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ExactTarget, an Indianapolis-based maker of email marketing software, has raised $70 million in new VC funding, according to a regulatory filing. This follows a $70 million round from earlier this year, and brings the company’s total funding to around $155 million.
ExactTarget said in a press release that it had raised an undisclosed amount of new funding fromTechnology Crossover Ventures, but did not say if existing shareholders also participated in the round. Those backers are Battery Ventures, Insight Venture Partners, Ontagu Newhall and Scale Venture Partners.
VentureWire
By Staff Reporters
Six months after dropping its IPO plans and raising a monster $70 million funding round, email marketing company ExactTarget Inc. said it has received new funding from Technology Crossover Ventures.
The amount of the investment was undisclosed, but a recent regulatory filing showed the company raising $5 million in equity, as VentureWire previously reported. Further details were not disclosed.
David Yuan of Technology Crossover Ventures has joined the board of directors. Calls to the company and Yuan were not immediately returned.
The funding comes after ExactTarget pulled plans for a public offering in May and raised $70 million from Scale Venture Partners, Battery Ventures and previous shareholder Montagu Newhall Associates. That round gave ExactTarget about as much funding it had sought to raise when it filed for the IPO in December 2007.
ExactTarget, based in Indianapolis, makes software that enables clients to create, target, deliver, track and manage permission-based email marketing communications. It has managed campaigns for brands including Careerbuilder.com, Expedia.com, Florida Power & Light, Gannett Co./USA Today, Home Depot, the Indianapolis Colts, the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, Liberty Mutual Group and Papa John's.
ABC 7 Local News
By Carolyn Johnson
SUNNYVALE, CA (KGO) -- One woman's failed battle with her insurance company to get an FDA-approved surgery has inspired her to fight to change the system. She ultimately got her surgery by traveling abroad and now she wants to help others achieve what she could not.
Marti Conger now has two artificial cervical discs in her neck. Her own discs had degenerated, causing spinal cord compression, severe numbness and pain. She traveled to England for the surgery since her insurance would only cover spinal fusion and not disc replacement.
"Even though it's FDA-approved and even though it's got 30 years track record on it, we consider it investigational," she told ABC7. "And, Dr. Chou even helped me fight them but, I lost every battle along the way."
"It's a really frustrating situation as a physician because you know that once you fuse someone's neck, you can't unfuse their neck," Chou said.
UCFS neurosurgeon and spine specialist Dr. Dean Chou supported Conger's decision to travel abroad for the surgery when the State of California upheld her insurance company's decision.
"I was shocked," she said. "I was shocked that my government wouldn't stand behind me."
She ended up choosing a surgeon in England who was using discs not yet FDA-approved in this country, but manufactured by Sunnyvale-based "Spinal Kinetics." A company animation demonstrates the product's range of motion. Preserving motion is believed to protect surrounding discs from degeneration, a problem with fusion.
"The recovery from a fusion is months. And, with an artificial disc, plunk it in, I'm ready to go," Conger explained.
In fact, three days later, she and her husband were sightseeing in England before heading home. Now that she is back, she is on a mission to change the system. She is focused on the FDA.
"All we need to know... is the product safe? Then, let us decide whether we want to use it and get it out there quickly," she said. "No more of this starting from scratch and having to do trials over again. They should be able to start with the data on hand."
She wants a fast track for medical devices with proven track records in trusted countries.
Neurosurgeon Dr. Charles Branch is President of the North American Spine Society. He understands patient frustration, but believes clinical trials in this country are critical.
"The FDA is always wrestling with this. What's too quick? What's too slow?" he said. "I'm also bound by this ethical need to make sure that if I'm going to use it on a patient, it needs to be as safe and effective as it can be."
He points to the need for change within the insurance regulatory system.
"Why shouldn't we have a standard that says if the FDA has approved a product for commercial use and marketing, why shouldn't very insurance company be obligated to cover that?" he asked.
But, as Congers pointed out, "Instead, insurance companies are allowed to say oh no, we consider it investigational. No, once it's approved, it's approved."
Conger has already applied to the FDA to become a consumer advocate on its Medical Device Advisory Committee. She is also lobbying Congress and the insurance industry for change.
"I think she's made a phenomenal effort and kudos to her for all that she's done to really try and push this," Dr. Chou said.
And, she is just getting started.
"You got what you needed. Help someone else. This is not a one-time gig," she said.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Everyday Health announced a collaboration that will expand the delivery of vital health information to millions of consumers. This joint effort reflects FDA's emphasis on using innovative, technology-based strategies to carry out its mission of protecting and promoting the public health.
