DEALFLOW DASHBOARD/ August 3

B2B: Fifex, $549KHARDWARE: MediaQ, $23.4MINTERNET: Annuncio Software, over $30M; Quantum Garage, $1MNEW VENTURE FUNDS: Patricof & Co., $1.1BDEALFLOW DIGEST: Ads.com, $3M; Askit.com, $1.3M; Covigo, $12M; Djangos.com, $9M; eHealth Latin America, $12M; Lightobjects, $3.2M; Retentioncenter.com, $230K; Siterock KK, $10MELEVATOR PITCH: FatEarth, $650K

DEAL OF THE DAY: SEMINARSOURCE.COM, $10M

Kim Folsom likes solving people's problems. And that's exactly why she founded Seminarsource.com (www.seminarsource.com). The affable CEO is hedging her bets that corporations will cotton to conducting seminars, trade shows and conferences online. Seminarsource provides the tools and software that enable clients to conduct real-time meetings in cyberspace. It counts among its 80 customers the American Bar Association and the American Marketing Association, which collectively have hundreds of thousands of members. Ms. Folsom, who at age 41 has 20 years experience in the financial transactions industry in addition to teaching stints at the University of California at San Diego, is keen on rapid expansion into Europe, South America, and Asia. She scoffs that her competition provides only half-baked solutions and boasts the Internet provides her with unlimited opportunity to make her vision a reality. Ms. Folsom is proceeding prudently, keeping her burn rate to under $400,000 monthly, while paying herself a modest salary of around $150,000. Ms. Folsom, who is married with a 7-year-old son, intends using this money to hire more people, expand marketing directives and ramp up the technology. Seminarsource, based in San Diego, has also embarked on procuring their third round of funding and plans to raise in the neighborhood of $30 million.

INVESTORS: Syncom Capital Venture (Lead, $5M); Akamai Technologies; Fleet Development Ventures

--Richard Byrne Reilly

B2B

FIFEX (First International Food Exchange)Paris, FranceFUNDING: $549KROUND: SeedCATEGORY: B2BDESCRIPTION: Provides an online marketplace for the meat industry. LEAD INVESTORS: PartcomOTHER INVESTORS: Kick-Start VenturesTHE HERRING TAKE: The international meat trade is estimated at around $35 billion annually, and at $17 billion alone in Europe. Fifex aims to get its cut by offering services such as an international price index, seller and buyer ratings, secure trading, logistics, and auction capabilities. Fifex plans to launch its site in September and will target a variety of customers, including cattle breeders, supermarket chains, and importers. The company says revenues will come from commissions earned by matching buyers and sellers, and through membership fees. The 5-month-old company has partnered with French firm MHR-Viande.com, an information site that specializes in meat. According to co-founder David Jullo, the competition is limited. He considers efoodmanager.com, a pan-European trading and services marketplace for the entire food industry, a competitor although they are not primarily focused on meat. The 28-year-old Mr. Jullo hopes to expand his business to cover the dairy market and to establish a presence in Europe, the Middle East, and South America.

HARDWARE

MEDIAQwww.mediaq.comSanta Clara, CAFUNDING: $23.4MPRIOR FUNDING: $7M ROUND: 3rd CATEGORY: Microprocessors DESCRIPTION: Makes integrated circuits for Web terminals/pads, handheld PDAs, and smart phones.LEAD INVESTOR: Weston Presidio CapitalOTHER INVESTORS: El Dorado Ventures; Infineon Technologies; Summit Accelerator Fund; ViVentures THE HERRING TAKE: The over-subscribed round of funding. With VCs awash in capital, it's becoming a more frequent occurance. Most entrepreneurs tout it as a virtue, but CEO Elie Antoun has a different angle. "Everyone says it's a nice problem to have," he says. "But you end up upsetting a lot of people by saying no." Mr. Antoun is familiar with the dilemma. For this current round of funding, MediaQ could have taken in twice the $23 million it got. But based on valuation issues and current revenues, it just didn't make sense, he says. The company's ultra-low power ICs and device drivers enable wireless devices to display PC-like graphics, and they're selling well. MediaQ has over 100 customers giving it $5 million to $8 million in sales this year. And with a new line of chips, including wireless connectivity ones set for trials later this year, Mr. Antoun reckons revenues will, at a minimum, triple next year. There just doesn't seem like there's much to worry about. But maybe Mr. Antoun is just overly polite.

