Author: Staff

Endgame Inc., a provider of cyber security software, has closed on $23 million in Series B equity financing. The money will be used to expand the company’s customer base. Paladin Capital Group led the round, with participation from existing investors Bessemer Venture Partners, Columbia Capital, Kleiner Perkins Caulfield & Byers and TechOperators.

PRESS RELEASE
Endgame, Inc., a leading provider of battle-tested cyber security solutions, announced today that it has closed a $23 million Series B equity financing to fund growth in its existing federal customer base as well as expansion into the commercial market.

Led by new investor Paladin Capital Group, a multi-stage private equity firm providing capital and strategic guidance to growing companies, the Series B includes participation from existing investors Bessemer Venture Partners, Columbia Capital, Kleiner Perkins Caulfield & Byers and TechOperators. Lt. General (Ret) Kenneth A. Minihan, former Director of the National Security Agency and Managing Director at Paladin, will join the Endgame Board of Directors.

“The cyber domain will be increasingly important across all dimensions of national power – military, economic, and informational,” said Lt. General Minihan. “Endgame’s revolutionary technology allows its customers to use intelligence seamlessly to gain situational awareness and support their end-to-end network operations.”

As part of its expansion, Endgame has recruited several new executives to the company’s management team, including: Nathaniel Fick, who joined as CEO in November, replacing Chris Rouland who remains a Founder and board member of the company; Niloofar Howe, who joined as Chief Strategy Officer to lead the company’s efforts in market and product strategy, as well as business and corporate development; and Matt Georgy, who joined Endgame as CTO after a decorated career as a senior executive at the Department of Defense supporting all aspects of computer network operations. Endgame’s new Chairman of the Board, Christopher Darby, has deep expertise in the intelligence space as the current President and CEO of In-Q-Tel, the independent strategic investment firm supporting the missions of the U.S. Intelligence Community.

“The cyber needs of federal and commercial entities are converging as states look beyond targeting other states to target private companies, and national security thinking must increasingly account for private infrastructure,” said Nate Fick, CEO of Endgame. “I’m excited about leveraging the solutions and technology that our mission partners depend on to help businesses with comprehensive command and control of their network operations.”

About Endgame

Endgame’s cyber operations platform provides real-time command and control, analytics, data visualization and knowledge discovery capabilities that support safety and security in cyberspace by revolutionizing the detection and mitigation of cyber-threats. Founded in 2008, Endgame is backed by Bessemer Venture Partners, Kleiner Perkins Caulfield & Byers, Columbia Capital and Paladin Capital Group. The company has offices in Northern Virginia, Maryland, San Antonio, and Atlanta. For more information, please visit http://www.endgame.com.

About Paladin Capital Group
Paladin Capital Group is a leading multi-stage private equity firm providing capital and strategic guidance to growing companies in the IT, telecommunications and alternative energy sectors. The firm focuses on companies with products and services that are “dual use” in nature, serving both commercial and government customers. Paladin has over $950 million dollars of committed capital across multiple funds and has invested in over 50 portfolio companies.

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XL Hybrids Inc., maker of a low-cost hybrid electric powertrain for commercial vehicles, has raised $4 million in new funding. The company did not name investors in the Series B round. XL Hybrids is based in Boston.

PRESS RELEASE
XL Hybrids, Inc., provider of a low-cost hybrid electric powertrain designed for class 1 to 3 commercial fleet vehicles, today announced that it has raised $4 million in a series B investment round led by private investors, with previous investors also participating in the round. After developing its hybrid powertrain technology and validating it in the field with multiple Fortune 500 companies, XL Hybrids will use this funding to ramp up the delivery of its hybrid electric powertrain to existing and new customers.

Investors in this round include successful entrepreneurs and leading business executives from multiple industries, including automotive, energy, software and finance. While massive government loans and other sources of funding dry up for many cleantech companies, XL Hybrids has proven its ability to deliver fuel savings with a cost-effective technology, sell to large Fortune 500 companies and implement a capital-efficient business model. XL Hybrids’ hybrid electric powertrain reduces fuel consumption by 20 percent and can be installed in both new and existing vehicles. This type of system is ideal for companies operating commercial vans, box-trucks and shuttles in and around major urban markets.

“This round of investment enables us to start scaling our business and expanding our geographic reach. We are working with customers that have large national and international fleets, and we can now help them save fuel and money at a larger scale,” said Tod Hynes, president and founder of XL Hybrids. “With support from our investors, XL Hybrids will continue to expand the availability of our hybrid powertrain and meet the demands of commercial fleets looking for a proven return on investment and reduced emissions.”

This latest investment round brings the total amount of funding for XL Hybrids to approximately $8 million. Earlier this quarter, XL Hybrids expanded its product line to offer hybrid powertrain technology for Ford E-Series vans; the company can now offer a compelling return on investment and significant emissions reductions to more than 75 percent of light duty van fleet buyers. XL Hybrids also signed an installation partnership and distribution agreement with Leggett & Platt Commercial Vehicle Products (CVP), providing its customers with ship-through ordering.

For more information on XL Hybrids technology and availability, visit www.xlhybrids.com or email info [at] xlhybrids.com.

About XL Hybrids

XL Hybrids designs, manufactures and installs hybrid electric powertrains for commercial vans and trucks. The company’s patent-pending hybrid electric powertrain can be installed on existing vehicles or as an upfit on new ones. By storing energy wasted in braking and reapplying it during acceleration, XL Hybrids technology decreases fuel use and carbon dioxide emissions by up to 21.2 percent on urban routes, while operating with the same durability and reliability as traditional vans and trucks. XL Hybrids was founded by MIT alumni and is based in Boston.

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U.S. venture firm Domain Associates has partnered with Elite Consulting, an advisory to the Chinese pharmaceutical and medical device industry, have partnered in a new venture called Domain Elite. The partnership will work to establish new companies in China that will provide Western companies the “financing, regulatory, medical, and marketing support and infrastructure needed to bring their products to China,” the firms said.

PRESS RELEASE
Domain Associates, a U.S. venture capital firm investing in breakthrough life sciences technologies, and Elite Consulting, consultants and financial advisors to the Chinese pharmaceutical and medical device industry, today announced a partnership to bring the most advanced healthcare products and technologies to China. The partnership called Domain Elite (www.meetdomainelite.com) will establish new companies and joint ventures in China that will provide Western companies the financing, regulatory, medical, and marketing support and infrastructure needed to bring their breakthrough products to China. Target technologies will be mainly focused in the areas of pharmaceuticals, diagnostics, and medical devices. The partnership is exclusive and is envisioned to be the source of multiple emerging businesses in Chinaover the course of several years.

“The Chinese healthcare system has a great and significant need for best-in-class, innovative therapies and medical products,” said Brian Halak , Ph.D., partner at Domain Associates. “We see Domain Elite as the first partnership of its kind to create new companies by leveraging the resources of both China and the U.S. These companies will bring the most effective new drugs and novel technologies to fulfill unmet medical needs and improve healthcare in China. In the process, Domain will create its own investment opportunities in the rapidly expanding Chinese market.”

