Visto Corp., a Redwood City, Calif.-based mobile access company, has raised $51 million in new venture capital funding. Return backer Oak Investment Partners led the deal, and was joined by DFJ Growth Fund and other existing shareholders like Meritech Capital Partners, DFJ ePlanet Ventures, Rustic Canyon Ventures and Blueprint Ventures. Visto has raised over $250 million in total VC funding since its 1996 inception, including a recap in 2001.
Neusoft Group Ltd., a Shanghai-based software and solutions provider, has raised $40 million in strategic funding from Intel Capital. Under terms of the agreement, Neusoft will establish a “solution performance optimization competency center” based on Intel architecture and platforms. The deal is subject to regulatory approvals.
GridPoint Inc., a Washington, D.C.-based provider of energy management products, has raised $21 million in strategic third-round funding led by Goldman Sachs. GridPoint raised a $16 million Series B deal earlier this year from Altira Group, Contango Capital and Advantage Capital Partners.
Ario Data Networks, a San Jose, Calif.-based provider of mid-sized enterprise storage solutions, has raised $8 million. Clearstone Venture Partners and Partech International co-led the deal, and were joined by fellow return backers Mellon Ventures, Evercore Partners, Anthem Venture Partners and Sunsino Ventures.
oDesk Inc., a Palo Alto, Calif.-based online marketplace for hiring global technical talent and provider of Web-based tools for managing remote staffers, has raised $8 million in Series B funding. Benchmark Capital led the deal, and was joined by return backers Globespan Capital Partners and Sigma Partners.
Anodyne Health Partners, a Falmouth, Maine–based provider of revenue cycle management solutions for healthcare providers, has raised $5.6 million in new venture capital funding. Backers include Brook Venture Partners, Frontier Capital, Brooke Private Equity Advisors and the Small Enterprise Growth Fund.
Auctionpay Inc., a Portland, Ore.-based provider of fundraising software and service solutions for the nonprofit community, has raised $5.5 million in Series B funding from Appian Ventures and return backer Maveron.
GuardID Systems Inc., a San Mateo, Calif.-based company focused on the prevention of online identity theft and fraud, has raised $5 million in first-round funding from Trinity Ventures.
OpenLogic Inc., a Broomfield, Colo.-based provider of open-source enterprise software stacks and support services, has raised $4.3 million in second-round funding. Backers include UV Partners, Appian Ventures, Village Ventures, Highway 12 Ventures and Red Rock Ventures.
ETelemetry Inc., an Annapolis, Md.-based developer of network appliances that track such things as bandwidth usage and desktop computing assets, has raised $4 million in first-round funding led by Centripetal Capital Partners. The company was founded in 1999.
NitroSecurity Inc., a Portsmouth, N.H.-based provider of enterprise network security solutions, has secured $2 million of a $5 million Series C round, according to a regulatory filing. Brookline Venture Partners was joined by return backer First Analysis Corp.
Genesis Networks Inc., a New York–based provider of global video transmission services over fiber and satellite, has raised an undisclosed amount of second-round funding from Longworth Venture Partners and Masthead Venture Partners.
NextNine Inc., an Israel-based provider of support automation solutions, has raised an undisclosed amount of new VC funding led by Motorola Ventures. Return backers include Ascend Technology Ventures, Infinity Venture Capital Fund, Ofer Hi-Tech, Yozma Venture Capital Group, Morgan Stanley Dean Witter Private Equity and Redwood Venture Partners. The company previously had raised $34 million in total VC funding since its 1999 inception.
Duke Street Capital has agreed to acquire UK-based IT services company 2e2 from Gresham Private Equity for £130 million.
Sandler Capital Management has acquired substantially all of the assets of the Crafts Group from Primedia Inc. (NYSE: PRM) for approximately $132 million in cash. The group will be renamed Enthusiast Media LLC, and publishes nine consumer publications like Creating Keepsakes and McCall’s Quilting.
Audax Group has acquired a majority of Flexstar Technology Inc., a Fremont, Calif.-based provider of data storage testing solutions. No financial terms were disclosed. Rigel Associates and company management also participated in the deal’s equity tranche, while Comerica provided senior leverage financing.
Block Interest Discovery Service (BIDS) has launched as an alternative trading system for the block trading market. It is being backed by six brokerage firms, although no financial terms were disclosed. The firms are: Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley and UBS. A CEO announcement will come within the next few weeks, with trading expected to commence in early 2007.
