Tarsus Increases Exposure to US Growth Opportunities through acquisition of remaining 20% Minority Interest in Medical Conferences International

The Fusion Team have completed over 70 digital and media transactions for its private, corporate and private equity clients. For more information contact pkelly@fusioncorp.co.uk or visit our website
 
 
ACQUISITION 
FDN Database Reference:  F231109-355
 
Acquirer:  Tarsus Group plc
ACQ Web:  http://www.tarsus-group.com
Location:  UK, London
Region:  Europe
Description:  Tarsus Group is an international media company with a portfolio of exhibitions, conferences, publications and online media that span across the Americas, Europe, Asia and the Middle East.
Category:  B2B Media
Contact 1:  Douglas Emslie, Group Managing Director
Contact 2:  Ashley Milton, Group Finance Director
 
Vendor: Dr Robert Goldman is the Chairman of the American Academy of Anti-Ageing Medicine (“”A4M””) and (with Dr Ronald Klatz) the Founding President of the National Academy of Sports Medicine, USA.  Dr Ronald Klatz is the President of A4M.
Region: North America
Description:  MCI, founded by the Vendors in 2003, is an organiser of medical sector events in the fast growing anti-ageing and preventative medicine market. MCI organises three key sector events in the USA annually: in Orlando (April), Chicago (October) and Las Vegas (December). 
Category: Conference
 
Terms:  The consideration of US$10.75 million (£6.6 million) will be satisfied by the issue to the Vendors, on or before 31 August 2010, of 5,820,878 Tarsus ordinary shares of 5 pence each (the “”Consideration Shares””), representing an issue price of 114 pence per Consideration Share, equating to 7.8% of the overall enlarged Tarsus Group issued share capital.

The Vendors have agreed a lock-in such that they will not sell any of the Consideration Shares unless and until either Neville Buch or Douglas Emslie sell any of their own ordinary shares in Tarsus, in which case the Vendors will be entitled to sell the same percentage of their Consideration Shares as the sale (by Mr Buch or Mr Emslie as the case may be) represents to their combined shareholdings in Tarsus. The Vendors are also permitted to dispose of their Consideration Shares in certain other limited circumstances, including if there is a change of control involving a change in the existing management of Tarsus.
 
Details:  Tarsus Group, the international business-to-business media group,  has entered into a conditional agreement with Dr Robert Goldman and Dr Ronald Klatz  to acquire from them the remaining 20% interest in MCI not already owned by Tarsus Group for a consideration of US$ 10.75 million (£6.6 million). MCI, founded by the Vendors in 2003, is an organiser of medical sector events in the fast growing anti-ageing and preventative medicine market. MCI organises three key sector events in the USA annually: in Orlando (April), Chicago (October) and Las Vegas (December). 

Following the MCI Acquisition, the Vendors will both remain with the business and their current consulting agreements with MCI will be revised and extended by 10 years to 2026. The terms of the deferred consideration/ revenue incentive payable under the terms of the 2006 MCII Acquisition agreement have been extended, but subject to more demanding financial thresholds, and aggregate deferred consideration payments remain subject to the existing cap of $10.0 million.
 
Link: The London Stock Exchange’s Regulatory News Service (RNS)  

Background to the MCI Acquisition

On 16 November 2006 Tarsus Group announced that it had entered into an agreement with the Vendors to acquire from them 80 per cent. of the issued share capital of Medical Conferences International Inc (“”MCII””) for a total consideration of up to $46.0 million.  This comprised $36.0 million payable in cash upon completion, up to $10.0 million payable as deferred consideration and $2.9 million consideration for the net assets of MCII.

Following the completion of this transaction the Vendors retained ownership of 20% of MCII, (now “”MCI””).

 As at 31 December 2009, the gross assets of MCI were $19.4 million, and MCI generated profit before tax of $6.3 million for the year ended 31 December 2009.