“From patients to doctors to the government, health is of major importance to everyone in China,” said Micah Zimmerman, partner at Elite Consulting. “Our analysis of the needs of the Chinese healthcare market led us to develop Domain Elite as a bridge between overseas technology companies and Chinese doctors and patients. Everyone benefits when patients can access the most advanced technologies to improve health.”

The partnership brings together Elite Consulting’s in-depth knowledge of the Chinese healthcare landscape with Domain’s capital and deep networks, both within its portfolio and throughout the industry. Domain has provided seed financing to Domain Elite for the initial search and evaluation process and will contribute more significant capital for each new technology introduced to China.

“With more than three decades of experiences, connections and accomplishments in life sciences investing, Domain Associates understands how to found and execute industry leading investment solutions to launch and build successful companies that meet healthcare needs,” said Mr. Zimmerman. “Domain’s investment in Eddingpharm, a Chinese pharmaceuticals marketing company, and involvement in The Foundry, the premier U.S. medical device company incubator, illustrate Domain’s innovation not only in addressing healthcare needs but also in establishing important collaborations that facilitate company creation for the development and marketing of cutting-edge technologies.”

“With an exclusive focus on healthcare and more than 16 years of experience in China, Beijing-based Elite Consulting brings incomparable ‘local’ expertise and international dependability to developing new medical technologies and products for the Chinese market,” said Dr. Halak. “We believe Domain Elite will create multiple successful companies that will translate cutting-edge medical technologies into impactful, best-in-class products for Chinese healthcare.”

About Elite Consulting and Elite Capital Advisors

Founded in 1997 by six Chinese executives from the pharmaceutical and diagnostics industry, Beijing Elite Management Consulting has an active client base of 1,200 domestic pharmaceutical and medical product companies in China. Elite Consulting provides sales and marketing management services, contract executive management, high-level SFDA experts and registration services, clinical development expertise, marketing research, and a partially owned sister company, which provides formulation, manufacturing, and cGMP consulting for international and domestic pharmaceutical and device manufacturers in China. Elite also is among the most active commercial due diligence providers in the China healthcare industry. Annually, Elite conducts diligence on more than $500 million of direct investment in the pharmaceutical, device, and hospital industries inChina. Elite Capital Advisers provides mergers and acquisitions brokerage, facilitation, and capital investment to leading investors and multinational and domestic pharmaceutical companies. Elite Consulting is located in Beijing. For more, please visit http://www.bjelite.com.

About Domain Associates
Founded in 1985, Domain Associates, L.L.C. is a venture capital firm with an exclusive focus on investing in life science companies that advance human health. Domain’s focused network, deep experience, and dependable reputation of this team have made it one of the top private-equity groups participating in healthcare investing. Domain has been involved in the formation and growth of more than 250 life sciences companies. With $2.4 billion of capital under management, Domain invests in three major segments: pharmaceuticals, diagnostics, and medical devices. Representative past investments include Amgen, Amylin Pharmaceuticals, BiPar Sciences, Biosite, Dura Pharmaceuticals and Pharmion. Domain has offices in Princeton, N.J.and San Diego.

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HG Data Company has raised $2 million in funding led by EPIC Ventures. The company is developing a cloud-based business intelligence database, and will use the money to increase coverage of the database, and expand its operation.

PRESS RELEASE
SANTA BARBARA, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–HG Data Company today announced it has successfully raised $2 million in funding led by EPIC Ventures. The investment will be used to increase coverage of the company’s cloud-based business intelligence database and expand into the Asia-Pacific region.

“While LinkedIn maps the connections between people in business, HG Data maps the connections between businesses themselves – who sells to whom, who buys what, and who partners with whom,” said Craig Harris, CEO and founder of HG Data. “After more than two years of honing our algorithms with feedback from top-tier technology suppliers, we are ready to scale our data distribution to the long tail of business-to-business intelligence applications. With EPIC Ventures’ capital infusion in tow, that journey is ready to be accelerated.”

The company’s data procurement technology extracts business intelligence from hundreds of millions of Web documents and offline sources to create a comprehensive database of business relationships. Armed with this highly granular intelligence, HG Data is able to empower clients to improve their lead generation and scoring, marketing automation and market share analysis.

In 2012, HG Data released the world’s leading database of technology deployments, which produces a census of the worksites operating thousands of specific enterprise resources, ranging from Adobe and Salesforce.com to SAP and VMware. Selected as one of Outsell’s “30 to Watch” in the information industry for 2013, HG Data already counts four Fortune 100 companies as customers of its business intelligence services.

“HG Data’s robust platform made this a very compelling investment concept,” said Kent Madsen, managing director of EPIC Ventures. “Rarely have we seen such uniformly rave product reviews in our due diligence with customers. HG Data’s unique methodology and sophisticated product set form a winning combination that we anticipate will be a highly disruptive player in the massive company-information market.”

Investing alongside EPIC Ventures in this funding round were angel investors including Kevin O’Connor, founder of DoubleClick and current CEO of FindTheBest; Eric Kanowsky and AJ Rice, both co-founders of Software.com; and Tim Baskerville, former CEO of JupiterResearch.

HG Data’s leadership team brings a wealth of experience in building business information brands. Prior to founding HG Data, Harris served as founder and CEO of NOZA, Inc. through a successful acquisition by Blackbaud, Inc. in 2010.

About HG Data

HG Data is a business intelligence service used by leading technology companies for marketing and sales leads as well as research and investment. HG Data produces a detailed census of specific technologies utilized at an enterprise’s geographic sites. The company’s unique data science approach scours the open Web, combining unstructured data with archived offline sources, resulting in detailed profiling of the enterprise technology marketplace. HG Data was founded in 2010 by the team that built and profitably sold data-company NOZA to Blackbaud, Inc.

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Moving into India’s engineering sector, Nadathur Group has acquired Insight Engineering Pvt. Ltd. Terms were not released. o3 Capital, a mid-market investment bank in India, was sole advisor to the transaction.

PRESS RELEASE
It is a pleasure to announce that our client, Nadathur Group,
has acquired Insight Engineering Pvt. Ltd. (“Insight”), to mark its foray into the engineering sector in India.

As part of the transaction, Jaggi Nadig from Nadathur has been inducted into the board of Insight as a Director. Commenting on the transaction, Nadig said “With this acquisition, Nadathur has strengthened its focus on creating a Technology Platform in the Engineering Space”.

o3 Capital was the Sole Advisor to the transaction.

Insight Engineering
Insight is an engineering firm with expertise in design, manufacturing of component cleaning machines and surface treatment lines for industries such as automobiles, FMCG, aerospace. These machines are used to clean/coat components post-manufacturing and before assembly. Insight is one of the leaders in India in this niche segment and its strength lies in designing customized solutions for its clients. Insight has design and manufacturing facilities in Mumbai and Chennai.

