Author: Staff

Artemis Capital Partners has led a recapitalization of Ohio Tool Works Corp., a manufacturer of industrial honing machines, tooling, and abrasives. The company is based in Ashland, Ohio. Financial terms were not released.

PRESS RELEASE
Boston, MA (March 19, 2013) – Artemis Capital Partners (Artemis) announced today that it has led the recapitalization of Ohio Tool Works Corporation (OTW), a leading manufacturer of industrial honing machines, tooling, and abrasives. Headquartered in Ashland, Ohio, OTW designs and builds both standard and custom honing products for a diverse and growing base of customers across the global oil and gas, industrial, aerospace, and metal working industries. OTW’s highly-engineered systems and consumables ensure that its customers’ own mission- critical products – such as down-hole piping and high pressure cylinders – are precisely finished for performance and reliability.
OTW’s executive management team – consisting of John Hovsepian, President & General Manager, David McCormic, VP of Engineering, and Randy Iselt, VP of Sales – will continue as owners and operators of the business.
According to Peter Hunter, managing director at Artemis, OTW’s unique mix of quality and technical expertise has fueled its growth and positioned the company for continued success. “Since its founding just nine years ago, OTW has achieved a leading position in the industrial honing market by working closely with its customers on value- added applications engineering, delivering best-in-class product quality and customer service, consistently introducing new products, and growing its sales channels,” He added: “We are delighted to partner with the OTW team to build upon these growth efforts and take the company to the next level.”
John Hovsepian, President of OTW, concurred: “We are excited about our partnership with Artemis. By adding Artemis’s strategic and operational expertise, we feel we are poised to systematically address a growing number of end markets, applications, and opportunities. Our customers can count on a seamless transition and our steadfast focus on quality, innovation, and service.”
About Ohio Tool Works
Founded in 2004, Ohio Tool Works is a leading manufacturer of industrial honing machines, tooling, and abrasives. OTW operates a 50,000 square foot manufacturing facility in Ashland, Ohio, with sales offices in Houston and expanding distribution channels worldwide. For more information about Ohio Tool Works and its leading lineup of honing machines, tooling, and abrasives, please visit: www.ohiotoolworks.com.
About Artemis Capital Partners
Founded in 2010, Artemis Capital Partners is a Boston-based private equity firm focusing on buyout and growth equity investments in outstanding ‘industrial technology’ companies. With typical target company revenues of $5- $50 million, Artemis seeks to partner with companies that have strong established management teams, outstanding engineering capabilities, unique products, and expanding niche markets. By leveraging the deep manufacturing experience and extensive industry networks of its General Partner and advisors, Artemis looks to unlock the full growth potential of its portfolio companies by adding value across the strategic spectrum.

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GetMyBoat.com, a peer-to-peer site that allows consumers to rent boats, has raised $500,000 in angel funding. The company is based in San Francisco.

PRESS RELEASE
GetMyBoat.com, the largest and fastest growing boat rental site, today announced that it has secured $500,000 in angel financing. This round of funding will contribute to enhanced marketing, adding personnel, and new product development for the ground-breaking site. The San Francisco-based start-up officially launched on March 5, and has already added 400 additional boats (to the previous 2,000) in the last ten days alone.

“Based on the enthusiasm of our user base, we believe GetMyBoat is destined to be the standout player in the boat rental space,” said Bryan Petro, GetMyBoats Head of Product. “We feel our interface is elegant and easy to use, while at the same time gives boat owners the flexibility they need to list all watercraft types.”

“Our approach to fundraising has always been milestone driven, selectively securing capital as we build and expand our offering,” said Sascha Mornell, CEO and Co-founder. “The investment support we’ve obtained is important and demonstrates our value to the marketplace, and positions us favorably for the ramp up of GetMyBoat.”

GetMyBoat includes the following features:
No Cost Listings for boat owners, including photos, video, boat specs, pricing, and scheduling, all of which can be added to the site in a matter of minutes.
Chat Functionality, enabling renters to interact directly with the owner prior to purchase.
Online Calendar Application, enabling renters visiting GetMyBoat to easily find out when boats are available.
Private and Charter Boat listings, including cross listings for companies with multiple locations.
No Fees, Commissions or Monthly Membership Dues. Everything from signing up on the site, listing watercraft, and completing reservations is completely free of charge.
Flexibility. Boats can be rented by the day, hour or by the week, depending on the owner’s specifications. Furthermore, the renter has the option to rent or charter the boat with a captain or without.

About GetMyBoat
GetMyBoat.com is the world’s largest peer-to-peer marketplace for watercraft rental. Launched in San Francisco, California in 2013, GetMyBoat serves renters and owners of every type of boat across the world, from California to Croatia and from kayaks to catamarans.

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ICV Partners has acquired Atlantis Healthcare Group Puerto Rico Inc., a provider of kidney dialysis services. With this acquisition, ICV is forming a kidney dialysis treatment platform, American Alliance Dialysis Holdings, to identify other investments in the sector. Terms were not released.

PRESS RELEASE
ICV Partners (ICV), a leading investment firm focused on lower middle market companies, announced today that it has established a kidney dialysis treatment platform with the acquisition of Atlantis Healthcare Group Puerto Rico, Inc. (“Atlantis”), one of the island’s leading providers of kidney dialysis services.

Concurrent with the transaction, ICV, in partnership with Dr. Randall Maxey, Dr. Otegbola Ojo, and Ms. Ruby Harford, is forming American Alliance Dialysis Holdings, LLC (“AAD”) to identify and evaluate strategic investment opportunities in North America and the Caribbean. Dr. Maxey, a noted nephrologist who has nearly 40 years of nephrology experience and developed a series of successful dialysis centers in both the private and non-profit sectors, will become Chairman and CEO of AAD. Ms. Harford, who brings over 30 years of administrative nursing and executive healthcare experience, will be Chief of Clinical Operations and Regulatory Affairs of AAD.

Atlantis, headquartered in Trujillo Alto, was founded in 2000 by Dr. Otegbola Ojo and has since grown into Puerto Rico’s second largest provider of kidney dialysis services for patients suffering from end-stage renal disease (“ESRD”). With 13 facilities strategically located throughout the island of Puerto Rico, Atlantis provided approximately 200,000 treatments last year and currently has a patient census of nearly 1,400. Atlantis also contracts with 12 hospital networks to provide inpatient acute dialysis services.

Dr. Ojo, a leading nephrologist who prior to founding Atlantis established several dialysis programs in Canada and the Caribbean, retains a significant ownership position. He continues with the new organization as President and Chief of Operations and Strategy of AAD and maintains his role as President of Atlantis.

Cory Mims, Managing Director of ICV, said, “We are excited to have AAD as our first investment for ICV Partners III. Dr. Ojo has built Atlantis into a strong player within its current market. We look forward to leveraging Dr. Maxey’s medical expertise and strong relationships with nephrologists throughout the U.S. to develop a significant position for AAD in the U.S. dialysis market over the next several years. AAD is now well-positioned as a platform investment and we expect to grow the business by pursuing a number of strategic and organic expansion opportunities while, at the same time, identifying new ways to continue providing the highest quality patient care.”

Dr. Maxey said, “Atlantis has a successful track record of growth in Puerto Rico and integrating new facilities into its network. We will continue to grow in Puerto Rico by adding new dialysis treatment facilities. In addition, because of the fragmented nature of the industry in the U.S., we will be able to tap into a rich pipeline of opportunities as we execute strategic acquisitions and grow AAD into new geographic areas.”

Dr. Ojo, said, “Atlantis is an outstanding company and our highly skilled management team, outstanding physicians, and compassionate medical staff provide the highest standards of patient care with a unique integrated focus on quality of life to over one thousand patients each year. There continues to be a growing need for dialysis treatment and I believe our new partnership with ICV will prove to be extremely valuable as we seek ways to ensure better patient outcomes.”

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VendAsta Technologies, a Canadian provider of white label digital brand management technology, has raised $8.25 million from Vanedge Capital and BDC Venture Capital. The money will be used for development. VendAsta is based in Saskatchewan, Canada.

PRESS RELEASE
VendAsta Technologies, the industry leading provider of white label digital brand management solutions, is raising $8.25 million in funding from Vanedge Capital and BDC Venture Capital. The new round of funding will help VendAsta accelerate platform development to meet partner demand for new features and tools, and provide additional support.

