Author: Staff

Brickell Biotech Inc., a development-stage pharmaceutical company focused on treating skin diseases, has raised $7 million in Series B financing. The round was led by AMOREPACIFIC Ventures, part of the Korean cosmetic company AMOREPACIFIC. Other investors include Palisade Concentrated Equity Partnership II, L.P., a private equity fund managed by Palisade Capital Management.

PRESS RELEASE
Brickell Biotech, Inc. (“Brickell”), a development-stage pharmaceutical company focused on the development of innovative drug therapies for the treatment of skin diseases, today announced a $7 million Series B financing round. Brickell’s current pipeline includes new chemical entities in dermatology for indications including acne, atopic dermatitis, and hyperhidrosis.

The Series B is led by a new strategic partner, AMOREPACIFIC Ventures of AMOREPACIFIC Group, the largest cosmetic and aesthetics company in Korea (“AMOREPACIFIC”). Also participating in this round are existing investors, including Palisade Concentrated Equity Partnership II, L.P., (“Palisade”) a private equity fund managed by Palisade Capital Management, L.L.C., and others. The funds from this financing round will be used to support the further development of novel compounds in Brickell’s pipeline from pre-clinical proof of concept through clinical testing. Under the terms of the agreement, AMOREPACIFIC will also obtain an option to first negotiate an exclusive license to market two of Brickell’s novel compounds in the Republic of Korea.

“AMOREPACIFIC’s investment in Brickell is a validation of our efficient drug development model,” said Brickell President, Reginald Hardy. “We look forward to working with AMOREPACIFIC and our other investors and partners as we move forward with the development of these novel, first-in-class dermatology compounds, which hold great promise for the marketplace.”

“We share Brickell’s view that there is a significant need for new therapeutics in the field of dermatology,” said Paul Kang, Managing Director, of AMOREPACIFIC Ventures. “We are impressed with Brickell’s leadership team and we are pleased to partner with them as they continue to develop a pipeline of innovative compounds.”

Brickell Biotech was founded in 2009 by an executive team with a proven track record of success in drug development and in dermatology. In addition to Reginald Hardy, who has successfully built and sold a number of early stage development companies, including Concordia Pharmaceuticals (acquired by Kadmon Corporation) and Sano Corporation (acquired by Elan), the company is led by David Angulo, M.D., Vice President, Research and Development, formerly Head of Clinical Research at Glaxo/Stiefel; Andrew Sklawer, Vice President, Operations, formerly Head of Operations at Concordia Pharmaceuticals; and Charles Betlach, Ph.D., Vice President, New Products, formerly Head of Research at SANO Corporation.

Brickell has a distinguished Board of Directors chaired by George Abercrombie, formerly President and CEO of Hoffmann-La Roche, as well as an active Advisory Board comprised of experienced dermatologists and drug development and regulatory advisors.

“Most companies in the dermatology space have focused on reformulating available products, leaving a void of new, breakthrough technologies to treat many highly prevalent skin conditions,” said David Angulo, M.D., Vice President, Research & Development. “That’s where Brickell comes in. We are committed to – and experienced in – efficiently developing a portfolio of novel and viable treatment alternatives that will be welcomed in the marketplace.”

Roberts Mitani served as advisor for AMOREPACIFIC Ventures.

About Brickell Biotech

Brickell Biotech, Inc. is a development-stage pharmaceutical company focused on the acquisition, development and commercialization of innovative drug therapies for the treatment of skin diseases.

Founded in 2009 by a team of experienced pharmaceutical executives, Brickell’s development strategy includes rapidly and cost effectively developing product candidates; exploring strategic partnerships; maintaining a diversified product portfolio that addresses unmet medical needs; and leveraging professional relationships with thought leaders and contract research organizations in the pharmaceutical industry. For more information, visit www.brickellbio.com.

About AMOREPACIFIC Ventures
AMOREPACIFIC, based in Seoul, South Korea, is one of the leading cosmetic and aesthetics companies in Asia, with annual turnover of approximately $3 billion. AMOREPACIFIC Ventures, the corporate venture fund of AMOREPACIFIC, focuses on innovative technologies in beauty and aesthetic area. www.amorepacific.com.

About Palisade Capital Management, L.L.C.
Palisade Capital Management, L.L.C., founded in 1995, is an SEC-registered investment adviser with approximately $3.6 billion of assets under management. Palisade manages assets on behalf of institutional clients and high net worth individuals. The firm manages institutional investment strategies focused on small-cap core equities, small-, smid-, and mid-cap growth equities, long-only convertible securities, convertible arbitrage, long/short equities, and private equity. The firm also provides comprehensive investment management services for individuals. Palisade Concentrated Equity Partnership II, L.P. is one of four private equity funds managed by the firm. Palisade is located in Fort Lee, NJ and also maintains offices in Palm Beach, Florida and Del Mar, California.

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Centaur Gaming has acquired Indiana Grand Casino and Indiana Downs Racetrack. Canadian mid-market buyout firm Clairvest Group invested $8.4 million in support of the Indiana Grand acquisition in the form of unsecured term loans with stapled warrants.

PRESS RELEASE
Clairvest Group Inc. announced today that an investment partner, Centaur Gaming, has completed the acquisition of Indiana Grand Casino and Indiana Downs Racetrack (“Indiana Grand”). Clairvest invested US$8.4 million in support of the Indiana Grand acquisition. The investment was made in the form of unsecured term loans with stapled warrants.

As part of this transaction, Centaur Gaming completed a financing which resulted in full repayment of its first and second lien loans. Upon completion of the financing Clairvest received US$30.8 million such that on a net basis Clairvest received net proceeds of US$22.4 million.

Upon completion of this transaction, Clairvest’s investment in Centaur Gaming is approximately US$14 million, compared to the US$36 million invested as at December 31, 2012.

In addition to Indiana Grand, Centaur Gaming is the owner and operator of Hoosier Park Racing and Casino located 35 miles northeast of Indianapolis in Anderson. The Indiana Grand property is located southeast of the city in Shelbyville, Indiana.

“We expect the combination of the two properties to result in material cost efficiencies and an enhanced gaming service offering to customers. We are now working closely with management at both properties to ensure the successful execution of the combined operational integration plan. The acquisition of Indiana Grand enhances Centaur’s strategic value within the U.S gaming landscape,” said Michael Wagman, Managing Director of Clairvest.

About Clairvest
Clairvest Group Inc. is a private equity management firm which invests its own capital, and that of third parties through the Clairvest Equity Partners limited partnerships, in businesses that have the potential to generate superior returns. In addition to providing financing, Clairvest contributes strategic expertise and execution ability to support the growth and development of its investee partners. Clairvest realizes value through investment returns and the eventual disposition of its investments.

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Telecom company Telrad Networks will acquire the broadband wireless access division of Alvarion Ltd. for $6.1 million. Alvarion may also receive certain performance-based milestone payments of up to $6 million.

PRESS RELEASE
Telrad Networks, a leading international provider of telecommunication solutions, today announced that it has agreed to acquire the broadband wireless access (BWA) division of Alvarion(R) Ltd. ALVR +9.62% for $6.1 million. In addition, Alvarion may receive certain performance-based milestone payments of up to $6 million. BWA technology is experiencing rapid growth worldwide because it enables wireless broadband connectivity to meet the need for Internet access in areas with little or no access infrastructure.

“We’re enthusiastic about this acquisition because of the strategic fit between the two businesses and the significant growth potential,” said Ran Bukshpan, CEO, Telrad Networks. “We are committed to an aggressive development roadmap for the BWA division, ensuring a smooth transition to TD-LTE Advanced capabilities for all customers. We are looking forward to providing Alvarion’s impressive customer base with the highest levels of service and support, as we’ve served our telco and enterprise customers for many years. We also extend the warmest welcome to our new employees joining us from Alvarion, and believe that together we can achieve our vision of becoming the world leader in broadband wireless access innovation.”

The flagship product of the group, BreezeCOMPACT, has a unique single-box architecture which provides macro base station performance in a compact, optimized all-outdoor form factor with software radio design, which enables LTE Advanced and a variety of supported frequencies. The BWA division today serves over 250 broadband carriers and Wireless Internet Service Providers (WISPs) worldwide. This new division will be fully integrated into Telrad’s core business, maintaining its current sales, support and development staff.