Nadathur Group
Nadathur Group, founded by N. S. Raghavan, co-founder of Infosys Technologies, has investments spread across multiple asset classes and investment life cycles – from angel and venture funds to private equity, public equity and debt. It has presence across a diversified portfolio of industries including hospitality, education, technology, life sciences, real estate and engineering amongst others.

o3 Logo o3 Capital
o3 Capital is a leading mid-market investment bank in India, focused on private equity capital syndication, cross border M&A and strategic advisory services. The company focuses on industries where Indian companies have a strategic growth advantage, including Pharmaceuticals and Healthcare, Consumer Markets & Retail, IT / ITES and Infrastructure & Real Estate. o3 Capital has closed 68 transactions in the last 6 years across verticals and product groups aggregating to over USD 3.6 Bn in transaction value.

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U.S. private equity firm Apollo Global Management LLC is in talks to sell its 11 percent stake in India’s largest direct-to-home satellite service operator Dish TV India Ltd, Reuters reported on Wednesday. The stake has a market value of about $144 million. Apollo, which manages about $113 billion globally, has hired UBS to run a process to sell its holding.

(Reuters) – U.S. private equity firm Apollo Global Management LLC is in talks to sell its 11 percent stake in India’s largest direct-to-home satellite service operator Dish TV India Ltd, two sources with direct knowledge of the development told Reuters on Wednesday.

The stake has a market value of about $144 million.

Apollo, which manages about $113 billion globally, has hired UBS to run a process to sell its holding, the sources said.

Apollo paid about $100 million for its 11 percent stake in the company in 2009. (Reporting by Nandita Bose and Indulal P.M.; Editing by Tony Munroe)

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Motorola Solutions Venture Capital has invested an undisclosed amount in BriefCam, a developer of Video Synopsis software for the rapid review and analysis of surveillance video. The money will be used for sales and marketing.

PRESS RELEASE
Motorola Solutions, Inc. (NYSE: MSI), through its strategic investment arm Motorola Solutions Venture Capital, has announced its investment in BriefCam, the developer and provider of Video Synopsis solutions for the rapid review, analysis and indexing of surveillance video. The funds will be used to expand BriefCam’s worldwide marketing and sales activities.

“We were happy to find a great investment like BriefCam to expand our exposure in the growing video space. The substantial growth in the amount of surveillance videos created each year provides new opportunities for public safety and other industries, and we’re glad to seize such an opportunity.”

BriefCam’s patented Video Synopsis technology enables the rapid review of captured video – with an index to the original source, whether video feed or archival footage – for on-the-spot event tracking, forensics and evidence discovery.

BriefCam fulfills the global unmet need to browse video, investigate and identify incidents rapidly, and take action. Its award-winning Video Synopsis technology gives users the ability to review rapidly, compacting hours of events into a “brief” that takes minutes to view. The company’s customers include police, military, border control and other Homeland Security agencies, as well as security operations at municipalities, transportation authorities, building and campus security offices, retail loss prevention and more.

This investment is Motorola Solutions’ second in the Israeli market and third in the surveillance video space since 2011.

“We have been looking into various companies in the Israeli hi-tech industry, specifically in the area of public safety technologies,” said Boaz Or-Shraga, managing director, Motorola Solutions Venture Capital. “We were happy to find a great investment like BriefCam to expand our exposure in the growing video space. The substantial growth in the amount of surveillance videos created each year provides new opportunities for public safety and other industries, and we’re glad to seize such an opportunity.”

“BriefCam is delighted to welcome Motorola Solutions Venture Capital as an investor and strategic partner,” said Dror Irani, CEO and president of BriefCam. “It is our hope that Motorola Solutions’ experience and global presence opens new opportunities for BriefCam in areas such as public safety, safer cities and law enforcement, as well as enterprise and retail. We expect Motorola Solutions’ global presence will also assist BriefCam greatly in accelerating penetration of new geographic regions where we have not been active to date.”

About Motorola Solutions

Motorola Solutions is a leading provider of mission-critical communication solutions and services for enterprise and government customers. Through leading-edge innovation and communications technology, it is a global leader that enables its customers to be their best in the moments that matter. Motorola Solutions trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker “MSI.” To learn more, visit www.motorolasolutions.com. For ongoing news, please visit our media center or subscribe to our news feed.

About Motorola Solutions Venture Capital

Motorola Solutions Venture Capital is the strategic equity investment arm of Motorola Solutions. Its diversified portfolio is focused on “new-idea” companies and opportunities that complement Motorola Solutions’ business strategy. Motorola Solutions Venture Capital invests at all stages in developing companies to accelerate access to new technologies, new markets and new talents. For more information, please visit www.motorolasolutions.com/ventures.

About BriefCam

BriefCam®, Ltd. is the developer and provider of Video Synopsis®, an award-winning technology that summarizes hours of events into a “brief” that takes just minutes to watch, whether direct video feed or archived footage. BriefCam products interface with a wide range of DVR/NVRs, advanced IP cameras and complement existing surveillance solutions. The company’s mission is to enable the Total Video Review of all footage recorded for safety and security. BriefCam is winner of the 2012 Israel HLS Technology Innovation Award, the 2011 ASIS Accolades Award – Surveillance, the 2010 IFSEC Security Industry Award – Best CCTV System Product, the 2010 Wall St. Journal Technology Innovation Award – Physical Security and others. Founded in December 2007, BriefCam, Ltd. is headquartered in Neve Ilan, Israel, operates a US subsidiary, BriefCam, Inc. and maintains sales offices in Connecticut, USA and Shanghai, China. For more information: www.briefcam.com. Updates: twitter.com/BriefCamVS.

MOTOROLA, MOTO, MOTOROLA SOLUTIONS and the Stylized M Logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Motorola Trademark Holdings, LLC and are used under license. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. ©2013 Motorola Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Lawrence Calcano has joined Foundation Medical Partners as a venture partner, where he will focus on the connected health and healthcare IT sectors. Calcano was at Goldman Sachs for nearly 17 years, and worked as a partner in the Investment Banking Division, as co-head or COO of the Technology Banking Group, and head of the firm’s East Coast Technology Group.

PRESS RELEASE
Foundation Medical Partners, a national healthcare venture capital investment firm, today announced that Lawrence Calcano has joined the team as a Venture Partner. Mr. Calcano joins Foundation’s healthcare investment team in assessing and managing investments in the connected health and healthcare IT sectors.

Calcano has spent a significant portion of his career working with growth technology oriented companies from multiple vantage points, including as CEO, director, investor, and outside financial advisor.

Calcano was at Goldman Sachs for almost seventeen years, where he became a Partner in the Investment Banking Division and served as Co-Head or COO of the firm’s Technology Banking Group (“the Tech Group”) from 1997 to 2006, and Head of the firm’s East Coast Technology Group beginning in 1993. Calcano has deep domain knowledge and deal experience working with startup and growth companies in technology, the internet, and e-commerce.

