Visiogen Inc., an Irvine, Calif.-based developer of products for cataract and refractive patients, has raised $40 million in fifth-round funding. Novartis Venture Fund led the round, and was joined by Technology Partners and return backers Three Arch Partners, New Leaf Venture Partners, Prospect Venture Partners, CMEA Ventures and Foundation Medical Partners. The company had previously raised around $57 million since 2001.
3 min read · 27 April 2009
Sujit Banerjee has joined Element Partners, a growth equity firm focused o the cleantech space, as an operating partner. He previously was a partner with BlueRun Ventures, where he will continue to serve as an operating partner for mobile and consumer investments. While with BlueRun, Banerjee opened an India office and launched the firm's cleantech practice.
2 min read · 27 April 2009
DFJ Frontier has closed its second fund with $55.4 million in capital commitments. Limited partners include CalPERS, Credit Suisse, Hamilton Lane, LACERS and the Oregon Growth Account. The firm also promoted Frank Foster from venture partner to partner, and opened new offices in Los Angeles and Portland, Oregon.
3 min read · 27 April 2009
Sebastian Thrun has joined Charles River Ventures as a senior advisor. He is a professor of computer science and electrical engineering at Stanford University, and also serves as a principal engineer at Google (where he helped create Google StreetView).
3 min read · 27 April 2009
Monica Healthcare Ltd., a UK-based developer of miniature wireless technology for monitoring the monitor the well-being of expectant mothers and their fetuses, has raised £1.1 million in VC funding. PUK Ventures led the round with a £750,000 commitment. Monica Healthcare is a spinout from the University of Nottingham.
3 min read · 27 April 2009
Opscode Inc., a Seattle-based cloud infrastructure automation company, has raised $2.5 million in Series A funding. Draper Fisher Jurvetson led the round, with DFJ venture partner Bill Bryant joining the Opscode board of directors.
3 min read · 27 April 2009
ProtAffin AG, an Austrian developer of drugs that target cell-surface glycan structures, has raised €14.1 million in Series B funding. Atlas Venture and S.R. One Ltd. co-led the round, and were joined by return backers Aescap Venture, Entrepreneurs Fund and Z-Cube.
4 min read · 27 April 2009
Venture capital performance fell across all time horizons in the fourth quarter of 2008, according to data released this morning by Thomson Reuters (publisher of peHUB) and the National Venture Capital Association. Performance is positive for all horizons three-years and out, and has outperformed public market indices -- including Nasdaq and S&P 500 -- for all measured time periods.
3 min read · 27 April 2009
1 min read · 24 April 2009
Scoreloop AG, a German developer of a software platform that lets mobile gamers challenge each other, has raised an undisclosed amount of seed funding from Target Partners.
2 min read · 24 April 2009