"We are pleased to collaborate with Everyday Health to reach millions more consumers with accurate, science-based information that can help them make decisions about their health," said Commissioner of Food and Drugs Margaret A. Hamburg, M.D. "This partnership will increase our ability to deliver important and sometimes urgent health information in an effective, consumer-friendly and convenient way."
The partnership will include:
A new online resource at www.EverydayHealth.com/FDA:
- Featuring the latest information on food and medical product safety as well as prevention and wellness. In the event of breaking public health information, Everyday Health will also feature "FDA Alert" modules in select locations throughout the site and portfolio as well as in newsletters.
A new FDA/Everyday Health weekly newsletter:
- The FDA/Everyday Health newsletter will contain "FDA Alerts" as well as up-to-date information on drug safety, cosmetics and skin care products and children's health products.
"Everyday Health's goal is to empower consumers every day with the most relevant health information and tools," said Marjorie Martin, senior vice president and general manager of Everyday Health. "We are excited to partner with FDA on this important initiative and believe it serves as testament to our mission to deliver important health information as it happens."
The complete terms and components of the partnership are described in a Memorandum of Understanding, which is on display today at the Federal Register office and available online at www.access data.fda.gov/scripts/oc/ohrms/advdisplay.cfm.
An agency policy statement summarizing the criteria and processes for development of such partnerships is available on FDA's Web site at www.fda.gov/ForConsumers/ucm126390.htm.
For More Information Link to Consumer Update http://www.fda.gov/ForConsumers/default.htm
Square 1 Bank joins Ernst & Young LLP in announcing the 2009 winners
PALM SPRINGS, Calif., Nov. 16 /PRNewswire/ -- Three entrepreneurial leaders from Akamai Technologies, IPC: The Hospitalist Company and Titan Machinery, received the Ernst & Young Venture Capital Award of Excellence on Saturday, November 14 at Ernst & Young LLP's 2009 Strategic Growth Forum in Palm Springs, CA. Square 1 Bank co-sponsored the awards, which were presented at a ceremony with remarks by Mark Heesen, the President of the National Venture Capital Association.
"We're proud to honor and play a role in the maturing, growth and success of venture-backed companies throughout the US," said Bryan Pearce, head of Ernst & Young LLP's Americas Venture Capital Advisory Group. "This year's Venture Capital Award of Excellence winners demonstrate how venture capital fuels entrepreneurial success and innovation."
The Venture Capital (VC) Award of Excellence recognizes Ernst & Young LLP's Entrepreneur Of The Year® regional winners whose companies have been backed by venture capital funding. Out of more than 50 regional 2009 Entrepreneur of the Year winners who have benefited from VC funding, these honorees were selected by an independent panel of judges from leading VC firms, including Bain Capital Ventures, Fidelity Ventures, MPM Capital, NewSpring Ventures, Sequoia Capital and Technology Cross Ventures.
"Square 1 Bank's commitment to the venture capital community has never wavered," said Susan Casey, Founder and Executive Vice President, Credit and Banking, of Square 1 Bank. "VC firms have played such a vital role in making entrepreneurial visions a reality that we are thrilled to be a part of Ernst & Young's VC Award of Excellence program."
For this recognition, venture-backed enterprises were analyzed by the amount of VC funding on the basis of equity and revenue growth, EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) margins, and the stories of their founding. Highlights from the 2009 VC Award of Excellence winners' stories include:
- Akamai Technologies Inc. of Cambridge, Massachusetts - A winner of Ernst & Young LLP's 2009 national Technology Entrepreneur of the Year, President and CEO, Paul Sagan and Akamai's founders, Tom Leighton and Dan Lewin, changed the way business is done on the web in less than a decade. Leighton and Lewin improved the information-processing method that ended what was known as the "World Wide Wait" by attracting funding from Battery Venture Partners and Polaris Venture Partners and earning an exclusive license to intellectual property from Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Under Sagan's leadership, Akamai withstood the setbacks of the tech bubble and experienced pivotal improvements in customer service. Today, Akamai offers the most widely used platform for content delivery globally, featuring application acceleration with more than 42,000 servers in 70 countries and 1,000 networks. Its 2008 revenues of $790 million rose 24% over the previous year.
- IPC: The Hospitalist Company of North Hollywood, California - Within two years of its founding, the company received more than $40 million from leading US healthcare investors to build the nation's largest hospitalist group that employs more than 1,200 people in 18 states. The goal of the company, which went public in 2008, is to provide hospitalists with the tools to successfully develop their practices while they provide efficient and effective patient service. Under the leadership of CEO Dr. Adam Singer, IPC developed a leading-edge web-based system called IPC- Link, which gives companies real-time access to the activity of its hospitalists and a "virtual office." The IPC-Link system has enabled the company to grow quickly with limited increases in related overhead costs. In 2008, IPC reported operating profits of $22.5 million.