“For any business, digital fragmentation creates acute challenges in managing local brand reputation. The various channels that businesses must monitor and engage are seemingly endless. VendAsta’s platform closes the loop for businesses, supplying them with tools to succeed in the digital world,” says Jed Williams, Senior Analyst at BIA/Kelsey.

VendAsta launched its Reputation Management platform in 2011, and within two years the company has grown to become one of the largest Reputation Management providers in the world. Together, its channel partners include eight of the top ten newspaper companies in the United States, as well as large pure play digital agencies, Internet Yellow Pages, and other independent digital and SEO agencies that provide Reputation Management to over 100,000 local small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs).

“VendAsta Technologies has done an excellent job partnering with top tier media companies across North America,” said V. Paul Lee, Managing Partner at Vanedge Capital. “Customer calls revealed VendAsta is agile, responsive, and delivers what they have promised. We have been told multiple times that VendAsta is a top vendor.” Robert Simon, Senior Managing Partner of the BDC Venture Capital IT Fund added that “the SMB market has been, to a large degree, untapped. We see VendAsta growing to be a very significant company. This investment is strongly aligned with our efforts to ensure a healthy and vibrant early stage ecosystem in Canada and to help build the globally competitive Canadian companies we are so passionate about.”

“We have built a white label reputation platform that allows businesses to monitor, manage and build their brand,” said Brendan King, CEO of VendAsta. “With these tools, our partners — whether large newspapers and yellow page companies, or small traditional and digital agencies — can be up and running in days and on the street selling products, backed by a full suite of prescriptive sales and marketing materials. This funding will allow us to accelerate the development of new products and maintain our culture of continual improvement.”

VendAsta’s platform currently includes Reputation Monitoring, Brand Analytics, Social Marketing, Presence Builder, and Concierge tools to help local businesses build their online brands. As an example, an agency that manages digital marketing for a local restaurant can keep track of the reviews the restaurant gets on relevant websites, generate tasks to respond to these reviews on the client’s behalf, ensure all the listings about the restaurant are accurate, and identify new leads by monitoring relevant chatter on social media — all from one common white label Business Centre. For its larger partners, VendAsta offers a suite of API-based services that can integrate this data directly into their platforms.

Interested parties can request demos of VendAsta’s solutions by going to http://www.VendAsta.com.

About VendAsta

VendAsta Technologies is a leader in digital marketing and brand management solutions for small to mid-sized local businesses. VendAsta provides white label solutions to media companies that work directly with local businesses, including online directional media companies, newspapers, broadcasters, SEO services, certified marketing representatives, web hosting providers, and interactive agencies. VendAsta’s reputation and presence management platform includes Reputation Monitoring, Brand Analytics, Presence Builder, Social Marketing lead generation tools and Concierge CRM platforms to help manage and sell digital products. Today, over 10,000 digital sales representatives across 250 media organizations provide VendAsta powered solutions to local businesses. For more information, visit http://www.vendasta.com.

About Vanedge Capital
Vanedge Capital is a Vancouver BC based venture capital fund focused on investments in interactive entertainment, digital media and infrastructure software businesses. The fund managers have extensive experience and relationships in this sector, and have built and led world class companies in video games, cloud storage and enterprise software, among others. For more information, visit http://www.vanedgecapital.com, or contact info(at)vanedgecapital(dot)com.

About BDC Venture Capital
BDC Venture Capital helps transform great ideas into great companies. With more than $1 billion in current and planned investments and 25 years of experience in venture capital, BDC Venture Capital focuses on innovative IT, health, and energy/clean technology companies, as well as venture funds, with high growth potential. BDC Venture Capital works with entrepreneurs and venture capital investors in the private sector to build outstanding Canadian companies. BDC Venture Capital is involved at every stage of the development cycle, from seed through expansion to exit, and its goal is to deliver excellent return on investment, while working to create a sound financial ecosystem for Canadian technology ventures. Find out more at http://www.bdc.ca/vc or on Twitter @BDC_VC.

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Tenth Avenue Holdings has invested an undisclosed amount in Hello Products, a maker of branded oral care products designed in partnership with BMW Group DesignworksUSA. Specifics were not disclosed. Tenth Avenue Holdings in based in New York.

PRESS RELEASE
Hello Products LLC today announced that it has received financing from a group of strategic investors led by Tenth Avenue Holdings (TAH) for the company’s breakthrough line of unique, branded oral care products designed in partnership with BMW Group DesignworksUSA, the global design subsidiary of BMW Group. The company’s proprietary hello™ branded products will debut in March at various Food, Drug, and Mass retail stores nationwide.

The company’s lead investor, New York City-based Tenth Avenue Holdings, is a private, diversified holding company, and its Co-CEO’s, Joel Citron and Laurence Denihan, join hello’s Board of Directors. Additional investors include William Morris Endeavor, Harmony Partners, and a select group of strategic consumer packaged goods and retail veterans.

Joel Citron, Co-Chief Executive Officer of Tenth Avenue Holdings, stated, “We see great promise for hello to shake up a staid category and give consumers a brand and experience they can really embrace. We believe that hello’s products bring a velocity of change – comparable to the technology industry – to the stasis of the oral care aisle, which looks today a lot like it did 30 years ago. As a firm, we are always interested in brands and products that relate to how consumers see the world and themselves, and hello’s philosophy and design-centric, 99% natural positioning make for a perfect fit.”

He added, “Because Tenth Avenue Holdings is privately held, we have no restrictions, and our singular focus is investing in opportunities with the outsized potential for long-term growth. We believe in Craig and the power of hello, and we plan to build this relationship, and our mutual success, for the long haul.”

“We are extremely fortunate to attract such a stellar group of investors and advisors,” said Craig Dubitsky, hello’s founder and CEO. “This unique group of partners brings an unparalleled depth of operating experience, insight, key relationships, and financial resources to the table. It’s truly a dream team, and we can’t wait to create the future together.”

“Craig understands consumers and their needs, and hello is evidence of that,” said Ari Emanuel, Co-Chief Executive Officer of William Morris Endeavor. “It’s a great line of products, and we look forward to being a part of the brand’s future.”

Harmony Partners co-founder, Mark Lotke, who was an early stage investor in both E*Trade and Priceline.com, noted “Craig has assembled a great constellation of partners that will enable hello to make a significant impact in a category that hasn’t seen material innovation in decades. We are extremely excited to be a part of what we feel will be the next major success story in the consumer space.”

The company has also established a strategic Board of Advisors, with deep domain expertise across consumer packaged goods, branding, marketing, and merchandising.

“I spent a lot of time in the oral care aisle during my 36 year retail career, and learned not to expect a lot of excitement,” said Chris Bodine, an investor and member of hello’s Advisory Board, and previous EVP of Merchandising and Marketing and President of Healthcare Services at CVS Pharmacy. “When Craig introduced me to hello, I knew I had to be a part of it. Hello is innovative, revolutionary and disruptive – and totally appealing. I strongly believe that once shoppers discover hello, they’ll wonder why they ever settled for anything else.”

John Replogle, CEO of Seventh Generation, former CEO of Burt’s Bees, and GM of US Skincare at Unilever, an investor and member of hello’s Advisory Board, said “Every 10 years a visionary entrepreneur and transformational brand comes along in a category that needs to be reinvented. Craig is that visionary, hello is that brand, and now is the time. I’ve been in CPG for 25 years and I’ve rarely been more excited about the ability of one brand to transform a category and the way consumers greet the day. Hello!”

In addition to rolling out its products nationwide, the company plans to use the financing to invest in proprietary packaging, inventory, marketing and retail development, as well as continue to invest in new product development and sales expansion.

About Hello Products
hello is the first-ever seriously friendly™ oral care brand for consumers, and believes it is time that personal care became, well, personal again. And beautiful. So, hello has created a 99% natural, delicious, pain-free and gorgeous product line that includes toothpaste, mouthwash, breath sprays and toothbrushes. For more information – or to pop by, say hello, and make new friends – please visit www.hello-products.com.

