FACTBOX: Early Stage Venture Roundup

SAN FRANCISCO (Private Equity Week) - Seven U.S.-based technology companies last week raised early stage rounds of funding last week from venture capitalists, according to Thomson Reuters. The group of newly funded startups includes two pharmaceuticals companies that are developing treatments for cancer: Aragon Pharmaceuticals and Clovis Oncology Inc. Aragon Pharmaceuticals, focused on treating hormone-resistant cancers, raised $8 million in a Series A round from The Column Group and OrbiMed Advisors <here Clovis Oncology, which is developing anti-cancer agents, raised $145 million in its first institutional financing from Aberdare Ventures <here Abingworth <here Domain Associates, Frazier Healthcare Ventures, New Enterprise Associates <here ProQuest Investments, and Versant Ventures. Clovis' financing is the largest venture round this year for a company in any industry. Previously, the largest financing of a life sciences company occurred in the first quarter when Anacor Pharmaceuticals raised $50 million in a late stage round of funding. Other startups that raised early stage financing last week include:

CONSUMER INTERNET

Plastic Jungle Inc. Clovis, Calif. www.plasticjungle.com Amount/Round: $4.8M/Series A Investors: Shasta Ventures (led), Bay Partners, First Round Capital and Harrison Metal. Details: Operates a website for trading gift cards.

ENERGY

OwnEnergy Inc. New York www.ownenergy.net <www.ownenergy.net> Amount/Round: Undisclosed/Series A Investors: Clearpoint Ventures and GoGreen Capital. Details: Develops wind power technology. The company is currently developing wind power projects in 13 U.S. states. The funding represents the second close on the Series A round. The company previously raised $4.63M in September from the New York City Investment Fund, Contour Venture Partners and EnerTech Capital. The company also hired Ray Henger, formerly a managing director in Credit Suisse's U.S. Power and Renewables Group, as its finance director, and Chip Readling, former director of development at Noble Environmental Power, as its senior project manager.

PHARMACEUTICALS

Aragon Pharmaceuticals San Diego www.aragonpharmaceuticals.com <www.aragonpharmaceuticals.com> Amount/Round: $8M/Series A Investors: The Column Group and OrbiMed Advisors. Details: Develops small molecule therapeutics for cancer treatments. Peter Svennilson, founder and managing partner of The Column Group, and Carl Gordon, founding general partner of OrbiMed, have joined the board.

Clovis Oncology Inc. Boulder, Colo. Does not yet have a website Amount/Round: $145M/Series A Investors: Domain Associates, New Enterprise Associates, Versant Ventures, Aberdare Ventures, Abingworth, Frazier Healthcare Ventures, ProQuest Investments and the company's management team. Details: Develops anti-cancer agents. The company was founded by former executives of Pharmion, which was acquired in 2008 by Celegene for $2.9B. Of the investors of Clovis, all but Frazier Healthcare were investors in Pharmion.

Sagent Pharmaceuticals Inc. Schaumburg, Ill. www.sagentpharma.com <www.sagentpharma.com> Amount/Round: $30M/Series A Investors: Vivo Ventures. Details: Develops injectable drugs for cardiovascular and anti-bacterial treatments. The company has now raised $113M since 2007 from Vivo Ventures and Capricorn Investment Group. Sagent raised $53M in its first round in September 2007 and followed a year later with a $30M extension.

SOFTWARE

Celtra Inc. Cambridge, Mass. www.celtra.com <www.celtra.com> Amount/Round: $1.2M/Series A Investors: RSG Capital. Details: Develops software-as-a service marketing platforms. RSG Capital is a Slovenian-based venture capital fund.

O4 Corp. Atlanta, Ga. www.O4corporation.com Amount/Round: $15M/Series A Investors: ABS Capital Partners. Details: Develops mobile salesforce automation software for the retail industry. Laura Witt and Bobby Goswami, general partners at ABS Capital, have joined the board.