The market for such hardware is huge, because the intelligence and military communities have a constant demand for such applications. There's also relevance for such devices in the private sector, like law enforcement and maritime industries. Using infrared spectrums, the SM-10 Surveillance System detects "hot" areas within targeted areas, similar to the forward-looking infrared radar (FLIR) technology used by police helicopters for hunting suspects on the ground. VistaScape also produces the AP-100 Appliance Platform that, in conjunction with the SM-10, integrates and stores collected data, such as video and interactive TV data, at both high speeds and volumes. The AP-100 can also be used with other applications.
CEO Emma Morris says the company is "in discussions" with a number of potential clients and placed VistaScape's post-money valuation at more than $40 million. She declined to give her company's monthly burn rate but added that the firm employs 35.
FUNDING DETAILS -- Location: Atlanta, GA; funding: $12 million; prior funding: low seed; round: 1st; lead investors: unnamed wealthy private investors; other investors: Sofinov. --Richard Byrne Reilly
ASPINTELLIGENT MARKETShttp://www.intelligentmarkets.comSan Francisco FUNDING: $10MPRIOR FUNDING: UndisclosedROUND: 2ndCATEGORY: ASP/vertical applications/B2BDESCRIPTION: Provides electronic trading software for financial institutions.LEAD INVESTOR: Woodside Fund OTHER INVESTORS: Oak Hill Venture Partners; Pacific Venture GroupTHE HERRING TAKE: Two of the founders of this upstart hail from the infamous hedge fund Long-Term Capital Management (LTCM). CEO Carl Huttenlocher was the formerly the head trader at LTCM, and CTO Jason Topaz designed the risk management tools for the fund. The lessons learned from LTCM's disastrous liquidity crunch in September 1998 led to the some of the features in Intelligent Markets's electronic trading software. The software helps institutional investors make large trades of complex securities, such as stocks, equity derivatives, and bonds. It also offers decision support, market surveillance, and automation tools. Those features help traders recognize opportunities early and improve the liquidity of their investments through electronic trading. Large trades are typically done over the telephone nowadays, says Mr. Topaz. Target customers include large institutional investors, money managers, hedge funds, and mutual funds. Mr. Topaz's sales pitch to customers: "we've been there." The LTCM liquidity crisis, you may recall, forced Federal Reserve chair Alan Greenspan to negotiate a $3.7 billion bailout for the hedge fund. The new funding should take the firm to profitability sometime next year. --S.S.
HEALTH/MEDICALFAST TRACK SYSTEMShttp://www.fast-track.comSan Mateo, CAFUNDING: $30.1MPRIOR FUNDING: $16.8MROUND: 3rdCATEGORY: Health care/pharmaceuticals/professional servicesDESCRIPTION: Provides software and services that reduce the time and cost of clinical trials.LEAD INVESTOR: Tredegar InvestmentsOTHER INVESTORS: Lombard Odier & Co.; Dow Chemical; State Farm; Arch Venture Partners; CW Group; Frazier & Co.THE HERRING TAKE: Despite the giant technological leaps in drug development, pharmaceutical companies still face an anachronistic bottleneck of fax machines and paper in the clinical trials process needed to bring those drugs to market. Fast Track Systems reckons it can take the process to the digital age. The company offers software and services to drug companies that make the process of organizing and running clinical trials faster and cheaper, director of finance Greg Ernst says. In addition to providing services that match the right doctors and patients for clinical trials, Fast Track offers handheld devices to clinics for documenting the progress of trials and aggregates the data. A commercial release of the system will be available late this year. Competitors include Acurian, which brought in $27 million last month, and Phase Forward. With 90 employees, the company's burn rate runs between $1 million and $1.5 million per month. The post-money valuation for this round was about $80 million. Profitability is expected in late 2002. --S.S.
SOFTWAREXYTHOS http://www.xythos.comSan Francisco FUNDING: $6.2M PRIOR FUNDING: $18K ROUND: 1st CATEGORY: SoftwareDESCRIPTION: Develops secure, virtual file management and storage software applications. LEAD INVESTORS: IDG Ventures; Softbank Venture Capital ($3M each) OTHER INVESTORS: Unnamed angels. THE HERRING TAKE: Unlike so many before them, Xythos intends to reach "that magical inflection point" of profitability by keeping operational costs low. And it's not predicting foolhardy timeframes for attaining the coveted cash-flow positive distinction. To be sure, it's a look-and-see approach. It's running a decent monthly burn rate of around $250,000, with a post-money valuation of $20.2 million, says CFO Dane Iverson. Xythos has built a secure software application that enables customers to access company files and databases remotely via laptops, PDAs, or even cell phones equipped with a standard Internet browser. The value proposition is clear: users can send, transfer, store, and manage files outside the office in 24-hour cycles over secure lines, with little chance of interception by unauthorized third parties. And the startup has taken the hassle out of the process because IT managers don't need to issue passwords to employees when traveling. Competitors like X-Drive and StoreitOnline simply don't offer the capabilities Xythos does, says Mr. Iverson. The startup employs 13 and has six paying customers. Is there a date for profitability, Mr. Iverson? "We'll see what happens," he says. --R.B.R.
