VentureBeat

Thefacebook, the Palo Alto online social network that connects college students, has finished raising a $12 million first round of financing, VentureWire confirms (reg req).

The piece quotes Accel Partners‘ Jim Breyer, so this time it’s official. Breyer tells VentureWire that several consumer Internet and media companies had wanted to invest along with Accel, but that Accel wanted to keep the deal to itself. It is the sole investor.

(UPDATE: Check out Jeff Clavier’s trackback item below, for noteworthy stats on Thefacebook, which help make Accel’s interest understandable.)

Meanwhile, Minerva Networks, the Santa Clara open-platform IP television software company, said it raised $10.5 million in its eighth (!) round, VentureWire reports….

A long road for the eleven-year-old company, but it became profitable during the first quarter, and is reportedly hiring marketing and sales folk like crazy.

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