About Tenth Avenue Holdings
Tenth Avenue Holdings (TAH) is a private, diversified investment holding company based in New York City with permanent equity capital in excess of $500 million. TAH is able to structure customized deals and opportunistically invests in public and private companies as well as real estate across a broad range of industries in the continental US. The firm was founded in 2009, upholds strict ethical standards and professional integrity, and is a strategic partner to its portfolio companies and management teams. It has a distinctive approach to owning and capitalizing businesses and entrepreneurs with a focus on long term growth, ongoing cash flow and capital appreciation. For more information, please visit www.tenave.com.

About William Morris Endeavor
William Morris Endeavor (also known as WME) is the largest and oldest global talent agency, with offices in Beverly Hills, New York City, Nashville, London, and Miami. The company was founded as the William Morris Agency in 1898, becoming the first talent agency in the world, at the time representing vaudeville artists. Now, WME represents artists from all facets of the entertainment industry, including motion pictures, television, music, theatre, digital, publishing, lifestyle, and physical production. WME also advises some of the world’s most recognized consumer brands to create “entertainment-based marketing solutions”. WME is the result of the 2009 merger of the William Morris Agency with the Endeavor Agency, which combined the oldest talent agency in the world with the newest of the “major” agencies, respectively.

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Gryphon Investors, a San Francisco-based private equity firm, will sell its stake in TrustHouse Services Group to Elior SCA, the firm announced Monday. Terms were not released. TrustHouse is a pure-play contract food service provider in the U.S.

PRESS RELEASE
Gryphon Investors (“Gryphon”), a San Francisco-based private equity firm, announced today that it has entered into a definitive agreement to sell its portfolio company, TrustHouse Services Group (“TrustHouse”), to Elior SCA (“Elior”), a prominent provider of contract and concessions catering headquartered in Paris, France. Elior is partnering with its two main shareholders and TrustHouse’s management for the acquisition. TrustHouse is the largest pure-play contract food service (“CFS”) provider in the U.S. focused on the healthcare, education and corrections sectors. The transaction is expected to close early in the second quarter. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

In partnership with Michael J. Bailey, the former CEO of Compass Group, Gryphon formed TrustHouse in March of 2008, as a result of an initiative targeting the fragmented CFS sector in the attractive and under-penetrated healthcare, education and corrections end-markets. During Gryphon’s ownership, Mr. Bailey and management led organic growth initiatives and integrated three acquisitions, resulting in operations expanding from 22 to 45 states and in EBITDA more than quadrupling. “We congratulate Mike and the TrustHouse team on achieving the objective of building a truly differentiated sector leader, and on signing a definitive agreement to sell the Company to Elior. Thanks to their considerable efforts, there was significant value creation for all stakeholders, including our limited partners,” said Nick Orum, Gryphon’s President.

Mr. Bailey, the CEO of TrustHouse, said, “Gryphon has been a valuable partner and I appreciate their support of the original vision, including our organic growth plans and acquisition strategy. Despite the challenging economic conditions early on, we were successful in executing our investment thesis of building a leading CFS platform. We are enthusiastic about partnering with Elior and believe we are well positioned for our next phase of growth.”

Keith Stimson, a Gryphon Partner and the head of Gryphon’s Consumer Products and Services Group, noted, “The agreement to sell TrustHouse represents the culmination of a successful five-year partnership with Mike Bailey and the TrustHouse team and further bolsters Gryphon’s strong track record in the food and facility services sectors. We have enjoyed working with TrustHouse, and thank Mike for his leadership in successfully building a national platform in the growing market for contract food service in the healthcare, education and corrections sectors. We believe TrustHouse will continue to thrive as a market leader in partnership with Elior.”

In connection with the transaction, Jefferies LLC acted as lead financial advisor and McColl Partners, LLC acted as a financial advisor to TrustHouse and Gryphon. Kirkland and Ellis and Parker Poe provided legal counsel to Gryphon and TrustHouse. The closing of the transaction is subject to the satisfaction of customary closing conditions, including the receipt of regulatory approvals.

About TrustHouse Services Group

TrustHouse Services Group (www.trusthouseservices.com) is a leading food service provider focused on the healthcare, education and corrections sectors. TrustHouse manages over 675 client accounts across 45 states. Divisions of TrustHouse include Aladdin Food Management based in Wheeling, WV; AmeriServe Food Management headquartered in Columbia, MO; Fitz Vogt & Associates located in Walpole, NH; A’viands, LLC in Minneapolis, MN; Lindley Food Services located in New Haven, CT; and Valley Services, Inc. located in Jackson, MS. TrustHouse is headquartered in Charlotte, NC and was founded in 2008 by Mike Bailey and Gryphon Investors, a San Francisco-based premier middle-market private equity firm.

About Gryphon Investors

Based in San Francisco, Gryphon Investors focuses on leveraged acquisitions of, and growth investments in, middle-market companies in partnership with experienced management. Having committed more than $1 billion of discretionary equity capital, Gryphon has an extensive track record of investing $35 to $100 million of its own capital in companies with sales ranging from $50 to $250 million. Gryphon prioritizes investment opportunities where it can form proactive partnerships with owners and executives to build leading companies, utilizing Gryphon’s capital, professional resources and significant financial and operational expertise.

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Los Angeles-based Divshot, developer of a drag-and-drop visual builder for web applications, has raised $1.1 million in seed financing. Rincon Venture Partners led the round, with participation from investors including 500 Startups, Daher Capital, Floodlight Ventures, Cooley LLP, Drummond Road Capital, and Eric Hammond.

PRESS RELEASE
Divshot, the drag-and-drop visual builder for responsive web applications, today announced $1.1 million in seed funding. Led by Rincon Venture Partners, investors include 500 Startups, Daher Capital, Floodlight Ventures, Cooley LLP, Drummond Road Capital, and Eric Hammond.

“Divshot’s team has accomplished an incredible amount in a short time. With a compelling vision for the future of web development, I’m very excited to be involved,” said Jim Andelman of Rincon Venture Partners. “Super-smart team with kick-ass open source cred building tools for developers? We can’t wait to see what they do next,” added Dave McClure of 500 Startups.

Divshot has already amassed more than 40,000 users through organic growth and word of mouth. Divshot is billed as a tool for professional web development, fusing an intuitive visual interface with rigorous, professional code quality standards. Michal Hicks, an early user, said of the product “When we stumbled upon Divshot, the team breathed a collective sigh of relief. At last, we’re able to produce quick, actionable views and code to kickstart projects for our clients. A great tool for building trust early on.”

Initially based on Bootstrap, the popular open source front-end framework developed by Twitter, Divshot also announced support for the ZURB Foundation and Ratchet mobile CSS frameworks. “We aren’t building a niche tool that caters to a single framework. Divshot has the potential to be as ubiquitous for web development as Adobe’s Creative Suite is for visual design,” said Michael Bleigh, cofounder and CEO of Divshot.
Divshot is a recent graduate of Launchpad LA, the top-ranked Santa Monica, California accelerator program founded by Mark Suster. Currently in open public beta, Divshot plans to launch as a paid service later this year.

— About Divshot —

Based in Los Angeles, California, Divshot is a browser-based front-end development platform for responsive web applications that combines a simple drag-and-drop interface with polished, professional code output. Founded at Startup Weekend Kansas City in April 2012, Divshot is also a graduate of the Launchpad LA accelerator. Divshot has raised $1.1 million in financing to date.

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Investment advisor Courage Capital Management has added John Klinge and Scott Imbach as senior managing directors. Both distressed debt industry veterans, they will open Courage Capital’s Los Angeles office and lead investment efforts for its credit opportunities strategy. Klinge and Imbach will also join Courage’s investment committee.

PRESS RELEASE
Courage Capital Management LLC (“Courage”), a privately held SEC-registered investment advisor that offers alternative investments to institutional and private clients, today announced that John E. Klinge and Scott A. Imbach have joined the firm as Senior Managing Directors. Mr. Klinge and Mr. Imbach, distressed debt industry veterans, will open Courage’s Los Angeles office and lead the firm’s investment efforts for its credit opportunities strategy. Messrs Klinge and Imbach will also join Courage’s investment committee.

Richard Patton, Founder and Chief Investment Officer of Courage said: “We are pleased and excited to welcome John and Scott to the Courage team. These gentlemen bring to Courage over 50 years of collective experience investing in all forms of stressed and distressed opportunities, longstanding relationships that provide a sourcing and research advantage, and demonstrated track records of realizing value in businesses confronting operational or financial challenges. Both John and Scott are experienced investors across market cycles. In addition, they have helped build successful investment businesses and managed significant amounts of institutional capital. The addition of John and Scott will bolster Courage’s dedicated, lower middle market stressed and distressed debt investment strategy which is part of our broader focus on event-driven, special situation investing.”