- Titan Machinery of Fargo, North Dakota - David Meyer, CEO, and his team manage, who a mix of agricultural, construction, and consumer products dealerships, recognized an opportunity for rapid expansion through acquisitions. The company began operating as if it were public by convening a board of directors and initiating reporting practices among other disciplines. In December 2007, with annual revenues of approximately $400 million, Titan Machinery completed an IPO. Today, it is one of the largest networks of full-service agricultural and construction equipment stores in North America. Two years later, 35 stores have grown to 68, and revenues for the latest fiscal year exceed $690 million. The company continues on a path of success and is expanding overseas.
About Ernst & Young's Strategic Growth Markets Network
Ernst & Young's worldwide Strategic Growth Markets Network is dedicated to serving the changing needs of rapid-growth companies. For more than 30 years, we've helped many of the world's most dynamic and ambitious companies grow into market leaders. Whether working with international mid-cap companies or early stage venture-backed businesses, our professionals draw upon their extensive experience, insight and global resources to help your business achieve its potential. It's how Ernst & Young makes a difference.
About Ernst & Young
Ernst & Young is a global leader in assurance, tax, transaction and advisory services. Worldwide, our 144,000 people are united by our shared values and an unwavering commitment to quality. We make a difference by helping our people, our clients and our wider communities achieve their potential.
For more information, please visit www.ey.com
Ernst & Young refers to the global organization of member firms of Ernst & Young Global Limited, each of which is a separate legal entity.
This news release has been issued by Ernst & Young LLP, a U.S. client-serving member firm of Ernst & Young Global Limited.
About Square 1 Bank
Square 1 Bank is a full service commercial bank dedicated exclusively to serving the financial needs of the venture capital community and entrepreneurs in all stages of growth and expansion. Square 1's expertise, focus and strong capital base provide solid support for its clients' needs. The bank offers tailored products and solutions aided by the latest in technological innovations. To serve its relationships, Square 1 has offices coast to coast in Austin, Boston, Boulder, Durham, McLean, New York, San Diego, Santa Monica, Seattle and Silicon Valley. For more information, visit www.square1bank.com.
San Francisco Chronicle
By Benny Evangelista
At a conference last month in San Francisco, Comcast CEO Brian Roberts credited an employee's use of Twitter with helping to change the cable giant's corporate culture toward customer service.
Yet a recent survey of corporate technology executives by Robert Half Technology of Menlo Park found that 54 percent of companies prohibit employees from using social-media sites while on the job.
Experts say those companies could stifle the creativity of employees who are using Twitter, Facebook and other networking sites to help their companies.
"I guarantee you a significant portion of that 54 percent just looked at it and said, 'We don't know what it is, but it looks like a waste of time and we're just going to shut it down,' " said attorney Tobias Butler of the Internet and new media team in the Atlanta office of Bryan Cave LLP.
The reticence to use social media, however, may diminish quickly because the corporate world already has adopted technologies that were at one time called unnecessary employee distractions - instant messaging, e-mail and even access to the Internet itself, said Kailash Ambwani, chief executive officer of FaceTime Communications Inc., a Belmont firm that develops enterprise communications technology.
"All those technologies have paved the way," Ambwani said. "We're seeing a much different attitude with respect to social networking in two years than we saw with instant messaging in five years. They now recognize the Web is no longer about shopping and information, it's about collaboration and cooperation."
At Comcast, employee Frank Eliason took the initiative last year to use his own Twitter account to contact customers who were tweeting about service problems. Now known as "Famous Frank," Eliason has been credited with almost single-handedly turning around Comcast's reputation. He heads a staff of 11 who monitor social networks and offer help to customers.
During a question-and-answer session at last month's Web 2.0 conference, Comcast's Roberts said the Twitter strategy has played a big part in changing the corporate culture "from inside the organization, not just the top down."
Quick change
"It's fascinating for me to watch how quickly you can change a company," Roberts told the audience.
Another example cited by Butler: An employee of San Diego's Petco Animal Supplies Inc. began using social media to write about pets being dyed different colors, which turned into a controversial topic. The company found it could harness the passion of its own employees to create its own community, he said.
vButler's team advises companies on developing a clear policy about the use of social networking by employees, both to take advantage of opportunities and to ensure their legal bases are covered.
Some Bay Area companies are seeing a wider interest in integrating social media in the workplace.
For example, Saba Software Inc., a Redwood City people management software firm, has introduced beta versions of new programs, Saba Social and Saba Impressions, which are scheduled to be released next year. The programs use social-media features such as status updates and creating networks of experts.
"To me, social networking will become the next e-mail," said Ben Willis, Saba's senior director of product strategy. "It will become the platform that people will use to communicate."