He has served as an adviser to the CEOs of many of the most exciting growth companies over the years and has worked on over $40 billion transactions of all types, including public and private financings as well as mergers and acquisitions. In addition, Calcano was named to the Forbes Midas List of the most influential people in venture capital in 2001 (the inaugural year), 2002, 2004, 2005 and 2006. Calcano has served on the Boards of Directors for several companies over the years including 800Flowers, Freemarkets, Capital Acquisition Corp, ECI, Pivot Point Software, and Bite Tech.

Mr. Calcano is currently CEO of i1 Biometrics, a connected health company that is developing sensors, wireless connectivity, and data analytics for sports and military applications (a Foundation portfolio company). i1 Biometrics is a spinout of Bite Tech, Inc., a maker of athletic protective and performance oriented devices, where Calcano served as Chairman and CEO for two and a half years.

“Lawrence brings experience in IT and deal structuring to Foundation,” said Andrew Firlik, Managing Partner of Foundation Medical Partners. “He has worked with some of the fastest growing companies in the past two decades and he knows how to help them succeed.”

Mr. Calcano joins the investment team at Foundation Medical Partners that includes partners Andrew Firlik, Lee Wrubel, Kevin Sharer, and Ted Laufik. The firm actively manages over $200 million in venture capital targeted toward start-up and early-stage companies. Foundation has remained exclusively focused on the healthcare technology market since the firm was founded in 2001, with a current market capitalization of its healthcare investments totaling approximately $2.0 billion.

About Foundation Medical Partners Foundation Medical Partners is a national venture capital investment firm formed in 2001 with the vision of bringing together cutting edge healthcare expertise with deep company building experience. Foundation specializes in early stage venture capital for healthcare technology companies. Foundation Medical Partners was an early, active venture investor in many companies that subsequently went public or were acquired in strategic transactions, such as AtriCure (NASDAQ: ATRC), CardioNet (NASDAQ: BEAT), Combinatorx (NASDAQ: ZLCS), Immunicon (NASDAQ: IMMC, later acquired by Johnson & Johnson), Northstar Neuroscience (NASDAQ: NSTR, later acquired by St. Jude Medical), and Visiogen (acquired by Abbott), as well as a portfolio of other market-leading privately held firms

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Tripwire Inc., a provider of IT security software, is buying information risk and security performance management company nCircle. Terms were not released. Tripwire is backed by Thoma Bravo. The acquisition was financed in part by Thoma Bravo, along with cash from Tripwire’s own earnings and bank loans, the firm said.

PRESS RELEASE
Tripwire, Inc., a global provider of IT security solutions, today announced it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire nCircle, a leading provider of information risk and security performance management solutions. The acquisition is expected to close in April and is subject to the customary closing conditions. The terms of the acquisition are not being disclosed.

“Tripwire and nCircle have the opportunity to be a powerful and transformational combination in the rapidly changing security market,” said Jim Johnson, CEO of Tripwire. “Our combined solutions are uniquely positioned to align security posture with business objectives, a crucial step in making security and risk meaningful and actionable across the enterprise.”

In 2012, the two companies’ combined bookings were approximately $140 million, together they had over 500 employees and more than 7,000 customers in 96 countries. The combined company would have ranked among the largest security and vulnerability management companies in this competitive space including IBM, EMC, Symantec and McAfee. Tripwire is highly profitable with a customer base that includes nearly 50% of the Fortune 500.

“Security experts know that continuous monitoring — the process of finding and eliminating vulnerabilities before they can be exploited — is a foundational component of any security framework and the most cost effective way to reduce the risk of security breaches,” said Abe Kleinfeld, CEO of nCircle. “The combination of Tripwire and nCircle brings together the industry’s leading researchers and the broadest and deepest solutions for reducing risk.”

Today, cyber security is more than an IT problem, the convergence of security and risk now impacts the entire enterprise and executives are demanding risk-based security solutions. Following the acquisition of nCircle, Tripwire’s combined solutions will enable senior security officers to make risk-based security decisions aligned with business priorities and goals.

In a Gartner Inc. report titled Meeting the Information Needs of the Chief Risk Officer in 2023 analysts Paul E. Proctor and Rob McMillan said, “Chief Risk Officers will have the benefit of an engaged executive team, but the challenge of a constantly shifting universe of risk to present and prioritize for stakeholders. To manage their responsibilities they will need new knowledge, tools and techniques for gathering, assessing and presenting information.”

“It’s difficult to mitigate attacks without understanding vulnerabilities and assessing that resources allocated to IT security are spent wisely,” said Charles Kolodgy, research vice president, security products at IDC. “Organizations must also be able to maintain an optimal security posture. The combined solutions will enable Tripwire to advance the state of the art in risk-based security management.”

About nCircle
nCircle is the leading provider of information risk and security performance management solutions to more than 6,500 businesses and government agencies worldwide. nCircle solutions enable enterprises of all sizes to (1) automate compliance and reduce risk, and (2) measure and compare the performance of their IT security program with their own goals and industry peers. nCircle solutions may be deployed on a customer’s premises, as a cloud-based service, or in combination, for maximum flexibility and value.

About Tripwire, Inc.
Tripwire is a leading global provider of IT security and compliance solutions for enterprises, government agencies and service providers who need to protect their sensitive data on critical infrastructure from breaches, vulnerabilities, and threats. Thousands of customers rely on Tripwire’s critical security controls like security configuration management, file integrity monitoring, log and event management. Tripwire solutions provide integrated controls for unprecedented visibility and intelligence into business goals.

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Evolv, a developer of data analytics software focused on workforce profitability, has raised $15 million in Series D financing. VantagePoint Capital Partners led the round. Existing investors GGV Capital, Lightspeed Venture Partners, and Khosla Ventures also participated.

PRESS RELEASE
Evolv, a pioneer in SaaS-based predictive data analytics that provides a holistic view into workforce profitability, has closed a $15 million Series D financing, led by VantagePoint Capital Partners, the company announced today. Existing investors GGV Capital, Lightspeed Venture Partners, and Khosla Ventures also participated in the round. Evolv will use the funds to further develop its predictive analytics solutions and to support continued vertical market and geographic expansion. These investments will further enable Evolv customers to utilize analytics to drive meaningful operating margin improvement via better insights into key drivers of workforce productivity, retention and profitability.

Evolv was founded in 2007 on a simple premise that big data predictive analytics and machine learning can be used to correct the inefficiencies that undermine the profitability of the frontline “hourly” workforce – which today represents 60 percent of all US jobs. Evolv’s customized solutions profile top performers, predict employee success, benchmark workforce performance, identify effective and ineffective training and management practices, predict employee tenure, recommend organizational improvements, lengthen the average employee lifecycle, and ultimately, improve operating profitability.

Evolv’s first of their kind solutions have delivered an average of $10 million in P&L impact to each of its customers, while simultaneously increasing workforce tenure by an average of 15 percent and workforce performance by 5 percent. Evolv enables employers to finally look at their workforces through the lens of big data predictive analytics to select, develop and retain a more productive, positive and ultimately more profitable workforce. Via its SaaS-based solution, Evolv supports its customers in debunking workforce myths that have historically undermined profitability for employers and job satisfaction for tens of millions of employees.