FUND RAISING: WEEKLY ROUND-UP week ending 14th March 2010

 

 

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Last Week’s Fund Raisings

1. Autoquake has raised £6 million

2. Chomp.com has raised £2 million

  • Details: iPhone apps review site Chomp.com has raised £2 million in funding. Launched just 8 weeks ago, Chomp has 300,000 users and 1.5 million reviews.
  • Investors:  BlueRun Ventures, SV Angel partners Ron Conway and David Lee and former SV Angel, now CEO of DailyBooth, Brian Pokorny.
  • Location: USA, San Francisco, CA
  • Category: Apps, Reviews

3. DataXu Secures $11 Million in Series B Funding

  • Details: DataXu, provider of the leading real-time bidding platform for online display advertisers, today announced it has closed $11 million in Series B funding. The proceeds will be used to fund new product development, sales and marketing, and international expansion. John Jarve, Managing Director of Menlo Ventures, will join DataXu‘s board of directors.
  • Investors:  Led by Menlo Ventures. Atlas Venture and Flybridge Capital Partners, who provided DataXu‘s Series A funding in April 2009, also participated in the round.
  • Contacts: Mike Baker, President and CEO of DataXu: John Jarve, Managing Director of Menlo Ventures.
  • Location: USA, Boston, MA
  • Category: Advertising
  • Link: Press Release

4. DoubleVerify Raises $10 Million in Series B Funding

  • Details : Online advertising verification company DoubleVerify has closed a $10 million series B financing round
  • Investors:  Led by Institutional Venture Partners (IVP). The round included participation from existing DoubleVerify investors. DoubleVerify had previously closed a $3.5 million Series A financing in May 2009 led by Blumberg Capital, with participation from First Round Capital, Genacast Ventures and private investors.
  • Contacts: Oren Netzer, Co-Founder and CEO of DoubleVerify: David Bell, a DoubleVerify board member: Dennis Phelps, General Partner of IVP: David Blumberg, Managing Partner, Blumberg Capital
  • Location: USA, New York, NY
  • Category: Advertising
  • Link: Company Announcement

5. FirstRain raises $7.3 million

  • Details: FirstRain, a business that offers a research engine that intelligently filters information and trends from the web about companies, the markets they operate in, and the business trends impacting their market, has raised $7,296,727 of a $8,815,242 equity round.
  • Contact: Penny Herscher, President and CEO
  • Location: USA, San Mateo, CA
  • Category: Research, Search
  • Link: Regulatory Filing

6. LivingSocial Raises $25 Million

  • Details: LivingSocial, the social commerce business behind LivingSocial Deals and Facebook applications Visual Bookshelf and Pick Your Five, has completed a $25 million Series B round of venture funding. With this round of funding, LivingSocial Deals is launching in four additional cities: Chicago, Denver, Raleigh Durham and San Diego, making the program live in 13 markets across the USA
  • Investors:  Led by U.S. Venture Partners, with Grotech Ventures and Steve Case’s Revolution, LLC participating
  • Contact: Tim O’Shaughnessy, CEO of LivingSocial
  • Location: USA, Washington D.C.
  • Category: Ecommerce
  • Link: Company announcement

Competitor news on Fusion DigiNet: Groupon has raised a Series B financing round of $30 million, 2nd December 2009.

7. Plancast has raised $800,000

  • Details : Worldly Developments, the consumer internet startup behind Plancast has raised $800,000. The founders are Mark Hendrickson (who previously worked at TechCrunch) and Jay Marcyes.
  • Investors:  SoftTechVC, True Ventures, Founders Fund Angel, and Zelkova Ventures. As well as individual angels, Aydin Senkut, Saul Klein, David Cohen, Joshua Schachter, Dave McClure, Dan Martell, Ron Bouganim, and Paige Craig.
  • Location: USA, San Francisco, CA
  • Category: Social Network
  • Link: TechCrunch

8. SeaWell Networks Secures $7 Million in Series A Funding

9. Todacell secures additional $1 million funding from existing investor

  • Details: Todacell, the mobile display ad network for optimizing publisher ad performance, has raised an additional $1 million round of funding. Monies from this round of funding have been earmarked for sales and marketing, with five new sales offices opening in New York, Los Angeles, Toronto, London and Bombay.
  • Investors:  Raised from existing investor AfterDox. Previously Todacell has secured $2 million from AfterDox and others, including $350,000 seed funding from the Fore Group.
  • Location: Israel, Tel Aviv
  • Category: Advertising, Mobile
  • Link: Company Announcement

