The Weekly Money Trail- July 13, 2008

Bellevue, Investors Brings Alerts.com Back To Life
A few years ago, investors poured more than $18 million into Alerts.com, a developer of software that alerted users when content changed on high-traffic Web sites.
http://www.alerts.com

San Francisco, VC seed DRM Software Co. ByteShield
ByteShield Inc., a provider of copyright protection software, has secured a round of seed financing. Showing that VC’s still think there is a market for DRM technologies.
http://www.byteshield.net

Cupertino, Zend Sends investors a request For $7M
Zend Technologies Ltd., a developer of software for PHP applications, has raised up to $7 million in debt from TriplePoint Capital.
http://www.zend.com

Los Angeles, Shopflick bags $7M To Set Up Video Shops
Shopflick Inc., which has successfully shopped itself to venture capitalists for a $7 million Series A, sees itself as the QVC of the MySpace demographic.
http://www.shopflick.com

Cambridge, OpenCloud Accumulates $10M New Debt And Equity
OpenCloud Ltd., a supplier of real-time application servers to help the telecommunications industry develop and deploy services, has announced a $10 million debt-and-equity second round of funding.
http://www.opencloud.com

Texas City, Virgin Cleantech Funds Acquire DuraTherm
Masdar Clean Tech Fund and Virgin Green Fund announced the buy-out of DuraTherm Inc., a petroleum and metal recycling business based in Texas City, Texas. The transaction, structured as an asset acquisition, was supported by debt from HSH Nordbank AG and completed at an undisclosed valuation.
http://www.virgingreenfund.com
http://www.masdarctf.com
http://www.duratherm-intl.com

Bangalore, Indian Ad Network Ozone Media Packs Up First Round
Ozone Media Solutions Pvt. Ltd. has secured a Series A round of funding from IDG Ventures India for its India-based online ad network.
http://www.ozonemedia.co.in

Loughborough, Intelligent Energy Powers Up $13.6M
Intelligent Energy Ltd. has raised $13.6 million in venture funding to further develop its fuel cell products as it moves toward commercialization.
http://www.intelligent-energy.com

Germantown, Eka Systems Racks Up $18.5M
Improved management of energy infrastructure is a major concern as renewable energy comes online, and Eka Systems Inc., a manufacturer of advanced metering for electric, gas and water utilities, has raised $18.5 million in its latest round of funding to capitalize on the opportunity.
http://www.ekasystems.com

Agoura Hills, Cyber-Rain get “Funky” with Series A For Water Management Tech
With water management a growing issue on the West Coast and legislation expected in several California cities on water-use issues, water management technology developer Cyber-Rain Inc. has raised $1.5 million in Series A financing.
http://www.funkventures.com
http://www.cyber-rain.com

Sunnyvale, Innovalight Secures $5M Equipment Lease Financing
Innovalight Inc., which is developing portable solar power systems using nanotechnology, has secured $5 million in equipment lease financing from Atel Ventures.
http://www.innovalight.com

Lexington, Web Jeweler Paragon Lake Blings Out With $5.4M
Diamonds, it seems, may also be a venture capitalist’s best friend. Highland Capital Partners and Canaan Partners have decided to get friendly with Paragon Lake Inc., a Web-based supplier of customized jewelry.
http://www.paragonlake.com

Bellevue, DepotPoint Seals Series C
Spurred by the mortgage crisis, DepotPoint Inc. has raised $7 million to speed sales and marketing of its recently released foreclosure tracking Web site.
http://www.depotpoint.com

San Diego, Plimus Adds $18M For E-Commerce Infrastructure
Plimus Inc., a provider of infrastructure tools for e-commerce, has raised an $18 million first round of funding for continued product improvement as well as sales and marketing efforts of its products and services.
http://www.plimus.com

Bellevue, Xeround Circles Up $16M Series B
Xeround Inc., a developer of software for communications service providers, has secured $16 million in its Series B round as IP communications networks grow around the globe.
http://www.xeround.com

Exton, IPipeline Grabs $18M Growth Round
Thirteen years after its founding, iPipeline Inc., a provider of software-as-a-service to the insurance industry, has secured $18 million in Series A financing for its strategic growth plan.
http://www.ipipeline.com