“At Evolv, we are focused on the most valuable asset of any company – its people. We believe that data will change how the workforce is selected, retained and developed and we continuously show in each customer relationship that data provides a more certain and replicable path to increased productivity and profitability than traditional employment practices,” said Max Simkoff, CEO and co-founder, Evolv. “Our customers use Evolv’s workforce profitability solution to both uncover and implement key insights about how to optimize the entire employee lifecycle.”

“Evolv is a defining leader in predictive analytics technology and showcases how big data can be leveraged to improve stagnant business processes,” said Bill Harding, Managing Director, VantagePoint Capital Partners and new member of the Evolv Board of Directors. “We are confident about Evolv’s dynamic business model and fully support the management team as they continue to improve relationships between employers and employees.”

About Evolv

Evolv harnesses the power of big data predictive analytics and machine learning to uncover and correct the inefficiencies that undermine profitability of global workforces. Evolv’s SaaS-based analytics platform delivers actionable decision support throughout the employee lifecycle by identifying improvement areas and transforming core operational business processes to drive increased employee retention, productivity and engagement.

About VantagePoint Capital Partners

VantagePoint Capital Partners is a leading global investor in energy innovation and efficiency, information technology, digital media and healthcare. With a best-in-class investment team of business and scientific experts, a broad network of corporate Strategic Partners, accomplished Senior Advisors, and more than $4 billion in committed capital, VantagePoint has the resources and talent to build important, industry-leading companies. Headquartered in Silicon Valley with offices in Beijing, VantagePoint has active investments in over 70 companies.

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NG Advantage, operator of a Milton, Vermont natural gas compressor station, has raised an undisclosed amount of new funding. Investors include Boston-based Essex Flagship Investors Group, the Clean Energy Venture Group, and Boston-based developer David Donohue.

PRESS RELEASE
NG Advantage LLC today announced the initial closing of its first round of outside equity investment. With its Milton, VT natural gas compressor station online and customer deliveries beginning soon, this investment enables NG Advantage to grow quickly to provide the economic and environmental benefits of natural gas to more companies across New England and New York. Support came from an accomplished group of investors with broad experience in the natural gas industry, clean energy development, and disruptive technology across many sectors of the economy.

Investors include Essex Flagship Investors Group, a private investment firm based in Boston comprised of senior professionals with extensive experience investing in, developing, and managing operating businesses in the energy sector. The firm is affiliated with Essex Hydro Associates and Flagship Energy Partners whose principals have a deep knowledge of the North American natural gas infrastructure and end user markets.

Another key investor is Dr. David Donohue, a Boston-based developer of U.S. underground gas storage facilities and founder of IHRDC, the worldwide leader in knowledge, training, and competency development for the oil and gas industry. Dr. Donohue noted that NG Advantage is “facing a great opportunity” to advance innovation in the natural gas sector.

Members of the Clean Energy Venture Group, an investment group that provides seed capital and management expertise to early stage clean energy companies, provided additional investments. “Clean Energy Venture Group is pleased to have participated in the recent capital raise by NG Advantage,” said Steve Kaufman, a partner in Clean Energy Venture Group. “As one of the most active early stage clean energy investment groups with a New England focus, we strongly believe that NG Advantage’s environmental and regional economic benefits will have a material impact by reducing emissions from fuel oil usage and helping industries geographically removed from gas pipelines take advantage of lower energy costs.”

Experienced bankers and high tech venture capitalists, using their own funds, also invested in this round.

“These resources will allow us to bring cheaper, cleaner natural gas to businesses, improving both their bottom line and their environmental footprint,” said Neale Lunderville, NG Advantage Chief Executive Officer. “These funds position NG Advantage to grow quickly to deliver the benefits of natural gas beyond the pipeline to large energy users around New England and New York. Work is underway for continued expansion later this year.”

Seasoned entrepreneurs Tom and Mary Evslin founded the company in 2011 and Tom Evslin remains Chairman of NG Advantage. “We are deeply gratified with the strong support from these outside investors,” said Evslin. “Their experience across a range of industries will be critical to NG Advantage’s success.”

About NG Advantage LLC: NG Advantage is the leading compressed natural gas (CNG) delivery service in the U.S., bringing the economic and environmental benefits of North American natural gas to enterprise customers without access to a pipeline. With customer contracts signed, its Milton, VT compressor station online, and TITAN trailers from Lincoln Composites ready to go, the Company will begin deliveries in March 2013. The Company’s customers are located across New England. Beginning in mid-2013, the Company will add other compressor stations throughout the region.

NG Advantage compresses natural gas from an existing pipeline into specialized containers and delivers it via public highways – a virtual pipeline – directly to large industrial, commercial, and institutional users, providing them with cheaper, cleaner, and safer fuel. NG Advantage saves customers 30-40% on energy bills annually, reduces their CO2 emissions by 26%, and virtually eliminates harmful pollutants like sulfur dioxide and nitrous oxides.

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Crushpath, a developer of sales software, has closed on $6 million in fresh capital. The Series A round is led by Chamath Palihapitiya, founder and managing partner of The Social+Capital Partnership, with participation from George Zachary of Charles River Ventures.

PRESS RELEASE
Crushpath, the company that brings out the salesperson in everyone, announced the launch of Pitch SitesTM, the new way to pitch anything, alongside a $6 million Series A round of funding. The financing is led by Chamath Palihapitiya, founder and managing partner of The Social+Capital Partnership with participation from George Zachary of Charles River Ventures who lead the company’s seed round in 2012. Crushpath changes the sales software game with a platform that gives anyone, salesperson or not, a way to pitch, get responses, and keep track of relationships.

“Today, 90 percent of people are pitching something”

“Today, 90 percent of people are pitching something,” said Sam Lawrence, Crushpath co-founder and chief executive officer. “These ‘sometimes salespeople’ are recruiters, journalists, realtors, business unit managers, agents, entrepreneurs. They spend their days convincing others but have nothing to actually help them do it. They’re stuck in emails, cold calls, and CRMs are just too complicated. 1988 called, they want their sales software back.”

Pitch Sites Launch

Crushpath Pitch Sites give people a way to create and deliver an online elevator pitch for their product, service, idea, or event. They are simple one page websites that grab attention and capture responses in a rich, more visual way than email or cold calling.

Easy to create, publish and promote. Choose an industry-specific template to see examples of a pitch and begin populating with photos, videos, text, links, customer references, and other assets. No need for a designer, web hosting, or software installation.
Target your market. Customize public or private Pitch Sites that each zero in on a specific customer, product, or offering.
Promote and get responses. Pitch Sites are searchable, shareable, and social. Prospects get the complete sales pitch at a glance and can tell you they’re interested with a click.
Track your success. Manage responses and track the success of each pitch with detailed analytics.