Founded in Nashville, Tennessee in 1998, Courage is an established alternative asset manager that has developed a highly successful track record of employing opportunistic event-driven, special situation investment strategies focused on investments in U.S. middle market companies. The firm has maintained longstanding relationships with many respected investors and has a history of committing significant capital alongside its partners.

Mr. Klinge brings to Courage 29 years of banking and investment experience including an 18-year track record of investing institutional capital in a variety of stressed, distressed, control-play, high yield, and leveraged loan opportunities. Mr. Klinge has extensive transaction experience in out-of-court restructurings, Chapter 11 reorganizations, and Chapter 7 liquidations. Mr. Klinge joins Courage from Levine Leichtman Capital Partners (“LLCP”), where he worked for eight years and was a Senior Managing Director and Chief Credit Officer. While at LLCP, Mr. Klinge co-led the firm’s efforts to build a new distressed debt business and directly participated in raising the $508 million Deep Value Fund (“DVF”) established to realize superior long-term returns through opportunistic investments in debt and other securities of companies in the U.S. middle market. Mr. Klinge served as Portfolio Manager of DVF and managed all day-to-day efforts associated with the origination of investment opportunities, due diligence, and portfolio management. Prior to LLCP, Mr. Klinge spent six years as a Principal at William E. Simon & Sons Special Situation Partners (“WES”), where he co-founded the Special Situations Group. At WES, Mr. Klinge structured, marketed and managed three dedicated distressed debt funds with over $225 million of investment capital focused on making opportunistic investments across the capital structure in a variety of special situations with a particular emphasis on undervalued bank debt and high yield notes. Prior to WES, Mr. Klinge spent 15 years at Bank of America (“BoA”) where he served as a Portfolio Manager and a member of the team responsible for managing the bank’s proprietary global distressed debt fund, which deployed over $1 billion of capital during the 1990s. Mr. Klinge also represented BoA as agent and lender in the management of its troubled U.S. corporate loan portfolio where he developed an in-depth knowledge of both financial and operational restructuring strategies. Mr. Klinge holds an M.B.A from the University of California at Los Angeles where he earned honor society admission to Beta Gamma Sigma, and a B.S. in Accounting from Golden Gate University graduating summa cum laude. Mr. Klinge is a Certified Public Accountant.

Mr. Klinge commented: “I am delighted to join Courage Capital and work closely with Richard Patton and other members of the firm to help grow its alternative asset investment business. Courage has a demonstrated history of putting the interests of its investment partners first and maintains longstanding relationships with many highly respected institutional and high net worth investors. Consistent with both the investment strategy deployed by Courage in its first two credit opportunities funds, and the strategies implemented during my 18 years of managing institutional capital dedicated to the distressed debt and leverage finance space, we will continue to pursue a focused influence and control distressed debt investment strategy designed to capitalize on the constant flow of investment opportunities in the U.S. lower middle market.”

Mr. Imbach brings to Courage over 23 years of banking and investment experience including 16 years of investing in stressed, distressed and other special situation credit opportunities including restructurings, reorganizations, liquidations, leveraged loans, high yield debt and proprietary private debt financings. Mr. Imbach joins Courage from LLCP where he was a Managing Director and where he worked closely with Mr. Klinge on DVF for almost three years. During that time, Mr. Imbach and Mr. Klinge successfully invested together in a variety of U.S. middle market stressed, distressed, restructuring and reorganization opportunities. While at LLCP, Mr. Imbach also served as Portfolio Manager for two credit-focused, special situation investment vehicles. Prior to joining LLCP, Mr. Imbach was a Founding Partner and Director of Research for approximately three years for Empyrean Capital Partners, L.P. (“ECP”), a $1.5 billion multi-strategy hedge fund. At ECP, Mr. Imbach focused on event-oriented corporate investments across the capital structure in stressed and distressed debt and other special situations including privately negotiated debt financings. Prior to joining ECP, Mr. Imbach was a Principal at Canyon Capital Advisors LLC (“CCA”), where he worked for over a decade. CCA is a leading global alternative asset manager, one of the largest multi-strategy hedge funds in the United States, and a prominent credit investment and distressed debt fund manager. Before joining CCA, Mr. Imbach spent a total of seven years at Citicorp in its Securities Markets, Leveraged Capital and Corporate Banking divisions and approximately one year at Drexel Burnham Lambert in its Los Angeles Corporate Finance Department. Mr. Imbach holds an M.B.A from the Harvard Business School where he earned Second Year Honors and a B.S. in Business Administration from the University of Southern California where he graduated cum laude.

Mr. Imbach commented: “I am excited to join Courage and become part of the Credit Strategies team. I have known Richard Patton for over 20 years and we have collaborated together on a number of investment opportunities in the past. I have a great deal of respect for Richard and the business he has built. In addition, I have known John for over 20 years and recently worked closely with him for almost three years at LLCP pursuing a U.S. middle market control and influence distressed debt strategy that is very similar to the one we will pursue at Courage. I believe these longstanding relationships and years of working together will allow the Courage team to collectively operate seamlessly to deliver superior investment results to our investors and to expand the firm’s dedicated, lower middle market stressed and distressed debt investment effort over time.”

About Courage Capital Management

Courage is a privately held, SEC-registered alternative asset manager based in Nashville, Tennessee. The firm serves institutional investors including endowments, foundations, family offices, pension funds and fund of funds, as well as high net worth individuals. Courage was founded in 1998 and has a 14-year history of focusing primarily on opportunistic and special situation investment strategies including stressed and distressed obligations of lower middle market companies. Courage’s investment objective is to deliver attractive absolute rates of return across all market environments while preserving capital by employing a deep value, bottom-up, fundamentally-based investment approach. In addition to its Nashville operation, the firm is opening an office in Los Angeles.

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St. Louis-based RiverVest Venture Partners announced Friday that its second fund had delivered a 14.5% per annum net internal rate of return from inception in 2006 through the end of last year, after fees and expenses. The venture firm focuses on early-stage life science companies.

PRESS RELEASE
RiverVest Venture Partners announced today that its Fund II has delivered a return of more than double that of a respected benchmark that delineates top-performing venture capital funds.

Focusing exclusively on life science innovations, RiverVest delivered to its Fund II limited partners a 14.5% per annum net internal rate of return (IRR) from inception in 2006 through the end of last year, after fees and expenses. The median net IRR for all reporting VC funds begun the same year, including IT funds, was 4.54%, according to Cambridge Associates LLC, a leading investment advisory firm.

According to the most recent Cambridge report, the net IRR required to be in the top quartile of healthcare VC funds launched in 2006 is 8.08% per annum – a return that RiverVest almost doubled through the end of 2012.

“RiverVest continues to outperform even some of the top venture capital firms in the asset class and has established itself as a leader in the healthcare space,” says Boston-based investor John F. Brooke, who manages the Vectis Healthcare & Life Sciences Fund, which is an investor in RiverVest Venture Fund II, L.P.

Contributing to its exceptional return on investment was the successful sale in 2011 of four RiverVest portfolio companies (three of which were in Fund II) for more than $1 billion for which investors received payouts a year ago. But the distributions continue, with $14 million in additional proceeds received in 2012 both from the sale of Cameron Health, another Fund II portfolio company, and milestone payments relating to Cameron and the 2011 exit transactions.

“We’re very selective about our early-stage investments,” said Jay W. Schmelter, RiverVest managing director and co-founder. “Then we do everything we can to help them achieve a successful exit in less than five years.”

About RiverVest Venture Partners®
RiverVest Venture Partners is a venture capital firm focused on identifying and shaping early-stage life science companies throughout the U.S. to create significant shareholder value. With hands-on, high-level expertise and financial resources, RiverVest supports entrepreneurs by helping them achieve near-term objectives that position their companies for exit.

Since its inception in September 2000, RiverVest has raised two investment funds, with total committed capital of $165 million, and supported more than 25 innovative life science companies. For more information, please visit http://www.rivervest.com.

