Iris Dorbian
EnEvolv has raised $1.7 million in Series A financing. Cultivian Sandbox Venture Partners led the round. Also, the company has added Dr. Ron Meeusen and Dr. Charles L. Cooney to its board of directors. Based in Boston, EnEvolv is a genome engineering company.
OnDeck has hired Pamela Rice as senior vice president of technology. Previously, Rice worked at PayPal. Headquartered in New York City, OnDeck, which is backed by Google Ventures, SAP Ventures, RRE Ventures, Tiger Global and Institutional Venture Partners, is a small business lender.
Unilife Corp. said Thursday that it has inked a $60 million debt financing agreement with OrbiMed. According to terms of the transaction, OrbiMed provided $40 million to Unilife at the completion of the deal. Two additional tranches of $10 million each will be given to Unilife in December 2014 and June 2014. Headquartered in York, Penn., Unilife is a maker of injectable drug delivery systems.
New York-based mobile games and app developer Cupcake Digital has acquired Zuuka. No financial terms were disclosed. Graham Farrar and Woody Sears, founders of Zuuka, will join Cupcake Digital's senior management staff. Headquartered in Santa Barbara, Calif., Zuuka, which is backed by CFP Investments, is a children's media company.
SAGE Therapeutics has closed $38 million in Series C financing. Investors included OrbiMed Advisors, EcoR1 Capital Management, Foresite Capital Management, Third Rock Ventures and ARCH Venture Partners. Based in Cambridge, Mass., SAGE Therapeutics is a biopharmaceutical company focused on treating orphan central nervous system disorders.
When Enterprise Ireland, a government business development agency, was formed in 1998, the Irish VC scene was, to put it mildly, barren. But with the Dublin-based agency serving as an accelerator for early-stage companies, Ireland has become a fertile terrain of VC activity.
According to data released by the IVC Research Center, which analyzes Israel's private equity and venture capital industries, the number of local VC funds making their first investment in Israel in 2013 were greatly outnumbered by foreign VC firms doing the same. The IVC reports that 84 foreign VC funds made at least one first investment in Israel in 2013, an 11 percent increase from 2012.. However, only 38 Israeli VC funds made at least one local first investment in 2013. Further, the IVC says that of the "255 first investment deals made in 2013, only 111, or 44 percent, were made by Israeli VC funds."
VIPtela has closed $33.5 million in funding from Sequoia Capital. Headquartered in San Jose, Calif., VIPtela is a networking startup.
TaxJar said Wednesday that it has secured $600,000 in seed funding. Investors included Dan Rose, vice president of partnerships at Facebook; Harris Barton, principal at H Barton Asset Management; and Roy Rubin, co-founder and COO at Magento. TarJar is a provider of tax management services for online retailers.
Achaogen has launched its IPO after pricing its 6 million shares at $12 per share. The stock began trading Wednesday on the NASDAQ under the ticker symbol "AKAO." Credit Suisse Securities and Cowen and Company are the lead underwriters. Based in South San Francisco, Achaogen is a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing antibiotics to treat bacterial infections. Its backers include 5AM Ventures, ARCH Venture Partners, Venrock, Versant Ventures, Frazier Healthcare Ventures, Domain Associates and Alta Partners.