“Both organizations possess a global presence in the marketplace, and serve the same types of customers across the globe,” continued Bukshpan. “We share a common level of technological know-how that will provide a great deal of synergy as we integrate the BWA division into our company. The market is poised to adopt next-generation wireless technologies and we see BWA as a core growth engine for our company in coming years.”

About Telrad Networks
Telrad Networks provides innovative telecom equipment, solutions and services which facilitate communications between millions of end-users worldwide. Combining technological expertise with a dedication to customer service, Telrad provides provisioning, implementation and management for over 100 leading global telecom operators and major enterprises. Telrad Networks operates in over 30 countries, with regional headquarters in the Americas, Europe, Asia and Africa. Telrad Networks is owned by private equity fund Fortissimo Capital.

About Fortissimo Capital
Fortissimo Capital, headquartered in Israel, is a group of private equity funds with nearly $500 million under management that invests in global technology companies that require capital to expand their business. Fortissimo Capital is a long term investor and seeks to partner with management to facilitate growth and maximize value. Fortissimo is backed by leading financial institutions including insurance companies, banks and pension funds. (www.ffcapital.com)

About Alvarion
Alvarion Ltd. ALVR +9.62% provides optimized wireless broadband solutions addressing the connectivity, coverage and capacity challenges of telecom operators, smart cities, security, and enterprise customers. Our innovative solutions are based on multiple technologies across licensed and unlicensed spectrums.

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Wireless Glue Networks Inc. raised $4.5 million in a Series B financing. Investors include Japanese firms, Innovation Network Corporation of Japan, Toko Electric Corporation, Hosiden Corporation, and Clean Pacific Ventures. Wireless Glue Networks makes software to capture and deliver energy data in real-time for the Commercial and Industrial market.

PRESS RELEASE
Wireless Glue Networks, Inc. announced today it closed a Series B round of $ 4.5 million. Investors include Japanese firms, Innovation Network Corporation of Japan, Toko Electric Corporation, Hosiden Corporation, and US venture capital firm, Clean Pacific Ventures.

Increased limitations in electricity supply along with pressures to manage capital and operational spending have resulted in accelerated efforts to optimize existing energy resources by applying information and communications technology to the existing electrical distribution system, through demand response (DR) and energy management systems. The acceleration of these efforts has been particularly acute in Japan following the Great East Japan Earthquake of March 2011 and the resulting decrease in nuclear generation capacity.

However, there is a wide range of different standards and communications systems used around the world to control ventilation and lighting in factories, commercial buildings, and homes.

Wireless Glue’s SmartEdge M2M software platform allows diverse communication systems and standards to communicate and cross-connect with each other on a single platform.

“Out of necessity, Japan is poised to be a leader in the world energy market,” said Peter McCabe, President and CEO, Wireless Glue Networks. “Our SmartEdge M2M platform provides real-time control and energy data between buildings and the cloud for aggregated energy management and DR applications that is scalable and cost-effective because it utilizes existing infrastructure.”

“Wireless Glue’s platform differs from anything else we have seen and its position in Japan provides a significant advantage to deployment in a rapidly advancing market,” said Sean Schickedanz, General Partner and Chief Investment Officer of Clean Pacific Ventures.

About Innovation Network Corporation of Japan (INCJ)

The INCJ was established in July 2009 as a public-private partnership that provides financial, technological and management support for next-generation businesses. The INCJ specifically supports those projects that combine technologies and varied expertise across industries and materialize open innovation. For more information, visit http://www.incj.co.jp/english/

About Toko Electric
TOKO ELECTRIC CORPORATION (Public, TYO: 6921) is a Japan-based Tokyo Electric company (TEPCO) mainly engaged in the manufacture and sale of electric meters and related infrastructure products. For more information, visit www.tokodenki.co.jp

About Hosiden Corporation

Manufacturing and selling of electronic and information & communications equipment. For more information, visit www.hosiden.co.jp

About Clean Pacific Ventures Management LLC

Based in San Francisco, Clean Pacific Ventures Management is an independent venture capital company, which primarily invests in early-stage clean technology companies. For more information, visit www.cleanpacific.com

About Wireless Glue Networks, Inc.

Wireless Glue is a United States-based company with offices in Japan that delivers software and hardware solutions that capture and deliver energy data in real-time for the Commercial and Industrial market.

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Sanguine Biosciences Inc., a biotech startup, has raised an undisclosed amount of seed financing from INVENT Ventures and Heliant Ventures. The company is focused on engaging research subjects through social media and non-profit advocacy, and helping schedule blood draws, which are then processed into DNA, RNA, cells, plasma, and serum.

PRESS RELEASE
SANGUINE BIOSCIENCES, INC. (“Sanguine”), a biotechnology company empowering patients in biomedical research, has announced the closing of its seed financing round, led by INVENT Ventures and Heliant Ventures.

Sanguine engages research subjects through social media and non-profit advocacy, and schedules blood draws, which are then processed into DNA, RNA, cells, plasma, and serum, to be used as biomedical research materials at pharmaceutical companies and research institutions. The company has developed the infrastructure to provide research subjects with information on how their samples were used, in order to ultimately increase trust and information flow back to researchers.

“Sanguine has experienced significant growth since Q4 2012, both in terms of revenues and number of research subjects. The successful completion of the laboratory and regulatory infrastructure allowed us the opportunity to open our doors to research participants, both healthy, and diagnosed with an ailment(s), and to researchers at numerous pharmaceutical companies and academic institutions.

We plan to use the funds raised in the seed round to further develop our internal infrastructure in order to safely and efficiently collect, process, document, and store up to 1,000 blood samples each month across the west coast. We are looking forward to scaling up and providing researchers with the samples they need to perform their investigations, while also providing patients with the knowledge of how their samples have impacted Personalized Medicine research.” – Brian Neman, CEO

“Sanguine is building products and processes that will revolutionize personalized medicine research,” said INVENT CEO Bryce Knight. “We are thrilled to support Sanguine and its exceptional team through their growth at the forefront of multiple rapidly-growing markets.”

“We are very happy to jointly lead this round of investment and to be connected to a company at the forefront of its industry. Sanguine’s business model achieves that unique harmony between placing the patient interests first while still generating returns for all its stakeholders,” said Heliant Ventures Director Ben Weiss. “Full credit to the hard-working Sanguine team for reaching this important milestone and we look forward to supporting the company to realize its exciting growth potential.”

About Sanguine BioSciences Inc.Sanguine BioSciences is a biotechnology company bridging the gap between patients and researchers by providing transparency throughout the personalized medicine R&D process. Sanguine collects and de-identifies patient-derived data in the form of biospecimen and physician and self-reported information. These data are generated and then made available to researchers involved in drug and biomarker research and discovery. (http://sanguinebio.com)

About INVENT VenturesINVENT Ventures Inc. IDEA -33.75% is a publicly traded venture fund that builds and invests in transformative technology businesses. INVENT primarily operates in markets of digital media, consumer Internet, and social networking, and has built six companies at various stages of development. (www.invent.vc.)

About Heliant VenturesEstablished in 2012, Heliant Ventures is a venture capital fund backed by leading investors across Asia and Australia. (www.heliantventures.com)

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Medikly Inc., a New York-based software startup, has raised $1.2 million in Series A financing led by Easton Capital Investment Group. The company is a products of startup accelerator Blueprint Health, and has developed an enterprise-grade marketing platform aimed at pharmaceutical marketers.

PRESS RELEASE
Medikly, Inc. (Medikly), the leading New York-based software-as-a-service (SaaS) technology provider for pharmaceutical brands and agencies, today announced the close of a $1.2M Series A round of funding led by Easton Capital Investment Group.

This announcement comes four months after the company graduated from Blueprint Health, a New York City-based startup accelerator, and just a few weeks after the company reported several marquee customers and strategic partners. Medikly’s unique enterprise-grade platform provides pharmaceutical marketers a multi-channel marketing solution that combines social, content, and big-data analytics to deliver insights and optimize campaign spend.

