VC Deals:Drug Fund gets $21 Million in first round

Date:

San Jose Mercury News

Alvine Pharmaceuticals raised $21 million in a first round of venture funding led by Sofinnova Ventures along with investments from Prospect Venture Partners and InterWest Partners. Cargill Ventures and Flagship Ventures also participated in the financing.

Alvine is focused on developing drugs to treat celiac sprue, a genetic disease that affects the immune system that is triggered by gluten, a component of cereal grains found in most foods sold in the United States, according to company co-founder Chaitan Khosla.

``As many as 1 in 100 individuals suffer from celiac sprue, yet there is no drug therapy available,''Khosla said.

Alvine's platform is based on more than six years of research, and an intellectual property portfolio licensed from Stanford University and acquired from the Celiac Sprue Research Foundation.

The funding will be used to advance the company's lead product -- a protease designed to be consumed with food to detoxify the gluten that triggers the autoimmune response in celiac patients -- into human clinical and safety trials.

OTHER RECENT FUNDINGS

• Trovix of Mountain View raised $13 million in a second round of venture funding led by Granite Ventures, with participation from Trovix's existing investors, U.S. Venture Partners and 3i. Since announcing its initial funding in December 2005, Trovix has raised $18.25 million.

Trovix develops search technology designed to evaluate ``unstructured''documents, such as résumés, that have irregular formatting, lots of acronyms, similar words with different meanings and related concepts.''

• Exeros of Santa Clara, a developer of data-mapping software, raised $12 million in a second round of funding led by AllianceBernstein Holding, with participation from Exeros'original investors Bay Partners and Globespan Capital Partners. The company, founded in 2002, last raised $7 million in a funding round during the fourth quarter of 2004.

• Promptu of Menlo Park raised an additional $11.6 million in a funding round led by Steelpoint Capital Partners that included participation by other current investors, including Lauder Partners.

Promptu provides voice-powered search and navigation services for mobile operators and their subscribers.

• Mobile entertainment service firm Sennari of Cupertino raised $10 million in a third venture round led by Mayfield Fund, with participation from existing investors UV Partners, Novak Biddle and Blacksmith Capital.

• Laszlo Systems, a San Mateo developer of Web-based software applications, raised $8 million in a third venture round led by new investor WI Harper Group. Existing investors General Catalyst Partners, Sofinnova Ventures, Mitsui&Co. Venture Partners and others also participated in the round. Laszlo, founded in 2000, has raised $26.3 million to date.

• TrueDemand Software of Los Gatos raised $8 million in a second venture round led by CMEA Ventures. Original investors Mayfield and Bay Partners also participated in the round, which brings TrueDemand's total funding to date to $14 million. The company develops sales-and-supply-chain tools for retailers and their suppliers.

• Obopay of Redwood City raised $7 million in a round led by Qualcomm, with participation from previous investors Redpoint Ventures, Onset Ventures and Richmond Management.

Obopay, founded in 2005, supplies a mobile handset payment service. It raised $10 million in a first venture round in February.

• Liquid Engines of Sunnyvale, a developer of tax management software, raised $5.5 million in a follow-on round to its third venture round of funding. Existing investors participating in the financing included the Carlyle Group, Advanced Technology Ventures, Charles River Ventures, and Catamount Ventures.