Venture Capital News

Event: Ernst & Young will Host Journey 2006 Conference for Venture Capital Funds and Entrepreneurs of Emerging Growth Companies

On September 18, 2006, Ernst & Young will host its 10th Annual Journey 2006 Conference - the annual Israeli conference for venture capital funds and entrepreneurs of emerging growth companies. The conference, which will take place at David Intercontinental Hotel, Tel-Aviv, Israel, serves as a meeting place for leaders of the high tech, telecommunication, medical device, healthcare and venture capital industries in Israel.

This well known Journey Conference provides the most updated professional data about trends, developments and future outlook regarding the global technology industry, and serves as a platform for knowledge sharing and networking. It is designed to offer added value to entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, private equity investors, commercial and investment bankers, financing sources, biotech companies, pharmaceutical companies, corporate strategic investors, and institutional investors.

For any questions regarding the Conference, email Alona Pais of Ernst & Young Israel. For additional information about the Ernst & Young's 10th Annual Journey 2006 Conference, visit the Conference website.

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Microchip Biotechnologies, Inc. Completes Series A Financing Round and Announces Development Agreement

Representatives of Microchip Biotechnologies, Inc., (MBI), announced the completion of its Series A investment round. $4.5 million in total funding was secured, which includes equity and amounts based on further product development components. The round was co-led by In-Q-Tel, the independent strategic venture capital fund that identifies innovative technologies to support the missions of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the larger Intelligence Community, and RONA Syndicates LLC, a privately held Silicon Valley-based venture investment group. MBI is focused on commercializing products based on a patent-pending Microscale On-chip Valve(TM) (MOV(TM)) nanofluidic platform.

The proceeds will accelerate the development efforts of MBI's first commercial products, develop portable forensics devices for DNA typing, and fund the critical infrastructure necessary for rapid prototyping and manufacturing of nanofluidic microchips.

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Wireless Services Secures $30 Million in Financing, Acquires Mobile Media North America

Representatives of Wireless Services Corp. announced Wednesday that the company closed a $30.75 million series C round of funding. A portion of the proceeds were used to acquire Mobile Media North America. With the acquisition, Wireless Services has changed its corporate name to SinglePoint to reflect the new focus and will remain headquartered in Bellevue, Wash.

SinglePoint represents the marriage of proven mobile messaging technology with industry-leading campaign management and production tools.

Rich Begert will remain as president and CEO of SinglePoint.

Seattle-based Ignition Partners led the funding round and was joined by new investor Rally Capital Services LLC. Pre-existing investors participating include Northwest Venture Associates, Madrona Venture Group LLC, Intel Capital and SeaPoint Ventures.

The mobile messaging marketplace has changed dramatically in the past six months through mergers and acquisitions. Delivering content direct-to-consumer is expected to be a billion dollar business in a year,

SinglePoint advertises that it deliver any kind of message, regardless of format, to any subscriber in North America. SinglePoint currently delivers more than 700 million messages per month and has the ability to handle tens of thousands of messages per second during high-traffic scenarios such as interactive television text-to-vote campaigns. SinglePoint provides a scalable platform for content owners, media companies and advertisers to create, deliver and confirm premium mobile messages and capitalize on interactive TV messaging campaigns.

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In-Q-Tel Announces Christopher Darby as New CEO

In-Q-Tel, the independent strategic venture capital fund that identifies innovative technologies to support the mission of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the larger Intelligence Community, announced Tuesday Christopher A.R. Darby as its new President and CEO. Darby will assume his new role on September 18, 2006.

Darby comes to In-Q-Tel from Intel Corporation, where he was Vice President and General Manager, Middleware Products Division. Darby joined Intel in August 2005 with the acquisition of Sarvega Inc., a venture-backed supplier of XML Networking and Security products which he led as President and CEO. Prior to Sarvega, Darby was Chairman and CEO of @stake, an internet security consulting firm which was acquired by Symantec (SYMC). While at @stake, he assembled a group of the world's leading security researchers and built a business that spanned North America and Europe. Before @stake, Darby served as President and CEO of Interpath Communications, a facilities-based ASP later acquired by US Internetworking (USIX).

Darby has contributed his expertise to government as well, serving in the wake of 9/11 as an advisor to the formation of the Department of Homeland Security, and providing testimony before Congress on the topic of Critical Infrastructure security.
Darby held several executive positions at Digital Equipment Corporation (now Hewlett-Packard) with responsibility for telecom industry initiatives, strategy, and alliances. He began his career at Northern Telecom (now Nortel Networks) and Bell Northern Research. Darby is a Senior Fellow at the Center for Advanced Defense Studies in Washington DC. He is a graduate of the University of Western Ontario.

For its nation-wide CEO search, In-Q-Tel retained the services of the executive search firm Heidrick and Struggles.

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Morrison Cohen LLP Announces Addition of Peter K. Anglum Jeffrey A. Lowin

Representatives of Morrison Cohen LLP announced the admission to the firm of Peter K. Anglum and Jeffrey A. Lowin. Anglum specializes in venture capital, banking, finance and international corporate transactions. He has over 20 years of experience in the area of venture capital finance including the formation and structure of investment partnerships and related fund raising and management entities, the portfolio investment of committed investor capital in private and public companies and the disposition of such investments pursuant to a variety of exit strategies. He has considerable experience in a variety of banking and financial transactions covering areas such as commercial loans, securities activities and mergers and acquisitions. In addition, he regularly advises clients, both foreign and domestic, in a multitude of international corporate transactions including acquisitions, divestitures, and joint ventures. Lowin specializes in the preparation of wills and complex trust arrangements to transfer family assets with income tax and estate tax efficiency and to shift control of family businesses. His experience includes the establishment of revocable, living trusts, life insurance trusts, and marital deduction and credit shelter trusts, including qualified domestic trusts for individuals who are not U.S. citizens, as well as charitable remainder trusts, personal residence trusts, family partnerships, grantor retained annuity trusts and arrangements for incapacitated relatives.

David A. Scherl, managing partner of Morrison Cohen, noted that Anglum expands the firm's existing private equity group and adds depth in the firm's already diverse corporate practice and that Lowin expands the firm's existing trusts and estates practice and adds depth to its individual client services practice. Both Anglum and Lowin were previously members of Thelen Reid & Priest LLP.