I've been a business reporter for a while. I've covered Wall Street, venture capital and now private equity. I'm always looking for a scoop or something to talk about. I'm the eternal optimist and am still waiting for the Chicago Cubs to win the World Series. Yes, I believe.
NewSpring Mezzanine Capital, the dedicated mezzanine arm of NewSpring Capital, has made a $9.6 million debt and minority equity investment in South Moon Sales Inc. NewSpring partnered with JPB Capital Partners in the deal. Ocean City, Maryland-based South Moon provides men's and women's clothing, swimwear, accessories, jewelry, and gifts for the home.
3 min read · 01 April 2016
Rand Capital Corp said March 31 that it closed its buy of Gemcor II LLC. Rand had owned 31.25 percent of Gemcor. Gross proceeds are expected to be $15.2 million, Rand said.
2 min read · 01 April 2016
TierPoint LLC said March 31 it has completed its previously announced buy of Cosentry. Financial terms of the deal, announced in January, weren’t disclosed. TA Associates, the seller, will retain a stake and is joining other Cosentry investors including Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, Cequel III, RedBird Capital Partners, The Stephens Group, Thompson Street Capital Partners, and Jordan/Zalaznick Advisers Inc. Omaha-based Cosentry provides cloud, colocation and managed services.
2 min read · 01 April 2016
Mashable said Thursday it raised $15 million in funding led by Turner, a division of Time Warner. Also participating were returning investors Time Warner Investments, Updata Partners, David Jones, and Mike Lazerow, with participation from R&R Venture Partners, a fund created by Dick Parsons and Ronald Lauder. Mashable is a media company.
3 min read · 31 March 2016
SkySquirrel Technologies has closed a $1 million investment round. This includes a $500,000 investment from Innovacorp and $500,000 from an undisclosed Ontario-based private investor. Halifax-based SkySquirrel is a crop-analytics company that develops drone-based technology for monitoring crop health.
2 min read · 31 March 2016
Brammer Biopharmaceuticals is merging with Florida Biologix to create Brammer Bio. Financial terms weren’t announced. Brammer Bio is a gene therapy biologics contract development and manufacturing organization. Ampersand Capital Partners owns a majority of Florida Biologix and is making an investment in the combined company.
4 min read · 31 March 2016
Expway said it raised 3 million euros ($3.4 million) in capital, half of which came from NTT DOCOMO Ventures. The other half came from current investors including Innovation Capital, I-Source, TechFund and Isatis Capital. Sunnyvale, California-based Expway is a wireless multicast provider.
2 min read · 31 March 2016
Ceridian is receiving another $150 million from shareholders including Thomas H. Lee Partners LP, Fidelity National Financial Ventures Group and Ceridian management, including CEO David Ossip. Ceridian, of Toronto, is a human capital management technology company.
2 min read · 31 March 2016
In First Read, Microsoft is trying to create all kinds of bots with different personalities; Microsoft is trying to create all kinds of bots with different personalities; Whoopi Goldberg is coming out with a line of marijuana-infused products, under the brand name Whoopi & Maya, to reduce menstrual pain and cramps; and Buddy, the bucket list dog, has died with one wish to go.
1 min read · 31 March 2016
GoReact has received a $4 million growth investment from Five Elms Capital. Orem, Utah-based GoReact provides a video-based skills-training platform that is used in classrooms.
2 min read · 30 March 2016
