Textbook rental site Chegg.com raises another $57m
Popular textbook rental site Chegg.com continues to raise tremendous amounts of money — today it announced a $57 million fourth round, as well as $55 million in credit and debt.
The Santa Clara, Calif. company says it will use the extra $112 million (!) to meet the demands of its rapid growth. Chegg applies a Netflix-like model (where you check out the books you need at the beginning of the semester then send it back to… Continue Reading
Online electronics store NewEgg files for $175M IPO
NewEgg, a consumer-facing online retailer that sells computer components and other electronics, including software, digital cameras, cell phones and laptops, has filed to go public, expecting to raise $175 million, reports PE Hub. Founded in 2001, the company says it brought in $2.2 billion in revenue in the last year alone. That’s a pretty solid figure for a niche site competing with Amazon and Best Buy’s web property, among others.
Insight Venture Partners stands to benefit… Continue Reading
Symark acquires BeyondTrust in run up to IPO
Symark Software, maker of security applications that only allow network access to IT professionals, has acquired a smaller rival, BeyondTrust, for a little over $20 million. Following the merger, the company will operate under the BeyondTrust name, hoping that the boost in customers and revenue will carry it to a lucrative public offering next year.
Agoura Hills, Calif.-based Symark is owned by Insight Venture Partners. The deal will also give the company a Windows-version of its… Continue Reading
Medidata continues IPO thaw, looks to raise $86M
Medidata Solutions, a company that streamlines clinical development and research processes for biotech firms, announced the terms of its IPO today — setting its price per share at $11 to $13 for 6.3 million shares. The sale could generate as much as $86.3 million for the New York-based company and mark the third U.S. software IPO in 2009 (behind Rosetta Stone and SolarWinds).
The money brought in will be used for several capital expenditures and prospective… Continue Reading
Is network management growing? SolarWinds picks up Kiwi Enterprises
SolarWinds, an Austin, Tex. network management company that claims to be rapidly growing at the expense of larger rivals, has picked up the assets of a smaller company in the same business, New Zealand-based Kiwi Enterprises, for an undisclosed sum.
Despite a ten-year history, SolarWinds, which makes software to help operate and maintain corporate networks, got its big start two years ago with an investment from Bain Capital and Insight Venture Partners, according to chief product… Continue Reading
Photobucket success provided great return to some, but did it jilt others?
The WSJ has a story today about how investors at Insight Venture Partners made a killing last year when Photobucket was sold to News Corp. for $300 million — even as the firm’s own limited partner’s didn’t make a dime.
Scandal, right?
I just got off the phone with Jeff Horing (below left), one of Insight’s partners, to confirm the story, and it’s more benign than it may seem.
It’s true, Horing said, that several IVP employees invested… Continue Reading
Movie special effects company GenArts gets funding from Insight Venture Partners
GenArts provides software to help video producers create high-quality special effects. The company today announced that Insight Venture Partners provided it with an undisclosed amount of funding earlier this year.
The Cambridget, Mass. company has also hired Katherine Hays as its new chief executive. Hays previously cofounded Massive, an in-game advertising company acquired by Microsoft in 2006.
Eyeblaster, an online ad company, files for Nasdaq IPO
One of the many smaller competitors to the ad platforms of Google and Microsoft, Eyeblaster is an Israeli startup that is now based in New York. It’s applied for an IPO on the Nasdaq that could be valued at around $115 million, according to CNN.
The company offers online campaign management for both advertising agencies and advertisers. It was founded in 1999, and was one of the first agencies to start thinking about monetizing video, although… Continue Reading
Ariba buys supply chain management software co., Procuri for $93M
Software company Ariba, of Sunnyvale, Calif., has agreed to acquire Procuri Inc, an Atlanta provider of supply management software, for $93 million in cash and stock.
Ariba will also pay off $8 million of Procuri’s debt.
Procuri had raised about $30 million from Advent International, Insight Venture Partners and other investors.
Experian buys marketing intelligence firm Hitwise
Credit reference and analytics company Experian, of Costa Mesa, Calif., has acquired internet marketing intelligence firm Hitwise, of New York, for about $240 million in cash.
Hitwise collects information about traffic to Web sites, getting it directly from internet service providers, and has done a good job marketing the information (they’re constantly sending us comparisons between Web 2.0 companies, for example, to help VentureBeat with reporting). It says it covers the surfing patterns of about 25… Continue Reading
Bessemer and Insight take Netsmart private for $115M
Insight Venture Partners and Bessemer Venture Partners have acquired Netsmart Technologies, a Great River, New York public software company that serves companies in the health and human services sector, and taken it private.
They paid $115 million, according to the statement. The deal is notable because Bessemer has long focused on early-state venture investing, and it appears the latest sign that venture firms are being enticed to partake in later stage deals — in part… Continue Reading