The Social+Capital Partnership Leads A Round

Crushpath’s $6 million Series A round of funding follows $2 million in seed funding announced eight months ago.

“We love businesses that can deliver discrete tangible value to people in the near term but have the potential to change industries in the long term,” said Chamath Palihapitiya, founder and managing partner of The Social+Capital Partnership. “Crushpath has identified the fundamental issue with sales that comes before any CRM product can really add value: the pitch itself. We all know how ineffective cold calling and emailing is, so Crushpath starts by allowing people to build compelling sites to communicate the value of what they are selling and then have a more social way of organizing and moving these communications and interactions forward. If their early growth is any signal, Crushpath may have hit a vein of frustration with today’s alternatives in sales automation.”

Rapid Customer Adoption

In just a few months Crushpath has users at more than 6,000 companies across 18 industries from SMBs to Fortune 500s including McAfee, Cox Communications, TriNet, StateFarm, and BeachBody. Users range from people in sales functions, to marketing, human resources, and business development. With the decision making power shifting away from IT departments, Crushpath first focuses on adding value at the individual level while also providing integrations with key company systems to allow for team and department sales.

Pricing & Availability

Crushpath is available on the web at www.crushpath.com. Crushpath is $9 per month per user (limited time). Company licenses are available by contacting Sales at http://crushpath.com/pricing.

About Crushpath

Crushpath is the new way to pitch anything. It changes the sales software game by allowing anyone, salesperson or not, a simple way to pitch, get responses, and keep track of their relationships. Headquartered in San Francisco, Calif., Crushpath is privately held and funded by top Silicon Valley investors including Charles River Ventures, The Social+Capital Partnership, Aaron Levie (CEO Box), Phil Fernandez (CEO Marketo), Dave Hersh (former CEO Jive) and Phil Libin (CEO Evernote; Advisory Board). To learn more about Crushpath visit www.crushpath.com, follow on Twitter @Crushpath.

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SwiftStack, a San Francisco-based startup, has raised $6.1 million in a Series A round. Mayfield Fund led the round, with additional participation from Storm Ventures and UMC Capital. The company, a developer of software-defined storage, has raised a total of $7.6 million to date.

PRESS RELEASE
SwiftStack today announced that it has raised $6.1 million in a Series A round of funding. The round, led by Mayfield Fund with additional participation from Storm Ventures and UMC Capital, brings the company’s total financing to date to $7.6 million (including $1.5 million in seed funding). The company will use the investment to support growth of the sales team, expand operations and advance development of its next generation, software-defined storage (SDS) solution.

“These reputable firms bring a wealth of storage experience to our team, and their investment allows us to fully concentrate on company growth and technology development”

“SwiftStack is a great addition to our portfolio, which has included highly successful storage companies such as 3PAR and StorSimple. The company is uniquely positioned to be a frontrunner in the emerging software-defined storage market,” said Navin Chaddha, managing director, Mayfield Fund. “With SwiftStack, application developers and operations teams can leverage the power of the public cloud storage inside their own datacenter, kind of like Amazon S3-in-a-box.”

“SwiftStack has been tested with impressive results in large-scale deployments with early customers,” said Ryan Floyd, founder and general partner, Storm Ventures. “For these customers, the SwiftStack solution has transformed how storage is provisioned, managed and accessed on industry-standard hardware. We look forward to the company’s continued growth and are excited to see the change they will bring to the enterprise storage market.”

SwiftStack is building a software-defined storage solution specifically for object storage. The platform decouples the management from the underlying storage infrastructure, enabling customers to build pools of storage on commodity hardware. As a result, they are able to achieve greater scale, more flexibility and higher durability. SwiftStack’s storage system helps organizations with considerable amounts of data simplify operations to reduce overall operational costs.

“Hardware is rapidly accelerating to become commoditized, and SwiftStack uncovers the potential of this raw capacity through its innovative storage system,” said Frank Lee, vice president, UMC Capital. “The company is poised to leverage the changing landscape, where customers are looking to make use of standards-based hardware for their storage needs.”

“These reputable firms bring a wealth of storage experience to our team, and their investment allows us to fully concentrate on company growth and technology development,” said Joe Arnold, CEO, SwiftStack. “Current storage methods are too general and do not effectively provide our customers with the flexibility, scale and cost efficiency required to support their ever-growing data sets and workloads. Our software-defined storage platform addresses this by fundamentally changing how storage is provisioned, managed and scaled in datacenters.”

About SwiftStack

SwiftStack is a technology innovator that provides a software-defined, object storage solution. The SwiftStack storage platform combines a unique, decoupled storage controller with the OpenStack Object Storage system to provide customers with cost-effective, scale-out storage that can run on commodity hardware. The company was founded in 2011 to help operations teams implement and manage an easy-to-use, multi-tenant and highly scalable cloud storage platform. With SwiftStack, application developers and operations teams can leverage the power of the public cloud inside their own datacenter. SwiftStack is backed by top tier venture capital firms including Mayfield Fund, Storm Ventures and UMC Capital.

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Karl Farnsworth has joined as chief financial officer for Amedica Corporation, a spinal and reconstructive medical device manufacturer. He worked previously as the Senior Vice President and Treasurer with Energy Solutions Inc. Amedica Corporation is based in Salt Lake City, Utah.

PRESS RELEASE
Amedica Corporation, a spinal and reconstructive medical device manufacturer, announced today that Karl Farnsworth has been named Chief Financial Officer (CFO) on February 21, 2013.

Mr. Farnsworth brings more than 25 years of experience as a financial executive for growth-oriented, publicly traded companies in multiple industries. He most recently served as the Senior Vice President and Treasurer with Energy Solutions, Inc. where he led working capital initiatives generating more than $30 million of sustainable cash.

“Karl brings strong, strategic, financial, and management skills coupled with global investment experience to Amedica,” said Eric K. Olson, President and Chief Executive Officer, Amedica. “The addition of Karl complements and strengthens our executive management team as we continue to develop innovative products that improve patient outcomes and lower long term healthcare costs.”

Prior to joining Amedica, Mr. Farnsworth served as CFO for Alcan Products Corporation, part of Alcan Inc., which was acquired by Rio Tinto Corporation in 2007. While at Alcan Inc. he spearheaded significant capital investments for the expansion of Alcan’s global reach in manufacturing and market penetration into China and Mexico. Also during his tenure at Alcan, he directed a $200 million cash generation initiative throughout Europe and North America. Additionally, Mr. Farnsworth was appointed and served as a Director on the following corporate boards: Alcan Cable (Canada), Inc.; Stabiloy De (Mexico); EPA Holdings Ltd. (Hong Kong); APC Holding Corporation (USA); and, Alcan (Tianjin) Alloy Products Corporation (China).

Mr. Farnsworth holds a BS in Accounting from Brigham Young University’s Marriott School of Management and an MBA in Finance from The Ohio State University, Max Fischer School of Business. Mr. Farnsworth is a licensed Certified Public Accountant (CPA) in Utah, a member of The Ohio Society of CPAs, and is certified in Lean Six Sigma.

