Become, EnterpriseDB, Modu and more

Internet

Become

Mountain View, Calif., comparison-shopping site Become Inc. has received a $17.5 million third-round investment from TPG Growth, a fund operated by TPG of Fort Worth. The deal provides partial liquidity for Become's early investors, which included Transcosmos Investments & Business Development Inc. of Bellevue, Wash., and Ron Conway and Bob Bozeman of Angel Investors LP. Become last raised capital in May 2005, when those investors provided $7.2 million; they also supplied $4.5 million in 2004. Become has been profitable since fall 2007 and operates a subsidiary in Japan. -- Paul Bonanos

Networking

EnterpriseDB

EnterpriseDB Corp. of Edison, N.J., has closed a $10 million Series C financing. Investors included Charles River Ventures, Fidelity Ventures, Valhalla Partners and IBM Corp. The round gives EnterpriseDB $37.5 million in venture capital. It will use the new funds to further develop the company's PostgreSQL-based databases. Founded in March 2004, EnterpriseDB specializes in providing enterprise-class open-source database products and services based on PostgreSQL.

Wireless

Modu

Israeli mobile startup Modu Ltd. has raised $100 million in new capital, according to Israeli newspaper The Globes. Founded in 2007, Modu is developing small modular phones that can be slipped into different devices such as an MP3 player, GPS, bigger cell phone, car stereo or a digital camera. The company's premoney valuation is reported to be $150 million. The 18-month-old company previously raised $20 million from Genesis Partners Ltd., Gemini Israel Funds, SanDisk Corp. and from founder Dov Moran. Moran sold his previous startup, Msystems, to SanDisk for $1.6 billion.

Biotech

AqWise

AqWise-Wise Water Technologies Ltd., a Herzliya, Israel, provider of a biological-based solutions for wastewater treatment, has closed a $3.6 million investment round. Investors included Ahmsa Steel Israel Ltd., Elron Electronic Industries Ltd. and Israel Cleantech Ventures, all of Israel. AqWise plans to use the proceeds to increase its market presence globally and to continue development of its AGAR, or attached growth airlift reactor, fixed biofilm moving bed process. -- George White