VC watch: Prolatus raises $6.5 million

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Friday's deals

• Prolatus has raised a $6.5 million third round of funding, which was led by Mellon Ventures. Other investors in the round include The Rahn Group, Brightstone Capital, Imagine Capital Partners and individual investors. The Minneapolis-based company has raised a total of $8.5 million. Prolatus licenses software that allows customers to send large graphic files through regular telephone lines. The company targets pre-press, printing and content provider companies as its customers.

• FineGround Networks has raised more than $16 million in its second round of funding. Investors in the round included Worldview Partners and New Enterprise Associates. Campbell, Calif.-based FineGround has raised a total of $21.3 million, and its valuation has increased by 400 percent in the latest round, according to a company spokeswoman. The company has developed software designed to resend just the new online information on a Web site, without requiring people to reload the entire page. FineGround's software focuses on helping its customers provide content that loads quickly.

• Vernier Networks raised an $8.5 million second round of funding led by Foundation Capital. Other investors included Doll Capital Management, Masthead Venture Partners and Weber Capital Management. Mountain View, Calif.-based Vernier develops software that helps network managers protect wireless LANs (local area networks) from unauthorized people tapping into the network, providing the same level of manageability as wired networks. The company has raised a total of $9.5 million with this latest round.

Thursday's deals

• Turbo Squid said it has received $5.1 million in a first round of funding, led by Advantage Capital Partners. New Orleans-based Turbo Squid also attracted investments from Eastman Kodak and Intel Capital. Turbo Squid offers a digital marketplace for companies and individuals to list and sell their 3D content to others globally.

• Juice Software has raised a $12.3 million third round of funding, which was led by RRE Ventures. New York-based Juice has raised a total of $17.3 million and received a 100 percent increase in valuation with this latest round. The company has developed software designed to let companies pull information directly into a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet, without cutting and pasting. The information can also be linked to its source and receive automatic updates as the information changes.

• InStranet said it had raised $14.7 million in a third round of funding. Investors included Benchmark Capital and U.S. investor Donald L. Lucas. The New York-based company has raised a total of $23 million and received a 43 percent increase in valuation with this latest round, according to a representative. InStranet develops software designed to enable companies and their customers to organize and securely share information over the Internet without the use of attachments or faxes.

Tuesday's deals

• Canesta said it received a $17 million second round of funding, which was led by Carlyle Venture Partners. Other investors include Patricof & Co. Ventures and previous investors JPMorgan Partners and Thales. Santa Clara, Calif.-based Canesta has raised a total of more than $20 million. The company has developed software to serve as an interface for mobile and wireless devices.

Monday's deals

• Altaworks has received $25.8 million in a first round of funding. Altaworks attracted funding from St. Paul Venture Capital, Prism Venture Partners and YankeeTek Ventures. The Nashua, N.H.-based company's software enables companies to monitor, flag and fix problems with online transactions.

• Storability said it received a $30 million second round of funding, led by Sprout Group and Technology Partners. Other investors included Lee Munder Venture Partners and previous investors Battery Ventures, Madison Dearborn and Lightspeed Venture Partners. The Southborough, Mass.-based company provides software designed to allow companies to manage their local data storage remotely. Storability has raised a total of $48.5 million.

• Incentive Systems said it raised an $18 million fourth round of funding. The Bedford, Mass.-based company, which has raised a total of $54.3 million, provides software that allows companies to manage compensation incentive programs. Incentive attracted investments from Thomas Weisel Capital, which led the round, and previous investors Polaris Venture Partners and BancBoston Ventures.

• iVast said it has received a $25 million third round of funding, led by Softbank Venture Capital. Other investors included Sun Microsystems, Macrovision, and previous investors BCE Capital, Centennial Ventures, Vanguard Ventures, Venture Strategy Partners and Vulcan Ventures. Santa Clara, Calif.-based iVast has raised a total of $37 million. The company has developed software using the MPEG-4 standard. The software enables content companies and service providers to create and deliver digital media such as animation, 3D graphics, and audio and video.