VC watch: ZettaCom wins $47.5 million

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Friday's deals

• ZettaCom expects to announce Monday it closed its $47.5 million second round of funding. Investors include Norwest Venture Partners, Granite Global Ventures, Venrock Associates, J.&W. Seligman, Development Bank of Singapore, J.P. Morgan Partners, k1 Ventures, Vertex Management, Crimson Ventures, Infineon Ventures, U.S. Bancorp Piper Jaffray, Banc of America Securities and United Investments. The Santa Clara, Calif.-based company has raised a total of $58.5 million, of which Norwest contributed a total of $10.2 million. ZettaCom is a networking semiconductor manufacturer for the optical and multi-service network industry.

• InsightShare announced on Friday it raised $2 million of its anticipated $3 million second round. The Andover, Mass.-based company has raised a total of $13.8 million with this latest investment. Investors in the latest round include Pearson PLC, The Forum Corp. and private investors. InsightShare provides customer relationship management software and services, which allow companies to have real-time online discussions with their customers.

• Cycolor closed a $13.5 million mezzanine round, marking the last round of funding the company anticipates before eventually launching an initial public offering. Miamisburg, Ohio-based Cycolor declined to list investors in this latest round, but noted previous investors have included CP Holdings and Softbank. The company, which has raised a total of $68.5 million, manufacturers and sells digital imaging print media that acts like film and offers software to convert digital images into color prints. Softbank is an investor in CNET Networks, publisher of News.com.

• iVita announced on Friday that it received an additional $6 million for its second round of funding. The Houston-based company attracted investments from Austin Ventures, J.P. Morgan Chase and Sternhill Partners, bringing its second round to $21 million. iVita, which has raised a total of $25 million, has developed software designed to help companies determine what assets they own and how to improve the financial decisions behind those assets. The company's software, for example, could suggest the best time to sell existing servers, to buy the latest and greatest equipment on the market, and offer the fair market value of those assets.

Thursday's deals

• MunicipalTrade has raised $2.5 million in a second round of funding from CyberStarts and Benchmark Capital. Atlanta-based MunicipalTrade has raised a total of $9.4 million for its business, which serves as a Net investment bank. The company helps cities raise money by selling tax-free municipal bonds.

• Online recruiter Jobstreet.com has raised $2 million in a second round of venture funding, the managing director of its Indian arm said. Company executives told a news conference in Bangalore that the funding, led by the venture arm of Japan's Sumitomo, would be used to develop new technologies for e-recruitment and to enter the northern Asia market. Jobstreet already uses proprietary software to analyze resumes. The Walden International group and Malaysia's Intelligent Capital also contributed to the second round of funding. The portal raised $2 million in 1999 in the first round of venture funding from Walden. Jobstreet gets revenue from advertisements and as recruitment fees from companies seeking to hire staff, as well as from managing the career Web sites of clients, which include Citibank, Microsoft and Hindustan Lever. Founded in Malaysia in 1995, Jobstreet competes against companies like U.S.-based Monster.com.

Wednesday's deals

• Tollbridge Technologies said it raised a $25 million fourth round of funding. Tollbridge attracted investments from Matrix Partners, Meritech Capital Partners, Sutter Hill Ventures, TeleSoft Partners and WorldView Technology Partners. The Santa Clara, Calif.-based company has raised a total of $92 million. Tollbridge develops software and devices that allow voice to travel over cable, DSL, fiber and wireless broadband services.

• Chutney Technologies has received a $7.5 million second round of funding led by Live Oak Seed Capital. The Atlanta-based company also received investments from Ravenswood Capital Partners and previous investor Live Oak Equity Partners. Chutney has raised a total of $11.3 million and received an increase in valuation with this latest round. The company develops software designed to allow e-commerce Web sites to increase their volume of customers without necessarily adding more servers.

Tuesday's deals

• Wasserstein Ventures said it closed a $160 million fund. The Wasserstein Ventures II Fund will focus on early-stage networking and communications companies, such as those in optics, wireless, semiconductors, digital media and Internet technology. New York-based Wasserstein, which raised $135 million in its previous fund, plans to invest between $3 million and $7 million per company and fund up to $10 million over the life of a company.

• ListenPoint said it received a $7.4 million first round of funding. Sigma Partners led the round and will receive a seat on ListenPoint's board of directors. The San Ramon, Calif.-based company is developing software designed to help companies automatically glean information from their customers, which they will then use to design products.

Monday's deals

• Amperion said it received a $12.5 million first round of funding from American Electric Power, Redleaf Group and Cisco Systems. Chelmsford, Mass.-based Amperion designs networking hardware and software that allows high-speed broadband data to be carried over medium-voltage power lines. The company's goal is to use existing power lines as a way for telecommunications service providers to deliver broadband service.

