Staff Writer

PNC Equity Management Corp. not only seeks strong returns from its limited partnership investments but also is equally interested in using those relationships to help the firm make direct investments, says David Hillman, executive vice president of the Pittsburgh-based subsidiary of PNC Bank Corp. As the private equity investment arm of one of the nation’s […]

NEWTON, Mass. – Phase Forward Inc., a provider of Internet-based clinical trial data collection and management solutions, closed an $8 million second round of venture financing in early November. The lead investor was Sprout Group, which joined existing investors Atlas Venture and North Bridge Venture Partners. Sources declined to give details on the size of […]

KIRKLAND, Wash./PORTLAND, Ore. – Olympic Venture Partners (OVP) in December tapped former Microsoft manager Bill Miller as the venture firm’s fourth general partner. Mr. Miller resigned from Microsoft in February 1998 with the intention of taking a year off, but Olympic partners persuaded him to accept the job sooner. Part of Olympic’s motivation for hiring […]

SUNNYVALE, Calif. – Interwoven Inc., a developer of enterprise Web production systems that manage the development and arrangement of Web sites, in mid-November raised $7.2 million from a half-dozen venture capital firms. Foundation Capital led the convertible preferred stock financing followed by Accel Partners, Integral Capital Partners, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, JK&B Capital and Charter Ventures. […]

SAN FRANCISCO – Handspring, a company designing the next generation of personal digital assistants (PDAs), recently raised an undisclosed amount of capital in a first round of venture financing from Benchmark Capital and Kleiner Perkins Caulfield & Byers. The company’s founders, PalmPilot developers Donna Dubinsky and Jeff Hawkins, plan to make a more consumer-oriented product […]

AUSTIN, Texas – QuestLink Technology Inc., a company that allows engineers to purchase various prototype materials online, in November secured $3 million in venture financing. Needham Capital Partners, the venture arm of a semiconductor-focused investment banking boutique, brought $2 million to the table as a first-time investor. Trellis Partners, QuestLink’s first institutional backer, returned with […]

EDINBURGH, Scotland – European Strategic Partners (ESP), the $1 billion targeted fund-of-funds that is the first fruit of a joint venture between Standard Life and Hamilton Lane Advisors, aims to provide a broad constituency of international investors with exposure to a diversified portfolio of premier European private equity vehicles and direct investments. In Europe, as […]

SANTA CLARA, Calif. – Chip maker Intel Corp. plans to extend its corporate venture-capital reach overseas this year. Intel has backed 200 mostly United States-based companies with about $1.5 billion through its “corporate business development program,” which seeks strategic and financial rewards, a spokesperson said. The company will spend 1999 hiring investment staff to focus […]

SANTA CLARA, Calif. – After a brief stint as a general partner at New York-based Venrock Associates, Mark Bailey returned to Silicon Valley this summer to lead Healtheon Corp.’s business development program. Mr. Bailey, who has shifted back and forth between the venture capital and corporate worlds throughout his 13-year private-equity career, will lead Healtheon’s […]

CHICAGO – Asset manager Forstmann-Leff International, Inc. was in search of a new client when it knocked on the door of Hughes Electronics’ pension management group. Instead, the firm ended up with a new director. Celia Chapman was slated to join Forstmann-Leff in December after 17 years at Southern California’s Hughes Investment Management Co. Ms. […]