INTERNET

ANNUNCIO SOFTWARE www.annuncio.com Mountain View, CA FUNDING: Over $30M PRIOR FUNDING: $25M ROUND: 4th CATEGORY: ASP DESCRIPTION: Produces e-marketing solutions for Internet marketing. LEAD INVESTOR: Unknown at press time. THE HERRING TAKE: Annuncio likes to tout itself as an "S-1 Survivor," as in surviving a failed IPO bid. Only in the Internet economy can you portray setbacks as successes and get away with it. This may yet change. In any event, Annuncio produces e-marketing solutions in an ASP format for Internet marketing, in addition to e-mail marketing. CEO and co-founder Didier Moretti and his ranking teammates were huddled in an office presumably plotting strategy and were thus unavailable for comment at press time. It remains unclear who the lead and secondary investors are, and while Annuncio's PR team insist they know, it has yet to be confirmed. We'll just leave that space blank. In the meantime, you read it here first, and email us if you think we should follow up.

QUANTUM GARAGEwww.quantumgarage.co.ukLondon, EnglandFUNDING: $1MROUND: SeedCATEGORY: Network infrastructure/ASP DESCRIPTION: Through its iQube device, provides Web linkage to appliances such as utility meters and vending machines LEAD INVESTORS: Kick-Start VenturesTHE HERRING TAKE: This is a true power play. This startup's hardware device plugs into gas or electric meters, reads them, and transmits the reading back to the parent utility. That way utility companies can collect data and consumers can pay their bills online. Quantum hopes to Web enable other devices, such as vending machines, and eventually expand into the environmental arena (such as monitoring air quality in factories). CEO Mike Tapias, 33, hooked up with Kick-Start Ventures at a First Tuesday event in London in mid-summer last year. There he met one of the incubator's co-founders, Harry MacMillan. Quantum will generate revenues primarily from subscription fees to its services. Its site won't launch until January or February. Mr. Tapias expects the $1 million to last through the product development of their hardware and servers. The next round of funding is slated for September. The company's customers will include European utility and retail companies. The startup has seven employees, and hopes to reach between 30 and 40 by launch time. This isn't the CEO's first power play. At 26, he started a Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania firm providing meter communications devices.

NEW VENTURE FUNDS

PATRICOF & CO. VENTURESwww.patricoff.comSan FranciscoFUND: Apax Excelsior VIFUND CHIEF: Alan PatricofFUND SIZE: $1.1BPRIOR FUND: $410MFOCUS: As in previous funds, Patricof will invest in various stages of development in four industry groups: IT/telecom; health care; B2B e-commerce; and consumer/retail. Investments will range in size from $5 million to $20 million in early stage companies, to $100 million for later stage and buyouts.AVERAGE INVESTMENT: $20MPITCH EMAIL ADDRESS: www.patricoff.comTHE HERRING TAKE: Patricof & Co. Ventures, the U.S. arm of the global VC firm Apax Partners, is a gray beard in the private equity business. The firm has been around for 31 years, and that means they know how to manage asset allocation, says general partner Paul Vais. "We're not going to make bonehead mistakes in how to manage our funds," he says. With the glut of capital and VC firms that have cropped up over the last five years, that says a lot. "Venture capital has become unbelievably competitive, you need to have a good value proposition for entrepreneurs -- money is a commodity," Mr. Vais says. For Patricof, that means having a Keiretsu-like environment with its portfolio companies and a tight relationship with Apax's international funds to help businesses expand globally. When pitching business plans to Patricof, Mr. Vais recommends entrepreneurs familiarize themselves with each of the partners' portfolio companies. "If they put their business in context with other portfolio firms, they have a much greater chance of connecting," he says.