Jersey City, IP Network provider DataPipe Collects $75M From Goldman
DataPipe Inc., a provider of managed IT services, has secured $75 million in equity and debt financing led by Goldman Sachs & Co
http://www.datapipe.com

Boston, Spire Attracts $9M For Site Focused On “Ballers Only”
Spire Company Associates Inc. has raised a $9 million Series A round of funding for a Web site it bills as “an exclusive online community,” aimed at providing product and service recommendations to affluent individuals.
http://spire.com

San Francisco, Mevio Tunes In with $15M For Online Shows
Online video start-up Mevio Inc., formerly known as PodShow, has raised $15 million in Series C funding led by Crosslink Capital.
http://www.mevio.com

New York, Buzzfeed Collects $3.5M For Juicy News
Contagious Media LLC, which owns Buzzfeed.com, a site that tracks hot online trends, has raised $3.5 million in Series A funding
http://www.buzzfeed.com

New York, FeedRoom Munches On $12M Series F
FeedRoom Inc., a provider of broadband video technology to corporations, government agencies and media companies, has taken in $12 million in its Series F round as the company moves closer to its exit strategy.
http://www.feedroom.com

New York BountyJobs Collects $12M Booty For Headhunting Service
Bounty connect employers to headhunters, BountyJobs Inc. The start up has raised a $12 million Series B round of funding.
http://www.bountyjobs.com

Pasadena, Perfect Market Reveals $15.6M In Financing
Perfect Market Inc., a company aiming to help publishers get more advertising dollars from archived articles, has announced $15.6 million worth of fund-raising.
http://www.perfectmarket.com

Geneva, Index Ventures Backs Two Cos. From Growth Fund
Index Ventures has made two new plays from its growth equity fund: a $35 million investment in online media company Bestofmedia Group SA, and a EUR17 million ($27 million) financing round for Milestone Systems A/S, a global developer of open platform IP video management software for surveillance systems.
http://www.indexventures.com
http://milestonesys.com
http://www.bestofmedia.com

Berlin, Intel Leads $130M Round In Solar Co. Sulfurcell
Intel Capital goes deep with its commitment to clean technology by leading a $130 million round of financing for Berlin-based thin-film solar technology developer Sulfurcell Solartechnik GmbH
http://www.intelcapital.com
http://www.sulfurcell.de

Microsoft Announces Acquisition of Navic Networks

REDMOND— Microsoft Corp. announced the acquisition of Navic Networks, a leading provider of television advertising solutions. Navic’s technologies include sophisticated campaign management tools that use relevant data to optimize the delivery and placement of targeted interactive television media and through Admira provide a unified ad network for targeting audiences across television advertising inventory. With the addition of Navic solutions, Microsoft’s comprehensive advertising platform will be able to facilitate enhanced digital advertising across online and offline environments.

“Television media represents the largest percentage of advertisers and agencies’ media budget today,” said Brian McAndrews, senior vice president of the Advertiser and Publisher Solutions Group at Microsoft. “Together, Navic and Microsoft will deliver addressable television advertising solutions to help our partners better manage media spend by increasing advertiser reach and ROI, and maximizing publisher yield on television advertising.”

With this acquisition, Navic Networks becomes a wholly owned subsidiary of Microsoft and will join Microsoft’s Advertiser and Publisher Solutions (APS) Group, the group responsible for Microsoft’s comprehensive advertising platform that spans all digital media including television and video advertising. The APS Group includes Atlas, a pioneer of Video-On-Demand advertising solutions.

http://www.navic.com
http://www.microsoft.com

Online Gaming vet raises $17.3 to increase it’s unique business model

Online gaming company GameDuell has raised $17.3 million in Series B funding to expand internationally with its unusual gaming revenue model. Wellington Partners provided the new funding. GameDuell received an undisclosed amount of Series A funding in 2004 from Holtzbrinck Ventures and Burda Digital Ventures.

While many online gaming companies generate revenue through advertising, subscriptions or, increasingly, virtual goods, GameDuell has a different approach: contests.

http://www.gameduell.com

About the Author
I am the founder of Urban Technology Ventures I love to cook, and I been doing web development and networking since 1996.
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