10. TripIt receives $7M third round of funding

  • Details: TripIt, the trip management company, has closed a third round of funding, receiving $7 million from a group of investors. These funds will be used to accelerate TripIt‘s cloud-based web service to reach more business travellers, as well as new services for mobile and enterprise collaboration at global companies.
  • Investors:  Led by Azure Capital Partners and O’Reilly AlphaTech Ventures. TripIt has now received $13.1M in total investment, including $1M when it launched in 2007, $5.1M in 2008, and $7M in this third round of funding, which was oversubscribed by interested investors.
  • Location: USA, San Francisco, CA
  • Category: Travel
  • Link: Press Release

Fund Raising News

  1. Berlin: Team Europe Ventures starts €6 million investment fund for Internet start-ups, Reported on Fusion DigiNet on 10th March 2010.
  2. Battery Ventures Closes $750M Fund
  • Details: Battery Ventures, a multi-stage investment firm focused on technology and innovation worldwide, today announced that is has closed its ninth fund, BV IX, at its $750M target. BV IX Will focus on Technology-Related Investments from Seed to Growth Equity and Buyouts. The firm invests worldwide, with the majority of its investments in North America, Israel and India.
  • Location: Battery Ventures invests out of offices in Waltham, MA, Menlo Park, CA and Herzliya, Israel. 
  • Link: Press Release

News Corporation is considering the sale of Berlin based Jamba

NEWS

News Corporation is considering the sale of Berlin based Jamba (Jamster) according to a Merger Markets report in the Financial Times. Jamba is a mobile content provider. It is thought that News Corp want to concentrate their digital businesses around MySpace.

The report cites bankers as saying that Spanish entertainment company Zed is a likely buyer and also lists Italian mobile companies Buongiorno and Flycell, plus mobile music business Dada.net as other possible buyers.

Link: Financial Times article

 Other News Corporation articles on Fusion DigiNet

Team Europe Ventures starts €6 million investment fund for Internet start-ups

The Fusion Team have completed over 70 digital and media transactions for its private, corporate and private equity clients. For more information contact pkelly@fusioncorp.co.uk or visit our website
 

Funding News

Over the next three years, Team Europe Ventures intends to invest €6 million in startup financing for Internet businesses, and has set up a fund for this purpose. The fund focuses on the seed-stage; initial investment is up to €500 K per company. The fund is focused on Internet and mobile Internet.

Location: Germany, Berlin

Other Team Europe Ventures news on Fusion DigiNet: SponsorPay Acquires GratisPay 

Link: Press Release 

About Team Europe Ventures:

Team Europe Ventures invests in promising internet companies in early stages of development. Team Europe’s industry focus is consumer internet and internet technology; the goal for Team Europe’s companies is to generate revenues in the millions within a few years after founding. Team Europe Ventures is managed from Berlin by the its four partners Lukasz Gadowski (founder of Spreadshirt, co-founder of StudiVZ), Kolja Hebenstreit (early employee at Spreadshirt, seed investor in StudiVZ), Pawel Chudzinski (formerly Grennhill & Co.) and Steffen Hoellinger. Team Europe is shareholder in 15 self founded companies or lead investments as well as 40 co-investments. Regional focus of the investments are the EU and the US.

SponsorPay Acquires GratisPay

The Fusion Team have completed over 70 digital and media transactions for its private, corporate and private equity clients. For more information contact pkelly@fusioncorp.co.uk or visit our website
 
 
ACQUISITION 
FDN Database Reference:  F231109-351
 
Acquirer:  SponsorPay
ACQ Web:  http://www.sponsorpay.com
Location:  Germany, Berlin
Region:  Europe
Description:  SponsorPay GmbH was established in April 2009 by Team Europe Ventures, Jan Beckers and Janis Zech. The company currently employs a staff of 35 people. SponsorPay’s innovative payment
system gives online gamers free access to premium content such as virtual currencies and items.
Category:  Games, Payments
Contact 1:  Andreas Bodczek, CEO, Co-Founder
Contact 2:  Jan Beckers, Managing Director & Head of Publisher Relations, Co-Founder
Contact 3:  Mathias Kutzner, Head of Technology, Co-Founder
Contact 4: Janis Zech, Head of Advertiser Relations and Operations & Co-Founder
Contact 5:  Lukasz Gadowski, Partner at Team Europe Ventures
 