About Amedica Corporation: Amedica is an innovative spine and orthopaedic implant and device marketing, manufacturing, and distribution company that provides advanced implants made from its silicon nitride ceramic technology. The company’s platform technology represents a new standard for implants based on superior performance, safety and efficacy. Amedica is a privately held, private equity backed company founded in 1996 by internationally recognized orthopaedic surgeons and ceramicists. The company is ISO 13485 certified, its spine products are FDA cleared, CE marked, and sold in ten countries. Amedica Corporation is based in Salt Lake City, UT.

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W.H. Smith Company, a manufacturer of hose assemblies and systems, has completed the acquisition of certain intellectual property and related assets from LaBarge Products Inc. Financial terms were not released.

PRESS RELEASE
W.H. Smith Company (W.H. Smith), a manufacturer and supplier of high quality hose assemblies and systems as well as load securing and material handling products for the U.S. Department of Defense and the commercial marketplace, completed the acquisition of certain intellectual property and related assets from LaBarge Products, Inc. (“LaBarge”). Based in St. Louis, MO, LaBarge designed and manufactured critical systems and components for expeditionary military operations.

Under the terms of the acquisition W.H. Smith acquired certain proprietary drawings, tooling and related fixtures required for manufacturing critical systems and components. The systems acquired include:

– Marine Corps Hose Reel System (HRS)
– Army Assault Hoseline System (AHS)
– Rapidly Installed Fuel Transfer System (RIFTS)
– 350 GPM trailer mounted pump system
– 600 GPM trailer mounted pump system
– Army Combat Ballistic Shield (CBS) Kits
– Army Flatracks (Forward Repair Station)
– Camel (800 gallon water trailer)
– 463L Cargo Pallets

Additionally, W.H. Smith acquired the use of the LaBarge Products trade name, phone and fax numbers and domain site www.labargepro.com. LaBarge Products will be established as a division under W.H. Smith.

Eric Jenkusky, Director of Business Development for W.H. Smith commented, “This acquisition is important as it significantly increases the capabilities of W.H. Smith and further expands our efforts to provide full systems to the U.S. Armed Forces and Allied Nations. Furthermore, the acquisition provides us with valuable intellectual property that can be modified for use in commercial industries, particularly the Utica and Marcellus Shale oil and gas exploration marketplace.”

W.H. Smith, based in Parkersburg, West Virginia, has a proud legacy, dating back more than 135 years to its founding in 1874. W.H. Smith was acquired by JWI Capital, LLC, a Cleveland, OH based private equity fund, in April 2010 to serve as a platform to build and acquire other defense related industries.

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New York-based specialty finance company Abacus Finance Group provided $16 million in senior secured credit facilities to support the acquisition of Dexmet Corporation by Sverica International Management, the firm announced. Based in Wallingford, Conn., Dexmet makes highly engineered expanded foils and polymers used in various applications.

PRESS RELEASE
Abacus Finance Group, LLC (Abacus), a New York-based specialty finance company, announced today that it served as Administrative Agent and Sole Lead Arranger for $16 million in senior secured credit facilities to support the acquisition of Dexmet Corporation (Dexmet) by Sverica International Management LLC (Sverica) in partnership with Dexmet management. In addition to providing the financing, Abacus, which focuses exclusively on providing cash flow financing for private equity-sponsored, lower-middle market companies, made an equity co-investment in Dexmet.

Based in Wallingford, CT, Dexmet is a manufacturer of highly engineered expanded foils and polymers used in various applications. Sverica, with offices in Boston and San Francisco, is a leading private equity firm that has raised over $425 million of investment capital.

“From our perspective, Abacus was an ideal partner for this transaction,” said Sverica Managing Director David Finley. “They know the aerospace industry, have experience in niche manufacturing, and were able to offer us certainty of close at an early stage in our negotiations. The team at Abacus was very easy to work with, which allowed us to close the transaction quickly.”

“We have known Sverica for a long time and have explored several transactions with them over the years,” said Tim Clifford, President and CEO of Abacus. “When we were finally able to partner with them, they were terrific to work with. Once again, the factors critical to success were our flexibility with respect to transaction structure, our rapid execution, and our ability to provide certainty of close – important aspects of what we call our Total Partnership ApproachTM.”

Other Abacus team members involved in the transaction included Mindy Naylor and Robby Abraham. Goulston & Storrs, LLP acted as legal counsel to Abacus, and mezzanine financing was provided by Avante Mezzanine.

About Dexmet Corporation
Based in Wallingford, CT, Dexmet Corporation is a developer and manufacturer of highly engineered expanded foils and polymeric materials serving the aerospace, battery, and filtration/industrial markets. The Company designs and assembles its own manufacturing equipment and tooling which enables the Company to expand extremely thin (1 mil to 9 mils) foils and polymers as well as the industry’s largest widths of up to 60 inches. Ongoing innovations include a unique, strand annealing furnace, as well as a host of other, highly specialized, proprietary equipment. Visit dexmet.com for more information.

About Sverica International
With offices in Boston and San Francisco, Sverica, founded in 1993, has raised over $425 million of investment capital. Sverica acquires, invests in, and actively builds companies with management teams that are, or could become, leaders in their industries. Since its founding, Sverica has maintained a “high touch” operating philosophy, taking an active role in portfolio companies and devoting significant internal resources to help management teams develop and execute growth strategies. Visit sverica.com for more information.

About Abacus Finance Group, LLC
Abacus Finance, headquartered in New York, is a lower-middle market specialty finance company, focused on providing senior cash flow financing to private equity-sponsored companies nationwide. Formed in June 2011, Abacus targets debt financing opportunities of up to $50 million with a typical hold size ranging from $10 million to $25 million, and the companies it finances generally have EBITDA between $3 million and $15 million. Abacus is an affiliate of New York Private Bank & Trust, the holding company for Emigrant Bank, which was founded in 1850 and is the largest family-owned bank in America.

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Griffin Capital has added Dustin Zachmeyer as Vice President, Due Diligence. He will focus on coordinating due diligence for various investment products. Previously he served as Director of Product Sales & Services at Berthel Fisher & Company.

PRESS RELEASE
Griffin Capital
Corporation announced today that Dustin Zachmeyer has joined the firm
as Vice President, Due Diligence. Dustin will focus on coordinating due
diligence for various investment products Griffin Capital makes
available to individual investors through the independent broker dealer
channel. He will also spearhead the company’s research efforts.

Prior to joining Griffin, Mr. Zachmeyer’s experience was primarily
focused on the broker dealer side of the investment business,
previously serving as Director of Product Sales & Services at Berthel
Fisher & Company.

“I have known, and Griffin has worked with Dustin for many years. When
he was at Berthel Fisher, he was one of the toughest and most thorough
due diligence analysts, and we couldn’t be happier he has agreed to
join us to head our diligence efforts,” said Kevin Shields, chief
executive officer of Griffin Capital Corporation.

