of lifecycle. The Companys investment focus is predominantly on early-phase, technology-based Life Science, ICT and Cleantech projects and companies with considerable business potential.

About Novo Seeds

Novo Seeds is a life science supporting program launched by the Novo Nordisk Foundation and Novo A/S. Novo Seeds has two components, a pre-seed funding capacity and a seed financing fund. Both aim at identifying and developing the unexplored commercial potential present in academic and early stage applied research projects at universities and biotech companies within life science in Scandinavia.

About Novo A/S (www.novo.dk)

Novo A/S, the holding company in the Novo Group, was established prior to the demerger of Novo Nordisk in 2000. Novo A/S is a private limited liability company fully owned by the Novo Nordisk Foundation. Besides being the majority shareholder in Novo Nordisk A/S and Novozymes A/S, Novo A/S provides seed and venture capital to development stage companies within life science and biotechnology, as well as manages a broad portfolio of financial assets.

About the Novo Nordisk Foundation (www.novonordiskfonden.dk)

The Novo Nordisk Foundation is a commercial foundation. The objective of the Novo Nordisk Foundation is twofold: to provide a stable basis for the commercial and research activities conducted by the companies within the Novo Group, and to support scientific, humanitarian purposes. Most of the grants are awarded to medical and scientific projects and to select other research areas. The decision to award grants is the responsibility of scientific committees.

Technology Startups Face Steeper Challenges But Funding Opportunities Still Exist, IDC Finds

FRAMINGHAM, Mass. The ongoing financial crisis presents serious challenges for venture capital firms (VCs) and venture-backed technology startups. Volatile market conditions have brought the IPO market to a standstill while tight capital markets are making it difficult for VCs to raise new funds and forcing vendors to conserve capital. As a result, entrepreneurs can expect lower investment valuations and fewer acquisition opportunities in the months ahead.

Despite these daunting conditions, VCs will continue to make educated investments in solid opportunities. To attract the attention of tentative investors, startups will need to possess solid intellectual property (IP), a skilled management team, and a realistic path to market and profitability.

“Venture investing is a tried and true area for high-risk, high-reward investing, and that is its greatest advantage,” said John Gantz, chief research officer at IDC. “These are not subprime mortgages disguised as something else and there’s no Wall Street mumbo jumbo it is what it is. Once the shock of the financial crisis wears off, and that may take a while, capital will seek new opportunities with the potential for significant returns.”

The IDC report, Start-Ups and the State of the Venture Capital Community: IDC’s Private Vendor Watch Service Profiles Bright Spots in Emerging Technology (IDC #215086), discusses the current state of the venture capital community and explores what can be expected in the coming year for venture-backed startups. The document also highlights five emerging tech companies in various IT markets that were recently scored and profiled in IDC’s Private Vendor Watch Service (PVWS).

About IDC

IDC is the premier global provider of market intelligence, advisory services, and events for the information technology, telecommunications, and consumer technology markets. IDC helps IT professionals, business executives, and the investment community make fact-based decisions on technology purchases and business strategy. More than 1,000 IDC analysts provide global, regional, and local expertise on technology and industry opportunities and trends in over 110 countries. For more than 44 years, IDC has provided strategic insights to help our clients achieve their key business objectives. IDC is a subsidiary of IDG, the world’s leading technology media, research, and events company. You can learn more about IDC by visiting www.idc.com.

All product and company names may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders.

LucidMedia Secures $8.8 Million in Funding to Launch Contextual Display Advertising Network and Opens Madison Avenue Sales Office

RESTON, Va. & NEW YORK LucidMedia (www.lucidmedia.com), an online contextual display advertising platform and meta-network, today announced several milestones surrounding its continued growth, inclusive of the completion of $8.8 million in funding, including the value of converted debt, to support the launch and expansion of LucidMedias contextual advertising network; the opening of a New York City sales office on Madison Avenue; and the hiring of a national sales team to better service its growing client base of interactive agencies and corporations. Despite the current economic climate, LucidMedia has experienced steady growth of its client base, driven by its patented contextual page-level technology, developed to maximize campaign performance, increase brand recognition online, and ultimately raise advertisers return on investment.

The funding is led by a combination of institutional and individual investors including Lake Street Capital, RLI Partners, Melton Investments, Silicon Valley investment veteran Milan Mandaric, and Redleaf Group, whose CEO, Michael Tomana, has joined the companys Board of Directors. This is LucidMedias third round of funding.

