Life sciences
Aldagen
Regenerative medicine startup Aldagen Inc. of Durham, N.C., has raised $18.4 million from four stakeholders. Harbert Venture Partners LLC, Intersouth Partners and Aurora Funds, all of Durham, participated in the round, as did Tullis-Dickerson & Co. of Greenwich, Conn. Aldagen said in September 2007 that it had added $9 million to A round, bringing the total raised to $23 million, and total funding in the company to more than $38 million. Trelys Funds LP of Columbia, S.C., Tall Oaks Capital of Charlottesville, Va., Village Ventures of Williamstown, Mass., and the Piedmont Angel Network of Greensboro, N.C., have also invested in Aldagen, originally as StemCo Biomedical Inc.
Pharmaceuticals
Argos
Durham, N.C., immunotherapy developer Argos Therapeutics defied a tough market for personalized medicine startups and won $35.2 million in new Series C funding in an insider-led deal that also included new investors, the company announced Wednesday. TVM Capital of Munich led the round, with Mizuho Capital of Japan, Morningside Group of Boston and Japan Asia Investment Co. of Japan signed on as new investors. Also involved were previous investors Lumira Capital of Toronto, Forbion Capital Partners of the Netherlands, CDP Capital of Toronto, Intersouth Partners of Durham, Aurora Capital of Durham, and GeneChem Management Inc. of Montreal. The deal brings total venture investment in the 10-year-old company to more than $90 million and, along with more than $70 million in nondilutive funding the company has generated from research partners, is expected to allow Argos to complete clinical trials to establish proof-of-concept in customized drugs to treat cancer and HIV. -- Clifford Carlsen
Media
Play Hard
Computer game developer Play Hard Sports Inc. of Foxboro, Mass., disclosed a $5 million first round of funding from New Enterprise Associates of Menlo Park, Calif., coinciding with the official launch of the company. Play Hard is developing sports-related titles intended to be played on personal computers. An NEA representative took a seat on Play Hard's board of directors.
Adcentricity
Propulsion Ventures of Montreal has led a C$3 million ($2.95 million) first round of funding for Adcentricity Inc. of Toronto, a provider of out-of-home digital advertising. Propulsion, an early-stage specialist targeting Canadian companies, is a unit of Telesystem Ltd. Adcentricity provides digital advertising in the healthcare, hospitality and grocery markets.
Retail
Tiny Prints
Web-based stationery vendor Tiny Prints Inc. of Mountain View, Calif., has raised an unspecified amount of money from Summit Partners of Boston and Technology Crossover Ventures of Palo Alto, Calif. The two firms combined for a minority stake in Tiny Prints and took seats on its board of directors. The investment represents Tiny Prints' first institutional funding. The four-year-old startup said it has been profitable since its inception.
Semiconductors
Audience
Voice processor developer Audience Inc. of Mountain View has raised $15 million in its third round. The round came entirely from inside investors, including NEA; Tallwood Venture Capital of Palo Alto; Vulcan Capital, the Seattle-based firm founded by former Microsoft Corp. executive Paul Allen; and VentureTech Alliance of San Jose, Calif. Audience is developing processors for mobile handsets that filter out noise. -- Paul Bonanos
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