Medical devices
CVRx
Minneapolis medical device company CVRx Inc. has completed an $84 million fifth round, bringing its total venture funding to $209 million. New Enterprise Associates Inc. of Baltimore and New Brunswick, N.J.-based Johnson & Johnson Development Corp. co-led the financing. Other participants included existing investors BBT Fund LP of the Cayman Islands, Thomas Weisel Healthcare Venture Partners of San Francisco, InterWest Partners of Menlo Park, Calif., Frazier Healthcare Ventures of Seattle and SightLine Partners of Minneapolis. CVRx closed a $30 million third round in May 2006 and a $65 million fourth round in May 2007. The company has developed the Rheos System, an implantable device designed for modulating high blood pressure. The device has received CE Mark approval in Europe and is being evaluated in a trial designed to obtain FDA approval.
Cytochroma
Toronto's Cytochroma Inc. has closed a CDN $45 million (US$43.9 million) Series C financing led by new investor, Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma Corp. of Osaka, Japan. Also contributing were existing Canadian investors VentureLink Brighter Future Fund Inc., Caisse de Dépôt et Placement du Québec, Novo A/S, Canadian Medical Discoveries Fund Inc., Vengrowth Advanced Life Sciences Fund Inc., T(2)C(2)/Bio 2000 Limited Partnership, GrowthWorks Canadian Fund Ltd. and BDC Capital Inc. The new funding will be used to advance Cytochroma's portfolio of vitamin D-based therapeutics into mid- and late-stage clinical trials. Cytochroma's product candidates target disorders related to altered vitamin D metabolism in chronic kidney disease.
Internet
Clickable
New York online advertising platform Clickable Inc. added $14.5 million in a narrowly marketed second round of venture capital led by Founders Fund of San Francisco and joined by previous investors Union Square Ventures and FirstMark Capital, both of New York, bringing total investment in the two-year-old company to more than $22.5 million and deepening a relationship begun with the personal investment of Founders Fund general partner Peter Thiel in Clickable's $6 million Series A round of December 2007. The deal will allow the company to expand analytic and creative features of its Web-based advertising platform, including the addition of mobile, video, display and other media, and to expand marketing. -- Clifford Carlsen
myYearbook
Teenager-focused social network myYearbook has raised $13 million in Series B growth capital to continue building the company and develop new offerings. The Series B was led by Norwest Venture Partners of Palo Alto, Calif., with participation from insiders US Venture Partners of Menlo Park, Calif., and First Round Capital of Philadelphia. Sergio Monsalve from Norwest Venture Partners will join the board of directors. The New Hope, Pa.-based company has raised $18.6 million to date.
Networking
Crescendo
Crescendo Networks, Ltd., a Menlo Park, Calif., maker of Web application optimization technology, has secured $9.5 million in third round funding. The company has received a total of $36.2 million in venture money. New investor Challenge Fund-Etgar II LP of Tel-Aviv, Israel, joined current investors Evergreen Venture Partners, StageOne Ventures and Magma Venture Partners, all of Tel-Aviv, Apax Partners of New York and Convergent Capital of Minneapolis. The proceeds allow the company to expand its worldwide operations and roll out new products. Crescendo Networks' flagship product, AppBeat DC, is an application delivery technology designed to accelerate and optimize Web applications.
Software
Kickfire
Santa Clara, Calif.-based Kickfire Inc., maker of an open source database appliance for users of MySQL, has closed a $20 million Series B financing. Pinnacle Ventures of Palo Alto, Calif., led the round, joined by Series A investors Accel Partners of Palo Alto, Greylock Partners of Boston and The Mayfield Fund of Menlo Park, Calif. The capital will be used to build out sales, marketing and customer operations infrastructure as the company brings its appliance to market.
Energy
Cyrium Technologies
Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Cyrium Technologies Inc., a developer of solar cells for concentrator photovoltaic systems, has closed a $15 million Series B. The round was led by Quercus Trust of Costa Mesa, Calif. Also participating were Canadian venture firms BDC Venture Capital, Chrysalix Energy Venture Capital and Pangaea Ventures Ltd. Cyrium's solar cell technology is designed to significantly improve power generation while reducing cost. The funds from the Series B round will be used for product development and testing of Cyrium's photovoltaic solar cell products and to establish volume manufacturing.
Financial services
Derivix
New York's Derivix Corp. has received an undisclosed amount of Series A funding from Goldman, Sachs & Co. and Susquehanna Growth Equity LLP, both of New York. Founded in 2005, Derivix provides tools for real-time options analytics and pricing, risk management and broker-neutral access to their customers' choice of execution provider. The funding will be used for product innovation, new customer acquisition and the expansion of its sales team and presence in the New York and Chicago markets. n
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