AAA March 2014 – Page 9

Microsoft Ventures goes like Lightning Lab

Lightning Lab is the first digital accelerator programme in New Zealand and the only southern hemisphere-based programme among Microsoft Ventures’ 14 global accelerators. Lightning Lab will receive sponsorship from both Microsoft Ventures and Microsoft New Zealand. Thiago Almeida, technical evangelist from Microsoft New Zealand, is leading Microsoft’s mentoring process at Lightning Lab. Speaking about the… Continue reading Microsoft Ventures goes like Lightning Lab

Andreessen Horowitz, CrunchBase put $37.5m in motion for DigitalOcean

Andreessen Horowitz was joined by IA Ventures and CrunchFund (an early stage venture capital firm founded by Michael Arrington, Patrick Gallagher, and MG Siegler), in a $37.5m series A round of funding for DigitalOcean. The cloud hosting service that caters to developers, will use the funds towards purchasing a “boat-load of servers and networking gear”… Continue reading Andreessen Horowitz, CrunchBase put $37.5m in motion for DigitalOcean

Constellation converts SolarBridge into new strategy

Constellation Technology Ventures, a corporate venturing unit of energy company Exelon, has invested $42m alongside Shea Ventures, Rho Ventures and Prelude Ventures, in a series E  round of funding for SolarBridge Technologies. The solar microconverter and monitoring technology company will use the proceeds of the funding to expand its sales and marketing capabilities in North… Continue reading Constellation converts SolarBridge into new strategy

Exit: Renaissance passes with flying colours

When Google Capital decided to invest $40m in US educational assessment company Renaissance Learning in February of this year, it perhaps did not consider a chunk of that investment would be realised about a month later. At the time of the investment the business was valued at $1bn and just a month later the business saw its value hit the $1.1bn mark when it was acquired by private equity firm Hellman & Friedman.

Novo leads ZSPharma to better health

ZS Pharma, a specialty pharmaceutical company developing novel treatments for kidney, cardiovascular, and liver disorders, has completed a $55m series D financing. The investor syndicate was led by Novo A/S and included new investors RA Capital, Adage Capital, Sofinnova Ventures ,and an undisclosed institutional investor. The company has raised $103m to date.

ServiceMax in crowd pleaser $71m series E

Salesforce.com, an enterprise cloud computing technology company, has invested in Service Max, a software company that serves the field service management sector. The $71m series E round was led by Meritech Capital with significant participation by Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, as well as new investors Cross Creek Advisors, QuestMark Partners, Sozo Ventures, as well… Continue reading ServiceMax in crowd pleaser $71m series E