Dustin will be based in Griffin Capital’s El Segundo headquarters.

About Griffin Capital

Griffin Capital Corporation (“Griffin Capital”), a privately-owned real
estate company headquartered in Los Angeles is led by senior executives
each with more than two decades of real estate experience collectively
encompassing over $16 billion of transaction value and more than 650
transactions, Griffin Capital and its affiliates have acquired or
constructed over 17 million square feet of space since 1996. Griffin
Capital and its affiliates currently own and manage a portfolio
consisting of over 13.4 million square feet of space, located in 28
states and representing approximately $2.2 billion in asset value.

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Veronis Suhler Stevenson has put an undisclosed amount into Thomsons Online Benefits Ltd., a SaaS-based benefit and pension administration, workflow and reporting company. The investment was made in conjunction with ABRY Partners‘ acquisition of Thomsons.

PRESS RELEASE
Veronis Suhler Stevenson (VSS), a global private investment firm focused on the information, education, media, marketing and business services industries, today announced that it has made an investment in Thomsons Online Benefits Ltd. (“Thomsons”), a SaaS-based benefit and pension administration, workflow and reporting solutions, and ancillary consulting services company based in the UK. VSS’s investment was made through its second structured capital fund, VSS Structured Capital II, and was made in conjunction with ABRY Partners’ acquisition of Thomsons.

Founded in 2000, Thomsons is headquartered in London with additional offices in Singapore and Romania. Thomsons provides a complete outsourced benefits administration through their benefits management SaaS product (“Darwin”). Darwin software provides a one-stop platform that allows customers, employees and benefit providers to make real-time changes and analysis to their benefit schemes. The company’s client base is a mixture of UK mid-market and multi-national corporations.

“Thomsons’ SaaS implementation of its employee benefit managements system offers a good mix of current technology and a complex business requirement coming together to solve a real customer problem. The underlying technology employed to solve the business problem is straight forward but the business problem itself is both complex and critical, a good combination to deliver value,” said Hal Greenberg, Co-Manager, VSS Structured Capital Funds.

“For 23 years VSS has been successfully investing in Europe and we are pleased to add Thomsons to our portfolio. We are excited by the company’s future prospects and growth potential. VSS’s investment will allow Thomsons to expand in the UK and globally,” said Morgan Callagy, Partner, VSS Europe. The VSS investments in Europe span 12 countries and 9 industry segments.

About Thomsons Online Benefits Ltd.

Thomsons Online Benefits is a benefits management software-as-a-service (SaaS) company with deployments at 260+ clients worldwide. The Company offers a complete benefits and pension administration, workflow and reporting cloud-based product together with high value benefits consulting services.

About Veronis Suhler Stevenson

Veronis Suhler Stevenson is a private equity and debt capital fund management company dedicated to investing in the information, education, media, marketing and business services industries in North America and Europe. VSS provides capital for buyouts, recapitalizations, growth financings and strategic acquisitions to lower middle-market companies and management teams with a goal to build companies both organically and through a focused add-on acquisition program. Since the closing of the first VSS Buyout Fund in 1987, VSS has managed four Buyout Funds and two Structured Capital Funds with aggregate committed capital in excess of $3.1 billion. The six funds have to date invested approximately $2.8 billion in 72 portfolio companies which have in turn completed over 320 add-on acquisitions.

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Altius Associates Ltd. has appointed Dr. William Charlton as a partner and head of U.S. investments. He will be based in the Richmond, Va. Office of Altius. Charlton joins from his current position as Senior Lecturer in Finance at the University of Texas at Austin, where he is also Associate Director of The Hicks, Muse, Tate & Furst Center for Private Equity Finance.

PRESS RELEASE
Altius Associates Ltd. has appointed Dr. William (Billy) Charlton as a Partner and Head of US Investments. Billy will be based in the Richmond, VA office, reporting to Brad Young, Head of Investment.

Mr. Young said: “We are delighted to have secured Billy, an experienced and knowledgeable investment professional, to lead our US Investment business. His background and experience in the American private equity sector, and his knowledge of buyout, venture and growth capital, along with his intellectual grasp of the broader investment dynamics in private equity portfolios, make him an ideal candidate for this important role. We looked long and hard for a leader to fit our needs, and I am very gratified that we have been able to attract someone of Billy’s caliber.”

Dr. Charlton joins Altius from his current position as Senior Lecturer in Finance at the University of Texas at Austin, where he is also Associate Director of The Hicks, Muse, Tate & Furst Center for Private Equity Finance. He teaches courses in Investments, Quantitative Investments, Entrepreneurial Finance, and the capstone case course in the MBA program: Financial Strategies in Private Equity.

Prior to this appointment Dr. Charlton was Managing Partner at specialist consultants BH Equity Research in San Jose, CA. Subsequently he was Managing Director & Founder of Context Private Equity Alpha, a fund–of-funds manager.

About Altius Associates
Altius Associates currently advises and manages approximately $21 billion in private equity and real assets funds for clients based across Europe, North America and Australia. It has offices in London, Richmond, VA and Singapore.

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Intervale Capital has formed Certus Energy Solutions, partnering with the company’s management team on the deal. Certus, based in Houston, Texas, is provides oil country tubular goods and other downhole products. Terms of the deal were not released.

PRESS RELEASE
Intervale Capital (“Intervale”), an energy-focused private equity firm, has partnered with a management team to form Certus Energy Solutions, LLC (“Certus”). Certus is focused on providing premium oil country tubular goods (“OCTG”) and other downhole products, and is headquartered in Houston, Texas. Certus currently services customers in the Rocky Mountain and Mid-Continent regions of the United States, and has plans to expand to other regions.

Patrick Williamson, previously a senior vice president at Key Energy Services, serves as Certus’ President and Chief Executive Officer. He brings over 30 years of oilfield service experience to the company, and has recruited a team of veteran operational and sales professionals. Mr. Williamson commented, “Given increasing customer focus on safety and reliability, my team identified a demand in the marketplace for a premium rental tool company with a fleet of next generation tools and industry-leading service quality. The response from our customers since launch has been tremendous.”

Charles Cherington, Managing Partner at Intervale, added, “We are fortunate to back an excellent management team with deep industry experience. We believe there is a significant opportunity for Certus to capture market share and broaden its product offering.”

Current Intervale portfolio companies include Proserv Group (offshore and subsea equipment and services), TEAM Oil Tools (completions equipment and services), Allied Oil & Gas Services (cementing and acidizing services) and Aegis Chemical Solutions (production chemicals and water treatment).

About Certus Energy Solutions:Certus provides a range of downhole tools, premium OCTG and related services. The company is headquartered in Houston, Texas, with operations in the Rocky Mountain and Mid-Continent regions.

About Intervale Capital:Intervale Capital is an energy-focused private equity firm, with headquarters in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and an office in Houston, Texas. Intervale invests exclusively in middle-market oilfield services and manufacturing companies and related technologies. The firm has more than $650 million under management and is currently investing from its second fund.

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