Vendor:  GratisPay
Vendor Web:  http://www.gratispay.com
Location:  Germany, Hamburg
Region:  Europe
Description:  Virtual currency monetization company for social applications and online games.
Category: Games, Payments
Contact 1:  Arne Bleckwenn, Joint Managing Director
Contact 2:  Hinrich Dreiling, oint Managing Director

Aprox. Value:  Undisclosed
 
Details:  Team Europe Ventures company SponsorPay has acquired GratisPay. The consolidation of the two enterprises creates Europe’s leading provider of advertisement-based payment systems, monetizing virtually all of the major European online and social games publishers.Both companies were founded in 2009.
 
Link: Press Release

FUND RAISING: WEEKLY ROUND-UP

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1. Posterous, the blogging platform, has raised $4.4 million in funding

  • Details: Posterous, the blogging platform, has raised $4.4 million in funding . The funds are to be used to expand the team and building “even faster”! Founder and CEO,  Sachin Agarwal, said “Our goal is to become synonymous with “posting” just like Google is synonymous with “search”.”
  • Investors: Redpoint Ventures, Trinity Ventures, SV Angel, Founder Collective, Lowercase Capital, Brian Pokorny, Aydin Senkut, XG Ventures
  • Category: Blog
  • Link: Posterous Blog

2. SmartDate.com raises $2.2 million

3. Arkayne raises $1 million

  • Details: Arkayne, a developer of interactive marketing software that helps businesses improve their online performance and content strategy, has closed its initial round of Angel funding totaling just over $1 million. The seed round was funded by technology entrepreneurs and investors, including the Arizona Technology Investor Forum (ATIF). Arkayne plans to use the infusion of capital, along with revenue from early enterprise customers to fund its growing team of technology, sales and marketing professionals, as well as build out the organization’s infrastructure.
  • Investors: Arizona Technology Technology Investor Forum and others
  • Category: Blog, App
  • Link: Arkayne Blog

4. Perfect Market raises $6 Million

  • Details: Perfect Market, provider of an innovative technology solution that helps publishers create value from their online content, today announced it has raised $6 million of Series C funding. Perfect Market will use the funds to expand its efforts to market and deploy its solution to the broad marketplace of newspapers, magazines, and broadcasters with a web presence and other online publishers.
  • Investors: Led by Tribune Company. Existing investors Trinity Ventures, Rustic Canyon Partners and Idealab also participated.
  • Location: USA, Altadena, CA
  • Category: Advertising, Technology
  • Link: Company announcement

 5.  Bit.ly raises$1.5 million

6. Reply.com files registration statement with sec for an initial public offering

  • Details: Reply.com has filed a registration statement on Form S-1 with the Securities and Exchange Commission for a proposed initial public offering of its common stock. Jefferies & Company, Inc. and Piper Jaffray & Co. will act as joint book-running managers for the offering with Needham & Company, LLC and ThinkEquity LLC acting as co-managers. The shares of common stock to be sold in this offering are proposed to be sold by Reply! and certain of Reply!’s stockholders.  The number of shares to be sold in the proposed offering and the offering price have not yet been determined.
  • Financial summary: In the quarter ended December 31, 2009, Reply.com generated over 4.9 million Enhanced Clicks and over 700,000 leads and served over 5,000 advertisers. In the year ended December 31, 2009, Reply.com generated $34.3 million in revenue, $2.5 million of net income, $4.9 million of operating income and $7.3 million of Adjusted EBITDA, compared to $23.3 million in revenue, $3.2 million of net loss, $2.5 million of operating loss and $1.3 million of Adjusted EBITDA in the year ended December 31, 2008, which represents growth in revenue of 47% and growth in Adjusted EBITDA of 452%, respectively.
  • Location: USA, San Ramon, CA
  • Category: Advertsising
  • Link: Form S-1 Registration Statement / Prospectus

Atex is buying the 80% stake in Kaango owned by MediaNews and Hearst Corp.