The continued expansion of LucidMedias network, as well as our overall growth, is particularly noteworthy during a time of consolidation throughout the broader online advertising sector, said Ajay Sravanapudi, LucidMedia President and CEO. In any economic climate, we believe that offering some of the industrys highest levels of performance, insight and brand safety provides significant value to the industry and we are very pleased to further our commitment to our clients and partners by opening our Madison Avenue office.

LucidMedia has a unique base of proprietary technology, an impressive leadership team and a genuine opportunity to become a disruptive force in contextual online advertising, said John Kohler, Chairman of LucidMedias Board of Directors. The time is right for LucidMedia to invest in its strategic position and we look forward to working with the team to address the opportunities at-hand.

I have been watching LucidMedia for some time and am impressed by the companys vision and execution, particularly in such a challenging economic environment, said Bill Melton, head of Melton Investments. The companys unique approach to contextual advertising provides agencies, advertisers and other prospective clients with compelling ways to get the most out of their online spend.

To learn more about working with LucidMedias New York City sales office, interested agencies and advertisers can contact LucidMedia at info@lucidmedia.com for additional information.

About LucidMedia:

LucidMedia is an online contextual display advertising platform and meta-network focused on optimizing advertising performance for advertisers and their agencies, as well as ad networks and publishers. LucidMedia uses its patented technology to empower advertisers to reach new levels of performance, insight, safety, and cost-efficiency in their online advertising campaigns. The company achieves this through delivering contextual relevance at the page-level for unparalleled targeting, transparency, optimization, and inventory. Through its patented ClickSense contextual advertising and targeting engine, LucidMedia categorizes traffic from many of the Webs most respected networks and exchanges in both English and Spanish, providing advertisers with a way to more effectively target online advertising inventory and increase their return-on-spend. Formerly known as Entrieva, LucidMedia was founded in 1999 and launched ClickSense in 2004. Using the deep contextualization of ClickSense, The LucidMedia Network is the first advertiser-centric ad network that can offer complete brand safety, real accountability, and transparency down to the page-level. Today many of the world’s largest interactive agencies, Web advertisers, ad networks, and ad exchanges are relying on LucidMedia to achieve their advertising revenue goals. LucidMedia is headquartered in Reston Virginia at the heart of the Dulles Technology Corridor, with a national sales office in New York City.

PureWave Networks Completes a $12 Million Series B Funding Round

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. PureWave Networks, Inc., an innovative provider of advanced, cost-effective 4G wireless base stations, today announced that it has secured $12 million in Series B funding. Two new venture funds ATA Ventures and Leapfrog Ventures – have joined PureWaves existing investors, which include Allegis Capital and Benhamou Global Ventures, in successfully completing the funding round. The Series B funding will allow PureWave to commercially introduce its advance beam forming WiMAX base stations in North America, the APAC region and other selected markets and to expand its operations.

PureWaves strong balance sheet in this challenging economic environment, together with our leading edge product offering, will be the foundation of our future growth,” said Gideon Ben-Efraim, PureWaves CEO and Chairman. WiMAX and LTE infrastructure are the big growth opportunity in the mobile infrastructure market today and we are positioning the company to be a major player in this space.

PureWaves goal is to transform the economics of WiMAX and LTE, through a combination of advanced technology, an innovative product offering and the most cost-effective products available on the market. PureWave offers small form-factor WiMAX base stations, which combine the power, performance and sophisticated features of a traditional macro base station, with the small footprint and competitive pricing of pico base stations. PureWaves advanced beamforming technology allows its customers to enjoy unmatched spectral efficiency, data throughput and range. PureWaves small form-factor WiMAX base stations are designed for all outdoor installation, are tower, pole or wall mountable and require no indoor shelter.

About PureWave

PureWave, a Silicon Valley Company, is the worlds leading supplier of high-performance adaptive beamforming 4G base-stations currently supporting standard WiMAX devices, enabling delivery of quadruple-play services (Voice, Video, Data, Mobile).

Established in 2003, PureWave Networks develops ultra high-performance, carrier-class WiMAX 802.16e and LTE base-station equipment. PureWave Networks PureMax technology is a multi-beamforming approach that delivers significantly higher capacity and coverage than the competition. PureWave Networks employs a software-defined radio approach which assures that systems built for todays world can be easily upgradeable in the future.

PureWave Networks is a member of WiMAX Forum, an industry-led, not-for-profit organization formed to certify and promote the compatibility and interoperability of broadband wireless products based upon the harmonized IEEE 802.16/ETSI HiperMAN standard.

For more information about PureWave, please visit our corporate website at: www.pwnets.com.

