Early stage roundup

by Alastair Goldfisher

SAN FRANCISCO (Private Equity Week) - Ice cream may not sound as sexy as social networking and cleantech, but a company that has developed a consumer-oriented ice cream maker has attracted the attention of venture capital.

MooBella, a Taunton, Mass.-based company that is developing technology that allows consumers to make-their-own ice cream in 40 seconds, announced last week that it raised $18 million in a Series A round of funding from Inventages.

Inventages normally invests in a range of life sciences, such as nutraceuticals, medical food, cosmeceuticals, pharmaceuticals and novel packaging technologies, according to its website. MooBella hopes to launch its product in early 2010. The plan is for food service outlets to rent the machines for a monthly fee of $400 and help consumers dispense the servings. The startup MooBella was one of several young companies last week to raise early stage capital earlier from venture investors, according to Thomson Reuters.

The tally of early stage companies to raise capital recently includes the following.

ECOMMERCE

Alice.com Inc.

Middleton, Wis.

www.alice.com

Amount/Round: $4M/Series B

Investors: NA

Details: Develops an online retail platform for the manufacturers and customers in the consumer packaged goods market. The funding is the first close of a $6M second round of VC funding, according to a regulatory filing. The company previously raised $4.3M from Kegonsa Capital Partners and DaneVest Tech Fund.

FOOD & BEVERAGES

MooBella Inc.

Taunton, Mass.

www.moobella.com

Amount/Round: $18M/Series A

Investors: Inventages.

Details: Develops ice cream machines for consumers to make hard-scoop ice cream in 40 seconds. The funding will be used to support the company's initial product rollout.

INTERNET MARKETING

Authentic Response Inc.

New York

www.authenticresponse.net

Amount/Round: $2M/Series A

Investors: Sutter Hill Ventures.

Details: Provides online sampling and data collection. The company also announced that Jim Follett, former CEO of Survey Sampling International, will take over as CEO. He succeeds interim CEO Matt Blumberg of Return Path, from which Authentic Response spun out last year.

MED TECH

Gamma Medica-Ideas Inc.

Northridge, Calif.

www.gm-ideas.com

Amount/Round: $24M/Series A

Investors: Psilos Group (led) and Capital Resource Partners.

Details: Develops digital molecular imaging systems. Psilos led the round with $14M in equity.

WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS

Vuclip

Milpitas, Calif.

www.vuclip.com

Amount/Round: $6M/Series B

Investors: Jafco Ventures (led) and New Enterprise Associates.

Details: Develops mobile video search and delivery solutions. Nick Sturiale, general partner at Jafco, will join the board, which also includes Kittu Kolluri, general partner at NEA.