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Kinder Morgan Energy Partners (KMP) has sold its interest in the North American Express-Platte Pipeline System to US-based Spectra Energy Corp. for approximately US$380 million. KMP’s partners Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board and Borealis Infrastructure, the infrastructure investment arm of Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System, also sold their interests in the pipeline system. The entire transaction value was US$1.49 billion.

PRESS RELEASE

Kinder Morgan Energy Partners, L.P. (NYSE: KMP), today announced that it has closed its previously announced sale of its one-third interest in the Express-Platte Pipeline System to Spectra Energy Corp for approximately $380 million pre-tax. KMP’s joint venture partners in Canada (Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board and Borealis Infrastructure, the infrastructure investment arm of the OMERS pension plan) also sold their interests in the pipeline system, as Spectra Energy Corp purchased 100 percent of Express-Platte—a 1,700-mile oil pipeline system connecting Canadian and U.S. producers to refineries in the Rocky Mountain and Midwest regions of the United States.

Based on the structure of KMP’s investment with the Express-Platte Pipeline partners, KMP received approximately $15 million of cash flow on an annual basis from its investment, consisting primarily of debenture interest. KMP plans to redeploy the proceeds from the sale into various growth projects to further benefit its unitholders.

Kinder Morgan Energy Partners, L.P. (NYSE: KMP) is a leading pipeline transportation and energy storage company and one of the largest publicly traded pipeline limited partnerships in America. It owns an interest in or operates more than 44,000 miles of pipelines and 180 terminals. The general partner of KMP is owned by Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE: KMI). Kinder Morgan is the largest midstream and the third largest energy company in North America with a combined enterprise value of approximately $100 billion. It owns an interest in or operates more than 73,000 miles of pipelines and 180 terminals. Its pipelines transport natural gas, gasoline, crude oil, CO2 and other products, and its terminals store petroleum products and chemicals and handle such products as ethanol, coal, petroleum coke and steel. KMI owns the general partner interests of KMP and El Paso Pipeline Partners, L.P. (NYSE: EPB), along with limited partner interests in KMP, Kinder Morgan Management, LLC (NYSE: KMR) and EPB. For more information please visit www.kindermorgan.com.

This news release includes forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties and are based on the beliefs and assumptions of management, based on information currently available to them. Although Kinder Morgan believes that these forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, it can give no assurance that such assumptions will materialize. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements herein include those enumerated in Kinder Morgan’s reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they were made, and except to the extent required by law, Kinder Morgan undertakes no obligation to update or review any forward-looking statement because of new information, future events or other factors. Because of these uncertainties, readers should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements.

Photo courtesy of Shutterstock.

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Skinny Mom, an online community aimed at mothers, has received a $100,000 investment from CincyTech. The investment is part of a planned $500,000 round for the company.

PRESS RELEASE
Skinny Mom, an online community where moms get the skinny on fitness, food, fashion and family, has received a $100,000 investment from CincyTech.

The investment is part of a projected $500,000 seed-stage funding round led by CincyTech, which expects to add more to the round this year.

Skinny Mom founder and CEO Brooke Griffin will use the investment to continue building the brand by delivering daily, weekly and monthly content to her readers. She and her team of mommy bloggers are creating up to 12 new stories each day, covering the topics of Food, Fitness, Fashion & Family. Within the upcoming months, Skinny Mom will be adding a Fitness Video Index, a virtual Recipe Index, city-specific & category-specific virtual mom groups, and personal profile pages for moms to customize and interact with other moms around the country.

Griffin founded Skinny Mom in 2011 after gaining 68 pounds during her pregnancy and struggling to lose the weight. A former fitness professional and Cincinnati Bengals’ cheerleader, she was accustomed to being fit and felt depressed about the weight she had gained.

“I went to the Internet looking for answers, and I didn’t find anything that helped me, so I started the Skinny Mom blog,” Griffin said. “I really wanted to create a resource that would help other moms connect with each other and live healthier lives. The first month we had 10,000 unique visitors, so I guess it was something other moms were looking for too.”

Skinny Mom’s traffic has continued to skyrocket – in February 2013, she had 837,000 unique visitors, about 60 percent coming through Pinterest. She is the most popular “mommy blogger” featured on The Cincinnati Enquirer’s web site, www.Cincinnati.com, which began this week publishing a “Skinny Mom” column in the print newspaper as well.

Rahul Bawa, director of digital and software for CincyTech, has been working with Griffin since spring of 2012.

“We have been extremely impressed with the way Brooke has grown traffic as well as the amount of original content she and her team produce, which has helped her draw so many active, engaged users,” Bawa said. “Brooke knows the space and connects well with her audience, which is attracting brands that want to reach moms and is helping her to grow revenue.”

About Skinny Mom
Skinny Mom Inc. is a Cincinnati-based company that delivers the skinny on Fitness, Food, Fashion and Family to their online community of real moms around the country. Since 2011, Skinny Mom has been motivating and teaching moms to live healthier, happier and more fulfilling lives by sharing real mom stories, original healthy recipes, exercise videos for all fitness levels, reviews on the best products for their families, and more. For more information on Skinny Mom, visit http://www.skinnymom.com.

About CincyTech
CincyTech is a public-private seed-stage investor focused on technology-based startups in Southwest Ohio. From 2007 through 2012, it had invested $15 million in 43 startups in enterprise software, consumer Web and the life sciences and attracted another $170 million in private venture investment into those companies. It is an Entrepreneurial Signature Program of Ohio Third Frontier, a state initiative that is devoting $2.6 billion into research institution work and technology-based entrepreneurship.

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Edison Ventures has provided $5 million in growth capital financing to casual games developer Arkadium. The money will go toward expanding Arkadium’s proprietary distribution network, and toward game development. Arkadium is based in New York City, with offices in Canada and Ukraine.

PRESS RELEASE
Edison Ventures proudly announces a $5M growth capital financing in leading casual games developer, Arkadium. Edison’s investment is the first outside capital in Arkadium. The investment will expand the Company’s proprietary distribution network, accelerate product innovation and rapidly increase the number of cross platform game titles put into development.

Arkadium develops best in class games across multiple platforms. Interactive experiences are created within mobile, Facebook, Microsoft Windows (desktop, tablet and phone) and the web. In partnership with Microsoft Studios, the Company developed many of the top titles on the new Windows 8 operating system, including Taptiles®, Microsoft Solitaire Collection, Microsoft Mahjong and Minesweeper. Arkadium’s unified Connect Platform and analytics power the development of original content titles while providing large brands and publishers worldwide with Games as a Service.

“Our relentless focus on differentiated, capital efficient business models, company building initiatives and value-added network jelled with Arkadium’s team. Arkadium partnered with Edison with a goal to become the #1 casual games developer,” stated Ryan Ziegler, Edison Principal who led the investment. “This high-growth technology Company is uniquely positioned to leverage an exciting content strategy with its proprietary user network and powerful distribution relationships,” commented Tom Vander Schaaff, Partner who led diligence. “Based in New York and with an established development footprint internationally, now is the time to capitalize on the strong trends in interactive entertainment for mobile and social operating environments,” remarked David Nevas, Principal.

“Arkadium had numerous funding options but we chose Edison Ventures due to their industry expertise, deep operational network and strategic focus. We’re excited to have Ryan Ziegler join the Board,” stated Kenny Rosenblatt, CEO. “We’ve been profitable since founding the business. The partnership with Edison brings a capital partner with the track record and resources to help rapidly and efficiently scale the business,” noted Jessica Rovello, President.

Arkadium marks Edison’s 18th investment in New York. It is part of Edison’s growing interactive marketing and digital media portfolio. The Interactive Marketing and eCommerce industry segment includes investments in advertising and marketing technology, data services, digital media, consumer, eCommerce, mobile and the social media economy. Notable investments include ACT!, Dendrite, Fishbowl, Gain Capital, Liberty Tax, Lifebooker, Magnetic, MediaBrix, MotionSoft, Neat, NetProspex, Operative, PlumChoice, Snap One and Vocus.

About Edison Ventures

Established in 1986 Edison partners with entrepreneurs, service providers and other financing sources to build successful companies. Edison provides capital and value-added services to later stage ($5 to 20 million revenue), information technology businesses. Initial investments range from $5 to 10 million. Edison typically serves as sole or lead investor. In addition to providing expansion capital, Edison funds management buyouts, recapitalizations, spinouts and secondary stock purchases.