The Fusion Team have completed over 70 digital and media transactions for its private, corporate and private equity clients. For more information contact pkelly@fusioncorp.co.uk or visit our website
 
 
ACQUISITION 
FDN Database Reference:  F231109-347
 
Acquirer:  Atex
ACQ Web:  http://www.atex.com
Location:  UK, Reading
Region:  Europe
Description:  Atex is a supplier of software systems and services  to the media industry. Atex was founded in Massachusetts in 1973.
Category:  Advertising
Contact 1:  David Montgomery, Atex Head of Global Product Development
Contact 2:  Douglas Drane, founder
Contact 3:  Charles Ying, founder
Contact 4: Richard Ying, founder
 
Vendor:  Hearst Corporation and MediaNews Group
Business Sold: Kaango
ACQ Web: http://www.kaango.com
Location:  USA, Greenwood Village, CO
Region:  North America
Description:  Kaango, which launched its first affiliate site in 2006 and currently serves more than 200 publishers in the U.S., provides a technologically advanced Web-based software platform to syndicate and publish its media partners’ print and online classified ads.
Category: Advertising
Contact 1:  Michael Kranitz, the  founder and former CEO of Kaango
Contact 2:  Joe Conti, COO
 
Aprox. Value:  Undisclosed (Hearst Corporation and MediaNews Group paid $20 million for 80 percent of Kaango in November 2007)
 
Details:  Atex is buying the 80% stake in Kaango owned by MediaNews and Hearst Corp. Both companies will retain a minority stake in Kaango. Michael Kranitz, the  founder and former CEO of Kaango, will continue to work with Atex. Kaango’s product development team will remain based in Denver, CO as part of Atex’s global development resources. Joe Conti will act as Kaango’s COO and he will continue to manage the day-to-day operations in Denver.
 
Link: Company Announcement

Sony acquires Media Molecule, the creator of LittleBigPlanet

The Fusion Team have completed over 70 digital and media transactions for its private, corporate and private equity clients. For more information contact pkelly@fusioncorp.co.uk or visit our website
 
 

ACQUISITION 
FDN Database Reference:  F231109-344
 
Acquirer:  Sony Computer Entertainment
ACQ Web:  http://www.scei.co.jp
Other Web Links: Playstation
Head Office: Japan, Tokyo
Region:  Asia
Local Office:  Sony Computer Entertainment Europe
Region:  Europe, London
Description 1:  Sony Computer Entertainment – manufacturers, distributes and markets the PlayStation® game console, the PlayStation®2 computer entertainment system, the PSP® (PlayStation®Portable) handheld entertainment system and PlayStation®3 (PS3™) system.  The company develops, publishes, markets and distributes software, and manages the third party licensing programs for these platforms in the respective markets worldwide. Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. is an independent business unit of the Sony Group.
Description 2:  Sony Computer Entertainment Worldwide Studios – is responsible for the global creative, technical and strategic direction setting of development and production of computer entertainment software for the PlayStation family.  SCE WWS directly employs over 2,500 people in its 15 studio locations around the world.
Category:  Computer Games
Contact:  Shuhei Yoshida, President, Sony Computer Entertainment Worldwide Studios
 
Vendor:  Media Molecule
Vendor Web:  http://www.mediamolecule.com
Other Web Links: Twitter
Location:  UK, Guildford, Surrey
Region:  Europe
Description: Media Molecule  is a video game developer. The studio was founded in January 2006 by former Lionhead Studios employees Mark Healey, Alex Evans, Dave Smith, and Kareem Ettouney. They are best known as the creator’s of LittleBigPlanet. Media Molecule won the Studio of the Year award at the Spike Video Game Awards 2008. The game also won numerous game of the year awards leading to a ‘Game Of The Year Edition’ a year later.
Category: Computer Games
Contact 1:  Alex Evans, co-founder
Contact 2:  Mark Healey, co-founder
 
Aprox. Value:  Undisclosed
 
Details:  Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE) has acquired game developer Media Molecule, creator of the PlayStation®3 (PS3™) exclusive title, LittleBigPlanet™.  Media Molecule will join as part of SCE’s global development operation, SCE Worldwide Studios. 
 