Launched in 2011, Medikly is a rapidly growing company that combines multi-channel marketing with predictive analytics to help marketers better understand physician behaviors and preferences. The company’s success centers around its platform’s three unique modules that include:

– Preference Discovery Engine (PDE) that allows marketers to identify and understand patterns of behavior, relationships and inherent qualities among physicians across multiple touchpoints.

– Personalization Engine that leverages insights from the PDE to present targeted and relevant information to physicians, through their preferred channel of choice, any time, anywhere.

– Analytics Engine that empowers marketers to make better business decisions, identify gaps and opportunities, predict campaign attrition, and optimize resources in real-time.

“There are thousands of healthcare IT startups that are consumer- or hospital-focused, and none that address the niche-specific, $30 billion dollar problem that pharmaceutical marketers face — how to target and engage healthcare providers on an individual level, while being able to measure performance and drive business value,” said Venkat Gullapalli, MD, Founder and CEO of Medikly.

Kresimir Letinic of Easton Capital has joined Medikly’s board of directors, and James Golden, Ph.D., Managing Director, Life Science Analytics at Accenture, has become a board observer.

“Pharmaceutical companies have been slow to adopt technologies that demonstrate how their digital campaigns engage and influence physicians, and relate to the overall return on investment of their marketing dollar. By offering a best-in-class solution, Medikly’s platform fulfills this unmet need,” said Kresimir Letinic, Vice President at Easton Capital. “In a very short time, Medikly has accumulated an impressive list of customers and a pipeline of pharmaceutical clients — clear market validation of the company’s platform. We are excited to partner with the Medikly team to help create a new, innovative, and scalable alternative to multi-channel marketing in the pharmaceutical space.”

According to Gullapalli, Medikly will use the financing to fuel the company’s continued rapid growth and enhance the development of its next-generation marketing platform.

“I started this company with a long-term vision to make it easier for healthcare marketers to engage providers with relevant, targeted content, no matter what digital channel they participate in,” adds Gullapalli. “As a physician and healthcare marketer, I saw first-hand how difficult it is to get a doctors attention. It shouldn’t be that way and Medikly is changing this.”

ABOUT MEDIKLY

Medikly is pharma’s first and only unified, cloud-based platform that helps brands better reach, engage, and understand physicians across multiple touchpoints. Medikly’s platform goes beyond current technology solutions by delivering deeper content, interactive experiences, and a robust set of measurable and actionable big data analytics. For more information, visit www.medikly.com or email [email protected].

ABOUT EASTON CAPITAL INVESTMENT GROUP

Easton Capital is a leading venture capital fund with a sector focus in the life sciences. The company’s professionals have decades of experience in all aspects of the life sciences, providing unique financial, strategic, operational perspectives, and resources to entrepreneurs who want to grow their business. Easton’s mission is to invest in opportunities that offer services or products that can materially improve or reduce the costs of the health care that people receive. Easton’s approach directly aligns the firm’s interests and goals with entrepreneurs and managers of the enterprises it supports. Members of the Easton team have participated in running more than $1 billion in investment funds during their careers, have helped launch more than 100 companies, and made a number of investments that generated returns in excess of 100x.

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Nordic Capital has raised 1.7 billion euros ($2.25 billion)($2.25 billion) in the first close of its latest fund, Reuters reported. ‘First close’ means a private equity firm has asked clients to release money they promised so that it can start investing, while still looking to increase the size of the fund. Nordic Capital, which specializes in investing in companies in the Nordic region and German-speaking countries, began marketing its eighth fund last April and expects to hit its 3 billion euro target by the summer, Reuters wrote Friday.

(Reuters) – Nordic Capital has raised 1.7 billion euros ($2.25 billion)($2.25 billion) in the first call of its latest fund, according to a person at the private equity firm’s annual investor meeting this week.

‘First close’ means a private equity firm has asked clients to release money they promised so that it can start investing, while still looking to increase the size of the fund.

Nordic Capital, which specialises in investing in companies in the Nordic region and German-speaking countries, began marketing its eighth fund last April and expects to hit its 3 billion euro target by the summer, the person said on Friday.

Fundraising within the private equity industry, where firms raise money to buy businesses and sell them at a profit later, remains challenging as the economic slowdown and pressure on returns has seen investors become more selective.

Many large private equity firms, including Apollo Global Management LLC, CVC Capital Partners, and Permira Advisers LP, have been raising new funds, with varying success.

In November, Advent International Corp amassed 8.5 billion euros, exceeding its 7 billion euro target, while Apax Partners said in December it may not reach its initial 9 billion euro target.

Nordic Capital’s own target was cut late last year to 3 billion euros from an initial 4 billion.

Private equity funds in Europe raised nearly $52 billion in 2012, according to Thomson Reuters data, compared with an annual average above $100 billion during the 2006-08 boom.

Germany and Scandinavia were seen as the leading areas for growth of private equity-driven merger and acquisition activity in 2013, in a survey of more than 1,200 industry insiders published by consultants Roland Berger on Friday.

Nordic Capital, whose investments include healthcare provider Capio and confectionery maker Cloetta, was expected to be among buyers interested in ferry group Scandlines, soon to be offloaded by fellow private equity groups 3i and Allianz Capital Partners.

Nordic Capital would not comment. ($1 = 0.7563 euro) (By Kylie MacLellan
Additional reporting by Sven Nordenstam in Stockholm and Anjuli Davies in London)

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Foundation Venture Capital Group provided $100,000 in seed financing for Actinobac Biomed Inc. The company will use the money to test its lead product in the treatment of veterinary white blood cell diseases. FVCG had originally invested $500,000 when Actinobac was first established in 2009. Foundation Venture Capital Group is an affiliate of New Jersey Health Foundation.

PRESS RELEASE
Actinobac Biomed, Inc., has received a commitment for a second investment of $100,000 from Foundation Venture Capital Group (FVCG) to study the efficacy of the company’s lead product, Leukothera�, in the treatment of veterinary white blood cell diseases , announced Dr. George F. Heinrich, vice chair and CEO of FVCG.

FVCG had originally invested $500,000 when Actinobac was first established in 2009 to develop pharmaceutical agents for the treatment of hematologic malignancies (leukemias & lymphomas), latent infections (HIV/AIDS & tuberculosis) and autoimmune diseases (rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, Crohn’s disease, type 1 diabetes, Lupus & psoriasis).

Leukothera� is a bacterial toxin that specifically targets and depletes disease related white blood cells (WBC). In laboratory studies to date, malignant and proinflammatory white blood cells have been determined to be more sensitive to Leukothera� than normal white blood cells. Animal studies carried out by Actinobac have shown Leukothera(TM) to possess significant therapeutic activity.

“We are contracting with Texas A&M Veterinary School to examine the use of Leukothera� for dogs suffering with white blood cell diseases,” explained company founder Dr. Scott Kachlany. “Because of biological similarities, the data we obtain from these new studies will be applicable to dogs and support drug development for human applications also.”

The latest $100,000 investment will fund proof of concept studies. According to Dr. Kachlany, early results indicate that Actinobac’s drug candidate works very well in healthy dogs, using lower doses than previously expected.

“We are excited about Dr. Kachlany’s results to date,” explained James M. Golubieski, president of Foundation Venture Capital Group, “and are hopeful that Actinobac’s work will provide a viable treatment in the not too distant future to increase survival rates for these white blood cell diseases.”

Dr. Kachlany, also an associate professor of oral biology, microbiology and molecular genetics at UMDNJ-New Jersey Dental School, discovered the potential therapeutic uses of Leukothera� during the course of his research at the dental school.

“Our goal is to demonstrate that Leukothera� prolongs life and treats disease, in dogs and in humans,” he explained.

For more information contact James M. Golubieski, president of Foundation Venture Capital Group, at [email protected] or visit www.actinobac.com and www.foundationventure.com.