Edison’s investment professionals are based in Lawrenceville, NJ, New York, NY, McLean, VA, Needham, MA, and Cleveland, OH. Industry specialties include Financial Technology, Healthcare IT, Interactive Marketing and eCommerce and Enterprise 2.0. Edison’s successes include Best Software, Cambridgesoft, Dendrite, Gain Capital, Liberty Tax, M5, Magnetic, Marcam, Mathsoft, MediaBrix, Neat, NetProspex, Octagon, PlumChoice, Tangoe, Virtual Edge, Visual Networks, Vocus and many other information technology leaders, which have a combined market value exceeding $5 billion. Edison Ventures currently manages over $700 million and actively making new investments. For more information on Edison Ventures, please visit www.edisonventures.com and follow us on Twitter @edisonventure.

About Arkadium

Arkadium, creators of the largest library of casual games in the world, has been a prominent game development studio for over 12 years. Whether it’s with cards, cubes or the occasional monkey, the company delivers entertaining and addictive gameplay for all demographics. Their easy-to-play, hard-to-quit games include the hits Taptiles®, Sparks, Trizzle, Mahjongg Dimensions and countless others. Over ten million consumers worldwide enjoy Arkadium’s games every month on the web, mobile devices, Facebook and Windows 8.

Arkadium has also pioneered the launch of hundreds of games through its partnership network of brand and publisher sites including MSN, CNN, The Washington Post, AARP, Discovery and many more. The company is a comScore top 20 game distributor with its Arena product, a white-label casual game solution that can integrate seamlessly into any web or mobile property. Arkadium is headquartered in New York City, with offices in Canada and Ukraine.

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Kinderhook Industries has sold of IAX Acquisition Corporation, parent company of Absorption Corp., to buyer J. Rettenmaier & Söhne Group. Terms were not released, though Kinderhook said that the deal resulted in a return of approximately 2.4x for Kinderhook Capital Fund III.

PRESS RELEASE
Kinderhook Industries, LLC (“Kinderhook”) announced today the sale of IAX Acquisition Corporation, parent company of Absorption Corp (the “Company”), to an affiliate of international strategic buyer J. Rettenmaier & Söhne Group (“JRS”). Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Absorption Corp was a portfolio company of Kinderhook since 2010 and the sale, including prior distributions [1] will result in a return on invested capital of approximately 2.4x for Kinderhook Capital Fund III. The sale of Absorption Corp is the first realization in this fund.

Headquartered in Ferndale, WA, Absorption Corp is a manufacturer of sustainable organic fiber products primarily used for small-animal bedding and litter. The Company’s portfolio of premium brands includes CareFRESH®, Healthy Pet®, and CritterCare® and its products are sold at pet-specialty stores, mass merchandisers and grocery chains throughout North America, Europe and Australasia.

JRS is a leading manufacturer of high-quality sustainable organic fibers, made from plant raw material, for use in a broad range of applications within the pet care, food, nutrition, pharmaceutical, chemicals and construction industries. JRS’ pet care offerings include pet litter and pet bedding products. Rettenmaier supplies products to customers globally from its 23 facilities in 20 countries throughout the world.

“Absorption Corp is very pleased to be joining forces with J. Rettenmaier & Söhne as Absorption Corp enters its next phase of growth,” said Ted Mischaikov, CEO of Absorption Corp who will remain CEO of the Company post-acquisition. “The combination allows both companies to expand their geographic footprints, product offerings and distribution channels. Kinderhook’s guidance and support has been instrumental in getting Absorption Corp to this important day. Our partnership with Kinderhook has been tremendously beneficial to the Company and will continue to pay dividends for Absorption Corp for many years to come.”

“Kinderhook is very proud of the accomplishments of the Company’s management team and hard-working employees over the past three years,” said Tom Tuttle, Managing Director at Kinderhook. “Ted and his team have successfully expanded Absorption Corp’s market-leading bedding products into new channels and geographies, and launched several new, innovative products for the small animal market. Additionally, they have concurrently improved both product quality and company profitability, which is truly exceptional. Absorption Corp has a bright future ahead of it, especially under its new strategic partnership with JRS.”

Harris Williams & Company served as exclusive financial advisor. Kirkland & Ellis LLP served as legal counsel to Absorption Corp.

About Kinderhook Industries
Founded in 2003, Kinderhook Industries is a private equity firm with $770 million of committed capital and an investment philosophy based on combining senior management and operating experience in a variety of industries with the financial and investment know-how of private equity professionals. Kinderhook primarily makes control investments in companies with transaction values of $25-$100 million in which the firm can achieve significant financial, operational and growth improvements. The firm targets orphaned non-core subsidiaries of corporate parents, existing small capitalization public companies lacking institutional support and management-led recapitalizations of entrepreneur-owned companies. By providing access to capital, strategic advice and an extensive network of relationships, Kinderhook Industries has a history of successfully building privately held firms in partnership with management. For more information please visit: www.kinderhook.com

About Absorption Corp
Absorption Corp develops, manufactures and markets proprietary, cost-effective cellulose-based absorbent products for pets and industrial applications that are derived from sustainable reclaimed wood cellulose (pulp), a natural organic by-product of the pulp and paper manufacturing process. The Company’s proprietary, environmentally safe, non-toxic, lightweight products are utilized in a broad range of industrial, agricultural and consumer applications, including retail/commercial animal bedding, litter, oil and hazardous spill cleanup and control, oil/water filtration, and packaging. For more information please visit: www.absorptioncorp.com

About J. Rettenmaier & Sohne Group
JRS is a leading manufacturer of high-quality sustainable organic fibers, made from plant raw material, for use in a broad range of applications within the pet care, food, nutrition, pharmaceutical, chemicals and construction industries. JRS’ pet care offerings include pet litter and pet bedding products. The company supplies products to customers worldwide from its 23 facilities. JRS was founded in 1878 and is based in Rosenberg, Germany.

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Scotrenewables Tidal Power has closed a $12 million funding round let by power technology group ABB, investing via its ABB Technology Ventures. Scotrenewables is a provider of tidal turbine systems. Other investors in the round include Total New Energies, a unit of oil major Total.

PRESS RELEASE
ABB, the global power and automation technology group, has led a $12 million investment in Scotrenewables Tidal Power, a provider of tidal turbine systems, to support the rollout of a new hydrokinetic device and to expand ABB’s renewable energy assets.

ABB’s participation was made through its venture capital unit, ABB Technology Ventures (ATV), which invests in early and growth stage companies with technologies of strategic importance to the industries it serves. The investment round included participation from existing strategic investors Total New Energies, a unit of oil major Total, and Fred. Olsen, the Norwegian maritime conglomerate, through its associated Bonheur and Ganger Rolf holding companies.

The funding is being used specifically to roll out a larger and more advanced tidal energy conversion system known as the SR2000. The floating 2 megawatt turbine includes a number of innovations to deliver simplicity, low mass, rapid connection/disconnection and heightened survivability. Scheduled for completion next year, it will be the first of a number of commercial units installed in the Lashy Sound tidal demonstrator project in Orkney, where Scotrenewables is based.

“ABB led a comprehensive review of tidal stream technology and concluded that Scotrenewables was well below its peers in capital outlay per megawatt and overall power delivery cost,” said Grant Allen, senior VP of ATV. “Scotrenewables has designed a remarkably robust hydrokinetic unit which, by nature of its easily accessible floating design bypasses many of the maintenance issues that confront other marine startups.”

Aligning with Scotrenewables is a natural, strategic fit for ABB given the switchgear, transformers, cabling and other electrical gear being used in the containerized design. Through its UK operations, ABB engineers have already been working closely with the company on packaging and integration. The ATV investment complements current competencies in marine energy harvesting through ABB’s prior early-stage investment in Aquamarine, a leader in near-shore wave power development.

Barry Johnson, CEO of Scotrenewables, remarked, “We are delighted to have concluded this major investment deal and to have secured funding for the next vital stage in the development of our innovative floating tidal technology. ABB’s involvement allows us to tackle complex cabling and grid connection challenges, thereby speeding the technology development process.”

ATV (www.abb.com/ventures) is the corporate venture capital arm of ABB. Based in Zurich, with offices in Silicon Valley and Washington, DC, ATV invests in high potential energy technology companies that can benefit from ABB’s engineering resources and global market access. Investing since 2010, ATV has deployed nearly $150 million into sectors including cyber security, smart grid communications, renewable power generation and data center efficiency.