NEW VENTURE FUNDSCHARLESBANK CAPITAL PARTNERShttp://www.charlesbank.comBoston, MA FUND: Charlesbank Equity Fund V FUND SIZE: $585M PRIOR FUND SIZE: N/A FOCUS: Debt and equity in media, communications, financial services, manufacturing, distribution, energy, health care products and services, and consumer productsAVERAGE INVESTMENT: $20M to $75M PITCH EMAIL: info@charlesbank.comNOTEWORTHY: Known as the Harvard Private Capital Group prior to 1998, Harvard University has been this firm's sole limited partner prior to this fund. New institutional investors include World Bank, AIG, Nippon Life, University of Colorado, and Wellesley College. The firm also manages a real estate investment fund.MORE INFORMATION: Charlesbank Capital Partners--J.L.
WESTBURY PARTNERS http://www.westburypartners.comWestbury, NY FUND: Westbury Equity Partners FUND SIZE: $150M PRIOR FUND SIZE: N/A FOCUS: Enterprise software, information technology, training and education, Internet infrastructure, and specialty manufacturing.AVERAGE INVESTMENT: $3M to $9M PITCH URL: http://www.westburypartners.com/submitplan.htmlNOTEWORTHY: Founded in 1994 with six investment professionals. Licensed as a Small Business Investment Company (SBIC). MORE INFORMATION: Westbury Partners--J.L.
DEALFLOW DIGESTCLUSTRA SYSTEMShttp://www.clustra.comOakland, CAFUNDING: $19MPRIOR FUNDING: $10MROUND: 2ndCATEGORY: SoftwareDESCRIPTION: Develops a database designed for real-time, data-driven applications.LEAD INVESTORS: Clarity Capital; Mustang VenturesOTHER INVESTORS: VantagePoint Venture Partners; Telesystem-Argo Global CapitalMORE INFORMATION: Clustra Systems
JOB PARTNERS http://www.jobpartners.comLondon, England FUNDING: $15.8M PRIOR FUNDING: N/A ROUND: 2nd CATEGORY: B2B software DESCRIPTION: Human resource services software applications. LEAD INVESTOR: Gilde Investment OTHER INVESTORS: Cisco; Franciere de Brienne; ING Barings; I-Source; Partech International; ViventuresMORE INFORMATION: Job Partners
LEARNINGFRAMEWORKhttp://www.learningframework.comSan Diego, CAFUNDING: $5MPRIOR FUNDING: $3MROUND: 2ndCATEGORY: E-learningDESCRIPTION: Provides Web-based software and services for corporate and individual training. LEAD INVESTOR: N/AOTHER INVESTORS: UndisclosedMORE INFORMATION: LearningFramework
ZONE LABS http://www.zonelabs.comEncino, CA FUNDING: $14M PRIOR FUNDING: N/A ROUND: 2nd CATEGORY: Security DESCRIPTION: Security enterprise software applications. LEAD INVESTOR: Oxford Bioscience OTHER INVESTORS: Pacific Venture Group; Intel; EastWest Ventures; angel John McAfee MORE INFORMATION: Zone Labs
ZYMAN MARKETING GROUPhttp://www.zmarketing.comAtlanta, GAFUNDING: $8MPRIOR FUNDING: N/AROUND: N/ACATEGORY: E-marketing/enterprise softwareDESCRIPTION: Provides Web-based software that helps businesses plan and support their marketing strategies. LEAD INVESTOR: JP Morgan PartnersOTHER INVESTORS: N/AMORE INFORMATION: Businesswire
ELEVATOR PITCHQUICKPARTS.COM, $2Mhttp://www.quickparts.comAtlanta, GA THE PITCH: "Quickparts.com sells build-to-order, custom-manufactured plastic and metal parts via our proprietary technology, which speeds up the procurement process and reduces time-to-market. Our Web-based QuickQuote system delivers instantaneous, customized, binding quotes to users based on the user's own unique uploaded 3D design data. Quickparts.com shortens product time-to-market by eliminating the lengthy bottleneck in the RFQ (Request-For-Quote) process of waiting for quotes from suppliers. Quickparts.com is attractive to customers, not only because of instant quotes, but also because we are a single source for multiple types of custom-manufactured plastic and metal parts."WHY WE LIKE IT: Removing bottlenecks could save lots of time and money for manufacturers. WHAT THEY'RE UP AGAINST: Capital market in Atlanta is suffering.CONTACT: Ron Hollis, president, rhollis@quickparts.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.)
Today's Dealflow is reported and written by Julie Landry, Richard Byrne Reilly, and Steve Silverman. The Elevator Pitch is selected and written by Julie Landry.
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