Education.com brings in $5.3M for online education and parenting advice

Education.com Holdings, a web site providing information — mostly for parents — on various education and child-raising topics (from bullying to financing college tuition), has raised $5.3 million in second-round preferred stock, reports VentureWire.

Last year, the Redwood City, Calif., company snagged $9.75 million in a second round of venture funding from Azure Capital Partners, California Technology Ventures and Telesoft Partners.

Trip-planning site TravelMuse zooms ahead with $2M

TravelMuse, a web site and widget maker that allows users to make, save and book elaborate travel plans, has raised $2 million of an anticipated $3.9 million in debt and equity funding, according to VentureWire. Based in Los Altos, Calif., the company gained $517,000 of that oney from the conversion of promissory notes into preferred stock. It had raised $3.5 million in a first round of venture funding in 2007 from Azure Capital Partners, California… Continue Reading

Newly-formed Blade Games raises $4M for cheaper developer tools

Newly-formed Blade Games raises $4M for cheaper developer tools

Blade Games, the result of last month’s merger between developer tool provider Digini and game outsourcing company Vyk Games, has raised $4 million in a first round of funding led by California Technology Ventures.

The new entity provides a video game development platform, called Blade3D; an online store called the Blade3D Marketplace for developers to sell intellectual property and game features to their peers; and an outsourcing division inherited from Vyk.

Based in Bellevue, Wash., Blade claims… Continue Reading

TravelMuse launches new widget, scores $600K

TravelMuse launches new widget, scores $600K

It’s a good week for trip planning website TravelMuse. It launched its first application, the TravelMuse Plan-It!, which allows users to collect travel information from a range of sites in one centralized location — and then share it with their friends. On top of that, it brought in $600,000 in first-round funding from Azure Capital Partners.

The widget, designed for placement on travel blogs, lets users quickly save content by clicking on a Plant-It! icon on… Continue Reading

Digini raises round for tools that can broaden game development

Digini raises round for tools that can broaden game development

Digini has raised a first round of funding to make software tools that let hobbyist, independent or professional game developers be more productive when designing complex 3-D game environments.

The amount of the investment by California Technology Ventures wasn’t disclosed. The idea is to lift the burden from game animators and other artists, giving them a more intuitive environment so they can do less programming and more art creation. While other, more expensive tools are aimed… Continue Reading

Education.com scores $9.75 million in second round of funding

Education.com scores $9.75 million in second round of funding

Online education portal Education.com will announce a total of $9.75 million in its second round of financing today, VentureBeat has learned. The site seeks to become a one-stop destination for parents looking for online answers about their children’s education.

The site’s main appeal lies in its School Finder application, allowing parents to see information such as teacher-to-student ratio, test scores, and other parent’s reviews about local schools. The site also hosts about 7,000 articles, drawn from… Continue Reading

TravelMuse launches a good looking vacation recommendations site

TravelMuse launches a good looking vacation recommendations site

Are you looking to take a vacation with a specific purpose, say bird-watching? If so, perhaps you should check out TravelMuse, a new vacation recommendation site that launched this week.

The site, which has one of the better looking user interfaces of any travel site that I’ve seen, it set up like a travel magazine. The current “issue” highlights Argentina.

“We want to provide vibrant photos and content that changes every week,” chief executive Kevin Fliess says…. Continue Reading

Life sciences briefing: Tuesday, Oct. 9, 2007

Life sciences briefing: Tuesday, Oct. 9, 2007

Featured companies: AngioScore, Forsight Labs, Genoptix, Metastatix, Optherion, QLT

UPDATED: See below.

Artery opener AngioScore pulls in $30M — AngioScore, a Fremont, Calif., maker of balloon catheters used to open up clogged arteries, raised $30 million in a fifth funding round. Investors included Telegraph Hill Partners, Psilos Group Management, QuestMark Partners, L.P., UV Partners, California Technology Ventures and Innomed Ventures.

AngioScore’s balloon catheters, which inflate inside blocked blood vessels to restore blood flow, are designed to overcome problems that sometimes… Continue Reading

Ceregene: Catching an updraft in gene therapy

Ceregene: Catching an updraft in gene therapy

(UPDATED: See below.)

Ceregene, a San Diego biotech at work on a gene therapy for Parkinson’s disease, has so far raised $28 million in a third funding round and last week struck a development partnership with Genzyme that resulted in a $25 million up-front payment and potential payments of another $125 million plus royalties.

Those are some surprisingly large numbers for gene therapy, the experimental practice of inserting new genes into the human body in hopes that their… Continue Reading

SurgRx, a company that seals human tissue, raises $20M (video)

SurgRx, a Redwood City, Calif. maker of technology that uses heat and electric current to seal human tissue for medical purposes, has raised $20 million in fifth round of financing, VentureWire is reporting (sub required).

Hedge fund Magnetar Capital led the round, which included backers Alta Partners, Prospect Venture Partners, New Enterprise Associates and California Technology Ventures, the report said, citing Ed Unkart, the company’s chief financial officer.

The technology is used as part of a “jaw”… Continue Reading

Health Hero raises $16M for web-based home monitoring technology

Health Hero Network, a Redwood City start-up that provides a Web-based technology for people to monitor chronic health problems from their home, has raised $16 million in a second round of funding.

The product is called the Health Buddy System. The investment was led by existing investor Psilos Group and new investors California Technology Ventures, Integral Capital Partners and Boston Scientific. Existing investors Artal Services, Shoreline Venture Partners and ZG Ventures participated.

The Health Buddy System aims… Continue Reading