VentureBeat

Mogreet, developer of a platform that allows cell phone users to send videos to one another, announced today that it brought in $5 million in second-round funding. Its software compresses video files — up to 20-second clips — so that they can be sent through what is called MMS (multimedia message service — like SMS only for video instead of text messaging).

A “Mogreet” is shorthand for the type of video message the company distributes. The company’s website provides a library of different Mogreets tailored for occasions like holidays and birthdays. Most recently, it posted clips of speeches delivered by presidential candidates Barack Obama and John McCain. They cost between 49 and 99 cents to send from either the Mogreet website or your handset.

The Venice, Calif. company plans to use its new financing to continue building its distribution network. Currently, it has partnerships with major wireless carriers in the U.S. and the United Kingdom — AT&T among them. It has also struck several strategic deals with movie studios like Paramount that provide shared content, and handset makers to ensure the system works between different phones. Right now, it works with about 70 percent of active cell phones.

Also in development are Mogreet applications for the iPhone and Google’s Android.

The company received an undisclosed amount of first-round funding last year. The recent round was provided by Ascend Ventures, Black Diamond Ventures, Spyglass Ventures, and DFJ Frontier. Update: Today, TechCrunch claimed that VentureBeat inaccurately stated that a second funding round amounting to $2.5 million had been raised earlier this year. The report was not false, as it is clear (according to publically available records) that that money was raised subsequent to the first round of financing.

TODAY’S HEADLINES:

• Paris-based Stentys takes $18M for “bifurcated” stents (release)
• Blood analyzer IntelliDx raises $22M (PDF release)
• Cancer-test biotech Calderome changes name to VeraCyte (VentureWire)
• Predictive Biosciences names Peter Klemm as CEO (release)

Paris-based Stentys takes $18M for “bifurcated” stents – Stentys, a Paris-based medical device maker, raised $18 million in a second funding round. The company is developing “bifurcated” stents intended to prop open clogged arteries at blood-vessel junctions.

The startup said the funding will allow it to complete clinical trials of its stents and to win European regulatory approval for them. Stentys doesn’t seem to have given any indication whether or when it might seek approval in the U.S. or other markets as well.

Scottish Equity Partners and Sofinnova Partners provided the funding.

Blood analyzer IntelliDx raises $22M –It’s starting to look like Diabetes Week here at VentureBeat LifeScience.

IntelliDx (no Web site), a Boston Santa Clara, Calif., startup with a new type of blood-sugar analyzer for hospitalized diabetics, raised $21.5 million in a fourth funding round (PDF link). Investors included HLM Venture Partners, 3i Ventures, Giza Ventures, Ascend Ventures, Aurum Ventures, Sequel Venture Partners and Hunt BioVentures.

IntelliDx makes a chemical sensor-based blood analyzer for use in hospital intensive-care units. Much like the Luminous Medical spectroscopic blood-glucose analyzer we covered yesterday, the IntelliDx device aims to monitor blood sugar hourly in diabetic patients. The idea, again, is to keep a closer eye on hyperglycemia in a critical-care setting, since runaway blood glucose often increases the chance of complications and lengthier hospital stays.

Cancer-test biotech Calderome changes name to VeraCyte – Calderome, a stealthy cancer-test startup in South San Francisco, has changed its name to VeraCyte (no Web site), VentureWire reports. The new name presumably reflects the company’s focus on cell-based cancer diagnostics, as we described last week.

The VentureWire story goes on to reprise VeraCyte’s $12 million fundraising, which we also covered last week. VeraCyte has two employees, and recently extended job offers to three other individuals, the news service reported.

CORRECTED: The IntelliDx item initially located the company in Boston, not Santa Clara. The company’s release was datelined Boston because it originated with HLM Ventures. Apologies for the error.