DEALFLOW DIGEST

ADS.COMwww.ads.comSeattle, WAFUNDING: $3MROUND: 1st CATEGORY: B2CDESCRIPTION: Provides consumers with on-demand access to information on advertisements.LEAD INVESTOR: epartnersOTHER INVESTORS: Odyssey Capital; William Hambrecht

ASKIT.COM www.askit.com New York FUNDING: $1.3M CATEGORY: B2B DESCRIPTION: Provides outsourced customer support for corporate and e-business Web sites LEAD INVESTOR: Internet.com's Venture Partners MORE INFORMATION: Askit.com

COVIGOwww.covigo.comBelmont, CAFUNDING: $12MROUND: 1st CATEGORY: Wireless ApplicationsDESCRIPTION: Provides transactional applications and services for mobile devices. INVESTORS: Norwest Venture Partners; Nokia Venture Partners; private investorsMORE INFORMATION: Covigo

DJANGOS.COMwww.djangos.comPortland, ORFUNDING: $9MROUND: 1st CATEGORY: B2CDESCRIPTION: Sells used and new CDs, DVDs, and VHS tapes online and through retail stores. LEAD INVESTOR: Olympic Venture PartnersOTHER INVESTORS: Digital Partners Venture Capital; Erickson Capital; private investors

EHEALTH LATIN AMERICA www.ehealthla.comWashington, D.C.FUNDING: $12MROUND: 1stCATEGORY: B2BDESCRIPTION: Provides information and services for Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking healthcare companies and professionals.LEAD INVESTOR: Antfactory Latin AmericaOTHER INVESTORS: Banc of America Securities; Bassini Playfair & Associates; eHealth Latin America's founder, the Latin Healthcare Fund (LHF).

LIGHTOBJECTSwww.lightobjects.comGeneva, SwitzerlandFUNDING: $3.2MPRIOR FUNDING: $1MROUND: 1stCATEGORY: SoftwareDESCRIPTION: Develops software and systems based on LIGHT, a technology developed at the European Center for Nuclear Research. LEAD INVESTOR: MyQube

RETENTIONCENTER.COM www.retentioncenter.com Southfield, MI FUNDING: $230K ROUND: Seed CATEGORY: B2E DESCRIPTION: Online academic community. LEAD INVESTOR: Angels OTHER INVESTORS: More angels. MORE INFORMATION: Retentioncenter.com

SITEROCK KKwww.siterock.co.jpTokyoFUNDING: $10M CATEGORY: Management Service Provider DESCRIPTION: Remotely manages clients' Web sites. LEAD INVESTOR: GE Equity OTHER INVESTORS: Merrill Lynch Global Emerging Markets and JAFCO. MORE INFORMATION: Siterock

ELEVATOR PITCH

FATEARTH, $650KPortland, ORwww.fatearth.comTHE PITCH: "FatEarth serves business owners and managers facing environmental mandates. The company offers outsourcing services to lessen the burden of compliance, which traditionally detracts from the focus of most organizations. The increasing number of businesses voluntarily employing environmental responsibility will also find the services of FatEarth to be an invaluable resource. The company is a business service handling everything from locating suppliers to aiding in compliance reporting. FatEarth has entered into a number of strategic partnerships with existing companies and non-profit groups. A quote retrieval system is currently available on the site. We are in the process of raising angel funding in the amount of $650,000 through the offering of preferred stock. The investment will be used for: site development, sales/marketing, testing the market and executive management."WHY WE LIKE IT: Could make it easier for companies that care about the environment to make the effort to go green, nicely targeted niche for a portal.WHAT THEY'RE UP AGAINST: Unclear revenue stream, difficult to talk businesses into more costly, environmentally-friendly goods and services.CONTACT: Liz Weber, cofounder/marketing, weber@fatearth.com

(Looking for funding? Drop us a line at elevator@redherring.com. Let us know who you are, how much you're seeking, the funding sources you're targeting, your contact info, and, of course, your pitch. Please keep the pitch to no more than 100 words. Do not send attachments. One tip: pretend you're actually pitching a VC in an elevator. Submissions should have "Seeking Funding" in the subject line.)

Dealflow is reported and written by Karie Atkinson, Richard Byrne Reilly, and Steve Silverman. The Elevator Pitch is selected and written by Julie Landry.

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