VC watch: Opthos grabs $21.6 million

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Tuesday's deals

• Opthos has completed its $21.6 million second round, bringing the total amount raised to $36.5 million since the telecommunications gear maker started in March 2000, the company announced. Advanced Technology Ventures and the Sprout Group led the round, which included contributions from past investors Ken Oshman and the Venture Law Group. Crosslink Capital made its first investment in the company. Opthos makes optical gear for metropolitan networks, networks that handle data within urban areas as opposed to long-haul networks, which run between cities. CEO Robert Lundy said in an interview that he expects the funding to last until the summer of 2002, and added that the company has signed trial agreements with two companies that will finish in the first quarter of 2002. He also expects revenue from Opthos's IW1000 gear in the second quarter.

• LeftHand Networks received an additional $5.5 million toward its first round of funding. William Blair New World Ventures and Wasatch Venture Fund made the latest contribution. Boulder, Colo.-based LeftHand Networks has raised a total of $19.4 million. The company develops storage hardware that allows companies to use standard Ethernet connections to link storage modules.

Monday's deals

• Seventh Wave Technology raised a $1 million second round of funding, led by previous investor Southeastern Technology Fund. Atlanta-based Seventh Wave has raised a total of $4 million. Seventh Wave, a services company, will offer round-the-clock monitoring of a company's IT system and will automatically issue a warning when it detects problems. The company also has tech support personal available 24 hours a day to guide customers through the problems.

• Softface raised a $10.4 million third round of funding, led by Norwest Venture Partners, which will receive a seat on the company's board. Other investors included RWI Group, and previous investors Telos Venture Partners, Don Lucas Sr., Dave Duffield, Peggy Taylor, Ray Bingham and Alberto Sangiovanni-Vincentelli. Walnut Creek, Calif.-based Softface has raised a total of $17.9 million. Softface's software automatically takes text from such things as marketing documents and transaction history databases and creates content that feeds into a corporation's customer relationship management, analytical and e-procurement analytical systems.

• Visto has raised a $31 million fifth round of funding, led by WaldenVC and Rustic Canyon Ventures, which both received seats on the company's board. Other investors included Bessemer Venture Partners, New Enterprise Associates, GE Asset Management, Allegis Capital, Novus Ventures and Wheatley Partners. Mountain View, Calif.-based Visto has raised a total of $95 million. Visto develops software and offers a service that allows employees to securely and remotely access data from outside a company's firewall.

Last week's deals

• Cradle Technologies received $10 million toward its fourth round of funding, led by previous investors Charter Ventures and Smart Technology Ventures. Fremont, Calif.-based Cradle Technologies has raised a total of $40 million. The company designs chips and contracts out the manufacturing of the semiconductors.

• White Rock Networks that it has pulled in $60 million in third-round funding, bringing the total it has raised since its 1999 launch to $102 million. The Dallas-based company raised $12 million in February 2000 and $30 million in June 2000. White Rock makes optical telecom equipment for metropolitan networks, which operate within urban areas. Previous investors Oak Investment Partners, Mayfield Fund, Meritech Capital and Hook Partners contributed to the round, along with new backers including Fremont Communications, Fremont Ventures, Gulf International Bank and Cypress Semiconductor. White Rock will use the additional funds to market its gear to potential customers.