About Foundation Venture Capital Group

Foundation Venture Capital Group, an affiliate of New Jersey Health Foundation, invests in commercially viable new start-up companies developing technology by faculty at or affiliated with the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey. In addition to Actinobac, FVCG portfolio companies currently include:

– Affineti Biologics, Inc., advancing research in the development of therapeutic and diagnostic products based on new discoveries in oral biology and dental medicine;

– CellXplore, Inc., engaged in the development of biomarker-based in vitro diagnostic assays for cancer;

– Celvive, Inc., working to develop technology to treat patients with chronic spinal cord injuries with their own adult stem cells;

– Durin Technologies, working to develop a blood test to diagnose Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and other neurodegenerative diseases;

– GeneAssess, Inc., a company developing a diagnostic tool for more accurate breast cancer staging;

– Longevica Pharmaceuticals, Inc., developing a chemoprotective agent that may keep normal cells healthy during cancer treatments (FVCG’s equity interest in Longevica was sold to Rostock International, LTD, a subsidiary of a Moscow (Russia) based global investment firm);

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Blaze Bioscience Inc., a developer of products to improve the lives of cancer patients, has raised an $8.5 million Series A round. The round was raised from individual investors, the company said. Blaze is based in Seattle.

PRESS RELEASE
Blaze Bioscience, Inc., a biotechnology company dedicated to developing innovative products to improve the lives of cancer patients, today announced the completion of a Series A financing totaling $8.5 million and bringing the total funds raised since inception to $9.8 million. The round was raised from individual investors, including physicians and prominent biotech executives. A majority of the investors involved in Blaze’s seed funding round increased their level of participation. The funding will support the advancement of Blaze’s Tumor PaintTM product candidate, BLZ-100, into clinical development for use in surgery in multiple solid tumor types. The resources have also supported the expansion of Blaze’s leadership team and establishment of corporate headquarters, including laboratory space, in the South Lake Union area of Seattle.

“We have a dedicated group of investors who share our vision of bringing light into tumor cells so that surgeons can see them in real time,” said Dr. Jim Olson, Blaze Bioscience Co-Founder and Board Member.

Blaze Bioscience’s Tumor Paint technology is designed to provide real-time, high-resolution visualization of a broad array of solid tumors by binding to and illuminating cancer cells to aid in surgical removal. BLZ-100, the lead product candidate incorporating Tumor Paint technology, combines a targeting peptide and a fluorescent beacon. BLZ-100 is entering toxicology studies, and a Phase 1 clinical trial exploring safety and effective imaging dose is planned in cancer patients with multiple tumor types.

New appointments to the Blaze leadership team include Dennis Miller, Ph.D., as Senior Vice President of Development, and Claudia Jochheim, Ph.D., as Senior Director of Process Development and Manufacturing.

“With this additional funding and the added expertise of Dr. Miller and Dr. Jochheim, we plan to move our first Tumor Paint product candidate, BLZ-100, into the clinic,” said Heather Franklin, Co-Founder, President and Chief Executive Officer of Blaze Bioscience. “Both Dennis and Claudia have extensive experience with moving products into clinical trials and beyond.”

Dr. Miller brings 20 years of experience in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology research and development space. Most recently, Dr. Miller served as Senior Vice President of Research and Preclinical Development at ZymoGenetics, having responsibility spanning the company’s discovery, preclinical development, bioprocess development and clinical trial laboratory support activities. Prior to ZymoGenetics, he held research and development positions at Seattle Genetics, Amgen, Nycomed and Sterling Winthrop. Dr. Miller has contributed to the preclinical and clinical development of over 20 therapeutics, including Adcetris® and IL-21 for oncology, and Interferon lambda, Nplate® and Kineret® for virology and chronic autoimmune disorders.

Dr. Jochheim is a biochemist with more than 20 years of experience in the biotechnology industry. Prior to joining Blaze Bioscience, Dr. Jochheim was an independent consultant. She formerly held strategic leadership positions as Senior Director/Director of Analytical Biochemistry and Formulations in Process Development at Seattle Genetics, where she built and led groups of up to 30 scientists. At Seattle Genetics, Dr. Jochheim played a key role in moving the antibody-drug-conjugate Adcetris® from development to the market. Prior to Seattle Genetics, she was Director of Analytical Biochemistry at Corixa and a Senior Scientist/Scientist at Immunex and Amgen, where she was project leader for several development projects, including Enbrel® and Vectibix®. Her experience includes all aspects of technology transfer to contract manufacturing organizations and preparation of product-related CMC regulatory filings with FDA.

Blaze Bioscience opened its headquarters, including laboratory and office space, at the Fairview Research Center in the South Lake Union area of Seattle.

About Blaze Bioscience

Blaze Bioscience, Inc. is a Seattle-based, privately-held biotechnology company dedicated to developing products that assist physicians in their quest to improve the lives of cancer patients. The company was founded in 2010 to develop and commercialize the Tumor Paint technology, which has potential applications in a broad array of solid tumor cancers. Tumor Paint technology is designed to provide real-time, high-resolution intraoperative visualization of cancer cells, enabling better detection and more complete and precise surgical removal of cancer. The first Tumor Paint product candidate, BLZ-100, is under development for cancer surgery in multiple solid tumor types.

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Sterling Partners has backed Kids Care Dental Group, a pediatric dental care practice that serves toddlers, children and teens. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Kids Care is based in Sacramento.

PRESS RELEASE
Sterling Partners, a growth-oriented investment firm with more than $5 billion of assets under management, today announced a partnership with Kids Care Dental Group (“Kids Care”), a leading multi-unit pediatric dental care practice that serves toddlers, children and teens. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Via six office locations throughout the Sacramento area, Kids Care offers an exceptional patient experience for parents and kids alike. Each practice provides a comfortable and fun environment, dentists with advanced education in pediatric dentistry, staff that has training for and experience in treating and interacting with children, and a robust suite of high-quality oral health services including dentistry, orthodontics and oral surgery.

Dr. Aaron Reeves, Kids Care founder and chairman, will remain a partner and continue as a board member.

“We chose Sterling Partners due to their track record for growing healthcare companies that focus on quality patient experiences,” said Dr. Reeves, who founded the practice in 2002. “Sterling shares our long-term vision for expansion, attracting top talent, forming new relationships with families and changing the way kids and their parents think about going to the dentist.”

“As a firm that is drawn to purpose-driven businesses, we were attracted to Dr. Reeves’ steadfast devotion to providing a differentiated dental model for kids,” said Dan Hosler, a Sterling Partners principal. “We will leverage our experience operating multi-unit businesses to help the company accelerate its growth trajectory so that its dental health professionals can focus on what they do best: providing a positive patient experience that builds lifelong oral hygiene habits.”

About Kids Care Dental

Kids Care Dental Group is an American Dental Association-, California Dental Association- and Pediatric Dentistry Association-certified practice conceived and dedicated to serve the special needs of toddlers, children, and teens. The practice’s 170+ professionals are committed to providing excellent dental care while promoting lifelong oral hygiene habits in a comforting and fun atmosphere. Kids Care’s differentiated approach revolutionizes pediatric dentistry by offering parents and kids a non-traumatic and easily accessible dental experience. For more information on Kids Care Dental Group, visit www.kidscaredentaldentalgroup.com.

About Sterling Partners

Sterling Partners is a private equity firm with a distinct point of view on how to build great companies. Founded in 1983, Sterling has invested billions of dollars, guided by the company’s stated purpose, INSPIRED GROWTH(TM), which describes Sterling’s approach to buying differentiated businesses and growing them in inspired ways. Sterling focuses on investing growth capital in small and mid-market companies in industries with positive, long-term trends – education, healthcare, and business services. Sterling provides valuable support to the management teams of the companies in which the firm invests through a deep and dedicated team of operations and functional experts based in the firm’s offices in Chicago, Baltimore and Miami.

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Crestview Partners has teamed up with employees of Victory Capital Management to acquire Victory for $246 million. The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter. Victory Capital is based in Cleveland, Ohio, and provides investment advisory services to institutional clients.

PRESS RELEASE
Crestview Partners, a leading private equity firm based in New York, has teamed with employees of Victory Capital Management to acquire Victory for $246 million. Upon completion of the transaction, Victory will be an independent firm with the senior management team, portfolio managers and other employees owning a significant amount of the outstanding equity. The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter.

As of December 31, 2012, Victory managed and advised approximately $22.1 billion in equity and fixed income assets on behalf of its institutional and individual investors. Under the new ownership structure, David Brown and Christopher Ohmacht will continue to lead Victory and will be appointed to the company’s new Board of Directors along with two representatives from Crestview and three independent directors. Brown will become the Chief Executive Officer, and Ohmacht will become President.