ABB (www.abb.com) is a leader in power and automation technologies that enable utility and industry customers to improve performance while lowering environmental impact. The ABB Group of companies operates in around 100 countries and employs about 145,000 people.

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New Hampshire-based biotech startup Avitide Inc. has raised an undisclosed amount of Series A financing from Borealis Ventures, SV Life Sciences, Polaris Venture Partners, OrbiMed Advisors, and Angeli Parvi. Borealis led the round. Phil Ferneau of Borealis Ventures, and Michael Ross of SV Life Sciences, joined Avitide’s board. The company is focused on the development of “custom affinity purification solutions” for the biopharmaceutical industry.

PRESS RELEASE
Avitide, Inc., a biotech company dedicated to the discovery and development of custom affinity purification solutions for the biopharmaceutical industry, announced the closing of their Series A financing. The Avitide technology is designed to discover and develop affinity purification products that will improve the fundamental timeframes and economics of commercial bioprocessing.

The financing was led by Borealis Ventures with participation from SV Life Sciences, Polaris Venture Partners, OrbiMed Advisors, and Angeli Parvi. Managing Partners Phil Ferneau (Borealis Ventures) and Michael Ross (SV Life Sciences) joined Avitide’s Board of Directors. The proceeds from this financing will enable the further development of Avitide’s custom affinity purification platform and continued commercial development of low cost and high capacity affinity resins for monoclonal antibodies, therapeutic proteins, and recombinant vaccines.

“The Avitide team has pioneered an elegant and cost effective solution to a problem that bioprocess engineers have wrestled with for some time: ‘How does one selectively purify therapeutic proteins at scale without having to go through multiple chromatography steps and without requiring an affinity resin based on recombinant proteins?’ The Avitide technology enables rapid development of highly selective chromatography resins via chemical synthesis which are not based on costly recombinant proteins. This will have a large impact on commercial bioprocessing,” said Prof Tillman Gerngross, Co-founder of Avitide. “We can offer our partners a new standard in speed to delivery of customer-defined affinity purification products, allowing them to achieve unparalleled development timelines while obtaining a highly purified product in a single step,” added Kevin Isett, Avitide’s Co-founder and CEO.

“The technology is based on one of those insights that is so fundamentally powerful it seems obvious now that someone has done it,” commented Mike Ross, Ph.D. (Managing Partner, SV Life Sciences). “The Avitide team just did an outstanding job of identifying a key bottleneck in bioprocessing and addressing it with a practical and cost effective solution.”

Avitide is led by a team with substantial relevant expertise and a track record of success in bioprocessing and in commercializing innovation. Avitide’s founders include: Tillman Gerngross, Co-founder and CEO of Adimab, Co-founder and President of Arsanis, Co-founder and CSO of GlycoFi (a wholly-owned subsidiary of Merck & Co since 2006), and Professor of Engineering at Dartmouth College; Errik Anderson, Co-founder and COO of Adimab, and Co-founder and Board Member of Arsanis; Kevin Isett, Head of High-throughput Manufacturing at Adimab, and Sr. Biochemical Engineer at Merck Bioprocess R&D Warren Kett, Co-founder and CTO of Glycan Biosciences; and Jonathan Sheller, Director Finance & Operations for Arsanis, and Founder of Bedrock Ventures.

“The combination of a high caliber team that knows how to deliver real value to biopharma customers, world-class science, and an innovative business model make this a compelling investment opportunity”, said Phil Ferneau from Borealis Ventures.

Avitide will initiate operations in Lebanon, New Hampshire. “We evaluated several business locations in the northeast US, and it quickly became apparent that the growing entrepreneurial nexus near Dartmouth College offered an outstanding combination of talented engineers and scientists, a strong entrepreneurial network, and the financial and operational resources needed to be successful. We are very excited that Avitide will join this emerging biotech community,” stated Isett.

ABOUT BOREALIS VENTURES

Borealis Ventures partners closely with exceptional entrepreneurs from the earliest stages to build market-defining companies in the life sciences and information technology sectors. Borealis has been the most active venture investor in New Hampshire over the past decade, and its latest fund, the Borealis Granite Fund, is the first venture capital fund dedicated to NH-based opportunities.

ABOUT SV LIFE SCIENCES

SV Life Sciences is a leading international life sciences venture capital firm. The SVLS team manages five private venture capital funds with approximately $2 billion of capital under management. The firm employs a diversified strategy within life sciences in order to selectively capitalize on an expanding opportunity in biotech, medical devices and health-care services.

ABOUT POLARIS VENTURE PARTNERS

Polaris Venture Partners is a partnership of experienced private equity investors, operating executives and entrepreneurs. The firm’s mission is to identify, invest in and partner with seed, early stage, and middle market businesses with exceptional promise and help them grow into market-leading companies. The firm has over $3.5 billion under management, more than 20 investment professionals, and current investments in more than 100 companies.

ABOUT ORBIMED ADVISORS

OrbiMed is the world’s largest life sciences and healthcare-dedicated investment firm, with approximately $6 billion in assets under management. OrbiMed has successfully invested in over 140 companies across a wide range of therapeutic categories and stages of development. OrbiMed’s investment team includes approximately 60 experienced professionals with backgrounds in science, medicine, industry, finance and law. OrbiMed’s professionals work together using a collaborative, team-oriented approach to support our portfolio companies, which has earned OrbiMed a reputation as a capital provider of choice for life sciences companies of all stages.

ABOUT AVITIDE, INC.

Avitide develops customized biopharmaceutical affinity purification products. The Avitide platform reduces bioprocess development timelines, program risk, and cost of manufacture by providing turnkey, cost-effective, highly specific affinity purification solutions. Industry-leading affinity resin discovery timelines integrate seamlessly into process development cycles, providing improved line-of-sight, platform operations and equipment, and predictable scalability.

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Photo and video sharing company Photobucket Corp. is looking to raise $9.5 million in new funding, according to a recent regulatory filing. The Denver-based company has apparently already sealed $5.6 million in commitments, according to the filing.

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Online lender iPawn has raised $4 million from angel investors. Investor Rafi Gridron led the round. This is the second round of funding for Tyler, Texas-based iPawn.

PRESS RELEASE
iPawn, a leading lender of low-interest, asset-based, online loans, today announced the successful close of a $4 million round of funding. The funding came from a group of angel investors lead by Rafi Gridron, a respected technology entrepreneur and experienced angel investor.

This is the second round of funding for the Tyler TX based internet pawn shop. The funds will be used for enhanced marketing efforts, R&D and increased loan funds for clients.

Founded in December 2011, iPawn was created to serve middle-class Americans and entrepreneurs looking for fast and convenient low-interest loans during the credit crunch. iPawn approves loans in less than one hour with its highly sophisticated backend office and provides its customers with complete confidentiality and highly competitive loan terms – as low as one percent interest.

“We are very grateful to our all of our investors,” said Ben De-Kalo, CEO of iPawn. “We are proud to be able to provide people with an affordable, safe and convenient way to leverage their assets for otherwise hard-to-get loans during these uncertain times and are thrilled that our investors so enthusiastically support our mission.”

“When I realized that iPawn was revolutionizing a broken business model, but one that still had an enormous potential, I immediately jumped on board,” said Dr. Rafi Gidron, independent angel investor and angel investor at Precede Technologies. Gridron’s previous successes include the co-founding of Chromatis Networks that was sold to Lucent for $4.75 billion under his leadership at co-CEO and Chairman, as well as Scorpio Communications that was sold to US Robotics.

About iPawn
iPawn is revolutionizing the national credit market by offering short-term, affordable loans at unbeatable rates and with less risk than banks, payday lenders, brick & mortar pawn shops and other online services. Headquartered in Tyler, Texas, iPawn holds a Pawn license issued by the Office of Consumer Credit Commissioner.

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iOnRoad, an Israeli maker of a driving app for smartphones, has won the third annual Qualcomm Ventures QPrize. The company previously won QPrize’s Israel regional competition, and with it, $100,000 in venture financing. With the new prize, iOnRoad will receive an additional US$150,000 in convertible note funding from Qualcomm.

