Compiled by Alastair Goldfisher
SAN FRANCISCO (Private Equity Week) - If the first week of 2010 is any indication, the new year will see a resurgence of early-stage startups. Thomson Reuters tracked at least eight young tech companies that raised its first institutional round of funding in the past week.
Among the companies to raise cash from venture investors is the drug developer TheraVasc, a Cleveland-based company that raised $500,000 in total seed stage funding from business development organization JumpStart Inc. and life sciences investment firm Portal Capital.
TheraVasc Inc. will use the funding, which was split equally by JumpStart and Portal Capital, to finish the first phase of human testing of its first drug, an oral formulation of sodium nitrite intended to promote the regrowth of blood vessels in patients with peripheral artery disease and other conditions involving poor blood flow to the extremities. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration already has approved the use of sodium nitrite to treat other conditions.
The list of startup to raise financing last week include the following:
CLEANTECH
Clean Power Finance Inc.
San Francisco, CA
www.cleanpowerfinance.com www.cleanpowerfinance.com
Amount/Round: $6.9 million/Series A
Investors: Claremont Creek Ventures, Clean Pacific Ventures, Sand Hill Angels and individual investor Gary Kremen
Details: Provides financing applications and other support services for solar installers.
EcoFactor
Redwood City, CA
www.ecofactor.com www.ecofactor.com
Amount/Round: $2.4 million/Series A
Investors: Claremont Creek Ventures
Details: Provides residential energy management solutions. Nat Goldhaber, managing director of Claremont Creek, has joined the board.
CONSUMER INTERNET
Jelli
San Mateo, CA
www.jelli.net www.jelli.net
Amount/Round: $2 million/seed stage
Investors: Individual investors reportedly include Josh Kopelman of First Round Capital; Alfred Lin of Zappos COO and CFO; and Peter Sperling, director of Apollo Group, according to published press reports
Details: Operates an interactive terrestrial radio service.
MED TECH
HistoSonics
Ann Arbor, MI
www.histosonics.com www.histosonics.com
Amount/Round: $11 million/Series A
Investors: Venture Investors (led), Fletcher Spaght Ventures, Hatteras Venture Partners, Early Stage Partners and TGap Ventures
Details: Develops image-guided system that ablates tissue. The company’s technology was licensed from the University of Michigan.
MEDIA
Graphic.ly
Boulder, CO
www.graphic.ly www.graphic.ly
Amount/Round: $1 million/Series A
Investors: DFJ Mercury (led), Starz Media, Northstar Equity Investors, GC&H Investments, and individual investors David Cohen, Chris Sacca, Jake Nickell, Paige Craig and Dave McClure
Details: Develops a community and digital content delivery platform for comic books. The company was originally named Take Comics, and was part of the 2009 TechStars program in Boulder.
PHARMACEUTICALS
TheraVasc
Cleveland, OH
www.theravasc.com www.theravasc.com
Amount/Round: $500,000/seed stage
Investors: JumpStart Inc. and Portal Capital
Details: Develops a treatment using sodium nitrate for peripheral artery disease.
SOFTWARE
VisualShare
Salt Lake City, UT
www.visualshare.com www.visualshare.com
Amount/Round: NA/seed stage
Investors: Salt Lake Life Science Angels
Details: Provides software-as-a-service solutions for Web-based multi-user image collaboration.
WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS
SCVNGR Inc.
Boston, MA
www.scvngr.com www.scvngr.com
Amount/Round: $4 million/Series A
Investors: Google Ventures and Highland Capital Partners
Details: Operates a scavenger hunt using cellular technology and short messaging services. Rich Miner of Google Ventures has joined the board. The company previously raised $700,000 from Highland.