Victory will continue to operate under its present brand name and remain headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio with offices in New York, NY, Cincinnati, OH, Denver, CO and Tampa, FL.

David Brown stated, “We are pleased to partner with Crestview, a firm that is well known and respected for its asset management expertise and integrity. This new ownership structure will preserve our successful multi-boutique operating model and provide an opportunity for real equity ownership to our employees that will align our interests with those of our clients, today and well into the future.”

Mr. Brown continued, “From the day-to-day perspective of our clients and investment professionals, nothing significant will change. Strategically, we will have an ownership structure that provides our firm with the ability to drive future growth and to continue delivering leading investment performance and high quality service to our clients.”

Richard DeMartini, a Partner at Crestview, added, “We are very pleased to be partnering with the Victory team. Victory is an outstanding firm with excellent investment talent and distribution expertise. The company is very well managed, under the leadership of David Brown and Christopher Ohmacht. Victory has a team of outstanding portfolio managers with a history of strong investment performance.”

For many years Victory has operated with autonomy over its strategic business and investment processes. Recently, Victory completed several meaningful enhancements to its technology and operations infrastructure, including outsourcing its technology platform to Citi. These changes have minimized the company’s reliance on its parent company and will enable the team to complete this transaction in a seamless manner.

Victory will continue to operate with nine autonomous investment teams, each retaining authority for investment decision making while being supported by the broader Victory organization for risk management, trading, research, sales, client service, compliance, technology and operations. The individual Chief Investment Officer and team that manage each portfolio will not experience any significant change in the resources received from Victory.

About Victory Capital Management
Victory Capital Management is headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio with offices in New York, Cincinnati, Denver and Tampa. As of 12/31/12, Victory had $22.1 billion in assets under management and advisement with 144 employees.

The firm provides investment advisory services to institutional clients including corporations, non profits, public funds, Taft-Hartley and sub-advisory clients. Victory offers international and domestic equity and domestic fixed income products to these investors through separate accounts and commingled funds. Institutional assets under management at 12/31/12 totaled $14.7 billion.

Victory is the investment advisor to The Victory Funds, a collection of 19 mutual funds, offering a variety of share classes. The firm also offers retail and retirement clients Separately Managed Accounts through wrap fee programs and access to its investment models through Unified Managed Accounts. Victory had $7.4 billion in retail assets under management and advisement as of 12/31/12.

About Crestview Partners
Crestview Partners is a value-oriented private equity firm based in New York with approximately $4 billion of capital under management. The firm is led by former partners and leaders in the private equity business and senior management of Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley. Crestview’s investment strategy is focused in four sectors: financial services, media, energy and healthcare.

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Wells Fargo announced a three-year philanthropic investment in Imagine H2O, a nonprofit focused on innovation in the water sector. Imagine H2O will use the funding to expand its activities, which includes an annual business plan competition and an accelerator program.

PRESS RELEASE
Imagine H2O, a nonprofit supporting entrepreneurship and innovation in the water sector, today announced a three-year philanthropic investment from Wells Fargo to expand its program offerings, including its annual business plan competition for water innovation and the Imagine H2O Accelerator Program, which helps participating entrepreneurs turn their plans into real-world solutions.

“Supporting entrepreneurial solutions to water challenges aligns with Wells Fargo’s commitment to providing capital for clean technology companies,” said Andrew Kho, head of Wells Fargo’s Clean Tech Commercial Banking Group. “Imagine H2O is building an exciting accelerator for water solutions and we’re eager to see the results of our more comprehensive, three-year commitment.”

Since 2009, Wells Fargo has contributed hundreds of volunteer hours and funding to Imagine H2O’s efforts to establish and run a global program for water startups.

Since its inception in 2008, Imagine H2O has:

– Attracted over 200 water startups from more than 15 countries to its competition program

– Provided over $1 million of in-kind services and cash awards to more than 25 new businesses

– Helped its portfolio companies attract over $15 million in investment from angel investors, venture capital funds and project finance funds

– Offered campus water entrepreneurship workshops to over 1,000 students

“Imagine H2O is a global conduit for water entrepreneurship and innovation,” explains Tamin Pechet, the organization’s Chairman and Co-Founder. “Our programs support entrepreneurs who establish financially viable solutions while creating jobs and generating economic activity. It’s a great fit to have a global finance leader such as Wells Fargo supporting our work.”

A leader in reducing its own greenhouse gas emissions and building sustainably, Wells Fargo has been recognized by the Carbon Disclosure Project and the U.S. Green Building Council. Since 2006, Wells Fargo has provided more than $11.7 billion in environmental finance, supporting sustainable buildings and renewable energy projects nationwide. This includes investments in more than 260 solar projects and 34 wind projects that generate enough clean renewable energy to power hundreds of thousands of American homes each year. The company is a member of the Ceres network of companies and was listed as one of the 2012 “Best Corporate Citizens” by Corporate Responsibility Magazine. For more information, please visit. www.wellsfargo.com/environment.

About Imagine H2OImagine H2O inspires and empowers people to solve water challenges and turn them into opportunities. We offer annual competitions for water innovation with focused, specific challenges including Water Efficiency (2009), Water-Energy Nexus (2010),Wastewater (2011) and Consumer Innovations (2012). In addition to cash prizes for the best ideas, the Imagine H2O Accelerator helps participating entrepreneurs turn their plans into game-changing, real-world solutions. To learn more about Imagine H2O’s global ecosystem for water innovation and connect with water entrepreneurs from around the world, please visit www.imagineh2o.org.

About Wells Fargo Wells Fargo & Company WFC -0.11% is a nationwide, diversified, community-based financial services company with $1.4 trillion in assets. Founded in 1852 and headquartered in San Francisco, Wells Fargo provides banking, insurance, investments, mortgage, and consumer and commercial finance through more than 9,000 stores, 12,000 ATMs, the Internet (wellsfargo.com), and has offices in more than 35 countries to support the bank’s customers who conduct business in the global economy. With more than 265,000 team members, Wells Fargo serves one in three households in the United States. Wells Fargo & Company was ranked No. 26 on Fortune’s 2012 rankings of America’s largest corporations. Wells Fargo’s vision is to satisfy all our customers’ financial needs and help them succeed financially.

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Brian Wade has joined Atlantic-Pacific Capital as a partner. Previously, Wade was a Managing Director in Credit Suisse Asset Management’s institutional distribution group. Before Credit Suisse, he was the Director of Investor Relations at JLL Partners, a middle-market private equity firm.

PRESS RELEASE
Atlantic-Pacific Capital, the largest independently owned global placement agent and advisory firm, announced today the addition of Brian Wade as Partner. Mr. Wade will continue to work closely with institutional investors in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeast United States, including public and corporate pension plans, endowments, foundations, financial institutions, fund-of-funds and family offices.

Mr. Wade has over 15 years of experience in limited partner, general partner and third-party distribution roles during his alternative investment career. Prior to joining Atlantic-Pacific, Brian was a Managing Director in Credit Suisse Asset Management’s institutional distribution group. Before Credit Suisse, he was the Director of Investor Relations at JLL Partners, a middle-market private equity firm. Previously, Mr. Wade worked at the Virginia Retirement System, where he was the Director of Private Equity after beginning his alternative investment career at the New York State Common Retirement Fund. Mr. Wade earned a Bachelor of Science from Union College and an MBA from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

“I am excited to join Atlantic-Pacific’s global independent platform and to contribute to its established and focused execution-oriented model. I have been particularly impressed with the firm’s track record, quality of mandates, and tenacity demonstrated by the Partner team since the global financial crises,” commented Mr. Wade.

Mark Bourgeois, CEO and President, said, “I have worked with Brian in various capacities for over 13 years and believe that his prior experience as a limited partner and an investor relations professional complements our current strengths and will be a tremendous asset to our clients.”

About Atlantic-Pacific Capital www.apcap.com

Atlantic-Pacific Capital is the largest independently owned global placement agent and advisory firm dedicated to raising capital for alternative investments. Since 1995, the firm has executed over 70 capital raising assignments aggregating over $50 billion for an extraordinary group of alternative asset managers. Typical mandates include private equity, real estate and infrastructure fund placements, as well as secondary advisory assignments and direct private placements. With experienced professionals located in New York, Greenwich, Chicago, San Francisco, London and Hong Kong, Atlantic-Pacific maintains a global network of trusted relationships with influential institutional and high-net-worth investors.