About ATA Ventures

With a focus on Information Technologies (IT), the ATA Ventures team makes capital investments in opportunities where the combined backgrounds of the ATA Ventures professionals can provide an extraordinary positive influence on the portfolio company management team. The firms investment professionals offer an average of over 25 years of related experience (per Managing Director) to support their portfolio companies as they grow. ATA Ventures $150 million charter fund (ATA Ventures I, L.P.) was created in March of 2004 and targets investments in companies that consist of exceptional people, technology, and plans which appear to offer above-average prospects for capital growth. The formation of the firms second fund of $196 million (ATA Ventures II, L.P.) was completed in May of 2006 to continue with similar investment philosophies and objectives. Backed by leading foundations, fund of funds, pensions funds, and endowments, the ATA Ventures team has formed a platform to support exciting companies for many years to come. www.ataventures.com

About Leapfrog Ventures

Leapfrog is an early stage technology investor based in Menlo Park, CA. The firm consists of experienced individuals with extensive operating and investing experience, and takes an active role in helping its portfolio companies grow from inception through becoming a substantial enterprise. The principals have experience as CEOs of venture-backed companies, numerous other operating roles, and have collectively been directly involved in over 60 venture investments. Leapfrog does not just follow the pack, but instead takes its name from its mission to find companies that can surpass existing and potential competition and become leaders in their sector. Rather than build a large portfolio, the firm concentrates on fewer deals and gives them full attention. In short, Leapfrog practices classic venture capital investing. Leapfrog is currently investing from its second fund, which commenced its activity in 2005. www.leapfrogventures.com

smartfundit.com Receives Investment From BayTech Venture Capital

CAMBERLEY, England and MUNICH, December 4 smartfundit.com, a company dedicated to creating the world’s first online finance exchange, announced it has completed a GBP3.5 million round of venture capital funding led by BayTech Venture Capital, a leading European venture capital firm.

Executing on its vision of creating an online finance exchange for business users, smartfundit.com has established a strong position in the technology leasing space. The investment and expertise from BayTech Venture Capital is set to accelerate the companies global expansion and increase even further the development capacity of its technology finance marketplace.

Commenting on the announcement, Jude Ngu’Ewodo, General Partner at BayTech, explains: “We quickly realised that the smartfundit online business model is the much needed answer to the many inefficiencies of conventional technology leasing. With over $1 billion in finance requests since inception and a credit approval rate in excess of 80%, the relevance of smartfundit is well established and the company is growing considerably faster than the current market.”

Co-founders of smartfundit.com, Suki Gallagher, COO and Justin Floyd, CEO, expand: “We are delighted to have BayTech help us to aggressively grow the company and the technology so we can deliver on our vision of providing competitive, and trusted online finance to a global business community.”

Since its launch in the UK in early 2006, online financing made available by the smartfundit.com web service has seen a significant rise in popularity. Software vendors and their channel partners are utilising the instant online access to over 8000 finance product combinations to source, benchmark and select the most suitable leasing arrangements on behalf of their customers. Offering finance at point of sale typically reduces the time to close transactions, makes IT solutions more affordable for businesses and saves the vendor time and resources in their cash-collection efforts.

Recent high-profile transactions include finance for Harrods e-commerce activities, a multi-million GBP SAP project and the addition of two major new technology partners to the smartsellit.com partner network: business management and information systems provider COA Solutions, as well as ERP and supply chain software experts, Access Supply Chain Limited.

smartfundit.com also announces that Jude Ngu’Ewodo, partner of BayTech Venture Capital has joined its board, effective immediately.

Notes to editors

About BayTech Venture Capital

BayTech Venture Capital is a leading European Venture Capital firm with the ambition to help the best entrepreneurs build the most successful companies in their fields of expertise.

We invest at an early or expansion stage in technology and innovation driven companies in Western Europe. The contribution to success in the growth phase of these companies is not limited to capital. The money provided goes along with the experience in company building and the industry expertise of the investment professionals, access to the world-wide network and the respect for the values and the contribution of the entrepreneurs we work with.

About smartfundit.com

The smartfundit.com platform delivers equipment leasing and technology finance in real time over the internet. Its innovative technology and unrivalled market coverage enable users to search through 8000 product combinations from a network of global providers, delivering finance on demand(TM). The sophisticated decision engine matches the user’s investment requirements with the available software leasing or asset finance option from leading funders and technology leasing specialists. Modeled on web 2.0-type user experiences, this makes the most appropriate finance terms available 24/7 for CFOs, Finance Directors and technology vendor sales teams. The company is privately held and is based in Camberley, UK and San Francisco, USA.