Zavante Therapeutics Inc announced that it closed a $45 million Series A round, which the San Diego company will use to develop an injectable antibiotic to treat multidrug resistant (MDR) pathogens. The round was comprised of $35 million from new investors and $10 million from the conversion of outstanding convertible notes. It was co-led by Frazier Healthcare Partners and Longitude Capital, with participation from Aisling Capital. As part of the deal, Frazier Healthcare Managing General Partner Patrick Heron and Longitude Capital Managing Director David Hirsch will join Zavante’s board of directors.
5 min read · 30 March 2016
Private equity firm Pegasus Capital Advisors LP has invested $53 million in PanTheryx Inc, a medical nutrition company based in Boulder, Colorado. Terms of the deal were undisclosed. PanTheryx said it would use the capital to launch a product to treat infectious diarrhea, for ongoing research and development and possible acquisitions.
3 min read · 30 March 2016
Data Artisans, which makes software to speed up big data analytics, announced it has raised a Series A round of 5.5 million euros ($6 million) led by Intel Capital with participation from Tengelmann Ventures and existing investor b-to-v Partners. The Berlin-based company has now raised $7.3 million in total funding.
4 min read · 30 March 2016
Trivest Partners today announced the sale of Take 5 Oil Change Inc to Roark Capital portfolio company Driven Brands. Financial terms were not disclosed, but Trivest said the sale “represents the sixth exit event in Trivest Fund IV and is one of its most successful investments to date.” Trivest bought Take 5 from the company’s founder in 2011. Under its ownership, Take 5 “nearly tripled its store count, sales and profitability,” Trivest said in a statment.
3 min read · 30 March 2016
Asana, a maker of project management and collaboration software, announced that it has raised $50 million from a Who’s Who of Silicon Valley tech luminaries, including Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg. The Series C round values the San Francisco-based company at $600 million, up from a valuation of $280 million for its $28 million Series B in 2012, TechCrunch reported. To date, Asana has raised a total of $88.2 million, according to CrunchBase. The new round was led by Sam Altman, president of tech incubator Y Combinator. In addition to Zuckerberg, other participants included Asana’s founders, Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz and early Facebook employee Justin Rosenstein; 8VC, a VC firm led by Palantir co-founder Joe Lonsdale; Aditya Agarwal and Ruchi Sanghvi, VP and former VP of Dropbox; Priscilla Chan, CEO of The Primary School; Adam D’Angelo, CEO of Quora; Founders Fund; Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos; Andrew Mason, CEO of Detour and founder of Groupon; Roger McNamee, co-founder of Elevation Partners; and Eric Ries, author of the book “The Lean Startup.”
1 min read · 30 March 2016
Dallas-based private equity firm Trive Capital announced that it has recapitalized Iowa Northern Railway Company, joining with the company’s senior management on the deal. The size of the investmet was undisclosed. Based in Cedar Rapids, IANR operates about 250 miles of track in eastern and northern Iowa, serving regional customers in the grain, fertilizer and specialty chemical markets. The railroad was built in the 1870s and has been owned and operated by the Sabin family since 1994.
3 min read · 29 March 2016
CapX Partners announced that it has provided $7.4 million in debt financing to Two Twenty Records Management, enabling the data storage outsourcing provider to refinance its current debt facility and access working capital. Two Twenty, based in Edison, New Jersey, is owned by Topspin LBO and AUA Private Equity Partners, which bought the company in October 2010.
2 min read · 29 March 2016
The Riverside Company bought a minority stake in Bentley Laboratories LLC for an undisclosed amount. Based in Edison, New Jersey, Bentley provides outsourced manufacuturing for beauty products and over-the-counter pharmaceuticals. Managing Partner Hal Greenberg and Partner Michael Kessler led the deal for Riverside, along with Vice President Jay Reynolds and Associate Director of Origination Cheryl Strom. Riverside was advised by Loeb & Loeb (legal) and WeiserMazars (accounting), and Bentley was advised by Carriage Hill Inc (corporate finance) and Giordano Halleran & Ciesla (legal).
2 min read · 29 March 2016
Interior design website Havenly has raised $5.8 million in a Series A2 round, bringing the Denver-based company’s total funding to $13.3 million. The round was led by Binary Capital with participation from existing investors Foundry Group and Chicago Ventures. The company said the new capital will be used to improve its design platform and expand staff by 25 percent. Havenly previously closed on a $7.5 million Series A in November 2015.
3 min read · 29 March 2016
Livingstone, a Chicago-based mid-market M&A and debt advisory firm, announced that it has closed a new credit facility for Premium Inspection & Testing Inc, a portfolio company of Calvert Street Capital Partners. First Midwest Bank and Patriot Capital provided the financing to support the portfolio company’s recapitalization of Capitol Ultrasonics LLC.
3 min read · 29 March 2016