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HYCOR Biomedical Inc., a maker of in vitro diagnostic products, has sold its urinalysis business to an affiliate of One Rock Capital Partners, Laurel Crown Partners, and StoneCreek Capital. Terms of the deal were not released. HYCOR is a portfolio company of Linden Capital Partners.

PRESS RELEASE
HYCOR Biomedical, Inc. (“HYCOR”), a leading manufacturer and marketer of in vitro diagnostic products for the global allergy and autoimmune markets, today announced that it has sold its urinalysis business to an affiliate of One Rock Capital Partners, Laurel Crown Partners, and StoneCreek Capital. The sale includes the KOVA® system of urinalysis products. HYCOR is a portfolio company of Linden Capital Partners (“Linden”).”The divestiture of the urinalysis business represents an important step in our growth strategy for HYCOR and allows us to focus exclusively on the growing, global allergy and autoimmune sectors of in vitro diagnostics,” said Richard Novak, Chairman of HYCOR’s Board of Directors, and Operating Partner at Linden.The urinalysis business will be named Kova International, Inc. and will continue to operate out of its Garden Grove, California manufacturing facility under the leadership of Vance Mitchell, who has more than 25 years of experience with the Kova urinalysis business. “With this action we are better positioned to grow our pipeline of allergy and autoimmune diagnostic products to serve the needs of our customers, whether they are leading clinical laboratories or integrated health networks,” said Dick Aderman, President and CEO of HYCOR. “Healthcare providers are increasingly looking to innovations in in vitro diagnostics to provide accurate diagnosis of these prevalent and costly conditions.”Allergies represent the fifth leading chronic disease in the United States, with an estimated 60 million Americans suffering from one or more allergy types. Moreover, it is estimated that 30-40% of the world population is now affected by one or more allergic conditions. The symptoms of allergy can appear in the nose, ears, lungs, skin, digestive system or other parts of the body. Early diagnosis and treatment of allergy have been shown to modify the course of the disease and help prevent subsequent development of other more serious conditions. An autoimmune disorder is a condition that occurs when the immune system mistakenly attacks and destroys healthy body tissue. There are more than 80 different types of autoimmune disorders and diagnosis is a complex process. Focusing on the allergy and autoimmune markets provides important synergies as the diagnostics for these disease categories share commonalities such as platform, assay development and manufacturing, and also target the same end user and areas of the laboratory.The transaction includes the transfer of urinalysis assets and employees. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Houlihan Lokey served as exclusive financial advisor to HYCOR and Kirkland & Ellis LLP provided legal advice to HYCOR for the transaction.About HYCOR Biomedical, Inc.
Founded in 1981, HYCOR is a global manufacturer and marketer of in vitro diagnostics products. Since its founding, HYCOR has expanded its presence in allergy and autoimmune products used in clinical laboratories, hospitals and doctors’ offices worldwide. Among its products, HYCOR markets the HYTEC™ and AUTOSTAT™ brands. The company is focused on delivering products that provide the highest value to clinicians through innovation, reliability and customer service. For more information, please visit www.hycorbiomedical.com.About Linden Capital Partners
Linden Capital Partners is a Chicago-based private equity firm focused exclusively on leveraged buyouts in the healthcare and life science industries. Linden’s strategy is based upon three elements: i) healthcare and life science industry specialization, ii) integrated private equity and operating expertise, and iii) strategic relationships with large corporations. Linden currently has investments in middle market platforms in the products, distribution, and services segments of healthcare.

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Anaplan, a maker of cloud-based modelling and planning technology for sales, operations, and finance, has acquired Vue Analytics. The acquisition allows the company to expand in Europe. Terms of the deal were not released. Anaplan is funded by Granite Ventures and Shasta Ventures.

PRESS RELEASE
Anaplan, a provider of cloud-based modelling and planning solutions for sales, operations, and finance, today announced its expansion into Europe through the acquisition of Vue Analytics, its Master Reseller in the UK & Ireland, and the opening of its European headquarters in Paris. The company has appointed Laurent Lefouet, former Chief Operating Officer at SAP, as Anaplan’s General Manager of EMEA. With offices now established in the UK and France, Anaplan aims to expand into additional European markets throughout the year.

“Successful businesses across the globe are already embracing our powerful cloud-based planning tools to set operational targets, track performance of key indicators, and make better, faster decisions about how to adapt to rapidly changing market conditions,” said Anaplan CEO Fred Laluyaux. “Our acquisition of Vue Analytics, the opening of our new EMEA headquarters in France, and the addition of Laurent Lefouet to our management team will allow us to meet growing demand for our solutions and better serve our expanding customer base in the EMEA region.”

Anaplan has seen demand for its innovative cloud software grow rapidly, as new customers continue to take advantage of its solutions to model and plan their businesses. In 2012, the company grew its customer base by 500% percent and revenues by 800% across the globe. In the last twelve months, large UK firms like Taylor Wimpey plc and Premier Farnell plc and other European firms in Russia, Czech Republic and France were added to an impressive list of North American customers including McAfee, Pandora, and HealthTrust.

Laurent Lefouet brings over 20 years of experience as an entrepreneur and international sales executive to his new role at Anaplan. Most recently, he served as Chief Operating Officer and Vice President of Large Enterprise Sales for SAP France and SAP North Africa. Previously, he held international management roles within Business Objects Global and SAP EMEA.

“I’m thrilled to join the leadership team at Anaplan as the company embarks on its next stage of growth,” Lefouet explains. “Anaplan is redefining how companies model and plan by providing a cloud-based, in-memory technology that connects the right data with the right people across an organisation. I have worked in this space for many years, and I truly believe Anaplan’s combination of simplicity, flexibility and power is unique. This is what customers in Europe and around the world are finding so game-changing. It is now our responsibility as a team to make sure every single manager on this continent knows about Anaplan!”

As the winner of a Gartner Cool Vendor Award in 2012, Anaplan has already been recognised for its innovative cloud software and its role in reshaping how business users within large enterprises can model and plan their businesses. Anaplan is focused on keeping its solutions intuitive so that business users can get started easily, make changes to models immediately, and maximise agility of their planning and decision-making. Anaplan’s patented in-memory processing capabilities also support extremely large and complex enterprise models, capable of connecting people and data across enterprise functions.

About Anaplan
Anaplan provides cloud-based modeling and planning solutions for sales, operations and finance. The platform enables people to intuitively model their business, derive insights, collaborate for better decisions, align operations, and execute processes in a single platform. Whether objectives are to reduce expenses, improve margins, accelerate growth, or other, results are immediate and impactful.

In 2012, Anaplan introduced a complete suite of sales applications, including quota management, territory management, commissions management, and real-time quote and price optimisation, to create a holistic sales performance management solution.

Anaplan is funded by Granite Ventures and Shasta Ventures

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Stormpath, maker of a secure user management and authentication service for developers, has closed on $8.2 million in Series A financing. New Enterprise Associates and Pelion Venture Partners led the round, with participation from Flybridge Capital Partners.

PRESS RELEASE
Stormpath, the first easy, secure user management and authentication service for developers, today announced it closed $8.2 million in Series A financing. New Enterprise Associates and Pelion Venture Partners led the round, with participation from Flybridge Capital Partners. Today, Stormpath formally exited its beta period with more than 1,000 users onboard and launched general availability of its service.

CLICK TO TWEET: $8.2M Series A for @goStormpath – Easy, Secure User Management and Authentication for Developers #cloudsecurity #security

Founded in 2011, Stormpath set out to overcome a key security hurdle for cloud-based companies: authentication and management of a large user base. CEO Alex Salazar and CTO Les Hazlewood built a fast, straightforward way for developers to safely store user data and manage access control to the application. With a simple API integration, developers can reduce development and operations costs, while protecting their users with best-in-class security. Offloading common work like authentication, account management, and password reset workflows allows development teams to focus on core business features.

“Stormpath has built an impressive team and is at the heart of cloud infrastructure and developer-driven IT,” said Peter Sonsini, general partner at NEA. “We’re excited by the wave of developer services, and because user management is necessary for every application, every developer can use the service.”

