Alastair Goldfisher

Dundee and Lakewest join forces, raise $20 mln to focus on Midwest market

Dundee raises $20 mln, partners with Lakewest

Dundee Venture Capital, an Omaha, Nebraska, seed-stage firm that invests in Midwest startups, said it held an initial close of $20 million for its third fund and partnered with Lakewest Venture Partners in Chicago. Lakewest Co-Founder David Mann will join the Dundee team, which includes Founder Mark Hasebroock and Partners Beth Engel and Greg Beaufait.

Canaan Partners adds two tech partners, opens San Francisco office

Canaan Partners announced in a blog post on Medium that Joydeep Bhattacharyya and Rich Boyle have joined the roster as partners focused on enterprise software investing. Bhattacharyya, who previously was a principal with Shasta Ventures, will focus on SaaS applications and mobile-first solutions. Boyle, a onetime chief executive of LoopNet.com and most recently an operating partner at Khosla Ventures, will look at artificial intelligence and marketplaces. Canaan announced the hires while holding an open house for its new satellite office in the South Park neighborhood of San Francisco. The firm moved into the second-floor space above Shasta Ventures and which was formerly occupied by Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers.

Fika Ventures seeks $50 mln for inaugural fund

Eva Ho, formerly with Susa Ventures, and Tianxiang Zhuo from Karlin Ventures, have filed a pair of regulatory documents for newly launched Fika Ventures. The Los Angeles firm is seeking $50 million in commitments, according to the filings (here and here). The firm will focus on startups in Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area.

Venture-backed stocks inch upward in August

Oracle buys VC-backed Palerra

Oracle announced it has agreed to buy venture-backed Palerra for an undisclosed price. The Santa Clara, California-based provider of enterprise cloud security had raised $25 million in funding from August Capital, Norwest Venture Partners, Wing Venture Capital and Engineering Capital.

Data spotlight: M&A triples in August with close of Dollar Shave Club deal

IVP adds an associate

Late-stage investor IVP, which is currently investing from a $1.4 billion fund, announced Armaan Ali has joined the firm as an associate to focus on enterprise software, Internet and digital media, and mobile investments. He previously was with Qatalyst Partners, a tech-focused boutique investment bank located in San Francisco.

AI-powered chatbot company Inbenta raises $12 mln

San Mateo, California-based Inbenta, a provider of artificial intelligent-powered chatbots used in customer service support and e-commerce, announced it has raised $12 million in an oversubscribed Series B round of funding. Level Equity led the round with participation by Amasia and previous backer Scale Capital through its Amérigo Chile fund. George McCulloch, Level Equity founder and partner, and Ramanan Raghavendran, chairman of Amasia, have joined the board as part of the funding. Inbenta previously raised $4 million in funding.

Benhamou leads funding of Totango

San Mateo, California-based Totango, which provides a customer engagement platform for software companies, announced it has raised $8 million in a Series C round of funding. Benhamou Global Ventures led the round, with participation from returning investors Pitango Venture Capital, Canvas Ventures and Interwest Partners. As part of the funding, Eric Benhamou, founder and general partner at Benhamou Global Ventures, will join the board as . Totango previously raised more than $19 million in its two previous rounds of funding, according to Thomson Reuters.