PRESS RELEASE
Qualcomm Incorporated QCOM +0.44% , through its venture capital arm Qualcomm Ventures, today announced the winner of the third annual Qualcomm Ventures QPrize(TM), an international venture investment competition, at an event hosted in Napa. iOnRoad, an Israeli company, took top honors against tough competition from seven other regional winners representing North America, Eastern Europe, Western Europe, Brazil, China, Korea, and India.

The company previously won QPrize’s Israel regional competition and was awarded US$100,000 in venture financing to cultivate their business. As the QPrize Grand Prize winner, iOnRoad will receive an additional US$150,000 in convertible note funding from Qualcomm.

iOnRoad improves driving in real-time using the power of advanced smartphones. The app uses the smartphone’s native camera and sensors to detect vehicles ahead of their own, alerting drivers when they are in danger. iOnRoad’s VisualRadar maps objects in front of the driver in real time, calculating the user’s current speed using native sensors. As the vehicle approaches danger, an audio-visual warning pops up to warn the driver of a possible collision, allowing them to brake in time.

“We had an enormous amount of interest in this year’s QPrize competition and it’s clear that entrepreneurs have fully embraced the mobile platform and are on their way to building some great companies,” said Nagraj Kashyap, senior vice president of Qualcomm Ventures. “We congratulate iOnRoad on their exceptional achievement and look forward to helping them expand their business opportunities and market presence. We also want to congratulate the seven other regional winners — Might Text, Everplaces, Pult, Touchair, Deck App Technologies, Easyworks and Zoop — who have each received US$100,000 (EUR 100,000 in Europe) in venture financing from Qualcomm.”

More information on iOnRoad is available at the company’s website: http://www.ionroad.com/. The third annual Qualcomm Ventures QPrize competition provides over $1 million in total seed funding for the entrepreneurs of today as they work to bring their ideas to market. Additional details on regional finalists and the Grand Prize event are available at www.qprize.com.

About Qualcomm IncorporatedQualcomm Incorporated QCOM +0.44% is the world leader in 3G, 4G and next-generation wireless technologies. Qualcomm Incorporated includes Qualcomm’s licensing business, QTL, and the vast majority of its patent portfolio. Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Qualcomm Incorporated, operates, along with its subsidiaries, substantially all of Qualcomm’s engineering, research and development functions, and substantially all of its products and services businesses, including its semiconductor business, QCT. For more than 25 years, Qualcomm ideas and inventions have driven the evolution of digital communications, linking people everywhere more closely to information, entertainment and each other. For more information, visit Qualcomm’s website, OnQ blog, Twitter and Facebook pages.

Qualcomm is a registered trademark of Qualcomm Incorporated. CDMA2000 is a registered trademark of the Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA USA). All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

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Chrysalix Energy Venture Capital has put an undisclosed amount of money into MineSense Technologies Ltd. The company is a provider of “sensor-based sorting systems to pre-concentrate low-grade ores in the metal mining industry.”

PRESS RELEASE
Today, Chrysalix Energy Venture Capital (“Chrysalix EVC”), the world’s most active cleantech venture capital firm and a member of the Chrysalix Global Network (CGN), announced its investment in MineSense(TM) Technologies Ltd, providers of sensor-based sorting systems to pre-concentrate low-grade ores in the metal mining industry. The Series A round was done exclusively by Chrysalix EVC and marks the first time the Firm has invested in a startup dedicated to mining technology.

“Mining has always been a highly energy-intensive industry. However, it faces mounting challenges with declining ore grades and less favourable ore bodies, further exacerbating energy use and squeezing margins. Now is a great time for Chrysalix EVC to identify step-change mining innovations and to help build some great companies. We hope MineSense will be the first of many mining technology investments,” said Charlie Haythornthwaite, a Partner at Chrysalix EVC. “MineSense is led by an experienced team that really understands the need for delivering integrated practical solutions. Its robust sensor and systems designs have been optimized for specific challenges of the metal mining application, especially related to sensor sensitivity and scalability. We are also pleased to be able to bring in John Thompson, the President of the Canadian Mining Innovation Council as an independent Board Director.”

“After receiving strong financing interest from other funds and mining companies, we were pleased to move forward with Chrysalix EVC based on their company-building experience, technical knowledge, and industry connections,” stated Andrew Bamber, MineSense Technologies’ CEO. “We really appreciated how they quickly understood our vision and how the due diligence process with Chrysalix helped us better understand our own business.”

The rapid decline in ore grades seen in base and precious metals mining is a trend seriously challenging the sustainability of the industry. Ever greater quantities of rock need to be moved and processed to maintain output capacity leading to falling productivity relative to energy use and capital expenditure. Water intensity and the quantity of tailings also increase for similar reasons. The benefit of ore upgrading approaches is that barren waste rock can be sorted and rejected, leaving only the valuable rocks to be processed. The technology essentially reverses this decline in grade, leading to reduced costs and reduced environmental footprint. Moreover, when pre-concentration unlocks a capacity bottleneck in the mine-mill process, revenues can also be increased, significantly enhancing the sustainability of the operation.

For more information on MineSense and its technology and products, please visit www.minesense.com.

About Chrysalix Energy Venture Capital
Chrysalix EVC is a venture capital firm investing in technologies that will drive the new energy economy. The Firm provides early-stage financing, hands-on assistance, and strategic connections to innovative companies confronting the world’s most important energy and environmental issues. For the past two years, the Firm has ranked the most active clean energy technology venture capital firm in the world and today, is a member of the Chrysalix Global Network (CGN). The Chrysalix EVC team has an exceptional track record in this emerging industry. Collectively, it has over 120 years of experience in the energy industry and over 120 years in the venture capital business. The Firm is backed by a strong group of international blue-chip industrial and financial Limited Partners, and is headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia, with a supporting office in Calgary, Alberta.

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Brian Sauvigne has joined Macquarie Capital as a Managing Director in its Financial Sponsors Group, based in New York. He was previously Head of Corporate Development at Morgan Stanley.

PRESS RELEASE
Macquarie Group (Macquarie) (ASX: MQG; ADR: MQBKY) today announced that Brian Sauvigne joined Macquarie Capital as a Managing Director in its Financial Sponsors Group, based in New York.

Mr. Sauvigne joins Macquarie with a unique scope of experience working with financial sponsors. He was most recently Head of Corporate Development at Morgan Stanley and was responsible for its global corporate mergers and acquisitions activities. He also worked in the firm’s Financial Sponsors Group, where he was involved in a number of equity, debt, and mergers and acquisition transactions. He was previously a consultant at McKinsey, where he provided senior-level strategic advice to a number of financial sponsors and corporate clients.

Mr. Sauvigne has an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School and a B.A. from Columbia University.

He joins following the appointments of Jorge Mora as US Head of Financial Sponsors and William Baumgart, Managing Directing in Financial Sponsors, in August 2011.

Jorge Mora, Macquarie Capital’s US Head of Financial Sponsors, said: “We continue to grow our business with the financial sponsor community. Brian’s transactional experience and deep relationships across the community is well matched to the needs of our clients, and his consulting background brings an additional dimension of expertise. His appointment adds significantly to our resources and capabilities.”

Year-to-date in the US, Macquarie has committed more than $550 million in equity, preferred equity and mezzanine debt towards client transactions, and underwritten more than $8.5 billion in debt. Recently, the firm advised a number of financial sponsor clients and their portfolio companies, and provided financing solutions to support their strategic goals. Highlighted transactions include:

· Advisor to Kelso on PSAV’s acquisition of Swank Audio Visuals, investing equity and arranging $495 million of senior secured credit facilities

· Joint lead arranger and joint bookrunner on the $450 million financing in support of Platinum Equity’s acquisition of Caterpillar Logistics Services

· Joint lead arranger and joint bookrunner on the $1.5 billion financing in support of Blackstone’s $2.0 billion acquisition of Vivint, Inc.

About Macquarie
Macquarie Group (Macquarie) is a global provider of banking, financial, advisory, investment and funds management services. Macquarie’s main business focus is making returns by providing a diversified range of services to clients. Macquarie acts on behalf of institutional, corporate and retail clients and counterparties around the world. Founded in 1969, Macquarie operates in more than 70 office locations in 28 countries. Macquarie employs approximately 13,400 people and has assets under management of over $US353 billion (as of September 31, 2012).

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