Stormpath is targeting a large and fast-growing market at the intersection of identity and cloud development. According to Forrester Research, the IDM (Identity Management) market will grow to $12 billion in 2014, with cloud adoption growing at 24 percent annually according to 451 Research. Almost half of applications built in the cloud are externally facing, and require robust user management and security infrastructure. Stormpath fills that gap with a secure service that is simple for development teams to deploy and maintain.

“We’re entering the age of plug-and-play architecture, where developers can easily and securely offload commodity infrastructure – like user management, billing, and logging – to API services,” said Alex Salazar, CEO of Stormpath. “Developers don’t want to waste time rebuilding user login for every new app – it’s critical to the business, but not core to their product, and getting it wrong is expensive. Sony got caught on a totally preventable mistake, and it cost them $171 million.”

“Just as developers can use APIs to automate their payment processing with PayPal or messaging with SendGrid and Twilio, they can securely manage and authenticate users with Stormpath,” said Les Hazlewood, Stormpath CTO and PMC Chair of Apache Shiro. “The Stormpath API was painstakingly built from the ground up to cater to developers and simplify their lives. The more they can offload to APIs like Stormpath, the faster they can build their applications.”

“We chose to go with Stormpath because we wanted to avoid account security issues and get PublicAlerter to market quickly,” said Brian Retterer, CEO of PublicAlerter, a service that aggregates data from APIs such as NOAA, National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, and local law enforcement. “It was much faster than building a user management backend ourselves.”

The Series A round was preceded by a seed round from NEA and Flybridge, and an angel round led by Andy Rachleff, co-founder of Benchmark Capital and CEO at WealthFront.

Stormpath’s user management service is free for developers, with premium features offered in a subscription-based pricing model.

About Stormpath

Stormpath is the first easy, secure user management and authentication service for developers. Fast and intuitive to use, Stormpath enables plug-and-play security and accelerates application development on any platform.

Built for developers, it offers an easy API, open source SDKs, and an active community. The flexible cloud service can manage millions of users with a scalable pricing model that is ideal for projects of any size. By using Stormpath user management and authentication, developers can bring new applications to market faster, reduce development and operations costs, and protect their users with best-in-class security.

About New Enterprise Associates

NEA is a leading venture capital firm focused on helping entrepreneurs build transformational businesses across multiple stages, sectors and geographies. With about $11 billion in committed capital, the firm invests in information technology, healthcare and energy technology companies at all stages in a company’s lifecycle, from seed stage through IPO. NEA’s long track record of successful investing includes more than 175 portfolio company IPOs and more than 290 acquisitions. For additional information, visit www.nea.com.

About Flybridge Capital Partners

Flybridge Capital Partners is an early-stage venture capital firm whose mission is to assist entrepreneurs in growing innovative, global companies. With $560 million under management, the firm is focused on seed and early-stage investing in technology markets and is led by a team with domain expertise and more than half a century of combined experience in venture capital. The firm has invested in over 60 companies including 10gen (the MongoDB Company), Brontes Technologies (acquired by 3M), Cartera Commerce, Crashlytics (acquired by Twitter) DataXu, Digital Lumens, Open English, Reveal Imaging (acquired by SAIC) and ZING (acquired by Dell). For more information, visit www.flybridge.com or follow us on Twitter @flybridgecap.

About Pelion Venture Partners

Pelion Venture Partners is an early-stage venture capital firm focused on helping entrepreneurs turn early-stage concepts into tomorrow’s industry-leading companies. During the last 25 years, Pelion has backed over 95 companies, resulting in 14 IPOs and 34 acquisitions. In addition to Stormpath, the firm has invested in companies such as Carefx, Cloudflare, Conviva, Fusion-io, Mojiva, MXLogic, Riverbed Technologies, Red Hat, Soasta, and Venafi.

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PolyActiva has raised AUD $9.2 million ($9.5 million) in Series B financing. Investors including the Medical Research Commercialisation Fund, Brandon Biosciences Fund 1, Yuuwa Capital and angel investors. The Australian company will use the infusion to continue preclinical and clinical development programs, which are aimed at treating eye infections.

PRESS RELEASE
PolyActiva announced today that it has raised AUD $9.2 Million in a Series B financing round from a consortium of investors including the Medical Research Commercialisation Fund (MRCF) and Brandon Biosciences Fund 1 (BBF1) (both managed by Brandon Capital), Yuuwa Capital and additional participation from angel investors.

PolyActiva said the funds will be used to further the preclinical and clinical development programs of its products under development, including an intra-ocular implant to treat glaucoma, an intra-ocular implant to treat severe infections of the eye and an intra-articular product to treat osteoarthritis.

Dr Russell Tait, CEO of PolyActiva, commented:

“The funding significantly transforms our business by providing sufficient funds to take each of our planned development programmes to clinical proof of concept. The investment reflects the confidence our investors have in our capacity to deliver. Once we have demonstrated significant clinical outcomes, we will seek commercial partners for these products. We are also open to any companies looking to adopt our technology for the delivery of their own drugs.”

Dr Chris Nave, managing director of Brandon Capital, and Chairman of the Company said:

“It is a significant achievement in the current financial environment for an early stage company to have attracted this level of funding from new investors and it reflects the confidence the investors have in the quality of PolyActiva’s technology and the commercial potential of its products.”

PolyActiva’s proprietary drug-polymer conjugate technology enables sustained release, site-specific drug delivery from products with different physical forms, including rods, films, fibers and gels, substantially broadening its potential applications. The drug-polymer conjugates are able to carry high drug loads, which allow therapeutic quantities of drug to be delivered over extended periods of time from a very small implant. At the end of therapy, the polymer is designed to erode completely leaving no residue, which facilitates its chronic use and repeat administration and obviates the need for removal of the implant at the end of therapy. PolyActiva has proven the technology in validated animal models for delivery of drugs to the posterior region of the eye.

Polyactiva’s development portfolio includes both low risk products that deliver established drugs to a proven site of action, which abbreviates the product registration process, and also high value products that deliver novel drugs to treat clinically unmet needs.

This funding follows PolyActiva’s Series A round, which was completed in 2011.

– ends –

About PolyActiva Pty Ltd

PolyActiva is a pioneering biotechnology company developing drug-polymer conjugates that allow for site specific drug delivery from medical device components such as ocular implants, intra-articular gel implants, and drug-eluting fibers. The Company has developed a novel and scalable manufacturing process that can easily be adapted to existing device component production processes, providing greater flexibility over the composition of the final material. Using this process, PolyActiva has built drug-polymer conjugates from a number of drug candidates with different chemical structures and linkage points and has also developed a number of functional co-monomers and polymer segments. The Company has completed proof of concept studies on these and is working towards developing first products. PolyActiva is interested in hearing from medical technology companies interested in incorporating PolyActiva’s drug eluting components in their devices. PolyActiva was founded in 2011 as a joint venture between CSIRO and the Bionic Ear Institute and is located in Melbourne, Australia. For more information, please visit: www.polyactiva.com

Notes for editors:

About Brandon Capital Partners

Brandon Capital Partners was established in 2007 and makes seed and venture capital investments into emerging businesses in the life science industry. Brandon Capital Partners is passionate about turning good science into improved medical outcomes. The Brandon team works with entrepreneurs to build businesses, creating value for the entrepreneurs, their teams and Brandon’s investors. The $50 million Brandon Biosciences Fund 1 (BBF1) is supported by the Australian Government’s IIF program, a venture capital initiative that supports innovation funds and fund managers with expertise in early-stage venture capital investing to commercialise the outcomes of Australia’s strong research capability.

www.brandoncapital.com.au

About Yuuwa Capital LP

Yuuwa Capital is a $40M early-stage venture capital firm based in Perth, Western Australia. Yuuwa invests in outstanding opportunities where Yuuwa can provide both capital and expertise to help founders, management and early investors build great companies. Yuuwa invests in early stage companies principally in the areas of Life Sciences and Information and Communications Technology. Yuuwa Capital’s formation in 2009 was supported by private investors who work with Candor Financial Management and also by the Australian Federal Government’s Innovation Investment Fund program.

www.yuuwa.com.au

About The Medical Research Commercialisation Fund (MRCF)

The $51 million Medical Research Commercialisation Fund (MRCF) Collaboration is an innovative investment collaboration established in 2007 and managed by Brandon Capital Partners (www.brandoncapital.com.au). The MRCF invests in early stage development and commercialisation opportunities emanating from its membership of 32 Australian medical research institutes and allied research hospitals. The MRCF IIF, LP fund is supported by AustralianSuper, StatewideSuper and the Australian Government under its IIF program. The MRCF also acknowledges the support of the State Governments of Victoria, New South Wales, Western Australia and Queensland.