Ambwani said he's been talking to firms about FaceTime's new United Security Gateway technology, which allows social media use while still addressing concerns about security and letting private information leak out.
One example of such concerns involved a Canadian bank that blocked social media but became the object of a wave of complaints from outraged customers about poor service on Facebook and Twitter.
Twitter firestorm
"People within the company weren't used to dealing with these things when the firestorm broke out over Twitter," he said. "And when they found out, they had no real mechanism to respond because they were blocked. And even if they weren't blocked, they didn't know how to respond."
He's also spoken with officials of a large brokerage that had blocked social media, but began noticing that referrals coming through brokers' personal Facebook or LinkedIn accounts were far more likely to become clients.
"Human beings are tribal in nature," Ambwani said. "I know that I am more likely to respond to a stranger if that stranger reaches me through Facebook or LinkedIn than my e-mail account, because I feel some connection."
VentureWire
Three more venture-backed companies filed for initial public offerings Friday, rushing toward the IPO window as it continues to swing open.
The companies - TeleNav Inc., Alimera Sciences Inc. and Trony Solar Holdings Co. - are the latest to prepare for a public debut after a handful of IPOs this summer broke a yearlong drought amid a market rebound.
TeleNav, a provider of voice-guided navigation, plans to sell up to an estimated $75 million in stock.
The company's service is available through U.S. carriers such as Sprint Nextel Corp. and AT&T Inc., as well as internationally. The company had more than 11 million paying users as of Sept. 30. For the fiscal first quarter ending Sept. 30, Telenav earned $4.4 million on revenue of $36 million, compared with prior-year earnings of $2.6 million on revenue of $21.5 million.
TeleNav is increasingly diversifying away from Sprint, which has been losing subscribers for several years, with 55% of revenue in the latest quarter coming from Sprint. That compares with 61% in the fiscal year ended June 30 and 90% two years prior. At the same time, AT&T comprised 34% of revenue in the latest quarter.
Technology research firm Gartner Inc. estimated earlier this year that cellphones enabled with global positioning systems will make up 96% of North American mobile phone shipments by 2012.
TeleNav had raised at least $50 million from investors, VentureWire records show, including iGlobe Partners, Menlo Ventures, Sycamore Ventures and Trident Capital.
Meanwhile, Alimera Sciences, which is developing ophthalmic pharmaceuticals, did not disclose how much it intends to raise through its IPO. This is the company's second attempt at going public, following an earlier bid that was pulled in April.
The company's most advanced product candidate is Iluvien, an intravitreal insert containing fluocinolone acetonide, a non-proprietary corticosteroid with demonstrated efficacy in the treatment of ocular disease. The drug is in two Phase III trials. Proceeds of the offering will be used to bring Iluvien to market, pay off indebtedness and for other working capital purposes.
Alimera Sciences said it has an accumulated deficit of $147.1 million as of Sept. 30.
The company has raised more than $97 million from investors, VentureWire records show, including Domain Associates, Intersouth Partners, Polaris Venture Partners, Scale Venture Partners and Venrock.
Lastly, Trony Solar filed for an IPO of American depositary shares. The China-based maker of thin-film solar-power equipment didn't specify the number of shares, but estimated it could raise up to $200 million.
For the three months ended Sept. 30, Trony reported a profit of CNY44.9 million ($10.6 million), down 38% from a year earlier. Revenue dropped 45% to CNY140.6 million ($37.3 million).
Solar companies have seen improving demand after the industry struggled with a supply glut and weak demand earlier in the year.
Last year, Intel Capital invested $20 million in Trony.
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Alimera Sciences Inc., an Atlanta-based ophthalmic pharmaceutical company, has filed for an $80 million IPO. This comes less than two months after Alimera withdrew registration for a $75 million IPO due to "current public market conditions."
It had planned to trade on the Nasdaq under ticker symbol ALIM, with Credit Suisse and Citi serving as co-lead underwriters.
Alimera has raised just over $71 million in VC funding since 2004, from firms like Scale Venture Partners.
Tech Journal South
ATLANTA - Alimera Sciences Inc., an ophthalmic pharmaceutical firm, has refiled for an $80 million initial public offering of stock. The company withdrew registration for a $75 million IPO earlier this year due to market conditions at the time.
Alimera is developing prescription and over-the-counter treatments for diseases that affect the eyes. It sold two over-the-counter allergy products and a eye lubricating product to Bausch & Lomb for $16.7 million.
The company has raised more than $71 million in venture backing since 2004. Investors include Scale Venture Partners, Domain Associates, Intersouth Partners, Polaris Venture Partners, and Venrock Associates. All but Venrock have 18.44 percent pre-IPO stakes. Venrock's stake is for 14.93 percent of the company.
Alimera plans to trade on the Nasdaq exchange under the ticker symbol "ALIM."