• Proficiency said it raised a $27.4 million third round of funding led by Carmel Ventures. Other investors included Genesis Partners, Lehman Brothers, Koor Corporate Venture Capital, Polaris Venture Capital and previous investors Charles River Ventures and Eucalyptus Ventures. The Marlborough, Mass.-based company has raised a total of $37 million, and received a 36 percent increase in valuation with this latest round. Proficiency software allows design teams of manufacturers and suppliers to collaborate on product designs.

• DataSynapse has raised a $15 million second round of funding led by Bain Capital Ventures. First Union eVentures and Intel Capital also participated in the round, bringing DataSynapse's total funding to nearly $20.3 million. The New York-based company takes the idle power of a company's bank of PCs or servers and uses its software to aggregate the processing power. The technology is designed to allow companies to increase the speed of processing their applications using existing hardware.

• Ultraprise Loan Technologies said it raised a $9.5 million first round of funding. Ultraprise Loan Technologies was formed with the merger of Ultraprise Corp. and Loan Trader. Capital Z Financial Services led the round, which included investments from FBR Technology Ventures Partners, FBR Financial Service Partners and Koch Ventures. The Frederick, Md.-based company has developed software to allow mortgage companies that originate loans, re-purchasers of those loans and Wall Street to work together online.

• Chip designer AmmoCore Technology said it received a $14 million second round of funding. The Santa Clara, Calif.-based company received investments from Bay Partners, Telos Venture Partners, Donald L. Lucas, Crescent Ventures, Cadence Design Systems and RWI Group. AmmoCore has raised a total of $16.5 million and received an increase in valuation with this latest round. The company designs and licenses large semiconductor chips of 3 million to 4 million gates, which basically serves as circuitry that channels electrical signals around the chip based on complicated design rules. AmmoCore's technology also focuses on speeding the design process.

• ZipRealty said it received an $8 million fourth round of funding. ZipRealty, which has raised a total of $35.7 million, attracted investments from Pyramid Technology Ventures, which led the round and received a board seat. Previous investors that joined the round included Benchmark Capital, Vanguard Venture Partners and Barrington Partners. The Richmond, Calif.-based company allows real estate agents in 15 major metropolitan areas to sell and buy residential property via its Web site.

• Webcasting company e-StudioLive, based in Chelmsford, Mass., received a $4 million investment. e-StudioLive offers tools that are used in video production for Webcasting. The company plans to use the second round of funding to grow its business and capture a greater share of the market. Apex Investment Partners, Putnam Investments and several private investors participated in the funding.

• Mountain View, Calif.-based Maaya closed a deal on an $8 million investment from Softbank Venture Capital and Cambrian Ventures. Maaya's tools allow for companies to manage Web-based services for customers. Investors with Cambrian Ventures include Amazon.com CEO Jeff Bezos, among others. Maaya has received a total of $10 million in funding. Softbank is an investor in CNET Networks, publisher of News.com.

Friday's deals

• Palo Alto, Calif.-based Full Degree picked up $9 million in its first round of financing that comes from Convergence Partners. Full Degree provides marketing content management that aims to allow companies to streamline marketing content flow to various platforms such as those serving catalogues and personal digital assistants.

• Columbus, Ohio-based Fourthchannel announced that it closed the deal on a $9.5 million investment. The investment--its fourth round--brings the company's total to $35 million. Fourthchannel's software, ProfitBuilder Commerce Suite, is designed to help companies increase revenue and improve efficiency with sales force tools that configure, price and order products. Participating investors included Adams Street Partners, ABN-AMRO Private Equity, ABS Ventures, CID Equity Partners, Primedia Ventures, and River Cities Capital Fund.

• DataPlay announced it received a $55 million funding commitment, bringing its total financing to $119 million. Boulder, Colo.-based DataPlay creates digital storage, measuring about the size of a quarter, used in devices for storing images, software, games and video. It expects to sell a 500MB version of its storage product for $10. The current round of investors includes Eastman Kodak, Intel Capital, Olympus Optical, Trans World Entertainment, MeVC Draper Fisher Jurvetson Fund, Imation Corporation, Sequel Venture Partners, Colorado PERA, Portage Venture Partners, SG Cowen Securities, A.G. Edwards Capital, Graystone Ventures and musician David Crosby.

• Optical networking company Aurora Networks received $20 million in second-round funding. ComVentures led the round and was joined by Castile Ventures and Battery Ventures, Aurora's first backer. The Santa Clara, Calif.-based company, founded in late 1999, has raised a total of $30 million. Aurora develops optical transport equipment for HFC, or hybrid fiber coaxial cable networks, which are the networks of choice for cable TV operators. Aurora Chief Executive Tony Werner previously served as chief technology officer for AT&T Broadband, Ma Bell's cable unit.

Reuters contributed to this report.