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The Carlyle Group has raised $308 million for its new fund, Carlyle Peru Fund, L.P. The Fund will be invested by Carlyle in consultation with Credicorp, Peru’s largest bank. It will invest across industries including healthcare, retail and consumer, services to mining, construction and infrastructure businesses, and education. Carlyle opened its Lima office last year.

PRESS RELEASE
Global alternative asset manager The Carlyle Group (NASDAQ: CG) today announced it has raised $308 million for Carlyle Peru Fund, L.P. and its parallel vehicles, extending the South America investment presence the firm established five years ago.

The Fund will be invested by Carlyle in consultation with Credicorp, Peru’s largest bank, across industries including healthcare, retail and consumer, services to mining, construction and infrastructure businesses, and education. Carlyle opened its Lima office last year and now has four full-time investment advisory professionals based there.

Juan Carlos Felix, Carlyle Managing Director and Co-head of the South America Buyout team, said, “We see many long-term investment opportunities for our new Peru Fund in this vibrant market. South America is undergoing a transformational change toward more developed economies, with a new middle class being created, and we believe Peru is at the leading edge of that trend. We have the right team in place on the ground in Lima to partner with entrepreneurs and family business owners to create lasting value.”

Marco Peschiera, Principal and Head of Carlyle’s Peru team, said, “We believe the Peruvian private equity market remains underdeveloped, with a large percentage of medium-size family controlled businesses providing ample room for growth. Our team is well positioned to assess risks and rewards in Peru and we have a great local partner in Credicorp with its unmatched Peruvian platform. We will also benefit from Carlyle’s strong global presence and network in helping our local partners and founders take their companies to the next level of regional and global success.”

The $308 million Peru fund joins the nearly $1 billion raised by Carlyle for two investment funds dedicated to buyouts in South America and Brazil, which have invested in six companies under the direction of a team based in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

* * * * *

About The Carlyle Group
The Carlyle Group (NASDAQ: CG) is a global alternative asset manager with $157 billion of assets under management across 101 funds and 64 fund of fund vehicles as of September 30, 2012. Carlyle’s purpose is to invest wisely and create value on behalf of our investors, many of whom are public pensions. Carlyle invests across four segments – Corporate Private Equity, Real Assets, Global Market Strategies and Fund of Funds Solutions – in Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, the Middle East, North America and South America. Carlyle has expertise in various industries, including: aerospace, defense & government services, consumer & retail, energy, financial services, healthcare, industrial, technology & business services, telecommunications & media and transportation. The Carlyle Group employs 1,300 people in 32 offices across six continents.

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Clearview Capital has promoted Matthew Blevins and James Tucker to principal, and John Cerra to chief financial officer. Blevins joined Clearview in 2007 as an Associate. Tucker joined the firm in 2007 as vice president-business development. Cerra joined Clearview in 2010 as a controller.

PRESS RELEASE
Clearview Capital, LLC of Old Greenwich, CT is pleased to announce promotions of Matthew W. Blevins and James C. Tucker to Principal, and John Cerra to Chief Financial Officer.
Matthew W. Blevins, Principal
Matt joined Clearview in 2007 as an Associate. Matt’s primary responsibilities are portfolio management, new transaction execution and diligence. He currently serves on the Boards of Pyramid Healthcare, Child Health Holdings and Battenfeld Technologies.
Prior to joining Clearview, Matt worked as a Senior Consultant in the corporate strategy group of Deloitte & Touche USA, LLP. In that role, Matt assisted Fortune 500 clients in identifying and implementing strategic initiatives to maximize cash flow and enhance shareholder value.
Matt holds a B.S.B.A. in Accounting and Finance from Central Michigan University.
James C. Tucker, Principal
Jim joined Clearview in 2007 as Vice President-Business Development. Jim is responsible for deal sourcing in the Midwest region.
Prior to joining Clearview, Jim was with LaSalle Bank NA for 13 years as a Senior Vice President. At LaSalle Jim was a Division Head and a member of the Leveraged Finance Group. Prior to joining LaSalle he was with American National Bank & Trust Company of Chicago (now part of JP Morgan Chase) for 18 years. While at American he started their Corporate Finance Group and SBIC.
Jim holds a B.S. in Industrial Management from Purdue University and a MBA from the University of Chicago.
John Cerra, Chief Financial Officer & Chief Compliance Officer
Cerra joined Clearview in 2010 as a Controller. John is responsible for accounting and SEC compliance.
Prior to joining Clearview, he worked as a Controller at BTS, a global consulting firm, where he managed the firm’s accounting, reporting and compliance functions. In addition to his experience in the private sector, John spent seven years in the public sector as a tax and audit accountant managing business, individual and fiduciary client engage- ments.
John is a Certified Public Accountant and holds a B.A. in Accounting from the University of New Haven.
Clearview’s holdings include Battenfeld Technologies, Inc, a leading designer, developer and supplier of branded shooting and hunting accessories to the outdoor sporting goods industry; GCR, Inc., a professional services firm delivering consulting services and technology solutions to governmental and commercial clients; Child Health Holdings, Inc., d.b.a. Pediatric Healthchoice, the country’s largest operator of prescribed pediatric extended care centers; Pyramid Healthcare, Inc., a provider of inpatient and out-patient behavioral health services; The Results Companies, LLC, a provider of outsourced customer management solutions; QualSpec Group (f.k.a. All Tech IESCO), a provider of inspection and non-destructive testing services to the refining, petrochemical market and other industrial process industries; Rowmark, LLC, a manufacturer and marketer of specialty plastic sheet and related products for the awards/recognition, engraving and signage markets; Senior Care Centers of America, Inc., the country’s largest operator of adult day care centers; and a minority interest in CPG International, the leading extruder of thick gauge polyolefin and PVC sheet, including AZEK® brand trim boards.

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Jeffrey Kolke has joined Monroe Capital as a managing director in its Chicago office. Kolke was previously a senior vice president at GE Capital, where he spent 15 years.

PRESS RELEASE
Monroe Capital LLC today announced Jeffrey Kolke has joined the firm as Managing Director in its Chicago office.

“We are very excited to add Jeff to the Monroe Capital team,” said Ted Koenig, President & CEO of Monroe Capital. “Jeff has an accomplished career providing debt solutions to middle-market companies and brings with him wide-ranging risk and portfolio management experience across multiple industries. He will be responsible for non-sponsored lending efforts in addition to originating cash flow and enterprise value based loans regionally in private equity sponsored transactions.”

Prior to Monroe, Kolke was a Senior Vice President at GE Capital, where he spent 15 years. He was responsible for intermediary channel origination to support the strategic initiatives of public and private corporations, family funds, and hedge funds. He has experience in recapitalizations, mergers, acquisitions, restructuring, leveraged buyouts and many other corporate strategies. Prior to GE Capital, Kolke worked at GE Plastics as a National Accounts Manager, Nalco Chemical as an Area Manager and National Starch & Chemical as a Technical Service Representative.

Kolke earned his B.S. in Chemical Engineering from University of Illinois and an M.B.A. from Wayne State University. He is currently a member of the Association for Corporate Growth, Commercial Finance Association, and Turnaround Management Association.

About Monroe Capital

Monroe Capital LLC is a leading provider of senior and junior debt and equity co-investments to middle-market companies in the U.S. and Canada. Investment types include unitranche financings, cash flow and enterprise value based loans, acquisition facilities, mezzanine debt, second lien or last-out loans and equity co-investments. Monroe Capital prides itself on its flexible investment approach and its ability to close and fund transactions quickly. Monroe is committed to being a value-added and user-friendly partner to owners, senior management and private equity sponsors.

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