Links: 

Scripps sells uSwitch to Forward Internet Group – updated

The Fusion Team have completed over 70 digital and media transactions for its private, corporate and private equity clients. For more information contact pkelly@fusioncorp.co.uk or visit our website
 
ACQUISITION  – UPDATED ENTRY
FDN Database Reference:  F231109-280

According to their SEC Form 10-K  and first reported on PaidContent today, the cash portion of the sale was around $10 million. Scripps Networks Interactive bought the site three years ago for $366 million.

However, the filing also reads, “The gain on the uSwitch divestiture reflects the recognition of $44.4 million in foreign currency translation gains that were previously recognized in equity as a component of accumulated other comprehensive income (loss). The foreign currency translation gains was partially offset by a $6.8 million charge recorded for lease obligations we retained in the sale and a $8.9 million loss that was recognized on the sale of uSwitch’s net assets. Operating results of our discontinued operations in 2007 include a non-cash charge of $411 million to write-down uSwitch’s goodwill and intangible assets”.

Original Fusion DigiNet entry
1st January 2010

Acquirer:  Forward Internet Group
ACQ Web:  http://www.forward.co.uk
Location:  United Kingdom, London
Region:  Europe
Description:  Forward3D is the group’s 3D search agency (formerly known as TrafficBroker) and Forward Innovations the consumer division which focuses on price comparison and switching and includes uSwitch.com, InvisibleHand and Omio.
Category:  Media, Search, Price Comparison
Contact 1:  Neil Hutchinson, CEO  
 
Vendor:  Scripps Networks Interactive
Vendor Web:  Rob Murphy, Finance Director
Location:  USA, Knoxville, Tennessee
Region:  North America
Description:  Lifestyle content for television and the Internet
Category: Media
Contact:  Richard A. Boehne,  Director, President and Chief Executive Officer
 
Aprox. Value:  Undisclosed
 
Details:  Forward has acquired uSwitch.com, the independent price comparison and switching service, for an undisclosed sum. Forward has also changed its name from TrafficBroker as the company changes from being a search agency to an internet group.Forward’s annual revenues will exceed £55m in 2009. uSwitch.com will go into the consumer division, Forward Innovations, alongside InvisibleHand and Omio.
 
Link: Press Release

AOL sells affiliate network Buy.at

The Fusion Team have completed over 70 digital and media transactions for its private, corporate and private equity clients. For more information contact pkelly@fusioncorp.co.uk or visit our website
 
 
ACQUISITION 
FDN Database Reference:  F231109-343
 
Acquirer:  Digital Window
ACQ Web:  http://www.digitalwindow.com
Location:  UK, London
Region:  Europe
Description:  In 2009 a majority stake of Digital Window was bought by the German-based media group Axel Springer AG and the Swiss-based communications group Publigroupe S.A. who also own Berlin’s Zanox AG, continental Europe’s largest performance-based online marketing network.
Category:  Marketing
Contact:  Kevin Brown, CEO
 
Vendor:  AOL
Vendor Web:  http://www.aol.co.uk
Business Sold: Perfiliate Ltd (Buy.at)
Web Link: http://www.buy.at
Location:  UK, Newcastle
Region:  Europe
Description:  Operates one of the leading affiliate marketing networks under the brand name Buy.at.
Category: Marketing
Contact 1:  Paul Fellows, Solutions Director, co-founder of buy.at
Contact 2:  Tim Armstong, CEO, AOL
  
Aprox. Value:  Undisclosed
 
Details:  Digital Window today acquired Newcastle-based Perfiliate Ltd., which operates one of the leading affiliate marketing networks under the brand name Buy.at. Together Digital Window and Buy.at form Britain’s largest performance-based marketing group, serving customers in the UK, USA and Scandinavia. Buy.at was part of AOL Inc. AOL acquired Newcastle-based Perfiliate, the business behind Buy.at in February 2008 for $125m. The business was run out of AOL‘s advertising division.
 
Link: Digital Window Company Announcement