It would have rocked the basketball world were the phrase even uttered in the late 80s: Magic Johnson is heading to Detroit. But the Hall of Fame NBA star and entrepreneur isn’t on the hardwood anymore, he’s joining Detroit Venture Partners, where he will work alongside Josh Linkner, Founder & Chairman of ePrize; Dan Gilbert, Founder & Chairman of Quicken Loans and Majority Owner of the NBA's Cleveland Cavaliers; and Brian Hermelin, Founder & Chairman of the private equity firm Rockbridge Growth Equity.
4 min read · 21 July 2011
Acquia, the Massachusetts-based social publishing system, closed a $15 million Series D investment round from Tenaya Capital, Northbridge Venture Partners and Sigma Partners. Brian Paul, Managing Partner of Tenaya Capital, will join Acquia's board of directors. Other specifics of the transaction were not publicized.
3 min read · 20 July 2011
Colorado-based mobile video communications company Tango picked up a $42 million round led by Draper Fisher Jurvetson, and including Len Blavatnik and Alex Zubillaga. The company also revealed it would launch a free video calling service for PCs.
3 min read · 20 July 2011
Private equity firm Veronis Suhler Stevenson will acquire financial software company Strata Decision Technology. Terms of the private investment, which was made by VSS Structured Capital Fund II, were not disclosed. SDT was advised by Berkery, Noyes, & Co., the New York-based investment banking firm.
4 min read · 20 July 2011
Sun Capital Partners, the Florida-based private equity firm, completed its buy of Contessa Premium Foods Inc., and appointed Donald J. Binotto as president and CEO of the new company. Most recently, Binotto was president and CEO of StarKist Co., a maker of canned seafood.
3 min read · 20 July 2011
Middle market financing provider Crystal Financial will add Cheryl Carner, Mirko Andric and Jon Wyeth to its’ Boston Office. Carner will be a managing director, Andric joins as a VP and Wyeth joins as an associate. Carner comes with experience at GE Capital, Franchise Finance and CapitalSource.
2 min read · 19 July 2011
Komli Media, the digital media tech platform, bought ZestADZ, another mobile ad platform, based in India. Komli is headquartered in Mumbai with international offices and is backed by Norwest Venture Partners, Nexus Venture Partners and Helion Venture Partners.
3 min read · 19 July 2011
All of a sudden, private equity can’t stop taking notice of education deals. The week after KKR’s new education platform made its first deal, Providence Equity Partners-backed Ascend Learning acquired PrepMe Adaptive Learning, the Chicago-based publisher of online courses and educational materials. PrepMe was founded by Avichal Garg and Karan Goel. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
3 min read · 19 July 2011
3 min read · 19 July 2011
Magellan Biosciences, the Boston-based diagnostics company, sold its TREK Diagnostic Systems, the company’s microbiology business, to strategic acquirer Thermo Fisher Scientific. Terms of the deal were not publicized. Backers of Magellan include Abingworth Management, Hambrecht & Quist Capital Management, KBL Healthcare Ventures, Ampersand Ventures, New England Partners Capital LP, Nexus Medical Partners II SICAR, and Boston Community Venture Fund.
2 min read · 19 July 2011
